Just got back from Brian and Diane's, where we were watching the Olympic Opening Ceremonies. I have to admit, I'm a complete sucker for the Olympics. I get really, really into it -- I buy into the ideal that it's an altruistic coming-together of the world through sport, and we're cheering for individuals, not nations, and all the rest. I get emotionally involved. Yes, I cry. This is basically the international equivilant of a 16-day Hallmark commercial, and I cry. It's pathetic.

My friends enjoy torturing me, and tonight was no exception. No one chanted USA in my presence, but they came close. There was mockery of national costume, there was derision at speeches, there was all that. And there was much, much disdain for the artistic program.

Now, I have to admit, some of the stuff in the artistic bit of the opening ceremonies was pretty cool. The moose puppets and the bear chasing the fish: really well done. The giant bison, with the shadow puppets of the herd on the inside of its flank: Wowie. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing the national anthem, and the tattered flag from the World Trade center being marched in: really poignant. So some things went right. And then there was the rest of it.....

I actually liked the gathering of the tribes, and the welcome and blessings inthe five native American languages. Of course, Brian and Wayne thought all the cheifs were saying "Get the hell off our land, you bastards!" and kept expecting the dancers to suddenly drop their ceremonial garb and take up arms. They invisioned Tom Ridge screaming "Hell, I thought we killed all them Indian terrorists more than 100 years ago!" as someone scalped the president. Sigh.

But what was with that hoedown? Oy. The cheese is strong in that segment, says Obi Wan. We really wouldn't have minded so much if the Indians had attacked and wiped out the faux settlers, just so we wouldn't have to see the square dancing and such. And I do believe it is one of the crimes of our crypto-capitalist society that Aaron Copeland's "Rodeo" will forever be knows as the "Beef -- It's What's For Dinner" song. That's almost as bad as "Rhapsody in Blue" beicoming the United Airlines theme. Grr.

And did anyone else think the skaters supposed to represent falling icicles, the ones all in white with the big pointy hats, looked disturbingly like Klan members? Gah. I also got pretty sick of hearing about "The Child of Light."

Nothing will ever top the torchlighting at Barcelona, where the Spanish archer lit the torch with a flaming arrow, but having the 1980 hockey team light the torch en masse was pretty damn cool.

Oh, one last thought: Katie Couric looks weird as a blonde. She just does.

If this is a hoax, it's a very convincing one: Northwestern, my former university, is planning on paving over one of the nicest parts of campus -- a part of campus they feature prominantly in their recruiting literature -- because they expect they'll probably need to build on it at some point. In the meantime, they'll put up a parking lot. Feh. I almost want to believe it's a hoax, but there's evidence: press releases and a couple of stories in the Daily Northwestern, the campus newspaper.

This is ridiculous: The lakefill and lagoon make Northwestern such a beautiful place to be, and I'd hate to see it go just because the univeristy was too stupid to keep land in the actual town of Evanston. The campus is a big selling point for the University -- hell, even Newton was impressed. The lakefill adds a hell of a lot more to the day-to-day lives of the students and faculty than the damn football team, no matter how much they try to promote it.

It's also maddening that the university decided to do this without even talking to students, alumni, anyone else, even trying to make a case for why it should happen. We're reasonable people: If there's no other way to get the space the university needs, so be it. But just announcing "Hey, we're going to fill in and pave over a fair bit of the coolest part of campus, nothing to see here, move along" without any sort of warning is arrogant and suggests that they don't want to consider any options -- they're going to do what they're going to do, and to hell with what anyone else thinks. At least try to explain your reasoning to the NU community -- the students, faculty and alumni. How difficult is that? Grrr.

There's an online petition protesting the plan -- please sign it, especially if you have some connection to NU. If you usually donate to NU, you might want to let them know you're withholding your regular donation in disgust at their high-handed, authoritarian actions.

Or you could just write an impassioned screed on your blog. Whatever works.

Oh, another note: Wendy mentioned the other day that I have this great page on Jersild Day, and then I don't tell you when it is. Doh! It's February 21. I'll be updating that page soon.

I've just installed a counter on my main page. I suspect the only people who read this are people who know me or people who know people who know me. We'll find out.

