Thursday, March 31, 2011

One good deed

Even though the other driver had seemed in an unreasonable rush, I was temporarily blocking her by needing to back up so I could pull into the parking space. As we both approached the hotel's door at the same time, I thought I'd be nice and let her go ahead of me.

Big mistake.

I'd come up here to Cleveland in advance of a full day at the film festival tomorrow. I figured I could use a complete night's rest rather than getting up and leaving before the sun rose. I already had the hotel reservation from when I expected to be here for three nights. Since I'd been in a fog of sorts for much of today, I decided that it might be wise to do the bulk of the travel tonight so that I'd be better rested for driving home tomorrow evening.

Anyway, back to the front desk. I let this middle aged woman go ahead of me, and she proceeded to take forever to check in. First, her reservation had mistakenly been placed for last Thursday, not tonight. So then she was deliberating over whether she wanted to stay here at all. What's the price for the weekend in a regular room? What's the price for a business king? How about the weekly rate, because she's going to be here for ten days? Well, maybe I'll book just for tonight and check the internet to make other plans.

This went on and on. Once it seemed like she had decided to stay here for a weekend in a regular room, she then changed her mind and decided to switch to a business king because those rooms have coffeemakers in them. I should add that there was a person behind me in line who was loudly huffing to express his displeasure with the wait. He eventually left.

Still, the evaluation of options continued. When all was said and done, it took her around fifteen minutes to select a room and the duration of the stay. Look, I was in no big hurry and was passing the time by checking Twitter on my phone, but I was put off by how inconsiderate she was being. People!

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Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Back to the future

On a whim I decided to buy a ticket to see The Mountain Goats in concert. I've heard plenty of good things about them, the ticket was cheap, and I haven't been to any live music this year. Why not?

Their new album was released yesterday, so I wanted to pick up a copy so I'll know some of what they'll play. The band is on an independent label, which might provide a small obstacle to finding their CD, but the label is one of the biggest and most respected in indie rock. Fine, so Best Buy has cut back on the CDs they carry. There's a huge university in town and plenty of record stores. One of them will surely have it.

The first and third places I went were already closed for the day. It's the second one I want to talk about, though. They carry a lot of used CDs and records. Their new CD selection wasn't huge the last time I was there, but it was plenty big enough to have the album I wanted. Imagine my surprise to walk in and discover that the two rows and endcaps of new CDs were nowhere to be seen. Just a single endcap housed all of their new CDs. Vinyl had annexed almost all of the old CD territory.

Perhaps you're unaware that vinyl has been making a comeback. A lot of new albums are released on 12" records again. It's become a trendy thing to collect, and part of it may well be motivated by a reaction against MP3s/digital music files. That this store, a mainstay of the campus area, is stocking more new vinyl than CDs shocked me, though. CDs sales have lagged in the days of the internet and file sharing. Are they so bad that this particular medium will be harder to find?

Sure, I could order the CD from Amazon--and I did--but observing what this store is carrying seems like a canary in the coal mine. Since CDs are usually just a delivery system for tracks that will be ripped to a hard drive, are they on the way to obsolescence while vinyl is being resurrected?

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Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Repeat performance

Oops, I did it again within the space of a week. I forgot to blog. (Yes, I'm backdating this post.)

Last time was due to being preoccupied all day at a film festival, needing to get to bed, and not even thinking about my daily writing here. March 29th can be explained by being extremely busy at work for two days, working on straightening up the apartment when I got home, not turning on the computer, and simply forgetting.

Now if I can remember the idea I had for my post on March 30th...

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Monday, March 28, 2011

In the meantime



These prefab computer animated scenarios, in which you can insert dialogue of your choosing, have been around for awhile. Since I'm attempting to recover and catch up from all of my travels, enjoy in the meantime this knitting-related one that I found.

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Sunday, March 27, 2011

Break time

Spring break was supposed to be a time to recharge after a very hectic academic term at work. So what did I do? I went to Dayton for two days and two sessions of NCAA Tournament basketball games, the greater New York City area for five nights, and a film festival in Cleveland for two full days. And now it's time for the next quarter to begin.

Or, to look at it another way, the thirteen days were filled with this:

-25 train/subway rides (New York City MTA & New Jersey Transit)
-22 movies (1 in Dayton, 2 in New York City, 5 in Columbus, 14 in Cleveland)
-8 nights away from home (5 in New Jersey), 3 nights in a hotel (1 in Dayton, 2 in Cleveland metro area)
-4 college basketball games (Dayton)
-2 art museums (Museum of Modern Art and Guggenheim)
-1 Broadway play (New York City)
-1 NHL hockey game (Columbus)
-1 round trip flight (Columbus to New York City)

Err, this was slowing down?

