Office decor

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

flight, or lack thereof

The guy next door doesn't really like to do any house maintenance. His yard is always overgrown and last fall he had some people come and basically spraypaint the front part of the house, the part you can see from the street. From our side window it is part blue and part old-white.

He also doesn't like to repair his attic windows when they break, so now there is a full-on colony of pigeons living up there. They coo into our bedroom window in the mornings, and if you know Johnny and her fear of birds, you might have an idea about how that goes over.

So there have been some baby bird sightings in the back yard. Zoey likes to go up to them and bark at them, over and over, to get them to leave, but they are just scared and sit there until she leaves.

Today I found a dead bird in the pond. I wasn't sure whether to bury it and risk Zoey digging it up, or to somehow put it in the trash, which I'm sure is illegal. I was paralyzed by indecision so it is still in there. What should I do?

For Catalogers Who Care

I got this link to the RDA prototype and survey from Catalogablog. I went through the prototype (which is a little boring, unsurprisingly) and filled out the survey at the end.

The question I ended up with is, do The Co-Publishers think people want another cataloging utility? It seems like they are trying, at least in part, to create yet another method for people to create catalog records. Has anyone looked at the prototype? Did you think this? I think they should just skip that altogether and focus on making the rules easier to navigate, but maybe I'm being short-sighted.

the day off

So here's a photo of the backyard before our work:


And here it is, after:


Doesn't it look nice?

Last night, we went to see Al Gore's feature film which really was very good. It had a lot of accessible information about the situation the earth is in, and he was pretty funny in parts, which was nice to see. Johnny thinks he's going to run for president now, and that the impact of the film will be negated. Either way, you should probably go see it just for the information it imparts. It has already come in handy for a conversation with Johnny's mom.

Speaking of Johnny's mom, she came up to visit for the 4th. It was really nice, we went to lunch and did a little shopping, then we had a project.

We have this currant bush in our yard. It had loads of currants on it, and I have been feeling obligated, for weeks, to do something with them.
Here they are:


Aren't they lovely?

I thought I'd try to make wine, but it is a little complex and you have to wait at least a year before you can drink it so I settled for jelly. Johnny's mom brought down her canner and here is the end result:

It wasn't as hard as I thought, but it was pretty hot work because of all the boiling and what-not. And, after about a half hour of cooling, all the jars sealed. I was a little worried about that. All in all, I'd recommend it to anyone who want to try making their own. Now I have a few extra packets of pectin, so I might need to look for some more fruit to transform.

Mulch Mania

Yesterday Johnny and I got a good 7 hours of yard work in.

Our day wasn't planned that way -- we were on our way to Our New Filmmaker Friend's house and there were these nice flat rocks stacked out in the alley by someone's trash. They were placed there quite neatly, with the sides all prettily aligned so I was concerned that they were actually in a holding pattern for a project. Johnny stopped the truck and I looked through the slats onto a very lovely backyard. I ran through a neighboring yard and went to the front door where I was told that we could completely have them. We loaded them up and went to Lowe's for mulch and now we have a trail of stepping stones through the backyard to cover the dirt road that Zoey had worn into the grass. Nine big bags of mulch later, we really have a lot more to do but it looks pretty good so far.

You have to check back tomorrow to see the photo. It was dark by the time we finished and I couldn't get a good shot.

Themes

Last night my sweetheart and I were watching The Big Easy, an 80's classic starring Dennis Quaid (not Randy) and Ellen Barkin, set in New Orleans.

Ellen is really pissed at Dennis for a good portion of the movie and I kept wondering why. It just didn't make sense. Johnny pretty much summed it up by asking, "Did we get smarter since the 80s? Did the nation actually increase it's IQ since then?"

Then, after an especially thrilling scene where Dennis sports his non-authentic accent and Ellen wears a bag-dress, she called 80s people "simpletons."

Eighties simpletons. That would make a great theme party. Maybe J. Gordon's next party could be an 80's simpleton toga prom?

N'awlins

I'm on my way out and thought I'd create a little list.

Things I didn't do while in New Orleans:

Show my skin for some cheap beads.
Take advantage of the lack of open container law.
Fall asleep immediately after I got into bed.
Eat a po-boy.
Adjust to the time change.
Take the ferry to Algiers ("The real home of Mardi Gras")
Wear sensible shoes.
Go to Emeril's.
Attend a General Session.

Things I did do while in New Orleans:

Drank and ate seafood every day.
Shepherded a cricket out of my hotel room (twice).
Listened to Howl-at-the-Moon (across the street) until I was forced to wear earplugs.
Went to an incredibly cool jazz bar called Fritzl's.
Saw nearly everyone that I knew was going to be here, some I didn't expect and made some new friends.
Went to Cafe Du Monde and tried the chicory cafe au lait and beignets (dude.)
Learned that Loyola and Tulane are literally across the street from one another.
Got free books without trying.
Re-used my towels & bedding, without being asked.

I love it here. I want to come back.

Fat City

That's right, isn't it?

I went to this awesome session today about Ann Arbor Public who holds a SuperMarioKart tournament for the kids in their community. They totally go all out and produce it and have interviews with the finalists, like SportsCenter. It was totally awesome and make me wish I had gone into YA services. But then I remembered that I'd probably hate it.

Last night I saw a screening of The Hollywood Librarian. We saw about 35 minutes of semi-edited footage and it looks pretty good. There is a fair amount of book-cart-drill-team footage, which certainly adds some glamour to the whole thing. It isn't finished yet, pending funding, so if you have $50 that you'd like to contribute to helping the reputation of my profession, feel free to PayPal it their way.

Today I spent a fair amount of time on public transportation. I decided that I didn't have an extra $50 for the "Devastation Tours" and I talked to a couple of people and was rather discouraged to just jump on any old bus and head out to the 9th Ward. One guy said that it is "pretty lonely."
Instead, I took some of the more regularly running routes. I took the Canal St. Streetcar from end to end, and toward the North-West end (closest to the lake) you could really see the difference from the French Quarter area. Yesterday, the NO Public librarian told me that there were initiatives among the locals to really get out and clean up the Quarter and the Convention Center area before we all came. She said there were kids out picking up trash and sweeping the sidewalks and everything. I almost cried when she was describing it to me, but I didn't really think of it again until I saw the difference leaving the Quarter area. Some places looked okay, but most of the houses up there had a very distinct water line about 4 feet up the side of the buildings. It was really incredible to see house after house with this line across them. On the side streets you could see the FEMA trailers parked in front of the houses and lots of construction crews and trash on the sidewalks. I have some photos which I hope to upload after I get back.

The Crescent City

This place has lots of nicknames.

I've been going to meetings and what-not, but I've really enjoyed meeting lots of people around at happy hours and special events. Yesterday, I went to a special event at one of the branch libraries out on St. Charles St. I started speaking with this woman on the bus. She works at one of the local hotels. In the hurricane, she came out unscathed, but most of her neighbors lost everything. She said that this has enabled her to help other people. She gives away money, clothing, prayers, time...anything she has. She said it was great that the librarians were in town, because they need it, and that we should all try and take a trip up to the 9th Ward because dead people are STILL being found up there. She said anyone who comes here should go see it. I asked about public buses in that area, and she said that the worst of it isn't on the main roads because the main roads tend to be a little higher.

