Dewey

Havin' a baby!

2008-09-25T14:54:00.001-05:00

And moved back to Philly, and all kinds of stuff. You can keep up here.

Heat miser?

2007-12-27T17:07:00.001-05:00

Do any of you remember this? I don't, and I'm sure I would remember such a catchy tune. (My coworker sent it to me.)

Another football sunday passed

2007-11-11T23:44:00.001-05:00

Go Eagles! But Johnny asked a compelling question:

Is Adam Vinatieri still on the Patriots' payroll?

1st leg

2007-11-09T08:32:00.001-05:00

We finally set out for the first stretch of the trip about 7:30 last night, after some problems with Johnny's web site and stupid iWeb.

Yes, I just called iWeb stupid.

After missing what waa probably some of the most beautiful scenery of the trip in WV and Va, we reached Lexington where we crashed at the HoJo on this mountain. The leaves are still turning here (at home our trees are almost bare) and Ilm looking forward to the drive to Richmond, home of VCU.

But first, breakfast!

Chili season starts ... now

2007-11-04T19:46:00.001-05:00

Last night our friends hosted their first annual chili cook-off. Johnny made the first place trophy which had a golden ladle and two hot peppers dangling in a manner reminiscent of the male anatomy. There were also ribbons for 2nd & 3rd places.

It was completely fun. The weather was pretty cool, so they got the fires going around 5 or so. There ended up being 14 varieties of chili there, including 6 veggie options and a 1/4 keg of scottish ale from a local brewery. With about 30 people and at least 9 dogs there, the voting was pandemonium. There were these little plastic cups and there were several strategies in place to get around to trying the selections. I ttied one at a time and took notes. There were voting sheets suggesting the aspects of each chili to consider and we weren't allowed to vote for our own.

Johnny made this awesome chili with cinnamon and marjoram, both brilliant suggestions from her grandmother. The votes were tallied ans she won 3rd place overall! First place was a meaty kind I didn't try, but I did drink a lot of beer and had some pumpkin pie squares.

It was pretty cold and we were a little tired, so we took off a little early. It was weird though, because we both woke up around 3 am and couldn't go back to sleep. I think that has never happened to me before -- wait, it did a few times when I was trying out an allergy medicine, but that doesn't really count. I might also be coming down with a cold.

But! I am trying to sleep it off because next week is Johnny's whirlwind east coast grad school tour! I'll be joining her for part of it from Thursday until Tuesday when I fly back from Philly before she heads up to NY and beyond. Yay for trips! Philly, I can't wait to see you!

Debate Unvailable??

2007-10-30T20:17:00.000-05:00

I am trying to watch the doggone debate, but it says the video is "unavailable." Apparently this isn't the first time this happened!

Haller een

2007-10-25T19:16:00.001-05:00

These are the cutest $alloween stickers of all time. Just look at that mummy!!!

Oh, the difficulty

2007-10-21T18:18:00.001-05:00

It's really hard to be an Eagles fan in Columbus. The game is only on the Sunday ticket so we had to find a place to watch. T he first place had some beeahtches who wouldn't "let" the bartenders change the audio channel. The next place was showing it but it was sequestered into the corner, also with no audio. Finally, we found our spot -- and we're gettin' some fries!

Makes the people come together

2007-10-19T10:53:00.000-05:00

there was some sort of power outage on campus today and my work tasks are limited due to downed servers, so... a post!

I was going to update you anyway because the Fabulous Johnson Brothers had this really great interview on a local radio station.

Here's the link to the station's page (scroll about halfway down)
or
Go directly to the audio.

I'm so excited to watch the show tonight (8 pm Fox, just in case you forgot).

Our friends are famous

2007-10-17T17:03:00.001-05:00

Some of you might know that we have a friend that's in a band who is going to be on Fox's series, "Next Great American Band." The show's premiere is Friday and I can't say what happens (because I don't really know) but they are definitely in at least one of the first 3 episodes.

They're so cute.

birthday revelry continues

2007-10-16T08:30:00.001-05:00

In addition to this Alessi watch (the grey one):

I also got Johnny tickets to see Wilco!

It's tonight and I'm really excited.

Three-Grain Molasses Bread

2007-10-13T11:58:00.000-05:00

Okay, so here's the recipe, adapted from "1001 Low-fat vegetarian recipes" by Sue Spitler (2nd ed.)

Three-Grain Molasses Bread

1 c. all-purpose flour
1 c. whole wheat flour
1 c. yellow cornmeal
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1 1/4 c. water
1/2 c. light molasses (I used blackstrap because that's what I had)
1/2 c. packed light brown sugar
3 T. vegetable oil

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl and pour into a greased 9x5 loaf pan. Bake at 350 until toothpick comes out clean, about 1 hour. Remove from pan and let cool on wire rack.

It's very easy, and soo yum. Have some directly from the oven, it's worth it.

Free tickets

2007-10-10T19:59:00.001-05:00

Johnny scored tickets to the BlueJackets (pro hockey) game. This photo is of our sweet view. And if you look closely, you can see the Chipotle burritos falling from the air by way of mini-parachute.

It's fall!

2007-10-10T12:26:00.001-05:00

Today's the first day it has been cool in a long time, so I felt practically obligated to bake something. I made a Three-Grain Molasses Bread from a cookbook, and cranberry muffins adapted from a recipe I found online.

The bread was incredible hot from the oven, but I'm saving the muffins for when I get hungry later.

The cultural hub of the midwest

2007-10-06T13:45:00.001-05:00

Wednesday was Johnny's 32nd birthday, so we went out for drinks to celebrate. There was a whole group of people who came and she got a bunch of drinks as gifts. People started taking off and there were just a few of us left: R (Johnny's friend who went to Italy with her), J ( Johnny's coworker), me and Johnny.

R and Johnny were talking and there was some skeezy old guy with an arm sling at the bar staring at R's legs. I gave him a dirty look and he kinda gave me a guilty shrug.

R left and J and I were telling Johnny about the nasty dude. She's a little protective of R so she started thinking of ways to get Skeezo back. They'd noticed that he was wearing penny loafers and white socks earlier, so she thought she'd go steal his pennies. She walked over, but there weren't any pennies so she casually picked up a napkin from the bar and came back to further assess the situation.

She thought maybe she'd take his sock instead. J agreed that this was the best course of action. I started laughing.

J is like the little brother she never wanted. They should maybe never drink together.

I'm still laughing off how ridiculous that would be when Johnny gets up and walks over. J says to me: you know, if she takes the sock, we need to get out of here, right?

Johnny takes Skeezo's foot, removes his penny loafer, takes his white athletic sock from his old foot and returns to the table to finish her drink.
Then she picks up the sock and leaves the bar.

J and I pay our tabs and head out to the parking lot. Skeezo's friend had followed her out and was halfheartedly womdering why someone would take his friend's sock. He may have called her bitter.

Johnny hung the sock on the sign for the pita place next door.

Happy Birthday.

Saddest news ever

2007-09-30T21:16:00.001-05:00

We had an amazing ceremony and post-vacation. When we got back, our cat Toolip was really sick. I took her to the vet and she had pretty bad jaundice. They did some tests and kept her overnight for an ultrasound. It turned out that her gall bladder duct had a rupture, due to some pressure --they weren't sure if there was a cancerous tumor, or what. It apparently had been going on for some time because she'd lost some weight and had some liver and pancreas issues as a result.

We're going to plant some tulip bulbs out front and put her ashes there. We all miss her very much.

We love you Toolie.

Pre-party

2007-09-21T23:05:00.001-05:00

tonight we are hangin' out at the kareoke.

3 days and counting

2007-09-19T13:37:00.001-05:00

We were up until about 3:30 last night working on our (quite lovely, thanks to Johnny's artistic vision and commitment to quality) programs. That was the last really big thing to do!

