Bearshorty's musings

This weekend was a little weird, in a good way. I had no grading to do, which is nice for a semester weekend (I'm getting lots of papers tomorrow, so I really should enjoy this break before the craziness of next week). But I was a little at a loss on how to spend my day. Good problem to have! I did embrace the laziness and watched some TV (I'm loving "Victoria" - sexy in a lot of ways and just gets to me) and read some books and cleaned the bathroom and cooked and spent some time with Bear and Tanya.

I finally finished reading Neuromancer by William Gibson. I started it a few weeks ago but I just didn't care enough for it to read more than a chapter at a time, sometimes less. I just read more at the end, just to finally finish it. It is so very 80s, which was a little fun, and I read it and followed the plot perfectly fine but I just found myself indifferent. It was fine and I can understand why it was an influential book but my mind was pretty detached reading it. I didn't care for any of the characters. For some reason, I find lately that a lot of classic sci-fi is underwhelming me. I didn't hate it, I just didn't care. This year has been a little weird in books so far. I hope it picks up.

The King's Ransom by Sharon Kay Penman, on the other hand, is definitely sustaining my interest. I have a paperback copy, because I have copies of all her books, so I am limited on when I can read it. It's not easy to lug it with me on commute as it is almost 700 small print pages and a bit hefty, and I can't read it in the evening, in the dark, but I've been snatching lots of time this weekend. It was fun to follow Richard the Lionheart's adventures trying to sneak through Italy and Austria. I'm only on p.150 so far - still a lot of the book to go. This book will take me awhile too but at least I'm excited to read it. I do love her writing, even with "smile not reaching the eyes" appearing 10 times in 10 pages, and I adore historical accuracy. Richard is not my favorite king, but she is doing a good job making me understand him.

In the afternoon, all of us went to the playground together, which is a rare occasion. Tanya tried to protest - she just wanted to go with Papa and kept yelling at me to stay home or stay, but she calmed down after I talked to her that Mama wanted to breathe some air too and I won't get in a way of fun with Papa. (She likes to play with us one at a time, most of the time). I did leave them behind for a bit to go to Dunken Donuts to get a Boston Creme Donut for myself and a blueberry muffin for Bear (and Tanya too to share), and then we just hung out. It was cold but not overly so and it was nice just to be. I headed back around 5 to go cook dinner and by then Tanya didn't want me to go. :)

I went home to make a cottage pie, which for me usually means layer of ground turkey with onion and oregano, then layer of peas and corn and then layer of mashed potatoes, all baked in the oven. Nice and delicious, and good for two days, since we just eat it very fast.

I was feeling good all day, but as I got up at 6:45pm to go warm up dinner for Tanya and for us to eat, I started feeling very weak. I could barely stand and felt like I could just collapse. I wasn't dizzy, just weak. It was probably low blood pressure, it's already been low 100/60 every time I go for a check up. So I warmed up Tanya's food, had Bear feed her this time, ate my dinner quickly and went to lie down. I did get up to make myself Earl Gray tea to get a little caffeine in, drank more water, and had a little caviar that my Dad got for me (I don't generally eat it a lot, but it is good for the baby). I stayed in bed once I got Tanya to bed and I felt better today, on Sunday. It's not the first time I got weak, but it's never fun. At least this was the weekend and I didn't have to worry about work. I really need to drink more water during the day. And today I ordered some beef kebab at the Nargis restaurant (it's Uzbek/Russian place) and Bear went to pick it up on his way after grocery shopping. I probably need more iron but this baby is not a big fan of beef. But the kebab was so so tasty. Very soft.

Today was nice and relaxing too - I went for a walk this morning to get milk and to the Chinese bakery. And I just wanted to get some energy. Watched "Grimm" (loved the victim saving herself). Read a lot. Did some cross stitch. I even made the flyer to sell the two bar stools with backs that we won't need anymore after we move. I really do need to appreciate the quiet weekends.

I had a very busy last few weeks with grading Paper 2, Midterm and doing Folder Review. I finally had some free nights this week from Monday to Wednesday, which I spent catching up on some TV (and doing just a little bit of work in answering student email and preparing Warning rosters). It was very nice to have that bit of a break. I get a new batch of papers in an hour and I will get to spend my Spring Break grading, so I made sure to relax a little.

