highlights from DC

so, sadly, i didn't find albert, but i did find the new ww2 memorial, which was terrific. btw, DC is going to run out of water with how much is running through fountains and lying in ponds and pools.

WW2 memorial

i think they will get coal in their stockings, how 'bout you?

i didn't do much sightseeing, because i was busy in a conference during the day. as you can see, i was very busy. yeah, that's right, yours truly is the WOMMA rock paper scissors champion. i'm considering a career as an officiant of future rock paper scissors competitions, now that i'm qualified. thanks to the world RPS society for the fun time!

the other washington

greetings from the east coast washington! i'm here on biz for the WOMMA conference, and am having a delightful time. my hotel is right downtown, about a stone's throw (but don't tell the secret service) from the white house, and in the thick of all that history that comes with DC. i haven't been here since i was a teenager, but it's everything as fantastic as i remember it: bustling people, so much to do, a grandiose marble building of size and scale unimaginable around every corner. this trip, i've been struck by the rare feeling that i'm more than glad -- i'm proud to be part of this country, because i am reminded of the great men who came before, who shaped this nation into all the things i love, yet forget as soon as news of iraq comes on the telly or GW opens his mouth.

i walked up to the capitol today at twilight and watched the lights slowly twinkle to life inside the huge building. putting all politics aside, it's such a magnificent building -- so clean-looking and stately and powerful. at dusk, the reflecting pool caught the glinting lights of the building, and in the dark blue/black sky, that white marble gave the capitol a larger-than-life presence.

being here makes me remember my teenage trip to DC, with my fam. my dad was a history buff, and liked coming to DC. i remember the tired feet and the hot sticky feeling that july, but also remember feeling so happy being here, watching him wander around the museums and along the national mall with a look of both contentment and excitement. i have a photo of him and me trying unsuccessfully to hug a huge column at some building here. as i walked down the mall today and looked at the various buildings lining the promenade, that memory made me smile.

i have two more days here, and i'm hoping to walk to the reflecting pool between the washington and lincoln memorials, and also i hope to find the einstein statue where, as a kid, dad and my family posed for more silly photos. maybe i'll ask somone to take my photo sitting in albert's lap, just for dad.

quarterly issue of crack lovin'

knitty's here, knitty's here! as if i don't have enough fiber crack (went to the crack store tonight in fact...), seeing spanish dancer makes me fiber drool. and, how will i fit argosy into my already long list of projects in progress?

haka-rific, but what do i know?

as many of you may know, i've got a significant love affair with new zealand, and specifically with the all blacks, the country's mighty fine and also the world's top rugby team.

and of all the things i love about the all blacks, perhaps my favorite (next to first five-eighths heartthrob daniel carter) is the haka. it's the traditional maori chant and dance that the team shares at the beginning of every match. the haka, as i understand it, is an homage to the legends of the country's maori people, and is an honor within maori tribes to perform it. on the rugby pitch, before the team begins the game, it's a way for them to unify and to build up energy in preparation for the match. aside from being entertaining, it's inspiring, riveting and chilling to watch.

mickey called attention to a recent article in the times, in which the haka is under fire from an american journalist who sees it as racist and inappropriate, relating it to a football player's celebratory dance in the end zone, or a death taunt at a sporting match. has this guy really watched the haka, and does he really understand how intertwined the haka is with the all blacks' history?

unlike those gestures identified in the article, which i see as egotistical, showgrabbing antics, the haka builds team and calls upon history to give them strength to succeed. and, i'm certainly no expert, but how is it tribally insensitive for the ruggers to recount classical tales to prepare them to perform at their best? with the passion and pride they demonstrate on the field during the haka, i see it as exactly the opposite -- as an honor, not only to the country and its people, but to people like me who now appreciate maori culture more than before, in large part because of the haka.

i say, let the all blacks continue to pay tribute to their culture and their traditions. let the opposing teams choose to invoke similar gestures to respectfully accept the challenge put forth through the haka. the lions honorably did so during their '05 tour, using a blade of grass laid at the feet of the all blacks.

don't take the haka off the field and out of the eyes of people who could stand to know more about other countries' cultures and traditions.

PS: interested in seeing these guys in action? check out the thirsty lion on second ave downtown, where they show international rugby most days of the week. yeah!

tan me

happy turkey day to all! we just spent a delightful weekend with willy, toots and their li'l chipmunk in mesa, arizona, where the weather was in the upper 70s, the sky was pure blue, and the view from our house looked like this:

yes, we were enjoying cocktails at this moment...what better way to enjoy the view?

one night we decided we wanted to check out this pizza joint in phoenix that gayle (of oprah fame) had visited on her trip 'round the US to find the best 'za. pizzaria bianco is located in downtown phoenix near the ASU campus, and supposedly is the the absolute best wood-fired pie. willy suggested we get there early to get a table. when we arrived at 5:20, we thought we'd be in for a 1, maybe 1.5 hour wait, which we could easily kill at the wine bar next door. sadly when we put our names in, we learned it was a four hour wait. wha? four hours?

we didn't get pizzaria bianco za, needless to say. but, nello's in scottsdale was a delighful substitute, AND we didn't wait in line. huzzah!

it was sad to get on the plane to head home, especially after sitting by the pool for three days, but imagine the system shock we received when we arrived back in portland and had snow on monday. bah.

thanks so much to the gebys for the best, most needed weekend and the fantastic hospitality. i can't think of a better way to spend thanksgiving with our two best friends. we miss you two (and a half) and treasure the time we get to spend together, short as it was!

in other news, happy birthday to my ma today! cheers to you on your year ahead!

gettin' all cultured n stuff

quick thanks to my buddy tcb for inviting us to his delightfully non-stuffy, totally fun art salon last evening. aside from the fact that his house is a work of art on its own, mickey and i were also envious of and hugely impressed by all the art he and his fabulous wife have collected and created themselves. while talking with some of the artists featured at the salon (friends of t's), one asked me, "so do you make any art?" i tried to talk about my amateur painting attempts, and settled on knitting as my artistic outlet. i guess it's something.

check out some of t&j's photos. can't find his flickr, but maybe he'll send it to me.

thanks t!

awol

been working hard this week, late nights, whatnot. nothing too horrible, many things have slacked in the past week. blog posting, obviously. cooking another. sleeping, optional. knitting, fuggedabahdit. seeing the husbot, only in the car when he's picking me up from work.

needless to say, i'm thrilled to be home before 7 and done working by 7:15 tonight. in fact, so excited to be home at a decent hour, because i just had a chance to see TV, and noticed a commercial for the movie "the holiday" with cameron diaz and kate winslet. you better believe i'm going to see that. looks a little like "love actually" and melikes that movie, and not in a guilty pleasure kinda way.

here's looking forward to a little R&R this weekend, and to a short week next week. it's finally the holiday season, my favorite time of the year!

small victories for women and america today

observations today on election day:

• puzzling news: how did the CNN folks all end up with the same skin tone? cakey tan looks miserable on all except james carville, who looks only slightly less like an alien than normal without the pallid skin tone.
  