I got to the branch library a little early, so I struck up a conversation with the librarian there. She is originally from Akron (Ohio) and she and her husband lost everything in the hurricane. She lives in a FEMA trailer while they try to rebuild their house. She said she's evacuated about 15 times in the 20 years they've lived here, but usually for "no reason." Luckily, they decided to go anyway, but she said she could never imagine what it was like to lose everything she had. She got laid off for a while and then rehired. She has her pet rabbit and guinea pig living at the library because there isn't any room in the trailer for them.

They hold tours people can take to the devastated areas. I have mixed feelings because I think people should be able to go, but to make it tourist-y seems wrong to me. The librarian said that buses will come by their house while they are working and they'll stop and take pictures. I don't think I'll go on one of those, so I don't know if I'll make it to the areas I need to go. I want to ask the concierge about the public bus, but I feel awkward about that too.

It's a very sensitive time, but people are still drinking, partying and throwing beads off the balcony. I guess after all this, New Orleans still permits you to have whatever kind of experience you want to have.

The big easy

New Orleans is beautiful and interesting and strange, all at once. This is my first trip here and I'm fully intrigued. I spent the past couple of days walking around and getting a better sense of the areas near my hotel (tourist-y areas, the French QUarter, the convention center area, the river-side area). The city is packed with bars and restaurants and shops, everywhere. Red Rider was kind enough to walk me by her old house and through her old neighborhood and there were little side streets with restaurants and coffee shops tucked around the corners. It really reminds me of so many places: Philly, southern California, New York...it's really interesting.

The bus driver told us that 2/3 of the people who lived here before the hurricane have not come back. It seems pretty busy most places, but most of the people I see are librarians. We drove by this underpass where he pointed out the water line, 13 feet up the side of the highway. There are entire neighborhoods that still have tarps for roofs.

I've eaten a lot, including a 5-beer sampler and some fried cheesecake. The cake part was all melty and yummy. A guy struck up a conversation to me on the way to registration and gave me the lowdown on the casino buffet and then offered to split a doobie with me. I politely declined.

Finalamente

The Philly trip was great. We got to Erica and The Agent's house on Thursday night when we met their cat, Victor.

Victor is super cute and playful.

I spent a good portion of the weekend trying get a picture of him doing acrobatic stunts with his toy. Finally The Agent hooked it up:


Did you really look at that picture? That cat is doing a freakin' cartwheel!

Bevin brought Macy and Her Man down for a visit and we played some Cranium and took pictures while the dogs played.


Saturday, J.Gordan hosted a happenin' party at his house which required 80s attire. Here is the before-party shot:



Sadly, I don't have a post-party shot, but lets just say that if there had been some foam around, there might have been a fight.

We also went to breakfast, went hiking, gave Erica a surprise graduation present, visited with family, played games, had a cookout and all sorts of other great things.

I made an album for these photos, and a few others from our Denver trip.

my diet has gone to pot

but not literally.

I had a balance bar for breakfast today. I just read the ingredients and I still don't know what is in those things, but I was buzzing around for a couple of hours afterward.

We had our staff appreciation lunch at work today. I knew maybe 1/4 of the people there, but I did see my coworker's thong sticking out of her pants. It was a little awkward, even though her back was to me. I just pretended it didn't happen. Johnny has a special term for that, but I can't think of what it is now. She is at a jetgirl planning meeting, so I'll ask when she gets back.

For dinner I had chips and salsa and half a bag of cherries.


How's that for nutrition?

Scootking and Pixelville are back today! Welcome home guys!

I read that

I finished the Da Vinci Code shortly after we got back from Philly (no, there won't be any philly photos in this post) and I don't see what all the fuss is about. Even if all that jazz was true, I don't think it would "shake the foundations of christianity." There are actually scholars who are spending time refuting the claims made in the novel. I also saw a church sign that was having a Da Vinci Code-refuting themed sermon. That just seems weird.

Speaking of shaking the foundations, Johnny and I have embarked on a mission to eradicate all traces of whining from our dog. She has a bad whining habit, so we've starting actively ignoring her when she does it. This involves turning our backs and walking away from her a lot. Or covering our heads with the blankets while holding perfectly still so she can't possibly interpret anything we do as reinforcement. It seems to be working pretty well, except for a minute ago when she parked herself next to me on the couch and whined into the back of my head for about 30 seconds straight. Such a baby.

Miss you.

Our friends are in Greece and we are watching their cats. They have season tickets to the Columbus Comets (although neither of them really like football much) so we got their tickets to Friday's game. It was really fun and the QB is someone I've known since she was in high school, so that only added to the experience. Johnny flyered a good portion of the crowd before we went to the Surly Girl with Lacy and the doctor couple. Lacy and one of the members of the doctor couple are moving (separately to separate places) while I am in New Orleans for ALA, which is awful because not only will I be hot, and at risk for a tropical storm, but I will miss their going-away celebrations, the drag show and all the other fun pride festivities that happen in the gay mecca of the midwest.

Yesterday we went to the CSA farm for the best potluck ever. We picked snap peas and strawberries and got to pet the little calves.
This little girl kept sticking her finger out for this calf to suck on and it kept soing it until her arm was completely covered in drool. Luckily that happened after we ate.

And, soon I will post the photos from the Philly trip. It was so fun and included lots of great activities and people seeing and things. I just need to find the cord for the camera.

too much kombucha?

Today, while I was checking out my long-awaited copy of The Da Vinci Code OhioLINKed from a community college, I overheard some student workers talking about their weekend plans.

One said:

No, I didn't do anything really, just saw some movies. I saw The Da Vinci Code [laughs] again and it was over the hedge, it was so cute.

I panicked. Over the hedge? Is that like "off the chain?" And was The Da Vinci Code cute?
I seriously worried for a full 20 seconds that I really had no inkling of 20-year-old slang until I realized.

Oh, right. That's a movie. I knew that.

the mountains are beautiful

I’m in Denver again. Maybe I’ll only post from Denver from now on?

I’m here for IUG which has been really useful and informative. I have gotten to see some people from my old library, including HoTS, which was really great. There is an extraordinary amount of food-eating happening, and some good margaritas.

Johnny came this time which has been nice. We went on Saturday to Fort Collins to go to Johnny’s cousin’s daughter’s birthday party at the roller rink. It was really fun, although I’m not as good at skating as I used to be. There were mostly 8 year olds, but there were a few teenagers who were very proficient at skating and making out in the corner.

The next big thing is our Memorial Day trip to Philly! Woo! This will be the best trip, especially because I don’t have to attend meetings the whole time.

I almost pasted an email here instead of this post

that would have been the most boring post ever. Thank god I caught that.

Yesterday and today I am in an ILS admin training in lovely Bowling Green. The training is really interesting, but some of it is still review, thanks to my former boss and coworkers. I am glad I came, it's been a good opportunity to get to know some of the people who I will likely see again next weekend at IUG, back in Denver.

