New Outfielder

Although Friday was the one weekend game the Red Sox did not manage to win (and it probably cost Josh Beckett the start at next week's All Star Game), it was fun to attend the game with the Duke Club of Boston and my fellow clerk/fellow alumna Felicia. It was also the debut of the much heralded Red Sox rookie, Jacoby Ellsbury. He reached base that night, and on Monday he managed to score from second on a wild pitch, to the joy of all spectators who have watched our lack of base running prowess/speed for years. So far he is displaying becoming modesty, which will further ingratiate him with the Nation...

Chocolate Reduces Blood Pressure

Why am I not asked to be a volunteer in such a study, I ask you! Volunteers for the study were asked to eat over 6 grams of dark chocolate daily for almost five months. Just so you know, I really prefer milk chocolate but I would have sacrificed myself for a good cause.

Please let me know if you hear that See's is asking for volunteers, although it is really just their Scotchmallows I adore.

A bygone era

The Armchair Traveler Reading Challenge

I saw this mentioned on Kate Sutherland's blog and it sounds fun. The challenge originates with Lesley of A Life in Books, and the rules require the participants to read six books that connect with the ‘armchair traveling’ theme between July 1st and December 31st. The books need not be limited to conventional travel writing. Fiction or non-fiction will fit the bill so long as the location is integral to the book. Participants are asked to post their list of six at the outset, although making substitutions along the way is cheerfully permitted.

I do not usually like travel memoirs but I think I can find some novels that fit the bill just from the armful I brought home from the library today or my TBR pile.

1. That Summer in Paris, Abha Dawesar (this might not have been my choice but my friend Mandy selected it for our next book group) (Paris)
2. Charlotte's Rose, A.E. Cannon (Mormon trail, Iowa City to Utah)
3. The Sparks Fly Upward, Diana Norman (Paris and, I think also, England)
4. Fever Hill, Michelle Paver (Jamaica)
5. Suite Francaise, Irene Nemirovsky (France)
6. It's Perfectly Easy, Mary Scott (New Zealand)

Hmm, more France than I would have expected but perhaps I will add some variety later on.

Harvard Commencement

With my famous classmates, left to right, Sheryl WuDunn (brilliant wife of Nick), Nick Kristof (college classmate), Melinda French Gates (Duke classmate), and yours truly on Commencement Day, 2007