Tipperary, PSAT, & Truffle Oil

What are you reading? I so much prefer that question at a cocktail party to "So what do you do?" Well, I'm reading lots of stuff: Blood & Thunder, The Origins of the First World War (surprise), and about to start reading a certain person's thesis, titled "Syntactic Strictures: Errors of Grammar, Style and Usage on the PSAT". How fun is that?
Blood & Thunder tells me that New Mexico was violent and dangerous to live in even before the Cerrillos Road corridor was built. But pretty darn fascinating and beautifully written. Finally I read it, after 825 people told me to. Thank you, Elizabeth.
And what are you cooking? Made a fun little pizza last night with truffle oil and arugula and sheep's milk cheese. Oh, and an egg on top for me.
And what are you listening to? A new favorite around here is Architecture in Helsinki (of course just the name is hard to resist), and I have a newly compiled CD of World War I favorites, quite good sound quality, in case anyone needs a stocking stuffer. It's bound to be this year's Cool Gift. And reasonably priced.

On the Road Again

Clearly I'm not gifted in the dailiness of journal writing. Tried, can't. So here I am close to 4 weeks after my last post, again in Chicago. Not in the library today, since the laptop accompanied us here. It's a conference, and I got to tag along. Well, I needed some new shoes, and Akira in Chicago is just the Best Place Ever for such projects. Yes, already went there and found much but bought only one pair. Such restraint.
Last night we dined with dear old friend Shane and his fabulous child Hayden, all of us (except H.) transplants from San Francisco. Tonight it's the free night at the Art Institute, so we'll be roaming around there for some time. This being in places so very different from San Francisco is something I think I appreciate so much more now that I'm older and not the roving college student. Is it about confidence or experience? For some reason I'm just more accepting of getting "lost", which I think is a good way of truly feeling one's way round a place. I like the challenge of getting out of the lostness. I guess it's another puzzle, like figuring out irregular verbs.