Friday, March 31, 2006

busy with lots of nonsense

i've learned quite a few lessons in my life, and just when you think you know a whole lot, something slaps you upside the head and reminds you you don't know everything.

most recent lesson is: don't give drunk girl the paddle at an auction, lest you don't mind her spending a lot o' cash on an item up for bid that you didn't anticipate taking home at the end of the night.

i am of course not referring to myself...stop pointing those fingers. but, for some reason mickey and i have a suite at the april 10 blazer game for 22 people. wonder how that happened? i will say that i'm thrilled to support a very worthy cause, instead of the blazers.

in other news, i started watching the last season of 'six feet under' last night. oh, what problems await the fishers this year? shhh, don't tell me. two friends say that the last episode is the best end of any teevee show ever. ever?! ever is a big, hyperbolic, emphatic word. we shall see if i agree in a few short days, because i'm pretty sure i'll be watching it non-stop to the end.

speaking of pop culture, my favorite nephew was visiting for a few days, always a treat. i'm amazed at how sponge-like a five-year-old mind is. quelle surprise when i heard him sing the refrain to "fernando" by ABBA. props to my sis for bringing out the little diva in him.

and finally, i've been waiting for this moment for years and years. my childhood doll freddy has made it on the internet. semaphoria's little man *hearts* freddy. please note the mullet on fred. four words: dime-store fur hair. hey-o.

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

i aspire to be this good

every so often i run across a piece of writing that is so brilliant, so lively and so compelling rue my career as a PR writer and long for true writing talent. in today's times, r.w. apple shared a piece of food writing that makes me:

a: ready to drop everything and rush to the american south to visit charleston and its surrounds;
b: inspired that american journalism isn't all negative and fluffy;
c: very hungry.

how can you not be inspired by this?


"Take oysters. Charleston loves 'em, especially the uncultivated beauties, 'meaty, juicy, salty,' that John Martin Taylor, the Lowcountry food maven, gushes about, 'continually washed by the incredible flow of our eight-foot tide,' then plucked from the mud of the salt marshes and 'garnished only by the glint of the January sun.'

"All through the colder months, oysters in vast quantities are cooked over raging fires and consumed at outdoors open-them-yourself oyster roasts, accompanied by heroic quantities of beer. Much the same experience can be had all year, in less raucous surroundings, at Bowens Island Restaurant, a humble cinder-block place on James Island, south of Charleston, where clusters of oysters from the Ashley River are steamed under wet burlap on a sizzling metal plate, then shoveled unceremoniously onto your table. Add saltines, hot sauce, maybe a squirt of lemon to replace that "glint of the January sun," and the requisite beer."

the article may be available for a short bit, so check it out while you can.

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

why doesn't this ever happen to me

apparently a woman in norway turned on her faucet recently, and instead of water, BEER came out. BEER! i want that to happen at our house.

it's been a busy but boring few days, and i was lamenting on friday during a round (or two rounds simultaneously drunk) , how can i blog if nothing fun or interesting happens?
semaphoria assured me you can. yes, but she's a much more interesting person than i, and even boring things to her are super interesting to me.

a friend sent me my horoscope today. i love to read between the lines of these things and find the sexual innuendos, naughty or otherwise. this month was particularly delightful in that regard. what's your
favorite?

final thought: i have to share a photo taken by my lovely sister who's a photographer. aren't my two favorite boys adorable?

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

ugh...

874 emails in the ol' inbox this morning. how painful is that?

during a weekend dinner party with some friends and friends-of-friends (which was preceded by a wine tour through the willamette valley, so please bear in mind our likely alcohol consumption), we came to the subject of what jesus really looked like. apparently there is debate these days about whether the image most have of jesus is accurate. one of us proposed that perhaps jesus really looked like someone else, say gallagher, the performer who smashes fruits and such with a sledgehammer. as if it's possible, the conversation degenerated from there. we ended up howling over a scene from the last supper, jesus played by gallagher. something about apostles, big sheets of plastic, fruit multiplying.

this being my first day back to the office since feb 3, warp told me last night that i needed to find a treat today to make the day bearable. while i love the idea of sitting in my office and knitting all afternoon, ignoring the emails that continue piling up, instead i'm going to lunch with my favorite coworker and will convince her to stop by a store where i can by the new harry potshot movie that came out today on dvd.

so sad to think that only two weeks ago i was getting royally sunburned in whangarei. even sadder to think i'm still peeling.


Wednesday, March 01, 2006

sound track for the weekend

i have always thought it would be funny to have sound effects or a laugh track to accompany my daily life, just like on sitcoms. we came close to it the past few days, and now i am definitely convinced this would be a great thing.

on sunday my cousin rewound my grandparents' cuckoo clock, which has hung silent for several years. on monday, the same cousin spent several hours on the phone with credit card companies and other businesses to clear up my granny's accounts. i'm sure you can imagine the annoying script for these phone calls: "hi, i'm calling to close my grandma's account, as she's deceased. what? you need authorization from her husband, her social security number, last payment date, maiden name, favorite color and secret recipe for spaghetti and meatballs?"

so here's how one of the calls went down:

paul (to the IVR): i need to speak to a customer service representative.

IVR: (silence)

paul: i need to speak to a customer service representative.

IVR: (silence)

paul: i need to speak to a customer service representative!

clock: cuckoo, cuckoo!


thanks to all for the well wishes, by the way. things are going well. it's been so great to spend time with my papa. he's doing well despite the loss. after 58 years of marriage, the fact he can laugh and joke and tell stories about granny is a good sign. plus, where we are, we have the most spectacular view of beautiful mountains!