• funny news: love the wonkette drinking game for tonight's festivities. wish i could have participated.
  
• good news for america: santorum. gone.
  
• sad news for america: katherine/katie "bodysuit" harris lost. what, oh what will we make fun of now?
  
• wack-job news: a dude on cnn just now said his conservative listeners are concerned about a "wild eyed, flaming liberal" political scene in this country, lead by pelosi. huh?
  
• good news for women: speaking of that wild eyed, flaming liberal, how 'bout the first woman speaker of the house. and might i say, she's triple the hot that dennis 'puffy' hastert was.
  
• fabulous news for women (hoping i don't eat my words as i upload this post): in oregon we are defeating the parental notification bill for abortion, and it's looking good that the good folks of south dakota will defeat the abortion ban.
  
• iffy news for wyoming: babs is winning by 400ish votes. so close, yet so far from defeat.
• best news for me: protest vote against bush? -- pshaw, not us oregonians. while the rest of the nation is still swingin' red (despite results tonight), i'm living in a state that is so solidly blue, solidly, beautifully blue.
  

all in all, small victories, nothing that surprising, no major changes will occur. but, tonight, i'll turn my lappy off and dream happy dreams that, for today, we're a nation that has risen her head above the fog of conservativism and realized we've headed in the wrong direction.

winter has come early

the fact that it has rained around 3 inches in 24 hours (not counting the other rain we got the rest of the weekend) means only one thing: the *@!%# basement is leaking again. at least misery loves company -- a&k's basement next door is facing similar issues. the only good thing about their house is they don't have carpet and paneling on the walls.

i guess instead of going to new zealand in february i should have poured a new driveway and sealed the basement walls. what do they say about hindsight....

on the brighter side, because it's so horrid outside, i have been getting a ton of knitting done! can't post here what it is, as it's a gift for a reader, so i don't want to spoil the surprise. without giving anything away, let me just say i love cascade pima silk yarn. so soft and gorgeous, and despite being mostly cotton, it doesn't split and has great stretchiness. i'm a convert!

stay dry and warm my friends! i'm headed to SF tomorrow where it's supposed to be dry and partly cloudy.

alert: kickass happy hour joint

portlanders, i'm sure you already know this, but i've just tonight discovered a super duper happy hour deal downtown. barcode on 2nd and pine, next door to e-san, shares the thai restaurant's kitchen, and thus has great happy hour food. try pad kee mao for $3.95 and get a really solid size portion. spring rolls for $2. beers (not PBR, we're talking micros) are $2, and wells are $2-3. the service is super and the food is delicious. not being at all hip or cool, i learned that they do great business late in the evenings with the party crowd, but they're trying to get people in the door earlier. as such, their happy hour is offered from 4Pm to 10Pm. say what?! 10Pm?! you heard me right, sister.

go. eat. drink.

niner, part deux

earlier this year i dubbed this year the niner. i guess the folks at multnomah county found out, because today i was chosen as juror number niner. and i get to be juror niner for 6 whole days. yes, my friends, 6 days away from my job, which couldn't be busier. and i get to sit in a pathetically padded swivel chair listening to 42 hours of lawyer blah blah. awesome.

but it's baseball season, so i can't be too sad. go detroit!

color me cabled!

this weekend i finally figured out (with the help of the lovely folks at the naked sheep) what i've been doing wrong with my cabled christmas stocking. turns out when you knit in the round, you don't have a right or a wrong side, and thus, i was following the pattern incorrectly.

behold, my first cabling project!

100 percent pure cable lovin'

only four tear-outs required -- who said i'm not patient?

next up: learning how to knit the sock part. i'm scared.

sex and baseball

yesterday i spent 13 hours in front of the TV watching a combination of 'sex and the city' season one (and part of season 2), and the MLB division championships.

some call it lazy. i call it THE BEST DAY EVER.

gotham tavern part deux

attention portlanders: the gotham tavern on interstate ave. and albina is back open, and let me be the first to tell you it's terrific. same hip space, but new management, new menu and a new attitude makes it about a thousand times better than its original incantation. that first time around, mickey and i visited the restaurant not long after it opened. we like NW cuisine, but this was a bit too much: every dish had 20 adjectives to describe it, the experience was pretentious, and when we left that evening, we were wholly unimpressed, so much so that i vowed never to go back, even after semaphoria worked hard to convince me that their breakfast donuts were delish.

fast forward to now. mickey remembered seeing lights on in the joint earlier this week, so we decided to give it a whirl last night. when walked in, the bartender waved and said, "anywhere you'd like to sit is fine!" what? no more $50 down payment to sit in the beehive booth? we chose a seat and were greeted by the very nice waitress. i asked for a wine list. they had three options, all very good. the waitress apologized that they were still finishing their selection, would i be OK with a glass of the kason vineyard willamette valley pinot noir ($24/bottle)? funny lady. when am i not ok with a pinot?

the menus was one page, featuring simple yet delicious pub fare options. few adjectives. mickey ordered the prime rib sandwich and a salad, and i ordered the pasta special of the day (fettuccini with sausage, roasted red peppers and zucchini). we settled in with our wine, and when the food came, we were very impressed. the plating of mickey's sandwich was beautiful, and it was a huge portion, too, all for $7.50. my pasta ($10) was really tasty.

