our particular brand of madness

things I have learned from this year's garden

2009-08-11T11:04:00.004-04:00

1. Give the yellow grape tomato plant more room. A lot more room. It needs basically a 3x3' space all to itself, and lots of supports.

2. Grow herbs close to the kitchen. They're growing very well where they are now, but I don't use them as much as I would if they were more conveniently located. Maybe the back deck will work, or even some of them on the landing of the front steps.

3. Stink bugs are gross and evil. So are leaf-footed bugs.

4. Scrotomatoes are funny, but mostly to me.

5. San Marzano plums are fantastic, but need to be planted where they won't be crowded out.

6. We need to figure out early on how to keep the cats from using the beds as a litter box. I'm looking at you, Muldercat.

7. I don't like pole beans. I do like snap beans and filet beans.

8. Piquillo peppers grow very easily on the downhill side of the larger bed but not so well on the uphill side.

9. This year's cucumber plants produced very bitter fruit. Maybe cukes are not worth the large amounts of space that they need.

10. Mustard greens grow terrifically well, but need a commitment to regular harvesting or they will bolt much sooner than you expect.

11. The Tasteful Garden plants are superior in almost every way to plants sourced from other nurseries. I need to resist the temptation at local garden centers, as I am disappointed more often than I am impressed with their plants. Hastings may be the one exception to this.

12. We can successfully grow both zucchini and eggplant, much to my amazement.

13. Our bell peppers produced only very small fruit. I will try a different variety next year and be prepared to stake them earlier.

14. We need more stakes.

15. We may need more worms.

aphorism

2008-07-17T10:47:00.001-04:00

there will be time for procrastination tomorrow

oscar predictions

2007-02-25T19:26:00.000-05:00

click twice on ballot image for larger, readable version.

Awww...crap...

2006-12-03T21:59:00.000-05:00

The Beatles

So most people who know me know I have always had a special place in my heart for The Beatles. When I was a kid I wanted to know anything and everything about them. After Lennon was killed, I demanded that my parents drive the twenty-or-so miles to the big record shop from the small town we lived in so I could buy a Beatles record. I bought a double-album called Love Songs and it wasn't the normal collection that usually gets trotted out - it had Yes It Is and Eight Days A Week, She's Leaving Home and their cover of Buddy Holly's Words of Love. I listened to it a lot. I don't know where it is now.
But I'm not sad because today I picked up Love. I looked at it thinking it was a collection of Love songs, but then I saw Revolution, Back in the USSR and Lady Madonna. These are not love songs. So, I flipped the case over and saw a sticker claiming "Beatles Songs as you've never heard them before" and I thought, "Oh great...they've decided to remaster them and sell them as something new." But then I saw that George Martin and his son, Giles, had been involved in the mixing and I was intrigued.

If you haven't heard this work of art that mashes up some great tunes (look for Drive My Car/The Word/What You're Doing) you have to open that browser window and download it, or order it online, or stand up and buy it, steal it or borrow it. But get a copy. Immediately. You need to hear it.

I love The Beatles. I never thought I'd want anyone to mess with songs that most of us fans feel are perfect already. But the Martins have made something incredible in its own right. By sharpening the distortion in Revolution, by mixing Lennon's guitar -and-vocal demo of Strawberry Fields bit-by-bit into the final production version by the end of the song and then tacking on a fantastic montage of riffs and hooks, by using Blackbird as the intro to Yesterday...I can't even describe it.

I'll shut up now, but I should say this...get this into your CD player and leave it there.

madness

2006-08-08T09:42:00.000-04:00

why is it that I think the solution to having too much to do is to create yet another thing to do? expect a template change in the next week or so.

in the next week or so, when we're also packing, moving house, cleaning the old house, learning to use the new camera before my sister's wedding, being understaffed and overworked, watching as many movies as possible with L, trying to get back into the gym habit, and FINALLY, football is back shortly (both kinds!).

life progresses, not apace, exactly, but it definitely progresses.

You know what this is?

2006-06-25T17:19:00.000-04:00

My store, that's what it is.

Seriously. I get to be in charge of it and everything.

Minemineminemineminemine.

Haaaaahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaa....

It's not whether you win or lose...

2006-06-09T11:51:00.000-04:00

...it's whether the Germans and Argies lose.

Okay, for those of you who either don't know us or have been in the dark, under a rock, at the bottom of a cave...on Neptune...today is the start of the World Cup Finals in Germany.

In the opening game the hosts will take on Costa Rica, and we reckon it'll be a walk in the platz for the sausage-loving, ski-trip-taking, bierfestival-having, neighbor-invading nazi apologists (what?!? which part of that is untrue?). We predict a 3-1 Germany win.

And Poland look unlikely to offer any solidarinost to Ecuador, so we think that will turn out 1-0 to the Poles.

Eventual Winner Prediction: France
Runner Up: England (No, seriously)

Golden Boot Winner: Thierry Henry, Peter Crouch (No, seriously)

Cinderellas: There won't be one, but T&T v Brazil in the next round looks a good bet; and look to POrtugal stumbling against Angola.

Biggest Win: BRAZIL v Australia (by at least five goals)

So there you have it. We'll update this properly, but the game's kicking off any second...

HOLYCRAPIFORGOTTOTELLYOU

2006-06-02T00:20:00.000-04:00

...we bought a waffle maker.

Awwwwyeaaaaaahhhh...

Waffles with ice-cream, waffles with maple syrup, waffles with butter, home-made freaking waffles with freaking home-made freaking strawberry jam. Do you have any idea, even a hint of a whiff of a clue how much more time it takes to get out the door to work now?

Work at five, leave home at four-thirty was the olden-golden rule. But now...now, you shiny silver belgian bastard...now I have to factor in time to make the batter and heat the iron...and you can't just make one. Oh, no, if you've made enough batter for a dozen you might as well just go on ahead and make the whole batch. After all, you can have a waffle any time of the day.

So. To be at work at five I must now get out of my pit at three-fifteen. Did you even know there is a three-fifteen in the morning? I just thought it was an afternoon time or a really late time at night, you know, after the pubs and clubs boot you out and after you can't get a good pizza, no matter how much you bang on the pizza shop door.

Waffle maker, th'art mine enemy, and I shall defeat ye. I shall wear ye down, laddie. Mark my words, you shall break before I tire of the waffles.

Music for medication

2006-06-01T23:42:00.000-04:00

So I've been sick with this cold for about two months now, yes I had a little remission in the last two weeks of April, but by and large this cold has been with me since April Fools' Day. And you know what? I think I'm done with it. From here on out I refuse to believe in illnesses of any kind. That way I get to blame something else (the weather, karma, God, whatever) and when I recover I get to thank those same mysterious forces. Obviously if you have any fun ideas for who I can blame/thank feel free to let me know.

Two musical interludes to talk about. Neither of them sound like their roots are in any music that happened after 1960, but don't let that put you off.

Number one is a guy called James Hunter. He's a white dude from south-east England, proclaimed by no less a musical force than Van Morrison to be "Englands best kept R&B secret" and you know when he says R&B he means like Wilson Pickett not R. Kelly. Anyhow, the guy sounds like Sam Cooke and if you find any of his stuff it's worth digging up. The music, not Sam Cooke.

Secondly is a guitar and stand-up bass duo originally from Boulder, Colorado (home of Mork and Mindy) but who, over the last ten years, have been separately recording and playing in Atlanta and New York. Go here to soak up a little of their flavor. They just have something indefinable that makes me want to hear more every time I start listening.

Anyhow, that's what I've been tuning to when I'm not playing back-to-back-to-back football classics in the car.

It's coming home...