The weather has been very warm and spring like in the last few days as well, so Tanya and I have been spending more time than usual at the playground. The playground is suddenly overflowing with kids too, which is nicer for me since I can chat with other parents/babysitters. Tanya loves to observes other kids but she is a little weary when one comes too close to her and tries to touch her jacket or hat. She would look at me and make the funniest, bewildered expression and try to take little steps back.

She's been coughing occasionally for the last week. Not a lot and there is no fever. Her voice gets a bit hoarse sometimes but it doesn't last. It doesn't seem to bother her at all. But it's her first real cough so it makes me a little nervous. I've been giving her some warm tea. Something is sitting in the back of my throat to, but not either getting worse or better. It's just there. It's a little strange.

On Monday night, on my first real night off in two weeks, I just sat on the couch and watched the finale of Downton Abbey. I read the spoilers so I knew what would happen, but watching it made me emotional anyway. It was just lovely and I will miss this show. I'm glad everyone got a happy ending, more or less.

Another show I really enjoyed in the last few weeks was Fuller House. I think critics missed the mark on why so many people actually liked it. I absolutely loved it. Yes, it's nostalgic and part of childhood, which is appealing, but the show is good and funny on its own merits. Show don't need to be edgy. When I first came to America and my English wasn't the best yet, one of the first shows we watched on our new TV was "Full House". It was DJ's prom episode. The only thing we could understand was "I love you". But my mom and grandmother and I all liked watching it. I saw most of the show when I was 13 and 14 in reruns and real time, and I learned English with it. I liked the kids and characters, and Stephanie was around my age.

It's a little strange to be the same age as the girls now and be a mother too and watch this new generation show. Now I find the baby cute. But I also really like the adults these girls turned out to be. Kimmy is hilarious. I didn't really get her as a kid but she's one of my favorites. And most of all I'm enjoying all the female friendships and relationships and the atmosphere of support. It's just nice to have a show that's nice. And it is pretty funny, despite the laugh track. SPOILERS I'm really happy that the two guys DJ's story focused on were both good guys. And I would be happy with either of them. Both are decent, just different. I'm also glad Stephanie made that speech that it doesn't ultimately matter and that DJ just admitted she wasn't ready and it was fine. I like that the guys became friends as well. It was just such a mature way to handle this type of storyline.

Speaking of TV, the last two episodes of Grimm were on fire. SPOILERS. I'm glad the story picked up the keys again and it feels like they will wrap up that dangling thread. But most of all, my heart just adored the dinner party at the loft with all of them hanging out and all the Monroe and Nick friendship conversations both on the rooftop and in the car in Germany. Nick actually confides in Monroe and they are best friends and I want to hug them both. Their friendship is what got me to stick around after the pilot and I just love it.

Surprisingly, I find that I don't mind Nick and Adeline development. Before the season started when I heard the rumors, I was firmly against it. But the writers won me over but the development of the last ten episodes and by clearly showing that first, both characters are different, have changed, and these are unusual circumstances for both so there is comfort level in that, and second, the show and characters themselves are acknowledging their tumultuous past through flashbacks and conversations. Nick himself doesn't know what to make of it but they do have a kid together and that makes a difference for him. So I'm not opposed to this. I don't really care that much. For some reason, I'm not much of a shipper for this show, other than Monroe and Rosalee, whom I adore. The mayor plot is still weird, but hopefully it will tie into the storyline soon.

This week was the last week of the semester so it was a bit hectic. I needed to finish grading all papers and final exams by Friday afternoon. The students finished their final exam on Thursday afternoon. Since I was staying at my parents since Wednesday though, my Dad drove me to work and I had all Thursday to do a lot. My brain stopped working after grading 10 papers (it takes about 30 minutes per paper with all the comments) but luckily the finals didn't require brains. They are Pass/Fail with no comments needed. By the end of the day Thursday, I only had three papers left and of my smart A students, so I knocked them off by Friday morning and still had time to go to the playground with Tanya.

And the final handover of grades went well. I successfully argued with my director for higher grades for two of my students and everyone passed. And the students were mostly happy when they came to pick up their folders with their final grade on Friday afternoon. I do love seeing them improve over the course of the semester and they end up realizing how much they did need the class - it is a required class for them, so many resist.

