what is wrong with the plant?

1 More random picture: I have a question about this plant. It is clearly not well. When I purchased it from Meijer it was green and happy. Look what a few months in my apartment has done to it. Can one of the green thumbs in the family explain what I should do to save it? I try to water it every day. I was going to throw it away, but I decided against it. Help!

-Jim, Urbana, IL

Sweaters and trombones

This is completely unrelated to....well, everything, really. But what's the story behind this awkward ad? Do Banana Republic's male customers dream of practicing trombone in the cold backyard, while simultaneously hugging beautiful women? Do their female customers think if they only wore the perfect Banana Republic (tm) sweaters, available now at 30% off, they might attract gorgeous trombone players*, thus making all of their friends jealous? This is a classic case of multitasking gone too far. Everyone knows that if you try to play trombone while snogging, you can neither play nor snog competently.

Maybe the woman in the photo is the clingy type who couldn't stand to be away from her man for 5 minutes, so she threw herself between him and his horn mid-cadenza. Trombone guy has been reduced to practicing in undisclosed locations throughout the neighborhood because it takes her longer to find him out there. He'll need lots of warm clothes this winter, and at 30% off for a limited time only, he can afford to stock up on luxurious sweaters at Banana Republic(tm)!

* (Yes, I know - this is redundant.)

Thanksgiving 2009

GEO Strike at UIUC

I was a member of the union that recently went on strike for two days. I did not go out and picket but I did do some chants at a rally before the strike.

"What do we want?"
"Contract"
"When do we want it?"
"Now!"

And we did get our contract after two days of striking. The two days we were on strike it was both rainy and cold, but a lot of my GEO friends went out and picketed anyway.

I did have to go back to work today, and was happy about that. But, I'm not very political I think, but I do believe in the rights of the union and when we voted for whether or not to give the strike committee authorization for the GEO to strike I was of the 6 or so percent that said no. It was my first union experience and overall it was really interesting and exciting to see how the union leaders and stewards organize, because even though it wasn't for me personally a big deal, it was for the GEO and the university. Fight the power folks!

Fun With String

This is from a blog that I read called Awful Library Books. It's about weeding old books from library collections. I thought this would be something fun to share with you all.

I volunteered at Voodoofest this year on Halloween day and Nov 1st. I went to some awesome rock concerts (Gogol Bordello, Walter "Wolfman" Washington, Jane's Addiction, Wolfmother) while dressed as this bafoon of a viking. The only downside is that it's hard to headbang with a hard-hat turned Viking Skullshield on. I modified it later that day to have a little strap that keeps it from falling off during dramatic movements. Oh and to explain the huge sandwich--It's a muffaletta, a New Orleans style giganta-wich which is meant to be cut into fourths. Italian meats, olives, oils, spices, etc. It's not meant to be eaten alone.

On Nov. 1st I saw the Flaming Lips, and the Meat Puppets. They were both life changing shows. I recommend everyone at least giving the Flaming Lips a good serious listen, and if you like them, to see them live-they are really really really fun.

I'll be sure to post more pictures as I get them. I'm a little sad I can't come back for Thanksgiving (I'm given that Thursday and Friday off and I could request off the Wednesday... but I would have a hard time paying for the trip up and back down. I miss everyone very much.

Hes looking at you, Matt

So Matt, I said I would post this on the Blog because I thought it was so awesome.
Story: Was bored, drew this.
Matt's computer is to the left of mine. That explains it, hes looking at Matt!

Second, I want you all to give one adjective to describe this picture. I'll start.

FEAR

Shadow of a viking!

this is a shadow of my costume!!!!

Happy Holloween!

Please vote for rebuilding together!

Hey guys,
I'm working right now, but I justify this post because it works towards our PR if everyone votes for Rebuilding together on this website below.

Just scroll down and find the best recovery source and choose Rebuilding Together! Yehy!


http://npntrumpet.blogspot.com/2009/10/trumpet-awards-voting-open.html

This organization has the information, tools and/or volunteers you need when you need them, and are key to the recovery of our community. <----I'd just have to agree, wouldn't you?

