Drinking my usual morning Seattle’s Best coffee… One of our favorite baristas, a really sweet girl named Korrie, is leaving for college soon. Interestingly enough, she’s moving to Chicago. So maybe we’ll run into her again some time… We’re still waiting to find out whether we’ll be moving or not – Rick thinks the chances are pretty good. But even though they want someone up there in about five weeks, they’re really dragging their feet with the whole hiring process. So we just have to wait and see…
But speaking of Chicago… we’re driving up there next week for a visit, where we’ll hopefully get to check out Eric’s new condo, and perhaps see if any units are available in his building. :) We actually did find a listing for one a few days ago – a really nice-looking three bedroom/two bath. And that way if we DO move to Chicago, we can have a whole “Friends” thing going… Eric and I will leave our doors unlocked at all hours of the day (because that’s what people who live in big cities do, according to sitcoms…) and barge into each other’s homes whenever we feel like it. Eric will steal things out of my fridge and watch movies on my TV, and I’ll take him my grocery bill and ask him why I seem to spend so much money on biscuits (where have all my biscuits gone?? And why do I have all this extra mayonnaise??)…
I had to take Echo to the vet yesterday, which I felt bad about… especially because the day before yesterday I gave her a bath, and she really, really hates baths. She huddles up against the side of the tub, looking as if she’ll spring out onto the bathroom tile the second she sees an escape route. She may have tried that a few years ago, but now with her arthritis, she’s pretty much stuck in the tub until I lift her out. Once her bath is over, she’ll follow me around the house for about an hour, just to make sure I’m not about to spring any more surprises on her. So like I said – I felt especially bad about shuttling her off to the vet just 24 hours after dousing her head to toe with lukewarm water and berry-scented “Crazy Dog” brand shampoo… I took her to the vet so they could test her liver enzymes and make sure the pain meds we’ve been giving her for the arthritis haven’t adversely affected it. And I felt REALLY bad once I was at the vet, because when the vet tech tried to take blood, she screwed something up and poor Echo’s leg started bleeding… the tech had to call in the vet to get blood from another leg. And Echo, always the quiet, stoic, well-behaved dog she is, didn’t complain one bit. (Well, okay – she might be a little less quiet when she’s running around the backyard… and she may not be as well-behaved when someone is eating pizza and she’s certain she’s entitled to a few scraps of crust…)
So Rick and I have both dropped another pound. We took a nice 2.8 mile walk last night – I think we’re trying to build up to three miles per walk. We’ve been doing great with our eating and staying pretty consistent with our workouts… and so, to celebrate, we’ll probably go out for ice cream tonight. (Hey, it’s our cheat day… Jessica Alba does it! It’s okay!) Now comes the great experiment: can we stay on track even as we head up to Chicago next week? I have no intention of depriving myself of some of the great restaurants Chicago has to offer… so I’ll just have to hope that walking around the city will make up for it.
Oh, speaking of our trip to Chicago – Rick and I are driving, and then mom and dad will by flying up to join us. We’re traveling our usual Dallas-to St. Louis-to Chicago route, which should be fun. We made reservations at the same hotel we stayed at the last time we were in St. Louis – the one that used to be a train station. I’m pretty sure I posted pictures last time, but I’ll probably take more this time, too. So I’m looking forward to posting my daily travelogues… :)
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Aren't we usually in the middle of a drought by now?
So apparently at some point over the last couple weeks, we moved from the sunny locale of Austin, Texas, to what I can only assume is Seattle. Actually, not even Seattle – Bangladesh, perhaps? Someplace with a monsoon season, that much I know. It’s been raining for a couple weeks now – every now and then the sun will pop out for a fleeting visit, but then it fades away behind yet another rain-laden cloud bank.
But last night, as Rick and I watched a recorded episode of “Hell’s Kitchen” (the show that reminds me so much of my older brother Bob – the ex-chef-turned-fishing-guide…), we noticed the clouds seemed to have dispersed, and the setting sun was glowing orange in the mostly-clear sky. So we decided to head outside for a walk, even after we noticed some rather menacing-looking clouds off in the distance. We stuck close to the house for a few minutes, watching the brooding sky, keeping an eye out for tell-tale flashes within the building clouds. But after several minutes of searching for lightning and seeing none, we decided we were safe to walk a bit longer and venture away from the house.
We made it through almost our entire 2.6 mile walk before we started feeling the first drops of rain. And it wasn’t even bothersome – on the contrary, after walking more than two miles in the warm, humid night, a few drops of cool rain and a brisk breeze felt nice. When we got home, I jumped in the shower to clean up, and as soon as I was finished and turned off the water, I heard the familiar sound of a downpour hitting the roof. “Do you hear that?” Rick shouted through the bathroom door, “We got back just in time.” Yep. I went out to the family room couch and turned on the TV, which was in the middle of its usual temperamental loss-of-satellite-signal-in-the-rain struggles. It cut in and out a couple times, but then the rain seemed to let up and the signal was back and all was well. And it was getting rather late, so I decided to head off to bed with the hope that the rain was over…
But some time between brushing my teeth and crawling into bed, the rain started again. And this time it meant business. I mean, I’m quite used to thunderstorms and downpours and the sound of unrelenting rain – but usually, no matter how UNrelenting it sounds, it does, eventually, RELENT. Storms pop up, the downpour starts, maybe some lightning and thunder… but after fifteen or twenty minutes, it moves on and finds another landscape to soak. But last night, as I stared up at my bedroom ceiling with my blanket clutched under my chin, the pounding rain refused to surrender. It kept raining. And raining. And raining. And then the thunder and lightning started. There was no way I could fall asleep with that cacophony of weather outside. With my eyes wide open and my ears tuned in to every thunder clap, I suddenly had a thought – our pool, which had already been more full than usual because of all the rain we’ve had, must’ve been filling up quickly. I got out of bed and walked out to the door to the back porch. I turned on the porch light, and peeked outside. Sure enough, the pool was within two inches of overflowing.
So I ran back to Rick’s study, where he has a perpetual weather radar window open on his computer (Rick is a bit of a weather aficionado… he’s usually better at predicting the weather than the meteorologists on TV…). “Is this gonna be over soon?” I asked. To which Rick bluntly answered, “nope.” He showed me on the radar how this little bitty red blob had formed directly over our neighborhood – and instead of moving on, like storms are supposed to, this one was PARKED overhead, forming and reforming and feeding on itself like a freak cannibal thunderhead. It LOOKED like a small storm – but because it wasn’t moving, it felt like a storm the size of, well, Texas. (Okay, maybe New Jersey.)
After about another half hour of the deluge, the pool overflowed for the first time since we’ve had it. I’ve never seen that much rain in such a short time. Rick, surprisingly, seemed much less distressed about the overflowing pool than I was. I guess because there was absolutely nothing we could do about it until the rain and lightning stopped. I had the TV in the bedroom on, tuned to the weather channel… the signal, of course, was missing throughout the downpour. I decided I wasn’t going to try to sleep until that TV came back on. Because once the signal was back, I’d know the rain was letting up. It was almost one o’clock when it finally came back, and the sound of the rain grew faint, and the thunder stopped. Rick went outside and drained some of the water from the pool, so today it’s back to where it was before last night’s storm – unfortunately, even as I type this, another downpour has begun, and I’m back to my post at the porch door, keeping an eye on the ever-rising water.
By the way, does anyone know how to build an ark??
But last night, as Rick and I watched a recorded episode of “Hell’s Kitchen” (the show that reminds me so much of my older brother Bob – the ex-chef-turned-fishing-guide…), we noticed the clouds seemed to have dispersed, and the setting sun was glowing orange in the mostly-clear sky. So we decided to head outside for a walk, even after we noticed some rather menacing-looking clouds off in the distance. We stuck close to the house for a few minutes, watching the brooding sky, keeping an eye out for tell-tale flashes within the building clouds. But after several minutes of searching for lightning and seeing none, we decided we were safe to walk a bit longer and venture away from the house.
We made it through almost our entire 2.6 mile walk before we started feeling the first drops of rain. And it wasn’t even bothersome – on the contrary, after walking more than two miles in the warm, humid night, a few drops of cool rain and a brisk breeze felt nice. When we got home, I jumped in the shower to clean up, and as soon as I was finished and turned off the water, I heard the familiar sound of a downpour hitting the roof. “Do you hear that?” Rick shouted through the bathroom door, “We got back just in time.” Yep. I went out to the family room couch and turned on the TV, which was in the middle of its usual temperamental loss-of-satellite-signal-in-the-rain struggles. It cut in and out a couple times, but then the rain seemed to let up and the signal was back and all was well. And it was getting rather late, so I decided to head off to bed with the hope that the rain was over…
But some time between brushing my teeth and crawling into bed, the rain started again. And this time it meant business. I mean, I’m quite used to thunderstorms and downpours and the sound of unrelenting rain – but usually, no matter how UNrelenting it sounds, it does, eventually, RELENT. Storms pop up, the downpour starts, maybe some lightning and thunder… but after fifteen or twenty minutes, it moves on and finds another landscape to soak. But last night, as I stared up at my bedroom ceiling with my blanket clutched under my chin, the pounding rain refused to surrender. It kept raining. And raining. And raining. And then the thunder and lightning started. There was no way I could fall asleep with that cacophony of weather outside. With my eyes wide open and my ears tuned in to every thunder clap, I suddenly had a thought – our pool, which had already been more full than usual because of all the rain we’ve had, must’ve been filling up quickly. I got out of bed and walked out to the door to the back porch. I turned on the porch light, and peeked outside. Sure enough, the pool was within two inches of overflowing.
So I ran back to Rick’s study, where he has a perpetual weather radar window open on his computer (Rick is a bit of a weather aficionado… he’s usually better at predicting the weather than the meteorologists on TV…). “Is this gonna be over soon?” I asked. To which Rick bluntly answered, “nope.” He showed me on the radar how this little bitty red blob had formed directly over our neighborhood – and instead of moving on, like storms are supposed to, this one was PARKED overhead, forming and reforming and feeding on itself like a freak cannibal thunderhead. It LOOKED like a small storm – but because it wasn’t moving, it felt like a storm the size of, well, Texas. (Okay, maybe New Jersey.)
After about another half hour of the deluge, the pool overflowed for the first time since we’ve had it. I’ve never seen that much rain in such a short time. Rick, surprisingly, seemed much less distressed about the overflowing pool than I was. I guess because there was absolutely nothing we could do about it until the rain and lightning stopped. I had the TV in the bedroom on, tuned to the weather channel… the signal, of course, was missing throughout the downpour. I decided I wasn’t going to try to sleep until that TV came back on. Because once the signal was back, I’d know the rain was letting up. It was almost one o’clock when it finally came back, and the sound of the rain grew faint, and the thunder stopped. Rick went outside and drained some of the water from the pool, so today it’s back to where it was before last night’s storm – unfortunately, even as I type this, another downpour has begun, and I’m back to my post at the porch door, keeping an eye on the ever-rising water.
