Friday, January 30, 2009

Our President :)



I don't know how I missed this last year, but somehow I did. On the campaign trail in Exeter, NH (just down the road from here!), then-Senator Obama winged a few snowballs at his communications director, Robert Gibbs. The first snowball fell apart before it reached Gibbs, but the second nailed him in the head. ;)

(Thanks to Superpoop for their funny version of the incident, which made me Google it to find the real story).

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Belated Thoughts on Obama's Inauguration Speech

I watched the inauguration from home before I headed up to campus for the day. I was running late, so I ended up jumping in the shower ten minutes before noon & rushing out a few minutes later. Therefore, when our 44th president was sworn into office, I was sitting on the bed in my robe. ;)

After he was sworn in, I was supposed to get ready & head up to campus to meet The Boy. However, his speech was so compelling that I couldn't tear myself away until it was over. I just sat on the bed, texting The Boy, and tearing up. And the lines that got me the most?
  • We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things.
  • The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works.
  • As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals.
  • To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West — know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy.
  • America, in the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come.
God bless him. God bless us all. And forward into the breach.

(full speech text here)

Friday, January 23, 2009

Week from Hell (Sort of)

In the last 36 hours, I've: gotten into a (minor) car accident, fallen on icy stairs, realized I might owe Comcast more than $200 for a mix-up involving cable boxes, and gotten (unwarrantedly) pulled over for an expired registration sticker.

Oy.

However, in other news, Barack Obama is now President Obama, we got a Wii, and I'm still engaged to the love of my life. So, it's not all bad. :)

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Inauguration Day

You guys, in about thirty minutes, America is going to have its first ever multi-racial president! Seriously, the son of a black father & a white mother is about to become the leader of one of the most racially conflicted countries in the world.

How f-ing amazing. :)

Monday, January 19, 2009

Perspective

Very interesting op-ed piece in the NY Times yesterday about what Lincoln might have thought of Obama. Co-authored by a great scholar, Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

An especially fitting piece given that Obama reminds me of both Lincoln & MLK in many ways. Today, of course, is the day that we celebrate the man we lost on April 4, 1968, to the detriment of the civil rights movement & American society as a whole.

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Big Brother, Little Brother

Well, I guess this photo means that Thing 1 & Thing 2 are finally old enough to start actively playing with each other! We're gearing up for a good decade of bumping, bruising, and "he hit me first!". ;)

Also: Thing 2's jeans are falling down, showing a white expanse of diaper & prompting his picture-viewing auntie to involuntarily throw out a "Pull your pants up, young man!" Then, giggle.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

New Music!

So The Boy got me a Zune for Christmas and paid for a 3-month Zune pass (& its eventual renewal). I call this the {His Name} Scholarship Fund for Music Education. ;)

Since we set up the account last night, I've downloaded over 100 songs, from a variety of artists (mostly old punk & reggae and new-ish indie Brit rock): The Kooks, Bad Brains, Vampire Weekend, Sex Pistols, The Clash, X-Ray Spex, The Hold Steady, Siouxsie & the Banshees, Junior Murvin, Mikey Dread, The Pogues, Buzzcocks, Pixies, early Black Flag, Mission of Burma,
M.I.A., The Ting Tings. . . Obviously, there's lots more to do, but anyone have any favorite band suggestions?

Tuesday, January 06, 2009

By Way of Explanation

Finally . . . I've been itching to write this post for awhile now. Since I've told you all so very little about The Boy, it'll be a combination "how we met" & "how we got engaged" post. ;)

At this point, we've been together for a little over three months. However, we first met last May & saw each other often (about once a week) as friends over the summer. We were on a weekly trivia team together. He was actually interested in our third team member, a good friend of mine, when we first met. After a couple of weeks, though, they both had decided the spark wasn't there. By about mid-August, he & I were interested in each other, but not sure how to begin something.

Eventually, after everyone (including us) knew we liked each other, we went on a proper date. And things just fell into place from there (although I did joke to him on our first date, "I hate dating someone I know! You know all of my cute, funny first-date stories already!"). With the exception of a few scattered days in the very beginning and a 3-day conference I attended in November, we haven't spent a day apart since September. We said "I love you" at 1 month, "forever?" at 2 months, and made the latter official with a ring around 3 months.

