Dear Hiring Manager:

Thank you for your letter. After careful consideration I regret to inform you that I am unable to accept your refusal to offer me employment with your firm.

This year I have been particularly fortunate in receiving an unusually large number of rejection letters. With such a varied and promising field of corporate candidates it is impossible for me to accept all refusals for employment.

Despite your company's outstanding qualifications and previous experience in rejecting applicants, I find that your rejection does not meet with my needs at this time. Therefore, I will initiate employment with your firm immediately following graduation. I look forward to seeing you then. Best of luck in rejecting future candidates.


Sincerely,
Alex N. Yates

p.s. I’ll see you on Monday around 9-ish

Sharon and I got up on Saturday morning and headed downtown to see the annual dyeing of the Chicago River green by the plumbers union. Then walked over and saw the St. Patrick's parade, pretty impressive! They even had unicorns. Real ones I think. (yeah huh!)

Afterwards went to a pub for a pint but the prices and crowds sent us home to nap and enjoy a quiet evening together.

Funny, on the bus to the parade sat a family out visiting from... San Diego!!! 'Tis the luck of the Irish indeed!

Dyeing of the Chicago River - Alex's footage

Parade footage - Sharon's footage

Cheers and Love laddie!
Alex

Sharon Dewar, new Director of PR for the Lincoln Park Zoo, gets TWO front page stories from The Chicago Tribune bookending St. Patty's weekend! She's on fire!!!

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Caring for the zoo's senior citizens
Specialized treatment keeps some animals alive much longer in captivity than they'd ever survive in the wild

By William Mullen
Tribune reporter
March 17 2008

Veterinarian Kathryn Gamble sat next to a table in Lincoln Park Zoo Hospital the other day polishing the big, sharp teeth of an anesthetized black leopard with bubble gum-flavored toothpaste.

Visit ChicagoTribune.com

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So many chimps on TV, so few in the wild
Chimps used so often by media, many people assume they aren't endangered, study finds

By William Mullen
TRIBUNE REPORTER
March 14 2008

Movie producers and advertisers have long relied on chimpanzees comically dressed as humans to entertain their audience, but scientists say the practice is bad for chimps not only as individuals but also as a species threatened with extinction.

The complete articles can be viewed by clicking the title.

Hello from Chicago!

Our new address is as follows:

Sharon Dewar and Alex Yates
514 N. Hermitage Avenue
Chicago, IL 60622

Send us any postcards, baked goods, bags of sand, or rays of sunshine you desire.

The move went well! We departed San Diego on Thursday, January 31st, 2008 at 8am with our necessary baggage and hopes for a fresh start in a new city.

We arrived at Chicago's icy O'Hare at 3pm with our four LARGE pieces of luggage, two dogs in animal crates, one cat in a carry-on bag, and our other three pieces of carry-on baggage. We bulked up with layers of sweaters and jackets, donned mittens, scarves and caps to thwart the cold of 20 degree temperatures with frigid snow flurries. If you would've thrown in a couple of chickens we would look like a couple of immigrants!

Now how do you transport all of THAT to the city? This was our first logistical challenge that Sharon and I handled well as the great team that we are. Sharon stayed with our stuff as I shuttled off to get a minivan to lug our cargo to our new home that we rented just 10 days prior. Traffic on the highway was at a crawl due to the snowstorm and rush hour. It took us 90 minutes to make it 18 miles to our community of Westown in the Ukraine Village, adjacent to the hip Bucktown and Lincoln Park areas (so they tell me. I'm so lost I'm dis-oriental!).

After unloading our Noah's Ark of creatures and comforts, I dashed up the block to the Post Office to retrieve some boxes we had shipped that had blankets, inflatable bed, pots and pans, etc. It was after 6pm and I was afraid we were out of luck and we'd have to sleep on the hardwood floors until we could get it the next day. But we were in luck, the post office was open until 7pm!. So I picked up all of our pre-determined supplies and brought them home to make camp for the night.

One more errand - off to Costco to stock up like hibernating bears that might not never see the light of day again. Luckily I had MapQuested these spots ahead of time and knew just where to go. My only fear was a detour which fortunately never materialized. A few hundred dollars lighter and we were ready to settle in for the wintery night after consuming a bottle of red wine with some cheese and classical music on the radio as snow fell outside our new home.

All was well...

First off, Happy Birthday to Deborah and Bob who celebrated birthdays this week.

Second, we got a confirmation email from our Tour Coordinator Johnny. My comments are in (parentheses).

"Here is the itinnerary for the tours you want to do in the Fortuna area

MONDAY/ 19th...Canyoning 12 people per person/ 11.40 pic up time
(We can drive there. It's close by. Also, this activity was planned for the morning but half of a tour had that slot filled so we got bumped to the afternoon. Maybe this is better since it'll be warmer then).

TUESDAY/ 20th...Cano negro 24 people$ 45 per person 8.30 pic up time. (we'll find out exactly where we need to be at 8:30am Tue morning)

Wendnesday/ 21st...rafting trip 15 people per person 7.45 pic up time. (same as above, we'll find out exactly where we need to be at 7:45am Wed morning)

Thursday/ 22nd...sky trek canopy 27 people per person 10.30 pic up time. (it's a 15 min drive from Lost Iguana. Also, the butterfly house is down the road from here too.)

All of this tours don't include transport you will have to use your cars.

(this is the bad news, all day access passes to Tabacon have been sold to tour operators. Only dinner passes are available)
I have olso make the reservation for tabacon resort hot springs for the 22nd at 6.30 pm with dinner but we have to pay in advance. the entrance for tabacon will be per person. (Sharon and I have decided we'll just wait until we get there and then see what we wanna do. We don't wanna spend for dinner among gardens we can't really see and enjoy. So we're holding off on that until we land).

The number of people per activity can change once we get there, but IF YOU KNOW NOW, let us know now that you do or do NOT want to do something so these numbers are close to accurate. Please. Thanks!