By the way, does anyone know how to build an ark??
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Waiting on the internet...
Oh glorious day on which Paris Hilton was released from the confines of her prison! This momentous occasion evokes memories of Nelson Mandela’s freedom from the South African prison where he was so unjustly incarcerated… those who fight for equality and justice shall prevail – the bars of imprisonment are merely temporary roadblocks on the highway to, uh… I AM making the right comparisons here, aren’t I? Paris Hilton and Nelson Mandela? All kinds of similarities, right? I mean, I’m just assuming, based on the media attention…
So my internet connection is down right now… all I can do is type this up in Word (which is what I usually do anyway) and hopefully get a chance to post it later on. I hate it when I have no internet connection – I feel so cut off from the world. How did we ever survive without the internet? And cell phones? I mean, really – we used to get all of our news from actual newspapers and the six o’clock newscast. When we wanted to talk to people, we had to call them up on telephones, or send them written messages in envelopes, or go meet them face-to-face. Back when I was a kid and we moved around a lot, I used to write to my friends on PAPER… I had to pick up an actual PEN and WRITE things. Can you imagine the hand cramps?? I can only assume that if I’d had email and IM and a phone with text messaging capabilities that I might have stayed in closer touch with some of my childhood friends. It seems much simpler now to maintain relationships with people who are thousands of miles away…
Take Eric for instance – he’s all the way up there in Chicago, and yet we’re able to send Yankee voodoo messages back and forth during games. (Yankee voodoo, which, by the way, seems to be defective at the moment…) How would we ever pull that off if we were forced to send each message through the mail? Yankee voodoo postcards would by flying through the post office, slowing down the sorting process of all those bills and magazines and birthday cards… and even then, there’d be no guarantee that the mail would be delivered in time to change the course of Yankee history…
Okay, since I’ve started writing this, I have TWICE zoned out and attempted to check my email, even though I KNOW the internet is down. I think it’s just a reflex…
So Rick and I have embarked upon a new eating and working out plan. We try to be as good as possible about what we eat Monday through Friday, and then allow ourselves to “cheat” occasionally on weekends. I recently read that Jessica Alba eats this way. And, well, Jessica Alba is hot… she’s obviously doing something right. So I’m willing to try whatever plan she thinks is best. We’ve also, as I’ve mentioned a couple times, been walking about two or two and half miles around the neighborhood a few times a week. For me, this is in addition to whatever workout I tackle in the afternoon. And all our hard work is starting to pay off – since we got back from Hawaii, I’ve lost about eight pounds, and Rick has lost about six. Yeah, that’s right, Jessica Alba – I am SO gonna give you a run for your money. They’re gonna cast ME in the next Fantastic Four movie so I can wear that spandex bodysuit… uh… maybe… well, probably not…
What surprises me about eating right is how easy it is once you get used to it. Once you get rid of that “bad food, good food” mentality and realize it’s OKAY to eat what you want in moderation, everything falls into place. For instance, we’ve made Saturday night our “ice cream” night. And none of that light, sugar-free, fat-free crap. No, we head down to Ben and Jerry’s or Cold Stone Creamery and get a scoop of the REAL stuff. And then that’s it for the rest of the week. But since we KNOW we won’t be depriving ourselves forever, it’s simple to forgo the ice cream the rest of the week. I’ve never understood the “diets” that cut out entire food groups or relegate the dieter to a life of fat-free cupcakes. Personally, I could NEVER stick with a food plan like that forever… and the only way to take weight off and KEEP it off is to make permanent changes. I’d never be able to permanently restrict my carbs, for instance… I don’t know how people can do those low-carb diets. If I tried that, I’d be craving cake so badly I’d dive head-first into a Krispy Kreme at some point…
And on that note, I must go prepare some black bean mango salsa for tonight’s dinner. It needs to sit in the fridge for a few hours so all the flavors can intertwine and mingle… like a big black bean mango salsa party… (hey, black bean, have you met mango? Garlic, let me introduce you to red pepper… hey, you guys wanna play Twister?) Yes, I know -- it IS strange to give your dinner a voice… :)
So my internet connection is down right now… all I can do is type this up in Word (which is what I usually do anyway) and hopefully get a chance to post it later on. I hate it when I have no internet connection – I feel so cut off from the world. How did we ever survive without the internet? And cell phones? I mean, really – we used to get all of our news from actual newspapers and the six o’clock newscast. When we wanted to talk to people, we had to call them up on telephones, or send them written messages in envelopes, or go meet them face-to-face. Back when I was a kid and we moved around a lot, I used to write to my friends on PAPER… I had to pick up an actual PEN and WRITE things. Can you imagine the hand cramps?? I can only assume that if I’d had email and IM and a phone with text messaging capabilities that I might have stayed in closer touch with some of my childhood friends. It seems much simpler now to maintain relationships with people who are thousands of miles away…
Take Eric for instance – he’s all the way up there in Chicago, and yet we’re able to send Yankee voodoo messages back and forth during games. (Yankee voodoo, which, by the way, seems to be defective at the moment…) How would we ever pull that off if we were forced to send each message through the mail? Yankee voodoo postcards would by flying through the post office, slowing down the sorting process of all those bills and magazines and birthday cards… and even then, there’d be no guarantee that the mail would be delivered in time to change the course of Yankee history…
Okay, since I’ve started writing this, I have TWICE zoned out and attempted to check my email, even though I KNOW the internet is down. I think it’s just a reflex…
So Rick and I have embarked upon a new eating and working out plan. We try to be as good as possible about what we eat Monday through Friday, and then allow ourselves to “cheat” occasionally on weekends. I recently read that Jessica Alba eats this way. And, well, Jessica Alba is hot… she’s obviously doing something right. So I’m willing to try whatever plan she thinks is best. We’ve also, as I’ve mentioned a couple times, been walking about two or two and half miles around the neighborhood a few times a week. For me, this is in addition to whatever workout I tackle in the afternoon. And all our hard work is starting to pay off – since we got back from Hawaii, I’ve lost about eight pounds, and Rick has lost about six. Yeah, that’s right, Jessica Alba – I am SO gonna give you a run for your money. They’re gonna cast ME in the next Fantastic Four movie so I can wear that spandex bodysuit… uh… maybe… well, probably not…
What surprises me about eating right is how easy it is once you get used to it. Once you get rid of that “bad food, good food” mentality and realize it’s OKAY to eat what you want in moderation, everything falls into place. For instance, we’ve made Saturday night our “ice cream” night. And none of that light, sugar-free, fat-free crap. No, we head down to Ben and Jerry’s or Cold Stone Creamery and get a scoop of the REAL stuff. And then that’s it for the rest of the week. But since we KNOW we won’t be depriving ourselves forever, it’s simple to forgo the ice cream the rest of the week. I’ve never understood the “diets” that cut out entire food groups or relegate the dieter to a life of fat-free cupcakes. Personally, I could NEVER stick with a food plan like that forever… and the only way to take weight off and KEEP it off is to make permanent changes. I’d never be able to permanently restrict my carbs, for instance… I don’t know how people can do those low-carb diets. If I tried that, I’d be craving cake so badly I’d dive head-first into a Krispy Kreme at some point…
And on that note, I must go prepare some black bean mango salsa for tonight’s dinner. It needs to sit in the fridge for a few hours so all the flavors can intertwine and mingle… like a big black bean mango salsa party… (hey, black bean, have you met mango? Garlic, let me introduce you to red pepper… hey, you guys wanna play Twister?) Yes, I know -- it IS strange to give your dinner a voice… :)
Friday, June 22, 2007
Friday randomness...
