OK, this is way to cool. An article I contributed to Andy's Reality Blurred: Exposed site is number one on Google when you search for "Bob Greene firing". How cool is that?

Wendy and I spent the day setting up our wireless network. (By that, I mean I lounged around watching Changing Rooms and Firefly while Wendy actually did all the tech stuff. What else could it have meant?) Now Wendy can benefit from my cable modem as well, and I can surf from anywhere in the apartment on my iBook. It's all very exciting.

Last night I joined several other Chicago Bloggers at the FlatTop Grill, a Mongolian barbecue place. We used to go to a place called Kublai's in Hong Kong all the time, and I loved it. I didn't know they had the same sort of place in the US. So that was good to find. We geeked out and bonded over... well, geek things. Which is always fun. I was in the minority in that I had no electronics to show off (I always forget to take my cell phone with me, and I don't have a digital camera or iPod or other cool toys), but I did have most everyone beat in LOTR lore, as I have actually read The Silmarillion. Yes, I'm hardcore. It was a fun night, and I had a great time talking to everyone. Thanks.

Of course, now I need to update my site to link to y'all. Sigh. It's happening, I promise.

On the Chicago journalism scene, apparently Fox Chicago is trying a "bold experiment" of locking a bunch of straight people and gay people in a house to see how they get along. That's bad enough, but they're doing it under the "news program" rubric. Since when does ripping off bad reality TV constitute news?

Finally, Jane sent me this picture:

Wendy says that it's probably photoshopped. I wish I believed that....

For all of you who think Trading Spaces is the best thing ever -- It's got nothing on Changing Rooms, the original British version. Damn, it's good. Go BBC America.

It started out being a pretty good day... I saw Lawrence of Arabia at The Music Box last night, and it kicked ass. It's a looooooong movie, but great. And it really makes a difference to see those huge intimidating desert vistas stretched out on a big screen as opposed to my wimpy TV.

So I was in a pretty good mood today. I puttered around, getting stuff done, just waiting for a couple of proposals I'd put into a client to be approved. They seemed to really like my work and told me there was nothing to worry about, so I didn't worry.

Then I got the call this afternoon: The extra work I had pitched for had gone to someone else. That's disappointing, but I'll live. After all, I'll still have the regular income from the long-term project about which I had no worries, right? Well, no. That work went to the other person too. Sorry.

So I'm a little freaked. I didn't see this coming. They weren't my only client, but they were certainly my biggest, and the only one who had thus far paid me on time.

I have a couple of other nibbles -- an interview on Thursday that I hope goes well, another regular to semi-regular project in the works, a possibility of some meeting coverage -- but it was a shock to have what I thought was my sure thing fall through.

So, I will send out the call again: If anyone has any freelance work -- editing, writing, proofreading, content development, basic web stuff -- let me know. The standard bribe -- dinner or cookies -- still applies. You can check out my resume and some work samples at www.sarahjersild.com.

So I went over the Angie and Jordan's for dinner last night, and hung out with them and Ang's cousin Kayla, Kayla's son Ryan, and Ang's parents Tom and Colleen (hi Tom and Colleen!) Angie is still very pregnant, and she delighted in freaking me out by pointing out how her stomach would ripple as little Testicles shifted positions in her belly. I'm still easily freaked by this. I eventually had to flee when her stomach started making very audible "I am the devil's spawn! Get out!" noises. Seriously, it kind of sounded like Testicles has decided that he didn't want to be a human baby, he wanted to be an alien baby who would burst from the belly and consume everything in its path. So I left before that happened.

(I just called. He didn't. But Angie said she's consuming everything in her path, so there you go.)

While we were hanging out, Tom said something about how he enjoyed reading my blog. He then gave his rendition of the blog: "This is what I did this afternoon.....it SUCKED!" When you add that to Rob's parody (and Rob, when are you starting your own blog, hmmm?) and I'm beginning to think that this blog portrays me as nothing but a cranky if occasionally amusing misanthrope.

There's a couple of reasons that I tend toward the curmudgeon: First, it's a lot easier to write compellingly about things that go horribly wrong than things that go blissfully right. How many ways can you say "and everything was fabulous, and they all lived happily ever after, the end" before you get bored to death or your teeth rot from excessive sweetness? But the scope you get from venting spleen, the sheer range you get to explore when exploding with bile... it's immense. I figured this out early: My college essay wasn't about how much I loved working on the school paper, but how much I hated volleyball. And my mom says that's the best thing I've ever written. (We'll overlook, for a moment, how depressing it is to think that I reached my peak in a college essay written when I was 17. Sigh.)

Second, it's a lot of fun. You can go over the top and down the other side when you're being a snarky bitch.You can heap on the adjectives and hammer a point senseless. It's cool. And I firmly believe that people are more inclined to read the bad stuff than the good stuff. People like pain and suffering, and they like it even more when it's funny. If that wasn't the case, why would about 75% of my search engine terms be related to that damn bikini wax story I did?

Finally, when you get right down to it, I pretty much a cranky misanthrope, I am a snarky bitch. But that's not all I am, and I hate the thought of being typecast. So, today, I'm going to try writing about things I like. Happy shiny things. Things that make me glad to be around.

Fall weather: Yeah, it's a cliche, but I love this time of year. the weather is changing, the days are sunny and getting cool, the nights require blankets. Soon the leaves will start changing, and it will smell like fall -- spicy and warm and fleeting. It's my favorite time of year. I love it.

Chicago: It's big but not too big. It's sophisticated but still friendly. Great culture but minimal pretension. People from all over the world. An amazing park system. Fabulous spring and fall weather. Always-amusing politics. A sense of history but still newness. Green space even amid the skyscrapers. A sense of humor. It's a great place.

The Chicago Humanities Festival: The Chicago Humanities Festival picks a theme every year -- this year, Brains and Beauty -- and puts together a program of performances, musical events, speakers, discussions, exhibitions... all for $5 a pop. This year I'll be going to a regular discussion by foreign correspondents based in D.C. about how this country is seen abroad; a reading by Neil Gaiman, one of my favorite authors; a multimedia presentation on Helen of Troy; a lecture by Arthur Miller on politics and image; talks by Studs Terkel and Alice Sebold; and more.

The Music Box Theater and the Chicago Film Festival: Lawrence of Arabia, 70mm. An Akira Kurosawa retrospective. A real old theater with a Wurlitzer that rises from the floor in front of the stage and twinkling stars in the ceiling. I love this theater. Plus, it's one of many across the city that participates in the Chicago Film Festival, which is always cool.

My amazing friends and family: You know who you are. Thanks.

Right, my teeth are starting to hurt. I'm going to stop now before I feel the urge to snark again.