Redemption?

Dan and I went for a walk on the beach today to take advantage of what we assumed to be a momentary lack of rain. It turned out to be a nice day, and we went swimming in some very big surf. We then went to Wal-Mart to pick up boogie boards and floaties. For those of you unfamiliar with the Destin Wal-Mart, think of what Bloomingdale's is to New York...that's what this Wal-Mart is to Destin.

We are hoping for the best in the weather. Tonight, we went to the Boathouse for dinner of gumbo, tuna, grouper, and beer, then wandered around by the water. We are back in the room now next door to a bunch of college kids. We bought beer so that if they get too rowdy, we can freak them out by bringing the beer over and saying, "So, can we party with you?"

Here's hoping for sun!

Just arrived in Destin

All I can say is, YOU'VE GOT TO BE F*CKING KIDDING ME.

New York

Just finished off three great days in New York and am now in Atlanta preparing for the trip to Destin. The quick rundown:

Friday: Train to New York. Make train buddy. Have beers with her and girltalk. Train friends are fun! =D Upon arriving in New York, couldn't find a cab so walked to the Hyatt to find Dan, Goober, and Tara sitting around drinking (what a surprise!) We then made our way down to Original Ray's Pizza for dinner, then to Eve's to drop off and pick up stuff, then down to the village. We went to McSorley's for one (aka two) beer, but it was way too crowded. We left there and went to a different pub instead.

Saturday: Breakfast at the hotel. Then a haircut downtown. Then to the RED SOX game. Dude...we won 17-1. It was incredible. We were sitting next to a few good-spirited Yankees fans who had us laughing the whole game. After sitting through game three of the ALCS last year, I definitely deserved this game. We enjoyed several beers as well as chicken fingers and cheese fries. YUM. Got back to the hotel and went to the happy hour there for free appetizers and beer. Brought 'em back to the room. Passed out by 8pm (yes, I'm blushing now).

Sunday: A search for a good New York bagel ensues but results in mediocracy. In line for tickets. Went to see "Sweet Charity" with Christina Appelgate (despite my pushing to see the spellers play). It was great! She did a wonderful job. We had second-row tickets to the right of the stage for only 54 bucks! Too much fun. Then we wandered down to Little Italy for dinner, then back uptown to hit a sports bar to watch the Sox kick the Yank's collective arse AGAIN.

Monday: Quick breakfast at the hotel, drop off luggage at desk, then took the subway to Ground Zero. I hadn't been there since November 2001. It was very moving. Everybody wiped away tears. After that, Tara and Goober went back uptown to hit Central Park while Dan and I went to South Street Seaport. We took a boat ride known as the Shark, where we were warned that everybody could get wet. The guide indicated several rows of "safe seats." We were immediately behind these seats. To make a long story short, I was DRENCHED. We were at full speed around downtown, stopping for pictures at the Statue of Liberty (it was Memorial Day...too cool!) When we were getting off the boat, one of the guides noted that we didn't look too wet...until he saw me. I looked up and said, "It's because I'm wearing a Red Sox shirt, isn't it?" He laughed and pointed that out to all those waiting. Luckily, we had won the series in style.

We then went to Katz's in the Lower East Side for corned beef sandwiches (after getting pickles at the pickle stand). From there, we went to Central Park where we met Eve and Jeff. We sat around and talked, then went to Whole Foods for Jamba Juice smoothies. YUM. Back to the hotel for more kibbitzing, flight to the airport, sleep, and now drive to Destin!

Sorry for lack of links or highlighting. I need to get to the beach! I'll try to come back and link stuff up when I get a chance.

Bad Drivers: Element, Environment, or Both?

Today they reported that Massachusetts has the second-worst drivers in the country (to neighboring state Rhode Island). I agree that driving in Massachusetts sucks: on 128/95 in the morning, if one person changes lanes without signalling five miles ahead of you, the cars are packed in so tightly that that in itself can cause a traffic jam (trust me, I've had countless hours in my car to observe these behaviors).