2006-05-30T10:04:00.000-04:00

Well, with just over a week to go till the World Cup starts you probably don't need any help getting into the footy mood. But in case you're not quite there yet, try this sampling of songs, timed to fit nicely on a CD for you, to put you over the edge...

01 - Keep On Moving (World Cup 2002 Remix) - 5ive
This was one of the more fun remix songs going around England for the 2002 tournament.

02 - World At Your Feet - Embrace
The Official England 2006 World Cup song. I hate that I like it.

03 - Fiesta - The Pogues
It's those mad Irish boys having a great time. Can't remember if they actually used this in 1994, but I think they did.

04 - Kasey Keller - Barcelona
A song about Keller's heroics between the pipes as the USA lost 1-0 to Brazil.

05 - Life of Reilly - Lightning Seeds
When I was younger this was the tune Grandstand's Football Focus segment used for the highlights for the week, so it just stuck that way, like it was making a face and the wind changed.

06 - Bodyrock - Moby
It's on one of the EA Sports FIFA games (the first of many nod to that franchise on this list).

07 - CAn I Kick It? - A Tribe Called Quest
Ian Wright was in a commercial back in the day, and this was the song.

08 - Song 2 - Blur
Another one from the EA Sports canon.

09 - Mr. E's Beautiful Blues - Eels
When England beat Germany 5-1 in Munich a few years ago, this was how the coverage ended: playing this song over the highlights, which included Ian Wright jumping up and down on the pundits' sofa - just so funny.

10 - Nem Vem Que Nao Tem - Wilson Simonal
It was only a matter of time before the music from the ads came into the mix. This is from a Nike commercial with a crowd following Ronaldinho.

11 - A Little Less Conversation - Elvis Presley (JXL Remix)
You might know it from the Oceans 11 soundtrack, but I know it from Nike's "The Ship" commercials featuring the mad-as-a-Frenchman Eric Cantona.

12 - Eat My Goal - Collapsed Lung
"Eat My Goal" is a cry made famous by Steve Coogan's character, Alan Partidge on the made-up-current-affairs TV show "The Day Today". Collapsed Lung made it a great unofficial song for England's 1998 campaign (or 2002, I can't be expected to remember it all).

13 - Papa Loves Mambo - Dean Martin
Another one that comes from the Oceans 11 soundtrack and a Nike Commercial.

14 - Altogether Now - The Farm
The song itself is about the incredible informal truce that took place between German and British forces over Christmas 1914, and the impromptu football matches that were played between two armies at war. This title is now the official slogan for the English Football Association and a remixed version was the official song for the 2004 European Championships.

15 - Ring of Fire - The Bootroom Boys
Ian McCulloch of Echo and the Bunnymen sings along to Apollo 440's remix of the Johnny Cash classic. This was Liverpool's song for the 2006 FA Cup Final.

16 - Caroline - Radio 4
Nike have a Joga Bonito (Play Beautiful in Portuguese) campaign for the 2006 World Cup. This song was featured on the commercial with Wayne Rooney.

17 - Tell Her Tonight - Franz Ferdinand
From the FIFA 2005 game.

18 - Three Lions (1996 version) - Skinner, Baddiel and the Lightning Seeds
Voted, by some margin, the best football song ever recorded. And it is.

19 - World in Motion - Englandneworder (New Order)
At the time the best football song we'd ever heard, this was recorded for the England 1990 World Cup.

20 - Mas Que Nada - Sergio Mendes & Black Eyed Peas
The original Mas Que Nada has been used in Nike commercials with the Brazil team since 1998 or earlier. This remixed version is one I hate to love but it's just so fun. Also featured in the EA Sports World Cup 2006 game. Oh, and if you can get Sergio Mendes' album Timeless you should listen to "Please Baby Dont" and "Yes Y'all" because they're really good. :)

21 - City of Blinding Lights - U2
It's being used to promote the World Cup here in the USA. The "Anthem" commercial has Bono speaking over the top of this track. It's the longest of the four commercials, and also my favorite. The other commercials in the series, voiced by The Edge and Adam Clayton (and a second one from Bono) use "Beautiful Day" and "Where The Streets Have No Name".

Honorable Mentions
These tracks didn't make it onto this mix, but you might like them on yours...
Superstar - Oasis (from "Goal! The Dream Begins")
Red Morning Light - Kings of Leon (from EA Sports)
To Get Down - Timo Maas (Fatboy Slim Remix) (from EA Sports)
We Used To Be Friends - Dandy Warhols (from EA Sports)
It's Only Us - Robbie Williams (from EA Sports)

Whatever you're doing for the next six weeks, you'll find me here, watching the games on the telly.

yes, precisely.

2006-05-10T10:44:00.000-04:00

"Across the globe, we are told, at any one moment just so many people are being born, or dying, or procreating or staring down the barrel of a gun. I like to think that at any one moment somewhere in the world one of football's ordinary punters is scoring an extraordinary goal. It has happened to everyone who has played the game. On some (perhaps lone) occasion you have sent the ball thundering past the helpless keeper from 25 yards, or else you have met the ball with head (eyes closed, of course) and sent it like a bullet into the top corner of the net. Not every sport can offer such a thrill. However often you go to your municipal swimming baths you will not chance upon someone establishing a new world record. Yet, by the law of averages, every Sunday, some bepaunched and breathless punter from publand will strike home the ball in a way that the peerless Pele or the mighty Bobby Charlton could not have bettered. It can happen anywhere and, if you wait long enough, will happen almost everywhere. This is the beauty of football: a little bit of the sublime, rather more of the ridiculous and quite a lot of everything in between."

- Chris Pierson, "The Golden Year: St Albans City 1971/2" from My Favourite Year, A Collection of New Football Writing, edited by Nick Hornby

balance restored

2006-04-22T09:26:00.000-04:00

things that make me happy today (and yesterday):

Ben is out of surgery and doing well, per his mum
Dunc's interview Thursday went well
the mini-Reds won the FA Youth Cup
Spanish wine
we might move, again
Benfica fans on an LFC forum cheering us on
my email inbox is down from 262 items to 6 items
thunderstorms while we'm falling asleep

things that make me unhappy:

we might move, again
I don't know where I can watch the FA Cup semi-final today
somehow there is always more laundry that needs to be done

priorities

2006-04-20T20:54:00.000-04:00

things that have made me happy today:

the way brick buildings and old-fashioned streetlamps look in the rain
ginger sugar cookies
this picture
radio paradise
Percy's fluffy tail
eating lunch with Dunc
planning far-off vacations
making good flowcharts for work
Roddy Doyle
the possibility, no matter how small, that Liverpool will thump Chel$ki at the weekend

things that have made me unhappy today:

Ben is having brain surgery tomorrow to remove a small cyst
our leasing company still has not sent us our lease renewal to sign
the dog is not eating much of his food
several panicky moments when I thought the backup server ate a tape
I broke one of my favorite BNL cds

I think overall I've come out well on top, but I'm pretty anxious to hear that Ben's surgery has been completed successfully. not much else matters, really, except maybe the Liverpool match.

Dude, they're letting me stay...

2006-03-25T23:52:00.000-05:00

So after all of the waiting and putting together paperwork and sending money and waiting and sending money and paperwork and waiting for paperwork so we could send more money for paperwork...it's here.

You give me a drumroll and I'll give you the news that the much anticipated and paid for green card has finally arrived. The one that lets me stay, that is. Not this one.

And, because I'm very smart, and have honed my anticipation skills beyond those of a monk who just decided that a life of monk-ing was no good and he was going to get his oats, I know that you have questions. The answers are: no, yes, yes, five more years, yes.

