Cheap Chai for Cold Nights

I’ve been making a yummy concotion lately. Thought I’d share it for other hot chai fiends like myself. You can, of course, go buy the liquid chai mix that many coffeeshops use at Whole Foods and even some regular grocery stores. But the box costs almost $5 and doesn’t last long.

Fill your mug about 1/3 with milk (best if whole milk) and the rest water.
Put a cinnamon stick on the bottom. (Stick can be reused.)
Add sugar. (If you actually want it to taste like it does in the coffeehouses, be generous.)
Put in chai tea bag (recommend Celestial Seasons- the taste is WAY better than others I have tried). I generally leave the bag in even while drinking- to make sure you get a good, full chai taste.
Heat it for like 2 min. You want it to boil so that the milk has that same coffeehouse steamed thing going on. It’s important to have the cinnamon stick in there while heating as well. Shaking cinnamon on the top doesn’t work because it doesn’t mix.
Another thing to add is just a tablespoon or less of hot cocoa mix or Nestle Quik. You don’t want an overwhelming chocolate taste or you might as well just make cocoa.

Anyway. Probably a dumb thing to share, but I love that I can make these at home whenever I want them. And most chai is decaf so it doesn’t hurt to drink them late at night.

Moving the Wood Pile

That’s what I did first thing this morning. Nice to get out and get some good physical labor in. Work up an appetite and all. And just as my brother-in-law and I finished, my dad finally came home from the hospital.

Four nights. Certainly the shittiest Thanksgiving I have had. But I don’t at all delude myself that it couldn’t have been worse.

Every time we thought everything was going well and he was on the mend, he’d have another episode of tightness in the chest and numbness in his arm. The EKGs kept coming back okay though. It was really frustrating and scary. They finally put a third stent in on only a 60% blockage, just to make sure they had all the bases covered.

I know I missed the worst of it. The episode after the first angiogram where his heart rate dropped to 20 and they brought the crash cart in… I think it scarred my oldest sister who was in the room and had to have a nurse put on her because she was hysterical.

And now what? Well, for one thing, I start learning a lot about how to run ByRon as I help him out. But beyond that, I don’t know.

Oh but I did get some turkey. On Thursday, my eldest sister had a makeshift dinner that my middle sister and I attended. And today we did make the full-blown meal. There was a lot to be thankful for.

Coming Home – No Turkey For Me

I’m too tired to write much now. Over the last few days I have wanted to write about several things like my last night at work and wandering in the city again yesterday and moving home etc. But now nothing really seems to matter.

I didn’t know if I really wanted to blog about all this, but I know some good friends who know my family also read this. Anyway…

Yesterday afternoon, my dad had a heart attack. It wasn’t terribly severe, but his tests this morning showed two major blockages. They put in two stents, which is a relatively routine procedure. But then he had another episode. They thought it was another heart attack because his heart rate dropped to 20 beats per minute and he was in a lot of pain, but tests showed that there was no further damage to the heart. Still, his wound from the earlier procedure tore open and there was some internal bleeding. He’s been in ICU ever since. It took a long while to stabalize him on medications, but he seems to be able to rest now.

It feels strangely providential that I was moving home today anyway. Now, I don’t care much about my plans. I will be here as long as I need to be. Someone has to run ByRon. At the very least, he’s gonna have to take it easy for a while.

I’m keeping it together pretty well. In fact, I was the one making all the calls today. I somehow manage to keep it together in crisis. Mom says it’s my PR training. I don’t know what to think. In fact, my brain isn’t working well at all.

I feel fairly positive still. My father’s ministry is too great for it to be done. And if David Letterman can have a quadruple bypass and still star in his own TV show every night…

Well anyway. Please just keep my dad and family in your prayers.

