I've got toooooo much *clap clap* time on my hands

Another classic rock title, this one a little bit more obscure. No cheating this time. I'll write you a tribute in my next blog entry if you can get this one, simply from your outstanding knowledge of early 80's music (hint).

But for real, I haven't done much since I got back. I'm becoming way more into CSI and its offspring than I would like to admit. I've done a little bit of cooking/baking, but hardly enough to say I'm using my time well. I'd tend my garden, but I've only got one monster tomato plant and a kind of piddly pepper plant, so watering those takes about 45 seconds. I spend a lot of time blog surfing. Not even anything good. So I am resolved to use the rest of this summer in a much more productive and cosmically beneficial way. Keep me accountable to perform the following:

- Get some exercise. I've got a wedding in a month and a half that I have to look smokin' for. I'm thinking muscle toning five times a week, plus a few good walks a couple times a week, which can be facilitated by...
- Getting downtown. I'm a quarter mile from a train that takes me into the heart of downtown Chicago, one of the primo downtowns in the country. I've got free access to pretty much any and all museums with my teacher ID, and Katy has informed me that I need to spend some quality time in the public library. Check and mate.
- Find somewhere to live. As of my understanding right now, I have no roommates and nowhere that's planning on me to stay as of the end of August. I need to amend one, if not both of those situations...
- Expand my culinary repertoire. Right now I'm decent at making about six things. I'd like to improve upon the quality and quantity of my recipes. Creative suggestions?
- Read, damn it. I haven't really pulled out a book for pleasure since high school, and now I've got all this time. Katy suggested some Barbara Kingsolver, which I am in the process of obtaining, but I'd be happy to receive other recommendations for books to tantalize my medula oblongata. (I don't think that's right at all, but fortunately no one else took Human Anatomy and Physiology who reads this...?)
- Simplify. I have quite a bit of stuff, which is typical for a teacher. We tend to regard anything and everything as a potential teaching tool. But I've got loads of crap that I'm sure I could get rid of. I also need to review my expenses and figure out why I've stopped being able to save any money. Both of these actions will make it easier for me to move, when the time comes.
- Prepare for this coming school year. I made it through my first year, which is about 3/4 of the battle, I'm told. But I have a lot of planning, praying, and self-evaluating to do in order to help myself be an all-around better teacher than I was last year. Readysetgo!

So, there it is. I think part of my being able to accomplish this will mean avoiding the television. I think I will only watch ESPN for the rest of the summer. That will inspire fitness and provide some athletic entertainment, right? Right.