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Saturday, March 26, 2011

Handouts

I found myself with tickets to give away to the event I'm attending for two days this weekend and nobody to give them to. In short, I was initially told I would not be receiving an all-access pass and had to request tickets. Although it didn't come through the organizers, a pass ended up in my hands; however, I'd already requested individual tickets for one full day. What to do with those I didn't need?

I decided I'd try to give them to anybody who was around at the event. I figured it shouldn't be too hard to unload something for free that was in demand. The problem: trying to give away one ticket when most people need two.

People also seemed incredulous that I was simply giving them away. Don't I need them? No, that's why I'm handing them out. Since I did have tickets for many sessions that had gone on standby, I ended up waiting for that line to gain people. Eventually I was able to distribute most of the seven I had for the day.

It was weird that people expected a catch or were baffled by my actions. Yeah, I know, usually you can't get something for nothing. I've benefited a couple times at ballgames by being handed tickets (or a voucher for a free one), so I suppose I understand it. Still, it was weird to be on the other side of the fence.

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Friday, March 25, 2011

Oops

It completely slipped my mind that I didn't post a Friday entry. It didn't even occur to me until Saturday morning. I considered not even backdating to post this--and thus breaking a four year streak of daily blogging--but I have something to write for Saturday.

Anyway, it's not like there was much to say. I got up around 6:15 a.m., drove to Cleveland, saw seven movies, checked into the hotel, and went to bed. The end.

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Thursday, March 24, 2011

Stumbled upon

New York is so stuffed with amazing/noteworthy things that you can run into them without even looking for them. Why, there's the Chrysler Building!

And that gallery at MoMA that we almost skipped? It has Les Demoiselles d'Avignon!

And you know how you'd seen the Empire State Building from a distance but hadn't had a closer view? It was behind you outside Penn Station and Madison Square Garden the whole time! (Seriously, the last day I was there I realized this iconic New York building had been the direction I hadn't looked pretty much every day.)

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Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Statuesque

Posting some New York City photos while I'm catching up on things/preparing to head to Cleveland for a couple days. This is, of course, the famous bull near Wall Street. It was especially crowded the day I was there, as people took turns getting their picture taken with--or on--it.

In the Museum of Modern Art's sculpture garden.

At Rockefeller Center.

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Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Wipeout

I made it back home safe and sound from my time in New York City. I loved the trip and the city. And I'm very tired.

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Monday, March 21, 2011

Uptown

I had my last full day in New York City relatively wide open. My brother would be working, so I was dropped off at the New Jersey Transit stop to venture into the city on my own. Whether it was the interrupted sleep for the third consecutive night, illness, or the effects of Dayquil, I wasn't feeling in tip top shape. The rainy, sort of snowy morning led me to wile away an hour in Penn Station reading the New York Times before meeting with a former student employed at Nickelodeon. It was nice to see how well she's doing.

I hadn't been uptown yet--the furthest north I'd gone to date was maybe 47th Street--so I hoofed it to Grand Central Station to take the 6 line to 86th Street. First stop: lunch at a place recommended to me. I'd been told Shake Shack would be busy, but the issue was more one of lack of seating than waiting in line to order. I got right in, ordered a single burger, fries, and chocolate shake, and then shared a table with another single stranger and a mother with two kids.

After that it was time to visit the Guggenheim Museum. The Frank Lloyd Wright building is such an architectural delight, so to see it in person and walk in the rotunda looking at the art was great fun. I was particularly glad to see several Kandinskys.

Before returning I had to set foot in Central Park for a little bit. The weather wasn't cooperative, but I wanted to get a small taste of this important part of the city.

Although I return to Ohio tomorrow, I'm sure I'll have more to say and show in forthcoming days. This has been a terrific trip, even if it's been close to exhausting. I don't know that I would want to live here, but it's been a fantastic place to explore.

