#58 Lunch eaten

...and steps taken toward #27. I had the turkey sandwich with coleslaw and Russian dressing on rye. He had the portabello burger. We talked shop, home dec, and weird uncomfortable things just to, you know, show how cool we were with weird uncomfortable things...

#58 Eating More Lunch

So today, Mr Graphics showed me a photo of his kitchen--and it looked exactly like mine. Well okay, we painted the same color, and I have black and white floor tile and he has black and white counter tile. It's like we were separated at birth. Anyway, we're going to lunch on Friday. I'll be 2/3 of the way there. I have to say the two lunches I have had with people outside my department have been the easy ones--people I work with regularly and get along with and can see myself being friends with. I have no idea how I am getting a third...the president will invite me to lunch? Or...does the time I went with my boss to Marathon with an assistant dean to talk about the publication we do for his college count? I totally forgot about that.

Here's a question about the intraoffice lunches (#57), do I have to go out with them? Can we sit around the lunchroom together? I mean, so long as we're eating and talking, does that count? You never know what little nuances there are to these list items until you start doing them. At any rate, if it's the latter--the lunchroom conversation counts--then I have to add NS, JH, and HB (they're thick as thieves and move as a unit) and KB. That KB lunch was funny. JH (a different one) said that KB wanted to raise goats and marry a farmer, and I turned her on to Farmer's Only. She thinks I may be responsible for her future happiness. Well, good, she deserves it.

(And that means I am down to 14 with one person leaving at the end of next month...I should try to do more to have lunch with her before she goes.)

#57 Eating Lunch

I forgot that when I went to Newport I actually fulfilled a second goal--I had lunch with two of my coworkers with whom I had not eaten before. One--the senior vp--I wasn't sure how I was going to get lunch with him. Much easier than I thought it was going to be...The other one, well, I wasn't sure how I was going to get through a lunch with her. But I did.

Just what does a billionaire serve for lunch? They eat just like the hoi polloi: wings, cheeseburgers, hot dogs (she had a hot dog), potato chips, a pickle dish, salads, cottage cheese (?). Dove bars and store bought cookies for dessert. Went all out, she did.

The countdown continues, 18 left: BC, BE, CM, DM, HB, JH, JR, KW, KB, LM, MG, MK, NS, PH, PM, SS, SS, TM.

21, 20, 19, 18...

The countdown begins! I have booked my flight on the balloon. I know, you've been wondering when I was going to do this for almost two years! (The dude did get this trip for me for my 39th birthday.) D-day is September 1, weather permitting. I'll be taking my flight with my cousin's husband--the dude is not so keen on the heights. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

#40 Take a sewing class AND #53 Learn CPR

The Haverford Adult School catalog came a few days ago. I signed up for beading boot camp and an applique class. I am going to work on my sewing skills, people. Whoot!

They are also offering Red Cross Certification in CPR.

Two birds, one catalogue.

#15 Read 16 works of non-fiction

For a person who studied contemporary American women's fiction, I know a lot about the Victorian period, especially the New Poor Laws--that's what the dude wrote his dissertation on, and good spouses make good editors. Or something like that. Actually, we would offer polite criticism like "these two sentences should be two paragraphs." And the critiqued would yell, "It's perfectly fine the way it is; you don't know anything." Following a generous period of sulking, the critiqued would take the editor's advice. It was like clockwork. But I digress. I just meant to say, I know a little about the historical and cultural period in which our tale is set.

This book offers a fairly interesting sketch of a subject that is near and dear to my heart, the functioning of medical colleges. I know that the orphaned dead would end up in the medical schools of Philadelphia (from Skeleton Stories); I'd really love to do more research on how the place where I work dealt with the procurement of subjects.

Ultimately, I thought this book lacked organization. Sometimes it felt like the author had no clear direction. Lots of backtracking. Lots of interruptions for whole chapters that were meant to provide context, but it wasn't woven together terribly well...or maybe non-fiction isn't meant to be read in half hour spurts on the bus.

It was fine but I never felt like I opened up the book to find out what happened next...and it was a tale of a lurid court case. I really should have wanted to find out, but the court sections were dense and had the Newgate stink about them.

Non-fiction: 2

#66 Visit Newport, RI

I left my house at 6:00 am to fly up to Providence to interview the donor, and boy, what a trip.

Our hostess showed us her private home, offering us a picnic, and brought us to visit "The Farm".

By the time we got to town, we only had an hour or so before we were scheduled to head to the airport. We did walk a bit down Thames and Bellevue, but we didn't have enough time to tour any homes. But then again, I mentioned the tour of the private home, right?

As usual, Philadelphia airport SUCKS, and ATC had to delay our flight two and a half hours. Apparently they can schedule flights, they just can't stick to the schedule. Even our pilots were perplexed because there was no weather in Phillie. It's just the crappiest major city in America.

#90 Rip up carpet in craft room

I thought we weren't going to finish today. I was still packing up the room (and sorting, lots of sorting) at lunchtime. I suppose the experience of taking up the carpet in the bedroom--and figuring out how to deal with the disintegrated rubber mat--paid dividends today. Armed with our dustpans (yes, the secret to taking up rubber mat that has stuck to the hardwood), we made quick work of the carpeting.

This floor is in the best condition of all the hardwood we've revealed so far. It's very exciting.

#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

#14 The Potter Books

I finished Chamber of Secrets and dragged the dude to the library so that I could pick up Prisoner of Azkaban and Goblet of Fire. I'll have to slow down eventually--things need to be done around the house!

Fiction: 10

#14 Read 16 Works of Fiction

I've decided at this late date to reread all the Harry Potters before I read the last one. I started on Tuesday, and I finished Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone last night after the ball game. I started Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets today, but I really have to try to finish my contest entry for Craftzine's Stitch n Pitch thingy by tomorrow night. So I'll try not to read tonight until I've worked on it. And I'm in a race against the clock to get to book 5 before July 11th, well 15th, we wouldn't see the movie before the weekend anyway.

Fiction: 9

#18 Subscribe to the New Yorker and Atlantic Monthly

On magazine trends from the Chicago Tribune

INFLUENTIAL EDITORS: One of the most influential editors - and I'm not just saying this because I work for him - is [Rolling Stone founder] Jann Wenner... And secondly, I'm just going to say a name everyone else says: David Remnick. Even if you aren't reading his magazine, the New Yorker is so well-regarded that it's the only magazine where intelligent people feel deep, existential shame if they don't have a subscription.

We gave up the subscription, but I do not feel one iota of existential shame. Maybe it's because I'm not a regular "intelligent person." I'm superhuman in my intelligence. Seriously. The other day my boss introduced me to a consultant as the resident genius. I think I should get paid a whole lot more for that position--I only signed up to be the associate director of alumni and development communications.

The New Yorker didn’t give us time to breathe, to absorb, to fucking read it. Every time I got the mail there was a new one. We’re sticking with the Atlantic. We both like the extensive coverage of one topic and a whole month to look at it. And I greatly prefer Word Fugitives to coming up with captions for the world's worst cartoons.