The (Last?) First Day of School!

So Monday was my last first day of school. Unless I can't find a job and am forced to go back for a phD. I'm pretty excited about all of my classes, but they are going to be a lot of work. My "fun" class is political economy of urban development, wherein we delve into the various theories of political economy and how those have played out in practice over the course of the 20th Century in urban areas -- Fordism, suburbanization, renewal, etc.

Then I have international trade theory and policy which I'm taking mostly for the macroeconomic perspective. Sadly, my first choice for this, macroeconomics at the Graduate School of Business, filled up before non-MBA students had a chance to register. I think it will be good, though (lots of graphs!), and towards the end we get to focus on the "human elements" like immigration and labor practices which should be really interesting, and tie into PE of urban policy.

Lastly, I'm taking microeconomic analysis. Basically, it is a three course sequence to write an in-depth, publishable statistical analysis on a topic of our choosing. The first two quarters are "to get us ready" for the last, taught by James Heckman. It's a bit scary and probably way over my head mathematically, but I'll have a really good understanding of rigorous analysis (and a class with a Nobel Laureate!) by the time I graduate. Which at least in theory is why I came to the University of Chicago in the first place.

All ready, the weekend seems very far away. Several friends and I went out to Starved Rock for a bit of hiking Sunday to celebrate our last day without homework (I would have pictures, but Meredith hasn't sent them yet). It was incredibly muddy from the summer flooding and I came away with at least a million mosquito bites despite repeated application of Off!. But, it was fun. And nice to get out of the city for a few hours.

No big plans for this weekend, except to try to stay on top of reading. And also to avoid the riotous baseball fans across the city.

The Finished Product

The Riley's beautiful new carpet. All that hard work has paid off. This turned out to be a great time to sort through their stuff and organize things
(and it only took 8 years).

Football Weekend

PHS Football Homecoming - Senior Spirit

Ram Fans - Paoli is now 6-0 after a 49-7 win over Crawford County

Megan and IU freshman Allison Springer at Saturday's game

Happy Tailgaters!

Tutu's first tailgate...she quickly became "keeper of the cooler"

Riley's Carpet Adventure

Joe has become an expert at packing stuff into bathrooms. This one is even usable.


Unfortunately, the kids cannot get into theirs.

This is the cleanest you will ever see these rooms.

Obviously, these are pre new carpet. Later today, I'll post the finished product.

Senior Pictures & Cleveland Clinic News

The Glidden House

Megan received an "all clear" from Dr. Lorber on our recent trip to Cleveland. She can resume all activities without limitations, including driving, swimming, hot tubbing, and dancing.

On each trip we try to explore some new area of the city and this time we discovered a unique hotel on the Case Western campus - an old mansion that has about 50 guest rooms. We also visited a street near the hotel known Little Italy. Picture a quaint neighborhood filled with authentic little bakeries (we thought of you, Lisa and Laura), cafes, and restaurants. We enjoyed dinner Sunday evening at a spot called Trattoria on the Hill. It turns out that Megan's doctor and his family were dining in the same area that night. That seems to be something we have in common and on each visit, the talk always turns to food and Cleveland dining! We'll definitely have to head back to this area when we visit again in December (her next appointment).

This afternoon we picked up Megan's senior pictures and posted a few of our favorites.

Hope everyone is planning to come to the tailgate this Saturday. We've already started cooking, baking, and freezing!

The Welch-Chopra wedding in Indy

I've never seen a wedding quite like this one -

500 of us feast on filet mignon and mahi mahi-

and dance the night away at Union Station

(& doesn't Bret look smashing in Popsie's tux?)

Bonjour a Chicago!

I made it back from Europe, just in time to catch the tail-end of Gustav and the floods he brought to Chicago. Woo! Aside from delaying our landing 40 minutes or so, and ruling out public transit for getting home from O'Hare, it didn't turn out to be too big a deal. But it was a bit of a rude change from the gorgeous weather of Paris. Ah, well.

We spent most of the week riding around the city on Velibs, and I'm really hoping that Chicago decides to do a similar program here, as rumors have suggested. The velibs are a bike sharing program -- buying a pass lets you take bikes from stands all over the city and ride around. They were so convenient we only ended up taking public transit once.

Otherwise we did a lot of eating. L'Ami Jean was our favorite by far (the rice pudding was to die for...best dessert I've ever had), though we also had very good meals at Christophe, Chez Rene, La Dome and Le Pre Catalan. (See Hungry for Paris for full recommendations.)

Hannah turns 25 tomorrow ! ! !

Happy birthday, Hannah Kathleen.... a quarter century old ! !

bikin and hikin

sorry missed the butt roast in Indy but took off for a week of biking thru out the Appalachian's and hiking the Appalachian trail. First day hike to the shelter on top of Blood Mountain @ 5600 feet. On the blue Ridge Parkway hiked to the top of the Devil's Courthouse @ 5720. Stopped for photo op at the highest peak on the Blue Ridge and atop Mitchell Mtn. @ 6700 feet. Put 1900 miles on the bike for the week and hiked three days on the AT. have some openings in Florida for Sept if anyone wants to put in a reservation. otherwise will plan on making the trip north come turkey day. Wes is back in Tampa and working to save $$$ to head back hiking this spring. He plans on coming north in Nov if work doesn't get in the way.

Party Central

Joe's fabulous contribution to the event.
Kyle and David bonding.
The hosts.
Kyle helps Mort put up the volleyball net.

Party Central

By the end of the day, Kyle insisted he knew how to swim and did not want his floaties on.
The new addition to the Party House.


How did Katherine get in most of the pictures? Looks like Laura has been watching the Olympics somewhere-look at that form.