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Goodbyes (Or: Wrapping up at work

Posted on December 8, 2012 by Niki

Friday the 14th is my last day at my job. It’s going to be very weird to not go back there again. I have walked the entry cobblestone path countless times, in warmth and cold; rain and snow.

This past week I wrote up a form letter of sorts to send to various faculty members that I have worked with over the past three and a half years on my job. The goal of the email was twofold: one, to let them know when my last day was, and two, to let them know a few details about my replacement. What her experience was, where she worked last, and similar things.

I put a lot of work into the information literacy aspect of this position and have spent time building up my relationship with the faculty for the benefit of the library. I don’t want to see things slide backward too far before they take off in a forward direction again… to be clear, she has a lot more experience than I do, so I am really hoping that things move forward even faster now. Hopefully.

I have also started to clear out my work drawers, but that is always an uphill battle! I was never a person who liked paper on my desk, but sometimes it is hard to escape it…

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Fridays (Or: The Dutchies arrive…)

Posted on December 7, 2012 by Niki

It seems like only yesterday since I saw Marco (early October), but he and Roger are returning again today! I suppose that’s the benefit of scheduling uneven breaks between trips: April to October, and then October to December.

But it is a break from routine in some respects: they have to fly into JFK on Aer Lingus rather than into Newark on Delta, so that I could secure a one way ticket to the Netherlands on an Aer Lingus flight. That airline sells cheapish one way tickets. Unfortunately this means landing at 6:20PM or so rather than 1 in the afternoon. No more getting back home by 5PM!

Because of this, we’ll be meeting at Penn Station as it seems a good not-quite-halfway point for all of us. I was able to get a ride into the city with a coworker, so I don’t have to battle the crazy bus traffic that crops up on a Friday afternoon.

Regardless of when we get back home, it’ll be fun to be back in the company of the Dutchies again. Even if my apartment is more of a mess than it usually is when they arrive…

flight from Dublin to JFK

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Chicago (Or: Bridge over a river)

Posted on December 1, 2012 by Niki

Here is one of the pictures we took while visiting Chicago last Christmas (2011). It was pretty interesting to cross the bridge as you could see the river below your feet at times, especially when you were entering or exiting the bridge.

Whenever I see this photo I think of St. Patrick’s Day in Chicago, as they traditionally dye at least one of the rivers green.

Bridge over Chicago river December 2011

 

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Friends (Or: Dinner at Bailey’s)

Posted on November 28, 2012 by Niki

Tonight I had dinner with a friend at Bailey’s Smokehouse in Blauvelt, NY. Kind of crazy to realize it might be the last dinner I have with this friend – at least for the foreseeable future. It’s hard to wrap my mind around such things.

It looks like the restaurant finally finished redesigning their homepage – for their longest time the only thing there was the menu. This time I had the french dip again (description “Thin Sliced Smoked Ribeye on toasted Garlic Bread with Mozzarella Cheese & Au Jus for dipping”). It was pretty good. This time I decided to ask for it without mozzarella cheese, though. I like to be random, I guess!

Of course, I got Marco hooked on the place when he was here last month (almost two months ago!) so we will be going back while he and Roger are visiting. So it’s time to get Roger addicted… but it is probably the last time we will be there!

Marco’s favorite is the bourbon glazed carrots… apparently they are really good.

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Migration (Or: Attack of the birds)

Posted on November 27, 2012 by Niki

While I was at my parents’ last weekend, we noticed a huge swarm of birds pecking in the backyard grass. They just kept coming, and coming, and coming… and then at one point, they all flew off (at the same time of course, in only the uncanny way birds can achieve). But they didn’t go far – only to the roof in the front of the house.

Back and forth, back and forth, from the front yard to the back. At some point, they all flew away together for good:

In the background, you can see a local community college. Just beyond our fence is protected prairie grass – it is against the law to cut it. It extends down the entire subdivision, in both directions. We lucked out however – just on the left side, you can see a small natural path of grass. W’e’re one of the few houses which has a path out to the college. Everyone else has to walk a bit.

