2008 Reading List

I have succeeded in my quest ... which was a quest I didn't know I was set out upon, but then it became so when I realized that on December 23rd I hadn't read Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey, and that if I do read this book before the clock strikes 2009, I will have have read all the Jane Austen I will have ever wanted to read in 2008, which is maybe the most uplifting thing that has happened to me in 2008.

So 2008 was my Jane Austen year. It started out innocently. A book here and there. Then I saw Becoming Jane Austen and got all schmaltzy-eyed with 19th century love, and so I had to read the bios, then some critiques, and then finishing her books. Of all her books, my favorites became Sense & Sensibility and Persuasion.

Not everything was Jane Austen:

Time and Again, a book by Jack Finney who also wrote Invasion of the BodySnatchers, was an enlightened look into time travel -- one of my favorite fiction topics. Written in the 1970's, the government is funding an experiment using hypnosis to allow for time travel and the main character gets chosen for the experiment and succeeds in going back to 1890.




Becoming Jane Austen, by Jon Spence -- If you loved the movie like I did, this is the book which inspired the movie. The movie is fictionalized - imagining the relationship between Austen and LeFroy -- but the book is a biography (so be prepared for long confusing family trees). But he is one of the only biographers who thinks Austen's relationship with LeFroy was more serious and may have resulted in an engagement. The movie picks up on that notion.




Company by Max Barry was a fast, but good, read for anyone who's ever worked for a company where you sat in a cubicle, rarely see HR, and constantly asked yourself "What is up here?" It has an interesting twist that makes you wonder if indeed this isn't all a big joke.







If you're a fan of Neil Gaiman, you'll like Susanna Clark's short stories in The Ladies of Grace Adieu. And if you like them a bit on the spooky, gorey, dark side, then Nocturnes by John Connolly will do (the author of my favorite book The Book of Lost Things).





Finally, the 3 Kate Atkinson books I read this year are all really good. "Museum" is her first story and I really loved it. The other two are criminal mystery types with an ex-cop at the center and a set of interesting characters.

The official 2008 Reading List

1. Northanger Abbey - Jane Austen
   
2. The Jane Austen Book Club - Karen Joy Fowler
3. Time and Again -- Jack Finney
4. The Ladies of Grace Adieu -- Susanna Clark
5. Nocturnes - John Connolly
6. Sense & Sensibility - Jane Austen
7. Looking for Salvation... -- Susan Greg Gilmore
8. A Walk with Jane Austen -- Lori Smith
9. Becoming Jane Austen - Jon Spence
10. A Fine Brush on Ivory: An Appreciation of Jane Austen -- Richard Jenkins
11. Pride & Prejudice -- Jane Austen
12. Flirting with Pride & Prejudice: Fresh Perspectives on the Original Chick-Lit Masterpiece -- Jennifer Crusie ed.
13. Company -- Max Barry
14. Emma - Jane Austen
15. Jennifer Government - Max Barry
16. Case Histories - Kate Atkinson
17. One Good Turn - Kate Atkinson
18. Mansfield Park - Jane Austen
19. Persuasion - Jane Austen
20. The Kitchen Boy - Robert Alexander
21. Behind the Scenes at the Museum - Kate Atkinson
22. The Magician's Assistant - Anne Patchett

My mom's a graduate

Right before we left for Nashville, we had another important matter to attend to -- my mom's graduation!

Unfortunately, it was one of those snow blizzard advisory days and we couldn't all drive downtown to the ceremony like we had planned (grandparents, aunt, cousins). In the end, I went on the train with my mom and we hopped into a cab that got us there in the nick of time. Slush and sleet couldn't keep us from the ceremony!

The ceremony was really official, the auditorium was packed, and one of our US reps was the keynote speaker. I have no clue who my speaker was or what they said, but when the tables are turned, it's all very insightful and I felt myself getting revved up.

