A. wins 421-273
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.
First game of the new year! I had two bingos and R. had one.
January 03, 2009
January 01, 2009
A wins 387-243
A wins 387-243
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.
First game of 2009 was with Robby Mac! We played at home. No bingos in this game.
December 13, 2008
December 05, 2008
R. wins 398-321
R. wins 398-321
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.
R. killed me tonight, although we both had bingos: inquires and sanders.
Scrabble night in DeKalb.
Scrabble night in DeKalb.
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.
No Scrabble last weekend over Thanksgiving. This was our board from a fun night in DeKalb with friends the week before that.
December 01, 2008
Day of Firsts
This is my first major post about commuting since I started working at Northwestern and taking the train for two hours each way every day. Today was a day of a lot of firsts for me. It was the first day of the month (obviously), and today was the first day of reading week at Northwestern. It was also the first day after the first major snowfall of the year. And this morning was the first time I slipped and fell on the Adams Street bridge by Union Station.
Chicago only got maybe 2 inches (if that) of snow that actually stuck to the ground; apparently no one bothered to clear the walkway on the bridge before the morning commuters tramped the snow down into a solid pack of ice. I was quick off the train this morning, and when I got out of Union Station the bridge was mostly clear of people. The snow had been packed down, but not evenly. It was a bumpy layer of compacted snow and my dress shoes were not equipped to handle the lack of friction. Have you seen a cartoon where the character's legs slip out from underneath the body? That was me on the bridge. I landed flat on my derriere. I was able to get up quickly, fortunately nothing was broken (on my body or in my bag), and nothing had fell out of my coat or bag. As I limped slowly down the street an older man with a cane gave me some friendly advice on icing down my back. I kept a straight face, even though I was not really in the mood for conversation at that point.
I got to the Quincy station and made sure the train pulling in was not a Purple Line train. I had just received my Chicago Plus transit card, but didn't know if it was active (long story for some other time, maybe) so I tried using the kiosk to check the balance of the card. The display said that I could not add money to this type of card. I took that to mean that the card was not active, so I hurriedly added $20 to my CTA transit card. It was at that point when I realized, I should have just tried my Plus card on the turnstiles. I did, and it worked. So today was the first day of my unlimited ride card (another first!), but now I have a $20 CTA card in my wallet that I don't really need.
The rest of the morning commute was relatively uneventful. The coffee at Linz and Vail tasted extra delicious after all my earlier excitement. The evening commute was also relatively boring. The packed snow-ice had been cleared off the bridge sometime during the day. The only interesting thing that happened tonight was that after I got back to Aurora and was walking from the train to the car, I saw a mouse (first rodent spotting?) in the parking lot of the transportation center. It was just hanging out in the ice and slush of the parking lot. It wasn't moving very fast, but it did move away when I tried to bend over to get a better look.
If this is what the winter commute is going to be like, I might have to look into gearing up with some crampons. Or at least some galoshes with traction.
Chicago only got maybe 2 inches (if that) of snow that actually stuck to the ground; apparently no one bothered to clear the walkway on the bridge before the morning commuters tramped the snow down into a solid pack of ice. I was quick off the train this morning, and when I got out of Union Station the bridge was mostly clear of people. The snow had been packed down, but not evenly. It was a bumpy layer of compacted snow and my dress shoes were not equipped to handle the lack of friction. Have you seen a cartoon where the character's legs slip out from underneath the body? That was me on the bridge. I landed flat on my derriere. I was able to get up quickly, fortunately nothing was broken (on my body or in my bag), and nothing had fell out of my coat or bag. As I limped slowly down the street an older man with a cane gave me some friendly advice on icing down my back. I kept a straight face, even though I was not really in the mood for conversation at that point.
I got to the Quincy station and made sure the train pulling in was not a Purple Line train. I had just received my Chicago Plus transit card, but didn't know if it was active (long story for some other time, maybe) so I tried using the kiosk to check the balance of the card. The display said that I could not add money to this type of card. I took that to mean that the card was not active, so I hurriedly added $20 to my CTA transit card. It was at that point when I realized, I should have just tried my Plus card on the turnstiles. I did, and it worked. So today was the first day of my unlimited ride card (another first!), but now I have a $20 CTA card in my wallet that I don't really need.