On top of all the grading, Bear and I took Tanya to her pediatrician on Wednesday for one more vaccine shot. Now she just needs a booster flu shot in a months and a Hepatitis A shot at some point next year. And that's it for a while. Yay. We brought some toys with us and a book and she did pretty well. She still hates being weighted and measured and shots, of course, but there was less fuss than last time.

She is such a girl. Her new favorite game is to go to the closet where all my necklaces are hanging on the jewelry organizer. She wants to be lifted up so she could reach them and then I point to various ones and she says either "no" or "da" (yes in Russian). She tries some on or wants me to try them and this can go on for a while. Occasionally she goes in my closet where her fancy birthday dress is and wants to wear that for a bit. And she loves scarves and hats.

In less than pleasant news, in this hectic work week where I did not need more stress, we had to pull out of the apartment contract. Our realtor called on Tuesday afternoon, wanting us to switch mortgage brokers. Then not even two hours later he called again to say that he spoke to the president of the board and that the board doesn't want to let my Dad and I be co-owners since it would go against their occupancy rules (even though my parents have a house and have no intention in leaving it).

When we first came to see the place, he reassured us that our situation would not be a problem, that the board makes exceptions all the time, that the president is his friend and all. My parents were giving us half the downpayment so we wanted to co-own. My Dad also has a high income. The board wouldn't let just Bear and I get it because our income is not high enough for them - I work part-time since it makes the most financial sense right now with a baby and I don't have to pay for childcare this way, and how can I give definitive proof that I will have a full time job soon? No one can guarantee their job. Anyway, that judgment on us based solely on income pissed me off more than anything. The bank had no issue giving us a mortgage with our current combined salary, I have a very high credit score, we have a lot of savings, no debt, we rarely eat out, we don't buy alcohol, we don't qualify for any assistance programs, we can do more on our salary than people who make twice as much - but that really doesn't count here. I wrote the realtor a lengthy email on Friday because he should have checked with the board before we signed the contract and wasted these three weeks in putting together all the documents. Argh. He did write back to apologize but it did cause us a lot of stress. We got our deposit back (I checked with the lawyer and even put a stop on the check, just in case) and the lawyer reimbursed half of his fee so I at least didn't lose any money.

It was nice to have a weekend with no grading looming over it. On Saturday I cleaned the bathroom, finally ordered photos for my photo album and went to the dentist to finish with the crown. I order photos once a year - I like having a physical album and I get to look through all the pictures and pick the best ones that represent the year. Then I order it in December because of all the holiday discounts.

And this morning I went to the Chinese supermarket to get Jasmine rice and Udon noodles and a did a couple of more chores. Then I came home and made spinach pie.

I had a box of spinach in my freezer for a while and I was determined to used it and not to waste it. I looked up a bunch of recipes online and picked this recipe . I bought the puff pastry dough yesterday on the walk back from the dentist. I added mushrooms to the onion saute and didn't use garlic. My Parmesan cheese was a bit old so I used some smoked cheese. It came out well - Bear already ate like half of it - but next time I will use less salt and I will roll the pastry more to really cover the middle of the top more tightly.

And in the evening we drove to Brighton Beach so I could go get Tanya some Russian books for New Year presents and also some puzzle blocks. I got a book of fables and a learning book for learning concepts like "up/down" "left/right" etc. Bear already taught her "on/off" when turning the lights on or off. In the car today, she saw me in glasses (I don't always wear them when I'm not at work or not watching TV or computer) and said "ochki off" (glasses off). So she's getting it! It was nice to get out and go somewhere all together.

( TV for the week )

November 24th seems to be an auspicious day for me. I should buy a lottery ticket tomorrow. I had to look it up to see if the dates matched up and they did. Bear first told me he loved me on November 24, 1998 - I just remembered it as Tuesday before Thanksgiving. Then 15 years later, on November 24, 2013, I took a pregnancy test and discovered we were having Tanya. And tomorrow, we are putting money down to buy our first place - a two bedroom apartment. It is not guaranteed - the place is in a co-op, so we will need board approval and we still need to get approved for a mortgage - but if everything goes according to plan we can move by the spring (after lots of renovations first). So very adult of us.

