Summer Activities, Indoor Version

We had a quiet day yesterday. It's just too hot and humid to spend any significant amount of time outside, something the dog still doesn't seem to grasp. Her desire to be outside, sniffing around the neighborhood, outweighs almost any weather conditions.

I've never been an outdoor person. When I was growing up my family had a pool, which made summer fun as close as the backyard. But if I wasn't swimming, I was hiding out in the basement (where it was cooler) building model cars.

With the big trial going on here this summer, I remembered that several years back I had acquired a copy of Black Mass, about the relationship between the FBI and Whitey Bulger, at a used book sale. It seemed like an appropriate time to finally get around to reading it, so I've been spending time on that. I have plenty of other books lined up too.

Holiday Thoughts

Happy new year, everyone. Just a couple of quick bits before I return to my day of torpor...

For New Year's Eve TV broadcasts, nothing can beat Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffin on CNN. She spends the entire time trying to embarrass and befuddle him, and he tries to deflect by repeating, "I don't know what you're talking about." It's loose and unscripted, the opposite of the canned revelry on the major network shows.

Also, if you're a fan of the amazing FX series Louie, there's an excellent piece on New York magazine's Vulture blog about this year's season finale, which aired in September and was called "New Year's Eve." (If you aren't caught up on Louie, you probably shouldn't read it.)

That Wasn't So Bad

So, Irene blustered through over the weekend, and while there was damage and inconvenience, it sure could have been worse. Our electricity went out for all of about ten seconds, then it came back on and stayed on, so we were able to use the internet and TV, but even if we had lost our power I would have been content to read a book by daylight or candlelight.

I'm on vacation this week, and we have a couple of things planned, but nothing major, just not being at work and relaxing. I'll try to stick to a normal schedule here.

Who Let It Snow?

Good morning! Welcome to the winter break edition of SAR. I'm sitting here enjoying my second cup of coffee (Whole Foods organic Mexican, not that you asked) in my comfy house clothes (i.e., sweats). In fact I've been up since 8, because the dog needed to be walked and emptied, and the sidewalk needed to be cleared.

Snow? Snow! Who knew? Certainly not the meterologists. I read last night that the storm reversed course unexpectedly and that's why nobody had any equipment out to treat the roads, which is why last night's commute was a total clusterfuck. Fine, okay, I realize that weather systems play tricks on all of us from time to time, but really, you guys sit around and look at weather data all day, every day, all the time--it didn't occur to even one of you that this might happen? Get a job.

Anyway, I kind of like getting out and taking care of the snow, especially when there isn't enough of it to be a chore. It's pretty outside, and even an inch of snow makes it feel a little more like Christmas. I also had a nice chat with our next-door neighbor, a very sharp and spry 76-year-old guy who is as good a neighbor as we could ever hope to have.

It's nice that I don't need to be anywhere today, but it's already looking better outside (I think I see the sun) and I still have a few last-minute things to get (my mother reads this now, so I can't blab everything like I did last year), so I'll probably venture out at some point. Maybe I'll go downtown and get a sandwich from Cosi, or maybe even banh mi from Saigon Sandwich.

Holiday Weekend: The Lazy Edition

Did everyone have a nice holiday weekend? I hadn't planned on being completely absent from posting, but when you get into the "rhythm" of doing nothing for a couple of days, it's all too easy to forget about things like blogs, or laundry, or household chores.

We are not trek-to-the-Esplanade people, so we spent most of the Fourth just hanging around the house. I made it an even lazier day by sleeping until a bit past 11 AM, after having gotten up around 8 to walk the dog. As soon as my feet hit the floor I thought, "I'm going to try to go back to sleep when I'm done walking her." I don't usually sleep so late on my days off, but I never get enough sleep during the work week, so I'm on a constant sleep deficit, as I imagine most people are, and I guess it just caught up with me.

In the evening we met a friend of the Mrs. at the Showcase in Revere and saw the action flick Wanted. It will never be mistaken for a great movie, but it's plenty entertaining and has some really impressive stunts and action sequences, and sometimes that's more than enough. If you're any kind of fan of the action genre, you'll enjoy it. Saturday was more or less a repeat of Friday, except I didn't sleep quite as late, we saw a different movie (Forgetting Sarah Marshall) at a different theater (the Capitol in Arlington), and no one joined us.

Yesterday we met a couple of the Mrs.' former coworkers for breakfast at SoundBites, then we did some errands and shopping. We left the house fairly early and were gone all day, until almost dinner time. It was weird to be up and out so early on a Sunday, since it's not our usual style. Each time I looked at my watch during the afternoon, I expected it to be about two hours later than it was.

Today it's back to the reality of work, laundry, and household chores. When's the next holiday?