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Adopted foster cat Lilliana...



...new foster cat Christopher....



and slow but steady progress on my stocking cap. Yipes! Stripes!

Lilly's getting adopted! Our foster cat of the last 6+ months has finally been adopted. She's heading for her new home tonight. She'll be living with a family of four (two daughters) who have one other cat and a guinea pig. Their other cat was recently acquired, so hopefully the two of them can establish a joint household, rather than a turf war.

In weather, Hurricane Ivan is headed our way later this week, tho' it should be a tropical depression by the time it reaches us. The latest forecast track has it making a wicked hook and coming up almost directly along the TN/NC border, raining out yet another weekend all across the state. We won't have the wind damage/debris to worry about, but the ground across the state is already so saturated, and the water table so high, that lots of flooding is already expected.

In sports, the crazy college football season has begun here. Do I care? No, except that it affects my travel plans when there's a game in town. The traffic gets ugly and the fans are uglier. I mean, not really ugly in appearance or anything, just in their fan-fanaticism. We had similar issues in Raleigh, but Chapel Hill/Carrboro is a smaller community, so it has a greater impact on a smaller area.

Other than that, Buckles is now 3 years old (by best guestimate) and 17 pounds. I don't think he can grow much more, except for getting fatter, but we're gonna try to keep that in check.

The job search continues. Latest prospects include a high school library, part-time real estate photography, and more print shop jobs of various shapes and sizes. Some sound great, others have trade off benefits such as hours or location that make them more or less appealing. Ideally, I'd get a new part-time day job, and set myself up to freelance. I can get pretty good health insurance through Blue Cross Blue Shield, and as long as I had a regular part-time gig I could probably drum up enough freelance business to fill in the gaps. I might just take the plunge if I can't lock down a good full-time job in the area. There are so many schools here that everyone in this crappy economy is overqualified. They all have degrees up the wazoo, and there's only os many jobs to go around. I've started looking at benefits, fringe and standard, more than salary or hourly wage. If I could have a flexible part-time schedule AND not work weekends AND afford or receive health insurance, I'd be thrilled. I'm starting to think that it is a situation you create rather than find, so I need to figure out how to create it.

Chicago pictures. Val's friend Leah got married in Chicago last weekend. We flew to Chicago on Friday, the wedding was on Saturday, and we flew back on Monday. There was a night before dinner on Friday night, and a morning after brunch on Sunday. It was a great little get away, especially after our Ocracoke vacation was cut short.

Friday: Flew in to O'Hare at 9am, took train downtown, checked in to Chicago Wyndham around 11am (early, check in time is 4pm). Walked around downtown, had lunch, came back to hotel to relax and wait for Jenna and Mark (sharing the hotel room). Went to dinner at the groom's parent's house.

Saturday: Went out for breakfast at the West Egg Cafe (highly recommended), then proceded to drive Jenna's car to Oak Park where we bought a walking tour map of Frank Lloyd Wright designed homes in the area. Went back downtown and Jenna and Val went shopping while Mark and I went to park the car someplace cheap. We ended up parking it at the convention center near the airport, where we thought it was going ot cost $11/day. Turned out to be $11 upon entering, and no charge on the way back out, even if that was 2 days later. Mark and I took the train back downtown, had pizza for lunch, and returned to the hotel. It was nap time at the hotel, followed by shower-and-get-dressed-up-for-the-wedding time. There was a shuttle from the hotel to the ceremony, which was at a nature center in a park downtown. Ceremony at 6pm, cocktails and appetizers at 7pm, dinner at 8pm, followed by drinks and dancing until midnight. At least that was what the itinerary said. It was more like ceremony 6-6:30, drinks 6:30-7:30, dinner/first dance/cake cutting 7:30-8:30, followed by drinks and dancing, and the shuttle back to the hotel.

Sunday: Crawling out of bed to make it downstairs for the brunch, then a walk down Michigan Ave. to the art institute. Several hours of art, then a cab back to the hotel. more resting/hotel pool, etc. Train ride north for dinner at Mia Francesca. Walked around, took the train back to the hotel, collapsed.

Monday: West Egg, again. Checked out of Wyndam, but left bags with bellhop (handy trick!) and walked around, went to H&M, and American Girl Place. Shudder. Back to the hotel to pick up the baggage, then off to the train to catch the plane.

Sigh.