Am I a US Citizen, then?
But I can stay in the US for as long as I want now?
Can I leave and come back in if I want?
When will I become a citizen?
Do you think you're going to take a UK holiday in the next couple of years?

Also, since we both now can leave and re-enter the US *at will*, we plan to take advantage of our friendseseses generosity and visit many of them in far flung places all around the world.

See you soon.

If you've not died from the shock of me blogging twice in a little over a week. Seriously.

Sick...bleh...

2006-03-15T15:44:00.000-05:00

Well, the phlegm monster has taken up residence in my lungs and is keeping me awake at night, trudging up and down my chest and making me cough and hack.

Being ill is a strange state for blokes.

If we tell anyone about it, we're the stereotypical whiney-man, forever in the shadow of women who, by all accounts, have no trouble making sure the world doesn't destroy itself while they do the laundry and a full time job - and all with leprosy, plague, childbirth, menstrual cramps and creeping death; and not once do they complain about it to us weak men.
On the other hand, if we take a leaf from their book and just get through it because we have to, we fall into the trap of being non-communicative, closed-off, unresponsive and cold. Strikes me that that looks a lot like a double standard.

But let me tell you this...it's not happening to me. Jen is being very nice: attentive enough without being smothering and around enough that I don't feel abandoned. Which is quite the trick.

I don't really want to go to work tomorrow, but the effort of finding a replacement doesn't seem to be something I'm intersted in expending.

Ho hum. That's probably me done till September. Just letting you know.

OSCARS

2006-03-05T20:03:00.000-05:00

running commentary available at Play Them Off

summing up

2006-02-20T22:37:00.000-05:00

we've been occupied rather completely lately with the working and the cooking and the family and the football and the ps2 and the rearranging furniture and the lists and so on.

family:we celebrated my father's birthday last weekend; it was his sixtieth, which is a bit worrying, but there's not much I can do about it. fabulous dinner at Sugo Thursday night, then a trip to the shiny new Georgia Aquarium Sunday afternoon. the aquarium was not as overhyped as I'd feared; there has been a lot of press about it around here and it seemed unlikely that it would measure up. the huge habitat, which contains the only two whale sharks in captivity in the western hemisphere, is entrancing. perhaps more marine-biology-minded folks would be less boggled than I was when I realized just how much water, and how many different species it contains. I'd like to go back when there's fewer children around, do the behind-the-scenes tour, take some better pictures, etc.

football: yay Liverpool. I could write a review on every match and/or player, but I won't. in general, I'm pretty pleased with our recent results; we still desperately need a more effective front line. at this point, I'm sure that will require a personnel change, but since that's not an option right now, I'm hopeful that the upcoming World Cup will motivate our strikers to find whatever finishing touch they're lacking right now.

nice round of FA Cup matches this weekend; I quite enjoyed most of those results, even if some of us in this house didn't. (get in, City!!)

working: work is too boring to get into details, but we're both busier than usual. Dunc is caretaker-managering a store for a month or so, and, as usual when he gets called in, it was pretty much a big mess when he got there. he is now v. busy and important and I am lucky if we get to do more than eat and watch the telly together a couple times a week. poor me (except not, because I have lots of lovely books to read, a new teapot, and a new bottle of single malt to keep me company).

...................................................................................

as is usual, I forgot all the vaguely interesting things I was going to write about as soon as I opened the laptop. except the thing about the game for the awards show, but I'll post about that later.

superbowl extra large

2006-02-06T12:32:00.000-05:00

this year's superbowl food. nothing interesting for dessert, I'm afraid, just fresh strawberries.

the ribs were excellent with a 2004 cab from Chile.

nice to see Hines Ward (former Georgia player) do so well. boy do I wish the Falcons had signed him.

can't resist a good list

2006-02-02T20:29:00.000-05:00

my 101 in 1001

dunc's to follow, eventually. maybe.

thanks, Jorj

2006-01-27T13:51:00.000-05:00

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2006-01-01T21:55:00.000-05:00

ack, I didn't mean that to be my last post of the year, only we were scrambling to get the lake before midnight yesterday (made it with one minute to spare). I'm not really feeling that bad, just needed to exorcise some particular self-disgust demons.

more from us both (*cough*) later, but a very happy new year to you all!

(especially Ben, even though he calls me pudding)

reasons I hate myself, yesterday and today

2005-12-31T11:02:00.000-05:00

[in no particular order]

I forgot we have a dog when we made plans to be out of town for New Year's. I didn't just forget to make arrangements for him, I literally forgot that we have a 95 lb furry thing that needs our help to get food and so on. I've had him for eight years, it's not like it's a new thing.
For the third week in a row, I didn't go to the data center before 9pm on Friday. as a result, most of the backups ran several hours late, which kind of defeats the purpose of a nightly backup. probably it's not a big deal, but it might be, and it's my own fault for being stupid.
I still haven't done the dishes, even though I know it's my job and I keep dirtying more of them.
for no apparent reason other than either fear or laziness, both of which are doom, I procrastinated over a week writing a contract for a customer, with the end result that it won't get signed until the day we do the work next week. this is not a disaster, but it is not good business practice.
I completely flaked on a household errand that I volunteered to take care of, then I blamed D for not following up with me.
I stood in the wine aisle in the grocery store for at least 15 minutes last night, trying to decide what to buy. I couldn't make up my mind and finally left without getting anything. what the hell. it's not like I'm too much of a snob to buy wine at the supermarket, I do it all the time.
this year I asked at least three people for their mailing addresses for the express purpose of sending them a Christmas card. I didn't send a card to any of them.
I went to the farmer's market AND the grocery store yesterday and still forgot the flippin' cremini mushrooms.
I constantly and consistently want people to do things to a standard that I don't even begin to meet. what. the. fuck. I have to stop that. now.
I don't know with any certainty when to use "which" and when to use "that" at the beginning of clauses. I could look it up, but then I couldn't wallow in my own stupidity.

I am a moron. doom.

la la la

2005-12-15T01:23:00.000-05:00

I have a couple of days off. Three of them. In a row. It's amazing, I tell you.

So all I have to do is sit around the house and...actually no, that's not true. There are a million things for me to do. Jen has a list as long as a NASA launch checklist (and requiring only a slightly lower security clearance) which I should start on.

And I'm looking forward to it. My brain really has been off for a while now. Like I've been going to work but not actually being there mentally. I feel sorry for my colleagues but there are some things I'm just having trouble with and I know they're not permanent issues and fully expect them to go away when I have my own store.

Wow, that was vague, but I'm sure some of you will be able to read between the lines.

We went to see the Narnia movie last week. I was surprised at how well done it was. And its a good story. For the nay-sayers that talk of Lewis's heavy symbolism, well I call bullshit on that. It's a good story, well told and if the use of symbolism bothers you then why would you ever see any movies ever because almost all of them have some kind of hidden messages. And I'm talking about you and your right wing propagandist shit, Forrest Gump. Motherfucker. Gimpy motherfucker.

Hmm. It's late and I do appear to be genuinely giving this some fairly random stream of consciousness treatment which is probably neither good to read nor healthy to write. But what the fuck, eh?

Okay, I'm going to bed, it's late. LIke I said already.

Merry Christmas, one and all. Since I probably won't blog till springtime now.

Oh, and Happy New Year.

Valentines Day.

And Saint Pat's.

Hopefully I'll be back at this before Easter.

:)

apparently...

2005-11-28T13:42:00.000-05:00

...we only feel like cooking, not like writing.

cranberry amaretto sauce

ginger cake

Fake Beer, Real Funny

2005-10-26T23:40:00.000-04:00

Don't you really feel betrayed when a company or product you detest more than just about anything has a campaign that's just about better than anything else in the commercials market?