Nothing very coherent to talk about today, so I’ll just make it a “random thought” kinda post:
We have four or five baby phoebes in the nest on the back porch – it’s a full house in there. When they get bigger, they’ll be all feathery puffs spilling out of the nest, pushing each other aside for premium room. It’s always interesting to watch them up there – especially when Mom Bird flies back with food, and a chorus of yellow beaks chirps with impatience. She can usually only feed one at a time, so she’s constantly flying back and forth between the nest and the bug-infested (or food-infested, depending on your point of view) world…
Down at mom and dad’s house, on the other hand, they have little creatures of another sort – four stray kittens, the offspring of the stray black cat that has taken up residence in the backyard this past year. They’re cute little kittens… but at this rate, that backyard will be overrun with felines in another six months or so… there’ll be lions and tigers and pumas and cheetahs… it’ll never end…
So I just heard about a tour that people can take to visit sites from “The Sopranos.” For 45 dollars, you get a tour that starts in midtown Manhattan, heads through the Lincoln Tunnel, and wanders over into Jersey. Plus a cannoli. This is the first time I’ve ever heard of a tour that STARTS in Manhattan and ENDS in Jersey. Most people do just the opposite. And hey, for 45 dollars, I’ll give you TWO cannoli, and drive you past the myriad of diners New Jersey has to offer. I can even show you this one field near the Jersey Gardens Mall where I’m certain people have gotten “whacked” on a regular basis…
Rick and I saw Ocean’s Thirteen last weekend – I really liked it. I think I’ve actually liked each subsequent “Ocean’s” movie more than its predecessor. So this was probably my favorite of the three. Most people probably like the first one best, but I think by the second and third installments, there was a better sense of camaraderie between the ensemble cast. The only complaint I had about the third one was that it was a bit predictable at this point – by now we know that the gang will be able to pull off their heist, no matter how complicated, even when others try to thwart their efforts. So it was no surprise when they succeeded. But I loved the movie anyway…
My fantasy baseball team is cursed. Somewhere along the line, I think Eric’s Yankee voodoo morphed into a fantasy baseball curse, which he accidentally aimed in my direction. At least I THINK it was an accident…
Speaking of Eric, Rick and I have decided that if we move to Chicago, we’ll be living with Eric for about a year or so. Just until we find a suitable condo for ourselves. Shouldn’t be a big deal – Eric has a guest bedroom now. I’ve already told him that I expect a large flat-screen HD television in the room…
And speaking of baseball, how did the Yankees allow themselves to be swept by Colorado? I mean, c’mon – Colorado?? I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they were all suffering from altitude sickness. I’d say they were practically guaranteed to win their game against San Francisco tonight, except they’re going up against my pitcher Matt Cain – and since I won’t be playing Cain against the Yankees (and my fantasy team, as mentioned before, is cursed), I’ll have to assume he’s going to throw a complete game shutout so the dozens of points I COULD have had will remain useless on my bench. I love baseball. :)
I guess that’s all I’ve got right now… hope everyone has a good weekend…
We have four or five baby phoebes in the nest on the back porch – it’s a full house in there. When they get bigger, they’ll be all feathery puffs spilling out of the nest, pushing each other aside for premium room. It’s always interesting to watch them up there – especially when Mom Bird flies back with food, and a chorus of yellow beaks chirps with impatience. She can usually only feed one at a time, so she’s constantly flying back and forth between the nest and the bug-infested (or food-infested, depending on your point of view) world…
Down at mom and dad’s house, on the other hand, they have little creatures of another sort – four stray kittens, the offspring of the stray black cat that has taken up residence in the backyard this past year. They’re cute little kittens… but at this rate, that backyard will be overrun with felines in another six months or so… there’ll be lions and tigers and pumas and cheetahs… it’ll never end…
So I just heard about a tour that people can take to visit sites from “The Sopranos.” For 45 dollars, you get a tour that starts in midtown Manhattan, heads through the Lincoln Tunnel, and wanders over into Jersey. Plus a cannoli. This is the first time I’ve ever heard of a tour that STARTS in Manhattan and ENDS in Jersey. Most people do just the opposite. And hey, for 45 dollars, I’ll give you TWO cannoli, and drive you past the myriad of diners New Jersey has to offer. I can even show you this one field near the Jersey Gardens Mall where I’m certain people have gotten “whacked” on a regular basis…
Rick and I saw Ocean’s Thirteen last weekend – I really liked it. I think I’ve actually liked each subsequent “Ocean’s” movie more than its predecessor. So this was probably my favorite of the three. Most people probably like the first one best, but I think by the second and third installments, there was a better sense of camaraderie between the ensemble cast. The only complaint I had about the third one was that it was a bit predictable at this point – by now we know that the gang will be able to pull off their heist, no matter how complicated, even when others try to thwart their efforts. So it was no surprise when they succeeded. But I loved the movie anyway…
My fantasy baseball team is cursed. Somewhere along the line, I think Eric’s Yankee voodoo morphed into a fantasy baseball curse, which he accidentally aimed in my direction. At least I THINK it was an accident…
Speaking of Eric, Rick and I have decided that if we move to Chicago, we’ll be living with Eric for about a year or so. Just until we find a suitable condo for ourselves. Shouldn’t be a big deal – Eric has a guest bedroom now. I’ve already told him that I expect a large flat-screen HD television in the room…
And speaking of baseball, how did the Yankees allow themselves to be swept by Colorado? I mean, c’mon – Colorado?? I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they were all suffering from altitude sickness. I’d say they were practically guaranteed to win their game against San Francisco tonight, except they’re going up against my pitcher Matt Cain – and since I won’t be playing Cain against the Yankees (and my fantasy team, as mentioned before, is cursed), I’ll have to assume he’s going to throw a complete game shutout so the dozens of points I COULD have had will remain useless on my bench. I love baseball. :)
I guess that’s all I’ve got right now… hope everyone has a good weekend…
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Rainy, cloudy, blah...
Ugh… today is one of those gray, dreary, rainy, cloudy, dark days that makes you want to crawl under the nearest blanket and hibernate until the sun returns. I’m half-watching the White Sox/Marlins game right now, because I picked up the White Sox pitcher last night. Jon Garland. He seems to be doing okay so far (but now that I’ve said it, I’ve jinxed the whole thing… next inning he’ll be giving up five runs… just watch). It’s funny how big a part superstition plays in baseball – even when you’re not the one actually PLAYING…
I notice from watching the game that it’s nice and sunny up there in Chicago. We’re planning a trip up in a couple weeks to check out Eric’s new condo. It’ll be great to get away from this dreary Texas weather. :) I can only assume that all the rain we’ve had this past year is a direct result of global warming. Right? I’ve gotten a little tired of all the doom and gloom global warming talk. What I don’t understand is – global warming or not – why would anyone believe that this particular planet we have now is the absolute “perfect” planet, and it’s vital that we strive our best to “freeze” everything exactly as it is? I keep hearing about glaciers melting, or coastlines changing, or land eroding, and all I can think is, “uh, SO?” Have we forgotten that this planet has drastically changed throughout its existence, even when there were no human beings to, apparently, screw things up? Of COURSE our climate is going to change… of COURSE the topography of this world will be different in a hundred years than it is now. That would all happen whether or not human beings were riding around in their gas-guzzling SUVs.
That’s not to say that I’m not all for recycling and conserving energy and finding cleaner, more efficient fuel sources. I just don’t understand why so many people seem determined to maintain the planet in its present state forever. No matter WHAT we do, that won’t ever be possible. Piddly little humans are not capable of preventing the earth from continuing to do what it’s done for eons and eons. And who’s to say it wouldn’t ultimately be a GOOD thing for the planet to be a little warmer? Retirees could settle down in sunny Seattle instead of Florida… the frozen tundra of Siberia would be converted to a giant farm to help feed the world… people would collect the melting glacier water, call it “Global Warming Juice” and charge five dollars a bottle. Humans have always had an amazing ability to adapt to their surroundings. I’m just sayin’… maybe the negativity isn’t as necessary as we think it is…
Well, my pitcher didn’t do such a horrible job. Unfortunately, the Sox were only up 2-1 when he left the game, and the Marlins had two people on base. The new Sox pitcher promptly allowed a home run, and just like that, my pitcher was handed a loss. (Unless the White Sox manage to win in the ninth inning, in which case it’ll be a less-annoying-but-still-not-ideal no-decision.) Sigh… oh well…
It’s funny how the White Sox announcers make no attempt whatsoever to remain impartial when they’re calling the game. I’ve gotten so used to the Yankee announcers, who, for the most part, seem to sound equally excited no matter which team is playing well. If the Yankees hit a home run, they make it sound like a significant event – but they do the same if the opposing team scores, as well. It’s like they DO understand that their broadcast may be seen or heard by people other than Yankee fans. But many other team announcers sound downright peeved when the opposing team is playing well – one of these White Sox announcers actually yelled “dadgumit!” when a Marlins player made a great catch at the end of the eighth inning. I’ve heard XM radio broadcasts where the announcers barely make mention of home runs, if those home runs don’t benefit their own team. I’m not being biased or anything, but Yankee announcers really ARE the best in baseball (okay, maybe I’m being a little biased… but just a little). :)
Well, yes, the White Sox lost… but I shall be happy with my 16 pitching points, because 16 points is pretty decent for a loss. I mean, it’s no 80-point no-hitter, of course... but whatever…
I notice from watching the game that it’s nice and sunny up there in Chicago. We’re planning a trip up in a couple weeks to check out Eric’s new condo. It’ll be great to get away from this dreary Texas weather. :) I can only assume that all the rain we’ve had this past year is a direct result of global warming. Right? I’ve gotten a little tired of all the doom and gloom global warming talk. What I don’t understand is – global warming or not – why would anyone believe that this particular planet we have now is the absolute “perfect” planet, and it’s vital that we strive our best to “freeze” everything exactly as it is? I keep hearing about glaciers melting, or coastlines changing, or land eroding, and all I can think is, “uh, SO?” Have we forgotten that this planet has drastically changed throughout its existence, even when there were no human beings to, apparently, screw things up? Of COURSE our climate is going to change… of COURSE the topography of this world will be different in a hundred years than it is now. That would all happen whether or not human beings were riding around in their gas-guzzling SUVs.
That’s not to say that I’m not all for recycling and conserving energy and finding cleaner, more efficient fuel sources. I just don’t understand why so many people seem determined to maintain the planet in its present state forever. No matter WHAT we do, that won’t ever be possible. Piddly little humans are not capable of preventing the earth from continuing to do what it’s done for eons and eons. And who’s to say it wouldn’t ultimately be a GOOD thing for the planet to be a little warmer? Retirees could settle down in sunny Seattle instead of Florida… the frozen tundra of Siberia would be converted to a giant farm to help feed the world… people would collect the melting glacier water, call it “Global Warming Juice” and charge five dollars a bottle. Humans have always had an amazing ability to adapt to their surroundings. I’m just sayin’… maybe the negativity isn’t as necessary as we think it is…
Well, my pitcher didn’t do such a horrible job. Unfortunately, the Sox were only up 2-1 when he left the game, and the Marlins had two people on base. The new Sox pitcher promptly allowed a home run, and just like that, my pitcher was handed a loss. (Unless the White Sox manage to win in the ninth inning, in which case it’ll be a less-annoying-but-still-not-ideal no-decision.) Sigh… oh well…
It’s funny how the White Sox announcers make no attempt whatsoever to remain impartial when they’re calling the game. I’ve gotten so used to the Yankee announcers, who, for the most part, seem to sound equally excited no matter which team is playing well. If the Yankees hit a home run, they make it sound like a significant event – but they do the same if the opposing team scores, as well. It’s like they DO understand that their broadcast may be seen or heard by people other than Yankee fans. But many other team announcers sound downright peeved when the opposing team is playing well – one of these White Sox announcers actually yelled “dadgumit!” when a Marlins player made a great catch at the end of the eighth inning. I’ve heard XM radio broadcasts where the announcers barely make mention of home runs, if those home runs don’t benefit their own team. I’m not being biased or anything, but Yankee announcers really ARE the best in baseball (okay, maybe I’m being a little biased… but just a little). :)
Well, yes, the White Sox lost… but I shall be happy with my 16 pitching points, because 16 points is pretty decent for a loss. I mean, it’s no 80-point no-hitter, of course... but whatever…
Monday, June 18, 2007
Texas is fun...
So Rick and I just got back from our semi-nightly two-mile walk (actually 2.25 miles tonight), where, halfway through the walk, we saw a couple people ahead of us in the middle of the darkened road. One of them was holding a flashlight, and, as we approached, yelled something unintelligible and waved the light toward the curb. What did he say? Don't bake any coal? It's a fake silly troll? Oh, no, wait -- there's a SNAKE in the road. (I would've been happier with the fake silly troll...)
And sure enough, just a few yards ahead of us, a dark serpentine shape was nestled against the curb. The man with the flashlight wondered if we knew anything about snakes, as he and his companion were unable to decide what sort of snake it might be. "It doesn't have rattles," the woman with him said, "and we don't know if it's poisonous." So Rick, being the ex-boyscout he is, asked for the flashlight so he could more clearly inspect the creature. It was about two feet long, with a diamond-shaped head, and a tell-tale coppery color. Rick said it was probably a copperhead, and the woman asked, "so is that bad?" Well, it's not exactly a harmless fluffy bunny...