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Sunday, March 20, 2011

A bridge and a pizza

I was pretty gassed after the last two days, and my brother and I were pretty slow in getting around this morning. We started the day in mid-afternoon at Grand Central Station, a beautiful place, bymeeting a couple of his friends who happened to be in town for this morning's half marathon. From there we hopped on the 6 train intending to go to Lombardi's Pizzeria, which lays a claim to being America's first pizzeria. It turns out that the subway stop is being skipped this weekend, so we went all the way down to the Brooklyn Bridge. OK, that works. We had intended to walk to it at some point anyway. (And yes, that is a hat knit with my own hat appearing in the lower right corner of the photo.)

Thursday and Friday were gorgeous spring days, but Saturday and Sunday have reverted to the chilly side of the thermometer. We walked a quarter or halfway out on the bridge before turning around to get our first meal of the day, even if it was in the vicinity of 5:30 p.m. We walked north through Chinatown and arrived at the famous pizza place.

We wolfed down a margherita pizza. It was good, simple food. I was in the mood for something heartier, but I can't really complain. The crust was good, albeit thinner than I prefer. It wasn't a greasy, heavy meal that is usually associated with pizza, so in that sense it was probably the right thing to get.

We decided to call it a day from there. It's been a fun but wearying weekend. My brother has work on Monday. I have the day mostly free to explore. If anything else is going on in the world beyond my New York adventure, I'm barely aware of it.

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Saturday, March 19, 2011

On Broadway

Today's New York City adventures were not as numerous but perhaps more big time than Friday's. We were slow getting around after yesterday's jaunts, which made it perfect for a walk to Times Square, standing in the TKTS Discount Booth line, and landing half price tickets for Arcadia. After that it was time for lunch at supper time and a walk to look in and around Rockefeller Center.

I like the theater, but it's not something I've had much exposure to since college. I felt like going to a Broadway production was something I should do while here, even if I didn't have anything in particular I had to see. I favored Arcadia based on the cast (Billy Crudup, Raul Esparza, Margaret Colin, and one of Meryl Streep's daughters) and the playwright (Tom Stoppard). It would have been nice to have seen a musical, but the one I'd had most highly recommended to me wasn't among those being offered at a significant price break.

It turns out that our tickets put my brother and me in a box, which made me feel a little highfalutin. How exciting for this to be my first Broadway experience. We shared it with a couple and had a terrific view of the stage, although extreme stage right was blocked off. Fortunately this was not a major issue.

We could also scan the audience. Seeing as I'm in New York City, I've been wondering when I'd pass by someone famous. This was the time. At intermission I spotted Cornel West.

I really enjoyed the play, although I'm way too tired to begin parsing what it all means, at least on this blog. Suffice it to say it was a night well spent and what felt like a very New York evening.

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Friday, March 18, 2011

In the city

I thought it was going to be a slow day in the greater New York City area. My brother had taken the day off work to do things but was also indulging his off day by sleeping in. I used that time to put in almost five miles on the treadmill in his apartment building's exercise room. How foolish of me. We probably ended up walking close to that over the course of the day.

I've earned a good night's sleep with all this walking, but I'll briefly touch upon the day's travels. After beginning at Penn Station and deciding to turn around (and some early difficulty figuring out how to get to the proper platform when not at the transportation hub), we went to lower Manhattan and unknowingly walked into Tribeca for lunch. Then it was off to Wall Street to see the New York Stock Exchange and the bull. Then it was over to the World Trade Center area and an overview of the site from the World Financial Center. We wandered out of that tower along the Hudson, which is pictured above. Yes, that is the State of Liberty way out there.

From there it was to the Museum of Modern Art and the free Friday evening admission. The floors with paintings impressed with all of the major works that you'd often just stumble upon. The surprise for me was often the size of the works. Oh, there's Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon and Matisse's Dance I (and so big!) and Dali's The Persistence of Memory (so much smaller than I expected).

There was no real plan after that. We wandered by Radio City Music Hall on the way to Times Square. We were both tired and hungry, but we couldn't really spot anywhere we wanted to eat. A barbecue place that seemed promising was struck from the list of options when we saw the length of the line to get in. Reluctantly we settled for Applebee's. Despite wanting to stay away from chains, I suggested it. My feet were tired, and I needed to eat.

From there we walked back to Penn Station and saw the crowd of Rangers and Canadiens fans walking north from Madison Square Garden. One particularly vocal guy in a Yankees cap kept accosting the Montreal hockey fans and telling them to get out of town. While we generally had good experiences throughout the day, I suppose that's New York City too.

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Thursday, March 17, 2011

The arrival

Although I managed only 3-3.5 hours of sleep last night, I was up and at 'em to fly into The Big Apple today. I've been a little nervous about the trip, particularly this first day, but all in all it went pretty well.

