Change Jar Total, Signs of Apocalypse/Aging, and Fall Weather

Well, I am happy to report that I had $91 of change in my change jar. My hope was somewhere in the $100 ballpark, so that's nice. Granted, I still felt like a cool kid walking into the bank with a big jar of change, but...

You may have seen it on my facebook page, but what is the world coming to when Pat Robertson is calling the Republican field too extreme?

The money quote: "Well, if they want to lose, this is the game for losers." When the guy who called for the assassination of Hugo Chavez and blamed Haiti's problems on a pact with the devil, when this same guy calls the Republican field "too extreme," you may have problems in the general election. Just sayin'.

I love how Hillary Clinton is still rocking the scrunchie during State Department meetings. Chelsea, it's time for an intervention.

Signs that you're getting older: you refer to restaurants or stores by what used to be in the building. In Duluth this past week, I caught myself saying things like, "You know, where Chi-Chi's used to be," or "Let's meet down in Canal Park by the old Grand Slam building." I remember hearing my Dad say things like that and thinking, "Hey Deano-saur (see what I did there?), maybe when you drove the Model-T down the old cow trails that was a golf course. But now that we've moved from the caves to houses, it's a gas station." Now, I understand the difficulty in keeping up with all of the business changes! Not to mention, I occasionally suffer from bouts of nostalgia.

You know what else makes me feel old? Writing letters of reference for people. Where you say thinks like, "Almost ten years ago, I met...". I probably wrote right after that, "We first met by the old Blockbuster on Lawrence and Lincoln."

Well, the application process is slowly wrapping up. The essays are mostly done, the CV is written, the forms are filled out, the writing sample has been chosen, and the references are set. Now I pay the fees, attach the files, and begin the wait. It is almost advent after all, so I might as well own the waiting period. One good bit of news on the fees part: North Park puts both undergrad and seminary transcripts on the same page, so I only have to pay for one official transcript instead of two. I mean, I'm only saving $20, but it's the small victories in life. Maybe I should take that $20 saved and put it under my mattress!

Can all Chicagoans take a moment and admit that we've had a beautiful fall? We are trained to complain about the weather, but the weather has been near perfect over the last month and a half. I know, it's always glass-half-full with me...the eternal optimist. I think the last person I mentioned this fall weather to told me to get ready because La Nina is going to be sending us an extreme winter. Now, that's a Chicagoan!

Well, I'm going to break my fast and get ready for a day of meetings. This sounds boring, but there are some interesting ones today. Later.