We searched the internet for pictures when we got home, and it definitely looked like a copperhead. (Also known as a "death adder" according to one of the sites we found. Well that just sounds charming...) However, even though they're poisonous, their bites are rarely fatal to humans, and they're considered non-aggressive. Which would explain why our neighborhood copperhead chose to non-aggressively coil next to the curb while we gathered around it in curiosity. Still, it's rather disconcerting to happen upon a poisonous snake while simply strolling through the neighborhood.
So when are we moving to Chicago?
And sure enough, just a few yards ahead of us, a dark serpentine shape was nestled against the curb. The man with the flashlight wondered if we knew anything about snakes, as he and his companion were unable to decide what sort of snake it might be. "It doesn't have rattles," the woman with him said, "and we don't know if it's poisonous." So Rick, being the ex-boyscout he is, asked for the flashlight so he could more clearly inspect the creature. It was about two feet long, with a diamond-shaped head, and a tell-tale coppery color. Rick said it was probably a copperhead, and the woman asked, "so is that bad?" Well, it's not exactly a harmless fluffy bunny...
We searched the internet for pictures when we got home, and it definitely looked like a copperhead. (Also known as a "death adder" according to one of the sites we found. Well that just sounds charming...) However, even though they're poisonous, their bites are rarely fatal to humans, and they're considered non-aggressive. Which would explain why our neighborhood copperhead chose to non-aggressively coil next to the curb while we gathered around it in curiosity. Still, it's rather disconcerting to happen upon a poisonous snake while simply strolling through the neighborhood.
So when are we moving to Chicago?
Here we go again...
Well, for some reason, my Friday post was apparently invisible to some people. While I was able to get to it just fine from my computer here at home, mom was unable to find it on HER computer. And this morning I got an email from my faithful blog-reader Greg, who wondered if the recent Yankee winning streak and Jack Bauer’s noticeable absence from Monday night TV have resulted in a decided lack of posts. And while I’ll admit I’ve been less-than-inspired lately, I DID manage to post twice last week. Dad was able to see Friday’s post on his computer, too – so he left a comment, which seems to have brought the wayward post back from the mysterious cyberspace realm in which it was hiding.
Anyway… so I find it interesting that I happen to be reading The Satanic Verses just as another Rushdie controversy once again begins to stir. Queen Elizabeth II recently bestowed knighthood upon Rushdie, to honor him for his literary achievements. This does not consist solely of The Satanic Verses, of course – he’s written thirteen books, many of which have won awards. And while I’ve never read any of his other works, judging from what I’ve read so far, this man is an AMAZING writer. The guy can write. It’s not at all difficult for me to believe that he deserves some positive recognition for his achievements.
And yet, because of the knighthood, we once again have a handful of extremists yelling “kill him!” calling him a “blasphemer” and saying this title “hurt the sentiments of Muslims around the world.” Actually, I’d be willing to bet that most Muslims really couldn’t care less, but I could be wrong…
And not only this, but the religious affairs minister in Pakistan has said, “if someone exploded a bomb on his body he would be right to do so unless the British government apologizes and withdraws the ‘sir’ title.” Uhh… Are. You. Kidding. Me. Have any of these people calling for Rushdie’s death even READ the book? Do they know what it’s about? Do they realize that the “blasphemous” part consists of a little 26-page section (in the middle of a 561 page book) that could probably be interpreted all kinds of different ways because it’s so strange and metaphorical? So because of 26 pages out of thirteen different books (and let’s see… if they’re all about the same length, that would be over 7000 pages total…) – seven THOUSAND pages of literature, and Rushdie should die because he may have suggested, in one tiny little part of one of his many books, some less-than-devout idea about Islam? How WEAK must you be in your own faith to even entertain such an idea? Those who are secure in their faith have no reason to bother with such minutiae. Those who are secure in their faith harbor no revenge in their hearts – revenge is obviously not a GOOD sentiment to hold on to. To hold so tightly to such negativity and such pessimism and such defeatism (how can anyone honestly believe that such a book can topple the entire foundation of a religion?) says volumes about what is TRULY in someone’s heart.
That’s not to say that I can’t understand why some people might find parts of the book a bit insulting – I’m sure there are parts that could be insulting to all kinds of people, not just Muslims. I mean, for goodness’ sake – I could probably pull any random title off my bookshelf and find something that someone might find insulting. I know plenty of people who were insulted by Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code, and yet they managed to get over it. Some of them even conceded that it WAS a great work of fiction, even if they found the subject matter a bit offensive. Sure, it can be offensive to devout Christians – yet those who are secure in their faith are able to simply shrug it off and understand that God is MUCH more powerful than any work of fiction could ever be.
This is why I can’t help but think that the true Muslims – the ones who honestly understand their faith – are NOT the ones out in the streets calling for Rushdie’s death. I’ve read that the word “Islam” can be translated to mean both “peace” and “submission.” Yet the peaceful and submissive aspects of Islam are far too often overshadowed by these stories of revenge and hatred. And it’s sad, because like I said, I’m betting most Muslims couldn’t care less whether Rushdie is knighted or not. Because most Muslims can probably understand that The Satanic Verses is simply a work of fiction, and certainly not powerful enough to alter their faith. Just like The Da Vinci Code is a fun read, but it’s not going to make a true Christian abandon everything they believe and rush off to the Louvre in search of the bones of Mary.
This whole situation may, of course, call for another cabin story. But I’d better finish the book first…
Anyway… so I find it interesting that I happen to be reading The Satanic Verses just as another Rushdie controversy once again begins to stir. Queen Elizabeth II recently bestowed knighthood upon Rushdie, to honor him for his literary achievements. This does not consist solely of The Satanic Verses, of course – he’s written thirteen books, many of which have won awards. And while I’ve never read any of his other works, judging from what I’ve read so far, this man is an AMAZING writer. The guy can write. It’s not at all difficult for me to believe that he deserves some positive recognition for his achievements.
And yet, because of the knighthood, we once again have a handful of extremists yelling “kill him!” calling him a “blasphemer” and saying this title “hurt the sentiments of Muslims around the world.” Actually, I’d be willing to bet that most Muslims really couldn’t care less, but I could be wrong…
And not only this, but the religious affairs minister in Pakistan has said, “if someone exploded a bomb on his body he would be right to do so unless the British government apologizes and withdraws the ‘sir’ title.” Uhh… Are. You. Kidding. Me. Have any of these people calling for Rushdie’s death even READ the book? Do they know what it’s about? Do they realize that the “blasphemous” part consists of a little 26-page section (in the middle of a 561 page book) that could probably be interpreted all kinds of different ways because it’s so strange and metaphorical? So because of 26 pages out of thirteen different books (and let’s see… if they’re all about the same length, that would be over 7000 pages total…) – seven THOUSAND pages of literature, and Rushdie should die because he may have suggested, in one tiny little part of one of his many books, some less-than-devout idea about Islam? How WEAK must you be in your own faith to even entertain such an idea? Those who are secure in their faith have no reason to bother with such minutiae. Those who are secure in their faith harbor no revenge in their hearts – revenge is obviously not a GOOD sentiment to hold on to. To hold so tightly to such negativity and such pessimism and such defeatism (how can anyone honestly believe that such a book can topple the entire foundation of a religion?) says volumes about what is TRULY in someone’s heart.
That’s not to say that I can’t understand why some people might find parts of the book a bit insulting – I’m sure there are parts that could be insulting to all kinds of people, not just Muslims. I mean, for goodness’ sake – I could probably pull any random title off my bookshelf and find something that someone might find insulting. I know plenty of people who were insulted by Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code, and yet they managed to get over it. Some of them even conceded that it WAS a great work of fiction, even if they found the subject matter a bit offensive. Sure, it can be offensive to devout Christians – yet those who are secure in their faith are able to simply shrug it off and understand that God is MUCH more powerful than any work of fiction could ever be.
This is why I can’t help but think that the true Muslims – the ones who honestly understand their faith – are NOT the ones out in the streets calling for Rushdie’s death. I’ve read that the word “Islam” can be translated to mean both “peace” and “submission.” Yet the peaceful and submissive aspects of Islam are far too often overshadowed by these stories of revenge and hatred. And it’s sad, because like I said, I’m betting most Muslims couldn’t care less whether Rushdie is knighted or not. Because most Muslims can probably understand that The Satanic Verses is simply a work of fiction, and certainly not powerful enough to alter their faith. Just like The Da Vinci Code is a fun read, but it’s not going to make a true Christian abandon everything they believe and rush off to the Louvre in search of the bones of Mary.
This whole situation may, of course, call for another cabin story. But I’d better finish the book first…
Friday, June 15, 2007
Ups and downs...
So the Yankees have won nine in a row… I was trying to decide yesterday if I should play Andy Pettitte on my fantasy baseball team. But I realized that after an eight game winning streak, the Yankees were due to lose at any moment. And if I played Pettitte, it was pretty much guaranteed they would lose. That’s just the way my luck has been going lately. But if I DIDN’T play him, they might have a chance to win. And sure enough, I benched Pettitte and the Yankees won. That’s 32 points I’ll never see… but hey, I did my part to ensure a Yankee victory. And with Boston doing not-quite-as-well right now, the Yankees have managed to close the gap from 14 games to 7 and a half. They’re still in the running… and there’s a lot more baseball left to play…
But it is the middle of June already… the year is half over. We ate dinner with Rick’s parents and a couple of his sisters and nieces yesterday. And I was thinking, as the girls ran around with “summer vacation is here!” abandon, how much more slowly time seemed to pass when I was a kid. When I was young, it took EONS of time to get from the first day of school to summer vacation. And once summer vacation was here, well, that was THREE WHOLE MONTHS of freedom. In those first few weeks of sleeping in late and going to afternoon movies on a Tuesday and swimming all day and reading only books I WANTED to read, it seemed the summer would last indefinitely. And returning to school was like attending some far-off-in-the-future reunion, where I half expected students to show up with husbands and wives and kids and business cards and pictures of the new house and car – because it had been THAT long since we’d all seen each other. Three whole months.