My Mom had this wild plan to get the house across the street from them. But we would need to make a lot more to afford that place - it has a studio to rent out but we can't just depend on a tenant to cover the bills. Looking at that place and thinking about it though just reaffirmed the decision to get an apartment for now. And the place we looked at before but turned down, decided the accept our lower offer, so I called today and set everything up.

I had a very busy weekend because I had to finish grading (and go to the dentist for my crown replacement. I get anxiety going to the dentist so I'm glad that's done for now). Now I'm all done with grading this set and have a free holiday week ahead of me. Yay. We came over my parents' place yesterday to see that house and Tanya and I stayed, while Bear went home. My Dad drove me to work today and picked me up. Tomorrow we are going back home and then on Wednesday morning, we are leaving for Bear's parents for Thanksgiving. Lots of travel. We also went to visit my grandparents on Sunday morning - so pretty busy.

But I am really looking forward to just relaxing, enjoying the holiday, working on my story for RS Small gifts, and maybe finding time to cross stitch. I'm also making inroads in the Hamilton biography - it was pretty gripping reading about how the states voted to accept the Constitution. I know what should happen but I'm really enjoying the details and realizing just how contentious and uncertain early American history was.

TV: Reviews with spoilers
( Supergirl S1E4 )

( Supernatural S11E7 )

( Grimm S5E4 )

We just got back from visiting Marianna and her family today. Marianna's birthday was on October 7th and we all finally got our schedule aligned. We didn't do anything complicated. Bear, Tanya and I drove to Queens to Marianna's place and Yeva came too a bit later. We told her 1pm, so she showed up by 3:30pm. Real time was about 2pm. We played a little inside with Galya, who is 4, and Idalia, who is 15 months - two days younger than Tanya. And then around 4pm we walked to this Himalayan/Nepalese restaurant, which was a lot like Asian fusion.

The food was good and there weren't a lot of people there so we didn't have to worry about toddler/little kids disrupting other diners. And all the kids were pretty well behaved. Tanya actually was willing to eat and had lots of rice, some tofu from miso soup, and a steamed chicken dumpling. She's been really picky lately about eating - it's a struggle to get her to eat sometimes, so it was nice for her to participate. And I got some time to eat too. We had some chicken and beef dumplings for the table, and bok choi, and I got miso soup, their special bread and crispy noodles with chicken. The noodles were ok, but their dumplings were very delicious.

Last week was stressful. We were thinking lately of buying an apartment instead of renting, with some help from my parents. Last Saturday (on Halloween) one realtor called to show us a two bedroom in his co-op. The size was OK and the kitchen was a good size, but the place would have needed so much renovation. Practically everything. We thought back and forth all week, weighting pros and cons and ultimately decided against it since the flip tax (what you pay into the co-op if you sell) was too big and there is no sublet there either - so if something happened it would not be easy to sell. In the last three years, real estate prices went up - but we will just have to keep looking. One good thing from all the stress of thinking about everything, I called my landlord office to find out if we could break our lease if we had too and they are pretty easy going about it. So, a lot of being an adult this week.

On Halloween, we also dressed up at home - Tanya was the cutest cat, I was a witch (my usual get-up) and Bear was Freddy Kruger. We also played some Halloween music on the radio which Tanya was grooving to. She is too young to trick and treat yet, but I'm looking forward to that in a few years. (I don't share pics on social media but I have no problem emailing them to people on my friends list - so if anyone wants pics, just ask)

I caught up on Grimm S5E2 yesterday and this morning. ( Grimm S5E2 )

For the first time in over a month I have a weekend (Thur night to Mon morning) free from grading. After grading Paper 3, commenting on Rough Draft 4 and grading Paper 4, I handed everything back and won't need to grade until Monday when I get the final Paper 5. Well, I do have a couple of Paper 4th next week from students who fudged formatting and I gave them some wiggleroom on the important Paper 4, but still it was very nice to just sit with my laptop last night and watch the latest "Supernatural" episode instead of grading by flashlight.