So has it been for me since I landed here and started listening to radio ads for Budweiser in their "Real Men of Genius" campaign.

Yes, I work for Starbucks so you might expect me to be less than amused at the "Mr Fancy Coffee Shop Coffee Pourer" ad, but I thought it was funny, and so is "Mr In the Car Nose Picker". And that's part of my issue, they're all really funny.

Apparently, though, Airtran and Southwestern, two of the larger low-price airlines here, got a little miffed by "Mr Discount Airline Pilot Guy"

The text is posted below since Bud are hunting the audio down and removing it, but you might still find it here.

Bud Light Presents...Real Men of Genius

Real Men of Genius

Today we salute you, Mr Discount Airline Pilot Guy

Mr Discount Airline Pilot Guy

Your minimal experience flying a plane will never land you at a reputable airline. Luckily, you don't work for one.

Look at me, I'm flying!

Sure, we're concerned for our lives; just not as concerned as saving nine bucks on a round trip to Fort Myers.

Waaaoooh!

The most direct route to Houston? Through Fort Lauderdale. With layovers in Detroit, Vancouver and Kalamazoo.

I can't feel my legs!

So crack open a nice cold Bud Light, oh Skipper of the Skies. You put the "fly" in "fly by night operation".

Mr Discount Airline Pilot Guy

Budweiser Beer. Anheuser-Busch, Missouri.

So pissed off were Airtran, that they have threatened to stop serving Bud on their planes (the real question for me is why they were serving it in the first place) until Budweiser issue an apology.

I'm assuming it's an apology for the commercial they want, not the quality of their beer.

po-tay-toes

2005-10-26T11:15:00.000-04:00

boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stew.

(serve 'em with steak.)

no, there is too much, let me sum up.

2005-10-19T13:58:00.000-04:00

our trip to the Georgia coast was a little more rain-soaked than we'd planned. Tammy didn't give us much of a chance for the ramble through the historic district that I'd hoped for, but we did manage to:

walk on the beach at night, one of my favorite things ever.
wander around a charmingly Gothic cemetary in the rain.
eat more seafood than I had thought physically possible in one sitting.
follow up the seafood-orgy with the best key lime pie we've ever had.
argue non-conclusively about which type of pralines are the "real" ones and also what exactly fudge is.
do the traditional tourist stroll along River Street.

other highlights of Ben's visit (for me) included a late night of wine and cheese and bread and good conversation with Meggie when she came over after class, a whirlwind trip to the lake, the Wererabbit, two trips to my new favorite sandwich shop, Dad taking us all to see Serenity, sorting out the venues for the World Cup in 2018 (really, FIFA should just let us run things), a delightful (and mostly productive) afternoon of shopping for very large running shoes and other goods.

come back soon, Benny. sorry about the CNN Tour, we'll hit it next time.

it's fall, must cook soup type things

2005-10-19T13:15:00.000-04:00

this year's chili recipe

try with baby goldfish! they're small and yummy.

2005-10-04T11:19:00.000-04:00

there's this song by the Eels that I've been listening to a lot lately. it starts out with a beat that reminds me of a Crash Test Dummies song (probably off God Shuffled His Feet) and you're maybe thinking about tapping your foot or something. then the strings come in with this exquisitely simple line, first a viola and then the violin, and something inside me just breaks and I dissolve into a little boneless puddle on the floor. I don't know why I find it so heartachingly gorgeous but I do.

so this is for Duncan, because he doesn't mind when I "discover" his favorite bands and appropriate them for my own even though he's been listening to them for years, and also because tomorrow is three years.

you don't have a clue
what it is like to be next to you
I'm here to tell you
that it is good, that it is true

birds singing their song
old paint is peeling
this is that fresh, that fresh feeling
words can't be that strong
my heart is reeling
this is that fresh feeling.

junior high-esque meme

2005-09-30T08:44:00.000-04:00

probably I just wanted an excuse to fire up the music player at work, but for some reason this meme amused me today. it's Friday, it's been a hell of a week, and, well, junior high wasn't all bad. Sherm, if anyone I know also does this, I expect it to be you :)

turn on your iPod, mp3 player, iTunes, Winamp, whatever you use for the listening of the musics. use the first 13 songs on random/shuffle as answers to the following questions. because if anyone knows the real you, it's your music player. (make sure pop-ups are blocked if you click on any of the song titles for lyrics. lyrics sites are horrid for pop-ups.)

1. What do you think of me?
Elvis Costello - (I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea
bwahahahahaha. it's true, I don't (unless it's to sit in the away end and watch as we beat their sorry blue asses). so far so good, Winamp.

2. Will I have a happy life?
The Beatles - Norwegian Wood
well, that's not the positive outlook I was hoping for, although I do really like the song.

3. What do my friends think of me?
REM - High Speed Train
you have to ask: how would the antelope have gotten into the building and up the stairs in the first place?

4. What does my SO think of me?
Dave Matthews Band - #41
awww, that's ever so sweet.

5. Do people secretly lust after me?
Cake - Cool Blue Reason
not so much, then.

6. How can I make myself happy?
They Might Be Giants - Istanbul (Not Constantinople)
obviously I'm supposed to watch the Champions League final when I feel down. I can totally get behind that idea.

7. What should I do with my life?
Kaiser Chiefs - Na Na Na Na Naa
heh, nice.

8. Why must life be full of pain?
Rilo Kiley - Small Figures In A Vast Expanse
it's so emo it actually hurts.

9. How can I maximize my pleasure during sex?
Ferry Corsten - We Came
I swear this came up randomly. and, duh, I hope I'd know that already.

10. Can you give me some advice?
Paul Simon - The Cool, Cool River
"My life's so common it disappears / And sometimes even music / Cannot substitute for tears"
that's deep, man.

11. What do you think happiness is?
Gorillaz - Every Planet We Reach Is Dead
so maybe to stay here with the planet we already know which is a few generations away from being dead? not sure that's helpful advice.

12. Do you have any advice to give over the next few hours/days?
Buena Vista Social Club - Amor de Loca Juventud
I believe this translates roughly to "love of crazy youth". Really pretty song, depressing lyrics about the naivete of youthful love, so let's hope this one is a swing and a miss.

13. Will I die happy?
Nick Drake - Place To Be
that's not really an answer, you know.

on second thought, I didn't actually go to junior high. looks like I didn't miss much if this is the kind of thing that went on.

picnic food

2005-09-27T10:31:00.000-04:00

corn avocado salad

mission adjourned, for the time beating

2005-09-27T09:11:00.000-04:00

it's autumn again, which means it's time for the biennial (or Bennial, if you will) migration of our friends and family. for some reason, other than the occasional weekend or overnight visit, and excepting our weekly roommate/guest, we tend to play host only in the fall.

this year it was Dunc's parents for two weeks, slightly overlapping Kevin Smith's stand-in, who was here for ten days and just left yesterday. next Monday it will be everyone's favorite BBC journalist for about a week and a half.

I guess it was a good enough visit with the parental units, but I only saw them for a day at the start of their holiday, and a day at the end. they spent the whole time at various cabins in the mountains, which was probably much more relaxing than two weeks of sightseeing and entertainments. Dunc was able to spend a couple days up north with them, where his mother cooked him eggs and bacon and beans for breakfast when he said he wasn't hungry enough for cornflakes.

I wish I'd had a little more time off while Jim was here, but we still managed to fit in several movies and some quality PS2 time, as well as a too-brief trip to the lake and a picnic at a winery nearby. Mmmm, grilled sausages and a cheese roundabout, what more could you want at a picnic?