After the ceremony, there was a reception down the street and while it was weird that it was only me and my mom, it was kind of nice. Her hair looked good, she didn't fall on the stage, I consider it a good day.

My mom taught me, it's never too late to do what you want and to get out of life what was meant to be. Like the scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz, she always had brains but now she has the paper from the Wizard himself!

Christmas #3

I don’t really have 3 Christmases, but Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are like 2 different events and as long as you open presents, it’s considered Christmas. Right?

The 25th started out so nice and relaxing. We stayed in bed as long as we could, I made coffee and scrambled eggs for breakfast, and we ate it under the tree with the cats, the presents, and a "roaring" fire. We’ll remember the tranquility when we have kids screaming with joy… and wonder how we ever could stand the quiet!

Christmas Day has been at my mom’s for I don’t know how long. Apparently a long time. There’s no fish on Christmas Day, not even a fin. Today we had turkey and a spiral ham, a cauliflower casserole, sweet potato puree, oven roasted potatoes, green beans, and a salad. It was eerily like Thanksgiving.

We exchange presents with my parents, grandparents, and my aunt’s family on Christmas Day – and it’s nice because we open presents when they come over so it’s like 3 different sets of present opening. I’m not complaining!

My mom made us coffee as we opened up their presents – as usual we’re spoiled, even though I told my mom that if she bought me this pair of 7 for all Mankind jeans, I wouldn’t need anything else. She didn’t listen. But then again, last year she bought us a glass container filled with dish rags … For the last 10 years, my mom has worked and managed to create a glorious christmas, but this year it was better. The house looked better, the food tasted better, the gifts were better, and she wasn't a frazzled mess. I told her that unemployment looks good on her. My dad wasn't happy about that -- don't encourage her!

Christmas #2

Ed note: Our phone/internet is currently out of commission --flood waters most likely -- so photos will be late uploading.

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A huge snow blizzard awaited us in Chicago – home sweet home! … and 2 days later it rained and warmed up so freakishly that the mounds of snow turned into flooding waters. Looking outside, I see mostly green.

Well, at least we had a White Christmas.

I was reminiscing with my mom on Christmases past, when we were young. We always went to Children’s Mass where I usually participated, and then we headed to my grandparents for the night, where at the end, my dad would wrap me and my brother in very large blankets and carry us out into the snow and into the car.

Nowadays, we don’t go to church and Matt hasn’t quite gotten the hint that I like to be carried out to the car in a warm blanket, so things have definitely changed.

But what remains the same is that Christmas Eve isn’t Christmas Eve if we’re not in my grandparents’ house, where the aroma of fish baking in the ovens, and of clams broiling in the broiler, and shrimp being fried in the fryer wafts through the air. It may make your clothes stink a little, but it’s a smell that always has warm memories.

Matt is getting used to the Italian delicacies of my family – after 5 years. He sank his teeth into the zeppole upon arrival and said, “I was waiting for this!” Zeppole is a fried dough, much like a beignet but we don’t eat them sweet. (although here is a Giada recipe I'd like to try) Next comes the baked clams my grandfather just a ½ hour before shucked in the sink and get topped with the special breading. Finally, comes the calamari – and once you eat calamari like this, the stuff in restaurants will be just a rubbery mess. I like mine with only lemon.

By the time we get ready to eat, it’s about 830PM. Italians only eat fish for Christmas Eve – although I am reading that this is mainly southern Italian (what we are). I hated fish as a kid so I always got fried shrimp, and we still have it on the table to this day.

We opened gifts around 10PM, and what had started as a “we need something for Tony to do” has turned into Tradition. It’s the tradition of one of the grandkids to dress up as Santa and dole out the gifts. All of the grandkids have done it except me, and my cousin Andrew didn’t want to do it this year. So that meant … yep, me. I was Santa and I’ll tell you that beard is itchy. My cousins played my merry band of elves, and I was reminded that we need some new blood in the family.