My school memories aren’t always so great – especially high school, which seemed like four extremely slow years… years I feared would never end. I thought I’d be doomed to live an eternity in the halls of Lenape Valley, where metaphorical eagles would peck out my metaphorical liver day after day… just like poor Prometheus. (And the fact that I knew who Prometheus was certainly didn’t make my time there any more easy…) And I realize that most of the GOOD memories I have of high school revolve around singing in the chorus. Like sophomore year, when I was in the Touring Choir – the director chose 40 of us out of our 120-voice choir to travel to Toronto for a competition. After a long bus ride (which included an increasingly risqué game of truth or dare – I gratefully opted out and kept my nose semi-buried in a book…) we stopped at a Toronto high school to sing for the students there. Afterwards we ate lunch in their cafeteria, where we were mobbed like rock stars. “You guys are from the States?” one wide-eyed girl asked. She said it with such awe in her voice that I thought we must’ve been transported from the mundane locale of Toronto, Ontario, to a remote island in the Pacific – where, in fact, visitors from “the States” would be quite the rarity.
This was also the trip where I rode a roller coaster for the first time. The competition was held at a place called Canada’s Wonderland, which is a Six Flags-type amusement park. We were allowed to wander the park freely (as long as we showed up in time to sing for the judges…). I was hanging out with my high school best friend Ali, and my high school nemesis Sara. (Yes, that’s right – I had a high school nemesis. Sara was the girl I was always trying to do BETTER than. If she got an A, I wanted an A+. She was my competition-driven motivation to study more. And while I’m sure she didn’t KNOW she was my nemesis, it always annoyed me when she got a better grade than I did…) We were also hanging out with a girl named Christine, who, like me, had never ridden a roller coaster. So Ali and Sara – roller coaster connoisseurs that they were – convinced us that we needed to try one. They promised to ride one with us, so if the cars flew off the track in some bizarre roller coaster tragedy, we’d all die together. But as Christine and I nervously stood in line with only two more people in front of us, we saw that Ali and Sara were boarding the coaster without waiting for us. They smiled and waved and gave us a smart-alecky “have fun!” and left us there on the platform to reflect on our fate.
But once we were all buckled in and the ride started to move (“it was nice knowing you,” I said as we reached the top of the first drop), I suddenly realized that the roller coaster was FUN. I loved the ups and downs, I loved the turns, and I especially loved the upside-down loops. When we hopped off the ride and found our smug and amused pair of friends, we announced that we wanted to try every roller coaster in the park. And we did – we rode all of them, even one that ran through the entire ride backwards.
I think it’s funny when people compare life to a “roller coaster” because it’s full of “ups and downs.” Because on a roller coaster, the “downs” are just as much fun as the “ups” – not so in real life. So really, life is nothing like a roller coaster. It’s more like… oh, I don’t know… like eating ice cream really fast. Sure, the ice cream tastes great, but it’s interspersed with moments of horrible brain freeze… and that’s no fun at all. No, life is definitely not like a roller coaster… it’s like downing a pint of Ben and Jerry’s in ten minutes… So hopefully the second half of 2007 will be more like roller coasters and ice cream and less like brain freeze. And that, of course, includes the Yankees and their (soon-to-be) amazing turn-around in their fight for the playoffs…
But it is the middle of June already… the year is half over. We ate dinner with Rick’s parents and a couple of his sisters and nieces yesterday. And I was thinking, as the girls ran around with “summer vacation is here!” abandon, how much more slowly time seemed to pass when I was a kid. When I was young, it took EONS of time to get from the first day of school to summer vacation. And once summer vacation was here, well, that was THREE WHOLE MONTHS of freedom. In those first few weeks of sleeping in late and going to afternoon movies on a Tuesday and swimming all day and reading only books I WANTED to read, it seemed the summer would last indefinitely. And returning to school was like attending some far-off-in-the-future reunion, where I half expected students to show up with husbands and wives and kids and business cards and pictures of the new house and car – because it had been THAT long since we’d all seen each other. Three whole months.
My school memories aren’t always so great – especially high school, which seemed like four extremely slow years… years I feared would never end. I thought I’d be doomed to live an eternity in the halls of Lenape Valley, where metaphorical eagles would peck out my metaphorical liver day after day… just like poor Prometheus. (And the fact that I knew who Prometheus was certainly didn’t make my time there any more easy…) And I realize that most of the GOOD memories I have of high school revolve around singing in the chorus. Like sophomore year, when I was in the Touring Choir – the director chose 40 of us out of our 120-voice choir to travel to Toronto for a competition. After a long bus ride (which included an increasingly risqué game of truth or dare – I gratefully opted out and kept my nose semi-buried in a book…) we stopped at a Toronto high school to sing for the students there. Afterwards we ate lunch in their cafeteria, where we were mobbed like rock stars. “You guys are from the States?” one wide-eyed girl asked. She said it with such awe in her voice that I thought we must’ve been transported from the mundane locale of Toronto, Ontario, to a remote island in the Pacific – where, in fact, visitors from “the States” would be quite the rarity.
This was also the trip where I rode a roller coaster for the first time. The competition was held at a place called Canada’s Wonderland, which is a Six Flags-type amusement park. We were allowed to wander the park freely (as long as we showed up in time to sing for the judges…). I was hanging out with my high school best friend Ali, and my high school nemesis Sara. (Yes, that’s right – I had a high school nemesis. Sara was the girl I was always trying to do BETTER than. If she got an A, I wanted an A+. She was my competition-driven motivation to study more. And while I’m sure she didn’t KNOW she was my nemesis, it always annoyed me when she got a better grade than I did…) We were also hanging out with a girl named Christine, who, like me, had never ridden a roller coaster. So Ali and Sara – roller coaster connoisseurs that they were – convinced us that we needed to try one. They promised to ride one with us, so if the cars flew off the track in some bizarre roller coaster tragedy, we’d all die together. But as Christine and I nervously stood in line with only two more people in front of us, we saw that Ali and Sara were boarding the coaster without waiting for us. They smiled and waved and gave us a smart-alecky “have fun!” and left us there on the platform to reflect on our fate.
But once we were all buckled in and the ride started to move (“it was nice knowing you,” I said as we reached the top of the first drop), I suddenly realized that the roller coaster was FUN. I loved the ups and downs, I loved the turns, and I especially loved the upside-down loops. When we hopped off the ride and found our smug and amused pair of friends, we announced that we wanted to try every roller coaster in the park. And we did – we rode all of them, even one that ran through the entire ride backwards.
I think it’s funny when people compare life to a “roller coaster” because it’s full of “ups and downs.” Because on a roller coaster, the “downs” are just as much fun as the “ups” – not so in real life. So really, life is nothing like a roller coaster. It’s more like… oh, I don’t know… like eating ice cream really fast. Sure, the ice cream tastes great, but it’s interspersed with moments of horrible brain freeze… and that’s no fun at all. No, life is definitely not like a roller coaster… it’s like downing a pint of Ben and Jerry’s in ten minutes… So hopefully the second half of 2007 will be more like roller coasters and ice cream and less like brain freeze. And that, of course, includes the Yankees and their (soon-to-be) amazing turn-around in their fight for the playoffs…
Monday, June 11, 2007
Getting to know me (again)...
I haven't found one of these crazy questionnaires in a while, but I stumbled upon one this morning as I was shuffling through some random blogs. So here are a few more answers to some useless questions:
What’s your name spelled backwards?
What’s your name spelled backwards?
Asil… Lorac Asil if you include my middle name. Hey, that’s not such a bad name – Lorac Asil. Weird, sure. But not so bad.
What did you do last night?
Ate dinner at Z Tejas… had spicy macaroni with blackened chicken. It was goooood. And, if we don’t wind up moving to Chicago, we’ll soon be able to frequent Z Tejas right across the street from our neighborhood – they’re building one within walking distance of our house…
The last thing you downloaded onto your computer?
Probably pictures? Yeah, I’m guessing pictures…
Have you ever licked a 9 volt battery?
I do have a vague memory of the tangy zip of 9 volt on my tongue – so I must’ve done it when I was a kid…
Last time you swam in a pool?
Last summer – although my pool temp is up to 85, so I may have to jump in some time soon…
How many cars have you owned?
Um, let’s count… I had an Eagle Medallion (what? Never heard of it? Yeah, that’s because they made it for about two years and then destroyed all evidence of its existence…); a Honda Accord; a Honda Civic; a great little Audi A4 (now living in mom and dad’s driveway…); another Audi A4; and an Acura MDX – is that it? I’m only counting the cars that were “mine” – I won’t even get started on Rick’s cars…
Type of music you dislike most?
Country. Blah. Blech. Hate country music. Most of it, anyway. There are a handful of songs I like, and a few more I can tolerate. But for the most part, really, really don’t like country.
Are you registered to vote?
Yep
Do you have cable?
Only for the computer… we’ve got a DirecTV satellite. Best thing ever. Except when a thunderstorm rolls through and blocks the signal…
What kind of computer do you use?
A silvery-gray one. With a keyboard. And an “on” button.
Ever made a prank phone call?
I don’t think so… but if I did, it would’ve been shortly after licking a 9 volt battery, no doubt.
You like anyone right now?
I like lots of people… I even love a few of them…
Would you go bungee jumping or sky diving?
I doubt it. I might sky dive if I happened to be on an imminently-crashing plane stocked with a few parachutes. Otherwise, why would I jump out of a perfectly decent plane?
Furthest place you ever traveled?
I think that would be St. Petersburg, Russia… yep, after looking at my travel map with all the stickpins, it’s definitely St. Petersburg.
What’s your favorite comic strip?
I loved Calvin and Hobbes, and I wish it was still being written…
Do you know all the words to the national anthem?
Oh yeah – that was the first song we learned in choir class in high school. Every single year. We sang it about a zillion times. I can probably still sing all four parts, too, since we went over all of them repeatedly…
Shower, morning or night?
I shower after I work out, which is usually around late afternoon… although lately Rick and I have been taking walks at night, too, so I’m faced with a conundrum – should I shower twice and risk drying out my skin and hair? Should I shower only after my afternoon workout, and hope it still “takes” after walking two miles in the evening? Should I hold off on the shower until evening? Who knew it could be so complicated…
Best movie you’ve seen in the past month?
Well, although I was a bit disappointed in the ending and had a hard time following the convoluted story, I’d have to say it was Pirates of the Caribbean, if only for the great special effects. And it went by very quickly for such a long movie – so I was obviously entertained.
Favorite pizza toppings?
Mushrooms and fresh garlic – especially at the Brooklyn Heights Pizzeria across the street. They have the BEST slices…
Chips or popcorn?
Definitely popcorn… never been much of a chip person…
What cell phone provider do you have?
Verizon – you know, the one where the entire network follows you around all day? It’s a little creepy, to be honest…
Have you ever smoked peanut shells?
What? Peanut shells? Who smokes peanut shells? And why, exactly? And how? Do you have to, like, grind them up and roll them in paper? Or do you just light up a shell and puff away? To answer the question – I’ve never smoked anything… peanut shells or otherwise…
Have you ever been in a beauty pageant?
