In no particular order:
While doing some reading related to work, I realized that kids that are graduating this academic year, were likely to have been born in 1986 and 1987. I'm not sure why, but that has just blown my mind.
I have also realized that I'm nearing obsession about the Up series. I've watched the first three (7-Up, 7+7, and 21-Up), and plan to get the rest from Netflix. I'm sure that I could easily Google to find out what has happened to this cohort of British people over the 40 years of the series, but I am trying to resist. Even just in watching the 1st 3 in the series, it is fascinating to watch how, particularly for the upper class kids, their predictions about education & employment at age 7 were often right on the money.
The new 90210 is just kinda blah. I liked seeing the old characters, but that's about it. It lacks the camp of Gossip Girl and the craziness of One Tree Hill. Oh well.
But there is other new TV to look forward to...I'm going to give Fringe a whirl, which I think starts next week. Yip yip!.
So the re-boot starts tonight. Will you be watching? I can't help myself. I'm in for the pilot at least. There's a nice article about the original show over at the . New York Times In answer to the question at the start of the article ("What event defines the 1990s for you?"), I'm not sure that it's when Brenda slept with Dylan, but I have a really vivid memory of watching the "U4EA" in a hotel lobby while on a debate trip my junior year of high school.
I also love the fact that my parents were avid watchers, who kept watching even after I moved out to go to college. I think they made it to season 9.
In non-90210 news, I did make the trek to Cinci yesterday--the chair has been ordered and my fridge is full of cheese from Trader Joe's. Mmmm...cheese....Watched Gossip Girl (such delicious camp!) and One Tree Hill (it pains me that I still watch the latter, but it's a habit that I can't seem to break...yes, I actually am a 14 year old girl still...) And most importantly, I have exercised three out of the last four days. This is huge progress, although the total darkness at 6:30 this morning put a damper on my plan to hike around the neighborhood. So I guess it's back to the treadmill on weekdays. Ah well...
So last night I was poking around the On Demand & found that I can watch Mad Men in HD. Which is bizarre because we don't get AMC in HD, but whatever. I'm behind the times--didn't see the first season (on order w/ Netflix though) but am now caught up on Season 2. I get why people love it. I love the look of it--the cinematography is fabulous.
Also discovered: That this is yummy. I made it with shrimp. Simple & totally summery.
Final discovery--that apparently I bought Singles on dvd some time ago. Huh. Shrink wrap was still on. Since the Netflix I got is cracked, Singles it is tonight.
Okay, one more....I think I'm in love with this chair. (If that link doesn't work, go to macys.com and search for "monica poppy chair") I've been thinking for a while that I want another chair for the tv room. They don't have a sample at my local Macys, so I'm contemplating a trek tomorrow to Florence, which is south of Cincinnati. It seems a little out of control to drive 75 miles to see a chair, but I also don't want to order one until I've sat in it. The up-side is that it's just another 20 miles to go to Trader Joe's.
Mmmmm...Trader Joe's...
...well, mostly.
I have struggled with grilling steaks. Usually, I incinerate them and then they just aren't good. But tonight--oh, tonight--I remembered to turn down the heat & let them get juuuuuuust right. I used a couple of seasonings from a local company called Herb'n Renewal. Some of their Herb'n Cowboy and the Sassy & Salt-Free, and my steak was on its way. Those spice mixes are good, yo. The Fresh Market sells this lean Hereford strip steaks, & they are seriously good. I'm thinking about buying a whole one & have them cut into steaks & then freezing because they're on sale for cheap this week.
I did a simple salad, and made the korean-style dressing in this recipe from Mark Bittman. It's really simple but really different. And YUMMY. Why have I never considered this kind of dressing before? Spicy, and Asian-y, and light.
Anyway, the last yummy thing was I sauteed some sliced shittake mushrooms (locally grown--can you believe it? I still can't) in olive oil. Right at the end, I added the leftover garlic that I'd chopped & the leftover dressing that I didn't need for my salad. A splash of balsamic vinegar, and put them on top of the steak. Huzzah!
