#97 Paint the shutters

Done. Man, I was smokin' this weekend!

Before:


After:

In Bed by 2:00

Yesterday, despite the release of the new Harry Potter, the dude and I went to Philadelphia to play tourist in our adopted hometown. We headed off to Rick's for cheesesteaks; it was supposed to be a farewell, but there has been a reprieve.

We headed over to the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the first art museum in the country. They currently have The Gross Clinic, and I have now seen it twice as often as I ever saw it when it was hanging just two blocks from my office... We said we were going to start there and work our way to the door of the old building, but we got totally distracted by the wallpaper in a room filled with black lights. Virgil Marti's psychedelic "Morris-esque" wallpaper was too intriguing. Even the women who asked about the Gross Clinic, clearly having only come to see that and the special exhibit Warp Trance (um, hey, we're part of the art), got sidetracked by that room. Although the whole gallery smelled faintly of urine, (the dude assures me it was age and possibly mildew) the building itself (Furness) and the collection were incredibly interesting. We popped over to the contemporary wing--why does viewing contemporary art always make me feel like I'm going shopping?--for a bit. On our way out, we were accosted by a docent who brought us into the sculpture wing and gave us a little tour.

We then walked over to DiBruno Brothers to spend the dude's birthday gift certificate. We ended up with a cheddar, an aged gouda, and a washed rind cheese--the stinkiest ever. Our fridge currently stinks of old socks mixed with poo. Yum! The stinky cheese is Drunk Monk, just in case that description was too much for you to resist.

We arrived home at 4:00 to find my copy of Deathly Hallows sticking out of the mailbox. When I only had just over 150 pages to read at 11:30, I determined to stay up and finish. And I did.

But I only read it so quickly because I read it before. Must be. Pblllllllllllllllllllllllt. Unlike the New York Times, I'm not talking.

#14 Half-blood Prince

Done. I had forgotten a lot of this one. Now, I am ready for Saturday.

I really wasn't sure I was going to manage this, but I have read the whole series in 23 days.

#52 Lose 50 pounds

I have been going to Weight Watchers, though I don't talk about it much. Last Saturday, I lost three pounds (I had gained the week before, so some of that was "fake" weight loss). That brought my total to over ten pounds. In celebration, I made a ticker. I know I can stick with this, but we'll see if I remember to update the ticker. I weigh on Saturdays.

#19 Go to Camden Yards

Here is the photographic evidence of my recent visit to Camden Yards. Thanks to brave astronaut, who knows my list better than I do and is perhaps more dedicated to it, I have attended a baseball game in Baltimore (and had a delightful anniversary dinner. Thanks again, brave astronaut and best pal!). The Orioles won in extra innings--the home team has won every game I have attended this season. I should rent myself out.

As we were driving down to Baltimore, I was telling the dude that we should take a vacation to visit ballparks one year. We first thought we could have some significant fun in two weeks driving around the midwest. Then we decided fuck two weeks, when we retire, we are going to go to every park in one summer. It will be the summer of baseball.

#14 870 Pages Down

...652 to go. Finished Order of the Phoenix tonight. Maybe I'll go stitch a little as a reward.

#14 More Potter

I finished Goblet of Fire last night after the Di Bruno Brothers cheese tasting we went to for the dude's upcoming birthday. It was English beer and cheese night. Mmmmmmmm cheese.

I have plenty of time to read the Order of the Phoenix before the movie is released.

I have been made aware that I am the topic of lunchroom conversation. That feels pretty weird, but I'll cope. I told the dude of brave astronaut's complaint about the rereading (see comments below), and he agrees. The discussion devolved into how great he is because he has read loads of books--at least one every two weeks--on our commute. (He was kidding.) He does read incredibly widely: authors of classics (The Defense), international Nobel Prize winners (Master of Go and Thousand Cranes), nonfiction (Where I was From), contemporary British fiction (Brick Lane)...just in the past few months alone. But for me, the point was to get back into reading, which I had pretty much stopped all together after grad school. I was nearing illiteracy...which is pathetic for a PhD in English lit. Plus which I have this hobby which you can't do while reading, and competes for the same time in my day.

The heavy load of nonfiction is the effort to stretch myself (and you will note, I'm not making nearly the progress on that). I will turn to it soon...say, the end of July.

# 66 Visit Newport, RI

I just got word from my boss--the president said we should go!

We have a major donor who we will feature in the next issue of the alumni magazine because the building that bears her name is opening. So we have to interview her. In person. And it just so happens that she summers (c'mon, she's a major donor and she "summers") in Newport. I am going for an overnight trip for a what, one hour, interview. YAY ME. Total score, I get to do one of the things on the list, and someone else is going to pay for it. I'd never have imagined it when I wrote the list.

I hope she has one of those major houses that I want to see inside of...

#14 Potter, Etc

Finished Prisoner of Azkaban last night. Wasted no time in getting to Goblet of Fire. Things should slow down from here, since the books are doubling in size. Think I'll still be done before July 21?

Fiction: 11