Haiku-esque creations in honor of this past week:

Harold and Kumar go to White Castle
Harold and Kumar--
hilarious. Doogie did
coke lines off girl's ass.

Revenge of the Sith
I stand above you
on the hill, which means I have
higher ground. I win!

Transporter 2
Improbable stunts.
Caricature villain. So
funny anyway.

Good matinee, but
maybe do not let
Jason S. talk. Thanks.

Batman Begins
A most excellent
addition to a checkered
catalogue. Good job!

Great plan: Michael Caine
as Alfred. Chris Nolan should
have done last three films.

Garden State
Conundrum! Can a
film be both hip and good si-
multaneously?

but why is the rum gone?

2005-09-16T16:08:00.000-04:00

chocolate rum cake

and so it begins...

2005-09-13T16:50:00.000-04:00

five minutes left in the Liverpool-Betis match... we just had a nice little bit of passing in their half which didn't come to anything, but wasted a bunch of time.

great save from Reina on that free kick there. looks like we just might hang on (famous last words, right?). I'm still getting used to the Spaniard in goal, but he's mostly made good decisions in this match, only a couple times where he looked in the wrong place.

I was very pleased with the first half, particularly the first twenty-five minutes or so, but am much less pleased at the moment. they made some changes at the half that we didn't compensate for, and they became a much greater threat in midfield. Rafa won't be happy with the second half, I think.

five minutes of extra time, ugh. another goal would be good here, lads.

as far as the squad goes, I thought Carra did a reasonably competent job as captain, but perhaps the second half is where we really missed the leadership of Gerrard, when they altered their formation, we didn't cope well; Hyypia really needs some cover at the back, he's just not fast enough to get in the way of some of these speedier forwards; Sissoko is improving rapidly, this is the first match I've really been impressed with his contribution; Garcia still isn't a right winger, but he didn't give the ball away as much as I expected him to; as for Crouch, he has a good touch and decent vision, but it's like watching a giraffe play, I get distracted by how bony his knees are and I miss what he's done with the ball; Cisse needs to settle down a bit when he (or his teammate) makes a mistake, I'm all for my team playing with passion and heart, but I worry that he gets discouraged too easily. the rest of them were good at times, but overall not breathtaking.

the goals, though, were awfully fun to watch. Carra's ball forward for the first goal was great, and Flo-Po's control was excellent to chip the keeper so neatly. some nice passing for the second goal, with every passer having a defender breathing down his neck and still sending the ball to where it would do the most good.

and that's it finished. Real Betis 1 - 2 Liverpool. could have been worse, but I wouldn't want to be in the dressing room now. one expects strong words to be spoken.

in other CL matches today:

what a surprise, Chelski won 1-0. against Anderlecht. way to annihilate them, guys.
Lyon took on a variation of the Real Madrid first team that included Casillas, Roberto Carlos, Beckham, Gravesen, Baptista, Robinho, and Raul, beating them 3-0. not sure what happened there, but it looks like Madrid have some heavy thinking to do.
Inter beat Artmedia Bratislava 1-0, despite Veron being sent off for two yellows.
Rangers-Porto looks like it was an entertaining game, seesawing itself to a final score of 3-2.
my favorite football name EVER, Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink, scored for PSV Eindhoven against Schalke 04.
it was AC Milan 3-1 over Fenerbahçe, those three goals working a little better for them than the three goals they scored in their last European match.
Olympiakos 1 - 3 Rosenborg. the Norwegian champions beat the Greek champions in what must have been a frustrating match for the Greek supporters, with an own goal coming from each side.

so there ya go. the group stages of the Champions League are underway. ESPN2 had the Liverpool match on today, and should have Man Utd on tomorrow. it's like they know.

"All we are, basically, are monkeys with car keys."

2005-09-07T20:44:00.000-04:00

- Grandma Woody, from Northern Exposure

Duncan had a rough re-introduction to Atlanta drivers two weeks ago when a guy in a large SUV changed lanes into the car he was driving. Unfortunately, there was someone else on the other side of him, and he couldn't move out of the way because there was no where to go. The car (my '96 Miata) got spun around and then smacked again by a delivery truck. He's fine. The car isn't.

After a couple weeks of waiting for the insurance to decide the car was a total loss, we finally got the payoff check yesterday. Twenty-four hours and lots of frantic car-shopping and loan check acquiring later, we have a new addition to our household. We are as relieved that the ordeal is over as we are pleased by our new purchase.

This is without a doubt the cleanest car I've ever seen in my life. You could run your finger over any piece of the engine or anywhere under the hood, and it would come out spotless. It was a little more than we wanted to spend, but it was too beautiful a car to pass up, and the price really was reasonable considering all the work the previous owner had just done on it. More pictures available here. It's a 2000, all original equipment except for the wheels and a K&N air induction system. Not only does it drive like a dream, but it gets 33mpg. Performance AND fuel savings, what more can you ask for? (And don't say "a back seat", we have Dunc's car for that.)

No name for it yet, since I tend not to name my cars, but maybe something will gel. I'll be getting a personalized license plate for it. Unfortunately, I'll have to wait a couple months for it to get here. By then, Liverpool will probably have mediocritized themselves out of the Champions League, and I will not be nearly so smug about it.

lake burton salsa

2005-09-04T18:57:00.000-04:00

recipe here.

season preview (now with more teams), or, we wish we could get paid to talk about football

2005-08-25T21:30:00.000-04:00

Chelsea

After dumping Veron, Kezman, and Smertin, and bringing in Del Horno and Wright-Phillips, Chelsea still have the squad to challenge on all fronts. Widely tipped by every pundit in the known universe to retain the championship, they will see before Easter how difficult that feat really is. With only one game outside London before October, they won't have much travelling to do at the start of the season, but they will have to play Arsenal and Tottenham, both of whom will be in the running for Europe by the end of the season. In the opening two months, they play enough low-table teams to build up a solid points lead to take into the winter, and have also been presented with a fairly easy Christmas week. The kings of the 1-0 win may find it harder going this season than last, if their opposition can figure out how to shut them out, or if Petr Cech makes any mistakes, something he didn't do in at least 24 clean-sheet matches last season. It may be another story if Tiago and Drogba start living up to Jose's hype, or if Hernan "Oh, my hair is so pretty" Crespo remembered to bring his shooting boots back from Italy.

Arsenal

Arsene Wenger continues to display a fantastic eye for a young player. Hleb was a standout in the Community Shield, and Flamini, Fabregas, Clichy, Senderos are all very promising. Those young players may not get the playing time they need to become the cohesive unit that can really threaten Chelsea in the table, particularly without the firm guiding hand of Patrick Vieira. However, the team will not wind up in shambles without the long-legged Frenchman, and may in fact be the better for the new blood, eventually. With early games against Newcastle, Chelsea, Liverpool, Boro, and Everton, they may find it tough going at the start, but if they take fifteen points from the first six games, that will be enough to worry Chelsea. Christmas will see them play some so-so teams (it remains to be seen whether or not Man Utd will be described in that way). Arsenal also play Man Utd and City away in their run-in, which includes the home derby with Tottenham. One doubts whether the Gunners can repeat their amazing run of '03-'04 this season, but their style of play should still be technically impressive and may be more enjoyable to watch than the eventual champions.