Hold on, I have to stop laughing…
Orange Juice or apple?
Orange juice, as long as it’s pulp-free. I hate orange juice pulp. I don’t like to chew my juice while I’m drinking it.
Favorite chocolate bar?
I’m not sure I can answer that question… I mean, if it’s chocolate, chances are I’ll eat it and like it. What I really like is to buy chocolate bars in foreign countries to try something new. I’ve had some great stuff in England and Italy…
Last time you ate a homegrown tomato?
I’ve never grown my own tomatoes, so I guess never. Although maybe I’ve eaten someone ELSE’S homegrown tomatoes, who knows…
Have you ever won a trophy?
I don’t know about an actual TROPHY, but I did get that Presidential Academic Fitness award in high school. (Notice I said ACADEMIC fitness – not the physical fitness award. I could kick butt in a classroom, but not in the gym…)
Favorite arcade game?
I’m sorry, is it still 1982?
Ever ordered from an infomercial?
I’ve ordered a few exercise DVDs from infomercials… Tae-Bo and stuff like that. I’m making up for my lack of Presidential Physical Fitness awards in high school…
Sprite or 7-UP?
I don’t care enough about either one to make a decision. I can take ‘em or leave ‘em.
Have you ever had to wear a uniform to school/work?
Nope.
Last thing you bought at Walgreens?
I can’t remember, but my purchase no doubt included lip gloss… I just can’t seem to walk into a Walgreens and walk out without buying lip gloss. I’m so addicted to that stuff…
Ever thrown up in public?
Not that I can remember. Of course, little kids are always throwing up all over the place, so who knows…
Would you prefer being a millionaire or finding true love?
Oh, everyone knows it’s gotta be the love. Money is only nice for so long… at some point, you realize it really DOESN’T buy happiness…
Do you believe in love at first sight?
Nope. Not possible. It’s not possible to simply LOOK at someone and make the decision to love them. “Love” at first sight is just “attraction” at first sight.
Spongebob or Jimmy Neutron?
Spongebob annoys me, but I don’t know enough about this Jimmy Neutron character to make a judgment call… for all I know, he goes around smoking peanut shells and licking batteries and generally being a bad influence.
Did you have long hair as a young kid?
Not until around second grade… before that, my mom had been cutting my hair really short, and I remember thinking I was afraid I looked like a boy. I guess I convinced her I wanted to grow it out by the time I got to second grade, and I’ve never cut it that short again. (Sorry, mom. :))
Where would you like to go right now?
To a Yankee game. Now, while we’re on a winning streak…
Whats the name of your pet?
I have two – my dog Echo, and my cat Allegro.
What kind of backpack do you have, and what’s in it?
I don’t have a backpack… but I do have a messenger bag that I use as a carry-on bag when I travel. It pretty much remains constantly stocked with the things I refuse to travel without – lip balm, gum, hand lotion, ear plugs, sunglasses, a travel journal, hand sanitizer… when I’m ready to go somewhere, I just toss in a book or some magazines and my ID, and I’m all set…
What do you think about most?
That changes on a daily basis… ask me tomorrow…
Saturday, June 09, 2007
More Saturday randomness...
Wow – the Yankees have won four in a row… this might be the longest winning streak they’ve had this year. This is thanks, in no small part, to the fact that Eric and I are really starting to figure out our Yankee voodoo. We’ve also had the indispensable assistance of a flock of Chicago swan paddle boats… uh, don’t ask. It’s a long story…
And Roger Clemens is back in New York, ready to pitch today’s game. This should be interesting. I’m sure the fans will welcome him back with much cheering and applause – but if he starts allowing runners to score, the entire stadium will turn on him pretty quickly. Just like with Arod – last year, he was the most despised man in Yankee Stadium… this year, Yankee fans loooooove Arod. We can be very fickle like that…
So lately I’ve been watching this show on TLC called “Flip That House.” People buy run-down houses that need work, invest some money to fix them up, and then immediately put them back on the market to sell for a profit. Most of the houses they feature seem to be located in California, and I am constantly amazed by how expensive these homes are. I just saw one where a woman bought a house for around $380,000, renovated it, and was able to put it on the market for $550,000. And how big was this house, you ask? (Were you asking? I’m assuming you were…) It was a one bedroom, one bathroom, 1000-square foot house. $550,000. For a one bedroom, one bath. The first house Rick and I ever bought had two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a study, and I don’t think it even cost $100,000. I wonder how anyone can afford to live in California…
We’ve been thinking about what we’d need to do with our house before we sell it, IF it turns out we’ll be moving to Chicago. It’s funny how little bitty things can make a difference in a house – because it’s not like there’s anything major that would need to be repaired or changed. The wall paint still looks good, all the fixtures work properly, the carpet is decent (although there ARE a few places we could probably replace the carpet… actually, it wouldn’t even need to be replaced – it just needs to be smoothed out where it appears to be puckering up. I guess carpet can stretch out over time…). But there ARE a bunch of little things that need to be taken care of – touch up paint on the corners of walls where I’ve accidentally run into them with the vacuum cleaner or a chair… baseboards that collect dust and haven’t been dusted lately… high windows that need to be cleaned, etc. And ever after we’ve done all that, we still won’t be able to sell this house for as much as a one bedroom, one bathroom in California…
Well, two innings of the Yankee game are over, and so far the Yankees are winning. I’m a little annoyed by the fact that we can’t get the game on TV here – Fox apparently monopolizes baseball on Saturdays, and they only show “regional” games. Which means that here in Texas, the only game we can see is the Houston Astros game. Yippee yahoo. There are probably more Yankee fans in Texas than there are Astros fans… and yet we’re STILL stuck with the Astros game. Of course, Astros fans all hate Roger Clemens now, because he left the Astros and came back to the Yankees. Yeah, too bad about that. Anyway, I am forced to keep up with the game on the internet, which is not nearly as fun as watching it on TV… (which, in turn, is not nearly as fun as watching it in person…)
And with Chicago paddle boat swans on our side, we are certain to start a steady climb back into first place. (Yeah, I know it doesn’t make sense. Just trust me on this one…)
And Roger Clemens is back in New York, ready to pitch today’s game. This should be interesting. I’m sure the fans will welcome him back with much cheering and applause – but if he starts allowing runners to score, the entire stadium will turn on him pretty quickly. Just like with Arod – last year, he was the most despised man in Yankee Stadium… this year, Yankee fans loooooove Arod. We can be very fickle like that…
So lately I’ve been watching this show on TLC called “Flip That House.” People buy run-down houses that need work, invest some money to fix them up, and then immediately put them back on the market to sell for a profit. Most of the houses they feature seem to be located in California, and I am constantly amazed by how expensive these homes are. I just saw one where a woman bought a house for around $380,000, renovated it, and was able to put it on the market for $550,000. And how big was this house, you ask? (Were you asking? I’m assuming you were…) It was a one bedroom, one bathroom, 1000-square foot house. $550,000. For a one bedroom, one bath. The first house Rick and I ever bought had two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a study, and I don’t think it even cost $100,000. I wonder how anyone can afford to live in California…
We’ve been thinking about what we’d need to do with our house before we sell it, IF it turns out we’ll be moving to Chicago. It’s funny how little bitty things can make a difference in a house – because it’s not like there’s anything major that would need to be repaired or changed. The wall paint still looks good, all the fixtures work properly, the carpet is decent (although there ARE a few places we could probably replace the carpet… actually, it wouldn’t even need to be replaced – it just needs to be smoothed out where it appears to be puckering up. I guess carpet can stretch out over time…). But there ARE a bunch of little things that need to be taken care of – touch up paint on the corners of walls where I’ve accidentally run into them with the vacuum cleaner or a chair… baseboards that collect dust and haven’t been dusted lately… high windows that need to be cleaned, etc. And ever after we’ve done all that, we still won’t be able to sell this house for as much as a one bedroom, one bathroom in California…
Well, two innings of the Yankee game are over, and so far the Yankees are winning. I’m a little annoyed by the fact that we can’t get the game on TV here – Fox apparently monopolizes baseball on Saturdays, and they only show “regional” games. Which means that here in Texas, the only game we can see is the Houston Astros game. Yippee yahoo. There are probably more Yankee fans in Texas than there are Astros fans… and yet we’re STILL stuck with the Astros game. Of course, Astros fans all hate Roger Clemens now, because he left the Astros and came back to the Yankees. Yeah, too bad about that. Anyway, I am forced to keep up with the game on the internet, which is not nearly as fun as watching it on TV… (which, in turn, is not nearly as fun as watching it in person…)
And with Chicago paddle boat swans on our side, we are certain to start a steady climb back into first place. (Yeah, I know it doesn’t make sense. Just trust me on this one…)
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Baseball talk...
Good baseball day yesterday – the Yankees won… and Boston has lost three in a row, which is slightly heartening. I should’ve played Tyler Clippard on my fantasy team instead of Ted Lilly… and here I thought I was playing it “safe.” Clippard pitched a fairly decent game and would’ve earned me twenty points, whereas Lilly decided to toss the ball around like it was his first day on a pitching mound. I mean, he gave up like 150 runs in the first three innings. It was not pretty. Very disappointing, Lilly. Very disappointing.
Fortunately for me, my first-round draft pick C.C. Sabathia continues to remind me why I love him so much. He pitched his first complete game shut-out of the year, netting 55 points and making me feel a bit less annoyed about Lilly’s -4. (But see how much better it would’ve been if I’d played Clippard? Why, Lilly? WHY??) The Cleveland game was making me very nervous, as I noticed somewhere around the sixth inning that Kansas City had yet to score. Cleveland was ahead – by ONE run. Franklin Gutierrez hit a home run in the third. And by the time the ninth inning rolled around, the score was still 1-0, and Sabathia was in to pitch the ninth. Rick started to say something about it… he was like, “whoa… I just noticed…” And I immediately cut him off – “shut up shut up don’t jinx it…” I sat on the couch, rocking back and forth in a baseball trance… one out, two out… someone got a hit, I can’t remember who – a home run and it would all be over. I closed my eyes for a second, and then, from back in Rick’s study, I heard the cry of “complete game shut out!” Whew. That was too stressful. Seriously Cleveland, how about a few more insurance runs next time?
