12 Glasses

Or more specifically 12 glasses, a bowl, and a plastic bag taped to the wall. This is what I have set up to catch the rain that is steadily leaking into my apartment. The past two days it has rained steady. Rock steady for that matter. Not a break in sight. This morning I woke up at 8 a.m. to find that my front window (and thank the gods it was the only one) was leaking. Not a pretty little leak of fresh spring water. No, a dirty, brown, looks like it seeped from under the El tracks kind of drip. I'm closing my eyes and pretending it's just that color because it leached itself from the brick of my building. If you have any other ideas, please do not share them. I like my make believe world.

So for the past 10 hours I have gone through multiple macgyver'd setups including using painter tape to secure napkins to the wall, to simply letting it drip and changing the napkin/padding every five minutes till finally the glass setup is what I settled on. I was pretty proud of the one where I used a paper towel as a wick to lead the water into a taped up plastic sandwich bag...that inspiration came pretty early in the day (mostly because I was having to change that section ever 3 minutes). The fact that it took almost 7 hours to come up with the coffee mug/juice glass plan is a little more embarassing.

So now the rain has stopped yet my walls continue to cry their rusty tears. I'm hoping it will end soon, how much water can my roof hold? Wait, don't answer that either.

How short will we go? or HSWWG?

FYI. ETA. BRB. LOL. Abbreviations and acronyms are an intricate part of our lifestyles and our interactions with each other and the world. What I wonder is where is the tipping point? Where does something go from annoyingly shortened (LOL...really?) to perfectly acceptable, FYI.

Where do the decisions for what needs to or can be shortened come from. Was "for your information" really too long to say? Did it take up too much valuable verbal real estate? DNA is much more pleasing to the ear than Deoxyribonucleic acid but who even knows anymore that that is what it stands for? (I myself had to look it up just to get the correct spelling, and since it's on the internet I don't even know if I'm right).

I find myself surrounded by shorthand, I find it creeping into my own verbal habits. Sar instead of sorry, rhet instead of ready, but most of mine are still limited to the verbal variety. I still cling to spelling out each and every version of "to" in my text messages - there is no excuse for a 2 to mean anything other than a quantity and whenever I see that insidious little number sneak in to make life easier all I can think of is the sender wearing large, oddly patterned pants and making hand gestures at me to tell me that they are 2 Legit 2 Quit....but maybe that is just me.

I use to hold out that anyone who emailed me and didn't find themselves important enough to capitalize I wasn't worth my time but as I scroll through my own g-chat history I see it has infected me as well.

Is it texting that has reduced the overly cumbersome and complicated English language to mere grunts and nods? Was our decline in communication pushed down the hill with email? In a world where everyone and anyone has a blog (reading one here is proof of that) to say whatever the hell they want shouldn't the eloquence of the written word be heightening?

I'm victim. I'm also at fault. I know this. But it does not stop me some days from wondering how far down the rabbit hole we are planning on going. Are we really just slowly breaking down our words till the day when we can simply communicate at a top level in 1's and 0's?

Get by with a little help from my friends

Many of my inner circle these days are finding themselves fighting the good (though not always profitable) fight to make the world a better/safer/cleaner and generally less fucked up place to be in. As part of this world I am often sending and receiving fundraising emails and I do my best to support when I can (because I know how much it can suck). So when a friend who specializes in community organizing (and I will avoid the Palin references for today) sent this out I was pretty impressed and went right through the link to make my donation. It's, in my opinion, a damn fine ask. It probably helps if you actually know Tim, or have lived in probably any number of college towns that get over run by mini-skirts and furry boots sometime in September, but either way I wanted to share it here in case any of you are so inclined to help out.

With no further ado I bring you......



Hi everyone,

It's fall, which means a few things:

1. The leaves change color, as do the colors of Tim's sweater vests.

2. The temperature starts to drop, and we start to see more furry boots out and about (especially on campus).

3. I'm busy busy busy getting ready for the GSA for Safe Schools Walk/Run/Eat.

This year, I've set a personal goal of trying to raise $500 for the event. Fundraising is the thing I like LEAST about being a community organizer, but I recognize that we wouldn't be able to do the work that we do without bringing in the Benjamins. That's just one of our MANY responsibilities.

In my head, $500 feels like a lot, but if I send this email to 50 people (which I have) and they all donate $10, I will have reached my goal. And $10 can go a really long way at my organization.

With $10, GSA for Safe Schools can:

1. Buy tasty and nutritious snacks to feed our Student Planning Council (the group of super peers who come to our office once a week and help us plan our conferences and programming)

2. Buy enough gas for my car to visit the GSAs at ALL FOUR Madison high schools (and possibly a couple of middle schools, too!)

