Christmas 2004 (Theme: Martha Stewart is in prison and she needs a lot to read)

To the AIC

On one of the coldest days of the winter, we take a trip after work to the Art Institute to hear the Christmas Story in Art lecture.

Solstice

Importance of Being Earnest

Saw a great production of The Importance of Being Earnest at the Court, great production. We went to Dixie Kitchen beforehand, though clearly the food and the play didn't have a collective theme.

Ronne Hartfield at Chicago Public Library

Went to hear Ronne Hartfield reading from her book about her mother, Another Way Home.

Thanksgiving at Chez Patrice

Ms. S's sister and family and father in for the Holiday. A houseful, but fun.

Eiko and Koma

At the Dance Center. Great to see them again.

DJ Spooky

Birth of A Nation Re-mixed at the MCA.

The Dresser, Steppenwolf

John Mahoney was brilliant.

John Hope Franklin

Wow. Part of the Humanities Festival. Wow.

Marshall Sahlins

The talk title was "Apologies to Thucydides: Understanding History as Culture." Who knew it was going to be a great talk about baseball???

Election Night

Let's just forget about it, shall we.

Merry Wives of Windsor

Another well done production at the Shakespeare Theatre, even though this isn't our favorite play.

A Week of Lots of U of Chicago

Monday: Global Chicago, Tuesday: Henry Cisneros, Wednesday: talk to the telefund kids, Thursday: Big Donor Event at MCA, Friday: Visiting Committee meeting. Wheh.

A Visit by Mr. L and Ms. J and family!

A Perfect University Evening

10/22
A Perfect University Evening

Dinner at the Quad Club, and then Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolfe at the Court. Life Imitates Art?

P to Pittsburgh

A work trip to Pittsburgh, but snuck in a trip to the Carnegie International.

Ms. S to Boulder

Ms. S is off to Boulder to help her mother, who's having her other hip replaced. What a good daughter.

Cubs and Ren Ben

The Braves had an answer for every Chicago score, and took the lead in the eighth to end the Cubs' playoff hopes.

Houston Trip and Trip Up

Just did a quick work trip to Texas, where I was reminded that, even though all hotels look alike and you can forget where you are, when you are standing in the lobby in TEXAS, holding a copy of the NY Times, when asked: "Well, what kind of what-for is the NY Times giving George Bush today?", the correct response is not: "All he deserves."

Notable visits: Menil, Rothko Chapel, MFA Houston, and the Contemporary.

Not that Michael Moore

Michael Moore is Legs! Our friend Michael's one-man show about the rise of a "white trash" boy. It has it all. Love the dress, you're a juvenile success.

Mr. J visits

Ms. S.'s father in town for a very nice visit.

Jury Service

Oprah set the tone. I did my duty, spent the day in the waiting room--sprung at 4:30 pm.

Cubs v. Brewers, Home Run Fest

Lee Grand Slam, Alou homers, need I saw more?

The fabulous PT Visits

Purple was the color. Club Bon Appetit was the theme.

Comings and Goings

My sister M and husband A in town with their kids. Good food, good fun. Ms. S off to Boulder for JS's memorial service.

England

A great week in England with B and J and the kids. And a trip to Sway to see Ms. S's Uncle and family.

Vermont Trip

A long weekend trip for Ms. C and Mr. I's wedding. All the family was there. And Piglet too.

Work trip to LA

Nice trip to LA for work with the Dean, did some good work, had some fun. Saw the Mr. K and family.

Cubs v. Astros, Clements v. Clemens

Houston scored all of its runs on solo homers, two by Craig Biggio and the game-winner by Carlos Beltran in the ninth. Roger Clemens, seeking his 11th win, had to settle for a no-decision.

Ms. S in Wisconsin

Ms. S went to Wisconsin--to see sister and family's new location in River Falls. Summer camp home of the Kansas City Chiefs.

Bill Irwin at Steppenwolf

A great show, though not what we expected. Very informal, very theatre-crowd-ish.

Alunni Weekend and Cyrano

It was Alumni Weekend at U of Chicago. As part of the festivities, I saw a production of Cyrano at MCA coproduced by the Court and Redmoon.

So, pretty fun to hang out at an alumni weekend after going to my Yale reunion. Much more low key, though, and more academic. Better use of Bagpipes, though...

Cubs Lose 5 in Row

To celebrate the end of the the 5 game losing streak, and to test the ability of this blog to add photos, yes, it's true...he's everywhere.

Priceless.







Bartman Saves the Day

Catch Up

OK, so I've been a pretty dismal blogger. (Hey, I've been studying the dismal science, what do you expect.) So, you see pretty minimal entries for April and May. At least they are in. I've been inspired by an article on obsessive blogging in the NYTimes, which basically points out that never has so much been written and read by so few.

And, did I ever write about our adaptation of Il Fine Del Mondo? NOOOOOO. But I will now. Substitute Jenny-O turkey breast cutlets for veal. Substitute Canadian bacon for the prosciutto. And, OK, we took a package of pregrated mozzarella cheese. Have we totally dumbed this down enough to qualify for a recipe in Bon Appetite? Still, pretty tasty, if I had just browned the turkey a bit less. And relatively healthy. Back on the Cosa Nostra trail!!!

