sunday

Bride Ujenda, Bill and Mona

On Sunday morning I awoke early, showered and dressed and went downstairs with my Kindle in search of coffee. More than an hour passed before I saw any faces from the wedding. Plans were formed the previous night after the wedding to meet in the lobby and walk over to ihop for a group breakfast. Ihop was very accomodating and soon the twenty of us were seated altogether.


Jim and Mary, Ujenda and Gary, MJ and David


Later in the day Jim and Mary would be flying back to Florida, MJ to San Fran and Dave driving to Michigan. All had arrived several days before the wedding whereas Bill and I had planned to be in town several days after the wedding. We got together for one more group photo in the hotel lobby before Bill and I headed out for our excellent Chicago adventure.
B and I had purchased tickets to see Wired to Win at the Omnimax in the Museum of Science and Industry and we had to hustle to get there on time. It was a 50 minute movie that took you into the minds of the cyclists in the Tour de France and explained how it was more a function of their brains rather than their bodies that drove them to continue on through the pain they were experiencing. We both really enjoyed the film. Then, of course, we had to walk through the exhibits some of which I have seen dozens of times. The balcony where the babies in jars and slices of the human body are kept has been completely redesigned into the You Experience so it was somewhat fresh. The old giant heart that you could walk through was gone, replaced by a new giant heart that beats at your heart rate when you grab the handles. I guess I was feeling stressed being in this museum because when I grabbed the handles the giant heart started beating at 95 beats per minute. I became irritated because my heart rate usually falls somewhere in the 50s. When Bill grabbed the handles the giant heart would not even recognize his heartbeat. So when we came to the table where you try to control the ball with your brain waves by relaxing, I was feeling all nervous, tight and stressed. When B and I finally got the chance to sit across from one another with the electrodes strapped to our foreheads, I closed my eyes and tried to relax. I am normally excellent at this so I was very surprised to hear the guy say "Very nice job, Sir" within about a minute of sitting down. I opened my eyes and saw the little ball in my court. I can't even begin to tell you how much this p****d me off and irrirated me the rest of day. When I felt I couldn't stand in front of another exhibit or read another word, I sat down with some film playing behind me and told B to go on and finish reading the genetics exhibits. I wasn't sitting for more than ten minutes before the museum guard came through telling us the museum was closing in 10 minutes. Good thing it closed at four because the traffic was terrible. It took us two hours to get back to Addison, change clothes and drive to Schaumburg to meet our friends, Mary Jo and Dave and Donna and Bruce for dinner at McCormicks and Schmicks.
Such good friends and such good food. Excellent conversation and excellent presentation of food. It went by much too quickly. And why didn't I get my camera out and capture photos of these good friends? I don't know why. Sometimes when you are having a good time you come away thinking "OMG,I never even took my camera out of my purse all evening".
B and I ended this evening by watching the rest of the Academy Awards in the hotel. I was very much pleased with the best movie win. I loved both Avatar and The Hurt Locker but I was rooting for The Hurt Locker. This little movie had made an impression on me.