i did something cool today

B forwarded me an email he received from the University of Chicago, Graduate School of Business (GSB) about a historic announcement. They were streaming it live, so at 3pm PT I joined the party. It was almost like being back in the Winter Garden.

Beforehand we tried to guess what the big announcement could be. We figured with all the news about appointments to Barack Obama's team, perhaps several of the GSB faculty had new jobs. We were wrong, and that has been done before, so not exactly "historic".

It turned out that David (class of '71) and Suzanne Booth, had given the business school an endowment of $300 million. This is the largest single gift any business school has received. The school announced the $100M Booth Matching Fund - also the largest matching fund in business school history. It was further decided that the business school would now be called The University of Chicago, Booth School of Business.

Since I had Twitter open, I told the world (all 200 something of my followers) what had just been announced. Apparently I scooped The Wall Street Journal, among others. It isn't like I told the world, or was the first to know (reportedly there were 3000 people logged in to view the announcement). And clearly this has been known for a bit as at the end the current students were invited to take Booth swag after the event.

Of course I immediately went to the GSB bookstore, as B wears his GSB tshirts often. Hate for him to be out of style. There wasn't anything there, but I did email. Hopefully I will hear back soon. B said he also needs a new decal for the car - the one that has almost 200,000 miles on it. It looks like the site is under construction, so maybe that is good news.



on the night stand :: Not A Box

i thought these were lost

These are from December 2005. They are what was the holiday windows from Marshall Fields (now Macy's). The theme that year was Cinderella. I so miss living in downtown Chicago. Enjoy this trip down memory lane.

on the night stand :: The Golden Compass

it has been a year

A year ago I spent my last night in the city of Chicago. The elevators weren't working. The city was super muggy and hot. It literally felt like rain. We weren't finished putting everything that needed to go into storage, and time was ticking.

We were surrounded by boxes that seemed to multiply. They needed to be broken down and hauled to the trash room half a city block down the hall.

We met a friend for dinner at Subway. It was down the block and quick. I hadn't eaten at Subway the entire two years we were in Chicago - except for that last night.

I felt bad considering that it didn't help us meet our deadline. We should have gone some place cool. Some place totally Chicago.

But everyone was tired and hot. And my nerves were shot. I still don't know how we got everything done.

The plan had been to leave that evening. But since we still have two loads of stuff to bring to storage it didn't happen. I talked to the front desk and he told us not to worry about staying until morning. The only thing we needed to do was deal with parking. Essentially we just had to pay to keep in the lot after midnight.

We literally slept on the floor. All the blankets had been packed. The only thing we had were two pillows. B stepped on my glasses. Thankfully he didn't break them. They just don't close right.

We turned in the keys literally seconds before the crazy building manager arrived for the day. I was so anxious I nearly threw up.

I still remember sitting in the car, pulling out of the loading zone and heading towards the great unknown. I can't believe it has been a year! I never thought things would still be up in the air like this. I miss my bed.

But tonight I snapped zinnias in the park to remind me that I am still here. have talent. I can still focus on the hidden beauty. We still have each other. And if I know nothing else, that is what matters most.

on the night stand :: The Gravedigger's Daughter