I had a hard time believing it was real at first. I've had some major break-ups in the past few years. However, as I've told him, my past relationships have actually helped me figure out the elements of our relationship that are fundamentally different than others I've been in. And every day with him strengthens my conviction that he's really the one for me.

Besides, I've never been anything but completely myself around him & I've thrown some pretty strange, vulnerable, and nerdy parts of me at him. Somehow, they make him love me more, not less. I guess it must be right, then. ;)

Sunday, January 04, 2009

Belated Christmas Photos

A short, belated sampling of Christmas photos, for your viewing pleasure:
Thing 1 taking a photo (on the new camera his auntie got him!)
of his daddy taking a photo of him

Thing 2 (somewhat drowsily) inspecting a
tub time present from his uncle


Things 1 & 2, v. excited about the latter's new toy chest

Thing 2 stopping by for a visit & a drool

Sweebs & Sweebs, being silly

Saturday, January 03, 2009

The Year in Review

Just for funsies, here's my 2008 in review, using the first few lines of the first post of each month (unless that first post contained mostly pictures). It's a simple & lazy way of randomly summing up the year. Let's see what we end up with, shall we?

January: "Hope that you're all reasonably recovered from your various New Year's celebrations. I had a really good time on my first New Year's in Portsmouth."

February: (in response to this comic) "Attention, other blog-nerds: This is what we have to avoid on weekends. ;) Just kidding - I know you all like to drink beers in bars, too."

March: "
Lowell puts on dancing shoes for charity. This was amazing. I saw the re-cap during the spring training game today & I'm still giggling. You guys, Dustin Pedroia took off his shirt! And danced terribly. But as the GSBB said, 'I'll still marry him, even though he has a fat belly.' "

April: "I haven't posted too much this week & won't be posting much in the next week or so. I know - way to lure you in with the first sentence, right? I'm in the process of moving now & things are a tad hectic."


May: "So I consider myself a beer geek/nerd/whatever. I am the person who brings "good beer" to the party & orders draft or cask ales when everyone else is pounding Buds. I don't, however, post that much about it. If you click on the label for "beer" at the bottom of this post, you'll get maybe four or five posts."


June: "So I should have done this sooner, but . . . congrats to the Celtics for winning the Eastern Conference Finals & advancing to the NBA finals for the first time in 21 years! I'm definitely more of a Sox fan than I am a Celtics fan, but I do like the men in green."


July: "Is anyone else seeing this? The Sox went into the 7th inning of today's game against the Twins with just a 2-run lead (7-5). Then, all hell broke loose."

August: "Here's the text (much abridged) of a conversation I had last night while out at a bar:
Guy @ Bar: Where are you from?
Me: Boston, but I'm on PEI every summer.
Guy: I work near Boston sometimes. blah blah blah.
Me: Oh, neat. blah blah blah.
Guy: You're really pretty.
Me: Um, thanks. Is that a wedding ring?
Guy: Yeah, can I buy you a beer?
Me: Um, I think it's past last call. Where's your wife?"

September: "Well, Labor Day weekend is over & I'm back to school this week. While it won't be fall for a few more weeks, I'm moving into my fall routine & that deserves a look back at the summer that's ending. It was a good summer, on the whole. I spent a lot of time working, enjoying beverages with friends, and generally just enjoying my first summer in Portsmouth."


October: "When I look back, grad school is going to taste like coffee & crunchy peanut butter bars (from paper-writing marathons in the library) and draft beer & buffalo wings (from, you know, every other moment)."


November: "Should have probably done this weeks ago when I first got them, but here are my new glasses! I got them for my birthday from my parents & grandparents & I loooooove them."


December: "Oops. I can't believe I forgot to post last week about Thanksgiving. It's one of my favorite holidays & I've made sure to post about it in the past. Well, there's always time to correct your mistakes, right? The Boy & I spent Thanksgiving in Massachusetts with my immediate family, which is the way I always prefer to spend holidays."

Friday, January 02, 2009

Holiday Maelstrom

As usual, got completely swept up in the chaos of the holidays & haven't posted in awhile. I owe you a post with more information about the recent engagement & one or two about how I spent my holidays. Will try to get those written & published ASAP!