Manchester United

With several important contract renewals and the offloading of Phil "I wish I could grow a moustache like me brother" Neville and "World Cup Winner" Kleberson, United have strengthened their squad. Park may be a useful sort, but he doesn't look like he's going to break into the starting eleven any time soon. The away game against Newcastle immediately after the away game in Europe at the end of August could see United with their first loss of the season. Fergie needs to strengthen the aging midfield trio of Giggs, Scholes, and Keane if he is to put in a serious challenge domestically and in Europe. Van der Saar is a real star-quality 'keeper, which ManYoo have not had since the erratic but occasionally brilliant Barthez, and everybody's favorite Dane. Rumours abound regarding Smith moving to midfield where he began in the Leeds academy. Not sure what this would do for Smithy's England career, but it could potentially be fantastic for his club career, as well as his club. Man United fans should not worry about the games over Christmas, but should be concerned about player fatigue against what should lower quality opposition. Why? Because the first three games of the new year are Arsenal away, City away, and Liverpool home. Liverpool fans are pleased with the Man United run-in, as it includes Bolton away, Arsenal, Spurs away, and Chelsea away. Red Devils fans surely cannot want to see Chelsea crowned repeat champions at the last Manchester home game of the season.

Everton

David Moyes and his players achieved the improbable last year and deserve much of the credit they gave themselves for that. Last season's "best team in Liverpool" were unable to attract much new talent this summer, though, and the "buzz" from the signings of Kroldrup, Arteta, and P. Neville was not enough to stop Everton from succumbing 2-1 at home to Villareal, which almost certainly puts them out of Europe. However, this is not bad news for the blue half of Merseyside, since it allows them to concentrate on the domestic front. Moyes didn't do nearly enough to strengthen the squad for their much-celebrated return to European competition. One does have to wonder what exactly Moyes spent the Rooney money on. Blues fans might want to stock up on the booze over Christmas, since they will be hosting the Reds just before the new year. Even the most enthusiastic pundits believe Everton are more likely to repeat their '03-'04 performance than their '04-'05. With a run-in that includes teams pushing for Europe and teams (probably) battling to stay up, they will have their work cut out for them. Beattie and Bent should be a great partnership, but if either of their histories is anything to go by, they flatter to deceive. It is likely their top players this season will be Arsenal reject Richard Wright, the energetic Tim Cahill, and the perpetually underrated James McFadden. Sadly, that trio will not be enough to save them from eventual mediocrity.

Liverpool

The bad news is that Liverpool play Arsenal, Man Utd, and Chelsea at home before we turn the clocks back. Also, that is the good news, since they get some big games out of the way while the table is still settling. Rafa brought in a few world-class players, and Peter Crouch--the sexiest beanpole tomboy on the planet (with apologies to Keira Knightley, whom Rafa would no doubt have signed if he could have). Liverpool's world-class attack should have no problems scoring against the best defenses in the league (despite a lack of Premiership experience up front), but that is not where the Reds' deficiencies lie. Their defense is worryingly leaky at times and a strong challenger to Hyypia and Carragher is desparately needed to introduce some competition for places in the heart of the defense. The midfield includes some fantastic individual players, but it remains to be seen whether or not they will gel quickly enough to dominate the center of the pitch. While everyone else was playing pre-season friendlies in Japan, Belgium, and America, Liverpool were beating the Welsh, Lithuanian, and Bulgarian champions in matches that mattered. Although not necessarily "competitive" matches, they surely have focused Liverpool for the task at hand earlier in the season than their Premiership opponents. With Cisse clocking sprint times faster than this time last year (and remember he's had a broken leg in the intervening months), it must scare the crap out of defenders who don't regularly compete in the Olympic 100m race. Benitez has his own brand of "total football", which is to say he coaches his teams to play in many interchangeable formations. Last season, this was a new concept to the Reds, but twelve months later, they could look just as comfortable playing 4-5-1 as they do playing 3-4-3. If they get to Halloween with just one loss and only minor injuries, they should easily qualify for Europe without FIFA intervention next term. This may not be the year they push for the title, but with a bit of luck, there is the possibility of significant progress from last season's domestic frustrations.

Bolton

Big Sam (I wonder if that's what his wife calls him) may not be haute couture, but what he lacks in elegance, he makes up for in bulldog determination to not be on the losing side. Bolton shouldn't really see any major challenges on the pitch until they travel to Stamford Bridge in October, but it gets dicey from there. The festive season includes back-to-back games against United and Liverpool, while their run-in includes home games against ManYoo and Chelski (prawn) sandwiching a visit to Anfield. New signing Jared Borghetti fits right into Bolton's multi-national squad and also with the Wanderers' combative style of play. He could be pivotal for Bolton this year (Djorkaeff), or he could turn out to be yet another international that struggles with the English game (Tofting). Allardyce somehow manages to find cheap rejects and "international bargains" for his hard-working side. It's hard to see them finishing out of UEFA contention, but it's unlikely they'll be in the Champions League next season. It will be hard for anyone to loosen the stranglehold of the top three, and Bolton don't have the depth to be a real contender for fourth. What they need is a 20-goals-a-season striker and Kevin Davies doesn't look like it. El-Hadji Diouf just might be, but he has to stop spitting on people long enough to get a good run-out.

Middlesbrough

Steve McClaren looks and sounds like the nicest boss in the world. However, letting Bolo Zenden go for free might not have been the most astute piece of business done at the Riverside. What surely is the most astute piece of business done in Teesside is the addition of Yakubu to an attack force that already includes Szilard Nemeth, Massimo Maccarone, Joseph-Desire Job and the very physical presence of silverware-winning strikes Hasselbaink and Viduka. Maybe having seven strikers on the squad will be enough to keep Boro in UEFA territory this season and mask their considerable defensive deficiencies. One wonders if Emanual Pogatetz knew what he was getting himself into. Depending on who you believe, Stewart Downing is, or is not, the answer to England's left-side problem. But depending on who you ask, England do, or do not, have a left-side problem. Bigger than the question of where Middlesboro will finish in the table is whether McClaren will succeed Sven before or after the World Cup. The former ManYoo number two has successfully guided Boro from the bottom third to the top third of the table and you have to wonder who will succeed him, and if the team will continue to progress through the transition. Boro's tough games seem to be spaced out between low-to-mid-table opponents, so they should have no problem recharging their batteries for the big games.

Manchester City

City have signed a formidable strike force this summer in the form of Andrew "Andy" Cole and Darius Vassell. Sadly, it seems unlikely that Reyna, Sibierski, and Trevor Sinclair will provide them with enough chances to score goals. The Citizens surprised everybody, including their managers, last season, by not getting relegated. Way to go, lads! Stuart Pearce, bless 'im, got himself 16 of 27 points at the end of last season, narrowly avoiding a UEFA place that the squad surely could not have handled (see Everton). The exit of Wright-Phillips the elder (also the shorter) gives the Blues a good chunk of change to spend on a midfield which is among the oldest in the Premier League (see Manchester United). As Shaun scored a quarter of City's goals last season, it is certain that City will miss his contribution from midfield and so far have nobody to fill his spot. But they might not miss him as much as we think. If Dunne can win his fitness battle early and if Kiki Musampa continues to show the promise of last spring, the twenty million pounds Pearce took for Wright-Phillips might be the seller's deal of the summer. Like Middlesbrough, the Blues have tougher games spaced out between the easier ones for most of the season. If Pearce can keep his team fit and focused, they might be able to claim that European spot next year.