It does get a bit tedious grading 40 papers of the same variety because only maybe 4 people would say something original. Thesis looks pretty much the same in the rest of the class. Original thought and looking at authors critically is hard - it is much easier just to parrot back the argument of the authors without questioning. Also students were pissing me off by messing with margins. Seriously, you submit your paper online too - I am capable of pulling up your online copy and checking your formatting. I read gazillion papers, I can tell when it's Times Roman 13 instead of 12. Also, when I say that I will hold extra office hours from 2 to 5, which I really don't have to do, don't email me to ask if you can set up an appointment for 1:45. I do love teaching and I love seeing my students really learn something over the course of the semester - most can now organize their paper and there are a lot of Bs - but sometimes I just want to shake my head.

I signed up for final Folder Review today, which will be the official end of the semester for me when I submit all the grades. I'll be done on May 11th. Very excited. I can focus on the job hunt more then. I can come back to teach in the fall, they want me back and I'm already on the schedule - but I really do need a full time job with a shorter commute.

Job hunting is such a frustrating process. More so since every online "helpful" article pretty much says that only 10% get the job from online job adds, the rest from networking and referral. I am terrible at networking. I did set up a LinkedIn profile but I still need to figure out how to use that better. I want to switch fields too, so that seems also almost impossible. I know I need to be positive and keep searching but the whole process does not feel that optimistic. At least, I would be able to give it more of a fair shot once the semester is over.

One more personal front, I finally managed to go to my hairdresser to get my hair colored with highlights and get a haircut. In my family early gray is common and I was tired of my graying roots. I didn't color my hair until I was 32 but now I do it periodically. I keep as close to my natural brown color as I can. And when I get my haircut, the hairdresser does a blow out and my hair looks nice and straight and normal sized for a few days and not giant and unruly. (I have lots and lots of big poofy hair and I rarely have patience to style it. I usually just pull it up into a bun. And for a few days after a haircut, I wear my hair loose).

Also, as of a week ago, I finally stepped on the scale after a few months, and I'm back at my pre-pregnancy weight! I don't have to get a new wardrobe at all and that feels good because I hate clothes shopping. I don't usually care much about the scale or my weight, just as long as my pants still fit.

When I was looking up mondegreen on Wikipedia when writing my last post, I realized that I always misheard Alanis Morrissette's "You Oughta Know" song. Instead of "cross I bear" I always heard "cross-eyed bear," like I genuinely thought the guy gave her a bear and it held sentimental meaning she is reminding him off.

On a more silly news in TV and book world:

TV

The idea of a Full House sequel on Netflix makes me happy. I know that show is super corny and ridiculous at times but the very first episode of American TV I saw when we came to New York (we immigrated 22 years ago yesterday! on April 23rd)and bought a TV was the episode where Steve took DJ to his prom. We didn't really understand much dialogue in the episode but we did understand "I love you". And that show was one of the first shows I watched here - I learned English from it. So I will watch the sequel for sure.

Grimm continues to have a nice season. I'm not sure if I like the Evil Juliette story overall nor her downward spiral, but I do like that she has her own storyline and she's allowed to feel things about it and not let men to tell her how she should respond to the upheaval in her life. It is certainly better than her non-presence in the first season. And as long as the show gives me happy married Monroe and Rosalee, I'm happy. I think Trouble and Nick's Mom will come back in the finale, so I'm looking forward to that. Not sure what is going on with Renald at all.

Supernatural in the last few episode started to gain momentum again. I even liked Rowena in the last episode and she was getting annoying before. And it was wonderful to see Bobby and now Benny again. And Charlie always rocks. I'm looking forward to the cliffhanger of the finale. I do think Crowley will die this time for real.

Books

Among my intense grading spree and limited time, I did manage to finish Oliver Sacks' An Anthropologist on Mars I liked it less than The Minds' Eye but it still had a lot of interesting moments and made me think a lot. It is a book of seven case studies that make the reader think of self and how we construct it and what happens if our brain works differently. The seven case studies were: colorblind painter, guy stuck in the 60s due to tumor and inability to form memories but who likes and responds to music, a person who was able to see practically for the very first time in his life, a surgeon with Tourette's, a painter whose brain made him remember and relive his childhood hometown in vivid obsessive detail, an autistic savant, and a woman with Asperger's.

