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:

Holiday Light

It has been a while, so here are some Holiday Highlights:

Johnny's surgery went well. I signed some papers and almost passed out in the recovery area when the nurse tried to tell me about the potential of some drainage from the punctures in her knee. She is now going to physical therapy 2-3 times/week and will probably be off her crutches in a week or so.

I found out that my new job's insurance doesn't have a pre-existing condition clause, so I don't have to get COBRA or some bull.

I gave my notice on Friday. I was out that day and the company sent everyone home early, so when I arrived at 4:30, only my supervisor remained. We had a nice talk about it. His response: It's not that surprising. About 1 in 3 people we hire don't work out for some reason.
Whew, what a relief.

He sent out a departmental email announcing my departure yesterday. When I arrived today one of my first responders said "How dare you." What? I said, "How dare I get a job I enjoy?" So there.

Holiday stuff was really fun, and we got to go around and see the various family members. We spent the night in Indiana with Johnny's family on xmas eve rather than drive there twice, and we planned to take Zoey with us, since there isn't a dog-sitter. The morning before we left she decided to chew through the top of a vitamin bottle and eat about 30 or so flax oil capsules. We immediately put her outside and called the vet. They said she'd be okay, but that there might be some diarrhea occuring, so to be on the lookout. As if we'd miss that. She seemed okay, so we loaded up the car around 5 or so and headed out. I had lined the back seat with a tarp and a blanket, in case of such a tragedy, which we thankfully avoided. It was time to eat as soon as we got there, so we went in and everything was fine. Johnny's brother's girlfriend just had a little boy so there was lots of cute baby-ness happening. I went to the car to get the baby's presents and found that Zoey had surreptitiously puked on them. Luckily, we used a not-very-paper-like wrapping and set it in an unwrappable baby-tub so I just cleaned it up.

As yesterday's grand finale, we went to see The Weatherman for $0.50 movie tuesdays.

Oh my god. I nearly forgot. I totally got to meet Evan Dando, and i did call him Evan to his face. It went like this:

Johnny's cousin: Dewey this is Evan, Evan, Dewey.

Me: Evan, nice to meet you.

Like I was going to forget his name or something. Other tidbits:
We shook hands.
He was really just as cute in person as you can imagine.
His wife, mom, sister and cousin were also there, and very nice.
He played Led Zepplin on repeat in the green room and almost left without his iPod.

it was great, thanks for asking

But it was the longest haircut I have ever had. Really, the longest. I got to this place and it is the kind of place where there is an ambient fountain in the lobby, and they offer you a complimentary beverage. So that was a little weird in itself.

The hair-guy's ASSISTANT washed and dried my hair, then straightened all of it with a flat iron. This is his technique, see, to straighten and then cut it when it is dry. The actual cutting portion of the evening took about 45 or 50 minutes.

The end result is rather nice...lots of layers, a little shorter without "losing the length" and a hint of bang. I like it, but I am not sure if I will go back. The biggest reason is because the environment is so freakin' suburban, it is just weird to be in there. Here is a brief description of some of the characters:

Assistant: About 25, white, female, short messy-looking brown hair, nice eyebrows, glittery shoes.
When I told her that I shaved my head in college, she acted like she didn't hear me, and then said, "Wait, did you shave your head, seriously?"

Hair-guy: about 35, white, bleached blond hair, scruffy beard, skinny pants, tattoo sleeve, diesel longhorn belt buckle with matching bracelet. I was convinced he was gay. He asked me twice if I had kids, and I said no. I finally got the hint and asked if HE had kids. He does, of course, and then told me all about them.

Mom: No, not my mom. This lady was there with her daughter. About early 50s, but trying to pass for 40, white, wearing stilleto clogs with fur lining. I know about the fur because while she was waiting for her highlights she took one off and examined it, then replaced it and admired her foot for about 2 minutes before returning to her compelling issue of Harpers. She brought a gift for her hairdresser. It was an ornament avatar of a hairdresser. At the checkout, she announced that she also got one for her "nail tech."

Daughter: Embarrassed of her mom.

Trophy wife:
I didn't actually see this woman until I was on the way out, despite the fact that she was sitting in the chair next to me. I did, however, overhear this intriguing convo upon her entrance.
Hair-lady: So, what do you want to do today?
TW: "I can't wash, dry or flat iron my hair! I just had surgery and can't raise my arms."
Me: [You just had a boob job!]

