the countdown begins

well, the time has almost come. i start school on sunday. i'm definitely excited, and also a little bit in denial. i've gotten my student id and everything, so i feel pretty ready, though i'm sure i'll feel a lot less ready as soon as i get in to the classroom for the first time. only one of my professors has actually given out an assigment for the first class, so that is nice--i just hope it doesn't change at the last minute.

i'm back! (i was away)

hey! i'm back! i just had one of the more relaxing weeks ever. i went to pawley's island with tom to join my dad's side of the family for our annual trip down to a house on the beach in south carolina. the weather was great--sunny but not too hot, warm ocean water, oooof it was great! i got to hang out with my two cousins, their spouses, and their five blond sons. plus i read some good books. always good to be home, but i did NOT want to leave.

(these pictures came from the creek that sits behind the house. somehow i have a shortage of actual beach photos but as you can see the creek is pretty beautiful.)

i got nothin to say

i'm on vacation, and i have to say, it's as slow-moving as i had hoped. i'm doing practically nothing all day, and while you'd think that would make me excited for the few things i do have scheduled, in reality it makes it difficult for me to motivate even as far as the shower. it feels good to be on vacation, and i am really hoping that i get legitimately bored by the time i actually have to get up and do stuff.

in other news, i bought a new backpack yesterday, and i am unhealthily excited about it. i feel like i'm in middle school again and this backpack represents all my hopes and dreams for the upcoming school year. here's what it looks like: ain't it pretty?

we'll have fun fun fun till her daddy takes the t-bird away

i'm on vacation!!! friday i finished my job of two years, doing education policy analysis/research/other miscellaneous stuff. i loved the job, and it inspired me to do what's coming next (law school), but i'll admit i was also very excited to be done friday and to have three weeks of doing absolutely nothing to look forward to.

today, for example, i've been in my pjs all day and am currently watching west wing reruns. though to my credit i have cleaned the whole house except the floors. those are next.

abajo el fascismo

well i keep trying to post pictures from my trip but blogger doesn't seem to want me to, so i'm giving up and moving on. rest assured, it was a very pretty trip to san diego.

the news i really want to talk about is fidel castro's temporary cession of power to his brother, raul. i've studied cuba a lot: it was the topic of several research papers, including my thesis, in college, and i spent a month there in the summer of 2003. i have to say, there is a lot about cuba and its government that has been successful: its health and education systems are absolutely first rate, and its fierce determination to resist the american hegemony that has paralyzed many other tiny caribbean nations is extremely respectable. but what i saw in cuba is a country that is struggling, unnecessarily, in order to cater to the every whim of its leader. fidel castro earned the respect of the cuban people in 1959 but has failed them in many ways since.

cuba is in so many ways a wonderful country with a proud history. the opportunity to move forward without castro is a great one, and the enthusiasm of the cuban exiles is understandable. my high school spanish teacher was herself an exile, and though she has been in the united states since 1960, she continues to count the days until she can return. my only hope is that the united states stays the hell out of it, though it sure doesn't seem likely.

when trees attack

last week, as i was sunning myself in beautiful southern california, the town that i live in, montclair, nj, was experiencing some truly awful weather. i didn't learn until after i climbed over several downed tree branches on my way to the train station that in fact montclair had experienced a "microburst," a seriously powerful wind storm that in this case i believe also involved driving rain. in fact, even a sports illustrated writer mentioned it here (scroll down to the very bottom). he uses it as evidence that we should all go see an inconvenient truth, which i would almost definitely concur with had i seen an inconvenient truth. i would really like to, though, so maybe this will serve as inspiration for me. weather is so crazy!

i'm baaaaack

well as my reader knows, it's been a hectic couple of weeks, and the nellogg has been somewhat neglected. but don't worry!! that won't happen again, at least until two weeks from now when i leave for a week at the beach in south carolina. ahhh, beach.

so the good part of my hectic couple of weeks was going to sunny san diego with tom to visit his brother, sister-in-law, their two children, his sister, and his brother-in-law-to-be. it was all a lot of fun...i got to go to see horse races, to the beach, and to my favorite place of all, the wild animal park. i'll post more pictures later, but for now you can see some of the cuteness here.

SALT

i just got back from a farewell lunch for a (sort-of former) co-worker at the blue water grill. it is a really well regarded restaurant, and i had some delicious mushroom sushi (and i don't even like mushrooms usually!). but then i had some broccoli rabe, and i must tell you: it was insanely salty. unfortunately i didn't process that reality soon enough, and now i feel sort of sick.

i really love salt, it's just that there are limits, you know?

don't step on my [blue] suede shoes

i would just like it noted that i really need to stop wearing my favorite pair of suede shoes on days that it is predicted to thunderstorm.

holy shit, i'm going to law school

as my 3 readers already know, i'm going to law school beginning august 27th. i also know this; in fact, i've known it for many months now, really ever since i received my first acceptance letter. somehow, despite that fact, the recent influx of information for next year--loan applications, orientation schedule, numerous health and school certification forms--has left me realizing that i am ACTUALLY RETURNING TO SCHOOL. i'm very hopeful that i will prove a dedicated and involved student, but i definitely worry that the cushy working life i currently lead has not adequately prepared me to work as hard as many claim law students have to. hopefully after the extensive vacations i have planned for this summer--certainly more on those later--i will feel rested and excited to...read lots of long, dry legal decisions. woohoo!

butting heads

well, i was going to write about my lovely weekend but i'm putting that on pause to write about zinedine instead. yesterday afternoon my sister came over to watch the world cup final with tom and me. we were having a great time watching the hard-fought game, speaking in accents, and being converted to francophilia by julia. i have to say, though i wasn't rooting for france from the start, zinedine zidane played some great soccer in this world cup--especially given that he's 34 and was a major factor in the 1998 world cup--and i would really have loved to see him take home the trophy. as i'm sure everyone has heard by now, instead he headbutted italian defender materazzi after an exchange of words (brazilian lip-readers claim materazzi called zz's sister a prostitute, but how reliable their take on the situation is remains in question). he was sent off with 10 minutes left to go in overtime, and france lost in pk's. what a total bummer. i really wanted him to win it, and i feel as though, if it hadn't gone down that way and zz was still on the field during pk's, france would have won.

especially since materazzi is reputedly one of the dirtiest players in the cup, i have to admit i kinda support zz. not the most responsible thing to do, nor wise from the winning perspective, but if he was in fact defending his sister you have to give the guy some credit. i just wish he could have done it without the refs seeing it.

BBC coverage of the episode
video evidence that materazzi is not so spirited

the crouchbot

my sister gets credit for showing me this:
this is not the only video of him doing this, and i assure you they are all fantastic. is the robot all the rage in england? you have to wonder why he's so fond of this particular celebration, though in the end i really don't mind so long as he keeps it up.

happy happy

exactly one week ago today it was my birthday, and on friday i went out to dinner with a few friends (the few left in the city over the holiday weekend!) to celebrate. we went to a restaurant called counter. i was excited about the idea of finally being able to order everything on the menu, but i have to admit it wasn't quite as great as i was hoping. still, we had a great time, especially after we left the restaurant.

whoa nelly.

it's happened--i'm actually posting to my own blog. i'm a little unclear how much i'll get into the habit of posting on this blog, especially since i think tom may be the only one to read it on a regular basis, but right now i'm just enjoying the green dots and having my very own little slice of the internet.