Sunshine and happiness for all!
T

Happy Birthday, Tina

Buddy, Bob, Wink, Kris and I wish you a happy birthday!

Giganta!

This will haunt my dreams.

Did anyone else play on this thing as a kid? This exact robot was in the playground next to the baseball fields, by the pool in Rolling Meadows. I had forgotten such a thing existed until it popped up today, and now it's cracking me up. The slides could get very hot, and they smelled bad. And I remember exactly what it was like to climb the ladder through those little holes into those small cages. Eeek. Scary. But the view from the head was cool.

I love that the catalog photo shows a kid on a blanket on the robot's foot. Obviously, she couldn't sit directly on the black metal in the sun, or she would be cooked. And I think the kids in the robot's head are screaming for help. Why would anyone design such a thing for children to play on? And more importantly, why did anyone LET us play on such a device? And why did we want to? Hilarious.

A tale of two Tonys

Allright, there's really only one Tony. Just thought it had a nice ring to it.




Sitting on my balcony/porch today after hanging up my Americorps hat.



My warcraft character's name is Atsuma. He's a shaman.



My roomate Darren on the last day of work, 7/15/2009. This house was a doosey, but as of a month or so ago, both the homeowner and his family are living there again.



This was the tile floor we laid in his "basement." Since nothing is below ground in New Orleans, the basement is simply the lowest floor.

Some Beaver Island Pictures

The fuzzy shot is a picture of loons. I saw them dipping under and watched them land right in front of our camp site on the last day of our trip.

Bye,

Dan

Nueva Orleans

Dear Family,
There is so much I want to share about New Orleans and the new job position! This year is very different from last because of all the last year Americorps that have left and because several more have joined up. Also, RT has grown quite substantially in a short period of time. My place in it all has changed too, and now I find myself ‘supervising’ my new Americorps peers as well as teaching them all that I know about the world of construction and the way our non-profit works.
One of my new job’s perks is a new laptop computer (which I’m using right now at Borders). It’s tiny but really mobile. I am afraid to break by bringing it to a construction site, so on days that I’m rebuilding I just lock it up as soon as I get to work.
My love for this city has grown and grown and I plan on uploading some pictures as soon as I can. My camera’s been broken for a while, but I plan on getting it fixed up at a best buy. (any tips?)
I am also reading this great non-fiction book (Jim gave to me) about a guy in New Orleans called Zeitoun. So much of what goes on down here is still fascinating to me, even though this is my second year here. That being said, I hope you all continue to embrace the world around you with a sense of wonder. Go forth and be awesome.

Tony

Team Awesome and other sundries.

Hey everyone. It's been awhile since I've posted here, so I thought I'd check in. Team Awesome is the official name of the office that I work with at GSLIS (graduate school lib & info science). Anyway, ever since the beginning of the semester Team Awesome meets on Friday to play Mario Kart for the Wii. It's been lots of fun and I told them about a little family jargon of ours from back when we played Mario Kart 64. One of our Team Awesome members threw this picture together and I just had to share it. It's not going to make sense to some of you, but basically it's hilarious, trust me.

I also wanted to comment briefly about the trip to Beaver Island and Tina's camera. We did take pictures when we went and visited Uncle Dan, and Tony did bring me the connector cable for the camera, but the batteries were dead before I could transfer the pictures over to my computer. Basically, pictures from our island trip will be posted once I can get them off Tina's camera, so they're on their way.

Peace and prosperity!
Dan

Fun & Work in Urbana, IL

Urbana, IL -- The students have returned to the corn fields of Central Illinois. It is very nice to have them back. Today (Labor Day) the library is not open, so I am spending time reading and writing. The above video was shot in and around the engineering campus. This video is partly about my research but also a curious science experiment (the gallon challenge) I stumbled upon. The students are really funny sometimes.

In other news, I will travel to London in October. I'll be there over a weekend of seeing the sights and going to museums. I'm really glad I get to travel to the UK this year!

