The advantage of convincing yourself that you can't possibly win is that when you DO win, it's that much sweeter. I don't really need to go into details here, do I?



Next up: Atlanta. Atlanta is really good and that's where we fell apart in 98, but this time it will be different, right?

And I did not get any tears in my eyes at any point during the post-game celebration. Nope, not me.

Sorry, REM, your concert last night rocked but tonight my heart is elsewhere :) Will talk more about it after I've put some more time into studying for my exams.

- posted by Diane @ 7:26 PM | (0) Comments

 
Yesterday started out as a good day. Four games left in the season, Cubs ahead of the Astros by a whole game and about to play the Reds again, who barely even showed up the previous two days. But then... the offense was totally on but the pitching was sloppy, and nine very tense innings later, we lost 9-7 and the Astros won and it's all tied up again. The euphoria of yesterday morning has been replaced with what seems like well-justified bleakness. With the magic number at 3 to tie and 4 to win, and with us playing the not-terrible (as we learned last week) Pirates and them playing the very terrible Brewers, the BEST we can hope for right now is a tie and one-game playoff on Monday. The wildcard is pretty unlikely considering how hot the Marlins are, but we can't rule it out yet (they're playing the very terrible Mets). I'm not sure how many days in a row I can hold my breath, but we'll see. And me with two exams to study for!! ARGH!!!

REM show is tonight!! Am bored at work, and so am trying to learn the words (finally) to ITEOTWAWKI(AIFF). Tired of having to sing "mutter mutter mutter mutter DOWN YOUR NECK." Am very very much hoping that the girl I sold the extra ticket to is there. Not that I don't trust the post office, of course, but ever since I mailed it, I've been fretting about whether it got there in time. I think if I see her, I'll introduce myself. I actually have talked to the folks on either side of us, so it'll all be very chummy. I so cannot wait for this show! Maybe I'll finally get a t-shirt! I've always wanted an REM concert shirt, but frankly their designs for Monster and Up were sort of ugly. Love their music, but their artwork (shirts and videos and album covers) are too artsy for my taste. Although, the Bad Day video is really really great. Mike Mills looks just like Paul from Da Vinci's Notebook, or perhaps vice versa.

Happy Rosh Hashanah!

- posted by Diane @ 10:27 AM | (0) Comments

 
HATE the Pirates. I thought trading for half their team would leave them decimated and gasping for air, but apparently not! We actually ended up splitting the series, but even that first game of the DH on Friday was rather clumsily played. Astros FINALLY lost a game today, and even better, so did Florida and Philly. Current standings: Cubs are a half game behind the Astros for the division, and only 1 and 1.5 games behind the WC leaders. There are six games left. I don't know how any reasonable employer or professor can *possibly* expect me to get any work done in the next 7 days!

Wrote a 2-page paper yesterday morning, a scintillating treatise on the tulip poplar. I was really bummed because I found this neat stuff about how George Washington gave tulip poplars to the marquis de Lafayette as a thank-you from America after the Revolution, and some of those trees were planted at Versailles. We had a strict page limit, and that ended up being too extraneous. Sigh. Now I'm attempting to write another 2-page paper, a critique of an article about arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. It's due Wednesday, but I also have a lab to write up and an exam to study for, so I'm trying to draft it tonight. I may have to skip this week's volunteer session at the nature center.

Sold my extra REM ticket at face value. I find selling things on Ebay to be very stressful! Between the constant checking to see the current bid, and having to figure out the best way to ship the stupid thing, I feel like I've expended a ticket's worth of energy in the last five days. Remind me to STOP BUYING EXTRA TICKETS TO THINGS!! Argh.

Govt Mule in Chicago in October. Yum. Note to self: Buy *two* tickets. No more.

- posted by Diane @ 8:58 PM | (0) Comments

 
Well, I decided that $30 was not too much to pay for the seat near Waveland. Turned out to be a pretty cool seat (section 101). I was about 5 rows from the foul pole, nice clear view of Alou doing his "I'm bored and there's no chance a ball will come my way anyway" wide-legged stance in left. Kerry was shaky at first but then settled down, gave up only one run in 6 innings, striking out 9(?). Then I guess Dusty wanted to spice things up a little and pulled him for Guthrie and Alfonseca, who combined to give up the lead just before the skies parted and sheets of water started pouring down. I headed for the concourse, but it's pretty boring standing around and I was soaking wet and not far from home, so I headed out. Got home just as the rain delay ended and saw Goodwin come through and win it for me anyway! Great start to Birthday Weekend 2003! I also bought a new Cubs hat. I rock.