I should have known things would be fine when the flight went about as smoothly as any I've ever been on. Admittedly, that sample size is small. Both flight attendants had British accents, which was reassuring for some reason. (I also find the whole routine of explaining the procedures with the seat belts and such to be calming.) I've had problems with my ears on past flights. They don't pop upon the plane's landing. Thus I get to the destination feeling like my head is plugged up and as though my hearing is impaired. There were no such issues this time, and for that I'm grateful. Plus, the flight arrived about a half hour earlier than the itinerary listed.

Of course, figuring out how to fill my free hours was the big unknown putting me on edge. I decided to go to the IFC Film Center and see two movies because a) I knew how to get there and b) I wouldn't have to schlep the carry-on suitcase as much. And I suppose the fact that I wanted to see the films in question didn't hurt.

The subway ride was relatively easy to figure out. The smell was the first thing I noticed as I walked onto the platform at Jamaica Station, but it seemed right rather than off-putting. I boarded, took a seat, and sat back for my underground journey into Manhattan. Granted, I was pretty tired, but the whole thing felt kind of surreal, as if I'd been absorbed into a movie. I exited as I'd been instructed and *boom* there I was on the Avenue of the Americas and by the theater. I was worried about this?

Of course, it was a gorgeous sunny day, and having a plan made me feel better about it all. I got a quick bite to eat at a nearby diner. The waiter didn't mess around asking for an order or taking care of business. Welcome to the fast pace of the big city. I ambled over to the theater. Beyond sticker shock--$13 for one ticket at 12:40 p.m.?!?!--I was ready to see a film that's been among the year's best reviewed.

Which is why I went about the work of falling asleep off and on throughout the movie. The seats were comfortable, but the lack of sleep had clearly caught up with me. Such drowsiness dashed my thoughts about trying to get to Film Forum to see another of the early year's critical favorites. Instead I stuck around and plopped down for admission to another film in the same theater. I had much better luck staying awake this time.

And then it was to the subway to get to Penn Station. The St. Patrick's Day Parade is a huge deal here, and I was fortunate to miss the revelers. I had an easy ride, got some assistance figuring out how to buy a ticket for New Jersey Transit and find the right train, and eventually got to the stop where my brother picked me up about a quarter after six. The NJ train was a bit more difficult. There really wasn't room for my carry-on luggage, and I had no clue where to go without asking. All things considered, though, it was relatively painless.

So here I am in New Jersey, yet close enough to have a view of the Manhattan skyline from my brother's temporary residence. It's all a bit like a dream. New York City is one of those places so ingrained in the popular consciousness that, having never been here before, it feels like a mythological land I'm now visiting. After a good first day here, I'm hoping its charms will only increase with a good night's sleep and my brother's company as we search the city.

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Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Early bird special

Checking in early today before I have to check out of the hotel and figure out what I'm going to do for the next six hours or so in Dayton. Originally I intended to make the short drive to IKEA and pick up an item or two, but that doesn't seem real appealing at the moment. I may end up driving around where I am and seeing how much this area has changed. I'm near where the Dayton Mall is/was, but I don't know if it shut down since I moved out of the area.

Probably I'll end up at a movie. I think I'm beginning to come down with something, and at the moment don't feel like running around much. Could the timing be worse, what with the New York City trip tomorrow? I'm not incapacitated or anything, but I could feel better. It's just not how I wanted to arrive in the big city for the first time and try to navigate it.

So, when I next check in, who knows what zany adventures I'll have had?

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Tuesday, March 15, 2011

First Four

I've returned to the Dayton area to take in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The play-in game is dead. Long live the play-in games.

The first game between #16 seed contenders University of Arkansas-Little Rock and the University of North Carolina-Asheville was easily the more entertaining of the two. Both teams scrapped to see who gets smashed by a #1 seed on Thursday, but they played energetically and as if they were excited to be there. There was a late shot made to send it into overtime, so it wasn't a bad start to the evening.

The second game between two of the last four teams to receive at-large bids should have been better. Clemson and the University of Alabama-Birmingham have higher caliber players and richer traditions. Maybe it was the late start--tip-off wasn't until almost 9:50 p.m.--but this game was mostly a dud. UAB's passing was terrible, and they dug a hole they never really could climb out of.

