Quotidian

I didn't go to the gym yesterday, but I walked about two miles between work and getting on the subway. That was punctuated by a pleasant, albeit brief, visit to my favorite aunt, and stops into three different small shops.

For no-longer-relevant reasons, my mother bought savings bonds in my name (with "or evakanner" co-ownership) years ago. They'd been sitting quietly in my aunt's safe deposit box. This came up on Mom's last visit, and she said she wanted to actually hand them to me. Last night, I picked them up at my aunt's. I told her about my new job, and she said "Not bad for a history major," which is pretty close to how I think of it sometimes. On the way over, I stopped into an Indian grocery and bought ginger paste. On my way from my aunt's to the subway, I stopped in at Bruno the King of Ravioli and got meat ravioli (which they make) and imported pumpkin tortellini. There's a drugstore next to Bruno El Rey de Potstickers, so I went in, guessing correctly that they might have the toothpaste I like. Along with the toothpaste, I acquired what proved to be baseless rumors about the causes of a transit delay.

I got home with the ravioli, and we had some of them for dinner, with a simple tomato sauce. Reading the package, I thought "yes, it's a local company." The instructions say to bring water to a boil, put the ravioli in the pot, "turn down gas," and simmer. On most packages, it would be "reduce heat" or "turn down the stove," but most of us here are cooking with gas.

Today, I took the bonds to the bank and put them in my account. If you cash paper EE bonds and put them in your bank account, that counts as a cash deposit, available immediately. (I asked how long it would take, and learned this.) Also, if you or a relative bought EE bonds in 1988 and you cash them in 2007, that's time for the interest to compound nicely.

Meanwhile, at work, my boss and I have been editing a "jumpstart," which is a test practice book, no lessons, just questions that we hope are similar to and/or useful preparation for the state tests. Unfortunately, in this case there is no sample test, and the state standard sounds good until you ask about content: it's focused on things like "will understand that the results of experiments can lead to new experiments" and "will continue to use their already learned math skills." So, we're doing our best, which includes pulling an otherwise perfectly good question about Copernicus because this is for a biology test. Wendy would have done the whole thing, but we're working under a tight deadline: as is, she's taken my pieces and what she's done home to polish and assemble over the weekend.

No gym tonight, I just didn't feel up to it.

Quotidian

I didn't go to the gym yesterday, but I walked about two miles between work and getting on the subway. That was punctuated by a pleasant, albeit brief, visit to my favorite aunt, and stops into three different small shops.

For no-longer-relevant reasons, my mother bought savings bonds in my name (with "or evakanner" co-ownership) years ago. They'd been sitting quietly in my aunt's safe deposit box. This came up on Mom's last visit, and she said she wanted to actually hand them to me. Last night, I picked them up at my aunt's. I told her about my new job, and she said "Not bad for a history major," which is pretty close to how I think of it sometimes. On the way over, I stopped into an Indian grocery and bought ginger paste. On my way from my aunt's to the subway, I stopped in at Bruno the King of Ravioli and got meat ravioli (which they make) and imported pumpkin tortellini. There's a drugstore next to Bruno El Rey de Potstickers, so I went in, guessing correctly that they might have the toothpaste I like. Along with the toothpaste, I acquired what proved to be baseless rumors about the causes of a transit delay.

I got home with the ravioli, and we had some of them for dinner, with a simple tomato sauce. Reading the package, I thought "yes, it's a local company." The instructions say to bring water to a boil, put the ravioli in the pot, "turn down gas," and simmer. On most packages, it would be "reduce heat" or "turn down the stove," but most of us here are cooking with gas.

Today, I took the bonds to the bank and put them in my account. If you cash paper EE bonds and put them in your bank account, that counts as a cash deposit, available immediately. (I asked how long it would take, and learned this.) Also, if you or a relative bought EE bonds in 1988 and you cash them in 2007, that's time for the interest to compound nicely.

Meanwhile, at work, my boss and I have been editing a "jumpstart," which is a test practice book, no lessons, just questions that we hope are similar to and/or useful preparation for the state tests. Unfortunately, in this case there is no sample test, and the state standard sounds good until you ask about content: it's focused on things like "will understand that the results of experiments can lead to new experiments" and "will continue to use their already learned math skills." So, we're doing our best, which includes pulling an otherwise perfectly good question about Copernicus because this is for a biology test. Wendy would have done the whole thing, but we're working under a tight deadline: as is, she's taken my pieces and what she's done home to polish and assemble over the weekend.

No gym tonight, I just didn't feel up to it.