Of course, the one thing the prairie grass hides is coyotes – we could never leave the dogs unattended while they were outside. I heard you could sometimes see coyote eyes staring back at you at night…

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O’Hare airport (Or: “Skies the Limit” tunnel)

Posted on November 25, 2012 by Niki

My flight from O’Hare to Newark took off from terminal 1, concourse C of O’Hare airport. That meant that I had to walk underneath the tarmac from concourse B to C. The tunnel has two long walking escalators, above which is an art installation by Michael Hayden called “Skies the Limit“.

Installed in 1987, it is composed of 466 neon light tubes which are white on both ends and a rainbow of colors in the middle. The lights turn on and off randomly in time with music by George Gershwin, whose Rhapsody in Blue (YouTube) was adopted as United Airlines theme in the 60s.

YouTube video, with the United Airlines theme music in the background.

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Chicago (Or: Wrigley Field at Christmas)

Posted on November 21, 2012 by Niki

It’s hard to believe that it has already been 11 months since Marco, Roger and I visited Chicago for Christmas 2011. One of the places we visited was Wrigley Field.

I actually did go to one game back in the day during college (I forget the team the Cubs were playing) although traffic and parking was horrendous enough that we didn’t get into the stadium until the 5th inning.

We also found a pretty decent sporting goods store (Sports World) nearby where Marco and Roger bought some sporting items — one I remember was a Cubs ball cap.

names of Cubs fans carved into the bricks outside of Wrigley Field

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Countdowns (Or: The passage of time)

Posted on November 20, 2012 by Niki

Yesterday I helped my mother sort old family pictures (barely making a dent in the huge piles!) But one of them I found was of Oreo as a puppy. Before she learned how to sit properly…

She didn’t get much bigger than that in the last 14 or so years, although she did get… heavier. We just say she is big boned.

In other news, the WordPress countdown widget is now under a month, and is counting down days!

 

Yay…

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Trains, planes, buses (Or: Off to Chicago)

Posted on November 17, 2012 by Niki

This morning I am heading off to Newark Airport to visit my parents and brother in the suburbs of Chicago. In terms of getting there, it seems (I hope) that luck is on my side.

After the damage that Hurricane Sandy caused, most of NJTransit’s train lines were out of commission. Slowly but surely the lines have been returning, although the North Jersey Coast Line, Gladstone Branch, and Direct Morristown Lines are still suspended. Most of them will come back Monday.

My own line (Pascack Valley Line) returned for weekday service only this past Monday, albeit without the option to transfer at Secaucus Junction. Most commuters transfer there to get into the city. Amtrak had to repair the substation before allowing a higher number of trains into the city, so that was how they artificially restricted flow – only a few lines can get into the city directly without needing to take a ferry or bus at Hoboken instead.

As I needed to be able to transfer at Secaucus Junction to get to the airport (and also needed weekend service!) I was out of luck for that option. I decided to take a 5:29am bus to the city, arriving at 7:03. Take the 7:15 or 7:30 bus to Newark Airport, and arrive around 8am ish.

But I saw on the NJTransit website Thursday afternoon that weekend service would be returning to the Pascack Valley Line (and other lines) this weekend. Trains would also be stopping at Secaucus Junction on the weekend.  And it lets me sleep in an hour later! I really was not looking forward to setting my alarm for 4:15am.

Just in time for Thanksgiving…

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Fall (Or: Leaves along the side of the road)

Posted on November 9, 2012 by Niki

Fall is here.

In the above picture, you can see a tree branches and leaves waiting for pickup – with the leaves extended pretty far down the road. On the right edge, there is also a green metal box. That is a relay box used by the U.S. Post Office. Where I live, the mail is delivered by postal workers on foot, so at certain spots in their route they stop at the relay boxes. Inside each is mail to retrieve for that specific part of the area.

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