As with many other work by Sacks it just makes you think about your own brain and construction of the world and what it means to see in color, form memories, see, be emotional and it lets you get into the mind of people who don't respond 'normally.' Its creepy, scary and fascinating. My favorite chapter was about a man named Virgil who was blind since very early childhood and after the age of 40 gained the ability to see for pretty much the first time in his life. It wasn't magic - bandages off and you understand the world. It was really hard to figure out what he was seeing because the brain needs to learn to interpret shapes and distances etc. He was well adjusted blind and now with vision he felt he had more of a disability while learning to use it. Like correlating and identifying shapes visually. It is just interesting to realize the whole process behind seeing that we don't even realize because we just take those brain connections for granted.

I officially went back to work last Thursday. It is part-time, 2 classes, two days a week. I'm definitely over the commute - I want to find something closer. I have to get up at 5:30 to pump before I even start getting ready to leave - I don't need much to actually leave the house: get dressed, brush teeth and hair, put tea in thermos and go. I get a bagel with cream cheese on the way and I do very limited make-up. Still 5:30 is a bit early. And two plus hours one way gets tedious despite the fact that I can do work on the train. Especially when I get up several times a night to change a diaper and feed a baby, waking up early is not fun. And the next day after I went back to work, Tanya started waking up at night a little more again - she was getting better at sleep but I guess she wants to check that I'm still there.

She also refused the bottle and would only eat from a spoon. I think we solved that problem a bit today - I replaced the bottle nipple with a larger size. Hopefully, tomorrow she will eat better. She fills up at night so she can afford to go on strike during the day. My Mom is already here, staying overnight. She is staying until Thursday actually because of the expected snowstorm. Joy.

New thing this weekend - Bear and I started feeding Tanya veggies from a jar. Menu yesterday and today was organic squash. Tanya loves it. She is an adventurous one, just ate it up and didn't spit it out or anything. So now she gets solids twice a day. Cereal of some kind: oatmeal, rice, buckwheat or quinoa at 11am and veggie or fruit at 3pm. We'll see how it goes.

Now for more fun stuff: TV and books.

TV (I watched this week)

1. Supernatural S10E10: I actually watched this week's episode live for a change. I like the whole dark Dean. I can't stand Metatron and I was hoping Dean would kill him but no such luck. He is just so swarmy. Rowena is a fun manipulator and I'm curious where that storyline is going. I like the season so far.

2. Glee S6E4 It's funny that the reaction to this episode is so different depending on the audience and if you get the joke. The comments on mainstream reviews on EW or TVline hate the episode because they think the writers are coming up with ridiculous plots. The fandom on Tumblr was just loving it. I was giggling like a silly person throughout the episode trying to keep it down so as not to wake up the baby. I thought it was hysterical. There was a lot of meta and I don't think we are supposed to take this show seriously at all anyway. Definitely an episode of joy. Who can't love a bear cub? And there was a nice Klaine scene - and that shrine of Sue was just awesome. Love the season so far.

3. Grimm S4E10 This season is on the roll too. Nice and suspenseful episode where everyone got to be a badass and kill some evil dudes. While I knew the Monroe would survive, there was still tension and really nice scenes. Both Rosalee and Juliette got to be in the power walk and neither sat on the sidelines. I like Juliette's storyline so far of turning into a Hexenbeast - at least she is not pregnant - but I hope she doesn't hide it from Nick. And isn't the solution here is too simple - Nick can get rid of her powers like he did with Adeline. I am glad that Wu was finally brought in - I like it when characters on the show actually communicate with each other and work together.

Books

Well, one book really. I barely have time to read as it is. I'm reading Tim Wu's The Master Switch: The Rise and Fall of Information Empires . One of the chapters is included in our textbook for the writing program and I loved reading it. I'm going to teach it later in the semester. But the chapter intrigued me enough that I wanted to read the whole book. I went online, and in a few minutes borrowed the book on my Kindle from the library. Technology is awesome.