The only failure was a bland spaghetti squash incident, but you can't win them all.
And it's looking like it's gonna rain (we need it desperately), so again, I say: Huzzah!
...til the election. I hope I can make it without my brain exploding. Because I'm with Barack--I have had enough. That was pretty much all I needed him to say last night, and he did. I loved that speech, and watching the footage of people in the crowd, made me cry.
Because I am so profoundly tired of being ashamed of the holder of the highest office in this land. So, so tired.
I had a brief moment where my heart sank today upon seeing that McCain picked a woman for the VP slot...until I read that as of last month, she wasn't exactly clear on what the Vice President, you know, actually does. She's also a crazy wingnut, based on early reports. It made me feel a little better.
I promise to resume my usual babbling about pop culture shortly & will try my best to not rant too often about the election. I'm gonna try...
Is it weird that I teared up a little during the Today show when they showed Hillary stopping the roll call vote, and noted that today is the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr's "I have a dream" speech? Perhaps. But I will own up to it.
And now, this very exciting news: a sequel to Center Stage. Whoop!
Also, some fall tv starts up next week. Huzzah! Will you be watching 90210? I've decided that I will try it. Loved this interview with Jennie Garth & Shannen Doherty over on EW's website.
I'm caught up on Saving Grace (can't believe it's over til March already...) and The Closer. I never used to be much for the police procedural, but I dig both of those.
Loved Vicky Christina Barcelona. I figured I would. If Woody Allen movies aren't your thing, it probably won't wow you, but I like movies where people talk a lot. :-) Javier Bardem absolutely blows my mind--he's the kind of actor who can just do anything (and already kinda has). I've never been to Barcelona, but now would totally love to go.
And that's about the it. I'm slogging through the first draft of a new manuscript, which means I'm even more tired than usual. But it's coming along & hopefully I can get it sent off to co-authors sometime next week. My September already looks kinda crazy (another three state month: Indiana, GA, and out to Seattle), so I'm trying to get stuff done now. (sigh.)
So we watched 21 last night. Hmmm. On the one hand, I thought the performances were good, with the exception of one of the most tight-lipped screen kisses that I have ever seen. Setting that aside though, the plot left a little something to be desired. Maybe I'm more deviant than I thought, but it just seemed like there were a million better ways to run the scam (essentially a team approach to counting cards during blackjack). And perhaps the main problem was that these students were from MIT and hence, supposed to be uber-smart, that I kept saying out loud, "Why are they not switching up the cities they're in?" "Why are they winning big every time? They have got to lose sometimes (opportunity costs) so they don't. get. caught." "Why go for the super-big win that's going to draw attention when you could just go smaller & totally be less conspicuous."
And then it came out that Kevin Spacey's character was skimming 50% off the top & I was like, "For MIT students, y'all are dumbasses." I would've gotten rid of him long, long before. Because 50%? That's crazy.
Anyway, enough about that...today was a five-star day because I finished a new paper and got it submitted. Whoop! whoop! Am going out with my bff for a celebratory dinner, yay! As for the rest of the weekend, I'm hoping to hit the farmer's market in the morning & see Vicky Christina Barcelona later in the weekend.
Happy weekend!
Sadly, not literally...
Work these days has been pretty busy, and that juggling metaphor seems more & more true. I guess that's what it means to be on the tenure-track. It's actually a very good thing, because it makes the days fly by and it means that I have a lot to pick from when I'm trying to figure out what I want to do each day. There's some big stuff that's getting geared up this fall...I'm on a committee at the College-level, which appears to be pretty prestigious. I'm not sure how much about that I should say on the Interwebs, so I'll stop there. It's gonna be a big time commitment but will be great for building relationships with people in other departments. And I'm doing a women's leadership program that is a campus-wide thing. We're retreat-ing next month, so that should be interesting. And there's the small matter of being involved in five different research projects. (Or is it six? Give me a minute...Well, five big ones and one little grant....) And yesterday was the first day of class, so I got to see my students again. They just rock my socks. So smart and so funny--they are gonna be great doctors one day. AND, I'm designing a new course, so I've spent a bunch of time this week pulling together parts of a syllabus.
