Eat your heart out Ikea

We recently decided that we needed some more desk space in one of the rooms in our humble abode. There is an ol' desk in here that was holding up all sorts of stationary odds and ends and is serving its purpose at the moment of what we want it to do but it's chewing up valuable real estate. And it's right next to the cat's litter box. Ouch. After a well timed conversation with a good friend of ours a solution presented itself-build a cloffice! A cloffice is a clever mash up of words that describes a closet that has had its doors ripped off, all the clothes removed and a desk or flat surface thrown into the center to create a working surface. Some industrious souls even paint or decorate the walls with wire racks, dry erase boards, put plants on the desk, add lights or dart boards to give it the feel of a real desk or office space.

We've opted for something in the middle. We ripped the doors off and threw them to the curb with a quickness, painted the walls to match the walls in the room and hung some braces. We picked out a nice flat piece of unfinished pine to serve as our Tablet in Which We Will Rule the World From, others know it as a desk. But, not here, nay nay. So. The braces are hung, the wood is cut and settled in. Now we need to find a suitable polyurethane coating to cover it with so that the infinite beauty of the wood will be preserved for eternity. It's been a remarkably simple fun and super cheap little project, and the best part is we're gaining use of space we already have! Once it's finished we'll throw up some pics...of our closet....with a nice piece of wood in the middle.

Workin' for the weekend...

I have discovered a spot of hope or dare I say a sign that not all our tax dollars are being frittered away on $2,000 dollar toilet seats and $80 dollar pens. I'm on the prowl for gainful meaningful employment in a particular career field and received a mailing announcing a Job Search Workshop at our local state run career center. I'm open to new avenues and people I can talk with to help me in my crusade for a steady way to pass my days, so I decided to attend. I'm pleased as punch I did.

There were a swath of backgrounds and professions being represented at our little forum. Most of the folks had been in their respective fields for many years, one of them had been in his field longer than I've been making laps around the sun. Some people voiced frustration with running into the silver shield, others were interested in learning how to use technology to search and apply for jobs online, what job search engines are reputable, even what search engines data mine. Luckily I know my way around a computer and the search engines pretty well and was just hoping to glean some more information on how to streamline what I do know and maybe find a couple more resources I can use in my hunt.

Our Facilitator was a strong positive woman that engaged everyone in the process and balanced her message to give a little bit of information to satiate all the needs in the room. She also introduced everyone to a couple state web pages we have at our disposal. One is designed to help you find information about the demands and quirky specifics of a particular occupation and the second one was a super nifty search engine that allows you to enter very specific criteria about your skill set (what search engines allow you to indicate active listener as search criteria?) It then combs the database of openings and spits out the closest match to your skill set and interest. Thankfully it doesn't spit out a list of jobs for you to sift through nor does it have a listing of job openings to scroll through. No no this puppy is designed to seek and destroy.

So our intrepid Facilitator also introduced us to the amenities the career center itself has to offer including free laser printing for resumes/cover letters, free business card printing, free phones to use for job interviews etc., free faxing and photocopying and a bank of computers to use for anything you need related to what you're looking for. I might utilize some of the services and I might not, even if I don't it warms my heart to see that our tax dollars are doing some real hard honest good for everyday people.

3 Stooges 2 wheels and 1 Tree

So I ran across a clever bike rack design at bicycle design called the bike tree. It's essentially a pillar with a flared bottom or ramp so you can drive your trusty two wheeled steed 'up' the trunk where it appears to grab the front wheel and roll it up the trunk to it's resting place underneath a canopy. I think it's a brilliant idea to store your mount out of the easy reach of lecherous hands that harbor ill will towards it or lust after it, and for those that crave every inch of concrete for things other than bike racks. Done and done. Although when I saw it for the first time I immediately thought of how much fun the Three Stooges would have with it. I'm an unabashed Three Stooges fan. I used to watch them on the weekends when I was kid and spent countless hours every New Years Eve in front of the TV while one of the local TV stations ran their annual Three Stooges marathon. I would laugh until my sides hurt watching Moe Larry and Curly turn the most benign situation into a cavalcade of slaps eye pokes and hitting each other in the head with hammers or dropping tools on each others feet. I envisioned the boys being dumbfounded by it and Moe getting caught on a bicycle as it's rolled up the trunk and dangling by his shirt collar while Larry and Curly rush around trying to release him. Eventually one of them would stumble across the solution to return Moe and bicycle to ol' terra firma at a high rate of speed resulting in lots of eye poking, bonking each other in the hand and 'nyuk nyuk nyuk.' Ah I miss the Stooges thanks be to the marvelous interwebs for housing them in all their glory.

Speaking of riding the 2 wheeled monster the Marvelous Fiancee and I recently visited some wonderful friends in the Windy City. It was our first foray into Chitown and we had a wonderful time dancing socializing and picnicking with some wonderful people, all while exploring all the city had to offer. One of the highlights was "The Bean" a piece of urban art that is basically a highly reflective silverish giant bean dropped in the middle of a downtown park. We took full advantage of the opportunities to play tricks with the camera and get some cool shots of ourselves and that skyline complete with the building used in the Adventures of Babysitting. The city also boasted a robust bicycle friendly community complete with extensive bike paths and signage through the meat of the city, bike racks everywhere including a huge one outside of Wrigley Field that was loaded to the gills. Everywhere we went we saw people riding road bikes hybrids mountain bikes bmx cruisers etc. Here in our little corner of the world we have a solid bicycle friendly community comparable for the size of our city. While it's pretty solid it has some room to grow for sure, but Chicago ya done good I say.