Tottenham

In their last home game of the season, Tottenham will face Bolton. Given the strength and depth of these two squads, it looks a cert that they will be within a few points of each other, and this game could certainly decide a European spot. Given their run-ins to that point, Bolton look like they have the upper hand, as Spurs have a pretty tough April. Martin Jol is putting his faith in the established talent of his countryman Edgar "I'm a little teapot" Davids and the precocious abilities of Tom Huddlestone and Wayne Routledge. Spurs have a significantly bigger and more versatile squad than most other UEFA contenders, and many would argue it is a better squad. Being largely made up of the England under-21 team from a few years ago, Tottenham surely has the heart to get something out of the season. They have a couple of tough weeks in their schedule, and cup games may put more of a strain on them, but there is nothing to suggest they should not be able to put together a decent run. Martin Jol is relatively new to English football, but he seems to be acclimatizing quickly. Six clean sheets at White Hart Lane and seven away indicate that Tottenham's defense is not necessarily the problem, and Jol will expect Defoe, Keane, and Kanoute to pick up the slack this campaign. He may also expect Robbie Keane to update his goal celebration; after all, a bow and arrow hasn't been fashionable since some Swiss guy gave his boy an apple and said "Go stand over there".

Aston Villa

Aston Villa is a local team for local players, except Milan Baros, who won't even bother to look where he is, so it doesn't matter. Villa bolstered their "all-star" lineup by snagging Eric Djemba-Djemba from United, and Kevin Phillips from the doomed Southampton. They also added youth to their squad in the form of Patrik Berger, from the almost equally doomed Portsmouth. O'Leary proved he still has it when it comes to the transfer market by giving away Thomas Hitzlsperger to Stuttgart for no money, and Darius Vassell to Man City for almost one-tenth the value of Shaun Wright-Phillips. With Deadly Doug back in control after his "illness", O'Leary has to know that his head will be on the block if he goes into the Chelsea game at the end of September with Villa still in single digits for points. Villa's Christmas is nothing special; the only gift they're likely to get is a home fixture against Everton on Boxing Day. Their run-in may scare them somewhat: if you don't include Liverpool, all the teams they play will be either in the hunt for Europe or trying to avoid the drop. The Villans' squad is short on attacking players, which will surely find them out if they have a cup run of any note. You could do worse than put money on O'Leary to head back to Royston-Vasey before any other manager gets their P-45.

Charlton

At the latest count, Alan Curbishley had spent a grand total of nothing on new players. Despite that, the Addicks have picked up rejects from several other clubs on free transfers (Ambrose, Myhre) and loans (Spector, Smertin) to augment their squad of players who are unimpressive on paper, but are capable of drawing with just about anyone on their day. Curbishley has made steady progress with his club over the last fourteen years, turning them from a mid-table Championship side, to a yo-yo team, to a squad that has contended for a UEFA spot for the past several years running. Curbs himself has suggested that it might be time for a change, and if this season does not provide some excitement, it will surprise no one to find someone else in the driver’s seat at The Valley come next summer. Charlton’s fixture list does not pose any insurmountable challenges, but last season’s negative goal difference suggests that the back line will need to be tightened up considerably for the season to be successful. The sale of Paul Konchesky would not seem to be a step forward in that direction, but six of the eight new squad members play across the back, so it looks like Curbishley has a keen awareness of last season’s failings. As with other mid-table teams, a lot depends on how the Addicks fare against teams around and below them in the table.

Birmingham

It is difficult to see Birmingham being in the drop zone at Easter, but it’s equally difficult seeing them pushing for a European place. Tenth is their best finish in the last three seasons. Last term it was some dreadful play away from home that no doubt cost them in the league. A record of 16 goals scored on the road was less productive than West Brom or the eventually-relegated Crystal Palace, while the defense found a way to concede 31. The acquisition of two defensive midfielders in the off-season indicates that Steve Bruce holds his less-than-robust midfield accountable. Nicky Butt’s presence may calm down some of the more erratic defensive tendencies of the Brummies and provide a base from which they can attack confidently. Pennant and Pandiani, the other two purchases, have worked with some of the best managers in the world, and should provide more firepower. Birmingham has the opportunity in the last weeks of the season to decide where they finish, as their run-in includes Bolton, Everton, Villa, and Newcastle. Wins against these clubs could see them jump a place or two in the table.

Fulham

Sixteen times last season, Fulham conceded two or more goals, and as a result took one of the 48 points available to them in those matches. But it wasn’t a lack of goal-scoring that resulted in their disappointing finish, they were simply unable to keep the ball out of their own net once it started going in. With a goal-scoring record that could have put them in Europe, Chris Coleman must have been frustrated enough to make sweeping changes to the defense. Like Everton, though, few players see Fulham as a stage to show off their abilities in the run-up to the World Cup. So far, Coleman has managed to hang on to some key players, such as Malbranque and Boa Morte, but how long they will be satisfied at Craven Cottage remains to be seen. If a European club comes in for either of them before September 1, Cookie might have another Louis Saha situation on his hands. The depth and balance of Coleman’s squad demonstrates that the young manager can plan a solid league campaign, even if his staff are unable to execute effectively. With a Christmas spent in and around London, and a run-in that could yield twelve or more points from the last seven matches, April may be the most important month of Coleman’s managerial career. And if they can fix their defensive problems, look for them in the top eight. If they can’t, well, perhaps he can get work stunt-doubling for Milan Baros.

Newcastle

Like Liverpool, Newcastle have the weight of a city’s expectation on their shoulders. And like Liverpool, they secured the signature of one of the city’s most beloved footballers of recent years. Unlike Liverpool, this signing is probably not the first step on their road back to glory, since Lee Clarke has not had a decent season in almost a decade. Some would question the logic of sending Nicky Butt to Birmingham, while bringing in the aging Clarke, but as Liverpool know, there is nothing quite like homegrown talent to get the fans behind the team. And who knows, maybe Lee Clarke can referee next time Dyer and Bowyer shake the gloves off. The other important news from St. James’ over the summer is that Mary Poppins Shearer is not quite ready to ~~succeed Graeme Souness~~ hang up his boots. With European football no longer a possibility, the Magpies must focus their efforts on rebuilding morale on Tyneside. Assuming that tiny little striker, Michael Owen, renews his England partnership with Alan Shearer, it is unlikely that Newcastle will have problems scoring and their fans would definitely prefer to win 4-3 than 1-0. Both of the Toon’s northeast derbies away from home come in their run-in, which cannot make the Toon Army happy. Though many pundits tip Souey to be to the first boss at the dole office, it’s unlikely he’ll be sacked before the Sunderland game in late October, and if he makes it into September, he’ll have done better than Newcastle's previous three managers.

Blackburn

For some reason, Mark Hughes looks set to stay, despite Blackburn's disappointing finish to last season. Perhaps it's because he's shown a willingness to add anyone, with any sort of record, to his playing staff. For some clubs, that would be off-putting; for Blackburn, it seems to be just fine. They managed to avoid the drop last year, despite having the lowest goal total in the league. Hoping to address that, Hughes has picked up two strikers in the off-season. If Sparky can figure out how to get the best from his newest addition, the mercurial Craig Bellamy, they might have a chance to stabilize their position in the middle of the table. The former Premiership champions will have to go yet another season without European football, though, since a European place is out of reach and the Intertoto Cup not even a remote possiblity. Bellamy's yellow cards to goals ratio is heavily weighted on the side of goals, unlike his new teammates Paul Dickov (10 goals, 11 yellows last season) and Robbie Savage (5 goals, 11 yellows, 1 red). To be fair, though, it's not just Dickov and Savage: Blackburn saw an impressive total of twenty different players booked last season in all competitions, for 70 yellows and 5 reds. One of the oldest squads in the Premiership, the average player age approaches 29 years. Be that as it may, they're obviously still a combative side, making up in ferocity what they may lack in youth, and their opponents will do well to bring an extra physio to matches at Ewood Park.