In addition to us library-types, there is a FirePerson training school happening here. The students are on break and I went to the Union to get some coffee, but I couldn't figure out where all the men in jeans were coming from. One of them struck up a conversation with me in the hotel elevator. He threw around lots of fireperson jargon, like "controlled burn" and something about rescue, or whatever. I guess I was supposed to be impressed, but I can't remember what about.

On my way home, I am likely to stop and see my parents for a little bit. I haven't seen them in a while, and both their birthdays are this month. We are taking my mom to dinner Friday night after the fashion show at Johnni's school. My mom wants me to help her pick out what to wear - I thought that was cute.

goin' home

No one joined us for our Ladies Night Out, but we had a pretty good time. It was held at this big event space which was in some random warehouse district, which made the cab ride interesting. Jess' boobs got hit on by some crazy drunk lady before I had to intervene. There were lots of bad outfits, and some fairly bad music, but we got to see some sights.

Yesterday was full of information, I went to a session on FRBR and one on RDA, both of which were full of information, but one was certainly more interesting. Can you guess which one? The sessions were over at 2, so we went shopping and then to dinner at this noodle restaurant, then to a diner-like establishment for coffee and a treat. I had a lovely slice of homemade blueberry pie.

I have to say I'm ready to go home. I will be glad to see Johneey, pet the dog, and watch the Sporanos with a nice bowl of popcorn.

goin' home

No one joined us for our Ladies Night Out, but we had a pretty good time. It was held at this big event space which was in some random warehouse district, which made the cab ride interesting. Jess' boobs got hit on by some crazy drunk lady before I had to intervene. There were lots of bad outfits, and some fairly bad music, but we got to see some sights.

Yesterday was full of information, I went to a session on FRBR and one on RDA, both of which were full of information, but one was certainly more interesting. Can you guess which one? The sessions were over at 2, so we went shopping and then to dinner at this noodle restaurant, then to a diner-like establishment for coffee and a treat. I had a lovely slice of homemade blueberry pie.

I have to say I'm ready to go home. I will be glad to see Johneey, pet the dog, and watch the Sporanos with a nice bowl of popcorn.

denver v. 2

Red Rocks was super beautiful. It was raining, so we didn't exactly get to enjoy the full splendor, but Jess got some great photos which she will post shortly. After that, we just came back and went to bed.

This morning we got up and went to the hotel fitness center, which was about 15 degrees hotter than any room in a hotel ever is, and about 30 degrees hotter than any gym should be. The first session was Robin Sloan (who I keep wanting to call Robin Leach) and he showed us the Googlezon video, which he helped produce. He talked about the "scary future" of technology and how much things can change in such a short time, specifically from now until 2014.

After that were two shorter sessions, one on Blogs, wikis and podcasting and the other on the ERM and integration with the current ILS. I finally met this guy I always email and we set up a meeting for Thursday for an issue that has been outstanding at my work for about, oh, a year. It was quite a coup for me, especially if all goes well in the meeting.

Tonight, we might try to find a sushi restaurant and then go to the Denver Art Walk. Then, later, there is a queer ladies party that I am dragging Jess to. We'd been discussing how to get other queer ladies in attendance here to come with us. There is a bulletin board, but I didn't really want to post a sign that said:
QUEER LADIES
or:
QUEERS
or:
GAYS
or even worse:
LESBIANS

I finally settled on a graphical notice, an inverted triangle next to a women's symbol. I was still embarrassed to actually hang it up, but I did, then ran away real quick. We'll see if anyone shows.

I'm cold.

I arrived this morning in Denver at around 9:20 or so, their time. I guess that is 11:20 Eastern? Also, by the way, for those of you who don't know, Ohio is in the same time zone as Philadelphia. I guess that is rare knowledge on the east coast.

The opening remarks for the conference start at 3:45, I think, and after that we go to Red Rocks for a dinner and some scenery. I had a little time to kill after I got here.
I got˜ to the hotel, but I couldn't check in yet because it was only 10 am here. I asked if there was somewhere I could eat and have free internet, and the hotel desk lady told me that "there is internet access in the hotel but it is $2.95 for the first minute and $0.25 for each additional minute." I was a little shocked to hear this. It was even more surprising when I found out that there is free wireless access at the 16th street Mall, where I am now.


There is also a free hybrid/electric powered bus running up and down the mall (to the right in the picture), so I might jump on that to see what is here.

It is a little chilly, but I felt rude taking up table space in Suzy Q, the place where I had a delicious avocado sandwich and cream of broccoli soup for my first lunch. I am planning to eat again in a couple of hours, maybe once Jess gets here. It is in this same deli where I realized that my zipper had been down since I used the bathroom on the plane, which means that my confident walk through the airport, my inquiry about the internet access, and my friendly conversation with the woman at the visitor's center were all marred by the zipper thing.

two tidbits

1. I was eating some yogurt, then I realized that it was yogurt made from WATER BUFFALO MILK!!!

2. my humor profile:

Your humor has an intellectual, even conceptual slant to it. You're not pretentious, but you're not into what some would call 'low humor' either. You'll laugh at a good dirty joke, but you definitely prefer something clever to something moist.

You probably like well-thought-out pranks and/or spoofs and it's highly likely you've tried one of these things yourself. In a lot of ways, yours is the most entertaining type of humor because it's smart without being mean-spirited.


PEOPLE LIKE YOU: Conan O'Brian - Ashton Kutcher


The 3-Variable Funny Test!
You scored higher than 17% on darkness
You scored higher than 30% on spontaneity
You scored higher than 1% on vulgarity

Link: The 3 Variable Funny Test written by jason_bateman on Ok Cupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

brush with death

today i went on a tour of the "swing space" where the library will be (for 4 years) while they renovate this building. it's a warehouse. seriously. i don't know how they are going to fit all the books in there. i got to see my office too--it is about the same size, but with much less character, no window overlooking campus, no coffee shop outside the door, but i do get a whiteboard!

next weekend, i am going to NASIG with Jess which is going to be a blast.

lastly, a coworker and i had a proposal accepted for a journal issue to be published in the winter. We were sitting in my office talking about it, and she was rummaging through her purse pulling out her sunglasses, and we were talking about this and that and she reaches into her bag and pulls out..

NAIL CLIPPERS!!

Some of you may know how i feel about this death-tool. The sound of nails being clipped is akin to nails on a chalkboard, or the crunch of a cockroach under my shoe. I really hate it.

As you can imagine, I instantly recoiled. I was in a quandary! We just had this great collaborative discussion, and was I going to make it weird by asking her to put them away? Was I going to have to leave the room? Hide under the table?

She held the clippers up, with an "Aha! I found them" gesture. I literally backed my chair up. She turned the handle part around, preparing for clipping, then...she clipped a string off her purse!