It gets me wondering how much of this bad driving is caused by the environment around us. For instance, Boston is one of the few places in the country with rotaries; our roads are paved-over cowpaths; 128 was built to hold after 1/10 as many cars and unlike places like Atlanta, we have no room to expand. The winter destroys our roads; people need to swerve often to avoid newly-open potholes (or hit a new hidden one like I did today). Combine all this with the rush-rush East-coast mentality, on-going construction, and awful weather, and you have an environment few can stand up to.

In Atlanta, there were constantly "wrecks." There were many wrecks each morning and evening, hell, someone ran me off the road at 2pmSure, the cars are still packed in tightly...it's just that this is caused by a wreck more often than sheer volume as the traffic in Massachusetts is.

I have been so frustrated since moving up here when I have sat in traffic for hours only to discover no cause other than volume. At least in other places in the country, you know this traffic is caused by an accident or similarly temporary circumstance.

Two Evil, Time-Sucking Websites

"Thanks" to Matti for this link

Kitten Wars
Puppy Wars

Wow

I have got to admit that last night was one of the most spectacular nights of television EVER (not including sporting events, of course). "American Idol" was surprisingly good and even touching at times... it cracks me up that all these people they made fun of during the season show up at the finale, like the woman who butchered the National Anthem (offensive, yes). You feel guilty feeling good. Oh well. I liked Bo and Carrie both, so it was fun to watch.

"Lost" was particularly amazing last night. Ohmigod, what a finale! At one point I got so scared that I found myself sitting on my couch clutching Manny the Manatee and Cuteso and Muttsy (my two stuffed dogs from childhood) like a scared little girl at a slumber party. Luckily, Scully saw my strife and jumped in my lap, giving me a real animal to cling to (either that or she just wanted a few swipes at Manny...maybe a combo of the two...). Mark this down as one of those times I would much rather not have been single; it would have been so much nicer to cling to Tom Brady or Tiki Barber.

The finale moved at an amazingly brisk pace, unlike the good but slower "Desperate Housewives" finale. It was interesting to see the interactions among the islanders as they were getting on the plane that would strand them all on the island. The most chilling part was when the Others at sea took Walt. Ooooo...I get chills just writing about it. That was by far the biggest twist. The second biggest surprise was when it looked like they killed off Hurley. Thankfully, they hadn't. Okay, I'm just babbling on about "Lost." To see the Globe's review, go here.

What would you do to see sun right now?

Okay, boston people. What would you do to see the sun right now? Here is my list:

1. Sit through six ERBA classes IN A ROW
2. Do ERBA homework number one again....without Spiros's or Steve's help
3. Go on 10 blind dates
4. Run through Harvard Yard screaming "I love Harvard."
5. Cheer for a-rod (but mostly because he admitted to being in therapy today, and that's a pretty ballsy move)

Right now, I am sitting in my office with my space heater on, listening to country music, looking at my picture of Destin, and pretending I'm there right now. Sigh...

Holy Crap

From today's version of Boston.com


Dude. I have no additional comments, other than that I have put up a three-foot by four-foot picture of Destin over my window at work. That way I can pretend I'm working at the beach like I did from Grayton.

God Bless the USA

It's funny how some songs can make you feel like you are back in a specific time and location. Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the USA" always reminds me of the Fourth of July at Turner Field. When I was in Atlanta, I spent every Fourth of July at the Braves game (and actually went back last year as well, even though I was living in Boston at the time...heck, they were playing the Sox!)

To me, it is the ultimate American thing to do for July 4: tailgate in the afternoon, eating potato salad and barbeque. Then wander into the stadium for a ballgame with hot dogs and beers. Finish up with the spectacular fireworks show that Turner puts on each year, set beautifully to patriotic songs. Also, if your seats are "bad" enough (i.e. high enough up) you can see about five different fireworks shows from neighboring communities like Decatur and Centennial park during the game.

