Legoland Discovery Center (Chicago)

Last weekend Dr. BB and I went with my brother-in-law, sister-in-law, and seven-year-old nephew (let's call them TRL) to the Legoland Discovery Center in Schaumburg, Illinois. The advertising materials call the location "Chicago," but it's 30 miles away from Chicago, so it's a bit of a stretch to pretend it's in the city. It's in a mall right next to a Jamba Juice. 

My sister-in-law ordered us tickets online ($20.93 each) and that got us admission into the Center and a "free" Lego minifigure (ours were R3-M2, which is a droid that pretty much looks exactly like R2-D2, although my nephew detailed the differences to me, so talk to a kid if you want to know more about this). 

The place opens with three rooms filled with builds by Lego Masters. The first room was a Chicago room and it was pretty amazing. They dimmed the lights in a sunrise, daytime, nighttime sequence that really made the experience feel magical.  Then there was a jungle room which, I'm not going to lie, kind of freaked out my nephew (not much for snakes, that one), although I appreciated the monkeys, hippo, and lizards.  There was a Star Wars room that was also pretty well done. And that was the best part of our visit to this place.

At the end of the Star Wars room, we came to a halt. It was a Saturday, so it was busy, of course, but we weren't moving at all. We didn't have a map, there were no employees to tell us what was going on, and my nephew was not pleased.  Eventually we learned that there was a ride and we were in line for that ride. We waited in line for about half an hour for the ride. The ride was one that involved shooting at targets and I sighed heavily at the violence of the whole thing (KIDS!) and refused to shoot anything, although I did ride it.

Then we went upstairs. There was another ride (my nephew enjoyed this one way more) that involved going in circles and up and down. My nephew was able to meet Lego Batman and there was a play area with a jungle gym. He enjoyed all this, but the space was quite cramped (this is a mall-sized store after all).  There was a place where kids could build cars and send them down a ramp, but the area was so tiny and there were already dozens of kids there that my nephew flat out refused. There's a super expensive cafe that took forever for us to get our Diet Cokes and waters and there was a "4D" movie that almost sent me into sensory overload with the screaming children and strange smelling liquid that got dumped on us.

Of course the thing spits you out into a store where my nephew happily received a giant box of Legos, as is his due, of course.

After the showrooms, the entire place was understaffed, cramped, and disorganized. The movie ran fifteen minutes late, the staff that was there was composed mostly of surly teens who clearly wanted to be anywhere but where they were, and, it was one of the most unpleasant experiences I've had in recent memory.  The bathrooms were disgusting, the floors were a thing of my nightmares, and I don't even want to talk about the state of the walls. For the price of the place and the number of people who were there, I'd think that this place should be spotless and much better staffed.  Honestly, even my nephew was excited to get out of there and he is totally in the target audience!

I would NOT recommend this place until some serious upgrades are made. They could use a space three times larger and they could use a staff of about four times what they had.  Even if you're going with a kid who loves Legos, I can't promise you that he or she will love Legoland Discovery Center.

Random Thoughts (And Slight Spoilers for La La Land)

1) I took this photo yesterday. It was in the high 60s and sunny and I didn't wear so much as a jacket. Today we had a high of 43 and it rained. Weather of the Midwest is in its full mercurial nature right now.

2) I recently purchased a bag of potato chips. Okay, fine, I purchased the chips to watch the Super Bowl which was one of the saddest non-Lions football games I have ever had the displeasure of watching. I buy chips once a year and it's for my private Super Bowl party with the sole invitees of me, Dr. BB, and Zelda. ANYWAY. I ate a handful of chips while watching the game and then I puzzled over the remaining chips.

When does one eat chips? Not in the morning, right? I'm not going to eat yogurt and granola with a side of chips. So lunch?  Okay, maybe, but my lunch is perfectly portioned to get me through until after my workout and I don't like to mess with it too much. I could eat it as my post-workout snack, but seriously that makes me feel like I'm undoing all my getting buff* work. So maybe with dinner? It seems like a weird side, but I guess maybe people do that. After dinner I don't usually eat, so now I'm out of time in the day to eat them.