I can't begin to describe how lucky I felt at that moment. I recovered, then told her that if she ever produced clippers in my office again, I would ban her. Well, I did think that, but I just told her about my clipper-fear and she said she had noticed the horror in my eyes, now that I mention it.

that was a close one.

ohh, my belly

Today, I am in a level 2 training class for Microsoft Access, kindly purchased by my employer. I had to drive out by the cataloging factory to get here.

Our instructor seems like a nice enough guy, but maybe a little ill-prepared. He has long wavy air in a ponytail and his self-described catch-phrase is "So far, so good." He loves Excel, apparently, because it has kinda been going like this:

Ponytail: Now we will go over [topic]. Does anyone use excel a lot?

3 middle aged women, me, and someone else roughly my age: [no response]

Ponytail: [Switching to excel] Here is how this works...[gives demo]...and it works the same way in Access.

And just now, he was leaning over the woman in front of me and said, "You're wearing Elizabeth Taylor's Passion, aren't you?" This launched a fairly lengthy conversation about the sense of smell as a memory trigger and the length and quality of his past relationships.

We talked about the recent Sopranos episode (we agreed it was sporadic and a little uncomfortable) and he showed us all photos of his recent trip to Utah.

There were a couple of times where I started feeling a little uncomfortable while he floundered around, so I answered a few questions for him. In spite of that, I am learning quite a bit. There was this database set up before I got here and I have some good ideas on how to clean it up.

So far so good, right?

Well, here's the thing. They have a free snack room. Yeah. Here is what I have eaten so far today:

2 cups (half-full) coffee (with caffeine)
Nature's Valley Peanut Butter Granola Bar
caramel squares
sour apple Jolly Rancher
Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pie

Then we went to lunch. I felt a little bad about my stomach being so full of crap so I went to the grocery store and got sushi. I got back and felt like a snack, so I had:

1 cup coffee ( half-full, with caffeine)
1 bag animal crackers

However, I did, somehow, resist the Welch's Fruit Snacks. Blah. I just know if I can get home and make a smoothie, everything will be okay.

weekend activities

Saturday morning Lacy Coxx's GF left for Portland, forever. Lacy will be joining her in a couple of months. I am going to miss them.

But, Lacy is still here, so Saturday night we went to the Royal Renegades show at a country bar on the other side of town. Johni had the grand idea to get some Sparks, so we did the high school thing where we drank in the car outside the bar, then went out during the intermission for a refill. Wait, that wasn't just high school. btw, thanks Bevin for chronicling many memorable events so that I can refer to them later in life. In this case, 4 years later.

We had an afterparty at the house and there were some fun and weird goings-on, including an abhorrent event where an old geezer (who we knew, but didn't know was creepy) tried to get us to sleep with her. Ick.

Lovely KT brought us some chex mix and dessert chex mix (aka puppy chow) which I am enjoying now.

The point of this is to say that the afterparty was only possible because of our new cleaning plan which involves the brilliant idea of cleaning up after ourselves. We also recently rearranged the living room, so here is what it looks like. For those of you who have seen it recently, the main difference is the mantle and absence of blanket-curtains.


Also, since I am talking about the house, I took this photo of the yard last week.


Compare it to the one from the week before and see the progress.

be there or be un-smooth

Jess Webb told me this today:

...Southwest Airlines will launch new flights from Philadelphia to Columbus (thrice-daily)[...]starting July 2...

Yes!! Do you realize what this means? That you can come to jetgirl! Johnnie and ScootKing are planning the best thing that Columbus has seen since the 90s. The way I understand it, it will be a monthly party with DJs, dancing, performances, and other great stuff.

I was thrilled to hear about this idea because, even though I am 30 and approaching old, the shocking lack of fun queer-woman social activities glared out at me as soon as we moved back here. There is an equally shocking number of queer women here, but everyone just stays home I guess, because there isn't anything fun to do. Those days are now over, thank god. I will give you the website and details once I have them so you can start planning.

Since I am on a smooth-related kick, I will offer you my latest smoothie recipe, which, I must say, is Divine:
2 kiwi (peeled, of course)
1/4 cantelope (or musk melon, as my dad calls it)
1/2 scoop soy protein powder
water & ice

if you weren't sure your blender could do the fabulous things mine is doing now, put your fears aside and get some kiwi and cantelope. you won't be sorry.

not so smooth

I've never been a proponent of being "in the closet" at work, in fact, I try to make it clear that I am not straight or married whenever it comes up. I don't subscribe to the "let people have their assumptions" idea.

Sometimes, though, I am a little smoother than other times. I went to a lunch with my library director (50s, straight, while male) and somehow I smoothly mentioned it, probably something like this:

Oh, yes, my partner and I just bought our house and she is in school full time, so....

Pretty smooth, right?

Today was not a smooth day. I ran into a couple of my coworkers 5 feet away in the coffee shop and we were discussing their kids and so on. The one coworker and I have already had this conversation and so she is in-the-know. The other coworker asks me, Do you have kids, are you married?

And here is what I say.

Uh, well, I'm gay and my, uh, partner is a woman, so we can't get married.

What the grarg is that? I feel like I let down the whole U.S. of Queer with that ridiculous response.

She said, But you can still have kids, right?

It was so kind of her to just glaze over my unnecessary awkwardness and move the conversation along. She started talking about these two girls who found each other because they had the same donor dad, and was a little mushy (in the emotional way) about it. So it all worked out fine, but I came away from it with a resolution. The next time someone asks if I am married, I will fall to the floor as a distraction so I don't have to worry about the cool-ness of my response.

Really, here is what I came up with (for now): No, but my partner and I are planning a committment ceremony.

That is so much smoother.

Allow me to introduce you to...

My latest obsession: Smoothies.

At the coffee shop where I work, people are always yelling out "Very Berry!" or "Strawberry Banana with Whip!" So they are never far from my mind.

The weekend of my birthday 2 things happened to fuel this. Duke mentioned that he usually gets frozen mangoes from Trader Joe's and makes a smoothie in the mornings. Also, as part of my birthday celebration I got a massage, right? Well, while I was there, our fabulous energy worker/massage therapist made a smoothie with some powdered spirulina mix. That, I think, is the moment when I got the fever.

Our food source has been pretty regularly offering us apples and oranges, so I got a blender from Amazon with this gift certificate I got from participating in this health screening at work. I knew it was a good sign when it arrived OVERNIGHT with Super Saver Shipping. Score. We had just gone to the store, where I happened to pick up some frozen fruits and soy protein powder. It also happened that Johny wasn't feeling well at this time, so we had some juice.

Here are some things I have learned in my few weeks of smoothie-in-a-blender experience.

1. Make sure you really peel everything.
2. Don't use any combination of the following: tofu, soy milk, soy protein powder. It takes away from the flavor if you use more than one.
3. Blueberry juice really goes with anything.
4. Don't just peel the orange and throw it in.
5. Don't try to get people who don't like smoothies to drink them. You will be disapointed.

Our recent Shipment included nothing less than Fresh Mangoes. I was so excited. Now, I am drinking this lovely concoction (One mango, one apple, juice of one orange, 1/2 scoop soy protein powder, ice, water)


Yes, that is a short straw. I cut it off for the glass.

the winner is...

