Is how long it's been since I updated. Many apologies for this. Grad school suddenly got hard this past weekend and week. So I was pretty crunched for time. Things are slowing down a little... probably just in time to get geared up for the crunch at the end of the semester. But I'll make use of this breather to catch up.
Last weekend Samantha and I drove up to Chicago to a) buy my desk from IKEA 2) see Storyhill in concert 3) visit my uncle John and aunt Marti and 4) have fun poking around Chicago a little. It was 95% successful on all of the above. The missing 5% comes from the fact that I did not come away from IKEA with my desired desk, but the one I bought will do just as well. The Storyhill show was wonderful -- they played a lot of favorites, and some surprises -- Cecilia by Simon & Garfunkel, as well as some older tunes I've never heard live before. (For those of you who know, this is really pretty incredible for me.) John and Marti were gracious hosts as always. And fun was had, both in Chicago (puttering around Navy Pier and Millenium Park) and on the road. I was worried that my inexplicable love for driving long distances would not be shared by Samantha, but she certainly didn't mind, and perhaps might have enjoyed it as well. She was, as she has been in all things, a great companion. You cannot imagine how happy it makes me to have someone like this. Well, maybe you can.
The week so far has been as busy as the weekend was pleasurable -- which is "very." I had a collection development assignment due in Reference on Monday that took much, much longer than I anticipated it would. It got turned in on Wednesday. Whoops. A "quiz" (the teacher in me wonders how you can call 8 essay questions a quiz) in Management on Thursday, as well as all the weekly stuff, and top it off with a sore-throat-turned-runny-nose-turned-chest-cold, and I'm about done. Whew. I'm glad it's finally Friday.
And Friday is cool -- I am going to the opera again tonight. Three operas in under three months... damn, I'm cultured. And it is finally cold enough to wear either a suit coat or my dad's fantastic woolen dress coat. Very excited! This weekend should be good -- I am hoping for a little R&R time with Sam since we've spent a lot of time this week on schoolwork. I'll be sure to check back in again soon.
In other news:
- I am becoming some sort of absent-minded freak. I have lost no less than four items of fairly substantial value (>$10) in the past two weeks. Luckily (and I do mean due to purely dumb luck) I have retrieved three of them, but the umbrella is still MIA. The common joke about losing your head if it wasn't screwed on is hitting a little too close to home right now.
- We saw the Incredibles last Friday. It was (to steal a pun of startling originality from Joseph) incredible. Did anyone else out there notice the rampant Fantastic Four allusions? Also, fans of the They Might Be Giants documentary Gigantic may have recognized the voice behind the character of Violet as being Sarah Vowell. Cool!
- Johan Santana was unanimously awarded the Cy Young award for the American League this year. This was very exciting for me -- seeing a pitcher I have been watching and rooting for since 2002 exceed all expectations. The Twins have him and Brad Radke to thank in large part for their third-straight run to the playoffs this year.
- I've been using my web skillz quite a bit recently. We're in the HTML section of 401, so I've built an online resume, and am in the process of completing the second assignment, a small website "for a company or organization." I have perverted the intention of this assignment to suit my own twisted agenda -- witness the further elevation of my Storyhill nerd-dom on the web. More on the way, as Roger starts letting me get into updating the Chemistry Library webpage. Good times.
- Last week I unwittingly purchased the weirdest floss I've ever seen. I just grabbed my favorite brand off the shelf, and somehow I ended up with Reach Tartar Control. It's bizarre. It's like, woven, sort of, like a piece of yarn, but not as thick, but still kind of... hmm... I guess I can't really explain it very well. And I can't seem to find a picture of it online. It's just weird -- take my word for it.
Thanks for checking in. Peace.