In case you can't tell, I threw out about half a bag of chips because they got stale when I couldn't figure out an appropriate eating schedule.

3) We went to the movies to see La La Land a couple of weeks ago. I'm not a movie watching person usually, so this was a big deal.  We planned our entire weekend around it. And I was looking forward to a lighthearted musical with a happy ending that would make me forget, for even a couple of hours, of how crappy everything** is right now. And that. . . is not what I got. As soon as the movie ended and the credits rolled, I said "that is NOT okay" and a woman in front of me said "you are right about that." Even now, WEEKS later, I will occasionally plaintively ask Dr. BB why it had to end that way.  I just wanted it to be HAPPIER. 

* I am definitively not buff. I would have to work out much more and much harder than I do.

**Vagueblogging here: Politics, sick relatives, and a husband whose stress level is so high he might fade away into nothing if he doesn't eat something soon.

No Productivity Here

I recently put the Pocket app on my phone because I was hoping I'd be able to use it to find quality longform articles that I could bookmark and read when I'm doing stupid time wasting things I can't avoid like waiting for my tires to be rotated. I gave up on the Longform app because, at least the Android version is crap.  When I first "joined" Pocket, I just clicked on follow all the recommended feeds because, you know, whatever, and I was instantly dismayed to find that about half of all the articles posted are about "productivity." 

Listen, here's the secret to my productivity: put lots of shit on my calendar. If it's on my to-do list and there's a deadline, I'll find a way to get it done. I need to teach three classes, have office hours, drive to Madison, tutor, drive home, work out, and still have time to clean the bathroom?  I will be extra special efficient and everything will get done.  The danger for me is when there's only one thing on my list for the day. In that case, I'll find ways to fritter away the hours until I'm frantic because I'm running out of time to do the thing that I had all day to do.  I'm about a week behind in grading right now because on my two "light" days that I had in mind I would spent big chunks grading, I never actually did the grading because I hate it. So Friday morning I'll have to sit in my office and grade because that's the deadline I set by telling my students the grading would be done by then.

Anyway, this is all buildup to say that I resent all the "productivity" articles that essentially tell me to stop checking my social media and email. Fuck off, I'm a grown ass adult who knows this.

But, just for the record, I AM innately lazy and here are three of my tricks in my own personal war to fighting off procrastination and sloth. Not a single one involves turning off the internet or television.

1) 30 second rule: If it's going to take less than 30 seconds, just do it right now.  I don't WANT to file that stupid bank statement/EOB/tax document, but it doesn't actually take that long, so just do it as soon as it comes in the house. Since I have very little concept of how long 30 seconds actually is, I frequently end up doing chores that actually take minutes because I thought it would be quicker, but overall this prevents the little chores from building up into gargantuan tasks.

2) Write it down: If I really want to prioritize something, I need a written record of it.  This year, I'm focusing on about a dozen items and every evening I sit down with a spreadsheet and record my progress on those items. It really makes me realize that sometimes my priorities don't match how I spend my time and I then have to change my behavior to be the person I want to be. That sounds vaguely self-helpy and dumb, but there you have it. A daily reminder that I'm behind in X, Y, or Z will weigh on me until I address it. 

3) Tell someone else: I'm incredibly externally motivated and, as a people pleaser, I will do my best not to let someone down by missing a deadline. That's why I told my students when the grading would be done in my earlier example.  If I set my own internal deadline, it will probably never get done. But knowing that people are counting on me to get it done means something to me. 

But none of this is news, right? Because this is what adults do? 

Shut up, Pocket.

Echoes in Death by J.D. Robb

Of course I pre-ordered Echoes in Death because I will forever and ever read every In Death novel despite my endless complaining about how Robb has nothing left to say. I mean, I think that's true still, but I will have my Mr. Mira time and that's all there is to that.  Anyway, it popped up on my Kindle last week and I devoured it despite having three library books AND a book club book sitting on my desk that probably should have taken priority over this one.  I can't stop.

