Quick Update

Not a lot to say today. Trying to run the clock out on my last few hours of work before I take off for a 4-day weekend. I'm definitely looking forward to it, but won't get much chance for relaxation, except for tonight. Christy and I are going to Smith and Wollensky for dinner tonight to celebrate her being done with teaching. I've never been there but I hear it's one of the best steakhouses around and it's right on the Chicago river. Of course, with this being sandwiched in between going out for my birthday last Sunday (at another great steakhouse, the Chicago Chophouse) and my graduation this Sunday we certainly are doing a lot of celebrating lately. Not that that's a bad thing (unless you're speaking in terms of a hit to our bank account). In any case, we're planning to see Ocean's 13 after that. I hated Ocean's 12 so I am not expecting all that much, but hopefully it is at least entertaining. The rest of the weekend is going to be tied up with family and graduation-related activities, so I'm sure it will pass by in a blur. I'm glad I have Monday off so I can just lay on the couch all day and recover.

On the marathon front, my "official" training schedule is about to begin next week. To kind of kickstart it, I actually decided that I would go ahead and do week 1 this week (and then repeat it next week) as sort of a practice week. Tuesday I ran 4 miles on the treadmill in 47 minutes, and then this morning (thanks to the aforementioned dinner plans) I got up at 6:00 and did an hour run on the treadmill (going about 5.1 miles). I can't even believe I have already been up for 11 hours. Hopefully I don't fall asleep during the movie, but a big meal is certainly not going to help me out in that capacity. I'm supposed to run 4 miles on Saturday and then 6 on Sunday. While I can probably make time on Saturday I see absolutely no chance that Sunday is going to happen. Good thing this is only practice!

I saw Pirates of the Caribbean and Knocked Up last week. Knocked Up was pretty good; nothing fantastic, but a solidly made romantic comedy. It's one of those rare movies you can go to on a date where one person isn't dreading the experience. Pirates was very mediocre. The name of the sequel is "At World's End" but I think a more appropriate title would have been "Let's Make a Deal." Pretty much the entirety of the first two hours has 2 of the 6 or 7 major characters (in seemingly random order) making deals with each other that everyone knows they're not going to keep, then predictably breaking the deal and making a new one with the next character while saying "I never break a deal." When it finally does get around to the action sequences, they are pretty good. Instead of the 3-way swordfight (does that sound gay?) on top of a rolling wheel (the single coolest part of the second one, IMO) we get a 30-minute duel between two ships as they are being sucked into a whirlpool (also called, as I learned from the film, a maelstrom). I heard some people didn't care for it, but it worked for me. It was the 2 hours I had to put up with en route to that which lowered my enjoyment. I mean, when did Hollywood decide that their "fun" summer movies all had to be over 2 and a half hours long. I understand wanting to give people their money's worth, but there is also such a thing as addition by subtraction. That's what you pay the gentleman at the studio with the scissors for.

I am excited to see 1408 next weekend. I love John Cusack, Samuel L Jackson, Stephen King, and horror/mysteries so it seems like it should be a can't miss. Of course, Stephen King adaptations always turn out be either excellent (The Green Mile, Shawshank Redemption, and The Shining for example) or abysmal (Dreamcatcher, The Dark Half, and Needful Things come to mind). Let's hope this one is closer to the former than the latter.

I am currently reading the new bio on Albert Einstein (Einstein: His Life and Universe) and so far it is very engaging. I'll probably end up posting a full review of it once I finish, as I can't imagine I'll have anything more interesting to talk about.

Still waiting for my "official" grades to come in on my last two classes. Hope I really am graduating this weekend.