Not the clearest shot, but I like it because it captures a lot of action. Kate was there for Saturday and taking pictures for most of the time.
There are no practice runs this week. There are to be no errors. There is only room for speed, efficiency and white water.
…And I get to shave this…
I’m watching the Oscars tonight. I always watch the Oscars. I missed them in 2006 because I was not in the country, but I remember a group of students from Southern California boasting the next day about Crash’s big win. In years past I haven’t always known why I was watching the Oscars. So, I am making a list.
How is eight years of Bush a success and a month of Obama a failure?
I just finished The Grapes of Wrath. Reading this novel felt like work. I haven’t read too many books as boring as this one, but I also haven’t read too many books as genius as this one. Steinbeck takes a relatively common story from the Depression and makes it meaty while never glamorizing one aspect of the lives the Joads live. Steinbeck’s power of description and his talent with words impressed me when I was least expecting. For example, a character put into words the way I feel about hunting, but he accurately did so in a few sentences.
Ever see a cock pheasant, stiff and beautiful, ever’ feather drawed an’ painted, an’ even his eyes drawed in pretty? An’ bang! You pick him up—bloody an’ twisted, an’ you spoiled somepin better’n you; an’ eatin’ him don’t never make it up to you, ‘cause you spoiled somepin in yaself, an’ you can’t never fix it up.
We been a lookin’, Ma. Been walkin’ out sence we can’t use the gas no more. Been goin’ in ever’ gate, walkin’ up to ever’ house, even when we knowed they wasn’t gonna be nothin’. Puts a weight on ya. Goin’ out lookin’ for somepin you know you ain’t gonna find.
There is a crime here that goes beyond denunciation. There is a sorrow here that weeping cannot symbolize. There is a failure here that topples all our success.
I can see why some consider The Grapes of Wrath one of the great American novels, or the great American novel, but for me, that doesn’t necessarily make it a great book. I would say it is a great study, but the fact that I am still reading it in February is proof enough that it is no page-turner. I am so close to finishing it that if I just took the time to read right now instead of write this I could finish the book.
I never blog about music. (Just a note, Word doesn’t recognize ‘blog’ as a verb. If I rewrite the first sentence of this blog and use ‘write’ instead of ‘blog’ it isn’t underlined.) Moving on.
The last time I wrote about grad school and the GRE, I was taking it in January and planning to make some February 1 deadlines. That totally didn’t happen for a number of reasons. To study for the GRE, prepare all application materials, and fine tune a writing sample of 25 pages in one month is just stupid. I was never going to make those deadlines. I only found two grad school programs that had Feb. 1 deadlines. All other deadlines were earlier. To apply to only two programs is just stupid.
“But aren’t you just a little disappointed in Phelps?” Kate said.
This is a birthday book. It is simple to use, much like a calendar. Instead of writing appointments, you write in the birthdays of relatives and friends. Theoretically, one would look at their birthday book every 2 or 3 weeks to remind one’s self of a friend’s upcoming birthday.
Opposite Cathedral Square, Jefferson Street is chockablock full of restaurants, most of them so narrow you can walk by two in a few strides. But don’t miss Mikey’s, an elegant eatery drenched in brick, brushed steel and neon blue décor, accompanied with leather chairs, a granite bar, and several plasma screens.
*Mikey's is legit. If I was allowed to be critical, I wouldn't have complained about anything.
As you may have heard by now, out of an “abundance of caution” Chief Justice John Roberts administered the oath of office a second time to President Obama because one word was out of order in the original attempt by both men. Present for the second oath was a photographer (who has already released photos) and an important contingent of Obama’s staff. No big deal, right? Why not take the oath a second time just to be sure; even though it is merely a formality and by the time Obama took the oath at 12:05pm on January 20th he had already been the President of the United States for five minutes.
Woke up at 5:45 this morning and headed out to get one of these. There were three left. I took two. It was a beautiful morning.
11:39am - There are millions on the National Mall today cheering for change, cheering for history, and cheering for hope. Pretty sweet to see.
12:09pm - A 27 year-old crafted much of this speech, he is President Obama's main speechwriter. I'm glad to see Obama is getting these words out better than he did the oath. I cringed a couple of times during that.
12:38pm - That benediction was hilarious at the end, but appropriate. Lots of the blogs are saying Lowery stole the show with that prayer. Well, most of the pomp and circumstance is over, but something else has just begun. I am hopeful.
I’m watching TV all day long (except for when I am at work) and I am checking the blogs all day long. Barack Obama made me do it, really.