Since I didn't get out of the arena until midnight, I was glad I'd already arranged to stay in town overnight. (There are two more games I'm attending Wednesday night.) It's still going to be a crazy day trying to take care of whatever needs to be taken care of, getting home late Wednesday night/Thursday morning, and rising at the crack of dawn to catch a plane to New York City.

Busy times. Hopefully fun times too.

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Monday, March 14, 2011

Monday

-Despite turning the clock forward an hour on Sunday, somehow I woke up before 8 a.m. I don't regularly get up at this time.

-I wrote almost 1800 words in preparation for today's taping. A significant percentage of those words were summarily cut for TV. (The full pieces will hit my other blog, for what it's worth.)

-I wasn't feeling the exercise routine tonight but pushed through it to do 4.5 miles in an hour. Hooray for me.

-With all I accomplished today, I feel like I'm so behind in preparations for getting out of town.

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Sunday, March 13, 2011

Royal knits

For whatever reason the upcoming royal wedding between Harry and Kate is big news even here in the United States. So, if you're one who can't get enough of it, how about knitting the wedding line-up?

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Saturday, March 12, 2011

One day at a time

Since I work at a university, I tend to experience the weeks and months according to the academic calendar. To you right now may not seem like a significant time. To me we're headed into finals week and then spring break.

It's been an extremely busy term for me and a tiring one, although more physically than emotionally/mentally, which is a nice change from the previous quarter. I've had a lot to stay on top of in addition to my renewed commitment to exercise. Often the amount of things on my docket has appeared very imposing, yet here I am almost at the conclusion of the term with some accomplishments to be satisfied with.

I made a conscious choice at the start of the year to take things a day at a time rather than letting the totality of what was ahead of me become overwhelming. I credit that change in mindset with much of the success. Sure, I've been stressed about things that are undone and not feeling like I have enough time to complete them. One more of them is staring me in the face before I take a much-needed break. Taking them piece by piece and day by day lets me give myself permission to enjoy the time when I'm not working on them. That's not always easy for me.

This approach has been helpful in my attitude toward exercise and diet. Taking it a day at a time means concerning myself with only one workout than a week's worth or a month's worth and the meal at hand than most of a week eating frozen meals. I've finished ten weeks in better shape and with improved eating habits. There's still plenty of work to be done, but it doesn't seem as daunting now.

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Friday, March 11, 2011

Pretzel logic

About ready to conk out from an extremely busy day. One highlight: I finally was able to have a fresh, locally made pretzel from Brezel. Oh yeah.

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Thursday, March 10, 2011

Synthesized

You know, I'm really pinched for time this week, yet somehow last night I found myself tumbling down the rabbit hole looking up synth pop/New Romantic music videos from the '80s on YouTube. Such is the the vortex that site can be.



Thompson Twins quite possibly had the most hideous hairstyles of any bands in the decade. But good grief, did hearing this and some of their other songs take me straight back to junior high. Speaking of which...



And here's one from Scritti Politti I'd completely forgotten about:



And if I'm posting pop videos heavy on synthesizer, I believe there is a legal obligation to include Howard Jones.

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Wednesday, March 09, 2011

Sweet

Columbus is a bigger city than most people realize, but it doesn't have much of an identity other than being the home of Ohio State. For those of you who don't live here, especially those outside Ohio, what do you know about Columbus? *waits* I thought so.

From what I can tell, this city has quietly developed a reputation for food. It's nice when Columbus gets some national attention, as is the case with this Time article about one of my favorite things in town. Surely I've written about Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams here before, and if I haven't, then suffice it to say that their ice creams are as good as they get. I have a pint of Meyer lemon yogurt from Jeni's in the freezer, and it's taken a lot of willpower not to gobble it all down in one sitting. (I haven't, thank you very much.)

So put Jeni's on your list of Places to Go in Columbus if you ever wander into town. (You could order some online, but it's kind of pricey, at least in my view, to have the ice cream shipped.)

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Tuesday, March 08, 2011

Think fast

As you may know, I make some money on the side keeping official statistics for sporting events. Mostly it's for games that take place where I work. I had a couple state high school tournament games to do tonight. No big deal, really.

In the third quarter of the first game the computer's low battery warning came on. Huh. That's weird. It's plugged into an outlet. My colleague, who had set up the computer, checked, and everything was where it was supposed to be. The warning remained.

Uh oh.

