Back at it

(Tonight's workout accompaniment: The Bryant Park Project)

So, I've made it back to the gym exactly three times since coming down with mono last year.

Tonight was the third.

I did an hour of weights tonight. I find it much more tolerable if I have something new to listen to. Anyone want to recommend a good podcast?

I need to get back in shape for backpacking season.

Silly Misanthrope and I have various and sundry shorter trips planned this year (such as Red River Gorge, Kentucky, in a few weeks), but the keystone of our summer will be a 10-day, 90-mile trip to Isle Royale National Park in July.

I'm so excited.

The inventory

(Yes, it has been awhile.)

Current inventory of stuff Silly Misanthrope has left at my house:

• 1 AeroPress coffee and espresso maker
• 1 pair nylon cargo shorts
• 1 "Trail Magic" Appalachian Trail Hiking Game
• 1 pair athletic shoes
• 1 empty Heineken keg can (24 ounces)
• 3 plastic bottles (assorted sizes, one containing cooking oil)
• 1 frying pan for backpacking
• 1 pair winter boots
• 1 Forum 2004 straw hat
• 1 bamboo spatula (also for backpacking)
• 4 receipts (various)
• 1 fleece jacket
• 1 packaged Spam Single (classic flavor, 3 ounces)
• 1 blue LED twist-on light
• 1 sweatshirt
• 1 package of Band-Aid Advanced Healing Blister bandages (quantity: 6)
• "Discipline & Punish: The Birth of the Prison" by Michel Foucault (bookmark at page 11)
• 1 tan-and-brown striped dress sock
• 1 white athletic sock
• 1 Velcro strap
• 1 blue plastic jar with green lid
• 1 green L.L. Bean travel toiletry bag (empty)
• 1 pair underwear (unmentionable)
• 1 musical birthday card (received)
• 2 thank-you notes (not yet sent)
• 1 fleece zip-neck pullover
• 2 tents (one green, one red)
• 1 digital camera
• 1 t-shirt ("Eamus Catuli")

Irony

The Sierra Club could save a lot more of the planet if it would just stop sending me junk mail made out of paper and plastic.

Two things

1. Hey! St. Louisians and St. Louis enthusiasts! Tell me what to do! (see below)

2. Need some clever cuteness? This gal rocks. (I found her through work ... she's doing some freelance art for us.)

Meet me in St. Louis

A call-out to current and former residents and enthusiasts of St. Louis:

Silly Misanthrope and I are visiting St. Louis (and Columbia) at the end of the month for a long getaway weekend. We're staying in the Lafayette Square neighborhood Friday through Sunday, and will take a day-trip to Columbia on Saturday.

What's your favorite thing to do in St. Louis? We'd love to know.

"I" or "E"?

My friend Meckhead reminded me today of something I'd said two years ago, after returning from a week-long beach vacation with my very extroverted friend Foster.

"What's the difference between an introvert and an extrovert? An introvert will sit on the beach and enjoy it. An extrovert will sit on a beach and say: 'Isn't it a beautiful day?' 'What a beautiful day.' 'I can't believe how nice the weather is today.' 'Don't you think this weather is beautiful?'"

Most of my friends are extroverts. I appreciate extroverts, because they're spontaneously social. They draw me out of my shell. They get me out of my house. They always have something to talk about.

Most people think I'm an extrovert, because I've learned to do small-talk better than a lot of introverts.

Despite that fact, spending time with others still saps my energy.

I still don't say half of what I'm thinking because I feel like the conversation has moved on before I have anything significant to add. When I change the subject or contribute anything about myself, I feel like I'm committing some huge social gaffe. I often replay conversations over and over ex post facto to make sure I haven't said anything I didn't intend to.

I'm sure my extroverted friends don't even notice. I'm glad they don't.

Three days

Feeling creative. Listening to "The Trumpet Child." Blew $75 in gift certificates at Dick Blick on paint and canvas. Stocked up on chicken, carne asada and vegetables at TJ's.

Holiday weekend? Three whole days ahead of me with nothing planned but:

• making homemade meals
• painting whatever the muse suggests
• plenty of sleep
• finally putting to paper the words that have been rattling around my head.

I haven't felt creative in years. I haven't written any good poetry since 2003, nor felt like painting since 2004.

The muse has been flirting with me out of the corner of my eye. Then again, Linford Detweiler's words and Karin Bergquist's voice always play midwife to my creative pursuits.

The book

I've only read Deathly Hallows once so far, and unlike Half-Blood Prince I haven't yet felt inclined to start over to try to puzzle it out.

I'm not planning to leave my thoughts here yet, since readers of this blog may not yet have had the chance to finish.

However, those who have finished should enjoy the farcical epilogue, thanks to the fine folks at the Shoebox Project: "Shoebox Potter and the Deathly Hellos." Its slashy, irreverant and yet still very clearly fond of the Potter universe. Exactly as we expect Shoebox to be.

Gmail ads

Okay, so the targeted ads thing in Gmail is a bit creepy.

I'm getting ads for "Mononucleosis Treatment" (which, admittedly, is great product placement, given that I was diagnosed on Monday) and "Romantic Wedding in Italy" (not-so-great product placement … hello, I have mono … the last thing I want right now is to think about romance or travel … let alone a wedding).

From an advertisers' perspective, though, those targeted ads totally hit the mark based on the words I used in my most recent email to Silly Misanthrope which a) informed him I have mono and he should watch for symptoms and b) told him how I feel about him.

I think I got mono from the intern. Not like that, though. Coughs, sneezes, whatever. She's the only person I know who's had it recently.

Thankfully, I'm not spreading it at the moment, since my doctor has me home from work and Silly M is off hiking 150 miles of the Appalachian Trail with a friend. I'm a bit freaked out that I might have got him sick, and would feel awful if I a) put him in danger or b) ruined his vacation.

Hoping to hear from him soon, and have my fingers crossed that he's already immune to Epstein-Barr.

What do you get?

So, spend a month away from the blogosphere, and what do you get?

• BriGuy has a goatee.
• Another blogger friend has 20/20 vision.
• Kella, whose posts just make me cheerful, has all sorts of exciting work and educational opportunities ahead of her.
• Tim's in New Jersey.

Me? I've been at three work events, on a cruise from New York to the Caribbean to celebrate my best friend's birthday and, since returning have been catching up with everything I missed in the meantime.