One year, I went with Dan, Lance, and Laura. "God Bless the USA" came on in the middle of the show, as it does every year. I remember Laura standing up and singing her heart out. My favorite part of the song is when Greenwood sings, "From the lakes of Minnesota to the hills of Tennessee." There is always at least one section comprised of Tennessee folks who cheer that part, so now when I hear the song, I can practically hear the cheering after that line. It always reminds me of Laura standing and singing emphatically, and then all of us with our arms around each other watching the fireworks and singing along. Very wonderful memory.

"Sideways" vs "Bring it On"

I watched Sideways on Saturday night, and just finished up Bring it On tonight (for about the thousandth time). I would not make it as a Hollywood critic, as my feelings on these two movies flies in the face of their reviews.

Sideways: PAINFUL. A whiny, bratty, insipid little man goes on a trip to wine country with his cheating college roommate. Admittedly, I enjoyed the scenes of the wineries and was definitely craving Pinot by the end. However, I was also rooting madly against Miles hooking up with Mia. This part was so depressing! Here is this strong woman, beautiful, smart, getting her graduate degree, and she has to settle for a whiny little bitch like Miles? Nuh-uh. I barely made it through this movie without beating myself over the head with a shoe.

Bring it On: Feel-good, racially-harmonized cheerleader flick. How can you not like this movie? It's silly fun with a simple morale about treating your fellow man (or cheerleader) as you would want to be treated. Lots of fun cheer routines. And who could dislike a movie that ends with a dance sequence to the Eighties' classic "Mickey?" (Yes, I once did a solo to "Mickey." Give me enough money and I will show you the video.) Yay, Bring it On!

MENSA Meeting at Perfumerie

This weekend I went to the outlets with Mom and Dad. We went into the Perfumerie, and I was very pleasantly surprised to find Ralph Lauren Romance shower gel for three bottles for $15. They usually run about $40 each bottle.

I grabbed three and walked up to the register. I asked the woman up front how they could sell this stuff for 3-for-$15. Wide-eyed, she replied, "Well, I mark them each as five." Bless her heart!

Friday Night Bender

Lately, I have been really homesick for Atlanta and my friends there. The weather here definitely has not been helping. I really miss having an automatic party any day of the week. As Dan put it, our circle of friends is like an amoeba, expanding and contracting and engulfing other amoebas. I really miss that. The core is a group of about 10-15 people, evenly split boys-girls, who I used to play softball with (you can read about our St Patrick's Day vacation in Savannah in the March entries on this blog).

As I've previously mentioned, I really adore my friends at MIT as well, but the folks in Atlanta are just a different demographic...no families, mostly single, and mostly always drunk. =)

So in order to compensate for my perceived lack of a life up here, I called Andrew and Dave, my Charlestown buddies, and convinced them to join me for a bender. Here was our itinerary:

7:00 PM -- Warren Tavern (duh) I had two of my raspberry stolis and soda, as well as some shot that Shannon made us. We realized we would actually have to pay for our drinks, so ventured into town

8:30 PM -- Hong Kong Two scorpion bowls. Ouch. Not smart.

??? -- Luca in the North End. A Peach Bellini martini.

??? -- That cigar place in the North End. Cigars and and a glass of port. At this point, Dave bows out.

??? -- Green Dragon. I think I was having water by this point. We hung out with some girls we met there who were using corny lines on men in the bar. They had me say, "I'm an American Express card. Don't leave for home without me." Of course, the guy I said it to turned out to be 24. After pointing out that I was older than him, he said, "You're what, 25?" Not so, my young little munchkin. Buh bye.

??? -- Bell in Hand. NO idea. I think I was still standing at this point.

2 am --- HOME. Made myself Ramen. YUM.

4 am -- Wake up tasting like an ashtray and wondering how that happened until remembering the cigars.

9 am -- Out of bed and not even hung over!

Dinner with the Gals

I forwent the gym today to head to Tia's with Elizabeth and Corey and some of their high school friends. What a great group of chickies! I always forget how nice it is to hang out with women. We ate yummy seafood, then Liz, Corey, and I headed over to SailLoft for a final beer. Good times.