Hope you all are well.

-Jim

Bansky again! (or maybe a copycat?)

I walked past this today in Chicago, under a railroad viaduct.

Greetings to the Birthday Boy

Happy Birthday, Dan! I hope that, whatever you are doing today, you are finding ways to celebrate the day. In fact, Uncle James and I hope you celebrate every day.

Chet Walters Ink Specialist

Lemon Squares

At Matt's request, here's the recipe for lemon squares:

Crust:
2 cups flour
½ cup powdered sugar
1 cup margarine or butter, softened

Filling:
4 eggs, slightly beaten
2 cups sugar
¼ cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ cup lemon juice

Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 to 3 tablespoons lemon juice

Instructions:
Heat oven to 350˚F. In large bowl, combine 2 cups flour, ½ cup powdered sugar and margarine at low speed until crumbly. Press mixture evenly in bottom of ungreased 13X9-inch pan. Bake at 350˚F for 20 to 30 minutes or until light golden brown.

In large bowl, combine eggs, sugar, ¼ cup flour and baking powder; blend well. Stir in lemon juice. Pour mixture over warm crust. Return to oven and bake 25 to 30 minutes or until top is light golden brown. Cool completely.

In small bowl, combine powdered sugar and enough lemon juice for desired glaze consistency; blend until smooth. Drizzle over cooled bars. Cut into bars.

Open invitation

Thanks for the fun evening at 536. Following up on a couple of today's conversations, here are some things I'd like to do this summer. If this sounds interesting to any or all of you, it would be fun to go together. The more the merrier!

Kayaking at Rock Cut State Park:

Rock Cut is near Rockford, about an hour from Arlington Heights. My favorite thing to do there is rent kayaks and paddle around the lake. There are also hiking trails and picnic grounds. Pete doesn't enjoy the outdoorsy activities, but would anyone else like to spend an afternoon there? Perhaps on July 25 or 26? Or August 9? How about August 15th, 16th, or 17th?

Free concerts at Millenium Park:

Since I'm downtown for work anyway, I try to see some of these concerts when I can. It's free live music from a great orchestra in a beautiful park. If anyone wants to come, I'd be happy to meet you at the train station or anywhere else in the loop and walk down there. Their schedule is here. I'll probably go tomorrow (Friday), if the weather is good.

Art Institute:

The Art Institute of Chicago just opened a beautiful new wing for their modern art collection. Admission to the whole museum is free Thursday and Friday evenings from 5:00 to 9:00 until Labor Day. This is also close to work, so I could meet you downtown.

East St. Louis

Hi family.

Last weekend I went on a field trip to East St. Louis to look at computer lab set-ups, make connections in the community for some of our groups' final projects, and refurbish computers. Each day down there (Fri-Sat) the temperatures were in the mid to upper 90s, but it was an enriching experience to see how UIUC is involved in bringing ICT (information communication technologies) to these communities. I have some pictures that were taken. As you can see it wasn't all computers and stuff - I had a chance to fill in the role of grillmaster. I hope everyone is in good health for this Independence Day. Take care!

Vancouver

Hi Family,

I returned to Arlington Heights last night from Canada. I was in Vancouver for a conference at the University of British Columbia. The pacific west coast is such an amazing place! I love all of the evergreens, bald eagles, herons (I think) rocks and mountains. I wish I was a real mountain climber, but the only structures I've ever really climbed with a harness are old silos in Bloomington, IL. Yes, I am a flatlander, but I really love the West. 

It is also very inspiring to witness the reverence shown to native tribes in Canada. They refer to their native tribes as the First Nations, and their art is prominently displayed and celebrated, it seems.

See you all soon,

Jim

More Nola News

So I am staying in Nola for another year. I recently applied for and was given the position for Americorps Manager Assistant, which will have me training the first year Americorps that come in this summer-and doing other administrative work. I am presently starting to be integrated into my new position and it officially begins on the 15th of August (like my term started last summer). I am done with year one here the 15th of July and plan on coming home for the majority of the time in between my terms. I am really looking forward to this next year and I think it will bring a new set of exciting challenges.