jordan, the manager/owner, wandered over, sat down and chatted for a few. he and his partner have worked at other neighborhood bars in portland. when the opportunity came to pick up the lease at gotham, they jumped on it. jordan said he's trying to make the restaurant fit better with the neighborhood than it was before. in other words, he wants people to stop in for a beer, have happy hour, and have good tasting, inexpensive food. he mentioned considering doing a discount for people who take alternative transportation, since they're on the max and bus line. they are also going to change the name (we got the preview, but i won't mention it here because it's still a secret), to get away from the brand image that gotham had before. good move, sayeth me. we finished our meal, paid our bill ($34 with tip), waved goodbye to fawn, our waitress, and to jordan and his crowd at the bar, and headed home with our to-go boxes full with a second portion for lunch.

all in all, it was a great experience, and i'm so glad we tried it again. i want to encourage all portlanders to check the place out. the food is super and at really reasonable prices, and the staff is fantastic. the grand opening will be later this month, but even now during their soft opening, it's well worth the visit. go say hello to jordan, have a beer and grab a bite!

watch your back, ena

oh, puddy, you better watch your back. a new breed is in town. best be on good behavior (no late night meyhem, scratching, or claw attacks), or else you're outta here.

tough rhetoric

i heard the most classic thing on the bus tonight from a five year old. he was arguing back and forth with a little girl he just met on the bus. over and over, they argued, "no sir!" "yes sir!" every topic resulted in the same -- "i live on the stairs." "nuh uh!" "uh huh!" "nuh uh!" "uh huh!"

just about the time when i'm laughing out loud at the two kids, the five year old says, "this is my stop. i just have one more question for you: yes."

and then he got off the bus.

i love it: i have one more question for you. yes.

classic.

chili lovin

23 chilis. a new record. props to my peeps for the best turnout yet!!!

view the chili carnage here.

favorite time of year

this is my favorite time of year, when the leaves start to fall, the weather starts to feel crisp. i've switched to the down comforter. last weekend i made beef stew in the dutch oven and a lovely apple coffee cake. i started planning my standby battery of fall recipes -- spicy butternut squash and sweet potato soup, pumpkin bread, polentas with sauteed mushrooms and roasted red peppers, mugs of hot apple cider. the staple sauvignon blancs from the summer are getting moved to the bottom shelf of the wine rack to make way for bottles of thick, hearty red wines we need to pick up this coming weekend. this is the season for knitting, reading, savoring foods and drinks and unwinding.

i just finished re-reading one of the most brilliant, delicious books of all time on the plane yesterday. it's all about enjoying a simple life in france. i read it for the first time back when i was a freshman in college for an english class on writing memoirs, and gauging from the notes i made in the margins, i clearly wasn't in a stage in my life to appreciate it. it was such a crack-up to read how naive and unaware i was. "what's foie gras?" i wrote on one page. "all they do is eat!" i wrote on another. reading the notes, it was the first time i felt glad i've grown up. i'm not wise or cultured or worldly, but hallelujia that i now appreciate the finer points in life, like stinky cheese.

cheers to you, especially all my friends who i hear are working hard, and soul searching about their futures and their life choices. may we all slow down long enough to enjoy the moments of fall.

my man, he's the tops

with my new job's hectic schedule, and the stress of fitting into a new company and a new role, i've not been the easiest person to deal with lately. unfortunately mickey gets the back end of my bad attitude. no home cooked meals, the house isn't clean, and, oh yeah, i'm pretty crabby too.

to reward me for my stellar behavior, mickey gave me a surprise shopping spree with my good friend ljc and a new camera (just like semaphoria's new one, only not sexy orange). all i got him were four stinking chocolates from my trip to SF today.

who feels like a bit of a jackass? bad wife. BAD!

needless to say, the blog is also getting the back end of my attitude, so i have nothing fun to talk about. wait, one thing: i finished a square of my NZ blanket, so now i only have 6 to go. as the leaves start to change, and as the weather turns crisp, i'm getting back in the mood for knitting. good thing, because my stash of yarn grew this summer quite nicely, and did i mention i have 6 squares on my NZ blanket left? must get that done before the year is out.

and, one more thing: chili cookoff time is nigh. we're hoping to break the entry record, which last year hit 18. my jalapeno plants are aggressively keeping up with my pepper requirements for this year's entry. muy caliente!

maybe when i get the new fancy cammy all charged up, i'll take a photo or two of our test chili recipes or the blanket. or probably more likely, of me sitting on the couch vegetating.

babies

our cat ena has this bad habit of getting into my yarn stash and hauling the skeins around our house. we think she pretends these are her babies. she walks around with them in her mouth, making this crying noise -- very cute. one time she sorted all the grey wool yarn in a pile from the fuzzy orange yarn, which she hid behind the couch.

thursday i got home to find this:




four yarns and yarn-items strewn from living room to the upstairs bedroom.

PS

all i had to eat yesterday was pizza. 6 pieces of it. nothing else.

nothing to report

6 am: shut alarm off.

go to work.

maybe eat lunch.

come home at 7.

dinner.

work.

bed.

repeat ad yaddayaddaeum.

no time even to read wonkette. what a sad blog poster.

mental atrophy

i perhaps must eat my words from my last post. partially at least. while i was right about the workload, it turns out it's not so much easy. long hours, early mornings (relative to my previous job), and really smart people kept me on my toes for five days straight. next to me at this moment, my work laptop is turned on, logged on. and this is just the first week.

but: i love feeling like my brain is being stretched. i love feeling like there's so much to do that there's not a moment to lose. i love feeling like i have to prove myself all over again.

it's true that, if not used, a brain can atrophy. just so happens that mine is back on a regular exercise regimen. i'm exhausted, but the endorphins and adrenaline feel great.

new frontier

i started my new jobbie today. it was pleasantly easy, i'm happy to report. while there's mountains of work to be done, it's either manageable, or its scope and severity is beyond my sphere of comprehension. nevertheless, i'll live in blissful ignorance for now as i learn all about new clients and company policies.

it's delightful to work for a large company for the first time -- upon my arrival, my desk was set up, the computer configured properly, there was a nice stock of office supplies available to me. they had organized a thorough and helpful orientation for me. and, they had gathered an extensive library of info for me to study in advance of my upcoming client meetings.

i got home from work and told mickey all about how very organized, very professional the first day at my new company was. and, lo, the words were not barely out of my mouth when i realized i had been wearing my shirt inside out all day long.

sigh....

haus frau tasks

i moved all the furniture out of the living room and mickey's office yesterday, because today the carpet and air ducts are getting cleaned. thus, my dining room looks like this:
i've been informed by the cleaning man upstairs just now that the funk in my ducts has plugged up his system twice. that normally happens only once during a cleaning. at any rate, i've been banished to the basement whilst they work their magic. my allergies are miserable at the moment because of all the nastiness coming out of the ducts. guess this is long overdue.

