7 - 14 - 2007

We will be married July 14, 2007 at Castleton in Windham NH. We went up there today to deliver the deposit. It is official!

I have been in contact with some photographers, a DJ company, and a cake person. We have settled on the DJ Christine had at her wedding. We have a cake tasting scheduled for Sept 9. When Christine and I were looking at places, we kept seeing Jacques European Pastries everywhere, so I thought, okay we can go there. But, the lady at Castleton told me that their cake will probably end up being like $5 per person, and she knew this other bakery where it would probably be half that, and just as good. So, that is where we are going to go for a tasting. I have been in contact with a number of photographers. This one is going to be hard. Its hella expensive! Also, I probably shouldn't forget about flowers.

Oh, ha ha, I almost forgot, Ministers! Yes, we probably need someone to actually marry us, ha ha. So, I emailed the Unitarian Universalist Association of NH and VT. They sent me a list of people who had asked to be on the contact list for these things, so I started calling down the list. The first person on the list, I found some of her writings on the internet and I thought they were really beautiful. And she was available for the date and willing to do it. I thought I was set! Then, she calls me and tells me that she forgot to say that she can't sign our marriage license, and I was like "why not?" And she said that it was because she can't sign it for same sex couples (because they can't get married), so she won't sign it for anyone. So we'd have to get a Justice of the Peace to do it later. How would we even do that? This is not the stated position of the Unitarian church because, let's face it, there are very few things where the unitarian church has a stated position. So, we should be able to find someone else to do it. She gave me the name of the minister who is supposed to do these things in Manchester, and I called her and she is very nice, and we are going to meet with her next weekend.

We have chosen our dish pattern. I hate our current dishes. They are a mix of the celedon green dishes I had in college, plus the green glass dishes I got at Pottery Barn (which I think are pretty, but are REALLY HEAVY), and then the ugly brown dishes from Target that Mike bought for his bachelor pad. I have been pretty serious about my dish shopping -- I have had a hard time finding a pattern that fit all of my criteria. I hate the flat, shallow bowl shape that is prevalent these days; I like a nice round bowl. I also want to be able to get service pieces for my set, which has been harder than I thought for some patterns (esp. at Crate&Barrel). I looked at Bed Bath and Beyond, Crate&Barrel, Pottery Barn, Target, Pfaltzgraff, Corelle, and a couple random things I don't remember. I looked at the Pfaltzgraff patterns on the website, but Christine said I should go to the store and see them in real life. So, Thursday, I went to the Wrentham outlets to scout them out. (I bought a pair of shoes while I was there!). The early front runner had been the "Garden of Eden" pattern. I loved the design on the salad plate, but HATED the design on the dinner plate. And, the eating bowls were really small and shallow -- I'd want the small serving bowls as the eating bowls. I tried matching it together with some other sets, and I had some combinations worked out that would be nice. Then, I got to looking around. I found (and this had been true at BB&B as well) that I found the white plates with blue designs very appealing -- clean and striking. I made a list of the things at the Pfaltzgraff and Corelle stores that I liked, and Mike and I looked at them together that night. We settled on the Yorktowne pattern from Pfaltzgraff.


I start my new job tomorrow. First day of school! I hope I get along well with all the other kids!

Done!

I have it in my hand -- my reciept saying that the department received my thesis. (185 pages) Yipee!

I moved up my start date on my job to August 28th. This start date has the advantage that I will be eligible for benefits in September, instead of needing to wait till October, and I will get Labor Day as a paid day off! (The old start date was Sept. 5)

Now, I am back to wedding planning. At the Holiday Inn, the person we had met with at first has left, and the person in his place didn't return my phone calls for a week, and was only going to be available 9 - 5. There might have been someone else available at other times, but this person didn't have the wherewithal to tell me who that person would be or when they would be available. So, I nixed the Holiday Inn, but that left us with only our sky-high priced options, all of which I felt lukewarm about.

Christine had a great idea, though. Why don't I have the wedding in Manchester? There is an airport. It is within driving distance (sorry, guys from MA). Things are VASTLY less expensive. Sounds good! I am going to go up to NH on Wednesday night, babysit Ally Thursday morning, and then go galavanting around with Christine Thursday afternoon and Friday. I called some places, made some appointments, and ran some numbers. Things are like 50% less expensive, on average. And I like the looks of them better. The flight to Manchester might be more expensive -- I checked Orbitz. But, I expect hotel accomodations to be significantly less expensive, so that will probably balance out. And people won't have to deal with Boston traffic. This all sounds good to me. Still looking for May 12. May 19 is an option if May 12 isn't available, and I think that May 11 should be an option too. Some places didn't have Saturdays in May available, but Fridays were wide open (and subject to discounts!) Does anyone have opinions?

So, Saturday, Barb and Christine and I went around to about 10 garage sales, being silly. I bought an ice cream maker for $5. I thought that if i used it once, I had bought $5 of fun. Well, I used it once. Zach (our landlord's son) had a barbecue on Friday, and we ran the ice cream maker. It took a LONG TIME, and the ice cream never froze solid. Maybe I didn't do it right. But, we emptied the ice cream slush into containers and stuck it in the freezer, and it came out pretty good!

Almost ... there ...

So, my advisor is ready to sign my thesis, and David Cavallo has already signed. Now, I am waiting on Pattie. The final page count is 181 pages, with acknowledgements and all the stuff everyone wanted.

I don't think David actually read my thesis. Every time I sent him an email, asking for his feedback, he would send back an email promising to do it that night. Then, I would wait. On top of all this, he was in Brazil, so I couldn't go and bother him. So, he was back from Brazil (finally) and he signed my cover page so that if he went back to Brazil, I would still have his signature. I don't think he thinks he is actually going to read my thesis. But, that's okay with me -- he signed it.

Pattie has been pretty flaky. I finally got a meeting with her the Friday before Cape Cod. (This was two weeks after I had given her my thesis.) When we met, she had only read the first two chapters. So, we talked about those, and then she said she would email me. And she didn't. I checked my email twice in Cape Cod, both times hoping for something, so I could move things forward. Nothing.

Theses are due August 11, so that is when this is going to be over, one way or another.

I think I am technically free. I received a full stipend for the month of July (I was only expecting half). And, I think, I will not receive a stipend for August. I took the last week of July off, and I was only half there the week before then, so I probably owe my advisor a week and a half, which I will do in bits and pieces.

Otherwise, I am mostly on vacation. My plan for the month is to have a good time -- play guitar, paint, draw, play computer games, and watch Star Trek. And take car of some odds and ends like getting a MA license, and signing contracts for a reception and ceremony site.