It's been much too long

I feel a blog coming on....

Hey family. Thanks for sharing a great week with me when I visited. Coming back to AH was like walking through so many past years of my life all at once. It's magical there because of you guys. I spent a good deal of time away from the 536 home, but you got to understand, folks, there were a lot of people I really wanted to see.
Anyway, defenses aside, that vacation home meant more to me than you could know. It was reJUVEnating (haha, much pun intended) in so many ways. Now that I am back I finally feel like a Chicagoan (suburbanite) with a New Orleans life. I'm sure this city has influenced me to make me who I am today, but I will always be one of you.

All this philosophical mumbo jumbo aside, being back in Nola feels good. Come visit me. Come while you have a reason to vacation in one of the sweetest cities ever.
My plans as of right now are that I've applied for a second year here as an Americorps leader/Project Manager (a raise and more responsibilities), but I'll be done with this 1st year one July 15h. My second year, if I get it (chances are good), would begin August 15th. Plenty of time for 3018476 lan parties and a week on Beaver Island.

Kiddieland is closing : (

Literary Falcons in Evanston

Nature lovers in the family might be interested in the peregrine falcons that nest on Evanston Public Library. This is the sixth year we have had peregrines nesting there. This year the pair had four eggs. Three hatched on Tuesday and the fourth hatched this morning. The library has a webcam focused on the nest. It's still images, not video, but it updates every few minutes (except when something is wrong with it--which, unfortunately, is often). The nest is unlighted, so you can only see things during daylight hours. Anyway, if you go to epl.org/falconcam, you can see the four chicks, if one of the parents is not brooding them, or maybe see a parent feeding them. They will probably be in the nest for about six weeks, so you can watch them develop. Once they fledge, they will not come back to the nest, so that will be it for the year. After that, we see them around downtown Evanston through the summer, learning to fly from building to building, screaming for their parents to feed them, and then learning to hunt for themselves.

I don't want to study for my Spanish exam.

Today...

*I found out I have a TWO room double for next year! Yay!
*I received an A on my Native Son literary analysis! Yay!
*There was a coupon for free ice cream in my mailbox! Yay!

Wonderful, wonderful day.

Edit - Some explanation and some cool news (Fame +1)

Okay so i took the picture out and left a link instead. See superman pic's if you click on the title.

To explain a little-- I worked on a Sunday to host a group of City Year volunteers as well as actor Brandon Routh - who played Superman in the most recent Superman Returns film. I want to explain more here but I'll just tell stories once we all meet back up... It was a very fun day and everyone worked real hard to get their projects completed.

The funny thing is I am also featured for about 6 or so seconds on this trailer for a TV show called Volunteer Nation- and so is my co-worker. His name is Adam Weingarten and he is from Buffalo Grove, IL. He's the second guy talking in front of the camera at about 0:24 seconds in. You can see me at about 1:50-ish kneeling, measuring, hammering, and raising this piece of what they call "shoring" which stabilizes a house from collapsing.


Volunteer Nation - Season One Trailer from Volunteer Nation on Vimeo.

Back in December, I was interviewed and filmed and now I guess there is going to be an episode of it about Rebuilding New Orleans. It seems like an incredibly well made "Reality" television show, and also with a good purpose. At 1:53 I think it's my voice that says "We're one of the few countries where this is even an idea. Like, work a job and help people who don't have as much as you." (From what I remember about my interview I would have said something like this. but I don't know what my own voice sounds like [anyone want to help verify?])

so...

new theme on the blog?
ya bougie.

i'll be coming home this weekend! i'm super excited to see everyone! i won't be home for long; i'll be around late friday evening until early sunday morning.

Happy birthday, Tom!

better than birthday candles

perch

Our new neighbors, the foxes

At the request of the birthday boy, here are some photos of the foxes living under our shed. I hope they stay awhile!


This is the adult digging out a wider entrance to the den. In past years, this space has been home to a raccoon family.