This book is a straight procedural. Even I was able to figure out the killer as soon as s(he) was introduced. It was literally the most straightforward of the In Death books yet. Many of my favorite characters weren't present and the futuristic elements that made the world building of the first few books so memorable just aren't there anymore. I don't know if Robb is done with this series, but it certainly seems like she is.

But there is something comforting about sliding into a cozy mystery on a February night. There's a skill in writing something as complex as a mystery in a way that even someone who is only half paying attention can follow along. So there's no great writing, no great actual mystery, but there's a world I just can't bear to leave.  So when Secrets in Death comes out in September, I bet I'll be writing a similar review because I won't be able to stop myself.

February 2017 Five by Five

1) Weather talk: Yesterday it was 38 degrees. When it's 38 degrees in October, I think I'm going to die and I wear ten layers and cry about how cold it is. When it's 38 degrees in February, I forgo a coat and wear just a sweater and talk about what a nice day it is.

2) Zelda the Cat News: Zelda this winter is super needy. She cries at us when we're eating and we have to walk with her to the rug where she will flop down and demand pets. If you're sitting down anywhere in our apartment, be prepared for twelve pounds of fur and sharp claws to jump on your lap. I can't tell if she's cold and trying to get warm, if she's turned a corner and become a cuddly cat, or if she's lonely because we were around all the time during winter break and now we're working a lot and she misses us. Each of these theories seems implausible (fur coat, changes in personality seem strange, and we're still home an awful lot), but there you have it.

3) Blog News: Somehow my blog is disintegrating. The pics on the sidebar went away and I ignored it. Then the header went away. Now I need to figure out how to deal with it. *sigh*  I don't exactly know how the back end of this blog works, but I guess I should figure it out.

4) Valentine's Day Query: Dr. BB and I don't really DO Valentine's Day. I mean, we make each other handmade cards while sitting next to each other, but there's no chocolate, flowers, or balloons. We never really have made a big deal of this holiday (we are big into birthday, Christmas, and our anniversary).  Is this normal? Is this a thing that means our marriage is doomed or do other old married couples ignore this holiday, too?

5) Medical News of No Import: My sister had a medical event last fall. This resulted in me having to get some blood tests done (18 VIALS) to rule out some genetic things (hand waving over the details I don't really understand) and the results showed nothing. So that was not helpful to my sister in attempting to figure out her health issues at all. So that happened. 

That "large adult" cuff makes me laugh EVERY SINGLE TIME, Wisconsin, you know?

January Sewing Project

I'm not going to lie. I've done this project several times before. But I've finally mastered it! I'm sorry to all those people who've gotten inferior baby presents, but this time, this baby is getting quality.

I got this pattern from One Yard Wonders and I keep using it because it just turns out right each time. There's a tactile blanket, a bib, and a drawstring bag. It's pretty boss, if I can be allowed to compliment myself. The flannel giraffe print was too cute to pass up when it was on clearance at Jo-Ann Fabric ($2.79 a yard with limited availability - go get some now!!).

I combined the striped and giraffe prints with this adorable monster print (keeping orange as the thematic color) and made a cube. I got this pattern from Handmade for Baby, but if I'm being 100% honest, the directions are almost worthless. I've only figured out how to make this with lots of trial and error and hours watching YouTube videos.  I also make my cube about 50% larger than the original pattern recommends.

I'm going to guess this cost about $30 altogether. Most of that cost was in fabric, a few bucks was on thread, the polyfill for the cube was $3 on sale, and I had scraps of ribbon for the blanket, so that was negligible. It took me about six or seven hours to do all together.

I'm also working on a dress I've been working on since November or so. I vow that it will be done by the end of February, so if you're looking for me between now and March 1, I'll be hunched over my ironing board and sewing machine.