Tim Wu is a proponent of the net neutrality and of the open communication system (decentralized, cooperative) as opposed to the closed system (monopoly, centralized control of information). In this book he traces the communication technologies of the twentieth century and sees a Cycle that starts with an open system which closes on monopolies and then get opened again. While he acknowledges that monopolies that strive for public good can bring in some good in research, etc, he believes that ultimately closed systems stifle research and progress because monopolies refuse to develop, and actually repress, new technologies that can potentially topple them (like radio did with FM radio and the television). He also traces the role of government because information empires at its height have to be supported by the state. For him, information should never be in a closed system because while corporations are about profit, what's at stake is free speech. He traces the telephone, radio, movie, television, cable and internet from their inventions to present day. It is certainly an interesting read. He is writing for general audience and his explanations of how each technology works is very clear and awesome. Part history book, part theory, part advocacy for net neutrality it is enjoyable.

Another low key day. Last night a library borrow request of "The Cuckoo's Calling" - the mystery novel written by J.K. Rowling under a pseudonym - came through. So I downloaded it on my Kindle and been reading it last night and today. It's really good - I'm enjoying the humor in it and the mystery and the characters are pretty interesting too. I'm about 20% in right now.

I caught up on "Grimm" today - which had Russians in the middle of the story, which is always funny to me.

Bear came home in late afternoon and we had a game night today. We mostly played "Connect 4" and magnetic darts but we did get "Zombies!!!" table game for Christmas that we are going to try out soon. I'm not in the mood for it tonight but I am looking forward to it. (I rock "connect 4" but Bear actually managed to win one game today - which is great too. I won 3 and we tied 1) We also have a game called "Pandemic" which is a game where all the players need to cooperate to win or lose together - I really like that. We are slowly building a nice collection of games.

I finally got on the exercise bike this morning after a few month of not having time. I'm going to try to be more proactive this summer about it.

Yeva went to Sierra Leone this week on a humanitarian mission, which is pretty awesome, if a little nerve wracking for us at home. She is graduating with the Masters in Nursing next week and today she needed to get her cap and gown. Since she is in Africa, she got me a notarized letter so I could go do that for her. I took a couple of buses and a subway and filled out a bunch of forms.

It was such a summer outside. I love it. I finally got to wear my summer shoes and my green khaki pants. On the way back, I tried getting ice-cream at McDonalds, but they were out, so I stopped by at Yogurt City for some expensive frozen yogurt. It was most of my dinner. But totally worth it.

I finished watching Season 5 of "West Wing" today. I like that show but there are times were it gets a bit...not tedious... but I can tell when they are setting up a plot and it is just so put upon. And end and beginning of the season of particular get to be too much. I do like the characters but it will not be a show I will rewatch. I am looking forward to the next two seasons but it is getting tiring for me.

I forgot that today was SYTYCD night and only tuned in for the last hour. At least it is just auditions episode. This show always feels like summer to me and I just love it.

Tonight was also season finale of Grimm. ( spoilers for Grimm )

For the first time in maybe half a year I actually watched Monday’s TV live. First “How I met Your Mother (HIMYM)” and then “House.”

I have been keeping up with “HIMYM” online but I was mostly bored with it and in the first half of this evening’s episode I switched to HBO and Harry Potter during the commercial and didn’t care to go back. The show seems to mostly stay in place and it is just not interesting anymore. I don’t think I’m coming back for it next season.

I need to catch up to about 4 episodes of ‘House’ and I don’t really care. I do like House and Wilson interaction in the latest storyline but that is about it – the rest, the patients just leave me indifferent. I will watch the finale, of course, and I will probably catch up to the episodes I missed by having them run in the background while I’m doing something else but I’m glad the show is ending. It used to be a must watch for me but I really stopped caring.

In fact, this TV season has the lowest number of shows that I follow or that I watch live. There are only three that I watch as they actually air and that I get excited about: Glee, Community and Grimm. I’m still surprised by how much I got into Glee this year after two years of indifference and occasional watching. Community is the funniest comedy around and Grimm is my favorite new show and I adore it to pieces and it just keeps getting better and better.

Modern Family and Grey’s Anatomy are shows I like that I usually watch online after they air. HIMYM is the show I do watch online but reluctantly. And House I kind of watch online now, but not really. I gave up on Bones in April when I realized that I just didn’t care anymore and I don’t miss it at all. But that’s it.

At least summer is coming up with the crack that is True Blood, SYTYCD and Burn Notice. I’m done with Leverage and I don’t even remember other shows. I haven’t even finished last four episodes of Dexter Season 6. (And I will watch Borgias all at once on Demand probably).