Over lunch--some leftovers from P.F. Chang’s--I turned to MSNBC, knowing that they would be following Obama around, even if he were going to the bathroom. Sure enough, there was Obama greeting volunteers at a D.C. school, shaking hands and chatting for a couple of seconds with everyone in the room. Out of nowhere, comes this staffer that I met in Wisconsin. He was based in Chicago during the campaign and is close with the Obamas. He shakes Obama’s hand, talks for a little bit, hugs Michelle, and talks with her some, and then the Obamas move on. Clearly visible under his sport coat was a Wisconsin for Obama t-shirt. It was a little moment of pride for me and it was weird to actually recognize someone on TV greeting the future president.
There isn’t an exact recipe for success in the Third Ward. This couldn’t be truer for the space at 223 N. Water Street. Since 2000, three restaurants have opened and closed their doors at this address, unable to attract a loyal base from the influx of young professionals into the newly gentrified Third Ward.
*The review ends there, but if I was given the liberty to be completely honest, I would not tell you it was bad. The place was definitely good, but it is doubtful it will ever pull me back.
Finally went to see this movie yesterday after hearing nothing but praise for it. Slumdog is beautifully tragic. I went through a broad spectrum of emotions while watching the film, but what dominated my thoughts was the filth and depressing living conditions that much of India calls home. Needless to say, the movie works in the opposite way a commercial advertising India on TV would. It does not entice you away to spectacular landscapes and breathtaking architecture.
You know it is cold outside when school is cancelled two days in a row, not because of the snow, but because of the cold.
You should really buy that book at the sticker price in a local bookstore instead of buying it from some online retailer. If you don’t, next time you try to go to the bookstore it might be closed. Buying a used book for a cent or a dollar from an online retailer is to the publishing industry as downloading a song on Limewire is to the music industry. It is wreaking havoc.
Ms. Lesser is the publisher of The Threepenny Review, a literary journal. She lives in Berkeley, Calif., where, as it happens, there is no longer a large general interest bookstore. Cody’s, in its prime one of the country’s great stores, closed its last outlet in June. The Barnes & Noble store there also recently closed.
*Update: Yeah, stealing is a little harsh. Certainly downloading a song from Limewire is illegal. After reading the Times article though, I felt like buying a used book for a dollar was in a sense stealing. I know it is not, but that's the word I used to emphasize a point.
Emails between myself and a friend in Israel tend to increase in frequency whenever that region of the world falls into another spat of increased violence, or with this most recent violence, war. I am typically checking in on him to get his take on things. And he sometimes sends me links to pictures, videos, or stories that are in high circulation in Israel.
http://www.aish.com/movies/15seconds.asp
A New Year’s Resolution: To do one million pushups in a year. That is the ambitious goal of the weight coach at my work. Apparently, someone has done this. And this guy wants to take a crack at it, even though it means averaging 2,740 pushups a day. Or, if he devoted eight hours a day to doing pushups, 343 an hour for eight hours a day for 365 days.
Our current president was on one cover. Our president-elect was on at least ten covers. McCain was also on many covers.
During a six week period, Palin was on four of the covers. Thanks for the nightmares, Newsweek.
Time's person of the year cover is iconic, but I still prefer the original of that image, copied onto campaign chum for all to gobble up. I was able to come away with a 4x6 sticker that will never be used.I took the GRE diagnostic quiz. My performance in said quiz was of the caliber of my performance on tests in Java class in college. That is to say, I didn’t do so well, but I find myself enjoying the studying. It has been years since I have done basic algebra. Doing a little math everyday has been enjoyable. The thing about math that I always enjoyed is that there is no gray area. An answer is right or wrong. Yeah, my answers are often wrong, but I feel so great when I get the right answer because there was no room for mistakes and I made none. There aren’t too many things you can do in life that are free of mistakes, even when you are doing the right thing.
noun
a scene of uproar and disorder; a heated argument : raucous ideological donnybrooks.
No blogs in seven days. I haven’t taken that kind of break since summer vacation. I was in Minneapolis for a few days last week at an invite. We won, women and men. That was pretty cool, but it is good to be home.
I already hate the GRE and I haven’t even made a test date or really cracked open my study book.
There were many things to be thankful for on Thanksgiving, but I kept on thinking about last year’s Thanksgiving. Thus, I was most thankful for my health last Thursday because last year I didn’t have it and one’s health—physical, mental and social—means everything.
Last year I had to spend the first part of my day alone because Kate was at work. I don’t think I’ve ever felt more alone. I was in a place I hated. I felt I had been banished away to die at a young age, having accomplished nothing in my short 24 years on the Earth. I literally thought I was dying. I was scheduled for an MRI the next day. The whites of my eyes were scarlet. The closest I could get to family was a pitiful phone conversation that provided me little comfort and in the end made me more depressed about my lot in life.