Poking Around

Thursday, I went to the Smart Museum, the Spertus Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Photography and the Harold Washington Public Library – because it’s really big. I suppose these things, while in the tour book, are a little off the beaten path. My friend Joe who grew up here hadn’t even heard of the first three. None of it was extraordinary, but all very interesting. I’m glad I am taking the time to see a little more of the city. It was cool to be in the University of Chicago area, and I really liked a couple paintings they had at the Smart Museum. The children’s area in the Spertus was very cool, and I got to see a picture of the boat Exodus at the end of the Holocaust exhibit, for those who know what that is. The Vietnam photo exhibit at MOCP was very interesting and enlightening.

I also ate lunch at a place called the Firehouse and dinner at Grace O’Malleys (for those who know the significance of that). Most importantly, I not only attended, but borrowed a guitar and played at an open mike at a place called Gourmand Coffeehouse. I’m really glad I squeezed in playing out. It meant a lot to me. The place was cool and the crowd decent. It was a good experience.

Now though, I am running late for my last night at work. Just wanted to get in a few words.

Herculaneum

Yesterday began with a family trip to Shedd Aquarium. It was surprisingly uncrowded for the free day. Three adults on three kids – and all hands were needed. But we all enjoyed it. I paid the extra amount to go to the Oceanarium after the fam left. I don’t know if it was worth it entirely, but I still enjoyed myself. The Beluga whales were cool. But the St. Louis Zoo’s penguins are WAY cooler. They didn’t have puffins. And they were all behind glass. The dolphins were beautiful, but the show wasn’t much of a show.

Next I headed to the Field Museum. I spent an hour and a half in the special Pompeii exhibit, which was actually more about Herculaneum, the resort city across the way from Pompeii. Here’s a couple interesting facts. The day before Vesuvius erupted was August 23, 79 A.D. The people of Pompeii were in the streets celebrating the god of fire. Dumb. On the 24th, most of them choked to death on the ash that filled the air. Across the way, the people of Herculaneum thought they would be okay, but were gathering their things to flee anyway. At 1 a.m. on on the 25th, a pyroclastic surge overtook the city. This is essentially a 1000-degree cloud of gas and rock fragments that incinerated the people instantly leaving perfectly perserved skeletons. Over 300 bodies have been discovered since 1980. I found it interesting seeing this glimpse of Roman life, just 9 years after the Temple was destroyed. Just to link it to another historical event. That’d be the one in Jerusalem, for those who don’t know how my brain works.

I meandered through the “stuffed animals.” The man-eating lions that inspired the movie Ghost in the Darkness weren’t as big and scarey as I expected. The gem room was pretty. I’m such a snob about the Egyptian stuff. After seeing Karnak, Abul Simbel and the Valley of the Kings – after descending into the depths of the small pyramid, and seeing the mummy of Ramses II at the museum in Cairo. Shoot, even the Egyptian display at the history museum in London. I’m a snob. Wish I had gotten through more of the American Indian stuff before the place closed though.

After that I drove up to the Lush on Armitage and walked around the area. I treated myself to dinner at an Irish pub. Cider and Shepherd’s Pie. Mm. Reminded me of Dublin.

I might head into the city again tomorrow. Sadly though, I think I will have to come back if I want to see Wicked.

Head On

Despite my last entry, my head is screwed on correctly. I think. Unless it never was.

Doubts are natural. Afterall, I am making this up as I go.

I gave notice to my job on Sunday that I would be gone after next weekend (this weekend). I’d been warned that they may not put me on the schedule at all after that. Just the way the industry is. I’d hoped they wouldn’t so that I’d have one full weekend in Chicago. But it’s not to be. I work on Friday and Saturday. Yuck. At least they are the best money days. And I will be able to say with certainty throughout the madness that it’s almost over.

It feels good to have that done at least. I was a bit panicked about giving notice because I haven’t quit many jobs. And because I do have some doubts. But I believe putting it behind me and moving onto phase two is what I need to do.

At the very least, I am going home to regroup. But my dream of living out of the country remains.