Flying Stingrays

Dan and I went for a walk on the beach on Saturday. I, of course, stared at the ocean the entire time, always scanning for critters. Suddenly, I saw two small sharks in a wave about five feet away from us. The two of us turned to watch the water and realized that it was very dark. There were shadows everywhere, and what looked like grey fins poked up here and there.

We couldn't see what they were at first. Dan pointed out three stingrays swimming along the shore, and then we saw two stingray eyes popping out of the water. This one was probably about four feet across, and he was just swimming along the short. It was beautiful.

We kept losing track of the school, then would find some again. We realized the stingrays were "riding the waves." They would hold their "wings" out so that the tips poked out of the water, then ride the wave in. We saw one coming right at us. It looked like it was flying.

We tracked them for a while, then had to go back to our blanket, pack up, and head back to his house to clean it up (we were the last ones there...all the other siblings left earlier).

This was one of the most amazing things we had seen. Dan and I love to watch the ocean, and it really helped us this weekend. It's very rejeuvenating. When I would start to get upset, I pictured the stingray "flying" along the wave at me.

At the Airport

I'm at the Fort Myers airport waiting for my 8pm flight. Yup, it's three hours and fifteen minutes away. Usually I love southerners, but the three I spoke to to see if I could fly standby earlier were not only dumb as rocks, but also rude as Bostonians! =) Seriously! It was appalling.

Good thing about this airport is that they have free Wifi, so I guess I can't be too mad.

The reason I am here so early is that Dan needs to drive back to Atlanta for a 6am flight to Detroit =(

I will try to catch you up on my weekend in a few quick entries.

What do I say?

How do you talk to someone who just lost someone very close to them? I am really struggling with this. This weekend, I will be with Dan most of the time, and everybody is well aware of my talent of putting my foot in my mouth.

Right now, I vary between asking how he's doing, talking about his mother, and then trying to make him laugh. He does laugh, so I guess he appreciates it, but I don't know. Also, when I talk about his mother, I start crying, so that doesn't seem like it would help.

Anybody have any insight? Please help.

Unexpected Trip

Dan called me today. His mother died suddenly. She was a very sweet woman, and I really am sad. I tried to go meet my classmates at the Asgard for the end-of-semester celebration, but I was too down to stay out.

I am going down to Florida Friday morning to be with Dan for his mother's viewing. She will be buried in Detroit on Tuesday. I want Dan to be alone as little as possible. Couples can sometimes forget how hard it is to be alone going through something like this. I know Dan would do the same for me.

I don't think MITRE is going to be very happy with my schedule (out of work Friday, then jury duty next Thursday, in for the following week, on vacation the next, then school starts again). Don't really know what I can do about it. =/

O Managerial Pants

I have four papers due Thursday (Apollo, Seminar, and two cases for Tech Strategy). I have been working really hard to get them done.

Today during a meeting at work, I was proofreading one paper, and came across the phrase "o managerial pants." It was talking about a guy who was a manager, but what o and pants have to do with it is beyond me. I'm guessing that it was an inadvertant spellcheck switch.

O managerial pants! How thou mockst me!

Presentation Over!

The Apollo presentation yesterday went very well. After reaching a peak of 120 bpm, my heart slowed down and I was able to present.

The audience seemed to enjoy our talk. I did look up once to see a certain Fuzzy Fin with his eyes closed, possibly asleep. Mean mane? What say you?

I only messed one thing up...I referred to a man in a picture as Eldon Hall, rather than Hugh Blair-Smith. This would have passed completely unnoticed in most history-type classes, but unfortunately, Eldon Hall was in the room =). He didn't say anything, though.

After the presentations, we spoke with Jim Nevins, then Dan Lickly and his wife Sue. They were both great people! I really enjoyed speaking with them.

Also, I must remember to tell you the story of Undergrad Bitch and the Poetry.

