28 Mar 07

Time:

?

Money:

$5, muffin and coffee, lunch place.
$8, regular lunch (but a new and particularly tasty incarnation thereof), regular place.
$3, some not-quite-nasty almond-soy milk (?) and a Clif bar, lunch place.
$0, Cuban dinner (since I think maybe we're gonna take turns doing the dinner honors), I forget what the place is called.

More interesting things:

Read the article for Professor Number Six's class pretty much just in the nick of time; if I'd had to get through it any quicker I wouldn't have had time to double-check the pretty interesting claim the authors made and therefore discover what turned out to be a typo. At the time, though, I didn't know if it was that or more an issue of not knowing what "cumulative percentages" are (I do, as it happens, know what they are), so I pointed that out right at the very start of class and got an amusing response. Number Six came around from behind the table with a sheaf of papers shielding his chest and yanked me into an exchange about whether this had been planned or if we'd met beforehand. Of course I replied that we had not done either (not before turning a little red, I don't think) and then found that he had in fact made up a whole sheet detailing the cumulative percentage thing. (The other hilarious part of all this - because there is more - was that one of my classmates seemed to find it highly amusing, highly surprising, or both that I had checked, which I appreciated by itself; that Brenan then spoke up behind me to assure me that it was in fact a typo let me know he had checked too, which was just one more pleasant item for the hour.)

Waltzed back to my desk after a coffee break with Anne and Marisa and left them chatting in the lobby while I went to find out whether Professor Number Seven had resolved the bizarre email-the-associate-dean's-secretary-for-meeting-food difficulty of earlier in the day (the secretary in question actually called when I was standing there; apparently the extra but largely uninformative words Number Seven added to her own reiteration of my email was enough to jog this gal's memory [I think the particularly relevant word might have been "Professor" - very classy], causing her to tell Number Seven, "Dear, I don't do coffee," but even that - and the amusing response Number Seven had when I pointed this phraseology out - is not my point). No, the part that was entirely pleasant - and quite amusing - came when she announced she'd been looking for me with iTunes problems involving a laptop, a desktop, and an iPod, so I plunked myself in her chair and set to it. The catch-as-catch-can method I started out with on my own version of this task is a drag, though, particularly when people are watching you miss it time after time, so together Anne and even the prof herself and I figured out how to hold the iPod open. I said something about hiring myself out, as J. Hardy is already a good customer, and she laughed about 25 bucks an hour and then, in response to Anne's suggestion of dinner, said, "Hey, that I can do!" The great, funny, nice, painful-'cause-I-know-it's-on-its-way-out thing is that if she hadn't had to meet a couple of teachers tonight, she really would have done it. Man.

Walked towards the restaurant past my favorite chess spot. This time the weather was so nice that they were sitting at tables on the sidewalk, and I loved having the opportunity to confirm my earlier judgement that it really is all kinds, colors, sizes, and genders of people playing. It's not everyday - at least not anywhere else I've ever lived - that you see an elderly white guy in a flat cap hunched over the same game as a young, pierced-up black guy.

Headed toward the subway after dinner, past all the comedy clubs and bars, and listened to what I really, really hope was a pair of out-of-towners: "Man, this is Bleecker Street! Bleecker!" Okay, so: a) I once thought that in appropriating that title my drama classmates had come up with the world's dumbest soap-opera name, b) now I realize just how not-dumb it is, and c) I walk on it all the time. All the time! Unbelievable. (So you know what? Maybe they weren't out-of-towners, and maybe I actually hope they weren't.)

Passed Peculier Pub (the thought of which, incidentally, had caused some peculiar needs to look away from the head of the table during Professor Number Four's rendition of Professor Alpha's class today...) and a guy standing around outside it with a Gator ski hat on.

27 Mar 07

Time:

?

Money:

$8, regular lunch, regular place.
$I don't actually know how much, but I don't think it was a whole lot, Quizno's in the dorm.

More interesting things:

Noticed a sign heralding the arrival of Spring which is I think pretty much peculiar to my corner: the book sale lady has returned.

Found Annette in Professor Number Seven's office as I walked past on my way to my desk, so I stopped in to say "hi"; she noticed immediately - I mean, right away - my choice of Topsiders and announced in a happy voice, "Spring shooooooes!" This cracked me up partly because she was so excited, but mostly because: I had thought exactly the same thing as I rifled around behind the AC unit resting in my closet to find appropriate shoes - and was just as excited as Annette to pick something sockless.

