New Project!

I haven't had a good project (home-, not work-related) in a while so I'm really excited about my new piece of furniture, just waiting for sanding, stripping, and finishing:


I found it on craigslist in Charlotte and it just happened that my parents were in the area with a van so getting it home was relatively painless. It was pretty dusty, so I spent last Sunday vacuuming out the inside and rinsing off all the drawers (60!). The drawers are plastic with a wooden front, and I've since removed the drawer fronts and all the hardware. Due to the location of the screws holding the wood fronts to the drawers and the size of my screwdriver/drill I had to detach the fronts by hand - not fun.

This weekend is going to be spent sanding it and getting it ready for stripping. It's possible that I can just sand off the current finish rather than having to get chemical stripper involved but we'll see how that goes. After contemplating the sanding possibilities I gave in last night and bought a sander so I'm excited to get to use my new toy. I think it will look really nice when it's finished but there's a lot of work between now and then.

Here are some more pictures showing some of the stains/damage on top, the pull-out writing boards, and one fan of the new furniture. I'll keep you updated during the process!

It's Official

So, it's been official for a while, but I haven't gotten around to saying anything about it here. As of August, my Kentucky-blue heart will have to change to a lighter shade of blue when I become a Tarheel.* I'm going back to school full time at the UNC School of Public Health.

I never thought it would take me this long to be back in school, but I really wouldn't change how things have worked out. It took me a long time to figure out what exactly I want to be doing and I couldn't be happier to be at UNC. I'm so excited I can hardly contain it - I'm ready to leave my job and start tomorrow. There's a lot to do between now and then, finishing up at work, possibly moving, vacation, canning camp, maybe math camp (nerd) but for now I just need to stay on task at work and pull together my immunization records. I know that within a year I'll be longing for my eight hour work days and wide open weekends but it's really a small price to pay for working towards something I'm really passionate about. I just have to keep that in mind during exams.

*Obviously, I'll never be a true Carolina fan, but I don't think they check true loyalties with your student ID at basketball games.

Just Ignore That Earlier Post

So, there's this.

I'm making an exception to my no live music preference for three reasons. One, it's Arcade Fire. Two, it's free. Three, it's within walking distance of my house. Let me know if you're interested in playing hooky on Friday afternoon and we can hang out with the Carrboro hippies (and assorted Triangle Obama fans). I'm picking up my ticket this afternoon.

Sadly, there is a very real possibility that I'll be moving from Carrboro soon. It's a decision that makes financial sense but I'm really pretty bummed about it. It's not like I'll be moving across the country (or even state) but I've never lived in a place like Carrboro. There's such a sense of community and responsibility to the local community that anyone who's ever spent time in the area can feel. It's rather unfortunate that my dream home would go for about 800K - not exactly in my price range. Nevermind that it's not for sale. I'm not one to get hung up on details like that.

Economist Joke

Jeff: So I heard on NPR about all of these guys who are developing markets for trading carbon credits -
Me: - out on the new frontier...
Jeff: Yeah, the Pareto frontier.

Things I Wish I Liked/Appreciated

Camping*
Live music*
Fiction in The New Yorker
Movies (I'm getting better at this one!)
Cucumbers
Poetry
Knitting
Bullshot
Indian food

*A friend suggested going to Bonnaroo a few years back. Fantastic, I thought. Then I remembered I don't like camping or live music. I think Bonnarro would pretty much be my personal hell, what with the camping, music, and lack of cleanliness.

**I was writing this post and thinking of things that I like that maybe other people wish they liked. I don't know if anyone really aspires to like airports, but I bet I've got you beat there.

I'm practically famous!

My mom and sister both directed me to this article. Not just because of the Davidson connection, but because I was one of the speakers at the seminar Thomas Sander mentions in the article! We took a break midway through the presentation and one student came back in telling everyone about the email. Everyone thought he was joking at first but then realized that would have been way too cruel. Obviously, no one wanted to stay for the second half of the talk. The offer was unfortunatly not extended to alumni guest-speakers.

Serendipity

Yesterday morning I was driving home from a particularly hellish work trip to the eastern part of the state and passing the time by listening to a sports radio broadcast from the RBC Center in Raleigh. I was just outside Raleigh when the announcer mentioned that Davidson would be taking the court to practice in about 15 minutes and that practices were open to the public. The RBC Center is one of the few places in Raleigh I can find unassisted and my route home took me within spitting distance of the arena. I made it inside after they had started practice and stayed about half an hour, until it was UMBC's turn to practice. There were about 100 people watching but most just seemed to be hanging around until UNC practice started later in the day. Out of habit, I really wanted to start clapping or cheer when someone made a great play or pulled off a difficult shot, but ummmmmm, it's practice. Maybe not the best time to act like a crazed fan. I stopped by the box office when I left but I missed the last of the Friday tickets by a few hours. Nonetheless, it was a perfect way to end a tough trip. Check out the pictures, with a bonus video of my Davidson basketball boyfriend.