in other news, we finally joined the ranks of most mainstream americans and had cable teevee installed yesterday. so, as i sneeze and blow my nose, at least i can watch giada de laurentiis make the most delicious looking strawberry trifle i've seen.

speaking of food, i made an antipasti platter last eve that giada herself would have been proud of.

hurrah, it's fig season!

i rode my little bike to the new seasons where i purchased a variety of cheese, some salami, and some veg to grill. paired with a washington sauvignon blanc, it was delicious.

have i mentioned i love being home during the day?

if only every week was like this

i'm into my second week of unemployment. lots of stuff in the works, many house visitors, lots of stories. in lieu of a narrative, i give you my photo montage of some memorable moments:

oregon beer fest, after 65 beers. rock n roll.

our denver-friends at the farmer's market

delicious dessert at pix

fricking mariners lost, whah whah (debbie downer sound here)

toots's blast from the past

more here at flickr. suffice to say, i love not being at work. but, i am excited (not ready, but excited) to start my new gig next monday.

rock n roll

last night mickey and i had the honor and privilege of attending A.R.T's production of "hedwig and the angry inch" with friends tom and judy. the performance features wade mccollum (of PCS's "batboy" fame) in a reprise of hedwig. he is, undoubtedly, the most dynamic, talented actor to grace this here rose city, and man, o man, does he do rock n roll right. i've seen the "hedwig" movie a handful of times, and listened to the soundtrack about a gajillion times, and still, last night's production blew my little, art-starved mind. the production was infintely better than the movie, and mccollum brought a whole new personality to hedwig.

show highlights: kick-ass, complex, beautiful vocals from mccollum, singing the finest lyrics from steven trask; witty, silly, often political ad-libbed banter from hedwig; audience lap dances; and did i mention, mccollum is the most physically fit actor i've ever seen on stage? as hedwig, he mentions he does ashtanga yoga. that must be true for mccollum himself. that guy is bendy and has got the finest legs this side of radio city music hall.

enough gushing, which i could do all day. please, please go see it between now and next saturday, when it closes forever. i may go back again, so perhaps i'll see you there.

day 4: freedom

here we are on day four of unemployment. so far i:

1. drank 70 or so beers at the oregon brew festival within five hours. ok, tasted 70ish beers, but it was a lot.
2. got my new library card and perused the downtown library bldg which is very nice.
3. went to the beach, got a sunburn.
4. stayed up too late and got up late.
5. bought canvas for my art projects.
6. had an MGD and nachos for lunch.
7. exercised once.

we're off to a good start!

busybot

tomorrow is a big day for me. it's my last day at my current job, which i've had for five years. it's been an up and down time, as all jobs are, but i have to say: i'm jumping out of my skin excited to be done. i have two weeks off before i start my next gig, and i have so many things i have planned.

i hope to listen to lots of splendid table -- i have months and months to catch up.

i want to make this every night. it was delicious tonight, and worth repeating many times.

french-style shrimp salad à l'becky

french-style shrimp salad à la cooking light

i will finally visit the multnomah county library with the sole intent of borrowing cookbooks and knitting books, specifically the mason dixon book, and julie and julia.

i have painting to do -- pictures of stuff that inspired me in new zealand, but that i haven't had inspiration to recreate since.

and speaking of new zealand, i still have that damn blanket i've been working on since our trip that i gotta get done. eight more blocks to knit, but the thought of having hot wool on my lap when it's 90+ degrees makes me gag.

and, did i mention sex in the city? i have the entire series to catch up on.

it'll be a busy two weeks, but i'm ready.

holy sweatbeads, batman

it's hot. it's africa hot. tarzan couldn't take this heat.

confederacy of dunces

stand up if you are proud of our president today. nobody?

what could possibly be more offensive: the fact that the guy's middle east foreign policy is based on playground rules; or that he chews with his mouth open; or that he discusses his playground politics with a major world leader while chewing with his mouth open and leaning back in his chair like he's judging the wet tee-shirt contest at the ATO frat house? had the microphone not been so smartly turned off by blair, i half suspect dub's next line would have been, "dude, did you check out the hotties at the next table? wanna get you some of that?"

lord. have. mercy. i'm going to bed now.

mandatory fun

yesterday at a company-sanctioned mandatory fun day, we visited a bowling alley, where a coworker bought socks out of a vending machine for just $2. i had no idea sock vending machines existed, and yet how brilliant is that for bowling alleys. i'd like to find out where a purse and handbag vending machine is located.

bird's eye view

my across-the-street neighbor just took her bike out for a spin. upon her arrival home, she bailed off the bike and landed on her head in the lawn. did she mean to do this? i don't think so, because she laid there for a good three minutes. was she hurt? don't know. did i laugh at the sight of someone falling on their head? yeah, i kinda did.

just call me the neighborhood spy...

new friends

i just had dinner with a relatively new friend we met through toots a couple years back. he's a college friend of hers, and we met him during one of his trips to portland. he has the best outlook on life, and it's a treat to talk with him, because he's so positive, optimistic and genuine. it's amazing that despite the fact i've met him on two very brief occasions, i feel i've known him forever.

had some dinner at south park, which was divine. i saw a good band at noon today, national flower. it's warm out, but not too warm. i'm going to bed early, which is unusual these days. all the makings for a terrific day.

celebrity look-alike

often times mickey and i will meet someone new, and during the course of the convo, they will pause and ask, "has anyone ever told you you look like ed norton?" mickey doesn't think so, and at first, i wasn't so sure either. but as the years have worn on, the more and more he looks like him. less "american history x" ed norton, and more "everyone says i love you" ed norton. regardless, it's flattering, because ed norton is a hotty, and it's funny to watch mickey's face when a woman in particular brings it up.

he stumbled upon this tonight, and decided to see if this look-alike is a coincidence or not. turns out, they think he looks like steve buscemi, anthony quinn, or fred ward. since when did ed norton and steve buscemi look alike? perplexing at best, insulting at worst. and entirely wrong, seeing that mickey resembles none of these people. perhaps now he'll be less annoyed when people call him ed.

it is worth noting, of course, that my photo was compared with my hero, meryl streep, plus sheryl crow, diane keaton, and jennifer beals. not that any of these women look alike either, but hey, it's way better than steve buscemi.