Answered our floor's secretary in what appeared to be not a joke of a question: "Are you teaching Professor Alpha's class tomorrow?" Ha! (That's an "awesome" ha, incidentally.)

Zipped upstairs to see Professor Number One after the secretary finished the rest of her comments to me with, "Number One would like you to call her." She handed me a letter from a Florida school that shall remain unnamed (but which would in fact probably be a nice place for a graduate of ours to end up) and asked me to give it to Professor Alpha, but the really nice part came when she trilled, "I missed you!" Hey, me too, Number One - I'll come visit more.

Got one of the coolest comments a teacher could ever hope to get unsolicited today. We'd been talking about Kozol and all that, and as she got ready to leave, one student announced that she "learned a LOT today." That is some outstanding stuff right there, and for better or for worse, such comments never fail to surprise me. It's like, somehow I guessed the right combination of... things. There's a lot to guess, so maybe that's why it's surprising. In any case, it was a lovely thing to hear.

26 Mar 07

Time:

?

Money:

$8, regular lunch, regular place.
$12, burger and Coke, Josie Wood's (for the first time in awhile!)

More interesting things:

Walked more comfortably than I have in a long time - notice the verb was not "trudged" or "schlepped" - to the train, except for the part where in hurtling northwards someone slammed some body part or another into my hand. It didn't particularly hurt, but it was a good excuse to turn around and look like a pissed-off New Yorker; when I did and discovered that it was an apologetic-looking, black-hatted, ceremonially-ringletted guy who was looking over his own shoulder in an effort to mouth "Sorry!" to whomever he'd brushed by, I decided it was okay to drop the "pissed-off" part and just enjoy the rest of the description.

Watched the most meticulous apple-eater I'd ever seen make his way through a big yellow one as we made our collective way south through The Big one. If he'd taken another bite on either side of the center, where the seeds are, he would have cut the thing in half.

Transferred at Union Square from what had BEEN the 6 earlier in its journey to what was actually the 6 across the platform when over the sound of my iPod I was able to make out something about the next stop being Brooklyn Bridge. When I got off, I realized that the one I'd been riding had indeed pulled in on the express track, and I was left to wonder if the motorman had made a mistake (because by the time you get to the express stop at that station, there's no just, like, hopping over to the local until the end of the line) or if it was more of a purposeful traffic thing. (In any case, I made it to school, so that was nice.)

Fell in line behind a trio of what looked like undergrads just as I crossed the street towards my building; it was an appreciable little chunk of time before I realized what I was looking at: one guy in regular backpack, the other two in those little nylon drawstring bags the jock wanna-bes love these days - one with the Florida logo, the other with Ohio State's.

Got off the elevator just in time to come across Professor Alpha-and-a-Half. It was so nice to see her, partly, of course, because in a (perhaps inappropriately) unobtrusive way, I DO worry about her, but partly for the more selfish reason that I just like to be around her. She is one of the fluffiest, most outgoing, most welcoming personalities I've seen here - very "nice New York" - and that I was lucky enough to sort of get herded around by this person at the beginning of my days here predisposed me to love it all, I think. (Not that it necessarily takes much. But still.)

Found myself getting irritated with the microphone-enhanced bellowing taking place what seemed like right outside Professor Alpha's window, and, consequently, just about in my own ear; I think I even told Professor Number Four that WE should stage a protest of their protests. And then I got to feel like an idiot and a jerk when I detoured on my return from lunch to ask about the ladder truck and was told it was all in memory of the Triangle Shirtwaist fire. Yeouch - my bad.

Walked over to class with Professor Number Seven, who was inspired by a conversation with an old student to tell me a little more about the Friday sessions they used to have. I always like to hear about these things, of course, but the highlight of this particular commentary was the part where Number Seven told me that eventually the professors figured out that Thursday was party night and therefore that some people would show up "stoned" at eight the next morning. I'm not sure I ever expected to hear such a word come out of this particular person's mouth, but it did make me laugh (to myself, anyway.)

Enjoyed a variety of interesting conversations about writing etc. with Anne and Rebecca as two-thirds of us ate dinner and then three-thirds of us walked toward Broadway. We stopped at the top of the N/R/W staircase so I could finish what I was saying about Smitherman when I noticed a tall blonde lady look like she was about to head down the stairs and then think better of it. I finished what I was saying, although not as thoroughly as I would have liked, since I was busy contemplating whether this lady was some kind of Smitherman scholar who was about to start shrieking at me on the sidewalk, and in the end we discovered that (duh) she just wanted directions. Har.