I'm supposed to work tomorrow! How am I going to do that? I can barely stay focused today.

New 'do

2007-09-15T11:21:00.001-05:00

I'm still planning to do some color.

sunny days ahead

2007-09-14T12:02:00.000-05:00

All right! I got the first solid look at next weekend's weather forecast and it's looking good!

I got an email from my mom yesterday that she is planning to attend our ceremony, and she's going to try and bring my sister. I was surprised at how excited I was to hear the news. I sometimes think that I can control my emotions, but then, pow! they pop right out. Anyway, I'm really glad.

We got a call today that our rings are ready! Johnny made some progress on her (completely different now) outfit, and I just need to find some shoes. Then, we're in business.

Remnants of others

2007-09-12T08:52:00.001-05:00

I'm reading this really good book and all these things keep falling out of it. The first couple werething I left in there: a photo of the haircut I want, a letter from work...but then I found a plane ticket to LGA from July 22. Then I found a coffee shop receipt that showed that the Frappe cost 66.13. It was from someplace in India I think.

I love library books. They are so well traveled. You don't find plane tickets in books at Barnes & Noble.

dry erase what?

2007-09-07T14:15:00.001-05:00

Today, I totally scored a gigantic whiteboard for my office. As soon as the guy moves (next week) I'll get to put it on my wall and start making crazy lists.

Apple is offering $100 credits for the poor folks who bought the iPhone before the price drop? I really, really love Apple, but I'm just pointing out that they are STILL getting an extra hundred per phone under this setup. Just sayin'

This weekend is the Siren Festival!! Johnny has been running around all nutty getting things ready for it, and I'm going to co-emcee the Royal Renegades show and do some performer management. I'm excited, and if the weather holds, we might even camp out. Woo!

hero in our midst?

2007-09-06T20:51:00.000-05:00

This is Johnny's sculpture professor, now retired. He totally just saved a kid from drowning after a ~~car~~ plane crash and was on the Today Show.
We went to his house for his retirement party last spring. He had a big pond there, with a rowboat, and an old refrigerator turned into a beer cooler. Then, his wife bought one of Johnny's sculptures.

Cherrimony

2007-09-04T11:57:00.001-05:00

It is fewer than 20 days until our ceremony!! I'm getting more and more excited, in spite of a two-week funk caused by my father's horrible reaction to the event. Good timing on his part though -- he waited until a month before even though he's had... Oh, THIRTEEN YEARS to prepare. I've decided not to waste any more time being all sad about it now. There will be lots of time to figure out how to deal with that later.

For now, the to-do list is slowly getting shorter.I finally found the perfect dress and we ordered some rings from a great local jeweler who reminds me of Johnny's old boss in Philly.

I'm feeling really lucky and grateful to have such a great partner and wonderful people in my life. Thanks to all of you who have been so supportive all these years, and now, when it seems like I really need you more than ever.

Ready for the beach

2007-08-18T08:26:00.001-05:00

We drove to Williamsport, MD last night and we've just a little further to go this morning. I think I brought five books to read.

The fair

2007-08-12T20:11:00.001-05:00

We totally scammed our way into the fair an hour before it closed. Elephant ears and funnel cake all around. Our friend renee totally milked a cow.

sandy

2007-08-10T07:34:00.000-05:00

In exactly one week from tonight, I'll be loading up the dog and various supplies and heading to the beach for a week. I can. not. wait.

While I was doing a search for the image above, I came across this article. The caption was "kangaroo heads found on the beach."
I'll let you decide if you want to see it.

Our niece

2007-08-08T13:56:00.001-05:00

sour?

H o t

2007-08-07T17:31:00.001-05:00

It's so hot. I am in Target and don't want to leave. Someday we will get central air, even if it IS bad for the environment.

would you go?

2007-08-07T10:49:00.000-05:00

We have one of these weird 4-min. workout places in town. i couldn't believe it when i drove by, and then Johnny pointed out that you get 3 sessions free. That's 12 minutes! What a deal!

Tony Robbins thinks this is great (which alone might be enough to keep you away), but the machine is also a little scary.

mony 'mony

2007-07-30T10:59:00.000-05:00

This weekend was really fun. ScootKing and Pixelville tied the knot and there was lots of festive activities.

I don't think I've mentioned it here, but we're planning ours too (finally) and we're going to rush all around and have it in September. We're finishing up the invites now and hope to get them out tomorrow or so.

I found this old picture from when we went paintball-ing last year. We're so tough.

Doggie sleepover

2007-07-26T18:36:00.000-05:00

This weekend is our first sleepover! Our friend is bringing her dog (1 of 5!), Harper, over to stay until Sunday while they go to Kentucky. Zoey has gone to stay there a couple of times already and they are pretty much BFF. It's really cute. I hope that there will be some cute spooning photos, at least.

Drink some water dan!

2007-07-23T18:02:00.001-05:00

Listening to NPR: I am so distracted by Daniel Shore's voice that I can't pay attention to what he is saying. I am sure he has something good to say, but I can't hear what it is.

Mad dog?

2007-07-20T10:55:00.001-05:00

I went into the restroom at work today (why do crazy things always happen in the bathroom?) and there was a woman brushing her teeth.

Not a big deal.

but when I came out, she was STILL brushing (and had the water running the whole time) and she had her one hand actually in the running water and her other hand was dripping toothpaste foam. She had so much toothpaste foam on her face I thought she might suffocate.

She needed a full bath after that.

Are you a messy toothbrusher? Would you let it all hang out like that at work? I don't think I would.

Southern Florida is hot

2007-07-18T11:10:00.000-05:00

Especially hot in July, but I barely noticed it because we were in the air conditioning everywhere we went. And because it's hot here too.

We flew into Ft Lauderdale via $10 tickets from Skybus. The flight was delayed a little (both ways, actually) but other than that was really nice. The food was airport-priced ($2 for drinks or snacks, $6 or so for something more substantial) and was an overall good experience. The planes are brand new and really clean. Except where the kid dropped grapes on the floor.

We drove to Naples where Johnny's grandmother lives and visited for a few days. Here's a map, in case you are like me and didn't know that Naples wasn't near St. Augustine. Like djlove, we also got a cream PT cruiser which we affectionately called "the egg." Her gma lives about a 20 minute walk from the beach, so we went there for the sunset:
The next day we went to the beach around 9 am. It was already hot, so we only stayed a little while.

I got a little too much sun, actually, so we didn't get to go parasailing or kayaking or whatever we were going to do. Instead, we hung out with Johnny's relatives, which was probably just as important. And then we did a little shopping. Johnny got some fancy, shiny drawers.

We left Naples and went back toward Ft. Lauderdale, but I really wanted to see some alligators. I didn't know that the Everglades was a gigantic part of the state -- I always thought it was a park, like Old Man's Cave or something. So we drove through there and on the way saw the smallest post office in the US.

It is really small.

We kind of drove through Miami to get back and nearly ran out of gas, in the dark, in the panther crossing zone. But before that, I did get to see some alligators. We were really close, but on a bridge. I don't think they could have jumped up to get us.

The next day we went back to Miami to see the Art Deco area of South Beach. It's super beautiful.

I give south FL a thumbs up, but the real clincher was the mango trees. I wish I had one.

omgmyphoneissocute

2007-07-11T00:08:00.000-05:00

and it's smaller than I thought it would be. I'd post a photo, but it really does look just like the picture from the website. i didn't actually get it until today because it wasn't delivered in time to take on vacation. the number porting and activation process was agonizing -- i spent about 2 1/2 hours on hold with some outsourced customer service reps in the phillippines (we asked) because they were experiencing unusually high call volume at 11 pm. when johnny moves to sprint for the purpose of our family plan i hope that the merger will be further along, or she can just order online and bypass all the stupid waiting.

it came preinstalled with google maps, word and excel read/write capability and the ability to read (and sync, i think) 8 email accounts. tomorrow i'll start setting up and maybe post a photo of my office. i'll also post an account of our very fun (and hot) vacation.

florida

2007-07-04T18:51:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow night we are going to FL to see Johnny's grandmother and relatives. I've only been to Florida twice -- once to Orlando for ALA (doesn't count) and once when I was a kid (the only thing I remember from that visit was that my cousin had some giant oreos). Oh, and I guess we lived there for a year when I was 3 or something.