There is a cake mix with my name on it in the kitchen. Cruel, tricksy DH is screwing around on his computer instead of baking it for me.

Agenda for the day: cleaning and homework. Tonight: dinner and movie. Tomorrow: going to see Chicago! Was listening to the Broadway recording last night. I love the song "Roxie" -- ooh, uhuhuhuhuh.... well, it sounds better than it looks :)
- posted by Diane @ 9:58 AM | (0) Comments

 
First place, bay-beeee!!!

Am trying to decide if it's worth shelling out $30 for a seat that's practically on Waveland, for Friday's game. I'll think about it until all the seats are sold out, and that will take the decision out of my hands. Meanwhile, TONS of seats available at Soxpark. It's kind of sad. I suppose that's what you get for surrounding a stadium with parking lots. There's no parking at Wrigley, but 39,000 people a day manage to deal with it, and the bar/bus/El/apartment is just a few steps away before and after.

So... if you buy playoff tickets, and the team doesn't make it to the playoffs, are you out the $$?

- posted by Diane @ 9:48 PM | (0) Comments

 
I turn off the Cubs/Cards when the Cubs are down 2-0 and gloomily trudge off to class, only to miss one of the most exciting comeback wins of the year. Stupid class!!

Two Towers ads are taunting me. I will not give in! I won't! I wonder, is going to see Return of the King on opening day an appropriate way to spend a wedding anniversary?

And a special shout-out goes to all my fans at Vortex. Peace, yo.
- posted by Diane @ 10:45 AM | (0) Comments

 
Okay, *that* was really irritating! You would think that, somewhere in How To Be An Umpire 101, they learn that when there's a puff of chalk, the ball probably hit the line and therefore is *fair*. I don't blame Moises for being pissed off; he even said some things in an interview this morning that had to be bleeped. We're still only 1.5 games back, so the world isn't quite ready to end, but at this point I'd love to just see St. Louis go home because I'm tired of them. Also tired of hearing the name "Pujols". Truly the most unfortunate name in baseball :P

Did my first volunteer stint up at the North Park Village Nature Center this morning. I was a little nervous, especially since I'm not that good at identifying buckthorn seedlings, but boy did I learn fast! Pretty much everything we saw was buckthorn so it didn't take much thinking. The other volunteers have been there a long time and really knew what they were doing. They are mostly retired men and were a lot of fun. One kept calling me Dee and it took me a while to realize he was talking to me. I haven't been called that in a long time, am not used to it anymore. Overall, the morning was fun but tiring, and I got very dirty and hot and sweaty. I think it'll be more efficient from now on to shower afterwards and just wear a hat in the morning. Besides, that'll keep the branches from pulling my hair so much. Ow!

Also got a call from my partner in the Plants of Concern monitoring project. She said she had some family stuff going on, which makes me glad I didn't call her and bug her earlier. Now I just need to find time to do the work! We're basically counting the three rare species present at a beach in the Edgewater area, and possibly also at a private beach that belongs to a condominium. I received a small scholarship from Chicago Wilderness to take the class that taught me how to do this monitoring, so it's extra important that I follow through. The class was way back in May, so I'll have to review my notes and remember what the heck I'm supposed to do!
- posted by Diane @ 12:43 PM | (0) Comments

 
Unbelievable! September has begun, and the Cubbies are still in the thick of things! Prior pitched a masterful game today, despite a four-hour rain delay. Four more games against the Cards this week, giving us a chance to climb back over them in the standings. We're still in the wildcard race, too, although with the number of teams in contention, we're better off just taking the division. And I say "we" like I'm an integral part of the team, but I've put more energy into this team than many of the current players, having been a fan since I knew that baseball existed. I think I've earned the right to say "we".

Once we get past this doubleheader, I wouldn't mind seeing a four-man rotation. Estes may be a very good pitcher, but you can't see it through the flurry of base hits he gives up. If only we could trade Estes and Alfonseca as a package deal for something more useful, like, say, a case of Gatorade.

In other news, we saw Bad Boys 2 today, on a very drizzly Labor Day. Was of course thin on plot but fairly entertaining. Hard to tease Martin for not knowing the verses of the song, because I don't know them either. Hmm, maybe I should look that up...

Classes should begin to have actual content this week. I'm feeling rather relieved that I dropped restoration ecology. I paged through the cell bio text - eek! I have a two-page paper coming up in plant morphology. Should be able to write that in my sleep.


- posted by Diane @ 9:36 PM | (0) Comments