A bunch of us went out to dinner for Jordan's birthday at Pete Miller's Steak House in Evanston, which was nice. It's a "Big Hunk o' Meat" place, and I haven't been to something like that for a while. So, yummy fillet mignon, but they literally gave me a big hunk of meat with a roasted onion on the side. That's it. Thank god a salad came before the meal. Even I, with my unnatural eating habits, don't consider a big hunk of meat on its own a real meal.

They also make amazing hot fudge sundaes with Callebaut Belgian chocolate sauce. Wowie. That's some goooooood chocolate. Newton, you're right: Hershey's is pretty much an insult to your tastebuds after something like that.

Ironically enough, after all this talk of fillet mignon and chocolate, I went to the gym today over lunch for the first time since Australia. I'm trying to decide whether or not to cancel my membership, which ain't cheap, and just avail myself of the City of Chicago facilities. My gym is nicer, closer, and full of fun people to look at (my trainer was a fireman for god's sake.) It's also expensive, and full of such pretty people that I almost feel guilty for going there when I'm not in perfect shape. The Park District places are free, but inconveninetly located and not necessarily all that clean. But the whole free thing is very compelling....I guess I'll just see how much I use the damn gym over the next several weeks/months. If my gym attendance drops below, say, at least once a week, then I should ditch it. And if anything nasty happens with my job -- like, say, I no longer have one -- the gym membership is the first thing to go.

I'm still sparring with the insurance company over our compensation. The good news: I got the check for the furnace today. That goes straight to the Home Equity people. The bad news: They don't know what they're gong to do about Wendy's manuscript, which was on the computer that was stolen. It wasn't sold yet, so the insurance company is leaning toward "well how do we know it (1) really existed, and (2) really had value?" The existance thing is easy enough to prove -- Wendy has about 700 pages that she's trying to organize/update. The value part... well, if it had already been sold, then the manuscript would have been done and the editor would already have it. It's one of those Catch-22-type situations. We'll see how it turns out.

At work, we've discovered that the other company that had been on our floor has moved, so we're all alone. And there's not that many of us to begin with. Our bosses are out this week, so Andy and Eric are lobbying for a pajama day on friday. Sure, what the hell -- my jammies aren't much less accepatble than the stuff i usally wear to work.

We did discover a disturbing trend, however: 3 out of 3 tech guys surveyed said they don't wear pajamas, and therefore either sleep inthe buff or in their underwear. That was a mental image that I just didn't need to construct.

Finally! Proof positive that Angie, Lotti and I aren't the only Digression Girls on the planet. I was looking at Television Without Pity (formerly MightyBig TV) today and got sucked in by a link in the side column that said Songs In The Key Of "Huh?" "'A hen? A hen is funny? What are you, a Mennonite?' I was intrigued. It linked to a long, digression-laden, HI-LARIOUS conversation about post offices, interpretive dance to David Cassidy, hens as the instrument of revenge and much, much more. I laughed my ass off -- as silently as possible, as I was still, technically, at work. (Shhh!). I was highly tempted to call Ang and Lotti, but figured instead I'd just put the link in my blog and hope they saw it there. (Ang probably will, but Lotti is in Tech Week Hell and therefore may not be coming up for air.) Go read it. If you don't think it's funny... well, you're wrong.

Digression -- have you been to TVWoP? They do recaps. They have more snark per capita than should be legal. I'm wildly jealous of the people who get paid -- yes, get paid to make obnoxious comments about cheesy TV. Why the hell didn't I think of that? Harumph.

So I wrote what I believe is my first internet fan letter. I'm not a stalker, I promise. I just want Sars' job (or at least the TVWoP part) and possibly her life. That's all. Nothing to be afraid of.

In other news, Newton is continuing on his path of worldwide media domination. His first commentary for the BBC -- yes, thatBBC -- ran today. Who knew being a smartass was actually a great career move? It was a great surprise to my parents -- they said something to the effect of "Wow, if you'd kept dating him, you'd be with a media star now." I explained that actually wouldn't have happened, as the whole PDN website sprung out of the messy end of a nasty relationship, and, had we stayed together, he would have remained blissfully happy at all times, basking in the joy of my presence. So really, it's all for the best -- I would hate to deprive the world of another incisive voice of satire and smart-assedness just because i'm too wonderful to sow dissent. That would be tragic.

