Classin' It Up

Number 23 on my list is to take a sommelier class. The plan was to take a full-on class and learn the ins and outs of wine. I’ve done my fair share of tasting and drinking wine. And obviously I know a ton because my dad and uncle started a winery when I was in college. No, this isn’t true. I’m pretty sure I was drinking boxed wine during this time.

Over the years I’ve gone on many wine tours in Napa, Long Island, and of course my home in the Finger Lakes. I’ve also visited various wineries in Europe, including Spain and the UK. But I wanted to expand my knowledge a bit more. However, given the limited time I had, I decided to do a one-time class that would be more informative than your typical wine tasting.

A google search later, I found a place that had a class this week and was reasonably priced. I recruited my friend Kara to accompany me to the UWS and made our way to Nancy’s Wine on Columbus Avenue. This is where we took a 2 hour class on various wines from Italy. We tasted 3 whites, including a still Prosecco, and 3 reds. I went home with my favorites, a red, Sagrantino from Umbria and a white, Cortese from Gavi. Both pretty good.

The class was informative and I learned a few new things. I still don’t claim to be a wine expert, but I’m trying to go in that general direction. And the next time I go in a wine shop, I will have an expert recommend something new and different instead of just picking a random bottle that's within my budget.

Animal Farm

I think this is a record. I finished Animal Farm by George Orwell in 2 days. I had seen it at the bookstore and knew it was pretty short. I downloaded this and 1984 on my Kindle as one book. So it was deceiving how close to the end I was.  

The book is about an animal farm that rebels against humans and takes control of the manor. They come up with Animalism commandments and say that all animals have equal rights, and shouldn’t act like humans. Of course, this doesn’t last. The pigs are the cleverest of the animals and slowly but surely, take control of the farm and the other animals. Before long, they are acting like humans and breaking all their commandments.

This novel has historical significance of the Stalin era leading up to WWII. I hadn’t realized, but this book was actually banned up until 1989 in the Easter Bloc. Not surprising since this is when Communism fell. You really see the comparisons drawn from this animal farm and how Napoleon, the leader, is able to take control and sway the other animals to believe untrue things.

Overall, I would highly recommend this book. It’s pretty short, and is historically relevant.

Next up is some thriller book about Facebook I downloaded for free on my kindle. Let's see how this turns out. But sounds perfect to read at the beach. I think I may attempt The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas next. It’s pretty long, so we shall see how much time this one takes….

So far I’ve crossed off:

1.       Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

2.       Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

3.       A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

4.       Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

5.       Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

6.       Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

7.       Animal Farm by George Orwell

Lolita

Four books to go! I’m finally making some progress on #11. I just finished Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov. This was suggested to me by my friend Sandra, and we are actually reading it at the same time. Of course, I’m on vacation, so I finished it much more quickly. Once we are both done, we are going to have a mini book club to discuss.

First of all, this book was slightly disturbing. A grown man having sex with a 12-year old!?! Somehow he rationalized that this is ok to do. As you read the book, from his point of view, you see how he does this. Even with this level of uncomfortableness, it was a really good book. I don’t want to get into too many of the details, but it’s about this old dude, Humbert Humbert, who marries the mother of the nymhet he is madly in love with. Unfortunately, the mother dies in a tragic accident (not murder) and Lolita is now at the mercy of this man. However, Lolita isn’t as innocent as she seems. But, then again she is 12.

Humbert tells the story from the future after he commits murder. He recaptures his relationship with Lolita as they transverse the US a number of times on a couple of separate trips in the 40s over the course of many years. 

The book is very controversial and I highly recommend it. There also a couple of movies from the 60s and 90s out that I’d like to watch to see how they’ve captured the story.

I started Animal Farm by George Orwell today.

So far I’ve crossed off:

1. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
2. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
3. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
4. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
5. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
6. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

Paddle Boarding

I am finally on vacation and have finally checked off another thing off my list! It’s been a nutty summer (year) so far and am enjoying some time off at the beach. The first few days were a bit iffy weather-wise (rain in August?!), but yesterday the sun came out on Nantucket and provided a picturesque beach day. Something much needed.

Of course, I’m trying to relax a bit, catch up on some sleep, and check off a couple more books off my classic list. But I also wanted to check something else off my list, and figured I’d either try surfing or paddle boarding on this vacation. I’ve been to the beach plenty of times over the last 29 years, but never attempted surfing. Boogie boarding, yes. Water skiing, yes. Kayaking, yes. But not surfing. I thought I’d put it on the list to attempt this year. But I also decided to make it a choice between that or paddle boarding. I wanted some type of new water sport since I love the water so much. I feel like paddle boarding is a relatively new thing. It isn’t. It’s just become popular in past years. I remember some dude stand-up paddle boarding in San Diego Bay last fall. It looked relatively easy, and I figured I’d have it as an option.

Luckily I’m visiting family on Nantucket who are in possession of every single piece of water sport equipment you could possibly need at the beach. Paddle boards (and surf boards) included. I decided to give paddle boarding a go yesterday after a day of reading Lolita. My Aunt Sally was giving me tips on what to do. She said that you needed good balance. I of course stated that I do have good balance. Ha.