I'm excited to get in a little bit of beach time, but I've never met her gma so I'm a little nervous. We've been talking about going back for xmas this year (but with her parents) so we'll see how that goes.

Now, we have to take Zoey to the dogsitter (a real live person, not a cage) and get back so we can pack and be ready to go right after work tomorrow. We got those $10 tickets from Skybus, so I'll report back on the flight accommodations.

3 month anniversary!

2007-07-03T12:58:00.000-05:00

...of silence.

Today I finally ordered my new phone that I've been wanting for about, oh, 3 years. No, not the iPhone, but this loveliness:

It's a little pricey, but my brother is getting me some good deals on accessories. I'm thinking of getting a little briefcase thing for it, and maybe a skin, like this:
What do you think? I want to keep it from getting all scratched up in my bag, but i don't want it to be super bulky if i want to take it out of there.

once i get this going, i am going to be a blogging machine. just you wait.

a new twist on "watch what you eat"

2007-04-02T10:44:00.000-05:00

I've been listening to this really fascinating podcast series from Princeton's Food Ethics and the Environment conference.

Today, in part 3, I learned that a person who normally gets about a third of their calories from red meat (average for most Americans) is responsible for 2.5 times the greenhouse gases (created during production) when compared with a vegan person. This is roughly the equivalent of the difference between driving a SUV versus a Camry.

Simply amazing. I'd highly recommend the series for anyone who likes some background education during their workday. Or even at home.

one for the road

2007-03-27T20:40:00.000-05:00

it was really awesome having jess here. her blog has some details, but you really should check out the photos of waterbeds n stuff.

and maybe i'll get these for her next visit -- or in case st. patty's day is warm next year.

moment of silence

2007-03-21T21:29:00.000-05:00

the fish is dead.

i went out to get some of the leaves out of the pond and it floated up. it was much bigger than it was in the summer, so i wonder how long ago it died.

rip. i'm sorry i was so cavalier with your life.

bookmarks

2007-03-21T10:28:00.000-05:00

librarians are portrayed in such interesting ways. there was an article in the local newspaper about how librarians "tell all" by mentioning the weird and often gross things they found in returned books. Bacon?

a librarian's life is so compelling.

birthday plans

2007-03-20T17:00:00.000-05:00

my birthday is friday and i'm excited to say that jess is totally coming to visit. there will be dancing, hookah, bowling, dj-ing (jetgirl!) and tacos. i'm taking the day off friday so i can really enjoy it.

Sunday we got this crazy motivation to replace the bathroom floor, so johnny is in there finishing it up. it's a nice grey color, much better than the crazy white/green diamonds or whatever that were on it before. it is like a completely different room.

still no sign of the fish in the pond. i'm staying hopeful.

demolition!

2007-03-19T09:30:00.000-05:00

you can see "live coverage" of the library demolition (wrecking ball and all) highlighted today on the library webcam.
(there are directions at the top of the page, so be sure to log in to view the cam.)

johnny's valentine

2007-02-26T20:43:00.000-05:00

We got home from the grocery store saturday and there was a doorknob hangtag from a fancy florist with Johnny's name on it saying they were sorry they missed her. I knew I didn't send her flowers, although I wish I had, so I had to 'fess up and not take the credit. she called up there and they couldn't tell her who sent them, so she just rescheduled delivery for today. neither of us would be home during the day, so she said they could leave them on the porch.

We spent a lot of time trying to guess where they were from. I thought maybe her mom had sent them. She thought they were from me. I guessed that maybe The Goddess sent them. She thought they were from me.

She called me at work saying that the florist wasn't going to leave them on the porch to freeze in the cold, after all, and could I call and have them brought to my work? Yes, I said, I'll do that. I call. I keep checking the door. I give a heads-up to the person at the front door.

Johnny calls back and says she knows who they are from.

Who? I say.

The Refectory.

What? The Refectory, like the restaurant we went to last weekend for our anniversary? Why would they send you flowers?

Obviously, I'm not convinced, but you know, whatever.

A few hours later Johnny calls back saying that the flowers have finally arrived and I should go to the desk and get them. I go, they aren't there.

[My current workplace is pretty confusing, logistically. You have to actually go to the back of the building to get to the entrance.]

I finally find out where they are, I go pick them up.

Not only did we get flowers from the restaurant, we got a $25 gift certificate AND a bottle of wine!

I couldn't figure it out, then she reminded me that we had to push our reservation back 1/2 hour and she'd asked them if they were going to make it up to us or something.

I say they did! Lesson learned: if you go eat at a fancy place, find something to complain about.

7 of 7, and a little side of regret

2007-02-19T18:43:00.000-05:00

we went to Kikyo for our final meal of "7 Meals for 7 Years". I got 3 kinds of vegetarian rolls, but Johnny signed up for an adventure.

At the bottom of the third page of the menu, written in pen, was, Soon Tofu. It sounded appealing, so she asked the server for some details. The server was super nice, and had this thick asian accent, so we both just kind of nodded when she said something about vegetables on the side and spicy-ness.

A little later, she returned with literally twelve small bowls of various vegetables, spiced in different ways...cabbage, pickled radished, sesame sprouts, tofu with seaweed (maybe?) and several other things. We tried everything but the anchovies and then she got her soup. it was this monstrous bowl of spicy seafood broth and tofu. we both ate a lot in there, as you might guess, then rolled down to meet our friends for a drink and Sing-A-Long show tunes night.

today i learned about the WHEEL ... OF....... FOOOD, which definitely would have made our lunchtime restaurant choosing more fun, and a little easier. you can use it next time you need a place for lunch.

Anniversary Meals 3-6

2007-02-18T17:37:00.000-05:00

if you want to hear our anniversary song (says me), you can listen here. You don't have listen to all 9 minutes, although it might make a nice backdrop for reading the rest of this post.

so yesterday we went to lunch at the worthington inn, for meal 3 of 7. it's this bed & breakfast kind of place with a nice dining room, that johnny says is her favorite so far. it was a little cold in there, but the food was great. i got crabcakes with spinach and rice and johnny got sweet chili glazed salmon with potatoes and vegetables. the service was great, and they even accomodated our request to switch starches (mine was originally the potatoes) and it was lovely.

After that we went to Cup o' Joe for lattes and cheesecake, which doesn't count as a meal. just as a stomachache.

Then, for dinner, we went to The Refectory, which I've heard is the only 4 star restaurant in columbus. I'm not sure about the validity of that claim, but, dude, it was so good. When we were being seated the hostess asked if we were there for a special occasion, so i told her it was our anniversary. she was all "happy anniversary" which was really nice. the restaurant is located in a not-exactly-queer part of town, which made me: a) more inclined to tell her it was our anniversary, and b) surprised when she didn't even act fazed about it.

The food and service were incredible. They had a 20 page wine list, but we settled on a glass each of an affordably priced bottle. we got the goat cheese appetizer, which was great, but we weren't sure if we should have saved our olive bread to spread it on. johnny got the crab and artichoke encrusted halibut (i love fish that is encrusted! judy's used to have this hazelnut encrusted fish which was incredible.) but i got the ohio trout with a bonne femme sauce. it was amazing. THEN, we splurged on a brown sugar pudding and a pear tart for dessert, which were totally worth it. our seating wasn't until 9, so we got home about 11:30 and went straight to bed without even watching SNL which sucks, because Justin Timberlake was totally on there. (btw, Johnny is totally in love with Scarlett Johannsen and pretty much hates JT because there is a rumor that they are dating and she says that "simply the rumor is hurting her good name").

this morning we got up and went to the Evening Star Cafe for coffee and bagels, and then to the Claddagh Irish Pub for 6 of 7. we had a couple drinks there (they have cider on tap) and then came home. tonight is sushi! woo!

does anyone know of any household materials that function well as a mousepad? i am currently using a 3-ring binder, but the height difference is annoying.

new!

