Recent observations

Monday morning I dragged my butt to the gym at 6:30 AM to go to the Pilates Mat class that I like. While cramming my stuff into a locker, I happened to observe the Pilates instructor, Tana, touching up her make-up just minutes prior to class. I have been annoyed with women who wear make-up to work out since my early work-out days in middle school. I just don't get it folks. Granted Pilates isn't like spinning or running, where you really work up a sweat and would end up smearing your recently applied mascara across your face, but still. It's a work-out people! Make-up just doesn't belong there. You can imagine my raised eyebrow and subsequent eye roll/head shake combination.

Last night as I was watching "A Charlie Brown Christmas" (such luck that I happened to be flipping channels and saw it!), I realized for the first time ever that Linus, that lovable little boy with the crazy hair and a blue blanket, is a self-proclaimed theologian. When trying to get some snotty little girl to play the innkeeper's wife in the Christmas story opposite Pig Pen's dusty innkeeper, Linus says that she should imagine that Pig Pen's dust is from ancient civiliziations, like Babylon where King Nebuchadnezzar ruled. Maybe I had always heard that line and never had anything to connect it to until my recent history lesson out of the book of Daniel. There's another point in the thirty minute show where Linus shows his biblical prowress. Very impressive for a kiddo.

Wow

I really like the green! Good choice Watson, good choice...

Thanksgiving recap

The day went well with only a minor mashed potato burning incident. Yes, I managed to burn the mashed potatoes! After pouring out the potatoes to drain, I dropped the butter into the pot and turned the heat on low to melt it. We added the potatoes back in and argued over whether to add more butter and more milk like Claudia wanted and I forgot to turn the heat off. So they sat on the heat for about a half hour. There was a nice thick crust of dark brown potato stuck to the big pot. That definitely need to soak for a while. I brined the turkey and it turned out well. I was afraid it would get to salty, but it wasn't.

Anyway, here are Kerstin, Babsi and I with the spread. We had to add in the extra leaf to the table so it was big enough to fit everything. The girls particularly enjoyed the green bean casserole and who can blame them? It's sooo good!

We also braved the weather earlier in the day and went to the parade. It started raining around 9:45 AM and that's when we gave up. Everyone had put up their umbrellas and we couldn't see anything anyway. But we did get to see good ol' Tom Turkey before the rain came...

No more pink

I decided to change the color of my blog today, as you can see. I was over the pink. No other reason.

My Thanksgiving dinner has come together. I will be cooking for four others: the three Austrian girls and Melody, the homeless woman that hangs out on my block. She stopped me for some change this morning and asked if I was cooking Thanksgiving dinner. I still wasn't sure if I was going to when I talked to her, as not all guests had responded, so I told I wasn't sure. She then asked me if I would bring her down a plate if I did end up cooking and I said yes. Everyone deserves Thanksgiving dinner. So I need to keep my eyes peeled for her between now and Thursday so I can tell her what time to be around so I can get her the plate.

I added a link to Irene's blog (complete with video!) on the right side, so check it out!

Turkey Day approaches

Man, I'm really bad about updating this thing now that I'm back in the States!

I'm chatting with Irene right now, who is nine days into her stay in Thailand. She put up a video of her shower on YouTube, giving everyone who finds it critical insight into the Thai way of life. What a tiny bathroom! Why is it that some cultures don't feel the need for a tub and instead just shower all over the floor, and in the case of the Thais, just use a giant squeegie to clean up the room after each shower? That was also my experience in Bulgaria.

Thanksgiving is coming! I am not going home, but rather decided, somewhat hastily, to host Thanksgiving at my house. Turns out that my friend Kate was going to invite me to her house and spare me the cooking, but I sent out my Evites before she could invite me to join them. So far only one person has responded positively and I expect only a couple more. I want to go to the parade as well and the weather forecast is very promising! Mostly sunny and 55 degrees...can't beat that in late November.

I have been building my presentation skills lately by presenting the job database and the on-campus recruiting process to the first year students. Shannon, my boss, invited me to present it with her since the assistant director quit. Tuesday night's group was about 70 people, which is by far the largest group I've ever presented to. Despite that fact, I wasn't overly nervous and everyone said that I was really good. A little serious, but good. Last night was the second presentation out of a series of four and the group was really small...maybe 25 people. Shannon said I seemed much more relaxed and in command of the room, which made me laugh. Have you ever had one of those experiences when you were talking in front of a group and you had no idea what you are saying although words were coming out of your mouth? This happened to me often as a teacher. I would never remember exactly what we discussed in class because I somehow managed to talk without thinking. I had the exact same experience last night at this presentation and at the time I felt as though everything I was saying was disjointed and didn't make sense. Thankfully the audience didn't feel that way.

Mary Poppins

No matter what the New York Times reviewer says, I found Mary Poppins, now playing at the New Amsterdam Theater on 42nd Street, really entertaining. The set was phenomenal and the singing was right on. There were some parts that differed from the movie, like the scene where the children's toys put them on trial for being selfish (scary!) and a few songs I hadn't heard before, plus further development of Mrs. Banks' character. The way they performed Jolly Holiday (in a park with statues that come to life and dance around the brightly colored set) was really great. Don't listen to the New York Times...go see it!

The Democrats win!

Finally, something exciting to write about! I voted last night in typical American fashion, which to me means long lines and rude workers. The voting machine for my district was of course broken, as they tend to be. I had to wait in a long line and then vote with a paper ballot. Isn't it ironic that America is supposed to be the world leader in terms of democracy and our voting machines don't even work? New York hasn't upgraded to any fancy computer system yet, so I missed out on my chance to pull the big lever and record my ballot. How sad! I'll have to wait until next year...

Anyway, I totally forgot about it! Thinking to check the results didn't even occur to me when I woke up this morning and I probably wouldn't have even thought about it at all had a co-worker not mentioned something about "us" taking control of the House. I opened up nytimes.com and what to my wondering eyes should appear but a headline announcing Democratic victory all over the country! I was quite happy about the whole thing and was impressed to learn that the Dems won so many seats in the House and that, if there are recounts, they could potentially win the Senate too. I think it is a wonderful turn of events and I'm glad that it happened. New York has a new democratic govenor (the noble Eliot Spitzer). His campaign slogan was "Day One Everything Changes", so I'll wait to see what he did today in tomorrow's newspaper. I think I still have to pay taxes though. Bummer.