Prostrate with Grief!

As part of my birthday celebration zone (™ Jill), we went to see The Corpse Bride this Friday. It was good, and some parts were quite funny (Randy and I have been using the phrase, "prostrate with grief" as often as we can work it into conversation). See if you spot a quick nod to Edward Gorey in one scene - we both thought we saw one, and it was the same scene, so we're pretty sure it's there. Overall, though, I think I still prefer The Nightmare Before Christmas.

We were also hoping to go visit some Japanese gardens in Rockford this weekend, but it ended up raining both Saturday and Sunday, so we went to IKEA instead. There's a huge IKEA (link is a PDF) store in Schaumberg - almost too big, in fact. It reminded us of visiting Powell's Books (link is a PDF) in Portland last summer, which takes up an entire city block. It's great to have so much stuff to look at, but unless you have some idea about what you're looking for, it gets pretty overwhelming. I don't know if either map successfully conveys the sheer size of both of those stores. You could pretty easily just disappear into either one, never to return...

One of the things I got for my birthday was Dorothy Dunnett's Lymond Chronicles. I love these books. The first time I read them, I could hardly think of anything else for the two weeks it took me to finish them all. I stayed up far too late on weeknights and got up early on the weekends to read them. They're incredibly absorbing. Anyway, my point is that I whole-heartedly recommend them, and you should all go read them.

Continuing my random hopping from subject to subject, I have another interview next Monday, with the same place I interviewed at last time. I'm almost a little afraid to mention it, given that I haven't gotten any of the jobs I've mentioned interviewing for before, but I figure having extra people sending good thoughts my way can't hurt. So, if just one more of you than last time (when I was second choice) could think good thoughts for me, I should get the job. Or maybe even two of you, just to be sure. Your assistance is much appreciated.