Dinger-less nights, and Lists!

Well, baseball season has come to a close, and the Sox won it. Granted the wrong color Sox (yes, with me it's always about color), but I wouldn't begrudge the Chicago fans this feeling of elation and unreality of the "morning after". In fact, I would even suspend my need for another Boston victory until after the other Chicago team won the World Series. Then all would be right with the balance of baseball and it would be "let the best team win" (except the Satans, of course).

Luckily, my Halloween party is this weekend, distracting Bryan and I from the fact that we now have nothing to do at night. Course, we could always make lists. Like, maybe we could list our albums. Too bad we don't enjoy listing things then tediously and painstakingly ranking them to come up with a list of the top 100. And too bad we don't have any friends who like listing things and submitting those lists to be tediously and painstakingly ranked thereby adding to and rounding out the top 100. Of course, I jest. Just last night, Bryan put his current top 100 albums into a play list on his ipod so he could get a head start listening to them all so he can assess whether or not they stay at the top or move off to be replaced by something new. While I don't have an ipod in which to add my top 100 albums, I didn't sit out of the listmaking. I actually started christmas lists for both Bryan and myself. Really, could we be any more exciting?

Way to go, Sheryl Swoopes - not that it should matter in any way what athletes, actors, singers, etc. do with their personal lives, but it certainly seems like a courageous thing to do to stand up for your beliefs and your lifestyle, especially when it is not considered that of the mainstream. And I think that athletes have it particularly tough because they are supposed to embody the essence of "male" or "female" and for some reason heterosexuality seems to go with that image (think Wilt Chamberlain, almost revered for his sexual exploits with women). This type of announcement does make me wish for the kind of world where people don't have to announce who they love, and it wouldn't be a shocking revelation to be "other".

Case of the Mondays

Yes, that's right, I have a case of the Mondays...on Wednesday. It has been a long day and I feel like the pile of to-do's on my desk will never diminish. And my car is making a very weird noise, weird enough that I made an appointment with a garage for tomorrow morning; auto shop appointments are one of my least favorite things.

I think that planning has taken its toll. Planning for parties: Halloween and wedding, planning for holidays, planning for new programs at work, and planning for the unexpected weird car noise. My problem is that I take everything very seriously so when I have to think about all of the steps involved in pulling off a party or a new program, I tend to get overwhelmed. This is probably where the expression "the devil is in the details" came from. Anyway, I do know that eventually everything gets done, but on a day like today, where I've tried unsuccessfully to contact the hotel, caterer and an author for a book reading; and where I've successfully contacted a mechanic (which just leads to spending that holiday and party $), and been successfully contacted by one significant other who simultaneously offered me the lovely prospect of a professional massage and the fact that he would be working the morning after my one big party thereby leaving me with any and all houseguests and the clean-up. On a day like today, it just makes we want to get in my creaking automobile and drive into the semi-darkness in search of a Monday-less world.

However, not all is Monday-like. It actually being Wednesday, Lost is on tonight. And the rain has stopped for now, though it did bring a nice drip into my library [luckily, no books were affected, but water anywhere near my materials makes me a nervous librarian]. And I got this link from a co-worker for a funny anti-AHnold & his right-wing cronies web site. And lots of my friends are heading to my house for this big party, which will inevitably be a great time. And I have that wonderful significant other to go home to. And I get to go to dance class tonight, which is a great way to forget all blahs and blues. "Cases of Mondays" is why tomorrow was created, and tomorrow is Thursday. And that ain't bad.

I'm a bit ahead of my "once-per-week" post, but my life is just so darned exciting, I have to update. Actually, nothing new has really happened, but all things continue to move forward. My grant is finished and mailed. All parts of my costume have been purchased. The haunted house construction is almost complete - I'll just say, that I'm afraid to go down there, so it's gonna be a good one this year. And, Bryan and I were stood up by a dj we were supposed to meet on Sunday, which turned out ok because we found another one for less money who is available and seems pretty cool. We've made zero progress on the hotel glitch and I think that I'm still waiting for my wedding fairy to appear in my office, living room, car, wherever, and tell me that she will be waving her magic wand and making it all work out. Since the likely hood of a wedding fairy existing is slim to nil, I guess I'll be calling and/or sending a letter off to the management to try to convince them of the good business sense of opening one week earlier and raking in all those room fees from our wedding guests.

This past weekend I attended my 2nd Bentley homecoming weekend. I have yet to attend one homecoming weekend at my own alma mater yet I've managed to see the Falcons play twice. This isn't really the result of misplaced loyalty, just the fact that Bryan still has friends that he graduated with who will make the trek to Waltham to watch a football game and attend a Boston Harbor booze cruise (in the rain, no less). I don't even want to drive to Worcester, and a football game and an alumni mass make it no more attractive a prospect.