The guys in the fantasy baseball league tend to have lengthy email-chain discussions about whatever is going on in the world of baseball. Sometimes my name gets included in the chains, and sometimes it doesn’t – and it’s always interesting when it does, because I get to see just how hard these guys are working at their jobs. Er… maybe not. :) Yesterday someone started a discussion about a proposed trade – Carlos Zambrano for Scott Kazmir. Neither one has been doing particularly well this year. It’s kinda like a few weeks ago, when someone offered me Bobby Abreu for Garrett Atkins. I was like, “uh, sure, whatever…” (Although Abreu does seem to be doing better now… perhaps he’ll end up being worth the trade…)
Anyway, after an email inbox full of back-and-forth messages from all the guys yesterday, my fellow fantasy-leaguer and frequent blog-reader Greg wrote me a little poem:
A POEM FOR LISA
The e-mails started with two pitchers name Carlos and Scott;
One plays at Wrigley Field…the other does not.
Both have really been sucky ever since day one;
Both wasting a roster space….not a lot of fun.
Matt submitted the offer….and then Blue said YES;
Then Blue admitted he’d trade C-Zam for even much less.
Then enters John Kruk…the Baseball Tonight god;
The talk quickly digressed by mentioning his rod.
The e-mails became crass and somewhat shady;
So my apologies go out to our token Band of Brothers Lady.
Our league has boys and girls involved…and that ain’t no jive;
Proof of this is our little couple whose offense is 2.5……
Yes, yes, Rick and I both have a 2.5 offense average right now. Sigh. Although lately I’ve been averaging around 3.0, so I’m hoping MY average will change soon. Rick’s can stay at 2.5. :) So thanks for the poem, Greg. Although to be honest, no apologies are necessary. I’m quite used to crude guy talk, and it doesn’t usually bother me much. I grew up with my two brothers and no sisters, plus all my male cousins (I don’t have any female cousins)… and, seeing as I’m much-too-shy for my own good, I’ve frequently spent time hanging out with Eric and all his friends – in fact, I’d have to say I’m more comfortable with a group of guys than I am with a group of girls. Girls can be so weird. Always talking about, like, babies and kids and where to buy shoes… I’d much rather talk about baseball than shoes…
I guess I should find another girl who truly appreciates Derek Jeter’s pinstripe-clad butt… :)
Fortunately for me, my first-round draft pick C.C. Sabathia continues to remind me why I love him so much. He pitched his first complete game shut-out of the year, netting 55 points and making me feel a bit less annoyed about Lilly’s -4. (But see how much better it would’ve been if I’d played Clippard? Why, Lilly? WHY??) The Cleveland game was making me very nervous, as I noticed somewhere around the sixth inning that Kansas City had yet to score. Cleveland was ahead – by ONE run. Franklin Gutierrez hit a home run in the third. And by the time the ninth inning rolled around, the score was still 1-0, and Sabathia was in to pitch the ninth. Rick started to say something about it… he was like, “whoa… I just noticed…” And I immediately cut him off – “shut up shut up don’t jinx it…” I sat on the couch, rocking back and forth in a baseball trance… one out, two out… someone got a hit, I can’t remember who – a home run and it would all be over. I closed my eyes for a second, and then, from back in Rick’s study, I heard the cry of “complete game shut out!” Whew. That was too stressful. Seriously Cleveland, how about a few more insurance runs next time?
The guys in the fantasy baseball league tend to have lengthy email-chain discussions about whatever is going on in the world of baseball. Sometimes my name gets included in the chains, and sometimes it doesn’t – and it’s always interesting when it does, because I get to see just how hard these guys are working at their jobs. Er… maybe not. :) Yesterday someone started a discussion about a proposed trade – Carlos Zambrano for Scott Kazmir. Neither one has been doing particularly well this year. It’s kinda like a few weeks ago, when someone offered me Bobby Abreu for Garrett Atkins. I was like, “uh, sure, whatever…” (Although Abreu does seem to be doing better now… perhaps he’ll end up being worth the trade…)
Anyway, after an email inbox full of back-and-forth messages from all the guys yesterday, my fellow fantasy-leaguer and frequent blog-reader Greg wrote me a little poem:
A POEM FOR LISA
The e-mails started with two pitchers name Carlos and Scott;
One plays at Wrigley Field…the other does not.
Both have really been sucky ever since day one;
Both wasting a roster space….not a lot of fun.
Matt submitted the offer….and then Blue said YES;
Then Blue admitted he’d trade C-Zam for even much less.
Then enters John Kruk…the Baseball Tonight god;
The talk quickly digressed by mentioning his rod.
The e-mails became crass and somewhat shady;
So my apologies go out to our token Band of Brothers Lady.
Our league has boys and girls involved…and that ain’t no jive;
Proof of this is our little couple whose offense is 2.5……
Yes, yes, Rick and I both have a 2.5 offense average right now. Sigh. Although lately I’ve been averaging around 3.0, so I’m hoping MY average will change soon. Rick’s can stay at 2.5. :) So thanks for the poem, Greg. Although to be honest, no apologies are necessary. I’m quite used to crude guy talk, and it doesn’t usually bother me much. I grew up with my two brothers and no sisters, plus all my male cousins (I don’t have any female cousins)… and, seeing as I’m much-too-shy for my own good, I’ve frequently spent time hanging out with Eric and all his friends – in fact, I’d have to say I’m more comfortable with a group of guys than I am with a group of girls. Girls can be so weird. Always talking about, like, babies and kids and where to buy shoes… I’d much rather talk about baseball than shoes…
I guess I should find another girl who truly appreciates Derek Jeter’s pinstripe-clad butt… :)
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Water water everywhere...
I was reminded yesterday of why it’s so much fun to live in Texas in the springtime. (And by “fun” I mean “not fun at all.”) The day had been sunny and warm, just like any other day in June, and I wasn’t bothering to check the Weather Channel to see if that might change. Instead, I had the television tuned to the National Geographic channel and an episode of “Seconds From Disaster.” As the name implies, this show discusses past disasters and explains the research that went into uncovering the causes and reasons for said disasters. Yesterday’s episode focused on a DC-10 plane crash back in 1979. Quite a bad accident – one of the plane’s engines literally fell off the wing during take off. The narrator intoned, “if this was a design defect, it would have to be addressed on the entire fleet of DC-10s in operation.” Yeah. That’d be a pretty major defect. I prefer the engines on the planes I fly in to remain WITH the plane at all times. But it turns out it wasn’t a design defect – it was a shoddy maintenance job. Although interestingly enough, the literal loss of the engine was NOT what caused the plane to crash – apparently, even if an engine is ripped off the wing of a DC-10, it is STILL designed to fly and land safely. What ultimately caused the crash was poor pilot training, which resulted in the pilot cutting back the speed of the plane when he realized there was a problem. This, in turn, caused the plane to stall. If he’d kept the speed up, things may have turned out differently – unfortunately, he was doing exactly what he’d been trained to do. Things have changed now, of course… it’s just sad that horrible accidents have to occur before the aviation industry can realize its flaws…
But I’m getting off track… so I was watching the show about the DC-10 plane crash and pitting some cherries in the kitchen, admiring my bug-free windowsill. When all of a sudden I heard a low rumble outside – far off at first, but gaining momentum and volume until it ended in a great smashing collision. My first thought was, “it’s a DC-10 plane crash!” Seriously. I was little too wrapped up in the show. But it only took another half a second to realize it was actually thunder. Of course, this confused me, since not five minutes earlier I’d been gazing at the sunny lawn outside my insecticide-covered kitchen window. I threw away all my cherry pits and washed my hands, then walked over to my computer to check the weather. I noticed I had an email from Rick – it was a link to the satellite picture of central Texas, where big red blobs of pop-up thunderstorms threatened to devour entire towns. Where did THOSE come from???
By the time I looked at the email and checked a couple other weather sites, the rain had begun to fall. I’ve gotten quite used to the sound of a driving downpour, as it seems we’ve had so much rain this year. So when I heard the water pounding on the roof, I just sighed and waited for the satellite TV to go out. But then I heard a different sound – like someone was tossing pebbles at my windows. Uh oh. I knew that sound, too, although fortunately we don’t hear it too often – hail. I hesitantly peeked out the back window, and only saw a few marble-sized pieces scattered on the deck around the pool. Okay, marble-sized hail isn’t so bad, I thought. It’ll probably last about two minutes and then go back to rain. I walked away from the window, and noticed the satellite TV was still on. Wow. Usually it goes out before the rain even REACHES us…
And then the pebbles hitting the windows suddenly turned into something much louder. The hail was hitting the windows with loud cracking noises, and I was certain at any moment I’d hear the shatter of glass before a rush of wind and rain were driven into my house. I heard the sharp sound of hard-object-hitting-metal through the garage door in the kitchen, and with dismay realized our MDX was parked in the driveway. Venturing another peek outside the window, I saw hail pelting the surface of the pool, water splashing everywhere, broken tree branches attempting to float… the car was a lost cause. No way could I head outside in this stuff, unless I wanted to have welts on my head and arms…
After about ten minutes of assuming we’d have to replace half the windows in the house (nothing actually broke… it just sounded that way…), and marveling at the fact that the satellite TV remained on throughout the entire storm, the hail let up and I was able to open the garage door and check on the car. Sigh… my once pristine MDX is now full of little dimples, although they’re very subtle. If you didn’t know they were there, you might even miss them. It could’ve been a lot worse…
And hey – at least there were no tornadoes. Gotta love spring in Texas…
But I’m getting off track… so I was watching the show about the DC-10 plane crash and pitting some cherries in the kitchen, admiring my bug-free windowsill. When all of a sudden I heard a low rumble outside – far off at first, but gaining momentum and volume until it ended in a great smashing collision. My first thought was, “it’s a DC-10 plane crash!” Seriously. I was little too wrapped up in the show. But it only took another half a second to realize it was actually thunder. Of course, this confused me, since not five minutes earlier I’d been gazing at the sunny lawn outside my insecticide-covered kitchen window. I threw away all my cherry pits and washed my hands, then walked over to my computer to check the weather. I noticed I had an email from Rick – it was a link to the satellite picture of central Texas, where big red blobs of pop-up thunderstorms threatened to devour entire towns. Where did THOSE come from???
