Long time no see

This past week has been very eventful for a number of reasons:

1. I was in Maine last weekend for the President's Day "break," and had a wonderful time chilling with the Bogs, watching a movie or two, making coffee, taking a long walk down to the ocean, and generally kickin' it back and relaxin'.

2. When i got back on Tuesday, i had my review at work. It went very well, and i will be getting a raise almost enough to cover the cost of health insurance, which is great because...

3. I have been fighting off a sinus infection for two weeks, and it's finally got the better of me. No amount of ibuprophen could stay its wrath. The week has felt really long as a result. I've been groggy the whole time at work, days have dragged even though they've been busy, and the whole week has felt like that.

4. I found who i hope to be my primary care physician down here. I have an interview there on Tuesday at 6pm, and i am very excited about it. It is a family practice with lots of women that is around the corner from Davis Square (an area i adore). I have had the same doctor my entire life, so it's important to me to have a personal relationship with whoever my doctor is. Furthermore, i have had a woman doctor the whole time as well, so i have just gotten to be more comfortable with women doctors. I want them to sincerely understand when i tell them that my sinus problems might be related to the time of the month.

5. About a week and a half ago i went to Bally's Gym to investigate the free three month membership. I had to decide right then and there whether i wanted to just take the free three months and then get the membership at full cost if i want it, OR to get it for about half the membership price right then and there for the next two years, and then it would be 12 bucks a month after that. Well, i wasn't going to do it until she told me that i have a thirty day trial period where i can cancel it after that many days if i'm not happy -- as long as i go at least 12 times within that 30 days. SO. I took it. The difficult thing is that i'm not feeling great right now, and it hasn't been easy to go that much. Especially since i had that long weekend in Maine. So yesterday i went in, swiped the card, took my jacket off in the locker room, peed, and ducked back out without putting the jacket back on (so as not to look like the same person that walked in 4 minutes previously)(yes, i know, i'm paranoid).

6. Another thing that went on this week was a meeting where Laura, Matt, and i went to confront the landlord about the mess underneath the kitchen sink (HUGE leak, no cabinets, and the entire thing was slanting toward the wall because the wood underneath is broken). Well, she knew what we were coming down for, and she called up to get the contractor over here. So he did. And yesterday he and his son came to tear up the kitchen and put a new set of cabinets on the floor. YAY! The only bad thing being, of course, the kitchen is tiny, so i couldn't just go out and make tea or anything. So Dan and i hopped in the car and went to Davis Square to hang out at a coffee shop. He brought paper and pens for drawing, and i brought my GRE workbook. The coffee shop we were going to hang out at was packed and hoppin', so we opted for the other one that's chiller. Well, what do you know, but two people from my book group were there, as well as Kate Frederick, a friend from HAMPSHIRE!!! It was so awesome! She came right up to me and hugged me, and we chatted, exchanged phone numbers, etc.

6A. Dan and i took the table at which Kate and her boyfriend were seated, and Dan and i did what we went there to do. It was a nice time, until the cold medicine wore off. Back we came to Allston. The guy was still working on the kitchen. We snuggled and waited patiently. He was still there when we were getting hungry. We wanted to go out to rent a movie anyway, so we stopped and had dinner at the Chicago Bar & Grill, which isn't awesome, but you are there for the atmosphere. We rented "The Pianist." I HIGHLY recommend it. Story about what happened to Warsaw during WWII, Jews and Poles alike, through the perspective of a highly respected Jewish pianist. I won't say any more, just that it's very heavy, powerful story with fantastic cinematography and emotion.

7. The kitchen was done around 10:30pm last night, and that's when Dan and i started to be able to really pay attention to the movie without stops and starts (except for pee breaks). So this morning, Dan and i spent about two and a half hours cleaning this place just about top to bottom. He vacuumed, brought things back into the kitchen that had to be moved, and i scrubbed the kitchen vigorously and put everything away. And it's so exciting! It actually looks like a kitchen! Out pots and pans and tupperware are no longer relegated to live under the table! And now, we might even be able to use the table to eat at sometimes. WOW. I know. This is a big development. It looks incredible.

8. However, after all that, Dan and i are not feeling so well (i hope he's not somehow catching whatever cold i might have), and we're hoping to laze the rest of the day away.