Santa brought me a Hello Kitty robe and slippers, which I promptly put on after de-Santaing. But the big gift of the night was the 52-inch LCD TV that my mom, aunt, and uncle bought for my grandparents. Much better to watch CNN with.

Christmas #1

This weekend, Matt and I flew down to Nashville to have an early Christmas with his family. No snow, of course, but it was C-O-L-D. Nevertheless, armed with layers of clothing, it was bearable without mounds of snow on every corner.

Saturday night we went to Valentino's, a nice Italian restaurant closer to downtown, where the food was good and the staff were excellent. Both our waiter and the Maitre D' could do magic and when they spotted our nephew, they had a captive audience. My sister-in-law's blog has more here. She also has pictures here.

Sunday, the guys went to the Titan's game and we went to Cheekwood botanical garden, which is just a stone's throw away from Matt's parents house. They had a holiday tree exhibit we went to see and do lunch. See here for more pics. That night we opened our presents for our early Christmas and had Barbeque for dinner. In Chicago, we say "a" Barbeque and it means taking out the barbeque and grilling hot dogs, hanburgers, etc -- usually a summertime thing. So when they said, we're having BBQ for dinner and I asked, what are we barbequing? The answer was Barbeque. Barbeque in Nashville means pulled pork sandwiches and tangy hot red and white sauce. I'm slowly learning the lingo...

Sweet Acidophilus milk and boiled custard -- other things you'll find in Nashville that you won't in Chicago.

Cheekwood house - owned by one of the Maxwell House family.

Why Christmas Trees Aren't Perfect.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Toy Story

The Nutcracker

Polar Bear Express

Monday, we headed out to Franklin where Matt, me, my sister-in-law and our nephew had lunch and did some shopping. We went to Merridee's for lunch and waited in line to place our order right in front of Ashley Judd. Celebrity spotting!

Downtown Franklin - Me, Matt, & Brant

Our flight was scheduled to leave at 10:35am yesterday, and we boarded the plane like it was going to take off, only to be told we were delayed. It kept getting pushed back and they let us get off the plane and stretch. Then we boarded again to leave at 1:50pm (got drink orders and everything), only to be told again, delay... The weather in Chicago was just so bad that no one could leave. We deboarded the plane again around 3PM and Matt was ready to rent us a car when we finally got the OK to leave and we took off at 5:30pm -- 7 hours late. We got home at 8:30pm and home never looked so good. But I felt so bad for all the rest of the plane passengers who were headed somewhere else.

This morning, I called my mom's and Tony answered. "Thank goodness you're home," he exclaimed. I then told him how we were 7 hours late and how the plane was supposed to leave at 10:35am ... he cut me off, "Mom's still in bed."
"But Tony, I was telling you a story."
"I'm just glad you are home," he answered.
"You don't want to hear my story?" I asked.

"No."

Gingerbread

Last weekend we went to brunch with the family, and upstairs they had a gingerbread contest.

Every time I see these gingerbread houses I just want to make one. I think my mom bought us a kit when we were kids and it was a sticky mess. Somehow I get this idea that I'm creative, organized, patient, or have the time to do one of these. Maybe if I started in July? What is it about manipulated sugar that makes it just so darn cute.


Alright, a snowman riding a train? He's gonna be my christmas card cover next year -- choo choo!

The Tree is Up!

It's been up for a week now, but I haven't posted pictures. I love our new camera because I can take some good shots without the flash and it really captures what it feels like in our room ... dark. I don't think we've shut the tree lights off all week.

What's a tree without Hello kitty??

Or other cat ornaments and exposed light wires??

The bathroom: grouting pebbles

We finally got around to grouting the bathroom. I'll argue that Thanksgiving travel and Christmas brunch got in the way. My dad'll argue that we lolly-gagged on buying the grout and set him off schedule.

The grout we had to use for the pebbles (and can use for the marble) is an apoxy called Laticrete. That was what was recommended and it's a sanded grout that works well with the uneveness of the pebbles and the joints, but it has to be cleaned well in 2 different steps otherwise it will harden on the pebbles, and it's difficult to buff off.