lavvy luv

today is my favorite day of the year in portland -- the portland lavender festival. since i moved here six years ago, moniqua and i have ventured out to the fields just north of hillsboro to cut big, beautiful, fragrant bunches of lavender. moniqua's mom and my new neighbor, plus a cutie baby joined us for a gorgeous day in the sun. when we got to our favorite spot, we found out the place is for sale! if only i had $750K to buy it. what an amazing life that would be to farm lavender.

the harvest

(most of) the group

in addition to hooking up with three bunches, i also bought 12 little Lavandula x intermedia 'Provence' plants for the lavender hedge i've been dreaming about replicating since our first visit to the black barn vineyard's rush cottage in new zealand.

if you've never been to the festival, it is still going on tomorrow, and i highly encourage you to make the drive. you won't regret it when you smell that intoxicating field of flowers!

great weekend, how 'bout you?

it's wednesday, and how great is it that i got to ask everyone today, how was your weekend? see, i had monday and tuesday off, which meant four day weekend.

big highlights:
1. fantastic two days at the gorgeous home of a friend's in-laws, right on the white salmon river. totally chill, got lots of soccer watched, cooked a little, and read a lot. so perfect.
2. took a nap. awesome.
3. spent tuesday with mickey on our seventh spamaversary. seven years, no itch yet. gotta love that.
4. watched a rugby match with the aid of a projector on the back wall of my house on tuesday night, with the neighbors, while listening to the fireworks. life size all blacks = cool.
5. brewed a new batch of porter, which should be ready in 6 weeks. potential names: heavy ho, in homage to black boss porter, or something perhaps more PC. i'll consult double-d for some suggestions.

soon, very soon, i will have more time to blog. i'm also going to try to train my ma on how to blog about her new house she's building. that should be an interesting process. until time frees up, i appreciate your patience.

happy trails

i had to say a tearful farewell to toots (and willy...again) today. it's a day i've been avoiding, ignoring, denying for six years. having known the reality that they'd stay in portland only a few years hasn't made this past weekend, and indeed today, any easier. i've been spoiled to have them in town and nearby for so many years. genuinely, it's been the best six years i can imagine.

in their honor, i offer:

top five reasons why it sucks that that toots and willy moved away:

1. no one will appreciate -- or even know! -- rod yee, let alone his song, and i'll bet i'm back to justifying my love of stevie nicks.
2. now i have to pay for medical advice, massages, magnaleuvres, and don't get me started on the 243.
3. sunday dinners will be spent alone, watching "HELLOW JOHNSON FAMILY!!".
4. people will think we're odd when we order a mee-mosa at brunch.
5. neither mickey nor i ever learned how to score pinochle.

here's to you two. the happiest of birthdays to willy. a huge, heartfelt congratulations to the new doctor. a joyful hug to your growing family. a fond adieu to our best friends. we love you.

comments from this weekend

"you're a shoe whore."

no, you're a "shoe-stitute."

delinquency

i've been holed up in my basement watching world cup on the weekends and working during the week, which basically means i've been a recluse. but, the best thing that's happened all week is that i got a free ticket on alaska airlines for volunteering off a flight to san diego for work. the story for getting bumped is a funny one, though, for professional reasons, not something i can mention here. email me and i'll tell you the story.

nevertheless, having a free pass on any flight i want is like being in a candy store with 20 dollars. so many options, where to go? mexico? very tempting. new york city? always top of my list. somewhere practical like back to visit parents or in-laws? not as glamorous, but it should be considered. such a dilemma. stay tuned for the verdict!

and finally, a shout-out to toots for her last day of med school, her last clinic shift ever, and to anticipating the day -- monday -- when we'll officially call her doctor toots, medicine woman. the dedication and sacrifice, the weekends when studying had to come before anything else, when the wine, sugar and bread intake was limited in the name of health...they were worth it. you made it! as you embark on your exciting summer, remember, this could be us:

you think you know someone

i found out tonight that a friend (who shall remain nameless, to protect her hard earned cool-factor) was a member of the biology club in college. biology club? really? this is a beautiful, smart, partying woman who i know was extremely cool in college. biology club? huh.

and since i'm going to hell anyway...

in the spirit of today's date, here's something that has been cracking me up for the past few days. every time i watch it i laugh until i cry.



enjoy!

slugs of a feather stick together

sunday night i couldn't sleep. i tossed and turned for a good hour or two before i decided to migrate to the spare room (newly painted that saturday, i might add, in anticipation of many visitors this summer). as i laid there at 1:30AM i remembered i'd forgotten to lock the back door. with my mind racing enough at that point, i was sure that if i left it unlocked, a stranger would come in, steal my stuff, eat my food, and other horrible things. so, i walked down the hall, down the stairs and turned the light on to check.

sadly, i was too late. an unexpected visitor had already found his way into our house.

i came face to face with...

a...

nasty, 2-inch, black slug, stuck to the inside of our back door.

how the heck did it get in the house?! to this day, i still can't figure it out. slugs don't have thumbs. they can't open doors. i hadn't left the door open long enough for one to waltz across the threshold. have you seen a slug move? they're slow.

why, you ask, am i still thinking about the slug? because i was too lazy (ok, scared out of my mind) to touch the damn thing on sunday night, so i left it there thinking i could make mickey take care of it in the morning. but, when i went back monday morning, the slug was gone. and i've not seen him since. which means, he's leaving nasty, 2-inch, black slug trails somewhere in my house. and that is SO not ok with me.

and speaking of slugs, did anyone see what ann coulter said on the "today" show today? apparently she's got a whole book on this insanity. was it a coincidence it was the devil's day today and she was out in full force? you decide....

i-want-itis

last night over beers with a coworker friend we decided that "it" all comes down to being independently wealthy. for example, i really want to own a cheese and wine shop with my coworker locall, and apparently i don't have enough capital to make this work. i also desperately want to go to germany in a month for the world cup (not that i'm a soccer fan per se, but how freaking fun would it be there during the middle of that party?!). sadly, tickets to frankfurt are $1500, well outside my budget. i'd like to go to china and hong kong this year. not gonna happen.

if anyone has any great ideas for how i can become independently wealthy, let me know. or, alternatively, if you know where i can pick up a nice cabin in the mountains for under $80K, that'd be ok too.

it's tuesday, but really it's monday

top five best things about my weekend:

1. sleeping in until 11:15 on monday morning rulz, 'specially 'cause i didn't have to be at work.
2. it was a good cooking weekend. making green curry from scratch isn't hard, with the help of hot, sour, salty, sweet. plus, pursuant to operation kitchen clean-out, i just HAD to make some peanut butter chocolate brownies. they were really bad. i might have three more tonight after dinner.
   
