chilis

Tom and I had a thrilling evening, which included a trip to Giant Eagle, a stop at NCB, and purchasing some vino at the liquor store (by the way, it still frustrates me that one can't purchase alcohol in the grocery store...silly PA liquor laws). Then, we went to Chilis for dinner--it has only opened within the past week or so, and it was packed. So, rather than giving our name, etc., we marched up to the bar and enjoyed dinner and drinks there.

The waitress/bartender was annoyingly shmoozy. To illustrate:

She, of course, carded both Tom and me, and when I gave her my liscense, all she could say was, "Oh my gosh, you look so totally happy!!!"

As it happened, I ordered a Jack & Coke, while Tom got his usual Captain and Coke. So, Shmoozy Waitress (herein S.W.) made all these comments about how "silly" it was that I ordered the typically male drink and Tom ordered the female drink.

Later, S.W. tried to make all of these jokes about how she was so hungry waiting for our food to come out. Yeah, we were hungry too. And then, she kept stopping by and asking if we could share our meals. No, we can't. And we don't want to. And we came to spend time with each other, not with you.

Even with S.W.'s amateur attempt at tip-earning, Tom and I managed to have a very enjoyable time. We talked about pretty much everything under the sun, in some sense or another. And I even got him to admit that there are some very good players on the Browns (Tom is, as it happens, a die hard Steelers fan...we won't be talking this Christmas Eve). We spent a couple of minutes noting the changes that have come upon me in the past year...i.e., I'm not high-strung like I used to be, I don't put up with peoples' crap like I used to, and I don't actually feel like I have to be friends with everyone.

I spent this evening looking at PhD schools yet again. I looked at several schools, and have started to get a good sense for the kinds of programs that are out there. The two schools that stand out thus far are Johns Hopkins and Michigan. Of course, it violates many moral principles to be interested in either. After all, JHU is in Baltimore...and we don't like the "football team" of convicts out there at all, and Michigan is...well...Michigan. Other schools that I've looked at in some capacity so far include Yale, Harvard, Georgia, Chicago, UCSD, OSU, and others. Chicago was pretty ideal until I learned that it takes an average of 14 years to matriculate. Yuck.

I'm rather excited because I have come up with a topic for an independent study next term with Dr. Tuell. I emailed him this evening with my brainstorms--hopefully he will take a liking to most of it, though I was honest when I told him that I am open to tweaking in whatever ways are necessary. It's right up my alley, however, to study ANE death/burial rites and systems. I want to integrate those findings with relevant biblical texts and discuss the implications therein. Hurray!

Anyway, I will be leaving in under 11 hours and I have yet to pack (and, of course, I need to sleep tonight), so I think that sleep is in order!

Bye :0)