When I type it all out, I'm no longer confused about why I get tired by 5...
Oh! And I just got invited to be on a planning committee for a conference that will be out in San Francisco next year. (Gotta return that phone call tomorrow...)
But it's all good stuff. Makes every day different, yep, yep, yep!
Not much non-work stuff going on though. Cooking has been up & down this week--seared some lovely scallops last night, after doing a grilled veggie salad to start. That was an up. But will also admit to buying a rotisserie chicken the other night when I was too wiped out to cook. Oh! And I finally made a hamburger unsupervised! A small feat, I realize, but it turned out good (95% lean ground sirloin, into which I had added some onions & garlic that had been sauteed in olive oil). YUM.
Watched The Kite Runner, which was beautiful in that totally devastating kind of way. Lost track of how many times it made me cry. But good. I'm also caught up on Saving Grace, only to find out there's just one eppy left. GRRR. We did not get enough episodes!!! (I fear this is the aftermath of the writer's strike, perhaps?)
And now, I'm off to tidy up the house....a local friend is coming to stay for a night or two until the paint fumes are more manageable in her house. Slumber party!
That's about what it feels like in my house right now. I counted, and I currently have seven kinds of tomatoes in my kitchen. I can't really tell you the exact names of them, but there are regular cherry, orange cherry, a red heirloom, a yellow heirloom, a slicing, and then two kinds that are bigger than grape tomatoes but smaller than romas.
I just made a sweet tomato puree from a Claudia Roden cookbook, which I can't remember if I've blogged about this before. It ends up being kinda sweet but also just really different because of the cinnamon. Anyway, you boil a big pot of water & add 2 pounds of tomatoes that you've pieced the skin of; let them sit the water for a minute & then pull them out. The skins should come right off. Then chop them. Heat a decent sized pot over medium high heat, add 2 TBSP olive oil, the tomatoes, a TBSP of sugar, and some salt. Basically you let it simmer for 45 minutes until almost all the liquid has cooked off. When it's "jammy" (her words, not mine...but accurate, trust me), add 1 TBSP honey & 1/4 tsp. cinnamon. Cook for a minute more & then it's done.
I plan to eat mine on bread that I get from the farmer's market tomorrow, but the creator also says you can serve it hot over chicken or meat.
Happy weekend!
Reading:
Latest installment of Buffy Season 8, which ended with a total whooooooa moment. I'm still working at learning how to read comics, which sounds silly, but it's very different from just about anything else. Plus, the gap of a month between issues means that I never remember anything, but that just means I have to go back at least an issue to re-read. It totally makes me appreciate how smart Chip must be to hold all those different comics series in his head.
Also: Some book that Oprah recommended called by Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle. There are parts that make me roll my eyes, but conceptually I am on-board with the need to quit obsessing about the past & the future and just get on with the living right. now. And the stuff about how fear is paralyzing (for no. good. reason.) also resonates with me. But honestly, I can only do about 6-8 pages a day before I'm ready to do something else. (I like my spiritual enlightenment in small chunk...)
Watching:
A little bit of the Olympics. I dunno. I'm just not that into it. I kinda hate how the coverage is so focused on just specific athletes rather than on specific events. I'm the kind of dork that, if I'm going to watch, I want to see the prelim races and then the final so I see how it all shakes down. Not just the last five seconds when an American wins something. Also, I hate the new gymnastics scoring system, and when exactly did the team competition get boiled down to just 3 gymnasts per country? I much prefer collegiate gymnastics (go Gymdogs!) with 6 per team. Three just feels so rushed And it might've been nice to actually see all four countries, rather than just us and China. I'm just sayin'...