Salmon totally guessed my friend's baby's name: Quentin! As soon as she emails me her address, I will make and ship her a cake The apples are waiting and I can make it vegan if you want.

I went to this CIC conference on Monday and Tuesday. It's always interesting to get a larger picture of what is happening in library-land and see what other libraries are doing. There was an interesting demo from Endeca about the new NCSU OPAC interface which allows faceted keyword searching. There was some assigned speculation about whether this kind of thing is the future of the OPAC and people were saying insane things like "what will catalogers/non-public-service staff do?"

Hi, the work still has to be done, we still have to know what we own, even if the patrons just use WorldCat.

There was the obligatory presentation on the technological advances of the NextGen. They were talking about things like "multi-tasking" and actually showed screenshots of a person's desktop while in the process of said "multi-tasking".
The worst part was when this person said that she didn't think that people would be "multi-tasking" this way once they got older. Who ARE these people?

It wasn't all bad though, there were some good conversations about how libraries are/should be allocating resources to address the issues of their users, an interesting talk by OCLC about their recent survey and a great keynote by David Weinberger where, in part, he responded to the article in Nature where they found that the wikipedia is just as accurate as Brittanica and how that upsets the traditional view of authority in publication.

Plus, the food was good.

now it is raining

i charged up the batteries so that I could get some nice shots of the yard, but it keeps getting dark at night, and today I was inside while it was 78 degrees outside and when I left work it started raining.

So you are stuck with these:

Here, Zoey's left ear is curved like a bull horn, but in retrospect, I'm not sure I captured the true hilarity of it.


Here, Puck is the softest model cat, as usual, but he is blurry.


Here is a through-the-rain "before" shot of our yard in early spring. I am hoping to be able to capture various "during" and "after" shots as the season progresses.

I planted some garlic in the fall and it is coming up nicely. I don't know how long I have to wait until I can harvest it, but I think it might be a little while. In this picture, it is in the brownish area directly to the right of the yellow forsythia bush:


Tomorrow, I am going to visit my grandma and go to a baby shower for my friend from Kindergarten. She wore note earrings and sat at the cats table with me. In my class, there was a Dogs, Cats, and Rabbits table where we were arranged by body size. I'm not sure that would fly today.
Note Earrings called me on my birthday (which she didn't really know was my birthday, although she knew it was in March) to tell me she'd had a son and since he was born in March, she thought of me.

How strange is all this? My BF from high school, and now this baby? Anyway, she had this dramatic f-ed up situation with the father and now is living above a funeral home and cleaning for the rent, which actually seems to be a pretty good deal. I have to admit I am pretty excited to see the baby. His name starts with a Q, and if you are the first to guess it, I will send you an apple cake.

routines

I've just watched America's Next Top Model for two days in a row. I am rooting for Molly Sue even though she choked on the commercial just now. We'll see how she works out.

Today was great though because I finally broke my wednesday-piddling-around and made some freakin-progress-already on my first tenure-related research project. Whew. I need to justify that day each week somehow.

I was a little inspired by Bevin's new method for organizing her life and Johnny and I have started doing the dishes after every meal. It is so amazing. It is like the whole kitchen is clean all the time, just because the dishes are done. I highly recommend it for any of you who have dishes-related arguments, or messy kitchens.

I'm also trying to work in a little yard work. You will certainly be subjected to some photos of the spring foliage popping up in the yard. It is quite lovely, and makes me look forward to when it gets warmer and we can have cookouts in the yard. I can't wait. At least it isn't snowing here!

just hang up for two minutes, gawd.

Maybe I shouldn't be by now, but every time I hear someone on their cell phone while using the bathroom, I am shocked. Am I an old lady? Am I a prude? Why do people talk on the phone in public restrooms? Not just "Hi, I'm peeing, Bye" conversations either, these are real conversations about what happened at the party over the weekend, making plans with boyfriends (yes, I can hear his voice too), and "why was she wearing that" conversations.

I need to have a planned response, in case I get to the point where I can't take it anymore. What should I do? Bang on the wall? If it wasn't illegal I could get a phone reception canceller or something. Any other ideas?

birthday sweepstakes

Oh my. This had to be my best birthday yet.

I worked on Thursday, my actual birthday, because I was taking the other days off. I had a meeting with this woman from Japan about our institutional repository (not suppository, or toilet, by the way) and she completely brought a gift (a cute little scarf)! I was so excited that I didn't even get to tell her that it was also my birthday. Also, the Director of the Libraries actually stopped into my office after getting some coffee. That is a benefit of having the coffee shop office, for sure.

I got home and Duke had just arrived. I also had a fabulous birthday present from Bevin, which I will certainly post a photo of, so everyone can appreciate the fabulousness. We got ready and went to dinner with our young friend A. We had delicious thai food and met up with Pilgrim for ice cream after. I was too full to eat any ice cream, but we decided to go for a beer, which I was not too full for. We went to the Surly Girl and met up with Lacy Coxx, her GF, and a couple of others. That was truly fun and then we went home.

Friday I drank two cups of full-on caffeinated coffee so Duke and I talked non-stop for a couple of hours while I made a cake and did dishes. I checked my email and saw that there was a special birthday video from ScootKing and Leo via Portland (see March 24). Then Johnny came home and we went to Pilgrim's for desserts and playing with the baby. I knew that J. Gordon and Jess Webb were supposed to arrive that night, probably around 11 or 12, but there were many text messages with regard to status, etc. We left Pilgrim's at around 12:30 when I was nearly asleep on the couch. We got back and they STILL hadn't arrived. I got a second wind and vacuumed the living room. Johnny announced that they were here so we ran outside and looked for them. I ran to the car and saw that THERE WERE TWO OTHER PEOPLE IN THE CAR! Erica and The Agent has snuck their way to Ohio and were totally in attendance. Jess had stopped for Sparks, so we cracked open a few and stayed up late.

Saturday was a full day. The Agent and I dropped Zoey off at the questionable kennel and took a quick tour of the campus at the cataloging factory. By the time we got back, Johnny had packed up a bag for me and sent Jess, The Agent and I off for the day. It was all planned in advance and all unknown to me. Our first step was to go to this random address. We pulled up in front of the place, and it was someone's house! I wasn't sure what to do, but The Agent assured me it was okay by informing me that we were there for massages and hot tubbing and relaxation-by-magazine looking. I don't need to say how great it was. Then, we took off for sushi and sashimi at the newly renovated japanese restaurant and then we went to see a movie!

We headed back toward home and as we pulled up, I noticed Jupiter (the cat) in the alley. I jumped out to get him, and waited for the rest before going inside. I am glad I waited, because there was A DJ IN OUR HOUSE. My brother, Sil, and family were there and a variety of others, including food and all kinds of excitement. Sil made me this fancy birthday cake and we danced and drank and had so much fun. My Best Friend From High School also came. Here are some selected photos which don't actually represent the entire evening because many hours passed until I remembered to take some photos, and then many passed after I forgot again. [Edit: I forgot to mention that Johnny's cousin and her bf came from DC, just for the party! It was great to see them, and it was such a surprise.]