The rest of the morning commute was relatively uneventful. The coffee at Linz and Vail tasted extra delicious after all my earlier excitement. The evening commute was also relatively boring. The packed snow-ice had been cleared off the bridge sometime during the day. The only interesting thing that happened tonight was that after I got back to Aurora and was walking from the train to the car, I saw a mouse (first rodent spotting?) in the parking lot of the transportation center. It was just hanging out in the ice and slush of the parking lot. It wasn't moving very fast, but it did move away when I tried to bend over to get a better look.
If this is what the winter commute is going to be like, I might have to look into gearing up with some crampons. Or at least some galoshes with traction.
November 15, 2008
A. wins 358-272
A. wins 358-272
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.
R. had all the high point tiles and all the S tiles, but could not capitalize on them. I had one bingo: caution.
November 08, 2008
A wins 420-331
A wins 420-331
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.
R. started the game strong with a bingo: ranterS. I had 2 bingo: sleeveS and sputnik.
November 01, 2008
A wins 332-257
A wins 332-257
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.
This was our first timed game in a long while. No bingos.
October 24, 2008
A. wins 328-295
A. wins 328-295
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.
Tonight we played at Caribou with 50 of the finest of the future of Naperville providing PLENTY of background noise. No bingos tonight.
October 12, 2008
R wins 332-282
R wins 332-282
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.
New coffeeshop today: Saxbys in Plano. One bingo: loaders was not enough to win.
October 09, 2008
Got one!
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October 04, 2008
A. wins 367-352
A. wins 367-352
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.
Today's game was played at Dunn Bros Coffee shop in North Aurora. since the first place we went to decided to close 3 hours before their posted closing time. This coffee shop has free internet terminals running linux! Plus, they roast their own beans. Yum!
One bingo today: details.
September 29, 2008
Test post!
Here is a new paragraph.
And another.
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September 20, 2008
A. wins 309-304
A. wins 309-304
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.
Low scoring game today. Found a great coffeeshop in Brookfield, Loca Mocha.
September 13, 2008
A. wins 387-304
A. wins 387-304
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.
R. had a bingo: lotoses (she cheated to find it) but it didn't help tonight. We were back at Prisco's Next Door, and are starting to question the quality of the lattes here.
September 06, 2008
A. wins 338-268
A. wins 338-268
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.
Last night's game was at a new-to-us coffeeshop called Prisco's Next Door. Nice place. We'll be back
August 23, 2008
R. wins 371-369
R. wins 371-369
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.
Today's game was played at a coffee shop in Schaumburg with an Asian flair. Renae came from be hind to win even though I had all the S tiles. 3 bingos today: ravings, outings and Renae's bingo: rezoned for 106 points.
August 12, 2008
A. wins 399-366!
A. wins 399-366!
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.
One bingo tonight on Renae's new delux board: salTies.
August 05, 2008
File this under Job Hunt Woes
So today (unless I don't get this posted in the next five minutes, as it is 11:55 pm right now) marked the end of my time at my first institution when I turned in my keys to the division office. I was really glad, in retrospect, that a very friendly colleague was around at the end of the day and we walked out of the department together. I barely even noticed shutting the door to my office for the last time.
The end of my stay didn't come without some indignities, however. Yesterday I was checking my email midmorning when I noticed that no email was getting through either coming in or going out. I was able to resolve the issue, thankfully. I know I'm not entitled to email there anymore, since I suppose my last official day on the payroll was July 31, but since no one told me the email would be shut off, I was a little surprised to not be able to reply to the people at my future institution.
In addition to moving and trying to transition to the new school, I'm keeping my eyes out for advertisements for teaching positions for the Fall of 2009. They just started to come out, so it's time to start getting excited again!
The end of my stay didn't come without some indignities, however. Yesterday I was checking my email midmorning when I noticed that no email was getting through either coming in or going out. I was able to resolve the issue, thankfully. I know I'm not entitled to email there anymore, since I suppose my last official day on the payroll was July 31, but since no one told me the email would be shut off, I was a little surprised to not be able to reply to the people at my future institution.
In addition to moving and trying to transition to the new school, I'm keeping my eyes out for advertisements for teaching positions for the Fall of 2009. They just started to come out, so it's time to start getting excited again!
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