Sunday, October 29, 2006

Most Toddlers Have Weird Hobbies, Right?

Shef has been on a knowledge bender of late.

His favorite activity is putting together his United States puzzle, which he works on while humming sweetly to himself.

Because he and Dan completed the puzzle about a hundred times before the kid started doing it on his own (it's the first thing he's ever consented to do on his own), Shef now has the states memorized by shape and location. Sometimes, when doing something else, like lying in bed in the wee hours or walking through the mall, he’ll point out something that has the same shape as one of the states.

“That look likes N-vada,” he said as he pulled back the tent over his bed to reveal a little Nevada-shaped section of his ceiling.

“It does,” I agreed sleepily.

“Who lives in N-vada?” he asked.

“Um, Celine Dion?” I offered, which satisfied him for a moment.

“Who lives in Utah?” he asked thoughtfully, a few seconds later.

Dooce does,” I said, which he well knows.

“Who lives in California?”

“Jamie does!”

“I want to get up.”

“No kidding.”

Thursday, October 19, 2006

He Wants to Call It "Project Danway"

This is a picture of Dan gloating over his Project Runway contest victory.



“What can I say? I know fashion,” he bragged. "Outfits like this don't just happen," he gestured extravagantly at his ProSpirit workout pants.

His knowing fashion is especially ironic because I actually considered not dating him when we first met because he wore these shoes 24/7, refusing even to replace them when the soles separated from the uppers and slapped the sidewalk with each step:




“I just don’t know if I can get over those shoes,” I confessed to Jordan sheepishly. He still wears them today, and now, after years and years of seeing them every day, I can honestly say I find them endearing.

Anyway, the prize for winning the Runway contest is a Tim Gunn bobblehead doll.


“I’m taking Tim to work where you can’t see him,” he announced obnoxiously, after I tallied the scores last night. “I earned it, and you don’t get to enjoy it.”

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

I'm Sorry, You're Out

Today at our staff development workshop, we watched a perfectly nice video about, you know, optimism. And stuff.

It featured a National Geographic photographer named Dewitt Jones who earnestly encouraged me to “see the possibilities” and “give it my all” and “be open to the unexpected.”

I think I might have a black heart because instead of feeling inspired, I just felt really embarrassed for Dewitt. I felt so sorry for him that I simply couldn’t make contact with his touchy-feely eyes.

He just looked so lame while expounding on the merits of dandelion puffs. And when he started with that faux Scottish accent, I felt like crawling under the table on the "laddie's" behalf.

Saturday, October 7, 2006

I Found The PR Reunion Show To Be Completely Uninspiring

Even though the paper grind has me kind of beaten down (32 of 130 papers evaluated, another 50 coming in next week, and a five-pager to knock out for My Stupid Master’s Degree™), I’m happy to report that I’ve kicked the vertigo-inducing virus that had me sidelined from athletic endeavors last week.

As you know, regardless of what life throws at me, I’m taking a firm stand against atrophy.

To this end, I took a break from the Foer analyses and This I Believe essays to I stride the River Road this afternoon. While I was doing it, I thought about my plan to demolish my half-marathon PR in February.

You should know that I set that PR when I was 13. Sheila and I ran the race together in matching outfits and although I can’t exactly remember, it’s entirely possible we crossed the finish line holding hands. Then I know we made ourselves a cake with the numbers 13.1 on it.

God, it's tough to recover from such profound dorkiness, but I want you to know I give it 110% every day.

Monday, October 2, 2006

I've Been Makin' Beautiful Music All Along

I’m experiencing my usual fall problem of having too many television shows to watch.

Luckily, Project Runway is almost over, and I’m forgoing America’s Next Top Model this cycle.

But there are still the old stand-bys: Prison Break, Gilmore Girls, Desperate Housewives, Grey’s Anatomy.

And the new contenders like Heroes and of course Aaron Sorkin’s Studio 60, featuring Bradley Whitford and Matthew Perry, who just happen to be two guys I would watch in anything.

It’s at times like these when I realize that perhaps if I put as much time and energy into my damn Master's degree as I do into my viewing schedule, I’d have finished a couple of semesters ago.