Anyway, most everyone left on Sunday and i spent the day sleeping and cleaning until Lacy and her sick GF arrived to watch the Sopranos and the Most Awful Season Finale Of All Time with us.

I wish everyday was birthday sweepstakes. Thanks everyone for coming.

Birthday week!

This is going to be a good week. My 30th is Thursday, and Johnny is planning a party for me on Saturday night. Jess, J. Gordon and Duke are coming, I am pretty sure, and maybe some other people too, although I'm still not supposed to talk about it. I am going to go ahead and work on the actual birthday, but I'm taking Friday and Monday off, to enjoy and relax. I am planning to go to yoga on Friday morning, so that will be a nice start.

I wish I could have a birthday sweepstakes. I don't know what exactly that would entail, but it would be cool.

My best friend from high school called me last week and I am going up to visit her tonight. I am strangely excited and a little nervous. I haven't seen her in 7 years, but I am taking some beer, so I'm sure it will be fun.

timing is everything

I have a tendency toward efficiency. I mean, maybe I am a little obsessed with it. I am usually considering the most efficient way to go somewhere, to do a list of things, to get ready in the most efficient way. I am also occasionally obsessed with how other people see me.

I was at the gym and had just come from the shower and was getting dressed in the locker room. I had my pants, socks and shoes left to put on. It was pretty quiet in there because it was pouring rain for about 30 minutes, just enough time to get people to cycle out, but not back in. I put on my socks first because I didn't want to stand on the locker room floor with my bare feet. Then, I thought it made the most sense to put on my pants and limit the amount of time that I was less-dressed. Then I had the efficient idea that if I put my shoes just after my pants, while sitting down, then I wouldn't have to sit back down to put my shoes on, and I'd get out of there a few seconds (or fraction of seconds) earlier. I chose not to untie my shoes because I can usually just slide them on without too much trouble.

My occasional obsession kicked in when someone turned the corner and I suddenly realized I was sitting there, wiggling my feet to get into my shoes, towel across my lap, pants down. I must be the queen of good timing.

First anyone?

This weekend was full of firsts.

Art Museum
I have never been to the art museum here. I don't know why. Leo runs a film festival that had its opening night party (and film) at the museum. It was really nice and Johnny showed me around to all her favorite works in the museum. There was lots of background noise and no people trying to stand in front of us.


Chocolate covered grapes
Whoa. These were served at the opening with lots of other yummy goodies, but wow. If you haven't had these, maybe try some when you can. They are really good.


Yucky post-yoga
Saturday was the first time ever that I didn't feel awesome for the rest of the day after doing yoga. It probably had a lot to do with the sausage gravy from Bob Evans that I ate afterward.


Spaghetti squash
I've never had spaghetti squash before, so I didn't really think that the squash looks like spaghetti, but it does!


Double pie crust
Due to our food connection, we ended up with basically a bushel of apples. I decided to whip up a couple o' pies, but to make them gourmet-style, with double crusts. I always thought it would be hard, but it is just the same, with more dough rolling.


Sopranos!!
Tonight is the first episode of the LAST season of the Sopranos.

woot!

Music to my ears

Our new computer came with GarageBand, a program to create your own music and whatever. Here is our first effort, soon to be on all the radio stations. (AIFF format, Quicktime) I really hope you can play it because Johnny's vocals are OUT OF THIS WORLD. Seriously. Way better than Debra.

I need your help!

I have been trying to think of the title of this book for weeks. It is about a family and the mom dies. There are a bunch of kids, and each chapter is told from the perspective of various people in the story. The older boys have to build the mom's coffin and then there is a bunch of rain and they wait a long time to take her to town to bury her and the bridge washes out and they have to take the long way around and her body begins decomposing, but they still keep going. There is at least a little boy, and a young-ish girl who thinks she is prego. It's a great story, but I can't think of the name or the author. I know you all are well-read, so someone must be able to help me, right?

On a less interesting note, does anyone know of a multi-format IM client that can be used on a mac? I use Trillian on my work PC, but it isn't available for mac.

Running off

Last night after Johnny got home, she was holding the door open to bring in her paintings and Zoey ran out. She sped across the street and down the alley. Johnny went looking for her (and got gas in the truck) but no luck. She came back, but like 20 minutes later. I wish that I had more confidence in her ability to look both ways before crossing the street. I know she would love to just run and run. I think she misses the farm life.

Today my friend Sanj from the cataloging factory got married. She and her (now) husband, Coop, had this big production at the courthouse, where about 25 people showed up in fancy outfits and took photos of them with the justice-of-the-peace (who, by the way, made several inappropriate comments about Sanj making dinner every night and about Coop trying to run away). We all laughed politely and took pictures around him.

There I also saw some women I've known for about...oh, maybe 10 years, that I hadn't seen since my girlfriend at the time and I broke up in 1997 or whatever. That was fun, and it was strange because they look exactly the same. Not older or anything. It gives me hope for when I am nearing 40.

This saturday they are having a big reception dinner at a restaurant, on the same night as Leo's birthday dinner!! We RSVP'd for the wedding some time ago, so we are going to that but then going dancing with Leo, et al., which will fully rock.

What fun

Oh my. So here many days have passed.

We went to Chicago with the Bro and Sil, and it was really fun. We went to this overpriced steakhouse place and ate food that was quite good, but still overpriced. Then, we went to Second City. Dudes, if you ever get a chance to go, you completely should. It was so fun and funny that we went back again the next night for the free improv hour. That alone made we want to move there. Or Toronto, or NY, or Detroit.
We also went to the Contemporary Art Museum where they had a surprise piece by Johnny's fave artist, Lee Bontecou. We saw Gehry's Millennium Park and shared a hot dog with all kinds of stuff on it.

We boarded Zoey for the first time. It was a little sad because she clearly didn't want us to leave her there, but everything went fine, obviously. She was a little crazy when she came home, ran around and chewed up an (empty) box of girl scout cookies. Overally, I'd say it was a success. At least we ate the cookies first.

Last night was muy exciting because we bought our first computer! Can you believe that neither Johnny nor I has ever had to purchase a computer yet in our nearly 60 years (combined)? We saved a little cash and went on over to the Apple store and I am now sitting in a freakin' coffee shop typing on this fancy new iBook, instead of doing my research like I am supposed to. Woo!

Ok. My Birthday is totally coming up and we are having a party. I am just saying that I want you to come, but please don't talk to me about it! I want it to be a surprise if you pop in, so make arrangements with Johnny if you can (please?) come. I promise that we will visit my library and go to Waterbeds-n-Stuff . It will be so fun. Also, if you are going to come early or stay late, mention that to Johnny too, so she can suggest that I take days off work as appropriate.

curling

I have simply been too busy to post, what with the olympics and all. I am fully informed about the wonders of ice dancing, women's arials, and slalom. it's pretty amazing.

I have also been busy with our lap dog:

weather is strange

It's so weird that I didn't even know it snowed on the east coast until, like, Monday. By then, all y'alls were feet deep in the stuff.
Today it was 57 and tomorrow is supposed to be 61 degrees.