Yale Reunion & NYC

Went to my 25th Reunion at Y. University. Pretty amusing. Ms. R and her charming son, Ms. O-E, Ms. H, Mr K. in from LA, among others. Lots of people who looked familiar. Lots of fun. Mr. T and I shared the fact that we couldn't survive rooming with Mr. K.
Before the reunion, I came to NYC for work, and caught a performance of the NYC ballet.

Roni Horn at AIC

New Roni Horn exhibition at the AIC. Amazing. Installation of pictures of the Thames river throughout the permanent collection. This is one to come to Chicago to see.

Latin American Dinner

Went to a dinner at Marche for participants in conference the next day on Latin American Business. Worked with a great group of students.

Smart Museum Gala

Went to the Smart Museum Gala honoring Susan and Lew Manilow.

Cubs vs. Diamondbacks

Our first tickets of the season. We were on the back row, the wind was blowing, it was cold.

Sergio Mitre just couldn't get it going and the Cubs' offense waited a bit too long to compensate. Sammy Sosa got the Cubs on the board with a three-run homer in the eighth, but Mitre's four-run, seven-hit outing over four innings proved too much to overcome.

LA trip

Went to LA for business and some pleasure. Began with conference of art museum folks, then some fundraising calls. Also had dinner with my college roommate, Mr. K.

Chicago Convenes

Our big thank you party at the U of Chicago. An amazing dinner in Rockefeller Chapel. I love my job.

Jimmy's

Went to Jimmy's for beers with the basketball pool group. Only four people showed up, but we were entertained by J., an alum and Hyde Parker through and through. U of C, Lab, AB, JD. A great first visit...

Ryerson lecture at U of C

Went to hear Robert Pippin deliver the Ryerson lecture: “Bourgeois Philosophy? On the Problem of Leading a Free Life.”

NCAA Pool and Final Game

OK, so Connecticut took it all, and so did I. Ran the office pool and came in tops, even though I didn't have CT. Think it was the strength of having Georgia Tech in the Final Four.

SF Report

Went to San Francisco for work, but had time to visit my brother M. and family (M. and M., wow love the M family) in Los Altos and my sister P. and hubby R in Napa. Brother B. also came to Napa for the weekend. Woo, hoo, love the new work--just enough travel, not too much, at least that's what I think at this stage.

Off, Regional Rounds 1 and 2

Took Friday off for my version of the High Holidays. Go Nevada. Go Xavier. Love the upsets.

Lorna Simpson

And to balance out last night's foray into predictive analysis, I went to hear Lorna Simpson talk at Northwestern U. Arrived late (it's a long drive from far south to far north) but great to see her. Lorna developed Interior/Exterior, Full/Empty, one of her early film installation pieces at Wexner and did some work at the Walker. She almost used our house as one of the background locations, but it didn't work out...dang.

Jack Noonan

Went to hear the CEO of SPSS. SPSS stands for Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, and was basically invented by a former faculty member here. The program has changed pretty significantly, and now at least one priority for the company is predictive analysis for business. Who would have thunk a year ago I'd be attending such a thing?

Laura Letinsky opening at Ren

Went to a Tuesday opening at the Ren. Really interesting photography--we had seen at Monique's booth at the Art Fair, but great to see more, and to meet the artist who teaches at the U of C.

Duke vs. Carolina

It's always good to have a win over Carolina.

Adolfo Aguilar Zinser, Ambassador to UN for Mexico

An interesting talk at the U of C. Very candid, very funny. The phrase that sticks is "ranch diplomacy": Bush invites folks to the ranch, everybody's impressed, they are all friends.

clas.uchicago.edu/publications/lac/Vol23No5.pdf

Ballet Boyz

Went to see Ballet Boyz at the Columbia Dance. Generally a pretty good program. Finally got to see a ballet by William Forsyth, and learned that Phillip Glass wrote some interesting string quartet music.

Cubs Tix on Sale

Man, oh, man, tried to get Cubs tickets, and how things have changed from a year ago. I think last year I didn't get to it until April, and I still got some decent games. This year, I tried the Internet on Friday, but ultimately couldn't get through until Saturday. I've got three games, and mostly up in the boonies. Wow! Maddux better deliver.

Crossing 1 Billion

The University of Chicago is in the middle of a $2 billion campaign, and today we celebrated crossing the halfway mark.

Sex and the City, the Final Episode

Had a great party for the final episode of Sex and the City. My brother K. and his son S., who is at Northwestern Medical School, joined us for the festivities. (Thank goodness, because S., the proprietor of Bar 16 in the NW Med School dorms took over bar duty making the cosmos: efficiency and style ruled.) The tone of the evening was also was set by opening a three liter bottle of Berringer Merlot, a gift from my sister P., given to us some time ago for Christmas. We served lasagna. Ms. S threated to make rumaki, but it didn't happen. How do they say: a good time was had by all. And we learned that Mr. Big has a name.