Presentation Jitters

I have to present for Apollo in an hour. It's funny; I love to present, but I get so nervous leading up to it. Once I start talking, I'm fine. Right now, however, my heart is just pounding away! I'm only at 90 beats per minute but it feels much, much faster.

LFM Party!

Last night, I topped off a fun day by braving the forty-degree weather to go to an LFM toga party thrown by Christy, Lynn, and Mindy (And, of course, Aimee and Amy who also invited me).

Not having any extra sheets lying around, I wrapped my dolphin sarong around me and used pins and prayer to keep it on. We actually only had one peek-a-boo incident, which occurred in my garage. No one got to see...so sad for them...

On the way there, I pulled an absolute Ilana. I had scribbled down the directions on a little piece of paper. I didn't write down the address, remembering that with all the parties I had been to, I could always tell the party house by the overabundance of cars parked outside. Um, Ilana? You were in Cambridge, not Atlanta. ALL PARKING SPOTS ARE FILLED AT ALL TIMES. Eve was nice enough to get into my evite on her palm phone to tell me the address.

The trials and tribulations of getting there were definitely worth it. The LFM'ers are so much fun! When I got there, everybody was sitting around playing bullshit. We then progressed to Uno Bullshit, then onto BizzBuzz. I needed a party like this! After the games were over, we watched the James Bond video they had made for their PDD project, then turned the apartment into a dance club.

It was so much fun hanging out with fun people--especially the women! I often forget how few women are in my program and how liittle interaction I have with people of my own gender. It was really nice to be able to dance around and act silly.

Of course, now the LFM'ers are all leaving on their internships. So sad! Their return will be well-timed...they'll be back in January just as all our 13-monthers are leaving. I'm sure that their return will boost my spirits as many of my SDM friends leave.

PDD Presentations

I drove down to Providence today--stopping briefly in Sharon to bring my mother flowers and a card for Mother's Day and to pick up my dad--to see the PDD (Product Design and Development) presentations. I am happy I did. I really enjoyed myself, and so did my dad.

We got there late (too late for Aimee's or Rajeev's or Kevin's team's presentations =(), so left immediately to get falafel at a local restaurant (so yummy). We got back in time to catch Robbie's and Matti's team's presentation of their exercise machine. After hearing talk of this product earlier, I did not expect much. I was pleasantly surprised! What a cool product. Good job guys! My father was very impressed.

Uday and crew did a good presentation of their baby formula maker. The two highlights of that one were Uday's comments about making baby formula ("it takes the hands of a surgeon and patience of a saint") and the video of Jeanne demonstrating the product. Very cute stuff, and much more impressive than the second baby formula's team's presentation and product.

I must say, though, that best presentation and product go to Christian and Dave (the presenters), and Yoav, Matt, Sam, Spiros, and Eugene. Highlights of that presentation include Christian's comments of their opening drawing, which featured a drawing of a man next to their Disk Thrower to show scale. Christian commented, "As you can see from the picture, our target market is nude guys." I didn't know if I would regain composure, but I managed to somehow (unlike yesterday in Tech Strategy when I had to wait for the prof to crack a joke). The audience cheered for a demo, and the team obliged. It was a great time.

The lowlight of the day was driving home and hearing that the windchill is EIGHTEEN DEGREES. Dave's girlfriend Brittany commented that she left eighty-degree weather for this...my dad had disappeared so I couldn't guilt-trip him, but I responded by saying that I had left eighty-degree weather for this permanently...sigh....

Of course, Dan and the crew called me on my way home from their outdoor house/pool party in Atlanta. Thank goodness the PDD presentations had been so much fun, or I might have driven down there and not come back =D

Two of my Favorite Paragraphs in all of Literature

From Giamatti, "Green Fields of the Mind"

That is why it breaks my heart, that game--not because in New York they could win because Boston lost; in that, there is a rough justice, and a reminder to the Yankees of how slight and fragile are the circumstances that exalt one group of human beings over another. It breaks my heart because it was meant to, because it was meant to foster in me again the illusion that there was something abiding, some pattern and some impulse that could come together to make a reality that would resist the corrosion; and because, after it had fostered again that most hungered-for illusion, the game was meant to stop, and betray precisely what it promised.