Well good balance on the ground is different from good balance on the water. We got into the water, and paddled away from the crowds at Cisco beach, where I attempted to paddle board for the first time. Well stand-up paddle boarding to be specific. I’m really not sure if there’s a difference. I fell into the water many times. I did have a leash on, so no worries on losing the board. I just need to hold onto the paddle. I spent about an hour with my aunt out on the water going back and forth between Cisco and Miacomet Pond. At various points, I was just trying to get the hang of the water by kneeling on the board. Once I’d feel comfortable and didn’t see many big waves coming, I’d stand up and stay up for as long as possible paddling around. There was one point (unintentionally) that I was actually paddle-surfing. I soon fell off. I did start to get the hang of the balancing. I had to tell myself to not worry when any big waves came along. It was pretty fun and I’d like to go out again this week, but boy was I feeling it today in my arms.

I also enquired about a surfing lesson, so I may see about that over the next few days.

Brave New World

I’m halfway done with my classic list! Yay! Luckily this latest one was a bit shorter and actually made me want to keep reading more so than the others. I just finished Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. Again, with all the other books, I had no idea what this was about. This takes place way in the future with a society that’s has been developed from reproductive technology and has been sleep-conditioned. No crime, no sickness, no getting old, no families, no science, no art, no free-thinking. Everyone just does what they are conditioned to do, respective to their caste.

I think this would be a good discussion for a book club. I was interested in the genetic engineering aspect of the novel, along with nature vs nurture argument. Especially when John, “the savage”, was introduced. You see how he tries to unsuccessfully influence society. Some of his actions did seem a bit more extreme than necessary once he leaves London, but then again this is all he knows from his enclosed environment. He becomes more of a spectacle with disastrous results.

Overall, I would recommend this book to read, at least for the discussions it would stimulate.

To give a quick recap, so far I’ve crossed off:

1. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
2. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
3. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
4. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
5. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Next up is Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov.

Crime and Punishment

Fourth classic off the list! Yes, I will continue exclaiming each one as I finish it. I have 6 to go. Man, I gotta find some shorter classics. In the time since I read the last classic, I had actually decided to re-read the Harry Potter series in preparation for the last movie. It took me about the same length of time to read all 7 HP books and this particular classic. Once I completed the HP series (and yes, I went through withdrawal again), I started Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Now I’ve never read this before (obviously that’s why it’s on the list) and had no idea what it was about. I downloaded it onto my Kindle and decided to give it a go. 15% into it (yes, the Kindle is very accurate), I was in for a shock. Note: spoiler alert. The main character goes and murders a woman (with her sister as collateral damage) with an axe. Yeah, I wasn’t expecting that at all.

The remainder of the book takes you through the character’s Napoleonic beliefs and his torment over the murders. There are a few more surprises later on and an ending that was somewhat expected. All I know is those Russian authors like to have extra long names for their characters. And they go by their full names. This is why these books are so damn long.

Overall it was good. I probably glossed over portions of the book again like with the other classics, I had to make sure I had the characters straight. They have 3 names apiece and they go by a different in each part of the book. Not confusing at all.

Time to choose my next book…

Boston Qualify

I have run 4 marathons so far. My first in Alaska 4 years ago where I vowed I'd never do another, the following year was Marine Corps where I accepted my medal from a cute Marine, and for the last 2 years I ran through the 5 boroughs of my home city–NYC. For the last couple of them, I had decided that to qualify for Boston could be achievable, but it has eluded me. I do blame the awesome spectators in Brooklyn that got me to run slightly faster than I should have because I was so excited, and that damn beloved Queensboro Bridge. So for my 30th, I'm going to attempt yet again. But make it slightly (hopefully) easier to accomplish than crossing over 5 bridges.

Which marathon do I run?? Decisions, decisions, decisions. I, of course, looked for a flat marathon. Especially now that the BAA has taken the liberty to make this a bit more difficult for me. Instead of trying to break 3:40:59, I now have to break 3:35:00. Thanks Boston.

I considered Chicago, Berlin, Amsterdam, Philly and a number of other flatter, slightly easier courses to attempt, including the Wineglass Marathon in Corning, not far from where I grew up. Since I will be living in London for a good portion of my training, I figured an international race is the way to go. I've already been to Berlin a couple of times, so I decided on Amsterdam! It’s cheaper (only 55 euros!), I’ve never visited the city, and I’m sure I could find some ways to celebrate when I finish.

I signed up about 1 ½ months ago and it’s official. I will be running the Amsterdam Marathon on October 16^th to attempt to cross off #3!

Now let’s take a look at the time that I need to qualify quickly. I like numbers, so I’m going to ramble on about paces, times, ect. Due to the new qualifying standards for Boston, as a 29-year old, I need a get 3:35:00 to qualify for Boston. This means that I have to run an average of an 8:12 minute mile for 26.2 miles! They have also gotten rid of the 59 second leeway they have given in the past. So essentially I need to break 3:35:00. I don’t trust myself to get exactly 3:35.00, so I need to aim for a slightly faster time. So maybe 8:11 per mile?

I went onto the Runner’s World training calculator to see what my chances are based on previous race times. First, I plugged in my fastest (and only recently timed) mile from last September, which was 6:20. I’m sure this won’t be my fastest ever mile time, but it would work for this exercise. And we are in luck! My predicted marathon time would be 3:21:51. Totally BQ'ing.

EXCEPT, is this really a realistic approach? When I put this mile time in, it says my best ½ marathon time should be 1:36:49. Which I have gotten nowhere near. And I have run a lot more ½ marathons than any other race. My best ½ marathon time is 1:43:20. So I put this time into the calculator and it predicts a 3:35:27 marathon. 27 seconds too slow! Argh.

I feel somewhat (only a bit) confident I can at least realistically attempt to qualify, but it will be hard work. I have to get my butt in gear and train properly over the next few months. I will appreciate any words of encouragement that comes my way. I will need it. That and a personal trainer.