We have no back-up. If the computer goes down, we're cooked. So, as we're calling and inputting the action on the court, we're also trying to figure out how to fix this problem that needs to be solved right now. Oh, by the way, the readout says that there's about five minutes of life left in the battery. This won't get us through the first game, let alone a second one.

The best I came up with was to see if anyone else happened to have a similar computer. By an enormous stroke of luck, one person did. His laptop was already fully charged, so we borrowed his power supply. That did the trick. PHEW!!!

Out of the hundreds of games I've worked, I don't know if there's ever been such pressure-filled moments as those while I was trying to type in the codes that describe what's happening in the game and figure out how to keep the blasted machine operational. We dodged an enormous disaster. It was gratifying to know that we were able to improvise and get through it, but that's also the kind of excitement I don't need.

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Monday, March 07, 2011

Busy


Clichéd? You bet. But now I can't use it for another Monday ever again.

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Sunday, March 06, 2011

Another secret knitter

I'm just a secret knitter when it comes to letting people know that I know how to use the needles. This woman was a secret knitter with a more admirable cause. According to the article, she made over two thousand knitted toys during a decade of making them for sick children. She insisted that her efforts remain anonymous, although she relented shortly before her recent death.

I imagine some people find it strange to wish for such commendable work not to be recognized. I understand it, although who's to say if my thinking is at all similar to this woman's. I see such a mindset through the filter of my fraternal grandmother, who didn't ask to be put in the spotlight for the many things she did. I see it in myself in not always taking compliments well and being embarrassed by them. (Like anyone, I want them but often feel I don't deserve them.)

The satisfaction comes in doing something because it's worth doing and not for any extrinsic reward. I assume she felt it was enough to know that what she was doing for worthwhile. It's unfortunate that she didn't directly receive some of the gratitude that surely would have come her way, or so I presume. Still, I appreciate that here was someone filling a need that she perceived and not asking for anything, even the acknowledgment, in return. These days that feels like a rare thing.

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Saturday, March 05, 2011

Price comparison

I won't bother reiterating my former objections to and subsequent coming to terms with shopping at Kroger. It's there if you want to read it. What I learned today leads me to believe I ultimately made the right call in not considering the grocery off limits.

Why? I've been buying a lot of Healthy Choice meals. Due to looking for a discontinued item that one chain is still carrying and forgetting to bring lunch to the office, I've shopped around a little bit. For meals of a particular size, here are the prices I've found:
-Giant Eagle: $4.39
-Meijer: $3.19
-Kroger: $2.75
For much of February Kroger was even selling them at $2/meal with a sale of 5 for $10. Meanwhile, Giant Eagle had them on sale today for 2 for $8. What an enormous difference.

Due to competition I assumed that all the grocery chains were selling the same products for roughly the same price. Obviously not.

None of these grocery stores are inconvenient, but Kroger is essentially across the street. It's by far the easiest one for me to pop into on the way home or if I need something in a pinch. Finding a deal like this goes to show that my resistance to them may have been wasted energy after all.

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Friday, March 04, 2011

Saturation

Locally there are concerns about this weekend's rain leading to creeks and rivers flooding. There's nowhere to put all that extra water.

That's how I've been feeling these first couple months of the new year. There's all this stuff I need to do or want to do, yet there's nowhere to put it all. It's why my knitting has ground to a halt. It's why my blogging here has often been perfunctory or less than inspired.

When I'm on the treadmill, I regularly have to remind myself that I can keep going, that I'm capable of enduring the hour of exercise. As long as I keep moving it's all good, even if it can require mental stamina as much as the physical. Sure, when I resumed an exercise regimen my legs were a little wobbly and my head was slightly spinning as I took those first steps off the treadmill. I've since acclimated to the treadmill and don't feel as unsteady once I get off. I'm waiting for that equilibrium in the work/life part of the equation. Or maybe all I need is a break.

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Thursday, March 03, 2011

Designer room

Remember how I said things would slow down a few weeks ago? I could not have been more incorrect.

So, while I scrounge for time, here's an amazing, specially designed boy's bedroom to gawk at. I can't imagine what it must have cost.

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Wednesday, March 02, 2011

Zoning out



For what feels like the first time in ages, I took the better part of the evening to lay down, watch TV, and recharge my batteries. "Svefn g englar" by the Icelandic band Sigur Rós seems like an appropriate for a day when I just wanted to--and needed to--zone out.

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Tuesday, March 01, 2011

Cute overload



Penguins. Knitting. Stop-motion animation. Enough said.

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