Of course, there are those who learn after the first few times. They grow out of sports. And there are others who were born with the wisdom to know that nothing lasts. These are the truly tough among us, the ones who can live without illusion, or without even the hope of illusion. I am not that grown-up or up-to-date. I am a simpler creature, tied to more primitive patterns and cycles. I need to think something lasts forever, and it might as well be that state of being that is a game; it might as well be that, in a green field, in the sun.

This paper is causing me pain

This paper is causing me pain on many levels:

1. It is so awful I am too bored reading it to proofread it well.
2. The brat didn't incorporate any of the thesis into her sections, so I have been doing it.
3. I had a typo on my opening sentence. I originally wrote "This painful is causing me pain"

This is just awful. I think I might meditate until I believe I am back at Dartmouth in my Shakespeare class, surrounded by English majors. Sigh....

Change of plan. I'm going to read Giamatti instead.

Enough with Apollo Already!

I am so ready for that class to be over. The classes with cool speakers are over with, and now we are left to struggle with our papers.

If you have been following this blog, you know that my group has been having problems. Well, we just got back a draft of our paper from the assistant to the professors, and it basically got torn apart...FOR ALL THE REASONS ROBBIE AND I KNEW IT WOULD. Basically, we are not aiming towards a thesis at all. Pshaw...who needs a thesis?

There is so much technical detail in this paper (as our all-knowing undergrad told us earlier, "This is an ENGINEERING class. It should be an ENGINEERING paper." Hey, brat? Bite me.) The technical stuff adds nothing to our thesis. Sigh...

I get to take the first shot tonight at fixing this P.O.S. up. I am NOT used to having my papers torn apart like this. Me no like.

Technological Breakthrough!

Like Mork from Ork, I have begun to reverse my aging process. The signs:

1. After school, I want to watch cartoons. Instead, I am forced to do homework or go outside and play.

2. I am further away from getting married than even before, after being closest in 1998, with a lesser peak followed by rapid descent in 2003.

3. Like my "torrid" relationship with one Justin Blumenstel in sixth grade, dates end with a peck on the cheek and my subsequent run out the door.

4. Dude! For some ungodly reason, I am breaking out like a teenager! My face seems to think we're 13 again (well, except for the stupid worryline across my forehead).

5. I eat way too many animal crackers.

6. I bring make-up to school and put it on in the bathroom there rather than at home (used to try to avoid mom seeing ;))

7. Did I mention the zits? Seriously!

8. My clumsiness has actually gotten worse lately! I'm almost back to pre-pubescent levels. I almost severely injured a co-worker today when I lost control of some silly putty (sorry, John!)

9. Many things that I have learned over the years have fallen out of my head, leaving my brain at about a sophomore-year-of-high-school level.

10. My fingernails are short again (mostly because I'm nibbling again! Haven't done that since high school!)

11. Random people I see with kids seem older than me, even though I'm sure most are younger.

12. My ass has become perkier (just kidding. I wish...so sad....)

13. I'm back to dreaming that my true career choice is ballerina.

14. My tolerance for alcohol is back to where it was when I was 16.

15. I find myself wishing for a boyfriend. Using that word. I haven't liked or used the word "boyfriend" since I was a freshman in college. Somehow it has jumped back into my lexicon. (When I was young, I used to wish for a boyfriend who was "cute and popular" on every eyelash blown and star fallen. Embarrassing to admit, but true. At least I have slightly better standards now: cute, popular, and rich! Just kidding. My experience actually shows better results when he is none of the above =))

16. I'm not listing being immature, thinking bodily noises are funny, and eating Cocoa Pebbles here because I have always done those things.

What do y'all think? (And don't say this is all just a ploy for me to deal with my breakouts!)