I tell myself that maybe I am being judgmental, so I agree (with myself) that I will see what she looks like before I apply some stereotype, but my hair is being cut, and I can't turn to look at her!
I listen to several more conversations on fashion, makeup, and her recent cruise until the moment arrives. And guess what.

Trophy wife: about 25, white, bleached blond, about 120 pounds, tan.

Boob job.

snip

i have been growing my hair for a few years now. When i first started my previous job, my hair was about 4-6 inches long in the front, and short in the back, but now it is well down my back. A few months ago I went to this place that I used to go to when I was in college and felt like it worked out okay, but I wasn't thrilled with the results.
My sis-in-law always looks really great, and always has a nice, fashionable haircut, which i compliment her on. She recommended that I go see her hairdresser guy, so I finally got his number.
Apparently he has this technique which includes straightening the hair before cutting it, so when i got there he said he didn't think he'd have enough time to do it "right."
Not a very good start, right? I decided to give him a chance and reschedule, because scarlett's hair really does look great, so tonight is the night. Wish me luck!

Red-faced, but not from the cold

My cell phone has always been an older model with no frills. So when we moved here and I got a new phone, I got one that takes photos and has fancy rings and everything (admittedly, because it was on sale).
I have, over time, been collecting sounds from people to customize as their rings or text message notifications, and so forth. I got the best one for Johnny here (.wav) which you really should listen to. You will really really love it.

I went to lunch a little bit ago and when I got back, I noticed that Johnny had called. As I was calling her back, I heard someone calling my name. I look around my cubicle and heard my neighbor say, "we like your ring." At first, I was thinking, I have never shown you my ring! But then I realize I had forgotten to silence my phone and the sound of Johnny's voice was echoing through the giant room of cubicles known as my workplace. This is the actual view from my cube, from about a foot and a half above my head.

If you didn't already listen to the ringer, do it now, while looking at this picture. My coworkers, who sit in the cubes next to me are ladies who have known one another for years, listen to the same soap opera every day and bring one another cakes for their birthdays. "We like your ring." hmph.

This is not the first time this has happened. I was buying opera tickets and it blared out at the box office. I was carpooling with my coworker and she practically ran off the road in shock. I guess what I am getting at is that I am now officially recruiting for more embarrassing rings to assign to your call. I will also accept photos.

Ahem.

Johnny and I are going to get committment ceremonied.

Some of you might know that I have a fairly long history of being skeptical of weddings, and of long-term relationships in general. Some of you might also know that Johnny has been asking me to "marry" him about every other day for almost 4 years. At first, I was just saying no, but then i started feeling mean about it. I didn't want to be a jerk, i just didn't want to be married. So, many long conversations and many I-Love-You's-disguised-as-proposals later, I have finally decided that I want to do it. I think it will also act as a validator for our relationship, both for us and for other people--specifically my family. I told my carpooling co-worker that we were going to do it, and the first thing she asked was "Do you guys want to have kids?" At that moment, I realized what a great decision I had made. People don't ask you that unless they know you are in a committed relationship, not even if you have been together for 15 years (which we haven't, by the way).

On the other hand, I told my mom and she said "Oh, cool!" That was it. We fell into a crevasse of silence so I just changed the subject. When I told my sister-in-law, she said, "So you guys are serious then?" Hello? We own a house together. A house. It is big. And we live in it. And it costs a lot of money. My family is awkward but Johnny's family is an entirely different story. I don't know what will happen there.

It probably will be over a year before we actually have it, we haven't chosen a season, much less a date. One thing I know, it will be fun. Maybe we could just not have weird family people there. We could add a clause to the invitation that says, "If you are going to be weird, please stay home." Would that be rude?

Obviously, I will let you know as plans develop.

For now, I am being excited about our New York Trip! Woo! Apparently there are 2 shows, Friday and Saturday, and we are expected to attend both. Maybe by the time we get back there Saturday, Evan and I will be good friends. My goal for the weekend is to address Evan by his first name without giggling or asking for his autograph.

I tell ya...

One thing I am going to miss after I leave here (aside from the Nelson guy, who wore a Tesla t-shirt last week!) is the cafeteria. Not that the food is especially awesome, they don't have many vegetarian options aside from salads and grilled cheese. The thing I will miss is the dessert bar. I am most recently addicted to this chocolate pudding parfait. They also make a mean pecan pie.

sick beats

Last night Johnny brought her hot coworker over for a drink. She has a Bettie Page haircut and is really funny and nice. We sat around for about 5 hours drinking and eating dinner and this morning I woke up with a mysterious hangover. I finally ate some french fries for lunch and I feel better. Why does grease help a hangover? It is so weird.