3. while miserably sad, the final hurrah for willy friday night got me good -n- inebriated. to ease the pain, of course.
   
4. i got some knitting done on my new zealand blanket, aka, the longest project in history.
5. toots and i had some good girlie time, complete with mimosas and craft projects. and, mickey had two hot dates to the davinci code on sunday. the only thing better than that to a guy, i assume, would be to have two hot dates who happened to be twins.
   

and now the weekend is over, and i'm back at work.

fiber crack

i just ordered a boatload of yarn for myself and a coworker/coknitter. included in my order is some fabulous debbie bliss cashmerino chunky in celery and baby blue, which i have been drooling over for many months. not that i have any specific projects in mind for it, or the five skeins of cascade 220 also in my order. that's a minor detail. at least i have a purpose for the lopi bulky ... more cutie felted bowls!

did i mention i just finished knitting my first one this weekend?

the pattern is out of "one skein," a pattern book by leigh radford, a local portland woman. i had difficulties getting the pattern to work as-is...undoubtedly my error. it called for a 24" long needle, size 15. i tried this three times using the correct gauge yarn, and couldn't get it to stretch long enough to work. i substituted #13, 16" needles, and added 20 stitches to the cast on row (the only way i could get the two ends to join). it's much bigger than the pattern calls for in finished form, but it worked.

nose candy

no, i don't have a cocaine habit. that's just me sitting in my office with the worst allergies ever. will someone please get me oven mitts so i stop scratching?

weekend was good. going away party had just the right amount of silliness and mayhem (quarters coming out of people's noses, my new/old polaroid camera got a workout, rough bocce rivalries were formed). i finished knitting and felting my first bowl, which turned out very cute. and i won my last round of pinochle. all in all, no complaints!

update: ice wine, plus more on the neighbors and the weekend

i now know what happens when wine sits in a freezer for 24 hours. i still can't find the cork, but suffice to say that the freezer got a little bath in white wine. mmm, slushy. stay tuned for an update on where the cork ended up.

we met our new neighbors for the first time last night. mickey knows neighbor-lady's mom from work and has heard lots about them, so we felt we knew them already. it's kind of weird to think that in a town this size, we'd know something about the neighbors before they moved in. it turns out this coincidence was the tip of the iceberg.

whilst moving in wednesday, neighbor-guy was wearing a university of nebraska t-shirt. when we met them last night, mickey asked him what was up. turns out neighbor-guy is a alum just like mickey and me, (two years younger than me). he lived in the dorms near where mickey and i were RAs, so i'm sure we all crossed paths at one point or another. anyhoo, it's very funny to think we share a property line with a husker. he likes nebraska football a LOT, he says. we won't hold that against him.

in other news, we're gearing up for the last big hurrah (for now) with willy this weekend. he moves to wyo next weekend, so we're having a party at our house to send him on his way. today's his last day at work (WAHOO!). it's a big day too for toots, who's resolving a dental problem that's plagued her for years. she's going to be cracked out on vicodin this weekend, poor thing. but, i'm sure it will make for a kickin' party.

am i jealous of them because it's his last day or because she's on drugs? i will sort through these feelings today.

ice wine

toots and willy brought over a bottle of wine last night to have with dinner (lettuce wraps, cheese platter and salmon pufflets which looked like a tuffet which is something else, but not as tastee as the pufflets). so, we didn't end up drinking the one i had been chilling. in the freezer. which is where it still is as of right now.

question: does wine freeze, and if so, will it thaw out without being ruined?

in other news, our new neighbors moved in last night. i'm excited that it gave me another opportunity to move inventory from my pantry (operation kitchen clean-out continues). as a "welcome to the neighborhood" kind of thing, we're giving them a bag of breakfast fixin's -- homemade chokecherry syrup and pancake mix.

the clean-out is going well. this weekend's going to be a key time for me to re-evaluate what we have left, and decide what i can make with the remaining items. these include: kalamata olives, artichoke hearts, white beans, condensed milk, oatmeal, cereal, hot dog buns, and a crapload of condiments. any ideas for recipes?

highlight of my day

so, is it a sad thing that the highlight of my day has been the sandwich i made for myself at lunch? i mean, don't get me wrong, it was delicious -- sesame seed bread, turkey, ham, provolone, and a walnut pesto spread. but this is the only good thing that happened today. sigh.

mishmash

it's been the busiest week already, and it's only wednesday. what to do?!

last night we went to what was supposed to be a simon and garfunkel showdown between two bands. instead it turned into a hoedown, because one of the simons bailed. was quite a fun time despite his absence. i've not listened to s&g in awhile, and hearing the music again reminded me how cool paul simon's lyrics are. he's such a poet (and a one-man band, if you catch the reference).

the mariachi band is back tonight. it's so very festive outside. not to mention that the weather is gorgeous. i've got the window open and the fresh breeze is blowing in. i'm wearing my camo pants. i'm drinking a lovely cab, or is it shiraz? no matter.... life is pretty good all in all.

office space

this morning i finally set up my office at my house. it's in a small room off the main home office, which is currently used by mickey.

please note the mrs. butterworth's lamp on the table.

this morning i'm working in my space, he in his. and thus, the office jokes begin...

me: hey, can you please print this for me?
mickey: sure, just email it to me. i haven't got the printer networked yet.
me: (send the document via email, along with a lewd suggestion to start an intra-office affair.)

(a few minutes go by.)

mickey: um, yeah, you left this on the printer. (drops the document on my desk.)

(a few more minutes pass.)

me: (yelling into his office.) hey, did you read that article....
mickey: what did you say?
me: we need to get office phones so we don't have to yell.