Large Shitty Accent

is an anagram for "Technical Strategy." Just in case you were wondering.

Today's Workout

Yoav pointed out that I never talk about my workouts (except to bitch about the gym...heehee!), so here are the details of my workout today.

- 30 minutes on the elliptical.
- 5 minutes cool down.
- 5 minutes running down to my locker because i forgot my weight-lifting gloves (which I only use for arms)

- 7 minutes warm up:
3 sets of 20 abs, 20 obliques with a 6-pound medicine ball at a 45 degree angle.

- 60 minutes arms
3 sets of 12 back thingies
3 sets of 30 tris, 15 bis
3 sets of 15 pecs: pushing the bar thing
3 sets of 20 pull-downs (back)
3 sets of 20 rows (lower back)
3 sets of 20 fold-overs (lower back)
3 sets of 12 shoulder presses
3 sets of 15 pec flies
3 sets of 20 overheads (back/shoulders)
3 sets of 15 shoulder flies
hmm...i think that's it for arms

- 15 minutes abs
I know the names for none of these things. Several with the yoga ball, some crunches, lots of lower abs.

- 5 minutes cool down.

Happy, Yoav? =D

The MIT Gym: Bless its Heart

The MIT gym (bless its heart) is a strange, scary place. Unlike most gyms, this one has very few mirrors. Ya see, I don't think that a lot of the people using this gym grew up exercising much. Mirrors are important to see form while exercising...I certainly need to use them to make sure I am isolating the correct muscles on some exercises (e.g. tris). Form in the MIT gym is very poor. Several times I have been tempted to help folks, but don't want to make them feel bad (bless their hearts).

As I have previously noted, the manners in this gym are just awful. Today, a guy asked if he could work in with me on pec flies. I, of course, said sure, and relinquished the apparatus after my set. When I sat back down after he had performed his set, I found that he had left the weight as his weight, and not readjusted the seat! For those of you not familiar with gym etiquette, if you work in with someone, you remember what weight they were working, and what height the seat was, and when done with your reps, you switch it back. That's just how it goes.

The fashion is dreadful. People (bless their hearts) wear khakis. People (bless their hearts) wear black socks to their knees with white sneakers. Women (bless their hearts) wear only jogbras so their tummies hang out. Mullets abound (bless their hearts). (in response to comments...I don't mean to say your top should match your shoes. What should happen is that you don't wear your every-day clothes to the gym. That's just gross...well, if you sweat it is. Khakis and black socks belong outside of the gym. As for mullets, I find them entertaining. And for the tummies...not everybody is a supermodel. I know that. But dress to your strong points.)

I know I was spoiled with the gym at CNN; that was definitely a different demographic of people. The World Gym at Somerville was more of a blue-collar-type gym, but at least they had good gym manners. The MIT gym is just weird, bless its heart.

By the way, "Bless his/her/its heart" is a Southern phrase which allows you to say whatever you want about someone without being mean. For instance, "He smells like rotten socks, bless his heart."

Productive Sunday

I started off my day by going to Wilson's Farm in Lexington to load up on fruits and veggies. They have the best stuff, and it's not expensive. Kind of like a big, indoor farmer's market filled with suburbanites.

I came home, dropped off my purchases, and headed for the gym for an hour-and-a-half workout. (Cardio, legs, abs). After that, I walked up to Copley for some shopping, and took the T home after about an hour.

I was very proud of my productive day, considering I was out until 2am last night. First with Kevin, Maja, Yoav, and Allison. I then wandered back to Charlestown to meet up with Andrew. Danny was working the bar, which is always a very evil thing. Somehow, raspberry stolis and sodas kept appearing in front of me!

Andrew managed to pick up a chicky, Michelle, who had a friend Marlo along. The four of us headed to Grand Canal for some dancing. Then Andrew and I headed back to the Warren Tavern for some after-hours boozing.

Now I am faced with finishing up the Apollo paper. Our bratty undergrad took a stab at it and managed to add even more run-on sentences...grrr...