25 Mar 07

Time:

?

Money:

$9 or so, T.P. (it was my turn) and a soda box, Gristede's (duh.)
$13, pizza dinner shared with Ben the Fabulous, Ray's.

More interesting things:

Rested, not altogether willingly, pretty much the whole day. I should have gotten more work done than I did, but... it was nice to relax, I guess.

24 Mar 07

Time:

?

Money:

$4, half a veggie sub, Subway on, like, 59th or so.
$75 (I think?), wine, sangria, a crab cake, churrasco, and a honey chocolate cake thing, Don Pedro.

More interesting things:

Traipsed after my excellent roommate on a quest for some cool shirts (for him, I mean) and succeeded. I'm a little jealous of the pale orange one he got; it's almost the same color as a shirt I used to have which would look if I tried to wear it now like a tent of a particularly lovely hue. In any case, it was good to get out of the apartment, and I'll probably have to go back (it was at Express) for some cool lion polo shirts.

Waited somewhat impatiently in the rain to catch a cab with Rebecca, but found out pretty quickly that it was entirely worth it. Dinner was really, really good, and in a turn of events I have so far been unable to replicate, the wine (and more wine) knocked me out cold once I'd gotten home.

23 Mar 07

Time:

?

Money:

$3, dumplings, sesame pancake, AND tip, thank you very much, dumpling place near the high school.
$14, frozen dinners etc., Gristede's.

More interesting things:

Spotted an ugly old red-and-yellow ball cap on someone walking down the hall at the high school, but made up for it with a Gator cap - it was even the same style as the unfortunate one I'd seen earlier! - as I got on the train headed home.

22 Mar 07

Time:

The most hours I've spent out of the house since returning to the city - and I still feel quite good, which is lovely.

Money:

$6, big ol' smoothie for breakfast, Jamba Juice on the way to the train.
$6, some sort of Chinese-ish food - oh, it was pad thai - from the lunch place.
$3, bottle of Frappuccino, lunch place.
$36, an interesting version of a Caprese salad, prosciut' pizza, and some sort of gelato thingy, Otto.

More interesting things:

Remembered something from... yesterday, I think. F. Hardy had come in to talk with Professor Alpha as I was sitting at his computer typing again when the phone rang. Alpha gestured to indicate that I should pick it up, so I did, and became embroiled a little too extensively for own taste in a conversation about the specifics of the year-long master's. In the end, the caller promised to ring again, and Alpha congratulated me on not causing him to have to talk. A few minutes later, F. Hardy had left and the phone rang again. This time, Alpha heaved himself up, leaned across me to answer the call, wrapped up quickly... and handed the phone to me! The secretary wanted to know if I was teaching in the conference room. When I hung up, of course, I thanked Alpha for answering the phone for me; his response was to remind me that it was only fair, since I had saved him earlier.

Enjoyed the first really spring-ish day so far. It even smelled like spring as I left the restaurant after dinner. I never thought I'd be excited to see the arrival of a day suggestive of short-sleeved shirts, but there we are.

7-21 Mar 07

This might be the most ridiculous post yet, but last week was Spring Break (during almost all of which I was quite sick) and the week or two before that I was well on my way to being quite sick, so.... In any case, here are the remnants.

Remembered another amusing aspect of the germ-related conversations of the sixth: Professor Alpha announcing that he would be my Jewish father to look out for me when my Jewish mother is unavailable. Much appreciated, needless to say, and not only because it cracked me up.

Learned that Professor Alpha really, really did pay attention during our it's-okay-to-ring-the-cell conversation, when I got another morning call - although my slacker approach to blogging lately means I've forgotten what the topic was. (This and the last note took place 7 Mar.)

Jumped into the typist's seat after a series of tortured email compositions, my reminder that I don't mind taking dictation, and an attempt at posting for a teacher's classroom blog which began with a sentence including the word "seniore," at which point Professor Alpha threw up his (too-big-for-a-Mac-keyboard) hands and said, " Okay! Okay. You volunteered, and now you get to do it, 'cause I've had it with this shit."

Trotted into J. Hardy's office in response to his announcement that the projectable keyless keyboard gadget for Palms is actually available for purchase; all our exclaiming caught a Professor Alpha (who, as we know, likes being left out of interesting conversations about as much as I do) who crowded into the office with us, threw his arm around my shoulder, and made some goofy comment about how I know just how badly he could use a friendlier keyboard (or something like that - missing the genuinely amusing details is my punishment for SLACKING.)

Got a "Happy Spring Break" hug from Professor Alpha even though - as it occurred to me then - I never really explicitly mentioned my plans to just, you know... skip WORK for a week. (Particularly interesting since Alpha ended up having plans to come in himself.) Also, this paragraph is the official announcement of this blog's change from being about time, money, and more interesting things to being about time, money, and more interesting things but especially Professor Alpha. Okay, not really. I can't exactly help that that's what I DO during the day: wait around for assignments, and gladly accept extremely pleasant interactions when there aren't any!

Trekked sweatily and in a general state of virus-based irritation towards the train uptown, answering the phone (despite the fact that I didn't recognize the number) just before the last street crossing to get one of my lovely student-teachers on the other end. P. was lurking pre-class in the area of my building, and was calling to offer some sort of "hot beverage" if I were still around. Much appreciated, sir - but at that point Starbucks couldn't offer anything I needed more than my bed. (The last four entries are from 8 Mar.)

Sat on the couch, watching TV and standing up just long enough to answer the door when the pizza man rang. (That's 9 Mar.)

Finished packing and (already) tiredly pulled on my sweatshirt, stretching my neck as I did so in such a way that I noticed the Super Shuttle was already outside, even though I had five minutes before they were supposed to be here. I dashed downstairs and hopped into... an empty van. "You're the only one," the driver told me. "Express trip for you." Nice, except for the part where that meant I was at the airport three hours ahead of time, which turned into four by the time the plane actually showed up. In any case, though, the drive there was cool - especially since "Take Five" by the Dave Brubeck Quartet came on... and I recognized it.

Stood - ever wearily - in a straggly line of folks attempting to make it to south Florida and picked up a buzzing phone which I expected would contain my mom at the other end - but found the LTC instead. A nice surprise, even if we did get cut off while I was tromping down the jetway, especially as the conversation had featured the commentary: "Ew, you have mono? That's gross! You're not breathing on me, are you?" And this, you must know, is why the LTC is absolutely one of my favorite human beings on the planet.

Schlepped through the West Palm airport, but felt a little better when some of that schlepping took place behind a girl wearing a t-shirt labeled: Trapper John's. It didn't have to do with everyone's (or at least my) favorite TV surgeon, but it was almost as good, and if it would have fit me I might have mustered up the strength to mug its owner. (Last three items from 10 Mar.)

Enjoyed the most glorious - and positively best-timed - week of enforced vegetating I might ever have experienced. I finished the Janet Evanovich novel I'd bought and half read at the airport and took two days over the latest Georgia Nicolson YA, but other than that: television. Television interspersed with indulgently-received complaining, several fast-food lunches which I didn't have to fetch or pay for, pet-rat harassing, and a few email checks, but mostly television. It was lovely and, I think, much needed. (This, maybe needless to say, is intended to capture the week of break.)

Received several uplifting emails, including a get-well card with a reminder that the "HH needs you!" and a link to an article in the G'ville Sun with which Professor Alpha had included a note about "progressive Florida education" and, even better, another about how they missed me here in the city. This did a lot to temper my experience of whatever germs I happened to be carrying around at the moment, and - like many other things - I really appreciated it. (This was sometime during the week, obviously.)

Returned, slowly, to my desk, and sat messing with emails and so on until Annette popped up from around the corner. We sat (well, I did; she stood in my chunk of the hallway) and chatted, and just as she was in the midst of asking how I felt, "because I heard from Rebecca you thought you might have --" Professor Alpha sidled up. This put Annette into a bit of a quandary over whether to finish her sentence or refrain from broadcasting my germ issues for Alpha's benefit, which she expressed by looking from me to him and back again with her mouth open but quiet. I sort of nodded encouragingly, waiting for her to finish (although this was not terribly accommodating of me, it WAS making me smile) until Alpha leaned over her ear and stage-whispered in a portentous tone, "MONO?" Ha! Poor Annette certainly did not know that I'd already told Alpha what I thought my problem was or that even if I hadn't I wouldn't have purposefully avoided doing so, and her consideration DID add to my appreciation of the conversation - just not the way she thought it would. (19 Mar.)

And I think that's it. If I come up with anything brilliant from the last two days - unlikely, since I recall identifying particularly pleasant or amusing moments, acknowledging them, and STILL not making a note of them - I'll backtrack, but for now, let's look forward to MORE DILIGENT BLOGGING, dumbass.

6 Mar 07

Time:

?

Money:

$4 (or something), bagel, water, Gatorade, and coffee (I have many liquid-related needs these days), lunch place.
$4, chicken noodle soup with a water on the side, lunch place.
$7, frozen dinner, can of Cream of Mushroom, and yet another glorious bottle of water, Gristede's.

More interesting things:

Left the ladies' room on my floor only to stop in my tracks at Professor Alpha's "There you are!", as though I'd been missing for days. On agreeing that there indeed I was and asking whether I had missed something important, he announced that Rebecca had told him to tell me to go home. This was quite hilarious in itself, but then she yelped from down the hall that she had taken up the post of Official Jewish Mother, with Alpha looking down at me seriously (as possible, anyway) and then responding to my snort-laughing comment that "I don't actually need a Jewish mother, for chrissake" by informing me that everyone can use a Jewish mother. At this point we had returned to the region of my desk, where I flopped, still laughing, into my chair, and Rebecca continued to worry whether she had dug herself a hole from which she could not return, alternating between observations that "No, she's fine, she's fine - she looks much better than she did last night" and "She has SCHPILCUS!" (which is not actually true, incidentally), which Alpha interrupted by asking for my symptoms; to the resulting snorts and looks of absolute disbelief he pressed, "No, no, really - what are your symptoms?" I don't think I told him much, other than that the dermatologist had suggested it wasn't actually flu but was likely some kind of virus, but he seemed reasonably satisfied and closed the conversation (as far as he was concerned, anyway) with the directive that "Listen! If you start feeling bad, you --" and inserting a hand gesture meant to represent "fly away home," I guess. Very, very funny, and another, warmer if somewhat milder demonstration of the same brass which enabled Professor Number Five to ask about 24-hour amusements.

Chalked another one up for the New Yorkers ARE Polite campaign. A lady leaving the train at Astor Place pulled back quickly from the turnstile so I could try to get through before it left - and I made it, earning a nice smile from a green-jacketed rider who was with her ten or so compatriots clearly from out of town, or that would have been two for today; in any case, thank you to the patient soul who let me win this particular round of the Commuter Dash.

Walked past the doorman building closest to my house, where an older lady was just returning with her Golden Retriever. It was a nice, cooperative relationship: the lady opened the door, the Golden Retriever carried his neatly coiled leather leash in his mouth so no one would trip.

5 Mar 07

Time:

?

Money:

$3, bagel and Gatorade (the breakfast of champions, or at least virus-y flu-ish champions), All About Food.
$4, more Gatorade and some water, regular lunch place.
$9, sandwich, pretzels, and yet more Gatorade (don't tell me I'm not school-spirited through and through), All About food.
$19, great burger, a diet Coke, and a "Shocker" (gross name - great shake, complete with Vanilla Stoli), BLT Burger.
$and some cab money.

More interesting things:

Went to the dermatologist and laughed rather more than usual. He was especially talkative today and even included the phrase "pain in the ass," which was amusing, and assured me that I probably don't have the flu but some other virus, as starting the day feeling well and falling off from there is pretty typical of such a thing.

Engaged for a moment in conversation with someone I vaguely recognized as another part-time denizen of my office building, which would have been nice enough, but got interrupted by a buzzing phone that I somehow knew would be announcing a call from Professor Alpha; sure enough, there he was. He just wanted to let me know that he was coming in late due to babysitting duty (and interrupted his explanation thereof to remind the baby who he was talking to) and to ask me to remind Professor Number Seven that he would be coming late to our class, but a) I appreciated the information and b) I appreciated that despite his turkey-noise "okay okay okay's" last time we discussed this issue, he actually abided by them. An excellent start to an otherwise kind of slow-ish morning.

Stewed at length over my twelve-year-old classmate. Not only was she was doing a sudoku instead of listening to Professor Number Seven, or, God forbid, her colleagues, but in a firm retreat to the seventh grade she also decided to hide it behind her textbook. This is something I really have zero patience for among people aspiring to the title of "grownup," particularly on top of my note today that she never posts online (Professor Alpha jumped in very accurately there with the comment that "she's done two," but in opting not to preface that with one of his drawn-out, mitigating "welllll's," it was clear that he remembered this because he's irritated.) To make me feel a little better, however, I did overhear Number Seven mentioning something about this kid in distressed tones to Alpha, so while I don't like to wish mean things at people, I have to admit that I am mentally sticking my tongue at her. (I can do seventh grade, now.)

Found the Asia Society. I mean, not on purpose - I didn't go looking for it or anything - but it happened that the cabbie decided to take Madison for awhile and then Park on my way home, and there it was. (On Park, I think.) I would not really have cared about this in the least, except that the other day, in my positively glorious supe meeting, this lady in front of me had on a silk whosiwhatsit... scarf-thingy... handkerchief... whatever they call it these days, labeled in two places as having come from the Asia Society. Since it was at least as enriching as listening to some of what was happening around me, I pondered for a minute whether she'd gone there to get it, or whether it was like some benefit sale at a department store, or what, but it reminded me of things my grandmother wears, so that made me laugh for a minute. (And now I know where to start if I ever need my own.)

4 Mar 07

Time:

?

Money:

?

More interesting things:

Realized that although there are lots of things, both small and grand, that can make you feel like a New Yorker, somewhere high on the list is the experience of standing in line - as I did - at a nice vegetable market listening to the classical music the shopkeepers had on. I don't think too many 7-11's worry a whole lot about Bach.

Ran, on my way down Bleecker towards Rebecca's, into the lady who ran the observation protocol training with Professor Number Six the other day and was glad that we both reacted quickly enough to get out a friendly "Hi!" even as we kept walking.

Ate brunch at the Grey Dog Cafe, which I like even more now that I've sat there for awhile than I did after the coffee (well, chai) stop I'd made there with Anne and Jenn back in the early part of last semester. First of all, their menu advertises that the turkey pot pie is served with a "cute salad" (Professor Alpha, anyone?), and second, their restroom has a fire hydrant painted on the front of the door and inside is plastered exclusively with dog paintings - except for the one patch covered by a large framed photo of Willie Nelson. (And on top of all that, it's just a cool place - dogs, nautical stuff, and a nice cozy air. Oh, and we sat at a table with a map of Michigan, reminding me, of course, of that great Hem song.)

3 Mar 07

Time:

?

Money:

?

More interesting things:

Remembered an amusing conversation from the dinner party at Professor Number One's last night. I happened to sit in the middle of one side of the table, which meant that there was one exchange taking place to my left, one across the table, and one to my right; I was kind of serving in the spot of, like, conversational interstitial fluid. This was pretty nice after a minute, though - I get pretty good at sticking my ears (and my small comments) into all of them and I like being part of everything. This time, however, the pleasure of being all over the table was at least matched by a shake of the head and a knowing (even though I hate that adjective, it's appropriate here) laugh from E.L., who noted, "I see what you're doing! I'm watching you! You're like, ADD! Intelligent ADD! Paying attention to all these conversations!" And then, an aside to her neighbor: "You see what she's doing? She's talking first with this one, then with this one." Back to me: "No wonder you get along with Professor Alpha so well."

Ate a lovely - and well-behaved, weight-lifterish - brunch with Rebecca at Annie's, which was even better because in the course of getting there I walked past the fish store right next to it, with windows featuring an artfully balanced tableau of bluefish with whole lemons in their toothy little mouths, salmon gracefully arching through their bed of ice with heads and tails visible, and small silver dishes with oysters for an accent.

Came out of the market north of my house with a bottle of water and had to ask a Komondor, who with his two people was blocking the sidewalk, to move over a little. (Clearly the humans were too involved in their conversation to attend to traffic.) I looked back over my shoulder as I walked away, relishing my mop-dog sighting even if I'm not a big fan, and realized that he looked like something right out of Harry Potter.

2 Mar 07

Time:

?

Money:

$4, pretty much the regular breakfast, red place.
$4, milk for my oatmeal lunch and a muffin for the homeless lady (in the bank vestibule, which I wasn't thrilled about), blue place.
$36, 24 lovely champagne truffles, Teuscher on 61st at Madison.
$9, half of a cab ride to Professor Number One's.
$11, cab ride back.