2007-02-17T08:51:00.000-05:00

My computer came!

This weekend is Johnny and my 7 year anniversary. We were going to try and go to a weekend getaway cabin in a wooded area, but they were all booked by the time we decided, so we are theming it "7 meals for 7 years."

We are going out for 7 meals this weekend, all places we've never been. This morning, we went to Nancy's, a little greasy spoon up the street. I had fried eggs and potatoes, Johnny got pancakes. There were lots of middle aged guys -- all regulars -- chatting one another up before heading to work.

Last night, we went to Liu Pon Xi, a Chinese fusion place in the Short North. (Their website is down.) They have glass tiles in portions of the floor, with sand gardens and fish tanks under there. We each had a different kind of tofu, which was quite good, and the service was good too - the waiter bought my wine because it was the end of the bottle and not a full glass. All told, it was still a little unremarkable. It was a little too trendy, and not in a cool, individual way.

Update: I forgot to mention that after dinner we went to see Rendezvous at the Riffe
at BalletMet. It was really great. There were four pieces, and one was choreographed to Simon & Garfunkel music. The whole show was really lovely, modern and fun. I loved it.

And now, it is snowing again. I guess we are supposed to get another 3 inches today. Here's our yard from the window, through the icicles.

it wasn't that bad

2007-02-15T14:56:00.000-05:00

Last night i had the amazing foresight to go out and clean the ice and snow off my car so that i'd be ready to roll this morning. I'm glad I did, because it took me about 30 minutes, with the car running and defrost on full-blast, to work through the 4 inches of ice covering parts of my windshield.

i felt really prepared, and, a little proud of myself.

This morning, i headed out there a few minutes before 8 to go to work. I started it up, scraped the ice again and started to pull out. I was totally stuck in the ice. I tried to clear the space away next to the tires, but it didn't work out.
I had several options:
1) Call someone for a ride.
2) Take the campus bus to campus, then the library bus from there.
3) Walk.

Obviously, I chose the easy route.

I went back in to get my book, then started walking down the street. Johnny called me when I was a few blocks out and said her work was closed and that she was coming back home. She was going to pick me up and drive me the rest of the way.

I was really glad because I'd only gone about 4 blocks (in the street because the sidewalks were really awful) and I was already freezing. It was about 10 degrees this morning and my coffee cup was made of metal, so every time I took a drink my lips stuck to it a little bit.

She called back. Her boss showed up, she wasn't coming.

Oh, no problem, I said.

I kept walking. I went through parking lots becuase they were more likely to have been shoveled. I got to the corner of the least hospitable part of the trip -- an almost highway-like stretch of about a mile, crossing a river and no sidewalks, even when there isn't any snow.
I crossed the street and instantly fell down. Underneath me was some kind of rubber, instead of concrete, so it probably won't bruise - but at least I didn't spill my coffee!

I was halfway across the bridge when I realized -- oh, i'm totally walking on top of a 3 foot drift, and my falling options are either into speeding traffic, or into the frozen river. i slipped once, almost freaked out, and realized that my irrational fear of falling through very small cracks isn't so irrational after all.

More parking lots, more snowdrifts and I finally made it to work, after about 45 minutes. I was telling my coworker about it when i got in and she said she was really impressed. "Most women would have called in," she said.

Called in. Called in. Brilliant. I didn't even think of that. I'm taking the bus home.

another lame post

2007-02-14T11:11:00.000-05:00

what's happened:

i bought a new computer. i expect that it will be delivered this week. it's so pretty.
i went to the gym for the first time in about 2 weeks yesterday and the girls in the locker room informed me that the university was closing down. i had to wait in the snow for the bus to get back to my car, but i got to leave at 1:30.
today was a snow day!
the prom outfits for the drag show were super fun. i have a few photos, but none of them are very good, so i'm going to see if i can get some good dress shots from scootking or pixelville. i ended up with a lovely black velvet with hot pink crinoline number. Johnny couture'd it up for me. we all went to the spaghetti warehouse. some of the folks in there were a little uncomfortable maybe, and the kids all stared at our asstonishing fanciness. one of us was dressed like michael jackson from the 80s, btw.

more soon.

prom dress blues

2007-01-31T11:09:00.000-05:00

next weekend the Royal Renegades (Columbus) are having a prom themed show where the audience is encouraged to dress in prom gear. i was completely excited because i just knew i had the perfect dress. some of you might remember it -- pink with black lace overlay, strapless, knee-length, crinoline? remember?

well, i think i got rid of it. i just went through my closet and the attic and i think it fell prey to the giant closet clean-out that happened just before we moved back here. i'm so sad.

but, on the bright side, i get to go look for a new prom dress! i have a couple of long slinky-style ones, but i was kind of thinking i might go for something a little more garish, maybe satin with a big bow? any ideas?

what do you do

2007-01-25T20:38:00.000-05:00

Okay, so say someone asks you to be their friend on myspace. You don't know the person, but they are clearly queer, is friends with one queer person you recognize from around, and is friends with some random person you work with.

Do you friend them?

I've previously only friended people that i actually know in real life, but i know there are lots of people who take a different approach. what's your approach to this kind of thing?

it didn't rain!

2007-01-22T23:58:00.000-05:00

It only rained once the whole time I have been in Seattle, which is surprising. We went to some good restaurants while we've been here, Indian on Friday night, Italian on Saturday, Thai last night and a yummy vegetarian biscuits and gravy breakfast today.

Christie left today so I had dinner with my coworker at this kind of weird and very interesting vegetarian hot dog restaurant. So strange. We played Ms. Pac Man, then went to the fancy Seattle Public Library, then to get ice cream.

The Library is really cool and beautiful. There's a lot of artwork, including part of the floors and the walls.

Now, I'm watching Heroes! I'm glad it's back on.

Seattle

2007-01-19T16:27:00.000-05:00

My flight yesterday was really freakin' long. There aren't any direct flights from Columbus to Seattle, so I had a 4 hour flight to Salt Lake City, a 2 hour layover and then a 2 hour flight here. The first flight was hilarious, you'd think that it was a plane full of first-time fliers. There was a little kid behind me, which seemed acceptable, but there was this woman who actually yelled out "oh shit" when we took off.

I got checked into our swanky hotel and went for a walk to the Pike Street Market. It is pretty nice and I picked up a bottle of wine for Johnny's arrival today. I met up with our friend M, who lives here now, and I went to dinner with her and a friend of hers, then to her place to get ready for one of the monthly queer parties that occur here. It was super fun, I drank-n-dialed Jess because I saw someone drinking Sparks and forgot my camera. I got home pretty late (especially since I am on Eastern time) so I took my time getting to the registration.

So, the registration has been completed and I have my first meeting to get to. Go Librarians!

on my way

2007-01-17T16:49:00.000-05:00

The "burlesque" thing just turned out to be a drag show with more female-presenting performers than usual, so slightly disappointing. I did run into a couple people I hadn't seen in a while, so that is always nice.

I got another haircut before I leave for ALA tomorrow, but I'm not posting photos because it looks almost the same as last time. I think when i go in next time, I'll get some color which always warrants a photo.

My flight to Seattle leaves at 7 am! It was originally scheduled for 9, but got moved. So early, but I guess that is 2 more hours that I'll get to explore.

i didn't get sick

2007-01-13T17:35:00.000-05:00

I ended up eating the chili mac and i didn't get sick.