Suddenly, Ohio is in the south or some shit.

showtime

The show was so fun. I don't know if it was any good, but I had a great time.

We were there just on time, and I got together with my co-mc's to discuss our strategies. It was a valentine's theme, so the numbers were divided into break up songs and love songs. I decided to dress the theme, so I wore a break-up outfit for the first half which was basically a slinky black number (no photo), and I dressed as a love-princess for the second half. Here's a shot of me and Lacey Coxx, where I am in the princess 'fit:

Leo and I decided to plan a Taboo style game with the conversation hearts (inspired by Bevin) and to spice it up some, we tried to write tiny little words on some of them, for fun.
I asked Leo, "Do they have to be about Valentine's day?"
She said, "well, about love, or sex, or whatever" so I wrote

Give me my pants

on one. that one was a real hit.

Our number was at the end of the first half, and the crowd was fully into it. I wish I had thought to recruit someone to take a photo, but I didn't, but I will tell you this: involved a toaster oven, girl push-ups, and iron-on letters on shirts and underwear.
Here's a post-number shot of Lacey and me. Please note the leg warmers and white cowboy boots (which she got for $9 + shipping on ebay! woo!):


So johnny sang the debra, which was awesome. here's a shot of us before she got too drunk:

Please note the wild look in my eyes.

There was much drinking, and even some inappropriate behavior from johnny's coworker. then we were ready to go, but our stuff was locked backstage. while i waited at the bar for the key, there was some hilarity happening back there. I got there just in time:


I want to take this moment to mention the nail polish on jake's hand. In case you can't see it, here is a close up.


She showed me how she felt about it:


On the way home, we got some White Castle fried cheese, and drank-n-dialed The Jesserson. So fun.

disappointing tv

I made the (nearly) fatal error of watching the grammys last night. what a awful show it has become. kanye was a little clever with the band, but then they messed it up by changing into fancy outfits.

but freakin' green day? u2? jesus. the mainstream "rock" world is full of annoying people. I was interested to learn that the guy who won all those r&b awards is from springfield, not far from here.

Rock on Ohio!

One show that was NOT disappointing however was America's Ballroom Challenge. This is not the Dancing with Celebrities (which I might be missing right now!) but is, instead, a real competition, produced for TV. The dancers are really performers, and talented. I was inspired by the way that some of the dancers would get out there and perform kinda silly-looking moves with so much confidence that it was cool. And hott. It made me realize that I need to practice my choreography for the show on Saturday.

another haircut

This one was much more interesting. After the last experience, I was pretty sure I wasn't going to trek back out to the 'burbs to overpay for a cut and some uninteresting company. I have been asking around, and then I remembered that my one friend said she went to an Aveda salon.

I said to myself: Duh. Of course. An Aveda salon.

I started researching the different places here and after eliminating the ones that are far away and the training school, I made an appointment. I had a great stylist and I now have a salon to call my own.

As a reminder, here is a "before" photo (taken at work with my phone, so a little sketchy on the quality)


And here is an after shot, with the same apology.


I am so rocking out.

kingpin

We went bowling on saturday night after practicing for the show. It was our friend's birthday, so they reserved about 8 lanes at the alley so there were 8 lanes of queers packed into the bowling alley. We drank beer and I almost won once. I bowled a strike, even. Woo!

And the Super Bowl! Go Steelers! As if there was any doubt.

Dude, i am totally obligated now.

Ok, so DonnaTroka "tagged" me with this Lists of 3 thing, AND posted a comment about it, so here goes.

LISTS OF 3

Three books I can read over and over:
1) Tipping the Velvet / Sarah Waters
2) Anna Karenina / Tolstoy
3) David Copperfield / Dickens

Three places I've lived:
1) Ohio, Ohio, Ohio
2) Philly
3) Barbados (well, I visited there, and I dream of living there. Does that count?)

Three TV shows I love:
1) Dancing with the Stars
2) Monday Night Football (woot!)
3) Sopranos

Three highly regarded and recommended TV shows that I've never watched a single minute of:
1) CSI
2) The West Wing (to copy Donna)
3) 24 (Well, almost. I watched one episode a couple of weeks ago, and I wasn't so impressed. I heard later that it was a "not-that-good" episode.)

Three places I've vacationed:
1) Iceland
2) London
3) Barbados (already mentioned, obviously)

Three of my favorite dishes:
1) Sushi (Especially the sweet potato tempura roll. mmm.)
2) Beans and rice (which I made almost every day and now Johnny hates it, so I don't eat it so much anymore)
3) Spinach in nearly any presentation

Three sites I visit daily:
1) www.bloglines.com
2) www.blackboard.drexel.com
3) www.columbus.craigslist.org

Three places I would rather be right now:
1) At the Khyber Dance Party with Jess
2) Some-warm-where, on the beach
3) downstairs eating dinner

Three bloggers I am tagging.
Here I will buck the system and tag... no one! But if anyone wants to do this, you can say I tagged you.

the fun never ends around here

Thursday night ScootKing called to see if we wanted to have an early weekend beer, so we said yes, of course.

We ended up at this crazy place with "Dick" in it's name, which I was always a little curious about, but was a little frightened to go in, based on its name and it's rather dive-like facade. ScootKing said they played jazz there sometimes, so I was comforted. We get there and they have 2.50 Bass and little tiny bottles of red wine for Johnny. We play some pool, people arrive and the band warms up. I want to mention, at this point, there were 2 strange things happening at once, the synchronous nature of which were quite the highlight of the evening.

First, a guy in the band was doing a sound check for his jazz flute. Second, Leo was drinking chocolate pudding through a straw. Here's another dark bar photo of that.

[For the record, I tried to record the yazz flute, but he quit playing before I laid down a good track.]

Today we helped my sister-in-law (hereafter known as Sil) cater a wedding. No, I didn't know she was a caterer either. She made some cakes for some people at her church, and so they asked her to cater ths wedding. She said yes, but there really was a lot involved. We pitched in, and everything went fine, except the cream cheese mints. I will get a photo of the georgeous wedding cake and post it sometime soon.

Tonight Johnny is working on a project where she is drawing a cuckoo clock scene. She was looking for a photo of a person making the third-grade face you make at people when you think they are crazy (or in this case, cuckoo). She couldn't find one, so we tried some photos of our own.

Please excuse the hair in the towel.

And then this one.

Here's Johnny's first effort:

But this is certainly the one that really, truly masters the action and the feeling, all in one.


You should try it. It's harder than you think.

works is busy

My new job is busy. I have been tossing around the idea of getting a Treo Palm to deal with the calendar. It is very exciting, in a office/paperwork/non-Hollywood kind of way, and I am so glad. I just can't believe how lucky I am to have gotten out of The Cataloging Factory relatively unscathed.

Today is my "Research Day" when I am supposed to take time to do research to work toward tenure. It's hard. I came in and actually worked half of the day on this giganto problem with the accounting unit and now I have to figure out when to re-allocate my research time.

