Monday, February 28, 2005

Grant-Writing Hell

Yes, there is a grant-writing hell. And I'm in it. I worked on a grant application all last week and picked it up again this morning. It is due tomorrow and I can't wait to turn the sucker in so that I never have to think about it again.

Quick recap of the past week (when I wasn't weeping or pulling my hair out over this grant):
*The new roommie moved into the 2nd floor. This is good. Unfortunately, we learned that our other roommate will be moving out. She's getting married and is moving into her in-law's house (I bit my tongue on that one. Who knows, maybe it works in reverse). If you know of anyone looking, let me know.

*Bryan and I had a lovely first-date recreation on our one year anniversary. We took the commuter train to Boston and met Kate, Matt and Jason at Boodles, where we had a few beers, looked at past contest entries from our days at MBEL and all missed our trains. We lost Jason to bed, so the four of us proceeded to Pizzeria Uno, where we ordered the same dinners we had a year ago (well, Bryan and I did, no one else was actually at PU last year, but we let them come with us this year :) We attempted to catch the 10pm train back to Framingham, really did miss it. Had another beer at the Pacific Sun restaurant and caught the 11:30 home.

*My grandmother's 80th b-day party was excellent, complete with tasty food, flowing wine, old stories and small children. The highlight of the night was the "round-off" contest between my 7-year old cousin Marina (not even 4 feet tall and weighing all of 50 pounds) and my brother Joe (5 feet 8 or 9 inches and weighing 220 pounds). A round-off is a cartwheel that is abruptly interrupted by a pulling of the feet into a standing position. Both executed lovely examples of this gymnastic staple, but the large, hairy man won by a, um, hair. This contest inspired other members of my family (and yes, myself) to do roundoffs, cartwheels, backbends and "the worm". Really, a bizarre, yet satisfyingly fun, interlude between eating and game-playing.

So, that's the best of it. Goodbye February. Hurry up spring.

Tuesday, February 22, 2005

Quarter of a century

The year was 1980. The place: a small hospital in upstate New York. The event: the birth of a baby who would one day use his statistical prowess to compile a list of all that's important in the world. It's gonna be a long list though, so we may have to wait a few more years. Happiest birfday to Brain.

In grosser, un-happy news, I have been cleaning mouse crap from my work space all day. I am sorting papers and books in preparation of the packing for our move and have found an alarming amound of Mickey Mouse shit. Great.

This past weekend started with pizza, beer and games at our very own kitchen table. It was lovely until we pulled out CatchPhrase. Bryan and I had differing philosophies about the method of play and this led to some serious competition (which I'm happy to say resulted in an ass whooping by team Jill/Rich). I will definitely play that ridiculous game again, but I may need to abuse heavy drugs first.

On Saturday, I had to forego Heather and Adam's going away party, which I heard was smashing, to travel to Connecticut. There, I caught up with my friends from the good ol' CT days, saw Nicole open A LOT of plates, met her wonderful family and then traveled back to Framingham in time to watch my grandmother blow out the candles on her birthday cake. I worked on President's Day so that I can take this coming Thursday off to spend with Bryan's sister and family when they visit Boston. I am trying to convince everyone to go to the Children's Museum cause I love it there. I think I see a giant teacup in my future.

Good luck to the Corey's - though I didn't attend that many, I'll miss date night at your house and watching Ranger put his head repeatedly in Bryan's lap. Keep us posted on your life in DC.

Friday, February 18, 2005

God wants full custody, not just weekend visitations

I passed a church that had this gem on its sign outside. Seems like a cheap way to hook into the social climate of people driving past on their way home from work.

Having said that, I will dedicate less than 3% to god this weekend and almost no alimony or child support. So there god.

Bryan and I made it through Valentine's Day swimmingly. We had a lovely dinner at Bella Costa, a small Italian restaurant in Framingham where I used to waitress. I love eating there because I still know most of the staff and they always make me feel like a celebrity when I walk in.

This week also brought an addition to our family on Pond Street as Bryan and I bought another newt to replace the one who got away, Snake. After talking with the people at the pet store, who confirmed that a newt will eat anything he can fit in his mouth, we concluded that when Snake went missing, rather than having an escaped newt on our hands, the aforementioned Snake, we had a rather cannibalistic newt, Pokey, since Snake was much smaller and could've definitely fit in Pokey's mouth.
Nope.
My brother just found Snake, shrivelled and dusty, in the back of a coat closet. How he got out of the tank, down the counter, across quite a bit of floor, down six stairs, and into the closet can only be imagined, but he did. And there he met his end. I felt great sadness that he died this way, alone and in the dark, but Bryan said that it was better than ending up as another newt's lunch. So, Cheese (named that because Bryan and I both share a love for this food, not to encourage Pokey to snack), a larger, more similar-type newt, has joined Pokey.

