Sometimes I fail to blog because nothing is happening in my life. But, these last two weeks have just been too hectic for me to sit down and compose my thoughts.
Friday a week ago, I hosted a Princeton grad student Shabbat dinner. Attendence was great: 23 people showed up. And we had enough food, thankfully. I made two 9x13 pans of veggie lasagna. The only bump in the road was that the supermarket had no zuccini for the lasagna, so I bought cucumber thinking that might work as well. I came to my senses when I started chopping the cuc' -- clearly this vegetable was too moist for lasagna. Anyway, everyone had a great time (I think -- they stayed *really* long) and I look forward to hosting another one next year :)
Saturday I went into NYC for Seth's birthday party. It was a regular 2E reunion (sans Amitha and James). Samidh thought they had screwed us on the check so I bet him my dinner portion of the bill to his and his new SO's that the restaurant staff was being honest. Everyone pulled out their Treo's and sure enough, my natural inclination to trust people came through: free dinner! And I don't feel guilty since Samidh is making a fortune in his consulting job.
Sunday, I was off to DC, where I said goodbye to Taren who is now in Australia for about a year. Then I met up with Steven and Carrie and saw Bridge to Terabithia. The movie, despite the trailer, follows the book quite closely. The flim starts slowly but gets much better at the end, which is super depressing. (Just as I remember the end of the book being!)
Last week I pushed the deadline for my paper at the State Politics and Policy conference. Five hours of sleep a night is no fun. But the conference, in Austin, TX, was great. The city's motto is "Keep Austin Weird" and I must say that they are successful. Received helpful comments from folks, and one very correct observation that I was "quite enthusiastic about data." (There's a reason for my license plate.) Returned Saturday night (sans bag -- grrr, Southwest) and watched a terrible movie, Keeping Up with the Steins, with Gayle.
Sunday, back to NYC for the Chinese New Year's festival with Chicklet, MFD, and Jeff. People were popping confetti cannisters, and they had weighted red ribbons that floated down via parachutes. Everyone would reach up their hands to try and grab them as they descended. Being taller than all the Asian folks (sorry, sometimes the stereotypes are true), I caught one pretty easily. The ribbon read "Good Luck" in both Chinese and English, so I guess I'll have a fortuitous year. (I'll need it for generals.)
Came back to NJ to find my bag waiting for me (yay Southwest) and headed over to Kate and Nathan's for game night. We played a game of RummyKub in which Miranda kicked all of our butts (damn she's good). After she left to do work, I won the next game. But, then everyone had to go home and do work. Sad.
But, on the bright side, I'm making a dent in that generals reading list. And two of my four presentations this term and now done with. Though the next one, on March 9, will be the hardest to finish on time. So I see more 5-hours-of-sleep nights ahead of me.
That is awesome