3. Send a 'Welcome Back to School' packet with posters, stickers, and handy resources to 5 GSAs outside of Dane County (we'll send out a total of 100 this fall - one to each GSA in Wisconsin)

So, while the GSAFE Board of Directors is bragging about their big $100-dollar donations, I'd like to offer them some competition by bringing in the most $10 donations.


Can you help me out?

You can visit my personal fundraising page at http://www.firstgiving.com/thexteam and donate online, or send a check or cash to GSA for Safe Schools, 301 S. Bedford St. Ste. 1, Madison, WI 53703. Make sure you send it with an ATTN: TIM MICHAEL on the envelope so Brian and Cindy don't try and claim it. :)

Thanks, as always, for all your support. If anyone feels like coming to the event, you can also sign up online by going to http://www.firstgiving.com/gsaforsafeschools. I won't be able to walk/run with you, but I'll make sure to stop running around for at least eleven and a half seconds to say 'HELLO' and 'THANKS FOR COMING' and give you a hug.

Lots of love,

Tim

Things I wasn't prepared for this weekend

The following is an off the top of my head list of all the random ass things that went on or were said this weekend that I never really imagined happening in my life....

• Salty nut tequila, and in depth discussions on whether members of the group would drink tequila that had been stashed next to certain party members salty nuts


• In depth discussions on the fate of Tom Brady - was it a rumor, had it actually happened, whose phone was getting the most reliable updates


• Changing t-shirts in the middle of a professional football stadium (went from Bears to Colts - sorry fellow Chicagoans! I was bullied by the man with the money!)


• No Bueno! (over, and over, and over)


• Crafty Beaver - and an in depth discussion on what exactly we thought that store might be selling


• Raigel (sp?) - it's what happens when I try and say cinnamon raisin and bagel at the same time apparently


• Putting a grown man (over 6 ft. tall) in a trunk to see if he fits (he does) and if the emergency, glow in the dark pull cord works (it did)


• "I-Phone: Does everything except make calls"


• "Where are we going" (halfway to Indianapolis), "To the football game; Chicago Bears v. Indianapolis Colts"....(pause).... "But what about the Cubs?"
• "I must apologize for the conduct of my countrymen during the war"...said by an Irish guy...with a fake German accent

I'm sure there is more, but this is good for now.

96 hours

Well the whirlwind weekend is finally done and I have to admit I'm pretty amazed I survived. My brother, who is moving to a tropical island in 2 weeks, and two of his friends just passed through Chicago for the weekend on one last American road trip before he heads off into the land of sunshine and rum.

They rolled in Thursday afternoon to a wonderful Midwest welcome of rain and general grayness. Not the best way to start a trip, but it worked out okay. I took them out for good, cheap Mexican food and cervezas down the street and then over to the neighborhood bar for the infamous $1.50 PBR night.

Friday consisted of a clearer day and lots and lots of walking. Tried to do the Shedd Aquarium free day but realized once we got there that we weren't the only ones with this great idea. Line was a little too long (and unmoving) so we skipped it and trekked back north for pizza and beer. Friday night was fancy steak dinner at Wildfire (yummm....red meat....) and then eventually to a blues bar in that area and then capped off with some good old 4 am action at the Oakwood.

Saturday we headed down to North Ave Beach for some redbull flugtag action. Got there a bit late due to a train that decided to stop running at Belmont and a pub stop on the walk there. Way too crowded once we arrived, but most of the group got close enough to see a half dozen or so crazy contraptions. Then it was back up north for German fest in Lincoln square, napping and then more German fest (had to refill those $12 steins)...

Seeing a theme here yet anyone?

Sunday we piled into the car with a cooler full of beer and tequila and hit the road for Indianapolis. After4 hours in a parking lot I headed into my first professional football game and watched the Bears kick the crap out of the Colts. Good times. More beer in the parking lot while we waited for the traffic to clear and then finally headed home. Got in about 3:30 a.m. Monday morning.

Now it's 11 and the boys are safely back on the road up to Wisconsin for some end of the summer Dells action and a stop off to see mom. They got some crazy deal that is basically a suite with all you can eat AND drink for $400. They are going to get the most out of that deal. I almost wish I could join them. But I think my liver will thank me if I just stay here.

Now I'm back to bed so I can catch up on the sleep I've missed since Thursday night. Hope everyone else had as exciting a weekend as me.

Forgive me if I lose you

I'm totally messing with feeds and feedburner and all that in an attempt to track who is tracking me so if I lose you or mess up your subscription to me in anyway I just wanted to say sorry! If it doesn't get back on track let me know!
Thanks
Cheers
JJ

Really?