I went for my flu shot at 11. I haven't had one since college, and was a little worried about it because I don't deal well with shots. I didn't pass out, and everything seems to be fine.

Did I mention yet that the new season of the L-word starts on Jan 8.? Since the Eagles don't play on Sunday this week, we have scheduled a L-word-previous-season-catch-up party. For those of you who saw the last two seasons, you should read Donna's L-word Treatise, which includes fashion commentary and dog opinion.

Hermey

I was watching Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer last night on TV with Johnny and Jake, and I was thinking about how a few years ago I was given the Hermey Bobblehead as a gift. I was getting all sentimental, like: "oh, i miss my friends from Philly," and "oh, I am going to miss winters in the city" and "oh, wasn't that a nice gift that time, because they somehow KNEW that i liked that aspiring dentist" and so on.

Then Johnny says to me, "Remember that time when we got you that Hermey bobblehead because your haircut looked like his?"

I pointed out that, NO, I didn't remember that, because no one ever TOLD me that was why I got it. I just thought people were being thoughtful. She lamely followed up with a downcast look and a "um, you looked cute with that haircut though..?"

It's snowing again.

Today I found out that Link Wray died last Sunday. The Goddess got Johnny and I to go see him a couple of years back at a place in Germantown. He had long silver hair, a motorcycle jacket and a rocking guitar. Here's to you, Mr. Wray.

with an eye patch

I just learned that there is a subject heading for Hot Pants... and it can be subdividided geographically.

Johnny's fancy rock-n-roll family is giving us the perfect excuse to visit NYC on the 17th and attend a show! Not only do we get to see the cousin, but we get to stay with Bevin too!

Here's a Happy Pirate Birthday wish to Shasta: Arrg!

Johnny quote

While we were watching Monday Night Football, Johnny pointed out an interesting set of facts, when taken together.

1. The Eagles started winning regularly around the same time we moved to Philadelphia.
2. The Eagles started really sucking when we moved away.
3. The Bengals and the Colts have both started winning since we moved back to the Midwest.

Interesting, don't you think? I told her that it sounded like we needed to move to Cleveland.

Here's another conversation we had:

Commercial: "blah, blah John-Paul Gossler...blah blah."

Johnny (without looking at the TV): Who is that guy? his name sounds familiar.

Me: (without looking at the TV): I think he was on a teen drama...wasn't he the young guy from 90210?

Johnny: Oh, the guy i met while on whippets when i worked at Starbucks?



What???


(p.s. I did eventually realize that he played Zach from Saved by the Bell, and we agreed that he was probably glad he didn't have to deal with Kelli Kapowski anymore.)

Goodbye to sweatpants and two-liters

Some of you might have guessed that I am a little less than enchanted with my job. Maybe "cataloging factory" tipped you off? Well, I have been keeping my options open in that actively-looking kind of way. Long story short, I completely scored a tenure-track gig at the university located less than 2 miles from my house. When I got home from work, Johnny totally presented me with this gorgeous bouquet made ENTIRELY of flowers from our yard:

All that beauty, and in November!!

So I will start in January and I will again be able to wear a skirt or dress shoes without being overdressed. I haven't told the current job yet, so don't say anything. I plan to give them at least 3-4 weeks notice, but I have a feeling they will be weird about my departure. I will certainly let you know how it goes.

On Saturday I went back to yoga the first time in months and I am still a little sore in the shoulder region. After that, we watched the football game and ate pizza. Sunday, we went to breakfast when The Goddess called and told us that she and The Man are totally getting married. Johnny can fully take credit for this relationship--ever since she invited The Man over for an introductory "cookout" and he completely brought fish kabobs. What a great move on his part, especially since The Goddess is a food snob. Congratulations you guys!

Today Zoey went to the vet to have her reproductive organs surgically removed. There was a bit of trouble finding the place this morning which resulted in frantic phone calls from Johnny trying to get directions before she was late for class at 8. I picked her up (Zoey, not Johnny) at 4:30 and she was stumbling about like she'd had a few too many glasses of bubbly. Her eyes were all droopy and she walked really slow. I thought for a minute she might try to drink-and-dial someone from her past. She didn't, but she did get sick in my backseat.

All that, and we are supposed to get an inch of snow tonight.