(a few more minutes pass. the house phone rings.)

me: please hold all my calls.

it's cracking me up. i can't wait to do a staff meeting. assuredly it will be more fun than the ones at the 8-5 job. i think i'm going to go ask mickey to run out and get me a cup of coffee and a scone, just to see what he says.

lame-ass weekend

mickey, willy o'shea and rod cochrane are out today on their MAX bar crawl. they're taking the max from the dancin' bare in no-po, hopping off at each stop between there and goose hollow to have a cocktail at the nearest bar. for those of you who know what no-po is like, they are assuredly going to be shit-canned by the time they get downtown. (there are a whole lotta bars up here, folks.) the saving grace is that willy has to be in decent shape to compete at a ping-pong tournament tonight for the national college for naturopathic medicine. i'm placing bets on the chinese docs who are his opponent. nothing personal.

while they are out carousing and making general meyhem, here i am working on a lovely saturday (it's cloudy, but warm-ish, but who cares, it's SATURDAY for chrissake). it's not all bad, though. i'm enjoying the use of double-d's office today, which rules, i had a rockin' chai tea latte from foxfire, and just heard faith no more's 'epic' for the first time in probably five years. i guess there is a bright side to working.

we had a lovely dinner last night at willy's and toot's house. burritos and margs for cinco de mayo. so good. they do this thing where they combine spicy meat with sweet dates, and it tastes amazing. to top off the meal, toots made a black bean cake for dessert. sounds sorta weird but it was extremely tasty. must get recipe.

hey, where'd my legs go?

i'm the proud new owner of a pair of camouflage capri pants. i've wanted a pair for a couple years now and just yesterday i found the perfect pair. mickey likes to joke about them, of course. having been a military man, he doesn't understand the fashion potential of camo, as he only wears his air force issued pair for yard work. it's very sad, really.

i'm slowly getting my lappy configured with my personal settings, and also uploading all the software i need on it, including my camera software. hopefully this weekend i'll get it loaded, and then i'll post some photos of the camo pants and last weekend's trip to the deschutes. here's a teaser: the trip involved pole dancing, gymnastics, and drunken card games. stay tuned....

the blunder down under

last night i heard that keith richards was in a hospital in auckland, new zealand following not one, but two accidents in neighboring fiji. while on holiday, keith allegedly was in a jet-ski accident. this was immediately after .... wait for it ... he fell out of a coconut tree.

so the fall from the tree didn't phase ol' keith. it takes TWO accidents to take him down. hard core.

rumor has it he has a concussion. doctors on the case cite symptoms of a concussion as tiredness, poor concentration, irritability, dizziness, clumsiness, eye problems and headaches. my question is: how could anyone tell whether this dino-rocker had a concussion or was just being his normal self? regardless, he's causing quite a stir in auckland. sounds like there might have even been a concert in the recovery wing, gauging from reports of several guitars being brought into the ward. kick-ass.

2 much 2 do

between:

• work hours, which have been non-stop meetings for two weeks, on top of all the other stuff that needs to be accomplished in a day;
  
• my new lappy, which desperately needs configuring and cleaning of all the pre-loaded crap;
  
• coming up with new meal ideas for white beans;
• coordinating for my fabulous weekend get-away to the deschutes; and
  
• a general hodge-podgery of exercise, doctor appts, house cleaning and whatnot

i am much too busy for my liking. must find way to set boundaries to work sanely at the office and the house and still feel i have time to watch the fisher family on six feet under and knit.

what's a girl to do?

itshereitshereitshere!

lappy has arrived, and he's thin and silver and beautiful! how, oh how will i get any work done with him sitting in his little box behind my desk?

one more thing

ps: dinnner tonight was egg, toast and cereal. as you can tell, we're cleaning out the breakfast items. bye bye cinnamon toast crunch. i heart you.

the laughs keep on comin'

i've recently been reading with sick fascination the trials and tribulations of one congresswoman cynthia mckinney of georgia. most (ok, 99 percent) of what i know comes from wonkette, which is my favorite website this month. this woman cannot catch a break. today's PR gaffe is a page out of PR 101: what not to do. after she walked out on an interview (in which they were railing her for abusing a capitol hill cop), she kept her microphone on whilst insulting her staffer. all her insults were caught on tape. if that's not enough, she went back to the interviewer and tried to explain exactly why they did not have permission to use the clip on air.

just who is this woman's PR person? have they never heard of media training? christ -- i went through it as a sophomore in college thanks to john guiniven, who no doubt trained bob byrd during his stint as the statesman's press secretary. not that i'm volunteering for the flack's job -- good god no. i'm just saying, i love validation that i am better at PR than someone else.

and, by the way, i wonder if KQ or angeler think congresswoman has taken graduate courses in condescension from the j-school? her tone with the journalist on the video rings slightly of, "while i appreciate you feel you have rights to use this audio track, actually, you don't."

(if you're unfamiliar with the mckinney saga, the archives on wonkette are highly entertaining. it's like a little bon bon treat to see what new this woman is up to every day. bwahahaha...insert evil laugh here.)

spring cleaning

i am a hoarder of pantry items. my cupboards are stocked with crap that i keep buying at the grocery store which i never end up cooking with. recently, after cleaning out one cupboard i decided that i'm done buying groceries until i use up what i have in my pantry. thus, i've commenced operation kitchen clean-out.

here are the rules: i am only allowed to cook with the food i have at the house. grocery trips are allowed only for purchasing vegetables, staples (eggs, milk, coffee/tea, cheese -- hey, it's a staple), and if needed, one or two ingredients that will allow me to make a meal out of the ingredients at the house. for example, to use up the flour and other baking goods i have, i can buy a packet of yeast or some brown sugar. but, i'm limited to one or two new ingredients only.

this past two weeks, some sample meals we've prepared include:

• soy "chicken" nuggets and french fries
• spaghetti
• beans and rice with leftover turkey cutlets diced up
• homemade chicken stock using a random chicken carcass i'd frozen months ago
• pizza using homemade dough and sauce (three times in one week)

these may not be odd combinations, but due to the rules i've established, what this means is that it's going to get pretty creative around here meal-wise as the pantry gets empty. i have a lot -- i mean a LOT -- of dry white beans, and the day could come where all we have to eat are white beans. thus, i need to start thinking ahead about the meals so that i don't leave myself stranded with only some crappy beans and some hot sauce in the fridge.

the good news is that yesterday i had a party for some girlfriends, so i bought some new veggies and ingredients for the meal i was making for the party. mickey and i (plus toots, who's joined us this weekend for a slumber party) are loving the leftovers, and are especially happy we've put off one more day of eating white beans!

