we celebrated my 29th bday early by going to a Chicago Cubs baseball game at Wrigley field today. it was my first major league game! first, the famous wrigley field sign, and then straight to the hotdog stand. we shared a foot-long chicago-style hot dog (with all the toppings please). messy but good.

i learned a lot about the game and we had a lot of fun. we even sang along to the “take me out to the ball game” song (click here to listen; 1.01 Mb, .wmv). check out the private bleachers on top of people’s houses. and oh, the cubs beat the colorado rockies 6-4.

today we helped our friends james and jana load up a big moving van as they leave chicago for a new job and home. most of our friends are here temporarily like us, trying to finish a postgraduate program. it’s a great opportunity to meet different kinds of people from all over the country, but every summer you are bound to have to say goodbye to friends who finish and move on to their next stage in life. i guess one day it will be our turn…

we went to frankfort, kentucky for a wedding this weekend. after an early start, we stopped for coffee with our roadtrip mates sanyu and kristi, and then took a short rest in lebanon.

frankfort is a quaint and historic town, dating to the late 1800’s. after the wedding rehearsal, we were treated to a dinner at science hill inn, which was originally a girls’ school, where we had a true kentuckian meal including chicken rochambeau and corn pudding.

in the historic downtown area, we explored broadway street and admired the beautiful old buildings and homes.

after the wedding ceremony, there was time to catch up with joe’s old U of C friends over cold drinks and a quick visit to the state capitol building.

the reception was in a beautiful outdoor setting. the bride made cool name cards out of wire for each guest. congratulations tom and anne!

thursday is dump the pump day. support improving the environment and conserving fuel by going green and taking the bus if possible.

i am starting to spend way too much time glued to the computer. first, this blog, which was fine, but now i’ve been sucked into the vortex called facebook, and then today i subscribed to skype. can’t really remember what i did before all this. oh wait i remember, bravo tv…

i do like our new quickcam though. i’ve been taking weird pictures with it:

we’ve noticed that people like to sell various items from the middle of the road to passing cars. i suppose newspapers isn’t that surprising, but so far we’ve also seen CD’s, cotton candy, sparkly pom-pom things, and bottled water. never know what you might need on the road i guess.

meet our HPAC (hyde park alliance church) family. we are very grateful for this small but loving community.

i went to the ocean’s thirteen premiere in chicago! well, i didn’t watch the movie (you had to pay $2000 towards ‘Not On Our Watch’, a charity to support Darfur), but i did stand outside for three hours (i know, i’m sad) to see the stars. i did feel a bit ridiculous while waiting in the middle of all the silly hoopla, but i must admit it was pretty exciting once the celebrities started arriving. the whole thing lasted maybe 20 minutes and then it was over. it was hard taking pictures through a throng of people, while balancing on a metal barricade with only one arm, but i got some shots.

george clooney.

matt damon. bernie mac.

i also (barely) saw ellen barkin and don cheadle, but they were very small and fuzzy in my pics. the celebrities looked…like the way they look on tv. it was worth it in the end i guess, but i’m not sure i’d put up with the craziness again.

look, it’s R2-D2 and C-3PO! oh wait, it’s only joe and a uspsjedimaster mailbox. now if only the force would be with all our missing packages…

sorry, bad pun. for a relatively uncommon last name, there sure are a lot of foods named after it. it’s making me hungry…