Boil Order

Due to the flooding of the Mississippi, Galesburg's water treatment facility in Oquawka has been threatened, and the city issued a precautionary boil order earlier this week.

That first day, I put off buying extra water, and by the time I went out into the world, every store in town had been cleared out. The following morning, feeling very much as if I were Ma on Little House on the Prairie, I boiled two pots of water for back-up, and went out early to buy bottled water and gallon jugs.

I thought we might use that boiled water to refill the gallon jugs, or to cook with, but we haven't touched it at all.

The boil order is supposed to be lifted this afternoon, which will be good. The situation with laundry and dishes is getting pretty dire around here.

But things are still pretty tame in general, compared to a lot of nearby places*, and really, the boil order hasn't meant all that much to me. It has made me realize, though, just how much water I waste when I brush my teeth and wash my hands, because I've been performing these activities using the gallon jugs. It's ludicrous, how much water I use, how much I take getting it out of the tap for granted. I would say I've learned a lesson or something, but odds are, once that boil order is lifted, I will immediately resort back to my wasteful ways.

*J.C. and I went to Iowa City last Thursday to see Iron & Wine, just as the Iowa and Cedar Rivers were getting bad. By Friday morning, when we were leaving town, there was only one way out of Iowa City, and I-80 was closed. So, we went on a little 200-mile detour through Iowa in order to travel about 50 miles. But...we did get to see firsthand the terrible devastation in Cedar Rapids. Plus, the detour took us within three miles of the Field of Dreams, so we stopped off to see it, only it, too, had been devasted by storms.

Summer

I took the above photo a couple weeks ago when J.C. and I walked over to my office on campus. What you see: Mostly Aldi sacks, filled with portfolios. I've found that Aldi sacks, which are large and durable, are perfect for holding a class' worth of three-ring binders and folders. The above--along with some work that's inside that black filing cabinet--is what I've accumulated over the past three years.

As of the middle of last week, I now have two more Aldi sacks to add to the floor of my office, which means the summer has begun.

I still have a few recommendations to write and some bureaucratic details to take care of, but for the most part, it's just me and all of the writing I hope to get done.

I'll probably provide a few more details about what I'm working on and how I'm going about it in the days to come, but I'll spare you for now.

Instead, I'll say this: I think I'm going to get my head shaved today.

I doubt you will see any photos of me for a while in which I am not wearing a Cubs hat.

Makeover

J.C. made me a new masthead this weekend and generally spruced up the place. She even finally made sure I was updated to the new Blogger, which I have to admit does seem to be quite a bit more functional than the old Blogger.

I shouldn't be so averse to change.

And speaking of change...I may end up playing around with my sidebar in the next few days, so be on the lookout.

In the meantime: We usually surf the web in Firefox, and everything with the blog looks pretty solid in Firefox to us. If anything looks screwy to you in my new digs here, though, feel free to let me know.

Yessir, Yessir

J.C. took a video of me playing pre-school Singstar (a game we made up, as far as I know) with my niece.

Then she put this together.

My apologies to all of you out there who truly love "Baa Baa Black Sheep."

Indianapolis

J.C. & I outside our hotel, right before we took a "cab" to Broad Ripple for the night.

I had asked the desk clerk at the hotel about cabs, and she gave me the business card of the company they use. The card said only "Taxi Service" at its top, followed by some phone numbers. After calling one of the numbers to request a pick-up, I didn't think much of it, until a pristine white Town Car showed up in front of the hotel and a guy exited the car and entered the building.

I realized a few minutes after J.C. and I took the above photo that someone had called my cell phone, and when I called the person back, the guy who'd walked into the hotel was coming back outside. The guy was white, about our age. "I thought you stood me up," he said.

When we got into the cab, he told us it would be a flat rate, cash only. There was no meter on the dash; there were no certificates anywhere. It seemed to be just this guy and his clean car. We agreed with the price, and we were on our way.

Topics of conversation on the way there included (but were not limited to): snakebites, pizza vs. burgers, displaced turtles, water buffalo, nature hikes in South Dakota.

A strange man.

We decided not to call him back for our return trip.

The marquee for the concert, our reason for visiting Indianapolis this past weekend.

The everybodyfields opened for The Avett Brothers at the Vogue, and all in all, it was the best show I think I've ever seen.

I know it's a bit of a cliche to say something like that, but The Avett Brothers were amazing. If you've ever heard and liked one of their songs, you owe it to yourself to go and check this band out live. What I personally loved was how obvious the band's love for playing music was. "High-energy" is an understatement. But to say it was just that undersells how amazingly they played and sang. Really, an unbelievable show.

And the everybodyfields were great as well. I now have a minor crush on Jill Andrews. And probably on Sam Quinn, too; he seemed to me just the right kind of unique.

Yes, We Can--by will.i.am