New Things for '13

What with Christmas presents, gift cards, and a general shift in my schedule, this time of year always means new things. Here are some of them in a convenient (re: lazy) list format.

New temperatures. The January Thaw is upon us. Warm air on top the snow makes for a lot of spooky fog around town. The practice field on campus is haunted, fyi.

New food. I gave myself this book as a Christmas gift: Isa Chandra's Appetite for Reduction, which I think I've mentioned before. We have resolved to cook each of the 125 recipes in 2013.

This week, we made the black bean and olive tacos, with a citrus yogurt topping. It was all very easy and totally delicious. John also made a tomato salad with red wine vinaigrette on the side.

And while we're talking about food, last night I tried a new beer: the Imperial Winey Bastard, from Nickel Brook, in Burlington, ON. It's a dark beer that's aged in Pinot Noir barrels, and it's delicious. You get a strong beer flavor followed by a distinct red wine flavor, and I would definitely have ordered a second one, given the chance. Apparently it's already sold out everywhere.

New teaching schedule. This term I'm teaching 2nd year music theory (classical form) three days a week. I like to dress up slightly when I teach, in order to communicate to my students that I'm an adult and not their friend. My mom graciously bought me some new teaching clothes, all of which have to be short sleeved or sleeveless because I heat up when I'm in front of the class. Thanks, Mom!

New hand lotion. I bought this hand lotion at Whole Foods in Ann Arbor on our way back to London. It's a good point on the trip to stretch our legs and wander around Whole Foods. This lotion is called "Goat's Milk & Chai," or the Creamy Goat, as I call it. It doesn't make me smell like a goat, but it does make me smell like a hippie.

New TV addiction. John's mom gave us the first season of Homeland on DVD, and we've been devouring it. 

Not pictured: newly purchased month of towel service at the gym. It's an incentive to actually use the gym in the coldest, iciest part of the year.

My New Year's resolutions this year look more like a to-do list. And by this year, I mostly mean "in the next 6 months." What with the wedding, it's hard to think much further than the end of June.
Things that must happen this year:

• Submit our permanent residency application (something I'm waiting to talk about until it's submitted and probably until it's accepted). 
• Write, submit, and defend my dissertation proposal. I want to be ABD by the end of the term. This is a very do-able goal. It means I have to turn in a draft on the day before we leave for Reading Week (aka, Spring Break), so that week I'll be able to turn my brain off.  
• Spring clean/purge the junk from our apartment. We need to finally dispose of our broken microwave that's been living on the porch for almost a year.

Things that I want to happen this year:

• Enjoy the rest of our engagement and wedding planning as much as possible. 
• Keep my music theory class from being boring.
• Maintain a healthy weight so that my wedding dress fits (also very do-able, but it's good to state publicly so that I remember it).
• Come up with a fun and not ridiculously expensive plan for John's 30th (!) birthday in June.
• Run 1,000 miles in 2013. This depends a lot on my injuries, my foot in particular. We'll see. 

I like bags.

I'm currently looking for a new day bag. My regular bag has become something of an eyesore and I'm looking to upgrade to something more professional. Given my proclivity toward stuff, I've spent the better part of a day looking for bags that meet my requirements. I have three simple needs (read: wants).

1. Laptop ready
2. Relatively small
3. Look professional

I've had a lot of bags in my life. Some were big, others small, some backpacks, others messengers. When I go to conferences, I usually switch to an old soft leather attache case that has room for my macbook (in an incase sleeve). After I stopped conducting all the time, I switched to a backpack for my then new laptop. Now that I'm in the latter stages of graduate school, I need less room for stuff, and I'd like something that set me off a bit from my students while still having more personality than your standard briefcase. Having said that, I'm not sure if I want to give up the comfort of a backpack. Basically, I want a bag that is a lot like George Clooney: high quality; good looking; stylish; and well-built.










See what I mean? (source).







I've narrowed it down to three bags. Each meets my size and laptop requirements, and each has its own pros and cons.

(Source)

1. Incase Compact Backpack
The Incase backpack offers several features I love. It's slim and sleek, and has enough room for what I have in mind (book+laptop+charger). I trust the brand and it's relatively cheap ($80). On the other hand it's still a backpack, and I'm not sure it looks that professional. While certainly a step up from what I currently have, I'm not sure I would use it a conferences or (hopefully) job interviews while wearing a sports coat or suit. The guys over at Carryology, a blog devoted to bags (yay!), mention it in their list of favorite versitile backpacks. It's a fun, well written blog, and especially useful if you're into outdoor stuff like hiking.

(Source)

2. Tokyo Backpack by Lexdray
One of the most all around impressive backpack I've seen so far the Tokyo Backpack has loads of great features such as locking zippers, numerous pockets, a great laptop sleeve, and includes a rain cover. Carryology gave it a rave review (with a few minor quibbles) and really made me want one. Having said all that, $450 (that's four hundred and fifty dollars in US currency) is a lot to pay for a bag, especially one that's made of synthetic materials and manufactured in China. I'm not saying that nothing good comes from China, just that I would like to know that my money is going toward well treated workers who can browse the internet for bags as easily as I can. I would probably use it every day, though I'm still not convinced of its conferenceability. What? That's a word.

(Source)

3. 2Unfold Laptop bag by Hard graft
This is the real deal. High quality Italian leather with wool lining, this bad boy looks like a really neat bag. It can be treated as a shoulder bag big enough for gym clothes, a laptop, and a book, or it can hold a 13" Macbook Pro (my next computer) and fold over on itself for a smaller footprint. I found one lengthy video review as well as another short review by Carryology. As mentioned in these reviews, this bag can be turned into a backpack, but the video review makes me extremely skeptical that I would ever choose to do that. It also has a really cool aesthetic and I'm sure I would be the only kid on the bock with one. Did I mentioned that this thing is $600? While that's a lot of money (read: shit-load), I would probably have this bag for the rest of my life. I suppose the question is whether I would always have a 13" computer. Probably, but who knows what the future holds?

So there you have it, my current bag wishlist. All in all, I might get myself the Incase at some point, and ask for the 2Unfold for Christmas or graduation or something. Ultimately, I don't spend a huge amount of time at conferences, and I could totally use the backpack for most of my regular life.

I like stuff (by john)

I like stuff. Call me materialistic, but stuff can make me unreasonably happy. Introduce a bonus element such as a low price or high quality and I get damn near ecstatic. Example? This Christmas Abby's brother and sister in law got me a Kindle and I basically stopped talking anybody except to show them features I discovered on the Kindle. I literally took it with me, everywhere. Like a child.

One of the ways I express my love for stuff is to tell (read: pester) Abby how cool stuff is. Abby, being the loving and supportive fiance she is, politely suggested that I start writing about stuff rather than regale her with my latest interest (read: obsession). She pointed out that rather than tell her about reviews of stuff I've already bought and used, I could tell the world. Just to be clear, that last bit places the blame for all of what follows squarely on m'lady's shoulders.

Another way I express my love of stuff is to read reviews about stuff I need/want. This means not that only will I be reviewing boring things you probably don't care about, I'll be linking to other blogs about those same things. It's a network of useless of information. I mean, at least Abby's posts are about food or exercise, things that most people use, or could use. My posts will instead discuss stuff I either want to own, already own, or just stuff I'm thinking about. You're welcome.