Happy birthday MGO! Wish we could be there to celebrate - we'll save it all up and drink extra wine over the holidays :)

Event planning pitfalls

I'm back in grant-writing hell at work as I try desperately to complete a grant to the b@nk of americ@ foundation that I have no desire to write.
And this week, I have the first meeting of the PS book group, which I am running. I have never run a book group before so I am a bit nervous that everyone will show up and then just sit there and not talk. Since most of the participants are teachers and librarians, this is probably an unnecessary worry; teachers and librarians do like to talk about books.
Then to end the week, I am facilitating a round-table discussion about issues and strategies for special librarians at the regional library office. Again, I hope that people show up and that those who do, talk. I really like designing and running events, parties, etc., but it really does add a lot of pressure to one's day. What if no one comes? What if no one talks to one another? What if I forget to wear pants that day? At least at parties, there is the possibility of alcohol numbing the inhibitions a bit. Should I be spiking the coffee at work events to help alleviate my worries?

Halloween is fast approaching and party planning is in full effect for that. The basement is almost ready to begin haunted house construction. A costume has been thought up (though not quite executed yet). And, the upstairs kitchen has been tiled and plastered (this doesn't have much to do with the party, but it's good to make progress from one year to the next and since we meant to do this for last year's party, I'm happy it's done).

Wedding update: the hotel at which we hoped to stay, the one that's TWO DOORS away from the reception hall, has informed us that they will officially open for the season next year one week AFTER our wedding. I haven't completely digested this news or started on a course of action to get them to change their minds, but it was quite a blow and we will be a little bit devastated if they stick to their guns and refuse to open. Hotels in Gloucester are pretty much on their own time frames and can decide when to open without any real regard to people who might be counting on them to be open. It is just so lucrative to open for the months they do, that they don't have to bother with accomodating a wedding at the end of April. So, here is our wedding wrinkle. Let's hope there is an iron big enough to conquer it.

Small victory

With NY eliminated from the baseball playoffs, one thing is right in the world. I've become a temporary Angels fan and hope that they can take it all the way, though I really don't care since Boston can't win it and the Satans won't. Oh, happy day.

My blog changes are complete for now. I'm happy with the new colors and my new heading picture. I can't guarantee that these changes will do much to inspire creativity, but I'm glad to be rid of the green palette and the damned rounded corners. Sun might do more to inspire, but it seems to be in permanent hiding. Or maybe it's on vacation. Where would the sun go to vacation? Somewhere cool?

In wedding news, we found our photographer and she's lovely. The dj isn't far behind. We even started our list of "songs that shall not be played" (so far, def leppard is out, but i'm making my case for bon jovi). We also began the contemplation of our registry and decided that aside from a few household items, what we really would love is help with our honeymoon. Gotta love the Internet, there are oodles of web sites that actually offer the set-up of honeymoon registries. We haven't picked one yet, but we're checking it out. Why register for a trivet, when we can register for a hot air balloon ride over the Blue Ridge Mountains?

Happy Birthday to Shayna & Eric and Happy Anniversary to Kristen & Tyler.

Ch-ch-changes

If you're observant, you'll notice that I've changed the colors around on my blog. I'm also working on a new header pic, but my HTML skills are a bit rusty and the color changes took enough time, so one thing at a time.

Off to watch the Sox W-I-N.

Key questions for the day

*I know we won the big show last year, but why does being a fan still feel like swallowing nails while being poked in the rear with a burning poker?

*If you're Graffanino, are you going to bed tonight knowing you might be the next Buckner?

*Can our next Supreme Court Justice nominee truly be a person who has never been a judge. Ever.

*Is it even possible to be a "conservative" Christian these days?

*Why does a crockpot make a pot roast so darn tasty?

That's the furriest cow I've ever seen

Well, Wang wasn't much of an issue, but drat to those damn Y***ees who can't seem to lose when it matters (to Sox fans :) I mentioned to one of my colleagues today that typical Boston fans that we are, instead of being happy that our team made the playoffs, we focus on the fact that NY also won a spot. If we ain't complainin', we ain't happy.

Despite 2 day games, we did manage to divert our attention to other things over the weekend. Things like napping, visiting Jen & Charlie in their new abode in Portsmouth, RI, and drinking tasty beer and looking at goats and a wooly cow at Hyl@nd Orch@rd in Sturbridge. We managed to return home from said orchard with nary an apple, and a resolve to forget about baseball for one day while we recharge our emotional battery for the days ahead.