My dad layed the grout, and then I followed up with the 2-part cleaning. All I can say is that if you ever do this and pay for labor, expect to pay a lot. It's pretty labor intensive and our bathroom shower floor is not even 3x4. I can't imagine doing this to an entire floor or shower. Here's some photos of the process:

These are the pebbles after they were installed.

Here's the grout being applied -- the grout goes over all the pebbles
and has to get worked into all the odd joints.

Here's in the middle of my first "cleaning" application. This was such a pain.
The sponge has to be constantly cleaned otherwise you smear grout everywhere.

And here's the final product. You can see that my dad also laid the tile over the lip
of the shower. It's starting to look more and more like a finished room.

Black Thursday

Arriving to work on a Black Thursday is an indescribable feeling, somewhere between denial and nausea. I kept telling myself that I didn't care either way and that I would prefer to get laid off, that this would be the kick in the ass that I needed to find something better and more meaningful.

Most layoffs happen in the morning and it goes like this: You get a call from your department head to meet. In the office is the HR Manager, waiting to tell you the good news that you no longer work here.

If you don't get this call, consider yourself a fixture until the next layoffs.

Our department is spread between 2 sites. The other site had 7 department layoffs by 1030AM. We had none. By 2PM, we had one. That's it. All in all, it was more than a 20% reduction but one-sided.

In another department, only 4 of 20 people remained. In other departments, no one remained. I kept tabs all day and counted roughly 80-90 people who were let go, immediately. But every site and every subsidiary of our company was affected and we are in about 5 different cities, so the number is much much higher. To quote a colleague who was laid off (to my shock), "It's a blood bath."

Needless to say, I have kept my job. The next step though is to find out what I will be doing, because all jobs will be reorganized with the remaining staff. So it's a mystery what they have in store for all of us. Only time will tell.

Thanksgiving

Happy "Belated" Thanksgiving!

We had a whirlwind 4-day Thanksgiving break this year where we spent Thursday in Chicago with my family, and then drove to Nashville on Friday to be with Matt's family, culminating in a 10-hour rain/snow filled drive yesterday (it's normally a 8 hour drive). The entire state of Indiana (I-65) was a traffic hell-hole. It was a great weekend and all we can think about is the ride home, it's a shame.

Plus it's becoming a meteorological tradition where we leave Chicago in the sun on Friday, and return home on Sunday in the snow. I think we need to start a movement where Thanksgiving is in October! Anyone with me?

In Nashville Friday night, Matt and I went to the historic Belcourt theater in Hillsboro Village to see this swedish vampire movie called Let the Right One In.

I had read in the paper that the Swedes make good vampire movies and we were not disappointed - it was good! I'm not really one for the vampire, maybe it's because I hate Dracula movies -- especially that stupid one with Winona Ryder and Keanu Reeves. But this one was good, it's not about Dracula, I recommend it!

Employment

The past year has been a whirlwind of sorts at work, with what I can imagine most people are feeling nowadays -- uncertainty.

My company acquired another company last year and so a series of 3 layoffs ensued, all of which I survived. What followed, for me at least, was positive: I was made staff and got usurped into a really great department. We all took a trip in August which helped us get to know each other better, and sort of solidified a solidarity and friendship we all thought was there. And I felt really lucky to be part of it (I was previously part of a department that wasn't as cohesive).

So right as we begin to feel good about our jobs, we've just been informed of another re-organization which means more layoffs. Two different rumor mills have reported everything to happen this week -- or next week (depends which office you work at as to which rumor you're hearing).

It's all very unnerving and I usually don't blog about work, but it's hard to feel productive when this is happening. Plus, work is such a big part of your life, it's hard not to be thinking about this all the time.

I'd hate to lose my job, or to keep my job and see fellow colleagues lose their job -- either way, there is a bitter pill to be swallowed.