Tonight, the Eagles continue their bid toward the Super Bowl. The game is at 8 and afterward we are going to a neighborhood venue for a "burlesque" show. I'm not sure how burlesque it will be, but people will certainly be taking their clothes off. It might not be pretty, but lots of people will be there, so flyering for the next Jetgirl is in order. I hope it's fun.

finally winter

2007-01-10T10:50:00.000-05:00

It snowed last night. Not a lot, but enough to keep Zoey out playing in it for at least 45 minutes. It hasn't yet melted either, which means it is cold outside.

Ever since we got that insulation last year, it is much warmer inside the house. I was looking at the chart on the gas bill and we are using a THIRD of the gas we used last year at this time. A third!! Not only are we saving the money, but I feel a little less wasteful.

Speaking of wasteful, how long do you think you should keep veggie chili mac in the fridge? It's been there since Sunday. I'm really bad at throwing-food-out timelines, but this site says 3-4 days for soups in the fridge. I guess I need to have it for lunch today. Then for dinner, I want to make this cozy veggie soup. I'm not sure why Howstuffworks.com has recipes, but whatevs.

go bucks

2007-01-09T19:37:00.000-05:00

well, the eagles really rocked the house on sunday. the buckeyes did not fare as well.

i watched the first episode of the new season of the l-word, and

can we be any more dramatic

how many times can jenny be in ridiculous situations? i still can't stand her.

and, i was aghast to see that my myspace song the soundtrack to shane's current downward spiral. i might have to shop for a new one now.

what did you think

2007-01-04T19:24:00.000-05:00

did you think i was still in London this whole time? you're silly.

of course, i came back and had xmas and new years and am back at work.

Some points of interest:

Photos of Italy, etc are now posted!

Xmas was really nice, i saw my new little nephew for the first (and only) time. This is my fault -- he's not under house arrest or anything.

my mom got me a pink new-jersey-style velour running suit. i wear it all the time in spite of the fact that it is a little too small.

Bevin & Dan came to visit for New Years Eve and it was completely fun, as you can imagine. Bevin has thoughtfully posted photos (and simultaneously shamed me into posting). thanks a lot.

big football weekend coming up! eagles in the playoffs on sunday, osu on monday.

Are any of you going to ALA midwinter?

LHR

2006-12-18T08:52:00.000-05:00

Last night we got to London and had to find our way with The Heaviest Suitcases of All Time from Stansted Airport to our hotel. I forgot to write down the address, so we looked it up at the airport and then took a bus. We finally got there after a trip on the tube and then went to eat dinner where I had my first Jacket Potato. Curry Style.

After that we got back on the tube and raced over to the Tate to see the Giant Slides in the main lobby (or whatever that mammoth area is called). I read that it closed for entrance at 5:15 so we literally ran from the tube stop, across the Millennium Bridge, through the "Frost Fair" where there were these crazy floating angels - people, maybe men in drag - and in. Johnny announced that her heart hurt from the cold air/running combo.

We barely made it, but we did get to see a few exhibits and we were Last In Line! for the slide. It was super fun and much faster than I anticipated - like a water park, but with your feet tucked into a burlap sack.

We got up early and took a cab to the airport for our 10:00 flight, just in time to realize that my dum-ass didn't read the paper and our flight isn't until 4! So now we've been sitting around the airport for lots o' hours because I'm not willing to leave here and go back to the city. We did get beer/cider and fish-n-chips and we'll be home soon!

still going

2006-12-16T05:12:00.000-05:00

We are now on the Emerald Coast on the island of Sardinia. Molto Bella!!! The "internet point" we are sitting in is actually right outside the dock where the ferry to Corsica is, but we decided not to go over there because we have to get to the airport tomorrow and still have several hours to drive back there.

Last night we stayed at a Hotel Delfino in this little town off the coast. We drank champagne on the balcony - it's still warm here (in the 60s) and it was really lovely.

The night before that I got to meet the family Johnny stayed with in Santu Lussurgiu - they made this big Italian dinner - homemade wine, lasagne, carne and peas, homemade cheese, fruit and a delicious torta, all served in courses. it was amazing and i got to really see Johnny's Italian language skills in action because only the kids in the family speak much English. It was really fun and there was crying when we finally left. We went to her friend's bed & breakfast, which was the nicest place we've stayed yet!) and had a delicious breakfast. This has been my favorite leg of the trip!

oh, btw, i did get some boots.

barnacles!

2006-12-10T07:37:00.000-05:00

We are having a great time, as you might know. Right now I'm in Venice, which is absolutely lovely, everything you'd expect. There are no cars and there are barnacles on chains near the water.

My new nephew came into the world on Dec 5th, so yay for that!

italia e molto great-o

2006-12-02T16:23:00.000-05:00

omg. italy is great. not that anyone has tried to tell you differently, but if they did, tell them to shut up.

Johnny and i just drank a bottle of wine outside a medieval church in Firenze (Florence). We have had two tonight and we are feeling pretty good, yo.

We saw The Birth of Venus, which, btw, Johnny drew on my sidewalk when we were dating (how sweet!) and some Rembrandt paintings at the Uffizi. We also saw the Leaning Tower in Pisa and tomorrow we head off to Roma. The hardest thing is not having cash to shop at the Dolce & Gabana and Pucci stores. Arg.

Maybe someday.

out

2006-11-30T16:11:00.000-05:00

You guys already know this, but i am a total dork. I was all packed at like, 10 am yesterday. i have finished all my work (that i am going to do) 45 minutes before i need to leave. i wrote a 3-page note to my house-sitting sister about using the washer, where the cookie sheets are, and best practices for changing the kitty litter.

i'm full-on excited.

layers it is

2006-11-28T23:02:00.000-05:00

i got johnny to agree to let me bring her jacket, but i thought it was blue, even though it is grey.

here's a photo of my luggage, fully packed:

I will have to remove the toiletries and then add them back in, but I was test-driving it. I'm pretty proud of myself because this includes my own stuff, PLUS jeans and a sweatshirt for the lady. That gives me room to buy a pair of boots!

Also, have i mentioned recently that i am soon to be an aunt, yet again? my sister-in-law is about to pop, so it could be any day, hopefully tomorrow so i can see him for 1 minute before leaving. i was over there last week and i saw this house, newly decorated for xmas, in their subdivision:

They might have the seasons mixed up.

Also, my sister, at t-day, made (what i interpreted to be) an allusion to possibly being pregnant again. she said, "i'm not drinking caffeine, that's all we're sayin'" and dramatically walked out of the room. you think?

success

2006-11-27T23:25:00.000-05:00

The mac and cheese was a hit! Thanks you guys!

The other food was good too, except that the pie I made was too custardy, but luckily I was the only one who tried it (my mom made this wonderful cheesecake that always steals the dessert show) so I just tossed it out. My brother and sister-in-law did pretty much every dish, which was awesome, so I just packed up the leftovers and sent them away.

Why, you ask?

Because I leave for Italia in tre giorni!! Johnny and I reviewed our itinerary today and added two additional cities because there is only one day that we can get in to see the Last Supper non-fresco, and it wasn't the day we originally planned to be in Milan. We will, therefore be adding a quick stop in Verona and La Spazia.

I am so excited.

I started packing up a little today and I am trying to take only a backpack and a small messenger-style bag. It's 18 days though. I'm trying anyway.

Here's a question. Do I take my winter coat (wool peacoat-style) with me or not? It's upper 40s-50s in Milan (north) and in the 60s in Rome and Naples. My other option is to take a denim jacket or something and layer it up. Or maybe I could take Johnny's jacket (lined, I'll have to ask). But the real question is, will I be more mad if I have to carry it around all the time, or if I am chilly?

WWYD?

AMA and me

2006-11-21T20:42:00.000-05:00

Okay, so mac & cheese it is!!

I decided (maybe unwisely) to watch the American Music Awards while I grade papers.