By the time I looked at the email and checked a couple other weather sites, the rain had begun to fall. I’ve gotten quite used to the sound of a driving downpour, as it seems we’ve had so much rain this year. So when I heard the water pounding on the roof, I just sighed and waited for the satellite TV to go out. But then I heard a different sound – like someone was tossing pebbles at my windows. Uh oh. I knew that sound, too, although fortunately we don’t hear it too often – hail. I hesitantly peeked out the back window, and only saw a few marble-sized pieces scattered on the deck around the pool. Okay, marble-sized hail isn’t so bad, I thought. It’ll probably last about two minutes and then go back to rain. I walked away from the window, and noticed the satellite TV was still on. Wow. Usually it goes out before the rain even REACHES us…
And then the pebbles hitting the windows suddenly turned into something much louder. The hail was hitting the windows with loud cracking noises, and I was certain at any moment I’d hear the shatter of glass before a rush of wind and rain were driven into my house. I heard the sharp sound of hard-object-hitting-metal through the garage door in the kitchen, and with dismay realized our MDX was parked in the driveway. Venturing another peek outside the window, I saw hail pelting the surface of the pool, water splashing everywhere, broken tree branches attempting to float… the car was a lost cause. No way could I head outside in this stuff, unless I wanted to have welts on my head and arms…
After about ten minutes of assuming we’d have to replace half the windows in the house (nothing actually broke… it just sounded that way…), and marveling at the fact that the satellite TV remained on throughout the entire storm, the hail let up and I was able to open the garage door and check on the car. Sigh… my once pristine MDX is now full of little dimples, although they’re very subtle. If you didn’t know they were there, you might even miss them. It could’ve been a lot worse…
And hey – at least there were no tornadoes. Gotta love spring in Texas…
Monday, June 04, 2007
Battle of the bugs...
So yesterday I played two pitchers on my fantasy team. I took a chance and played Andy Pettitte – which, although the Yankees did manage to win last night (great game, by the way), was a move that rewarded me with three whole points. Wooooohoo. I wasn’t planning on playing another pitcher, until Rick said to me, “you know, Dontrelle Willis usually does really well in June,” and then proceeded to show me stats from the last few years. Hmmmm… Dontrelle Willis DOES usually pitch well in June. So, since I’m a few games behind in pitching anyway, I tossed him in, too. Willis ended his game with NEGATIVE three points. So, when we add it all up, that gave Lisa a grand total of zero pitching points yesterday. This was just another example of Rick’s obvious attempts to sabotage my fantasy team this year… it is SO not gonna work… I mean, you know, it’s not gonna work AGAIN…
Well, Paris Hilton is finally in jail, and already the world feels like a safer place. Okay… maybe she’s not exactly a menace to society – but she IS quite annoying. And I’m tired of these useless party girls running around doing whatever they feel like doing, assuming they can get away with anything just because they’re rich and wear low-cut dresses. Really, it’s about TIME one of them got thrown in jail. (Why isn’t Lindsay Lohan in jail yet??) Seriously – can someone explain to me WHY Paris Hilton is even famous? Why is her picture splashed all over magazines and why is her name constantly in the news? What is it that she DOES, exactly? I’m not even usually all that impressed with Hilton hotels…
Anyway… so I’ve been having a bit of a bug problem around one of the windowsills in the kitchen. I noticed a couple little tiny black bugs crawling around by the window a few days ago, so I smushed them with a paper towel and thought nothing more about it. Until I noticed a couple more. And then a couple more. Eventually, after smushing several of these tiny things, I realized they were traveling in a little bug caravan along the window. Well, that was it. It was time to get serious. I brought out a can of Raid and sprayed along the entire perimeter of the window. I don’t like to spray insecticide in the kitchen… but then again, I really don’t like bugs in the kitchen, either…
So, assuming the Raid would take care of any straggling tiny intruders, I went about my daily business and forgot about the bugs. Until I happened to notice, later that day, another little black speck determinedly soldiering on across the great expanse of windowsill. What? How did it survive the Raid attack? Okay, fine. I sprayed another cloud of Raid around the window, thankful that I never leave food laying out. Surely THIS time the bug killer would take care of those tiny little things. Hours later, however, I was once again proven wrong. It was as if these things – so infinitesimal and easily squishable – were somehow impervious to the poisonous effects of Raid. So I put away the Raid and brought out a can of Hot Shot – maybe a brand change was in order. I’m pretty certain whatever they put in their insecticide is exactly the same – but it made me feel as if I were taking a proactive stance against these tiny creatures…
I have now been spraying the windowsill with Hot Shot for about two days, with generally the same results. Although so far today, I haven’t seen any little bugs yet. I am cautiously optimistic about their eradication, although I won’t be surprised if I see another one running along the windowsill, holding a tiny little “nice try, pathetic human” sign. I seem to remember having the same sort of problem LAST year at about this time, so I’m hoping these are just weird little seasonal bugs… sort of like tiny “welcome summer!” bugs.
Or maybe I should just call them annoying little pain in the neck bugs…
Well, Paris Hilton is finally in jail, and already the world feels like a safer place. Okay… maybe she’s not exactly a menace to society – but she IS quite annoying. And I’m tired of these useless party girls running around doing whatever they feel like doing, assuming they can get away with anything just because they’re rich and wear low-cut dresses. Really, it’s about TIME one of them got thrown in jail. (Why isn’t Lindsay Lohan in jail yet??) Seriously – can someone explain to me WHY Paris Hilton is even famous? Why is her picture splashed all over magazines and why is her name constantly in the news? What is it that she DOES, exactly? I’m not even usually all that impressed with Hilton hotels…
Anyway… so I’ve been having a bit of a bug problem around one of the windowsills in the kitchen. I noticed a couple little tiny black bugs crawling around by the window a few days ago, so I smushed them with a paper towel and thought nothing more about it. Until I noticed a couple more. And then a couple more. Eventually, after smushing several of these tiny things, I realized they were traveling in a little bug caravan along the window. Well, that was it. It was time to get serious. I brought out a can of Raid and sprayed along the entire perimeter of the window. I don’t like to spray insecticide in the kitchen… but then again, I really don’t like bugs in the kitchen, either…
So, assuming the Raid would take care of any straggling tiny intruders, I went about my daily business and forgot about the bugs. Until I happened to notice, later that day, another little black speck determinedly soldiering on across the great expanse of windowsill. What? How did it survive the Raid attack? Okay, fine. I sprayed another cloud of Raid around the window, thankful that I never leave food laying out. Surely THIS time the bug killer would take care of those tiny little things. Hours later, however, I was once again proven wrong. It was as if these things – so infinitesimal and easily squishable – were somehow impervious to the poisonous effects of Raid. So I put away the Raid and brought out a can of Hot Shot – maybe a brand change was in order. I’m pretty certain whatever they put in their insecticide is exactly the same – but it made me feel as if I were taking a proactive stance against these tiny creatures…
I have now been spraying the windowsill with Hot Shot for about two days, with generally the same results. Although so far today, I haven’t seen any little bugs yet. I am cautiously optimistic about their eradication, although I won’t be surprised if I see another one running along the windowsill, holding a tiny little “nice try, pathetic human” sign. I seem to remember having the same sort of problem LAST year at about this time, so I’m hoping these are just weird little seasonal bugs… sort of like tiny “welcome summer!” bugs.
Or maybe I should just call them annoying little pain in the neck bugs…
Saturday, June 02, 2007
Random Saturday thoughts...
Hey, it’s June already… seems like just yesterday it was Christmas. Well, not yesterday. Maybe, like, last week. But it’s funny, because every year when I’m sadly returning my Christmas decorations to the boxes from whence they came, I think to myself, “it’ll be Christmas again before I know it.” And I always seem to be right… I mean, we’re practically halfway through 2007…
I am getting frustrated with my fantasy baseball team. Actually, that’s not entirely true. My offense is really getting its act together now – unlike the beginning of the season, when everyone on my team seemed to forget what a “bat” was for. But now that they’ve remembered, my pitchers are slacking off. Lazy slackers. But there are still several months of baseball left. I’m not giving up on my dream to one day crawl out of the ninth place basement I’ve been in for far too long. It’s gonna happen. Oh yes. It’ll happen.
And speaking of baseball, am I the only one who thought Arod’s “hah!” distraction was hilarious during that Toronto/Yankees game the other night? That was so funny… I keep hearing people say it was unfair or unsportsmanlike or whatever – but really, c’mon. It was hilarious. Just admit it.
We went to see Spiderman 3 last week. It was okay, but I think I liked the first two better. And tonight we’re probably going to go see the third Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Haven’t seen the third Shrek movie yet… but what is it with threes this year? I mean, have there been any seconds? Or fourths? Or has it just been threes?
So there’s a possibility Rick and I might move to Chicago, and we’re getting excited about the idea, even though it would mean long, cold winters. Rick was never a big fan of the winters in New Jersey, so a Chicago winter would definitely test his patience with arctic air. (Although he had this strange tendency to NOT wear a winter coat in the winter, and stubbornly eschewed gloves or hats or scarves… but he has vowed to dress for the weather should we end up in Chicago. He’ll be happy he decided to do that…) We’re both interested in the chance to live in a big city, and it would be cool to be near Eric. I’ve already promised him that if I move up there, I’ll be sure to have him over to my house for lots of mayonnaise-based foods and big glasses of extra-lactose milk…
Okay, nothing interesting to say today… and I need to workout before we head to the movie (so I can eat popcorn… and possibly something chocolate… Mmmm… popcorn and chocolate – great for dinner…). So that’s it for now…
I am getting frustrated with my fantasy baseball team. Actually, that’s not entirely true. My offense is really getting its act together now – unlike the beginning of the season, when everyone on my team seemed to forget what a “bat” was for. But now that they’ve remembered, my pitchers are slacking off. Lazy slackers. But there are still several months of baseball left. I’m not giving up on my dream to one day crawl out of the ninth place basement I’ve been in for far too long. It’s gonna happen. Oh yes. It’ll happen.
And speaking of baseball, am I the only one who thought Arod’s “hah!” distraction was hilarious during that Toronto/Yankees game the other night? That was so funny… I keep hearing people say it was unfair or unsportsmanlike or whatever – but really, c’mon. It was hilarious. Just admit it.
We went to see Spiderman 3 last week. It was okay, but I think I liked the first two better. And tonight we’re probably going to go see the third Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Haven’t seen the third Shrek movie yet… but what is it with threes this year? I mean, have there been any seconds? Or fourths? Or has it just been threes?
So there’s a possibility Rick and I might move to Chicago, and we’re getting excited about the idea, even though it would mean long, cold winters. Rick was never a big fan of the winters in New Jersey, so a Chicago winter would definitely test his patience with arctic air. (Although he had this strange tendency to NOT wear a winter coat in the winter, and stubbornly eschewed gloves or hats or scarves… but he has vowed to dress for the weather should we end up in Chicago. He’ll be happy he decided to do that…) We’re both interested in the chance to live in a big city, and it would be cool to be near Eric. I’ve already promised him that if I move up there, I’ll be sure to have him over to my house for lots of mayonnaise-based foods and big glasses of extra-lactose milk…
Okay, nothing interesting to say today… and I need to workout before we head to the movie (so I can eat popcorn… and possibly something chocolate… Mmmm… popcorn and chocolate – great for dinner…). So that’s it for now…
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