This is probably the coolest thing ever made. Ever.

100 Movies, 100 Quotes, 100 Numbers

How can it be bad when it combines my love of movies, movie quotes, and descending lists?

My grandma likes to tell me that the reason I have such a big head is because I have so much going on up there. It’s true - I have a huge melon of a head. Fitted hats? A luxury I am left wanting. Graduation caps that say “One Size Fits All?” The phrase alone makes my brother and I laugh. You should see my college graduation pictures…

So there are a lot of things bouncing around the noggin. For instance, how are the Cavs going to step up to a more talented team in the Eastern Conference Finals? How am I going to deal with a girlfriend who misguidedly supports said more talented team? Would LeBron become my best friend and pay off my college loan debt instead of building a house with his own barber shop? Important questions, indeed.

I guess post-season professional basketball isn’t the only topic on my mind. Take for instance this new job that has lasted almost four weeks already. The fun “I don’t really know what I’m doing but everybody is really nice and understanding” stage will be ending soon (if it hasn’t already…), and I think everyone will start to expect results. But what results do they want? Will I single-handedly bring down the entire organization? Where will I go for lunch today? Why isn’t there a Chipotle within walking distance? This isn’t Soviet Russia, you know.

In reality, when I’ve started to slow down a little, I come to the realization that life really is beautiful all the time… even when Chipotle is a little bit out of reach. I spent two whole weekends with my family, celebrating my brother’s college graduation and my mom… being a mom? I guess that’s reason enough to celebrate, but I’m not sure I need a day to celebrate and honor my mom. Just like I don’t need a day to tell my sweetheart how I feel about her. One of the weekends I took Sarah with me and my family took a little too much liking to her, which is better than not liking her at all I guess. Then there’s the fact that I’m getting paid to contribute to a nationwide effort of aggressive idealism geared towards closing the achievement gap and providing quality education to all kids. So I got that going for me… which is nice.
Oh, and it’s summer in Chicago…

…movies in the park, softball, grilling out in the park, outside seating at restaurants, baseball games, late night trips to Margie’s and Tastee Freez, Nickel Creek at Ravinia on August 10th!, working a flexible schedule with Friday afternoons off, 4th of July in Nebraska, festivals… and lots of humidity…

What’s that?  I couldn’t hear you due to the phone I have permanently attached to my ear.  A huge chunk of my first week has been spent dialing into informational introductions to the various offices and initiatives that I will be working with.  Back-to-back-to-back hour-long phone calls is not what I call a fun way to start a morning.  Thankfully I have a headset coming in soon, which hopefully means I will be hands-free in a matter of days.

Besides the phone issue, I think I’m really settling into this new role.  It has been such a crazy roller coaster - randomly stumbling across the job and building initial excitement; the highs and lows of the interview process; the giddy shock after hearing the offer; the stress of making a decision, wrapping up, and saying goodbye; anticipation and building doubts leading up to my first day; the overwhelming first day that leaked into the second day; the calm of the third day and finally starting to gain my bearings - I think I actually developed an ulcer at one point.  That made life fun.

But now I’m here, and unless I want to struggle through unemployment, I’ll be here for a while.  It’s an interesting feeling - wondering what it was that they saw in me that prompted the offer and trying not to annoy the crap out of the people around me in my first few weeks.  I successfully changed the huge water cooler bottle today without electrocuting myself.  I also managed to jimmy the key to the men’s room just enough to get the door to open in less than 30 seconds, which apparently is quite the accomplishment.  I’m batting .500 on my OfficeMax orders being successfully delivered; a feat that I seem to be alone in celebrating.

I’ve also started to settle into a new routine, which is nice.  I can pick between taking the bus to work, or parking within a couple blocks of the office.  Moving my start time to 8am has been a huge adjustment, but it does mean I get to leave at 4pm, leaving me an extra hour of sunny outdoors and lighter traffic for the ride home.  Of course, that means getting up earlier which, I can objectively say, sucks.  My new coffee maker helps a ton, but I’m not sure how much longer I can do this.

So, yeah, how about that.  No more weekends taken up by annoying suburbanite parents and definitely no working late 2 or 3 nights a week.  The possibility of working from home a couple days a week and the guaranteed 40 hour work week and… no driving to the burbs… wait… I won’t be spending 3 or 4 days of my week in the burbs this fall?  I won’t have to fight traffic both ways to talk to kids who really couldn’t care less about what I had to say?

This is where we dance.

Sure, I’ll miss the easy access to Culver’s and their delicious custard and satisfying cheese curds, but I’m OK with that, and I think my arteries are too.