Why do the Pussycat Dolls suck so bad?

Eek!! I almost had to change the channel.
The only thing that even remotely redeemed the experience was that Tony Hawk introduced them and he looked kind of cute and seemed nervous.

O-H

2006-11-20T19:44:00.000-05:00

The football game was way fun. I went with a group of people to the gayest boy bar ever, and it was bizarrely full of queer men in football jerseys and other fan gear. There was also a local celebrity in our midst. That jerk won the OSU pillow that I completely could have used for my upcoming trip (that, by the way, I leave for in less than 2 weeks!!!). I drank a lot and was in bed by 10 pm.

It has happened that my family is coming to my house on saturday for thanksgiving dinner. I'm brining a turkey, making a pie from scratch (like, from a pumpkin), and steaming broccoli. I am oscillating between macaroni and cheese and this recipe in Metropolitan Home for coconut cashew rice. What do you think, mac & cheese, or rice?

bike attack!

2006-11-15T21:54:00.000-05:00

Last night I went to dinner with RedRider at a campus sushi joint and she walked me to the Wex for this beautiful Turkish movie that I'd planned to see. While we were walking, this person on a bike came careening out of No Where and tried to snatch my bag from my shoulder!!

Here's a slow-mo of what happened:
Bag is pulled off shoulder
I keep holding bag
I start yelling "No! No!"
Snatcher keeps holding bag
Bike falls down
I fall down
Hole is ripped in new skinny jeans
My favorite boots from Philly are scuffed
Snatcher is trapped under bike, still holding bag
RedRider's hands come into view, slapping Stealer
I'm trying to hit Snatcher to get her to let go of bag
Snatcher lets go
I start to get up
Snatcher says "My hand just got caught!"
Random guy tackles Snatcher
I stand up
Look at Random Guy on top of Snatcher
Hear Random Guy say "I saw you do it!"
Feel really pissed because she tried to steal my bag
Look at Snatcher still pinned to sidewalk
Pick up bike
Think, "This is a nice bike"
Throw bike over bike rack into short brick wall.

Yes, you can read that last one again.

After all that, Random comes up to see if I'm okay and Snatcher simply gets her bike and rides off, calling us bitches.

The weirdest part about this is that later, I realized that Snatcher looked familiar, like someone I once knew from here, who, coincidentally, used to have a job which involved riding a bike.

So now my knees are all bruised and skinned up, but I still have my license and credit card that I'll certainly need for my trip to see Johnny in two weeks and now I can buy another pair of jeans without guilt. The silver lining.

on television

2006-11-13T23:06:00.000-05:00

This is old news, but I'm still relieved that Ohio didn't fail us! Go Dems!

I can't stop watching Heroes. The official site is "unavailable." Is anyone else watching this show? If not, you need to go get the DVDs as soon as they come out. Do it.

And football, there's lots of it! There is non-stop talk about the upcoming OSU v. Michigan game this saturday. They are ranked #1 and #2, so it promises to be exciting, but my main concern is where to go. I certainly can't stay home and watch by myself. I live pretty close to campus and there is a tendency to go a little overboard for this game: excessive drinking, yelling, screaming, burning cars... so I maybe don't want to deal with that.

But now, I'm going to give the dog a bath.

voting in ohio, again

2006-11-07T13:42:00.000-05:00

Luckily, I voted absentee before I left for my trip, but I'm already scared by the news I'm reading about how things are going in the OH.

West coast sun

2006-11-06T16:22:00.000-05:00

I'm in Emeryville, near San Francisco for a training for work. The weather is marvelous, it is about 70 and sunny - a far cry from the freezing temperatures in the o-to-the-h. I seem to have pretty good luck here with weather -- the last time I came was in June and it was uncharacteristically in the uppper 80s.

There's a full moon and it was shining across the bay as i rode the shuttle to the hotel. it was completely lovely and started me thinking about my upcoming trip to italy, where i hope to see many georgeous things. I woke up early (for here) and saw the sun rise.

At the training, i ran into a certain red-haired person who i used to work with, which was a nice surprise! we might try to have dinner.

does anyone have suggestions for areas of SF to go to for shopping? I'm hoping to go to a few local/interesting stores, but i'm not sure where to go, so if you have suggestions, please comment.

whoa i am not a good blogger

2006-11-01T21:31:00.000-05:00

ok, so here is what i have been doing:

Missing Johnny

I won tickets to see Tango Fire and while I was there, I saw a guy I used to dance with (we were slated to compete together when I decided to quit -- and I can't remember his name!!!) and also someone I knew from when I was in high school. We didn't go to school together, but our dads were preachers in neighboring churches, so we went on "mission trips" together and had teenager lock-ins. She is a massage therapist in my neighborhood and has the cutest little daughter who wore red glasses.

Grading papers!! Lots of papers!!

I'm leaving for the Bay Area on Sunday, for a work training. I'm excited to go somewhere. Zoey is staying with Scootking and Pixelville (Pixelville never updates her blog, so don't bother clicking).

Went to two Halloween events and didn't dress up for either one. I need to get a good inventory of possible costumes that I can reference in the future. If you have any ideas that I should use sometime, post a comment.

Got a haircut with new color! Photos forthcoming!

I forgot: I also moved offices last week. I'll post some photos of that too.

dot matrix

2006-10-12T10:15:00.000-05:00

I have this really old printer in my office. It's really, really old.

I guess that the paper, the kind with the tractor feeds along the sides, was really expensive and I have a full box of it. Thus, I feel kind of obligated to use it up.

Today, I saw that someone had actually taped one section of paper to another, presumably to keep it continuous. I don't know how long ago this happened (this is a big box of paper I'm working with here) but it must have been a while.

I am appalled. I don't know why it is so annoying, but it really was. Especially when I tried to tear it apart and the tape ripped the page.

white blazers and no socks

2006-10-10T21:32:00.000-05:00

I'm sitting here grading papers and somehow stumbled across an episode of Miami Vice on the Sleuth Channel. I didn't know the Sleuth Channel existed, and I can't quite figure out why I (or anyone) ever thought Don Johnson was attractive. Or why he is reciting poetry.

Here's a little classic number for ya:

it's a good one

2006-10-07T10:11:00.000-05:00

I feel joyous today.

I went to dinner with friends last night, went out dancing, was able to sleep in this morning, and I'm drinking a smoothie (strawberry pineapple) and eating stir-fried green veggies (leftovers) for breakfast.

I got a lovely email message from my girlfriend, the sun is out, I borrowed a lawnmower from my neighbor, and there is football at 3:30.

These are all indications of a great weekend ahead.

rain, rain, go away

2006-10-04T22:11:00.000-05:00

I got a call yesterday from our friend who thought she was going into labor. We had this plan where I was going to watch her 18-month old during the delivery, so I went right over to pick him up. He's super cute and very good. I had already said I'd go to my coworker's house for a happy hour thing, so we headed over and he ate a bunch of grapes. He kept looking under the ottoman for the cat, everybody loved it.

I took him back home this morning but they didn't have the baby. I'm looking at this like a dress rehearsal.

Hail is crazy. We had this huge storm here a little while ago and there was mega-hail. I looked out the upstairs window and it was like those scenes in movies when the tennis balls are beating the hell out of the people on the court. The news has shown over 15 minutes of hail coverage, but here's my contribution to the mania:

And here, for comparison:

i heart fall.

i miss everything

2006-10-02T19:43:00.000-05:00

I'm watching the Eagles Monday night game and I really miss Philly.

I talked to Johnny for quite a while tonight and I miss her.

I tried to hurry up and get home, but I missed the bus.

Sunday, I went to my grandma's to see her, my sister and her family, and my other neices went too. We were two hours late, and almost missed lunch.

