Hometown: The Roch, MI (aka. The Crotch, aka. Crotchscratcher, aka. Crotchmolester, aka. Rochester)
Currently Living: Clawson, MI
Height: 5'8
Weight: Ha ha, yeah right
Favorite Color: Blue (preferably navy)
Profession: Researcher
Favorite Nickname: Trick, Sloan
Favorite Drinks:Vodka Tonic, Guinness, Diet Dr. Pepper, Dirty Martinis, red wine
Favorite TV Show: Friends, Sex & The City, Project Runway, The Amazing Race, Iron Chef America
Least Favorite TV Show: A Baby Story, I Love Lucy, Martha Stewart, Everybody Loves Raymond, every hour long drama
Favorite Books: The History of Love, Beloved, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Fight Club, A Prayer for Owen Meany, The of Being, SurUnbearable Lightness vivor, Empire Falls, The Corrections, The Bell Jar
Favorite Movies: Little Miss Sunshine, Anchorman, The 40 Year Old Virgin, Wordplay, American Beauty, Life is Beautiful, Amelie, Breakfast Club, Singin In The Rain, Sixteen Candles, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Sleeping Beauty, Dancer in the Dark, Duets, The Virgin Suicides, The Manchurian Candidate (1962), Austin Powers I, II & III, My Best Friends Wedding, Moulin Rouge, Tommy Boy, Billy Madison, The Shining, Gone With The Wind, Bridget Jones' Diary, Chicago, Love Actually
Guilty Pleasure Movies: Xanadu, Dirty Dancing, Overboard, Groundhog Day, Steel Magnolias, 10 Things I Hate About You, Bond movies, Footloose, Clue, Murder By Death, High Spirits, A Cinderella Story
What I Do Too Much: Check email, crossword puzzles, complain about my job to friends and family,
Obsessions: sushi, Indian food, ranch dressing, toenail polish, song lyrics, hands, awards shows, symmetry, avocados, maps, dreams, This American Life, the display in my car that tracks my MPG
Pet Peeves: loud eaters, slurping, gulping, arrogance, snoring, bad grammar, repetition, late mergers, ripping cardboard, the word "chunky", intolerance, couples in a restaurant sitting on the same side of a booth, pop-up ads, privacy manager, men that drive without shirts on, being foolish, unfairly jumping to conclusions, being made fun of, cat-calling, people who type too hard
Greatest Fear: crossing bridges
Relaxing Activites: late night drives to sing by myself, headstands, hot baths,
Wish I Was: Ansel Adams, Jenifer Aniston, in love, living alone
Prized Possessions: ring from my grandparents, flower pot of my Grandma's, electric blanket (temporarily broken), tongue scraper, my bed
Craziest Thing Ever Done: getting a tattoo, strip Jenga
Things I Eventually Want To Do: skydive, buy a guitar, learn how to play the aforementioned guitar, take flying lessons, travel to France, write a novel, learn how to play the harp, tap dancing lessons, run a marathon
Friday, July 07, 2006 Is it any wonder that I'm tired....I've been crabby to be home and back at work this week after having the most fantastic weekend. At the end of the year, Suz and I usually go through and say what our favorite days of the year were. Well, this past weekend will be at the top for sure. We all went up north to the same place that we all used to go as kids that none of us have been to for years. So we were able to relive our childhood by doing all the things that are ingrained in our memories: getting ice cream at Ray's, going for a walk on the dock, playing putt-putt, making spaghetti and salad just like our grandma used to (although I don't think she used Ragu, but we argue on the side of simplicity for this one), having dinner at Joe's Pizzeria, riding the giant slide (with a couple rug burns as casualties for Suz and the boy), playing dominoes, spending a day at the beach we always used to go to, making smores, lighting sparklers, burying the kids in the sand, getting Slush Puppies, and watching the sun set.
Needless to say, we are grown ups now (supposedly. I might question a couple of us), so there was a bit of an adult spin on things -- maybe a little more profanity (mostly on my part) and maybe a lot more beer, wine and whisky. And maybe a few more dirty jokes. But they're just so easy to make when you're playing putt-putt (c'mon, playing the back 9? Just too easy). But it was a nice combination to be able to see our own memories through the eyes of the kids. Kind of a unique perspective.
The strangest thing about the weekend, and in some ways the best, was the way that time stands still. Even though I have these memories about all these experiences from 20 years ago, almost everything up north is exactly the same as it was. They have the same damn slush machine for pete's sake! And when Suzy and I pulled up to the putt-putt course the first day we were there to see if it still existed, I think we were both in shock that it was EXACTLY THE SAME, in all it's orange, beige and green glory. There's something comforting to know that in some places life doesn't just evolve and blow away into something all together different. That there is at least a little bit of static stability somewhere in the world. In spite of its occassional creepiness.
So yes, I think the entire fam had a priceless time this weekend. I know I did. I still think I'm a bit grouchy wishing that I was skipping rocks and eating BBQ potato chips on the beach. And I have a feeling I'm not alone. Thanks to all who came and made it priceless!
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Ahhh...my cat and mouse game has come to an end. For the past 4 years that I've worked here, I've never had to pay for parking. But they've finally caught up with all of us research folks who had the red badge (for volunteers and students) and who didn't have to pay for parking and swapped them for the yellow badge. I've been avoiding our administrator like the plague so she wouldn't take my red one, but she hunted me down this morning. Dammit. Although I feel pretty confident that the guy at the information desk who avows his love for me every day will continue to hook a girl up with a validated parking ticket.
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The dorkiest thing to come out of my mouth in a very long time: when returning the set of dominoes that I bought (yes I know. Let me point out that no, I'm not a 70 year old man) saying to the customer service lady at Target, "I'm sorry, I didn't realize these were double fifteen dominoes. I was looking for double nines." She kind of looked at me like I could quite possibly by the dorkiest person alive. She may have even been chuckling under her breath.
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It's Tour de France time again! And even though Lance isn't in it and most of the top contenders got the boot for alleged blood doping, it's still pretty damn exciting. It's almost more exciting knowing that it's anyone's game.
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Well, I'm back to early mornings at work, hence the reason I've been here since 5am. But I have approximately 56 days until I start my new job. Have a good weekend.
9:00 AM
Comments:
Yay for our weekend up north! And, you are definitely not alone with being crabby to be home. By the way, do you know where the key is to room #2?
