Monday, September 24, 2007

The Elevator Broke Again...with Me In It.

Yes, it's true. The second elevator was fixed just this morning, and it was wonderful to have two elevators running again.

But alas. On my way to work this evening, I boarded that same elevator with an elderly couple. They were going to the second floor, while I was going to the Lobby. At the second floor, we waited for the door to open, and it did...slowly...about 18 inches, and then stopped.

Odd. I thought. Why is the elevator door taking so long to open?

Then the elderly gentleman started trying to pry the door open with his arm and managed to get it to open half way. I then realized that this elevator wasn't going anywhere.

At least the door opened partially! I thought, warily stepping off of the elevator and pondering whether I should wait for the other one or take the stairs with my suitcase.

It was an eerie feeling, standing there looking at an elevator with its doors half open. But soon the second one came and we hopped on hoping it, too, wouldn't fail us. Once we reached the lobby I had the pleasure of sharing the news with the security guard that our elevator was broken yet again. She did NOT look thrilled.

What is going on?!

Saturday, September 22, 2007

The Trouble With Elevators

We live in a 13 story building in downtown Chicago. There are two elevators that service our building, and anytime one elevator is "on hold" when someone is moving in, the place gets really backed up. One elevator is simply not enough to manage 240 apartments. It wouldn't be so bad if you could take the stairs.

However, you can only take the stairs down, as the stairwell is locked, and it only goes all the way down on one end of the building. The fact that half of our building is made up of elderly people and the other half is students makes it even more interesting. The elderly people couldn't go up or down the stairs if they wanted to, and the students don't really think about it a lot of the time, I think. But there are certain times that it is definitely better to take the stairs: 7:50, 8:50, and 9:50. 9:50 is by far the worst as ALL students from the building are emptying out to head to chapel. But I digress, as Professor McDuffy would say.

We've already established that it's a nightmare when one elevator is shut down. Well yesterday, one elevator completely broke. People waited for the elevator for 20 minutes sometimes, and I opted to always take the stairs when going down. But again, going up...we were out of luck.

It occurred to me yesterday evening while waiting for the elevator, how incredibly horrible it would be if the other elevator happened to break at the same time. What would we do then??

I got to find out this morning when that second elevator stopped working on Floor Nine. I discovered this when Stephen came bursting in the door to let me know he had to shower as quickly as possible because he was now running late for work due to the lack of elevators.

"I waited for 15 minutes before I found out the elevator was broken!" He gasped. He had just returned from racquetball and was rather sweaty.

"Wait, now they're both broken?" I cried.

"Yeah, and there's still people stuck in there!"

Eiyiyi. That's one of my biggest fears. Ever since Jenna, Andrew, Alex and I got stuck in an elevator 27 stories up on the outside of a building in a glass elevator. I went completely hysterical of course. Elevators have always made me nervous. And now there were people stuck in OUR elevator! I hoped they were okay and that they would be rescued quickly.

Thankfully they were, and maintenance got the elevator up and running within a few hours. (Getting my friend and her baby stroller and groceries up 6 flights of stairs was difficult, but we managed.) The second elevator still isn't working yet, and I have no idea why. But for now they're propped open the stairs so we can get up and down them. Whew. Makes life a lot easier:-)

The Baking Machine

I feel like Betty Crocker. Except that I am a real person. It is 4:30 PM, and I have been baking all day.

As soon as I woke up this morning I baked us a batch of strawberry scones. Mmmmm:-) While those were baking a whipped up a yellow cake with vanilla sprinkle frosting for my Cousinee who just turned 24 (Happy Birthday, Sarah!).

I then decided I'd better get a head start on the Mrs. D. Oatmeal Bread I am making for dinner tomorrow, since it has to rise like three times before you can bake it.

While that was rising I started the crust for the Chocolate Almond Toffee Bars we will be enjoying for dessert tomorrow with our friends Matt and Jenn (Yes, our youth intern this summer for those of you reading this back home and want to be jealous). In between punching down the bread dough and waiting for it to rise again, I vacuumed, dusted, cleaned the toilet and sink, ate lunch, had three friends in, put laundry away, cleaned my room, and washed ALL the dishes from breakfast, lunch, and the multiple things I baked.

I have just finished the Chocolate Almond Toffee Bars and my bread is in the oven. I was going to make a sourdough starter to have this next week, but I'm a wee bit exhausted right now and not relishing the idea of any more dirty dishes.

It's a good thing I like to bake.

Thursday, September 13, 2007

You should all add my blog to that Google alert system

I am not a consistent blogger. It's true. I always have so many things to blog about and then...no time to blog them. *sigh* Brother-in-law and Sister always get on my case about it, so I say to you all, if you want to keep up with my blog, you should probably install that cool Google thing where it lets you know if I ever do update my blog (you know, once a month or so). I don't know how to do it, though, ask my Brothers.

A number of Very Interesting things have happened since we returned to Chicago, and it made me realize that I really need to be writing all this down. Like the fire in our building two weeks ago and how Stephen saved the day. Or the drug-dealing, prostitute hiring men in the apartment down the hall and how we might be on their hit list. Or just funny things like how rude Chicago people can be to a person. We have lots of stories about that. Excitement on the CTA or around campus, etc. Much happens here that would make great stories. So I think I'm going to make myself make time to write what I have named The Chicago Fun Times. If not for anyone else's interest, at least for our own and our family's. Maybe I'll post them here, too. When I write them.

I Can Run

For those of you who've known me over the last 11 years, you probably all know that I have a back condition. This condition (ask Gramps about it it you're curious, he's done extensive research;-) has limited what I have been able to do physically, athletically, etc. One of the things I've never really been able to do is run. Ideally, I should be able to run, but if I've been overworking my back or have reinjured it, running isn't an option. This has been the majority of the last 11 years. My much-used quote from Sense and Sensibility was Margaret saying that "I'm not supposed to run!"

However, the last two years my back has been getting stronger and stronger! This summer I finally was to the point where I thought I could probably pick up running and see how my back handled it. I love to run, so this was very exciting for me. Stephen and I worked on it together. He helped me know how to stretch and best train, etc. He also helped me deal with my asthma and learn how to stretch out my lungs (something I've never had to do before!).

And I did run this summer! The most I ran was 3/8 of a mile, which was a huge feat for me! It was by FAR fhe most I had ever run before, and the only thing that held me back was my asthma! My back didn't even hurt!! I wondered if I would be able to run further if it wasn't so incredibly humid and hot.

So once we got back to Chicago, I have started running over at the gym on their indoor track. On Tuesday I ran without heat and humidity, and I shocked myself by running an entire mile with considerable ease!!! And then this morning--I ran a mile and a lap!!! Again, the only reason I couldn't keep going was because I couldn't breathe, but my back still doesn't even hurt!

Pretty exciting, I know. I thought you would all enjoy hearing about it:-)