Last night, went to Mamma Mia. First off, how much do I love that there's a theater near my house that is just five bucks? LOVE. Two things: It made me want to run away to some Greek island. So pretty. Also, yes, it is total cheese, but if you just embrace the cheese factor, it is FUN. I kinda dug that nobody dances particularly well, because in truth, most of us don't--but we might like to shimmy and wiggle every once in a while. And I love the fact that Meryl Streep wanted to just do this totally fun, silly movie. And finally: Lily Kane! (Okay, she would probably prefer to be called her real name, but that character from Veronica Mars was so awesome that I may not really ever be able to name her properly.)
On dvd: Blood Diamond. I'd give it a solid B. Leo's accent comes & goes, but I found the story compelling. It was really, really violent though (to be expected I know, what with the civil war business). It is one of those movies where it gives me a little perspective though--we may think things suck here, but duuuuuuuuude. It could be so much worse. We don't even know.
Eating:
Lots of grilled things. The weather's been awesome this week, so I've been firing up the grill a lot. I can eat mountains of veggies if they've been tossed with olive oil & grilled. This week: corn, okra, eggplant, zucchini, onions, and yellow bell pepper from the Tuesday farmer's market. I've been on the road so much lately that I haven't been able to pick up for CSA box for a few weeks--I'm stoked for tomorrow & am planning to do the Saturday market for coffee, bread, and if I'm lucky, goat cheese.
Alrighty, back to the paper I'm working on. I finished one paper this week (a mountain of revisions that nearly pushed me over the edge) and am trying to complete a first draft of another one. Feels good to get the decks cleared a bit before my research grants starts in October. Whee!
And now, it's the opposite end of the spectrum. I fly home tomorrow night, so now I feel like I should be counting down...
But that's the wrong attitude. Let's instead focus on the fun stuff like...
Waking up naturally, rather than by an alarm. YAY!
Pretty maniucred toes and chair-massages that get the worst of the kinks out of your neck.
Johnny's Pizza.
Hugs from friends that aren't just that courtesy hug, but are the kind of hug that lasts several seconds--y'know, that kind of hug.
Getting to spend time with your very first real friend from Athens. Plus Gyro Wrap. Plus going shopping for comics books and stopping by Junkman's whatever...
Which means you are now caught up on Buffy Season 8. (And note to self: Check on the big float frames as a possible framing scheme...)
Cornhole. And good friends. And good wine. (Although perhaps the Athens vernacular is "throwing bags." I heard that tonight, to which I was like "huh?" when people started to get moving. I was so very confused. Finally the translation of "cornhole" was offered and then I knew exactly what was going on.)
Getting to have Corey cook dinner. I got so spoiled when he & Yancey lived with me because Corey was chef every night. Tonight felt like those days.
Imaginiff...(I think I spelled that right.) Seriously, that is a really fun game to play with people.
Rocky road ice cream. Yum.
And the most important thing is: I'll be back again next month.
Oh, how I love Athens, let me count the ways...
1. The bridgeclub sandwich at Mama's Boy, with pimento cheese from scratch, heirloom tomatoes, and some kind of cucumber pickles...with sweet potato bisque and side caesar...yum...
2. Thinking I wasn't going to get to see a friend because of supposedly at-odds travel schedules, and being wrong. Getting to see that friend at the former-office, and then again at dinner, and then at game night.
3. Carolina bbq, collards, and fried green tomatoes at Five Star Day Cafe. What is that sauce that comes on the fried green tomatoes? It is SO good. It tasted even better because I was with friends.
4. Game night! Love Imaginiff. Also: Ami! Someday, I am making him show me India. He doesn't know this yet, but it is part of my master plan. (insert mwah, ha ha here)
5. Watching the season finale of So You Think You Can Dance with my boys. We watched season 2 together when they lived with me (I never saw season 1...somehow didn't even know it existed before the second season). Katee was frakkin' robbed, but I can live with Joshua as the winner. I loved seeing some of the routines from the early part of the season because the dancers are so much more confident and so much more commanding on-stage. Awesome.
I'm sure my list will get longer tomorrow. There is good stuff planned. Yip, yip!
