I have a new nickname at work... Little One. At first I didn't think it would stick, like so many of the previous ones. It actually works in two ways.

a) There are two Alex's at the store and I'm the younger/smaller one
b) I'm the newest full timer so I'll take this over rookie

and to be honest I kind of like this one. I don't mind responding to pages for Little One.

PS thanks Angie for the pictures of Chicago I used earlier

Never visit Italy

So far I've avoided posting about the World Cup. Mostly because I was busy either working or actually watching games, but also a little because I know a large portion of my friends don't even really care about soccer.

I can't, however, hold this in.

Italian soccer! The players, the fans, the style in general... I'm fed up. They should all be ashamed of themselves. It makes me physically ill to watch them play and sitting here now remembering this morning's game makes me want to throw up. (for those of you who don't know, this morning an Italian player took a dive in the penalty box in the 93rd minute forcing a PK giving Italy the win after being fairly well dominated all game by Australia) Even typing that just now hurt. I'm really at a loss for words. how do they keep getting away with it? Why isn't there more outrage? Did you know that when Italy was knocked out of the World Cup 4 years ago the man who scored that goal... he played for an Italian club team. I say played because his team boss promptly fired him for "insulting Italian soccer and the nation." This poor guy, all he did was play his heart out for South Korea, the host country! And he got fired!

Ok ranting over. I know it's not fair to hold this against an entire nation, but I will... at least for a little while.

go driving

Sometimes I forget that I live near Chicago. I don't think I'm allowed to say I live "in Chicago" what with being out in the suburbs and all, but I also refuse to ever use the term "chicagoland." Anyway...

Last night leaving work I didn't feel like going home and since I had just made an awesome new mix cd it seemed like a good time to just drive. I'd never really done this before since moving to Illinois so I wasn't quite sure where to go. (this is, btw, how I ended up on a gravel road outside of Solon one night last year) So I got on the Edens and headed downtown. Now I didn't plan on going all the way into the city, but I did. And it was well worth the trip. It's just so big. and bright. and alive. and it's almost as if I live too close to be a tourist, but because I've not been here long and am still discovering a lot of places, when I'm downtown, I feel like a tourist. Still a little bit in awe.



I knew I'd finally adjusted to living here when I felt both in awe and a little bit proud. Like, hey look, this is my city.