i love a challenge

i may hate the city, but it affords me parking challenges like this:


sure, i tapped the guy in front and back, but tapping is allowed and i still got in mere inches from the curb.

madison

for a break from the city, the hubby and i went to madison for the weekend. that's in wisconsin, for you midwest-challenged people. i had been there before, but scott had not and he found a nice bed and breakfast for us to stay in. we made reservations on thursday and left saturday morning.

on the way up, we stopped at the Belvidere High School, where they have a memorial for the April 21, 1967 tornado that ripped through there right as the kids were getting out of school. It tore a 10-mile swath of destruction through Belvidere and caused $25 million in damage. More than 500 were injured and 25 were dead. here's a picture of the monument:
then we made our way up to Madison. we checked in to the hotel and prayed that it wouldn't suck because their website was down when we made the reservations. remember in the old days when you had to stay at a place sight unseen? yeah, it was like that. but we checked in and it was really nice. here are some pictures:


we dropped our stuff off then we decided to head out to some used cd and bookstores that we had heard about. we trudged up the hill to the capitol (literally about 3 blocks away) and found that there was a street festival/sidewalk sale going on for the whole length of state street. woo-hoo! it was hot and crowded, but we managed to go the whole way and back again without dying. we languished in avol's bookstore for a while, then carried on. scott got some cds and i got nothing. we shared a root beer float. then we went back to the room, cooled off, and then went out to eat at old fashioned, which was really good. the waitstaff was nice. we ate at the bar, which i hardly ever do, but with two people it's easier than with a group. we ate, drank (they have an amazing house beer that even i liked), then drove around a bit to see what the town beyond the capitol had to offer. we found this used cd/record shop that seemed pretty cool. it had this sign:
but what i really liked about the place was that he had law and order on the tv. :D it was on mute because, as the owner explained, he had already seen this episode and turned up the music instead. heh. but i noticed that in the corner of the screen, there was a little tornado watch icon. we were never in it in the county we were in (dane), but we did get some rain that night.

on sunday, we were going to go to house on the rock, but it was $27 to get in (thank god we called), so we didn't go. so we had the whole day ahead of us. we checked out some game stores in the area, went to some antique malls, one which had this cute little guy:
his name is Bob. he was very friendly. i bought some of those read/record things... "when you hear the chime, turn the page." those things. i really wanted this book from the 1930s on city living and country living. it was like a school book, but there wasn't a price on it, so i couldn't buy it. boo.

then we went to lunch at ella's animatronic deli. it was the weirdest thing in the world. a totally kosher deli (no ham, no bacon) with all this movable stuff making tons of noise. some pics:

the first picture is of the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. and the second pic is of a leap-frogging tooth and toothbrush and ketchup and hot dog. there were hundreds of these things all over this restaurant. and they had peanut butter cookie dough ice cream, which we didn't get. i had a grilled cheese, scott had a sloppy joe and vanilla milk shake. yum.

we were going to go out to dinner at the essen haus for dinner, but we really weren't in the mood for weiner schnitzel. so we trudged up the hill towards the capitol and ate at the great dane brewery and pub. i got the blackened catfish sandwich and scott got the prime rib sandwich. both were really good. their beer was ok, even if they did have a good selection. and with a brew pub, you get that hoppy odor lingering in the eating area, which isn't really appetizing.

after that, we walked around a little. on our way back to the hotel, we noticed a train coming down the tracks that were labeled "exempt." strange. but i got a picture to prove it:
we then headed back to our room to watch law and order. :D

we also took a drive around lake monona. we tried to drive right next to the lake, but with the private drives and houses right on the lake, it was impossible. so we ended up having to bail and take major roads back to the hotel. it was still really pretty, and cool to see your hotel and the capitol from the other side of the lake. here are some pictures from the OTHER lake, lake mendota on saturday:
we watched a never-before-seen episode of law and order after dinner on sunday, then headed to the essen haus for dessert (at 10pm). we got a piece of chocolate mousse torte. holy crap, was it good. and the bar was deserted except a drunken soon-departing party and two bar flies. the guy who served us was in lederhosen. ha! this is the sign that greets you as you pull into the parking lot:
this morning, we hit one more game store (yeah, the place is ugly with game stores) and then we hit the road. we stopped by a few places on the way back home, like some antique stores and a grocery store, in an attempt to find Bell's beer (which is distributed in WI but not in IL), but no dice. then we braved the traffic (it wasn't bad at all) and here we are, back home. home, crap home.

bottomed out

twice in a week i have suffered painful anal hoe-downs. for those of you who don't have food allergies/IBS, be thankful you don't know of what i speak. and i can't tell where one starts and the other begins.