In the meantime, I will think about planning for our trip to Chicago! We are taking my brother and sister-in-law for their xmas present at the end of next month. So far, we know we are going to Second City and to some steakhouse or something where they got a gift certificate, and maybe to Millenium Park.
Does anyone have any other suggestions for fun things to do while we are there?

Rock on Ohio!

So after the movie Friday, we went to The Surly Girl Saloon for dinner and then to our neighborhood kareoke bar. We ran into some old friends there, played some pool and sang some songs, as expected. I even tried to get a photo of the awesome sign above the table, in the shape of the state of Ohio, telling us Ohioans to Rock On. Here's a super dark photo in case you just need to see it for yourself.

The best part, by far, was after I completed a rousing rendition of Van Halen's You Really Got Me and a friendly drunken stranger approached me and said "We think you totally have the voice to sing 'Baby got Back'."

The voice?

There's no voice involved there. I just have to be able to say Honda, Fonda and Anaconda, all in a hurry.

I told her I was sorry, but thought I was done singing for the night. Maybe next time.

Saturday we finally went to see Walk the Line at our walking distance movie theater/pub.
Sunday was filled with playoff dreams fulfilled and shattered. Two weeks to the Super Bowl! (I mean, the big game)

oh, those bangs.

update to house problem: no update really, just to say that it was much warmer in the house last night, hopefully that can't be completely attributed to the fact that it is 56 degrees today.

Tonight, i am psyched to say, we are going to see the Ohio premiere screening of The notorious Bettie Page. I feel pretty sure that I won't be worried about insulation as I watch.

House of Horrors

So it has been cold. In the house. Like, really really cold. I can see my breath sometimes when i wake up.

Our last gas bill was $470. As soon as I opened it, I called Johnny and she turned the thermostat down to 50. We got another space heater and began making good use of the wonderful electric throws that Johnny's mom got us for xmas. But it is still really cold. We started troubleshooting and it became clear that the house didn't have any insulation. there is 6 inches in the area between the upstairs and the attic and a little in the basement, but that pretty much covers it. We started calling contractors.

We found one and my lovely new co-worker offered to look themup on Angie's List for us, since she had a membership. They had all A's except a recent B in punctuality (which was an issue for me because I had a 9 am meeting). We agreed they'd come early and I was all worried about it. They came 10 minutes after 8, which was perfect. I signed the papers and left.

I got this cute message at 3:30 saying that they were all done and had cleaned up and everything had gone really well.

Johnny called at 4 saying that it was a disaster. She came home to broken asbestos siding patched with SPACKLING. Mud on the floors and insulation (kinda like those little peanuts) all over our stuff in storage in the attic.

WTF.

I called to complain and after much rigamaroll they offered us this: a $500 check or they'd replace the siding. The problem is that you can't really buy asbestos siding anymore. The people who lived here before moved the door, apparently, and replaced the siding area with wood siding in the same shape. So what do we do? We are going to talk about it and call them tomorrow. What jerks. I read that it is okay to seal the siding yourself to keep the harmful fibers from getting into the air. Then maybe we could paint it.

If you live in the area and are thinking of getting insulation, don't use these guys.

After all this, it better be warmer in here, dammit.

coffee anyone?

To return to the topic of work.

I pointed out my window, but I haven't talked much about the rest of my environment. basically, my office is inside a coffee shop. No, really, it is. Like, if I stand at the door, there is a table with a student studying RIGHT THERE. When I approach my office door, people think I am walking up to their tables to talk to them. It's really weird, actually. Johnny brought me some much-appreciated office decor Thursday and it seemed even more ridiculous when she was walking with me.

Another side-effect of this is that all day my door is shut to help silence some of the chatter. It does not, however, drown out the calls for "Asiago bagel with cream cheese" or "Double vanilla latte" or the popular "Mocha Java with a shot of banana". Yes, someone actually ordered that. ew.

It's not that bad really, I appreciate the background noise. So while I can get a good sense of popular student culture by having this particular office location, I might actually appreciate it when the library starts renovating and I move to a distant warehouse filled with library staff and books that no one will come that far to check out.

To add some photo-glamour to this post, here is a photo of the south half of my office, post- Johnny's recent visit:



Note the fancy IKEA artwork. [Disclaimer: Johnny has provided me with some very cool artwork that is strategically placed in other locations in this very same office, but unfortunately, most of them are not in this photo.]

I want some.

you would never know it by reading, but i actually do have other things to do than talk about my job (which is still good, thanks).

My sister-in-law has some kind of sweet hook up with Whole Foods where she has become a part of the almost-ready-to-go-bad food pipeline and we get to reap the benefits. We got "a shipment" Tuesday night and as I type, I am eating a delicious piece of pecan pie. This morning I had an organic mixed berry harvest muffin and some yummy bean and rice thing for lunch. Whenever we pick up food, we always get some for our pals and so we dropped some off at ScootKing's house while they were out seeing Eve Ensler's show, The Good Body. The next day she emailed me to say thanks and we were talking about the show and all. Our email conversation went a little something like this:

Me: Yeah, I wanted to go to that, but I never got around to getting tickets or whatever.

ScootKing: You should do it. It is so great!! We really loved it [and etc.].

4 to 7 minutes pass...

[Phone rings.]

Me: Hello?

SK: Hey. I just won tickets to see The Good Body tonight, do you want them?

Me: huh? won? what?

SK: Yeah, I was just sitting here surrounded by dips and salsa and good bread and the radio said it was giving away tickets. I thought "I've got to win these!" so I called and I won!

Such is the way with ScootKing. This woman has the most uncanny ability to win stuff. Johnny says she also always gets really good parking spots.

We went to the show, obviously, and it was really great. I highly recommend it to anyone who has the chance to go.

Woo for new!

Yesterday was my first day at the new job. Woo!

I never thought I would be happy to go to meetings, but I really feel this immense sense of relief. The walk takes approximately 27 minutes and goes quite nicely. This morning my ipod treated me with a tremendous shuffle sample, which pretty much had me skipping here. Aaah...such relief! Can I say it again? Relief.

Here's a picture of my new building.



If you look at the bottom left hand side of the photo, there is a green tree there. On the other side of that tree (but out of the photo, obviously) is my office window.

before and after

In the spirit of the New Year, I thought I would give a little presentation of some things that have changed recently.

I never did post before photos of the house, so I will start there.

Here is what our bedroom looked like when we moved in:


And here is what it looks like now:


Another change, as you know, is the new job. Today is my last day of Old Job and New Job starts Monday. I am very excited about riding the bus or walking to work. I am considering getting a bike, even though I am fairly afraid of them.

Old Job:


New Job:


Next, we have visual (and possibly disturbing) evidence of Johnny's knee surgery. here is her cute lil' knee before:


And here is the franken-knee:


Her staples came out today and she said she kept them. They are probably in a baggie.

Here is the post-staple-removal photo:


And finally, this is a photo of The Agent and Johnny after a refreshing taste of hot candied nuts from a stand in Manhattan:

mmm.

I think they looked like this before: