A few of my favorite things

My pretty diamond ring!

The band Stars. I must buy their CD In Our Bedroom After the War.

Crisp fall weather.

Anything pumpkin-flavored.

President Bush developing a backbone and calling out Congress and the horrid job its doing: "Congress is not getting its work done. We're near the end of the year, and there really isn't much to show for it."

Having a few good runs lately, after all of my knee aching. It still can be sore, but I can run a lot better now.

Dublin.

Having cocktails with friends tonight.

Special meals

We had a number of special meals in special weekend away. Saturday dinner was pasta for Steve with mussels, and I had swordfish with veggies. Special lunch that day was a chicken sandwich (fried) and fries and smithwicks. Special brunch on Sunday was salmon bruschetta and greek salad for me, and more pasta for Stevie. Special dinner that day was a chicken sandwich and fries for me, and special meals on the plane:

First Course:
Antipasti platter with italian salami, grilled long-stem artichokes, kalamata olives (ick), and grilled bell pepppers

Second Course:
Mixed Garden salad with tomatoes and daikon, served with olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette

Meal:
Seared cod fillet accented by tomato and olive ragout, accompanied by potato galettes and sauteed leeks

Dessert:
Fine cheeses selected to perfectly complement one another in flavor and texture, offered with grapes

Special second plane meal:

Chicken caesar salad accompanied by bread sticks and fresh fruit
warmed chocolate chip cookie

I also had like a bottle of Australian sauvignon blanc. yummy!!

special weekend away

So it feels a little weird, but a good weird, to actually be engaged. I would by lying if I said I completely believed it would happen. Dublin was amazing, and I will remember lots of the little details. The tornado warning in Newark. Finding a wonderful hotel at the Morrison. Not finding the restaurant. The proposal over the Liffey River. Running into random Helsinki guy in St. Stephen's Greene. Getting lost along the canal. Watching the Lions win. Watching the Eagles fall to the Bears. Getting liquored up on sauvignon blanc in business class.

Things to do this week

Finish the CT book. Probably tomorrow on train to New York City.

Download the Band of Horses CD.

Make better college picks than last week. Can there be anymore upsets? Is OH State about to go down to Michigan State? Yikes!! Luckily South Florida plays Rutgers early this week, so that game is safe.

Pack for special trip!!!!

I did have a nice lunch at Restaurant Kolumbia with Jenny. Their bar special rocked, though I ate way, way too much pizza. I guess I should go running tonight.

Assessment of the Candidates

I thought Dan Bartlett's assessment of the candidates is pretty much right on.
Though I am not as big of a fan of Huckabee.

It's hard to know how much/how little Mitt Romney's religion will hurt him. It didn't hurt him when he was elected governor of Massachusetts, though some would say that is because of the enlightened, liberal, accepting Northeastern elite types. The South is too stuck in the 1950s. Well, we'll see. I think he and Giuilani are the best candidates right now. I'm not sure about McCain, but I think he could surprise us. There are things I like about him--most consistently pro-life, a long record of service to this country, as tough as anyone on the war on terrorism. But he's too old, and campaign finance is a big obstacle to overcome to win the right.

The Odyssey Years

David Brooks has a column in the NYT on the Odyssey Years...the decade of the 20s, when kids graduate from college, take their time finding a full-time job, travel, live in group houses, go to grad school, not marry, not have kids. Not do their thing.

Interesting stat:

They see that people in this age bracket are delaying marriage. They’re delaying having children. They’re delaying permanent employment. People who were born before 1964 tend to define adulthood by certain accomplishments — moving away from home, becoming financially independent, getting married and starting a family.

In 1960, roughly 70 percent of 30-year-olds had achieved these things. By 2000, fewer than 40 percent of 30-year-olds had done the same.

Though Brooks responds a lot of this is due to changes in demographics, education, family life, etc. Though despite the fact that young people don't follow that traditional path of finishing school, marrying, having, kids, etc:

The odyssey years are not about slacking off. There are intense competitive pressures as a result of the vast numbers of people chasing relatively few opportunities. Moreover, surveys show that people living through these years have highly traditional aspirations (they rate parenthood more highly than their own parents did) even as they lead improvising lives.

I think that's true. I think most people in their 20s want to marry, want to settle down, but you can't do that if you're focusing on your career in cities where the cost of living is outrageous and you can't afford a down payment for a $300K one bedroom condo. And if you're smart, and if you want to have a more comfortable life than your parents, than you can't do that in your twenties. Even if that is what you want.

The Week in Pop-litical Culture

OK, I am behind so I'm trying something new:

• I think Hung is super arrogant, though I am sure he was the best on Top Chef. But I think Dale would be one cool, fun gay guy to hang out with.
• I thought all of the raves critics gave about last night's Grey's Anatomy were way-overrated. I thought the premiere was better, and the addiction thread was too contrived. I still love Bailey, still can't stand Gizzie, still am liking Lexie, and still think House calling the nu-duckling by numbers is better than Christina doing it.
  
• I like Chasing Daisies. As Dave said, it's Tim Burton-esque but also has the Royal Tenenbaum-like quirkiness. Let's see how it does.
• It is BY FAR the hardest weekend to predict college football games!!!!!
• Holiday weekends will mean three days off. Beside the trip to Philly, I think I'm going to see a movie. While I despite Sean Penn, I really want to see Into the Wild, since the book was so great. We'll see on Monday. Alternatively, maybe the Kingdom?
• Is it time to go home yet?
  

Very tired

I am just counting down the days til this weekend. Columbus Day. Monday off. Yeah! I am supposed to go to Philly to see Sally. It will be fun to catch up; I am very much enjoying have a bit more girl time to catch up with friends. I even made plans today for an end of the month HH with Liz and Ann.

I did my first-ever trivia night at Nannys last night. Though we didn't win, I did contribute to the team's respectable score (Steve Martin as most frequent SNL host, Dodi al Fayed, the Rockies in the playoffs, the Lombardi trophy, Garry Kasparov). And I now know that Uruguay won the first World Cup, and Hitchcock made a controversial Holocaust documentary. Though tonight, it is back to the gym for me. I did stick to my three beer rule last night--Miller lite (which should not be classified as a beer!). Vace pizza was quite tasty.

Tonight is the finale of Top Chef (I guess I am rooting for Dale, then Casey, then Hung) and the premiere of Chasing Daisies. That seemed like the most intriguing new show of the season. Maybe it will tide me over on Wednesdays until Lost returns in four long months.

Michigan

I think Jennifer Granholm and her merry band of state legislators need to borrow my copy of Free to Choose.

Because when you have the worst economy in the country, what you should do is raise income taxes and raise taxes on services. Oh, and only cut spending 20%. Give me a break.

The Detroit News nailed it with this comment:

The deal they produced Sunday institutionalizes government inefficiency and sets the pattern for resolving chronic deficits with chronic tax hikes.

Yup. Expect more of the same. If Michigan could drop to 51st in the country in economic growth and unemployment rate, it would.