last friday, i felt fine, if a little tired. around 1pm, after eating a veggie sammich from subway, i got a stomachache and headed for the bathroom. have you ever had that feeling that your intestines are being squeezed by the hand of God? i got to the point that i thought i was going to pass out. i was shaky and sweating and trying hard not to puke from the pain. it came in waves and after the last one nearly made me do a face-plant on the not-so-clean tile of the bathroom, i packed up my stuff and walked out. without telling anyone and about an hour before quittin' time.

and the thought of taking a train ride home? made me sweat even more. i took a cab. that's right. a cab from the gold coast to albany park. my stomachache cost me $20.

i took my meds (dicyclomine and allegra-d) when i got home and crashed into bed. i slept until about 5. i felt "OK, meaning my stomach wasn't trying to come out my ass anymore, but my lower stomach felt like it had just done a triathalon. and the usual stomach bloatedness that comes after such a session.

the next day i was exhausted. i went out around noon to run some errands, but came home because i was so damn tired. i slept for about an hour in the afternoon. i was supposed to go out with friends that night to a ribfest in lake in the hills, which i had planned on doing... until around 4pm, my stomach decided to do a repeat of the day before. i called my friends and told them i wouldn't be joining them. boo.

sunday, tired again. monday, i went to work but i was damn exhausted. tuesday i called in sick. i went back to bed and slept until 10:30. laid around the rest of the day. felt feverish but the battery in my thermometer has died. of course. wednesday, feel better, still tired. oh, have i mentioned that i haven't poo'ed since saturday? yeah, not good.

today, i got up feeling not too bad. right before i left, i felt "the urge," but decided it could wait. i got in my car to drive to fullerton (only 3 train stops from there to work. less time trapped in a tin tube with no bathroom), i feel the real urge about 10 blocks from home. great. every stop light is my nemesis. and it's that sore, painful kind of urge. i stop in a local grocery store and use their head. no complications. i felt like "mission accomplished." let's get on with the day.

oh, no. that's totally not the case. after that, my stomach started hurting in earnest. i got to the train, hoping (willing myself) that i can make it to work. yes, it's only three stops, but they're doing work on the red line (again) and they only go about 15 mph. when you're in late stage labor and the train keeps stopping, it's just not a good thing. i had to get off a stop before mine to take another pit stop. then i had to walk the rest of the way.

i wish this was explosive diarrhea. but this is that slow ache that twists your intestines in knots. i don't care about having to stop every 5 feet to go to the bathroom, but when it makes me break out into a cold sweat, the last place i want to be is in a public bathroom.

i don't know what's causing this. yes, i am allergic to milk, soy, beef and pork. i ate a M&M ice cream bar thursday afternoon, which i attributed to my suffering friday afternoon (the pain rears its ugly head about 24 hours post-ingestion). but what the hell was today? yea, i haven't gone in 4 days. i fully expected several trips to the bathroom. but not like this. now i am terrified to eat anything that is in the least processed. no more milk products at all. no sweet, cooling, delicious ice cream. no more yogurt.

and is my dicyclomine causing this constipation with painful results? i took one pill this morning at work, hoping it would calm things down enough so i could concentrate. no dice. at first, i thought it was going to work. but another wave hit me and i really thought i was going puke in the garbage can. it left me sweaty and shaky again. what the fuck is causing this?

my doctor posed the interesting question, "what came first? the IBS or the allergies?" did the inflammation of the IBS allow food particles to get into my blood stream so antibodies react? or do my allergies cause my intestines to become inflamed? i just don't know. i just want it to stop.

so i brought work home with me and i've eaten rice and bread and jelly. no breakfast tomorrow until i'm at work. i'm taking no chances. and maybe this will pass. pray for me.

i miss photography

it's hard for me to not push forward in my life. it's strange, but now that i'm on the science track, it's hard for me to go back to art, despite the fact that i think i would really enjoy taking a photo class at truman or harold washington. just talking with a co-worker made me remember all of the photos i've taken (i'm trying not to think about the digital photos i lost in the great macbook crash of 2008). i went to my website (my crappy, crappy website) and found this picture:

you tend to notice the smaller things in life when you're looking through a lens.

everything fails me.

my ipod has been erased by a program that i was using to get everything off of it. since my hard drive is completely gone, this was all i had left. now it's all gone.

why does this keep happening to me? why? i was just flipping through my ipod thinking of all of the music i don't have anymore and how careful i had to be. why i am so fucking stupid? i am so tired of being stupid. so fucking tired of things failing me.