On the way back my oldest neice had a birthday party to go to at Libby Lu's. We were half an hour late and almost missed the first part of the party. I can't say what would have happened had I been able to have parties like this when I was a kid. She got dressed up in a "rock star" outfit and they got their hair and makeup done. Um, she's five. This is the big fancy mirror that they get to look in after they get all done up. The staging area had giant heart-shaped mirrors mounted at the perfect height for the young-uns. I felt a strange mix of repulsion and envy.

Italy photos

2006-09-18T09:41:00.000-05:00

Johnny asked me to post the links to these Italy photo albums for her:

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

pow-pow

2006-09-17T23:06:00.000-05:00

Saturday I was corralled into volunteering at the Ohio Lez Fest with the promise of free entry. Sony and I showed people where to park for four hours and then we were treated to hours of folk and "women's" music. The food was pretty good though - we went and got a couple of beers and hung out until we got fed up and cold.

Today, though, was an entirely different story -- Scootking's Birthday Paintball Extravaganza!! I'd never paintballed before and I was feeling a little anxious about it. I considered backing out several times due to the following preconceptions:

Notion 1: I will be in the woods being chased by scary people like in that movie where they hunted humans.
But actually... This was not the case. We were split into teams and given clear rules about what we could and could not do, and hunting people was not allowed. Out ref/guide actually said, "I may be a teenager, but I know that the rules are important." We gave him a tip at the end of the day.

Notion 2: Paintballs are the size of a raquetball and splatter housepaint-consistency substance all over your clothes and when you leave your clothing will be all stiff
But actually... The paintballs are quite small (about 1 in. in diameter) and the "paint" is just a yellow greasy goo which (they say) will wash right out.

Notion 3: Paintballs hitting your body will hurt.
I was right on about this. Here's a photo of my leg where I took a couple hits.

Here's the same leg, a few hours later:

See how the bruise is beginning to spread out? It reminds me of some doodles that Johnny likes to draw when she is bored.

Notion 4: I will have some serious reservations about playing with guns and shooting at other humans, especially my friends.
But actually...I liked it. It was fun to hit my friends, especially after I got hit that first time. I was really motivated after that.

I also got to work in a little Rambo-roll-over-behind-a-pile-of-sticks move, which felt pretty exciting. I was all proud because I wasn't even thinking about how dirty I was getting, or whether I was laying on a slug, or whether I had brought lip gloss, or anything like that.

trauma drama

2006-09-14T16:37:00.000-05:00

we replaced the server at work, and it has been one of the most harrowing experiences of my work life. it is not yet over.

on the good side, though, i have been able to talk to Johnny several times over the last week, which has been great. did you realize that she is actually living in a medieval village? Here's a photo:

There are more photos here and here.

I also bought my plane ticket to Philly!! See you in just a few weeks, city!

garfield mornings

2006-09-11T07:20:00.000-05:00

i made the best cup of coffee EVER today.

it's a good thing too because I had a hard time getting going this morning. I stayed up a little late to be sure that the Colts beat the Giants.

It was really a football weekend. I watched the Opener at my brother's house, then went to my friend's for the Ohio State game on Saturday. Yesterday, the Eagles wasn't on regular TV here, so I went to this bar that claimed to have the Sunday Ticket, but it wasn't working and they didn't tell me until after I got a drink!! So, I drank it really fast, then went two other places before I found somewhere to watch. There was a roomful of Eagles fans there (probably about 15 or 20 people) so I guess I went to the right place. I missed the 4:00 game because I was talking with Johnny and then went to the Ohio Roller Girls Championship game.

I promise I won't talk about football all the time for four months, but I am really excited.

I'm also excited about learning some Italian. I feel really motivated about it right now, so I am trying to incorporate some language learning into my schedule. I have a podcast to listen to on my way to/from work and then some online lessons to do at home. I requested some parallel text and kids books from the library, so I'm hoping to work up to some reading. Does anyone have any additional suggestions?

Thursday night lights

2006-09-07T07:36:00.000-05:00

Football season officially starts today.

But then, I had this dream last night that I was trying to watch this Saturday's OSU v. Texas game and I was stuck at the Mets stadium. I was asking about how to watch the game and some guy dressed up in Mets gear said, "Football doesn't exist in New York."

What could that possibly mean?

pictures

2006-09-05T22:51:00.000-05:00

Here's the promised photos from the exhibit I went to:

(Click on these to go to Flickr and view more)

I found out today that we might be moving out of the library a little later than originally thought, maybe a month or so later. I decided to go up and take some photos of the disappearing books. Now, for those of you who haven't been there, there are 11 floors of books. This is just a couple of them (from the lower floors). There's this semi-creepy mini-staircase that goes all the way up and the quite scary old elevator, so I just got a few photos of the lower floors. I will venture up further as things clear out more.

This first one is from the 3rd floor, looking down on the gallery with empty cases.

From the coffee shop

2006-09-04T10:32:00.000-05:00

Internet still not working at home, but at least I got in touch with the company and they think they'll have it back up tomorrow. woo!

Saturday I watched the first Ohio State game at my brother's house. The whole thing is really crazy and they start early. Here's my niece.
(.wav)

Before the game I went to the Russel Wright exhibit in Lancaster. It was beautiful, and I'll post some photos tomorrow. There were a few images of his house in Garrison, NY which is now on my list of places to visit when I'm back on the east coast.

Yesterday I went to visit my grandma. She's so great. It's always nice to have some time to visit with her, she's got great life perspective and really helps me see all the great things that I have in my life. I hope I'll be that kind of person when I'm a grandma.

The computer is still broken.

2006-09-02T20:23:00.000-05:00

The computer is still broken. I can't even startup from disk. On top of that my ISP is having server issues so i'm posting by txt.

she's gone... oh-wah

2006-09-01T08:37:00.000-05:00

I took Johnny to the airport yesterday morning. It was emotional and sad, but I know she's going to have a great time. I think, by now, that she is probably in Italy, but I don't think she'll have computer access until Monday sometime.

Afterward, I went home and got on the old computer to try and get some work done, but something happened and I think I sent the computer into kernel panic because it wouldn't start back up (I just printed out a bunch of help information, so I have some things to try later tonight). I'm supposed to be getting a laptop from work to use for a while, but right now I am computerless, and it's weird. I don't want to have to go back to the library to use the computer, although it is really nice to have that option.

I got my second article proposal accepted! Now, neither of them are done and accepted for sure, but it is pretty exciting to be on the way to publication and fulfilling my tenure-track requirements. I have two impending deadlines now, so the extra free-time will certainly be put to good use. On that, and my fantasy football team - Go Busters!

tent palace

2006-08-28T10:35:00.000-05:00

We took Zoey on her first camping trip last weekend. She was really great, and I considered writing this entire post from her point of view, but then I realized that even if it ended up being kinda funny, it would probably come off being a little too dog-focused, in that weird I-am-obsessed-with-my-pet kind of way.

We went to Happy Hills with Sony and Lou. Sony had prepared all this fancy food ahead of time, including homemade macaroni salad and some chicken and shrimp vegetable stuff that ended up on kabobs. On Saturday we went kayaking (because they were out of canoes at the time we got there) and Zoey totally rode in the kayak with Johnny for the whole 5 mile trip. She just sat there all calm, like she'd done it every single day, but barked at the dumb asses who were drunk and jumping out of trees into the river.

It only rained saturday night and some of sunday morning, but we were all tarped out and fully prepared.

I found out that the coffee shop at work leaves next week. That means there is only 5 more days of excessively convenient coffee.

I joined the Librarian Fit Club in order to address some of the issues very aptly reflected by Scootking in her recent post (except that I am not even close to being as active as she is). You should do it too. It will be more fun if we know one another too, don't you think?

I just spilled tea on my shirt. Arg.

countdown

2006-08-24T12:17:00.000-05:00

It's only 1 week until Johnny leaves for the island paradise of Sardinia! She claims she will keep up with her blog, so we all have to check and keep her on it.