This week also brought a bit more moving, a fun, though loud, date night at Heather's, an eviction for my company from our current space, which is fine because it also brought the signing of a new lease into nicer, bigger space. I am finally going to be able to design the library that I want, one that will actually house our colletion with room to grow.
And this weekend marks one of the last bridal showers I anticipate attending in quite a while. My friend Nicole's getting married in April, so we are trekking to New Haven to eat some tasty, homemade Italian food and watch her open trivets and such. She's been to so many of these things for all of us that I wouldn't blame her if she opened her gifts in slow motion.

Happy birthday to Madi R, who turns 2 on Saturday, my grandmother, who will be 80 years young on Sunday, and Bryan's dad, who we all decided to honor this year by taking his big day off. Have a great long weekend everyone.

Monday, February 14, 2005

Happy V-Day!

Happy hearts, candy, teddy bear day! I would love to rant about how stupid and commercial this holiday is, but the pagan in me does enjoy seeing images of eros and his arrows in our increasingly Christian-right-crazed world. Nothing like a naked baby shooting you in the ass to make you fall in love. And, while I don't like any of the previously mentioned gifts AT ALL, I do like romance and celebrating love or friendship, and there is really not that much wrong with dedicating one day out of 365 to remember how good we all look in red.

This valentine's day is made more special by the fact that I get to go home to my freshly painted, newly moved-into apartment with the tallest, most handsome, funniest accountant I know waiting for me. Not bad.

Tuesday, February 08, 2005

Man, it feels good to be a champion

Ok, so I'm not personally a champion, and I won't actually get a ring this year, but I love that Boston is riding so high in sports. And I love how people in this area rally behind the players and the team. In the big scheme of things, professional athletes may make too much money and they may be otherwise terrible people, but the fun, goodwill and respite from thinking about all of the negative stuff in this world that a great game provides sure is welcome. I'm sorry I wasn't able to attend the parade in downtown Boston this morning, but I am feeling serious football pride these days.

Bryan and I had a smash hit on our hands on Sunday night. Lots of friends got to see the new place, not that it's much to look at....yet. And we had some exciting pool action (gambling not swimming...brrrr). I'm still trying to eat all of the left over chips. Thanks for coming everyone.

Now, I am trying to write a narrative for a grant that would highly benefit the excellent organization for which I work. I kind of feel like I am back in college, trying to write an essay for a class about which I really care, but just don't know where to start. At least some of my undergrad education/training is coming in handy (kind of) years later.

Sometimes I love that my blog is called Ramblings of a... cause I really do loooove to ramble.

In apartment news, Joe and I rented my 2nd floor room to a very nice person who will move in at the end of February. That's a weight off the proverbial (financial) shoulders. And this new roommie has a grill so I no longer have to lose sleep about the beef, chicken and ribs that would've become dinner without ever wearing those fashionable black 'grill marks'. Seriously, I'm done. Have a good night.

Thursday, February 03, 2005

Happy Commuter

I am the happy driver of a new (to me) Toyota Avalon. It is a 1997 and probably has too many miles for the amount that I paid, but it drives really well, is a heavier sedan, unlike the smaller Civic or Corolla I could've bought a bit newer for the same price, so I feel safe when I drive, and it has nice features like heat and ac that work, a sun roof, leather seats and a CD player. I don't care about fancy add-ons, but it feels good to have a car in which people will feel comfortable riding. And my commute? I barely notice that I am sitting in parking-lotlike conditions. My car isn't going to die any second and I don't have to shift any more, so I can focus on other things like trying to remember if I unplugged the iron this morning and when I'm going to get to Bed, Bath & Beyond to buy bathmats and what kind of appetizers I'm going to make this weekend for our Super Bowl party.

In apartment news, Bryan and I stripped a little more wallpaper last night (that sounds kind of dirty, but really it's just gluey and painful to the arm muscles). We still have some steaming in our future if we want to get the bedroom wallpaper down (again, sounds dirtier than it is) and I would like to refinish the hardwood floors with some DIY method my mom explained to me. Basically, when I'm not thinking about eating, sleeping, or books that would be great to buy or catalogue for PS's collection, I am thinking about how best and fastest to accomplish all the home repairs and improvements I would like to finish. Man, when did I turn into such a boring adult homeowner? At least on Sunday I can think about how well Tom Brady is moving the ball down the field, how nice it would be to remain champions, and how much cheese dip I can eat and still fit into my pants on Monday morning.