this post makes no sense, but I have a good reason

which is that, oh my stars, I only have ten days of work left before I go. There are a few things I have left to shop for, including presents. So at lunch I walked to the university book store to buy UIUC-themed prezzies for people I haven't met and know nothing about, but anyway. I was blown away by how much UIUC crap is available. Room after room of stuff - there was the typical range of school supplies and t-shirts, which I was expecting, but things like dog leashes, foam hats, pig-shaped keychains (of which I purchased two, in case I meet any small children - and these are appropriate mementos form a hog-producing state). Woah. There is so much irrelevant, ridiculous stuff to spend money on. Here's a picture of the t-shirt room of one of the three campus bookstores (this one not run by the university, at least).

And yes, I know blue and orange are ugly together. Not a thing I can do about it. On my way home I'm going to figure out this power and voltage adapter question. No one seems to know, but I have my camera battery recharger with me, which is the only thing I'm taking that requires power. Can I just say I think it's ridiculous that none of the three Radio Shacks in this town has what I need, so now I'm forced to fight traffic on North Prospect and go to Best Buy? Bah.

On an entirely different note, here are some pictures from my visit last weekend to Chicago's Indo-Pak neighborhood. They are inspired by a conversation with darling Akshay (this is what he always gets called now, for whatever reason, I do hope that's okay with you, dear) about food. He taught me how to say "yum" in Hindi, and it sounded familiar...

And look, the emperor has yummy food mixes.