More interesting things:

Arm-wrestled, for some reason I can't quite recall now, with Janna in her office (that is to say, right outside Professor Number Six's) and LOST. However, a) I WAS curling just like two days ago, b) she IS a crazy ice-cream-scooping, spider-climbing kind of gal, and c) I WAS laughing like a loon, since Number Six was making all of these (deservedly) ridiculous comments. On the other hand, not only do I get to show the observation scale to my students, I also get a rematch.

Thought, after Professor Number Six mentioned how well a beer would go with the arm-wrestling match, that he was probably right. To this end, Janna encouraged him to bring some back when he returned from his (rather late) lunch; of course he suggested that we go to a bar (and by "we," probably needless to say, I mean Janna and I - if it had been a more inclusive group I might have been tempted to figure out another plan for getting hold of those chocolates....) Somewhere in there, he also showed me his grandkids - pretty cute - and his dog - not that cute, really, but when he told me the dog had died a few months ago I think he managed to be both sad and goofy: a genuine furrow for the pup and a question of where I had been with my comforting back in June (and so what you didn't know me then?)

Ran - almost literally - into Roey on my way to the N (well, W as it happened) in the direction of the chocolate store. It was gorgeous outside, and it was cool to chat for a few minutes.

Noticed the mosaics in the Fifth Avenue N/R/W (I guess) stop: polar bears. I couldn't really infer the motif until I noticed the baboons next and then, more helpfully, a staircase headed towards Central Park - the zoo.

Waited on the corner near the Judith Leiber store, which I read about I think in that bullfighter makeup book. She was the one, I remembered after a minute, with the little bags, so I checked the windows, and sure enough: no pigs or whatever, but plenty of purses.

Walked back to the train past the (a?) Warren Edwards store, presumably named for half of the underpunctuated shoe "purveyor" Susan Bennis Warren Edwards which Peter Mayle writes about in his Manhattan chapter. This is not a section of the town I hang out around too often, but it sure is cool to see it every now and then.

Decided that it looked and felt more like autumn than most of autumn had, and added to that feeling by making it back to my apartment to get cleaned up right around home-from-school time.

Attained a new and relief-inducing measure of achievement by making not one but TWO trips between one table and another carrying pieces of my professor's china in each hand on top of heels after drinking several glasses of wine. It's one for the record books, folks, and if I ever get the Harvard job test of excavating myself from an uncooperative couch with a cup of of coffee in my hand, I might be ready.

Was told by Marisa, after two of my best impression-rendering efforts, that I do a "mean Professor Alpha." A fine compliment indeed, if I do say so myself!

1 Mar 07

Time:

?

Money:

$5, regular breakfast, red place.
$8, regular lunch, regular place.
$8, milk and blueberries and yogurt for my dinner, the nice market up the street.

More interesting things:

Attempted to go to a "supes'" meeting in the big conference room but got chased upstairs by Professor Bravo's presentation; the important part is that after I helped Professor Alpha (kind of) straighten out the tables in the first room and before we found out we had to leave, Alpha plunked himself down in the chair right next to me, and I wasn't even sitting at the "head" table.

Returned from a good, full class period to find a cup of coffee just being placed on my desk. Marisa and Professor Alpha had gone across the street for some "drugs" and brought some back for me as well, which I thought was very nice - and I particularly liked the fact that they appeared to have split the bill, as each announced that the other had been kind enough to buy me half a cup of coffee!

Walked past a sign, I think on my way to the train from rock climbing at Coles, painted in pretty colors and stuck to a street sign post: "Humans Die In Wars." Very true, unfortunately, but I like the irony of the pleasant greens and fuchsias it was painted in.

Sat on the train coming home next to a man consuming one of the world's great combinations, even if half of it isn't my particular favorite: a box of Dots and the New Yorker.

Zipped my iPod past a far larger number of songs than I usually feel inclined to skip and got, for my impatience, "Still Crazy After All These Years," which Professor Alpha had come up the hall saying - not singing - earlier in the day, sparking my comment that it was a terrific song and the response that "Yes, it's one of the greats... especially because it's true."

Enjoyed another pleasant turn of the radio (or whatever) as I lifted through one of my last days at the gym near my house. I was in the middle of some planks when "Float On" - my original gym song, dontcha know - came on.

Continued the funny gym stuff when Bear called me back (I had thought to call him after seeing his name just below my roommate's in my contact list) with the news that he'd been thinking about me today (maybe) and that it's his birthday (much more likely)! I was already glad I'd called him, of course, but this made it that much better.