I also got taken to task by Rich today for maligning him in my side rail. Why single out him for not posting, he asks, when Wendy is much more lax about blogging? I explained that (1) Wendy had her computer stolen, so that's why she couldn't blog, (2) Upon the receipt of a new computer, I bugged her to blog again, and (3) she's my in-house tech support, you think I'm going to risk pissing her off? I don't think so. But Rich, I feel your pain, and I recognize the injustice of lumping you with Tripp, who hasn't updated since October, ferchrissake, so I will release you from the penalty box. In fact, you get a new cataagory all your own. Mea Culpa.

Long boring day, and a good evening. Work is work. Not much more I can say about it.

We did, however, find out today what the "big partnership deal" our CEO alluded to in the all-company quarterly conference call was: An alliance with Towers-Perrin, a big and respected HR consulting firm. Which led to the following conversation:

andydehnart: who is towers perrin?
sjerslix: consulting firm
sjerslix: They're pretty big
sjerslix: I guess this is what Deb was all excited about
andydehnart: cool
sjerslix: At least it's not Anderson
andydehnart: hehSorry, Angie. I couldn't resist.

Tonight was another harmony singing class at Old Town School -- One of the other women in the class said tonight "I'm always in such a good mood after this class." I agree. It's just energizing. We worked on Rivers of Babylon, which has a great three-part harmony at the end (which unfortunately is not in the clip on Amazon, but I couldn't find a full MP3 of the song) and a new piece, At the Dimming of the Day. Both sound amazing, if i do say so myself. And we're doing it! We're making harmony! It's so cool.

I decided to capitalize on the energy I get after class by going straight to the Chicago Park District facility right near Old Town School, which has an indoor swimming pool -- and it's free! I love the park system here. I haven't swum -- or, for that matter, taken time out to exercize -- since I got back from Australia. I must say, I prefer swimming in Australia, but until I get the commute down, this will do. However, one hint for swimming in Chicago in the winter: Either dry your hair after you get out of the pool, or bring a big-ass hat with earflaps. Oy.

I meant to have a mega-productive day today, but alas, that didn't happen. Lotti and John had a few people over last night, and we ended up staying past 2 a.m. It was highly cool -- hanging out with Lotti and John, Angie and Jordan, Kristin and Maneesh, and Dawn. (Dawn and I are the only single ones in the Girls' Night Out group, so for all intents and purposes --i.e., when we're teaming up for games and such -- we're a couple. We've decided to register at Crate and Barrel, just because, hell, everyone else has done it, and I want cool stuff.) We just hung out, watching seriously bizarre sex and and anti-drug training films from the 40s through the 70s, and playing Trivial Pursuits and Celebrities. We also watched the rough shots from John's commercial, and got to see my commercial acting debut. I don't think the acting community here is in any danger from my competition. Also, note to self: Even if the camera does add ten pounds, you still really, really need to go to the gym again. Sigh.

I have some friends (cough, Newton) who probably think that sounds like a lame evening, but dammit, it was really fun. And cheap. And you can still hear when you leave, and you don't smell like smoke. And to hell with it, I know I'm old. I have no problem with that.

It can, of course, be argued that I'm not dating anyone because I tend to hang out with people I already know, most of whom are married and/or attached. I'm trying to figure out whether or not that's really a bad thing. Granted, such behavior does increase the likelihood that I will, in fact, become a scary cat lady who dies alone and unnoticed until her feline-gnawed corpse is discovered several days or weeks after the fact. I guess that's bad. But so is the bar scene (shudder), and chat-up lines, and blind dates. Six of one, half dozen of the other, I guess.

Hmm. That's cheery.

Anyway, the wacky fun times at Lotti and John's led to me getting home quite late, and then testing the "nap" function on my new clock radio this afternoon. It works.

I'm not watching the Superbowl tonight, as I don't like football and I don't even care that much about the commercials this year. I can do some of my productive-time stuff now, like cleaning up links on this site and shovelling out the squalor in my apartment. I'm working on it.

As for the writing life: I'm doing better about writing daily and pitching articles. However, I got my first rejection yesterday, fromt he folks at the Chicago Tribune Travel section. Alas. I'm going to try to rework the articles and submit them to inflight magazines, perhaps.