This one was taken last week - you can see the kit (baby fox) on the left.

Back in FL

Thanks for inviting us to the Arlington Heights Hahns blog. We returned last night -- very exhausted -- at 2am! We spent the day in Dunnellon, FL with some friends on their farm -- fishing, four wheeling, horseback riding etc. An alligator was watching us from a 'safe' distance while we fished, but after we left a big ol' bass tied up off the dock, he came in way too close for comfort.

It was a tough ride to Ft. Myers afterwards, but well worth it! Try to imagine your old Aunt and Uncle singing hip hop at the top of their lungs to stay awake. Scary, huh?

We have many people to thank in IL...James and Lynn for the tour of the lakefront and the gifts for the kids, Peter and Jubentina for the gifts for the kids and hospitality, Dan for playing with Joe and Rita for awhile. Matt and Tommy for visiting with us, Aunt Mary for the cute gifts for the kids, Matt and Zuly for the gifts and hosting a sleepover for the boys. Most of all, thanks to Grampa and Gramma for the unending hospitality and love.

We just finished moving about 20 monarch caterpillars to the nature center and a neighbor's house b/c they had stripped the milkweeds bare at our house. It started as an Easter Egg Hunt but turned into the Great Caterpillar Rescue of 2009.

As always, you ALL have an open invitation to visit anytime!

spring term

week 1 and week 2 are over and done with. that leaves me with 3 through 10. i'm not completely feeling my classes this term; i'm mostly working to satisfy my distros (distribution requirements). so, i'm taking math. which is super easy and consequently super boring... the prof is really funny though. i was hoping the class would somewhat prime me for statisitics next year, but i'm not too worried about it. my spanish class is fun and i really like Palmar (my prof) and my classmates (we're all basically freshman which means we all knew at least a few people coming into the class). the bad thing is that it feels like a high school class. which is fine; i do my homework super quick and call it a day, but still... i don't know how much i'm actually learning. my text and film class is really just text based. the only movie adaptation we're going to watch out of the 6 books that we're reading is Devil in a Blue Dress. my prof's name is kofe (sounds like coffee, but with a harder co- sound) and he has the most adorable accent and talks about himself in the third person (and it actually isn't annoying!). i like my english class with him... probably because i'm painfully on top of the reading assignments (because for math and spanish i get barely any homework). when we were told we had to read Native Son within 3 classes, I assumed that wouldn't happen, but somehow it did. Next up is Malcolm X! I guess, my only real college-feeling class is text and film, but i'm really enjoying it.

I hosted a prospective student yesterday. Well, actually my roommate did, but she ditched the poor girl, so the prospie and I became bffls. I always really like having prospies. It's nostalgia at its best... I remember getting letters back from colleges and getting ready for Prom and graduation. Plus, prospies remind me how much I love Carleton - how Carleton, in the half a year that I've been here, has become such an undeniable part of me and such an essential aspect of my growth as an individual. I love it here. Miss you all!

Jean & Ralph in town Pizza Party Wednesday

Jean & Ralph are in town as of last night and will be in town until Friday. Grandpa wants to have a pizza party on Wednesday at his house. I really don't have details yet but Ill edit this post when I do. Try to free up some time Wednesday night and Ill edit this soon! take care

-matt



*****************************
Dan's Edit:
Pizza party was a no-go. Matt sends his apologies. I got a chance to see the family though, and invite Jeanne and Ralph to the blog.

Dan

Standoff

First and most importantly: No one was hurt. That said, has anyone heard from your Uncle Matt's family? There was a police standoff all night with someone on their block. They had to evacuate 18 homes nearby. I don't know whether your family was affected, but evacuating with the kids would be quite an adventure. Thank goodness it ended peacefully.

Video of Tony Hahn, New Orleans

Tony's room in Old Algiers.

News flash from the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation

Finally. It's about time the state weighed in on the issue of fish pedicures.

I didn't even know fish had toenails.

Pictures: Matt's Bday & More from Tina's Camera!!