reason number 1 today for not exercising

my shoes and socks are damp with orange juice from breakfast. what a debbie downer. oh, well, i guess i'll go eat lunch instead.

i'm finally joining the 21st century of PC technology

in my last post i lamented on not being able to get the drivers for my digital camera to work with my laptop. i'm sure this is purely due to user error. however, i'm holding a shred of hope it's also because said laptop is actually the property of my employer.

but, as of tonight, i am the (almost) proud owner of a new, shiny, pretty, happy lappy of my very own. it's currently being built just for me by lovely people at dell. while i realize i will get much razzing from semaphoria and other mac people that i didn't purchase an i-book (blahblahblah, i'm not buying a mac, so stop it), and while i was really against buying a dell at the beginning of my lappy search, i'm convinced i've made a good purchase. even CNET says so, and they would know. the truth will be known when my new friend arrives at my doorstep 3 to 5 days after april 25th.

ohgeezohgeez, how will i face this waiting game, this torture?

not only will my little lappy have XP on it (not a novelty, i realize, but i will finally be able to use my stupid mp3 player [which is NOT an ipod -- ENOUGH already] which requires WMP10), but i'll also be able to plug the system into my teevee. this, dear friends, means that i can watch all the rugby and baseball i want online, through the comfort of my basement entertainment system. oh, yes, dear friends: this is big news. no more schlepping projectors back and forth from various sources; no more sitting in the home office to watch grainy video on a wickedold CRT monitor.

if i were a cat, i'd be this excited

but since i'm not a cat, here's me excited

hunting for more than easter eggs

Note: updated today with photos....

on sunday, after a massive breakfast, some booze, an easter egg hunt around the house, and some lame-ass pinochle hands, mickey, willie, toots and i were slight bored. we'd just broken the boys' easter toy (the velcro ball and mitts, which we ruined in less than 20 minutes). it was getting desperate. thank god someone suggested a scavenger hunt (ok, it was me, because i've been wanting to do one after reading about platial's geo-scavenger hunt a couple weeks ago). we made our list of items, paired up into teams, and hit the neighborhood.

the first list was pretty basic: find ten items in the neighborhood, be back at the house in 20 minutes for the first round of drinking. toots and i ran frantically searching for a lava rock, a dogwood flower, some easter candy, a matchbook and other random items. after successfully finding 8 out of ten bits, we regrouped with willie and mike, reviewed the booty, caught our breath, had a cocktail and made the second, more aggressive list.

our "something random" finding from round one: a slightly freaky easter bunny, sqeezing the hell out of some kids

the second list comprised 20 more complicated items: a garden gnome, a crazy mailbox, food on the street, shoes on a phone wire, a doolie truck, a statuette in a yard, tulip bed, tiki torch, bottle of beer on a porch. the rules this time: we were on the honor system, so rather than bringing each item back with us, we were to write the address where we found all the items. in 20 minutes, we were to meet at the mock crest tavern. toots and i made it with 7 seconds to spare, and with only three or four items we'd not found. mickey and willie had had similar luck, so the contest was a close one. upon arrival at the mock crest, we found they were having an easter egg hunt in their back garden, a perfect match to our theme for the day. while everyone else found candy in their egg, i found a golden egg in mine, which meant i won...


over round two of cocktails we discussed the third and final scavenger list. in 35 minutes, we were to find 20 more items: three cars parked in a driveway, a car parked on the lawn, cat on a porch, tv on in a house, christmas lights, a crazy easter decoration, sidewalk chalk drawing, sports flag, and still that damn garden gnome, as none of us saw one in round two. within the time allotted, we were also supposed to make our way to sagittarius for the third cocktail break.

toots and i busted out of mock crest, walking as fast as we could through neighborhoods we thought might have the items on our list. with about 30 seconds to spare, we'd just found the beware of dog sign (next door to the beware of cat sign, which we were prepared to cheat and say was good enough), and walked into sagittarius, me with a foot cramp, toots with a busting bladder, both of us sweaty and exhausted.

waiting patiently for the boys....

the boys waltzed in 3 minutes late, and were penalized for the delay. while i hate to admit we won on a technicality, toots and i accepted the win gracefully (ok, the alcohol was talking at this stage).

i love this blurry setting on my camera. i also love vanilla vodka and coke.

it was the perfect way to spend a day -- lots of exercise but with a nice distraction to make it enjoyable, and a cocktail or three at the end to keep us moving. all i gotta say, though, is that no-po is not representing -- are all its residents gnome haters? we found none. so sad.

PS: flickr's got more evidence of the day, if'n you're interested...

i guess i need more iron in my diet

i was just eating some dal soup that i made at home the other night. i took a bite and chomped down on something hard. i thought, hmm, it's probably a stone that i missed in the lentils.

nope, not a stone. it was a screw.

i broke the juicer tool while adding lime juice to the soup. apparently a screw from the tool fell in.

by the way, this is the second one of these i've bought and had break. and, by the way, i don't have super-human strength. i think this says something about fine quality craftsmanship used to make these things.

ole!

last night i was roused from my peaceful slumber by mickey, who whispered, "you gotta get up! wake up!" in a disoriented, grouchy state, i fumbled for my glasses on the nightstand, and rolled over to get up. i asked, "what's wrong?!" thinking, the house is on fire, mickey cut himself, the cat is puking, something.

mickey's reply, "nothing's wrong! there's just a mariachi band at the next door neighbor's house and i thought you'd like to see it."

sure enough, when we ran downstairs to look out the kitchen window, there was a mariachi band serenading the next door neighbors. at 11:45 at night. full costume. trumpets. the works.

now, how could i be grouchy anymore? a mariachi band!

priorities

big day in the news today. for starters, two top headlines in the NYT. the first details an interesting refute to popular beliefs about the biblical figure judas's role in the crucifixion. and, evolution proponents got a boost when scientists found in the arctic a fish fossil that had begun to grow leg-like appendages and digits.

also, tell me, dear readers: didn't w say he was going to fire anyone directly related to the leak involving valerie plame? i can't remember his exact words. nevertheless, it seems our fearless leader's got some 'splainin' to do.

but i can't let these get me worked up because there are more important and more stressful things i'm focusing on today. no, it's not that meridith viera is joining 'the today show.' i want to know why the hell can i not figure out how to knit a frigging cable?! i am doomed to forever follow basic patterns for flat, one-dimensional items.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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!