Brain Dump

The card catalog is finished! I love it and couldn't be happier with how it turned out. Of course I keep forgetting to upload the new pictures, but trust me - it's fantastic.

In lieu of photos, here are some links and items that have been occupying my brain lately.

Loving - John Adams. Seriously. I started watching the mini-series on HBO but decided to stop after the fifth episode and read the book first. For the past week or so I've developed a nightly ritual of popping kettle corn and reading for an hour before bed. From what I've read and watched, the show stays pretty faithful to the book with the exception of some timing details. Laura Linney and Stephen Dillane are so wonderfully perfect as Abigail Adams and Thomas Jefferson that I want to send cookies to the casting director. I can't recommend the book or the show enough.

Listening - To the Indie Soup Runner podcasts. Although the weather is getting nicer, it's still too pollen-y outside for me to move my runs outside. I don't really mind the treadmill, but these podcasts are perfect for relieving any gym-related boredom. All of the songs are high-tempo and work really well for timing your steps to the beat. Only downside - it's difficult to execute appropriate dance moves on the treadmill.

Links!
Science Tattoos
The nerd in me loves this. It's probably for the better that I'm not super-passionate about econ because I don't think a tattoo of supply and demand curves would look as good as the squid anatomy tattoo. via Boing Boing

Vintage Microwave
This fills in the hole left by The Week in Craig posts when The Black Table stopped publishing. The weeks where she covered the Free Stuff section of craigslist were always the best, and Vintage Microwave ably carries on the tradition of mocking people for what they try to get rid of. via Evany

Where was the Class of '03?

Two weekends ago my parents were at Davidson for my dad's reunion so I decided to drive down for the afternoon and have lunch with them. We went to the official alumni event on campus and my dad had registered me ahead of time so I had a nametag with my name and graduation date like everyone else. All major reunions except the five year one are held in April so everyone there was celebrating 10, 15, 20, etc. years and I was the only one at five years. It became the joke of the day that I was the only one who had shown up for the five year reunion so dad made sure to take a class picture of me to document that I was there. I had a really nice time and got to hang out with her parents and other classmates of my dad.

Here we are by the thumbs-up wildcat.

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.