The library move has really started moving. ha. Library Journal published a little article about it last month and there are some drawings and photos on the website. A few personnel have moved already and they are in the process of moving the books. I'm hoping to get upstairs sometime soon and get some photos of the emptiness. I'll post them when I do. I don't actually move out of my office until early October (tentatively) but we are the last to go. The coffee shop will be leaving next month so I'll be sitting here in silence for once. They've started listening to country music almost exclusively, so I won't mind about that part. I will have to walk to get coffee though, which will take some getting used to.

on a jet plane

2006-08-22T08:00:00.000-05:00

Jetgirl was so fun this month. Aside from just a general good time, Johnny did a very funny superhero number and Tamale danced with some fire, and Kitty Victorian came and twirled tassels. I've been fighting off a sore throat for a few days, so aside from the party, I just slept.

Sunday night we went to a fundraiser to help one of our friends pay for his transition, then yesterday I saw this NYT article about "the controversy" in the community. I didn't know about said controversy -- has anyone else heard this before?

Johnny is leaving next Thursday! I'm going to be so sad. Zoey, the cats, and I are already commisserating on ways to keep one another company. I'm making a list of projects.

On the upside, I'm really excited because I finally bought my ticket to Italy. We've planned out this somewhat elaborate itinerary which involves a good portion of the major Italian cities, so we're getting the cheap flights early and the train tickets later. If you have any less-obvious "must see" Italian treasures or travel tips, leave a comment.

Life lesson: Don't be a spoiler

2006-08-17T20:37:00.000-05:00

Whatever you do, don't randomly IM someone with the results of the #1 reality show on Bravo. They might not have watched it yet.

Office decor

2006-08-17T11:58:00.000-05:00

Last weekend we went to Indiana and visited Johnny's family. Her nephew races go-karts and so we ended up the day by going to the L-burg Motorcycle Speedway and watching hours of go-karts and dirt bikes without brakes racing around and around. The bikes were split up by age, so there was this one division of little kids, like 5 year olds, who were going around. All the dads (or coaches?) came out and were rooting them on. It was pretty cute.

Then Sunday we went to my sister and nieces' combine birthday dinner and then to the Roller Derby which is always a blast.

I just had a bust of Dylan Thomas delivered to my door. He says Hi.

I took the photo with my new work webcam, so if anyone wants to video chat or Skype, I can totally do that now. woot!

all kindsa fun

2006-08-07T15:35:00.000-05:00

This weekend presented some noteable lessons:

Karaoke

Don't try to sing "Paul Revere" with a drunk mohawked soccer mom. It's not going to be pretty.

Birthday party

Drinking and canoeing don't really mix. Especially at night.

If you get out of the boat, be sure you know how to get back in.

If you are going to steer the boat, sit in the back, and try not to run into a tree straight off the dock.

That cornucopia bug is a bagworm. Gross.

Irish Festival

Seeing your coworkers doing Irish Step Dancing has got to be one of the funniest things ever.

If you decide to run an Irish Festival, please have some Irish beer (No, Killian's doesn't count).

Niece's birthday present delivery

Call before you just show up at your brother's house 2 hours early on a Sunday. Luckily, they have kids.

Pre-season football

Don't just assume that, if the Eagles are ahead in the 3rd quarter, that they will pull it off. I should have learned this one by now.

Caterpillar thanksgiving

2006-08-04T10:58:00.000-05:00

I like to step on really crunchy leaves. This makes walking in the fall among my favorite things to do because there are so many crunchy leaves on the sidewalks. I'll even go out of my way to step on one that seems like it will sounds especially satisfying. Yesterday, I was going to lunch with my friend when I stopped myself, for some reason, from stepping on a really crunchy leaf. As I stepped over it, I realized why I didn't step on it -- it was moving! I stopped and went back and we examined it.

It was a bug, in some sort of cornucopia.

I thought it looked like some 4th grade art project, with a caterpillar stuck inside. We examined it thoroughly and concluded it must be some sort of anomalous cocoon, crafted in some emergency situation where the silk-maker wasn't working...or whatever. But then, we saw another abandoned cocoon about 100 feet down the sidewalk. I'm contribute it to What's that Bug?

Libritaly

2006-08-01T14:25:00.000-05:00

If you read almost any other library blog you've probably seen this photo, but I can't help but repost it here. In case you don't read library blogs, it's a play on ALA's new slogan: "Come together @ your library" originally uploaded by Jessamyn.

Which reminds me that Johnny and I had this long conversation last night about what's the point of a GLBT organization in ALA. I explained the purpose of the RT to her, but she still thought it was a little weird that I went to a Queer Social at ALA. I should have just told her that it was the free food and wine.

Which reminds me that she totally got her visa last week, so she is definitely leaving for Sardinia in less than a month. I can't believe it. I am excited for her, a little jealous, and really looking forward to the 15 day vacation tour of Italy we'll be taking in early December. We started planning our route last night, which was a little tiring, but here's a preview: Emerald Coast (Sardinia), Pisa, Florence, Rome, Naples, Venice, Milan. Here's a map. But the real question is: hostels or hotels.com?

zoey & leroy are best friends

2006-07-24T21:50:00.000-05:00

Well, not really. On the last day they did sit on the same couch together. Most of the time, however, it looked more like this

or this

or sometimes this

We had a really good time. We went to delicious greek food then karaoke on Friday, we had a cookout on Saturday and went to the Jazz & Rib Fest on Sunday. I ate pulled pork for the first time in a few years, but I didn't get sick. I was probably more likely to get sick from the gigantic creampuff.

After that, we went to a $3 double feature of The Breakup and X-Men 3:The Next to Last Stand. (I hope I didn't just ruin it for anyone, but I didn't tell you anything you couldn't guess before you go see it.)

Then, today, we scored a couple of cool chairs from the thrift store by the recycling dropoff for $13!!

Woot!

Weekend fun

2006-07-21T15:23:00.000-05:00

Last night Johnny's brother, his girlfriend and their friends came to stay over on their way to Ozzfest. I was a little anxious about it, because sometimes I'm not sure how to interact with her brother. Whenever we see them they usually have all their kids around and we are with Johnny's parents, which always makes the interaction different.

It was completely great. We got pizza, sat around with some beers, made a fire and stayed up late talking. I was paying for it this morning, but it was definitely worth it to have a good interaction with them.

Today, however, J. Gordan and company are arriving! They are probably about an hour or so away as I post and I'm SO EXCITED to see Leroy! I think that he and Zoey will fall in love after she barks at him and makes him pee on the floor.

as if i needed something else to do

2006-07-19T14:13:00.000-05:00

Does anyone know how to get livejournal posts into an rss feed? I know that livejournal wants you to use their "friends" feature, but i want them to come to me.

I read this post by Meredith Farkas, which I imagine you've already seen if you read any library blogs at all. It's interesting and got me thinking about developing a proposal for teaching a big-picture-librarian-technology-skills course at the alma mater. Do any of you know if any of the courses currently available are covering these topics? Do you know if anything is in the works over there?

what really happened

2006-07-17T23:25:00.000-05:00

At the risk of driving away every reader, I will tell you how the bird thing turned out.

I found it and it was real nasty.

We cleaned out the pond, got a new pump, rejuvenated the fountain, eradicated mosquitoes, getting some fish. I'll post some photos.

Moving on.

It sure is hot. We somehow ended up with some free window air conditioners, for which our upcoming house guests will certainly be grateful. If we ever get money to replace our aging furnace, we'll certainly put in central air. The pets like it so much more.

all gone

2006-07-14T20:48:00.000-05:00

In response to my recent complaints about dead wildlife in our pool, I feel pretty confident in guessing that one of you snuck into our backyard and secretly removed the bird from the water.

thank you. that was really thoughful, and nice -- whoever you are.

p.s. Happy Birthday Jess!