Another Saturday Night in the Chi

I sat down this late afternoon, on a lazy, sunny, chilly Sunday to write a paper I have due on Friday at midnight. Instead, I started a pot of chili, allowed myself a bit of daydreaming as I glanced out on the late afternoon sun filtering through the nearly-bare trees of autumn. While it might have been 80 degrees on Thursday, it is decidedly fall now. I drug out all my ceramic pumpkins, fall-scented candles, favorite incense for chilly evenings, and harvest-themed centerpieces.

The pace at which fall is flying by is unsettling. It forces me to slow down and enjoy these last few nice days. Heck, it won't be long before it's dark at 4pm and weeks go by between glimpses of the sun!

So while I do have a paper due, the procrastination is welcome. This Church history class is kicking my butt and my overachieving classmates keep upping the bar- arguing things like the philosophy behind the Crusades, the origins of Canon Law, and questions like, "what are antipopes anyway and who decides they're anti?"

Us theologians are cool. Did you have any doubt?

On a difficult Thursday, I came home to a stuffed mailbox. Thinking I ordered things in my sleep again, I discovered this awesome, surprise gift from none other than Nurse Starbucks:

It's a take on "Geology Rocks" from Friends. And it's pink! A public thanks to Nurse Starbucks for making a theologist's dreams come true!

In other news, Jack and I attended our first ND home game at Soldier Field yesterday. It was an amazing experience and that defied the 47 degree temps. We barely noticed we were cold; the atmosphere was electric.

We splurged on a tailgate pass and this was our view from the South Lot.

Walking around a bit to find former classmates and others from SB, we returned to find that a full-blown tailgate arose right behind our car, in "our" space. Turns out they were all firefighters and yacht club members from Long Beach, CA and they had graduated from ND in the 90's. We welcomed them to our 'gate and in true tailgate fashion, we shared our beer with new pals.

This guy offered to teach Jack how to sail. More comical was that, when we went into the stadium, we saw our impromptu tailgating crew literally across the aisle from us. In a sea of 60,000 people, what are the odds?!

We then went into the stadium to find that our supremely good seats were, well, supreme. Our Irish did us proud!

The halftime show was wonderful. The band did their usual ND:

Then the band Chicago took the stage with the ND band playing back-up!

What's better than Chicago in Chicago at a ND game?

So we'll go into this long, busy workweek tired from a tremendous weekend, fulfilled by terrific experiences, and grateful for the opportunities afforded us.

Opportunities like writing papers on the doctrinal developments from the Ecumenical Councils! Wish me luck!