Steve Levitt lecture

Went to a lecture by Steve Levitt last night, the young rock star of the Econ Department. The title of the talk was: From Sumo Wrestlers to School Corruption: An Economist Looks at the Real World

Here's the official description:

What do sumo wrestlers and elementary school teachers have in common? What kind of economist studies game shows, gangs, and lojack? Is this what they're teaching in Econ 201 these days? At the University of Chicago, economists believe the tools of economics can unlock the answer to just about any question. Micro-economist Steven Levitt, who was recently hailed by the New York Times as "the most brilliant young economist in America," exemplifies this tradition. Having tackled topics as arcane as sumo wrestling, penalty kicks in soccer, lojack, the link between abortion and crime, drunk driving, and drug-selling gangs, Professor Levitt won the 2003 John Bates Clark Medal, given biennially to the country's best economist under 40. In this special program for Chicago alumni, Professor Levitt describes examples of his work on corruption in unusual places and shows how cutting-edge economics can be used to catch the cleverest cheaters.

He was great. Interesting, clear, a gentle sense of humor.

Sex and the City Dinners

OK, I'm not sure I want to do this again soon, but hosting dinner for the eight consecutive final episodes of Sex and the City has turned us into a dinner party machine.  We've got the preparation down.  We've served lamb kabobs, borscht (in honor of Baryshnikov), Texas Hospitality Chicken, turkey chili, and the turkey cutlet version of  Il Fine Del Mondo, among others, it's all fading together. (Damn those Cosmos.)   I don't know how that Julie did it cooking every night--I'm going to be happy to reclaim some of my weekend--though it has reminded us how easy it is to have a few people over.

Little Night Music at Shakespeare

For Valentine's Day, we went to see a great production of A Little Night Music at the Shakespeare Theater.  Really well done.

Another Week at the U of Chicago

This week I’ve been to lectures/programs/donor receptions with Bruce Cummings on Inventing the Axis of Evil: The Truth about North Korea, Iran and Syria, John Mearsheimer in an informal talk on why our strategy in Iraq was so ill conceived, Danielle Allen  “on translating ancient greek lyric poetry” (she swears she’s being literal in her translations, but it comes out in this beautiful street vernacular) {and oh, by the way, her next book is on Brown v. Board of Ed.}, and, oh yes, the Bontecou exhibition at the MCA.

New York Trip

Off to NYC for the first time in a couple of days.  The main purpose was a dinner organized by the head of the Visiting Committee for the Social Sciences, but we also did some other donor calls.  Of course, it wouldn't be a trip to NYC without a visit to Menchanko-tei.  Out on Wednesday and back by Friday.

First Week at U of Chicago

So, if you are going to jump in, jump in.   Here's one day during my first week at the University of Chicago.  Went to hear John Mearsheimer, professor in Political Science and expert on foreign policy and international security, in a lunch time session, primarily for undergraduates on What I Believe and Why.  He talked mostly about his upbringing, going to West Point, his personal experience as a student.  That evening, I caught the end of Susan Manning from Northwestern on Making a (Queer) American Dance: Jose Limon, Merce Cunningham, and Alvin Ailey, before heading over the Smart Museum for the opening of Illuminations: Sculpting with Light.  OK, OK, so two of these event are really about the Humanities...I'm still in the environment

A New Life...or at Least a New Job

I accepted a position at the University of Chicago today. I'll be the Director of Development for the Social Sciences Division. Hangin' with the Nobel Prize crowd. A big change for me--separating my interest in the arts from my vocation. But this is good: I can have friends in the arts who aren't always thinking I'm after their wallet.

Lots to be excited about: learning new subject matter, great people, great reputation of the University. And, we get to stay in Chicago, and in our fabulous home. Woo hoo!

Epiphany

The wise men arrive today, you know. (And I start my New Year's resolutions.) And, since "Expose the Core, strengthen the Core" is one of my resolutions (hey, I like them ambiguous...I know what I mean), I need to point out this web site, TRANSFORMATION 2003. I've been going to the gym pretty steadily for over a year now, but I can't hold a candle to this guy. What an inspiration--and his attitude, "if you follow a set of steps exactly, the results are predictable." Love a scientific mind.

Sayonara to Sex and the City

Spurred on by our friends B. and D. (who don't have cable) we're hosting a party at our place for all the remaining episodes of Sex and the City. When we were planning the first night's menu, the weather was gorgeous, warm. Mediterranean seemed good and easy. Kabobs on the grill, eggplant/feta dip, cous cous. We got everything done ahead, and then the weather turned nasty on Sunday. Still, a good time was had by all, with Mr. B staffing the distribution of cosmos. My, we were a talkative bunch.

Champagne and Sushi

A very quiet New Year's Eve. Went to Matsuya for appetizers and got sushi to go. A little sparkling, sushi, and Top Hat and lights out well before midnight. Got to the gym for New Year's Day.