This is the last night of my vacation. I took last week and the preceding Friday off. My favorite kind of vacation is where I hang out at home for the time out. All my books, music, and gadgets are at home. And most of my favorite places are a short drive from my home, so home is an ideal place to spend a vacation as far as I am concerned.
The day before vacation I made a quick list of what I wanted to do with the time off. Eleven days later I am in the happy position of being able to grade my vacation.
Here’s the list from my notebook:
- See Forgetting Sarah Marshall
0/10 — I wasn’t able to do this because Diana won’t let me see this without her, and we weren’t able to get a babysitter. We couldn’t find an early enough show that ended in time for us to pick up M. from preschool.
- See Iron Man
10/10 — Fortunately, D. has no interest in superhero movies. So I saw it the night it opened once the kids were in bed. It was strange seeing an unabashed capitalist superhero, but I guess America is ready for it. I don’t get the sense that Bruce Wayne is that involved in Wayne Enterprises to the point where he’s giving demos.
Side note: Yesterday was Free Comic Book day, so we all went over to Lee’s Comics and dutifully got our free comics. Matt got some strange thing called Nascar Heroes, but he was more interested in my Marvel Comics because it had Iron Man (I-ron Man, as he says) on the cover. Stephanie got a Simpsons comic.
- Fix up blog
2/10 — All I really did was update to 2.5.1 and make a quick to do list. I didn’t feel like spending too much time on the computer as I thought I would. Screwing around on the computer always seems so appealing during work, but not so much on vacation.
- Check out code.google.com
0/10 — I have a list of Google products to really dig into, and this is next on my list. I didn’t do anything with it.
- Read a few books in Thucydides
8/10 — I’m in the middle of Book III. The Athenians just beat the Lesbians, though it’s not what it sounds like.
0/10 — Half way through the week I got a Kindle as a sort of spot bonus. So most of my reading time was spent actually playing with the Kindle. I downloaded a bunch of different versions of Thucydides to see if it is possible to read it remotely and then review from the well-annotated Landmark Thucydides
. Also I had to check out a few editions of Decline and Fall
as well as some magazines and newspapers. So no Intelligent Asset Allocator, even though there is a Kindle version that I’m going to buy.
. Also I had to check out a few editions of Decline and Fall as well as some magazines and newspapers. So no Intelligent Asset Allocator, even though there is a Kindle version that I’m going to buy.- Write 2 book reviews on goodreads.com
0/10 — I really like Goodreads.com, and I wanted to write a few reviews of books of some of the favorite books that I have read. The two I would have probably reviewed were Pleasant Hell
by John Dolan and A Fan’s Notes
by Frederick Exley. I last read A Fan’s Notes maybe ten years ago, so that review would be maybe a little impressionistic. But I never got around to it.
by John Dolan and A Fan’s Notes by Frederick Exley. I last read A Fan’s Notes maybe ten years ago, so that review would be maybe a little impressionistic. But I never got around to it.- Review Pieces of Piece
for KFJC
3/10 — I managed to play this on the air, and I know what I’m going to say about it. But I didn’t write it down, turn it in to the station, and go to the meeting to deliver the review. It’s not my fault because Diana had plans and I couldn’t find a baby sitter.
- Get on the air at KFJC
10/10 — I was on Wednesday morning for Ann Arbor’s 15th anniversary show. I did my DJ training, and she was nice enough to have me on to talk for a bit and play a few songs. I played some soul singers that we both really like Candy Staton, Bettye Wright, Sharon Jones, and I wrapped up with a mini-review and song from Pieces of Peace.
Then I did the 2am-6am “grave” shift the following Thursday morning. It felt so good being alone with nothing to think about but music for four hours. Check out the set list. I knew that the station manager and faculty liaison were listening because they were reviewing the work logs of everyone at the station. This made me a little self-conscious.
They came into the station as I was leaving around 6:30am (after putting away all of the way-too-many records I pulled). The faculty guy said my show was “interesting.” He didn’t say anything when I asked how he liked it. I started freaking out on the drive home. Then I remembered that I had been up for over 24 hours and my brain was not to be trusted — especially the paranoid part of my brain that starts getting on my case whenever I’m tired. I went home and slept until 2:30pm.
- Fix the DVD Player on the little Mac
10/10 — This was due to a leopard graphics upgrade. For some reason it made my Macbook G4 crash hard whenever I put in a DVD. Someone was nice enough to write a script that reverts the graphics library.
- Call D—-
10/10 — This is a guy that I’ve wanted to get hired at G so that I can work with him again. Sadly, it is not to be.
- Have lunch w/friends
5/10 — I had lunch with one friend, which is actually pretty social for me. He works for an interesting start up, so I hung out and talked with a few more people there.
- Email T—— about her show
0/10 — One of my favorite DJs left her show, and I wanted to find out why. But I forgot to email her.
- Have a daddy/daughter day
- Have a daddy/son day
20/20 — I had a lot of quality time with the kids, I’m glad to say. We spent Friday in San Francisco walking through Chinatown, through North Beach, up Telegraph Hill, down the other side, down Herb Cain way, on a ferry to Tibaron, on a ferry back, on Muni, then back home. We made goofy movies for Diana (who stayed home) with my Flip Video.
I gave each kid $10 to spend however they wanted during the day. This prevents them from bugging me to buy them things every few minutes, especially when walking up Grant Ave. Tellingly, Matt spent his in about 2 minutes and Stephanie held on to hers to save. Stephanie almost bought a Geronimo Stilton book, but when I told her it was $8, she wrinkled her nose and put it back. If I hadn’t given her the $10, I am sure she would have talked me into buying it for her.
The next night we camped out in a tent in the back yard. The kids were insanely excited. They slept cozy in their sleeping bags, and I was cold. I need to wear a hat next time. I think I had more hair the last time I camped out.
- Go out with D.
5/10 — Sadly, there is a babysitter recession in Palo Alto, so we could only go out for lunch a few times. We went to Chaat Paradise, which is fantastic. I didn’t even mind that it is vegetarian.
- Talk to S—-
10/10 — This was a work thing.
Extra credit: This was stuff that I took care of that I’ve been meaning to do for a while
10/0 — Plan our summer vacation. The whole family is taking a biking vacation up in the Redwoods. D. actually took care of this, but it was my idea.
10/0 — Buy a new commuting bike. My old mountain bike is a little uncomfortable for me. It’s too small, and riding it I look like a praying mantis trying to mate with a bike. So I bought a Cannondale Bad Boy Ultra XL.
10/0 — Put away my CDs. I never, ever play CDs at home since everything is ripped on my computer. So I moved them down to the basement in alphabetical order. This cleared off a lot of shelf space in my office. Genres still accessible in my office: classical, soul, and hip hop. This is in case I want to play them on the air.
Grade: 55% — F
Grade with extra credit: 72% — D (according to the grading scale at the Jesuit high school I attended)
I clearly suck at taking vacations. My next vacation will have simpler goals (don’t fall off my bike and get paralyzed, don’t forget to bury my poop, don’t lose a kid), so I expect my grade to improve significantly soon.
despicable wretches.
Christ, Nemet, you’re grading your vacation???? I thought I had the anal-retentive SJ class of ‘84 award locked up for life!! sheesh.
Yay for Jesuit high schools