Portsmouth

Perrin has managed to offload some of his older players, in favor of different older players, but he will miss Yakubu and De Zeeuw the most. Of the new additions to the squad, perhaps former Liverpool teammates Vignal and Westerveld and former Toon-mates Robert and LuaLua will provide enough defensive understanding and attacking thrust to keep Pompey up one more season. The fixture list was not kind to Alain Perrin’s team; they have what may be the toughest run of six matches of any team in the league this season. Having just come off two matches with Wigan and Sunderland which they must win to stay out of relegation territory, they then face the Reds at Anfield and continue against Chelsea at home, United away, and Tottenham away. West Ham, Arsenal at Highbury, and Fulham during Christmas week may feel like a walk in the park compared to that first tough run of games, but by the time their New Year’s hangovers clear, they will be bottom of the league and favorites for relegation. Given that Milan Mandaric makes Doug Ellis look tolerant of underachieving managers, Perrin can’t be too confident about attending the 2006 Portsmouth Easter Picnic.

West Brom

Bryan Robson may not be a first-rate manager yet, but he has a good eye for talented players. Sadly, his other eye seems to be on the relegation zone, no matter what team he’s with. Bringing in out-of-favor Liverpool keeper Chris Kirkland is a win-win for club and player, since he is a capable shot-stopper who will be aiming for a German stamp in his passport next summer. Like fellow Melwood graduates Steven Gerrard and Michael Owen, he has had an injury-blighted start to a promising career, but also like them, he may yet grow out of it; his recent big-game experience will not do West Brom any harm. Taking any points from their trips to Anfield and Old Trafford during pantomime season may see Albion fans happy to take the audience’s advice to look behind them; if they do, they may see four or five clubs more likely to go down that the Baggies. Oh yes they will. Expect an up and down season from Robbo and his boys. They will lose some 4-0, but they’ll have their fair share of 3-1 wins. If Horsfield and new boy Nathan Ellington (fresh in from Wigan, where he scored 24 league goals last season) can combine for 30 goals or so, it will probably be enough to see them putting up a good fight. If they play with the same determination they showed against Man United last spring, and indeed, most of April and May, the Easter bunny may just bring them another season in the top flight.

West Ham

Poor Ipswich. Always the bridesmaid, never the bride. Last season it was West Ham that came out on top in the promotion playoffs, despite finishing a full fourteen points behind second place Wigan and twelve points behind third place Ipswich. Pardew has strengthened the squad somewhat without spending much money, but it’s doubtful whether this will make enough of a difference. The Hammers’ strike force will not have any of their opponents quaking in their boots; unless the manager can do some last minute deal in the transfer market, West Ham will probably struggle to score much in the Premiership this season. We may see a few important goals from Sheringham, but it seems a bit unfair to pin the responsibility of keeping your team up on a 39-year-old striker, even if he did score 22 goals in the Championship last season. Regardless, it’s good to see Teddy back in the top flight. With the leadership of Sheringham up front and Roy Carroll at the back, this squad will fight hard every game, but it’s going to be a long season, and the combination of age and inexperience at the top level could be telling. Discipline may also be a small problem for the Hammers; they had six red cards last season and their squad isn't deep enough to handle the regular loss of key players. Their schedule is reasonably well paced, with not too many sticky patches, but it’s hard to see them anywhere but battling relegation come April.

Sunderland

Sunderland are going back down, so there’s no point in writing about them. They can only hope to earn more than the 19 points they got the last time they were relegated.

Wigan

Wigan have the potential to be the surprise new boys of the season. If Henchoz can reproduce some of his better days on Merseyside, and De Zeeuw can find the energy for another season in the top flight, Wigan should have no problem in the back third of the field. After losing Nathan Ellington, their number 9 (figuratively, if not actually literally), to the Baggies, you might expect the Latics to struggle up front, but if Henri Camara can reproduce the form that took him to Wolves, they might score enough goals to stay up. Unfortunately, they might run out of Christmas before Santa even squeezes down the chimneys. November/December sees them meeting Arsenal and Spurs at the JJB, before an eleven day roadtrip to Liverpool, Chelsea, and Old Trafford. But wait, it gets better. After starting the season by entertaining Chelsea, Wigan will end the season at Highbury, against an Arsenal side who may need all three points to qualify automatically for Europe (if they’re even still in contention). But expect them to perform well against the bottom third of the table, and those games may produce enough points to let them play with the big boys in 2006-07.

ginger peach cobbler

2005-08-23T11:38:00.000-04:00

here

wenna

2005-08-16T14:51:00.000-04:00

having a lot of "firsts" is probably just part of growing up for most people. after you move out of your parents' house, you then have your first apartment, your first car, your first pet, your first real job. it may not be your first car or your first job or your first pet, but it's your first one on your own, and somehow, for me anyway, it's different.

the first pet I got on my own was when I lived in Athens with Meg eight years ago. a friend of mine said that a stray kitten had been lurking around his father's shop, where they worked on the engines of large tractor-trailer type trucks. we eventually cornered her and brought her home, and I named her Morwen, which immediately got shortened to Wenna. she's been with me ever since, through multiple jobs, *cough* boyfriends, and residences. in that time, I've also acquired a dog, another cat, a horse, and several fish, some of which are no longer around.

this past Friday afternoon, she came in from one of her rare and brief excursions outside, limping badly. every time she put weight on her left rear leg, it would buckle underneath her. we immediately took her to the vet, where she submitted with good graces to an exam and petting. x-rays showed no bones were broken, but she had completely torn two major ligaments in her knee. her lower leg wasn't mechanically connected to her thigh at all. their guess is that she got the leg caught somewhere and twisted violently to get it out, snapping the ligaments in the process.

we left her there overnight, as she was resting comfortably (with a morphine patch, like a nicotine patch, but with morphine instead. for when you want to kick the pain habit, I guess), and I didn't want the other animals to pester her at home. the next day, their surgeon examined her and said that surgery was an option but that we would need to talk to a specialist on Monday.

the specialist on Monday quoted a figure for the cost of the surgery which could be described in percentage points of our annual income.

we had suspected that would be the case, but had waited until we knew for sure to confirm our decision that euthanasia was the only reasonable choice in this situation.

Duncan went to the vet's yesterday afternoon to be with her; when she saw him she purred and trilled like she normally does, and he stayed with her until it was over.

I am intellectually and psychologically at peace with our decision, and relieved that she was comfortable and happy at the end, but damn if it doesn't hurt like a motherfucker.

I've said most of my life that I'm not a "cat person"--I don't indiscriminately LIKE CATS, like some people do, I'm more likely to do that with dogs or horses--but I love MY cats, I like them as individual creatures, not for just being a cat.

another list, this one in honor of Morwen, who has been with me virtually all of my adult life.

things that made Wenna herself.

the little tiny feet that spread out to giant fierce black paws when she was playing or hunting.
how she would sprawl on my back or the backs of my legs when I lay down on my stomach to read.
the way she asserted that her place to sleep was right between our heads; no matter how many times we removed her, she would just come back. in an effort to rest more peacefully, we started closing our bedroom door at night, but she quickly figured out that if she hid under the bed while we were getting ready for bed, she could creep out when we were asleep and settle anywhere she wanted.
her fur, which was silvery and gray and black stripey as a kitten, delighting me to no end--"I've always wanted a silver-gray cat," I told Meg--which then gradually turned brown and muddy orange. I always thought she did it just to spite me, but the very tip of her tail stayed silver and black, like a little raccoon.
we never knew, when picking up a pile of clean laundry, or a heaped up duvet, if there would be a brown cat burrowed into it.
her fascination with the ring off the bottom of the milk jug cap. it didn't matter how many other toys we bought, or how much catnip was in them, milk jug rings could get her to play when nothing else interested her.
her truly green eyes. I've never seen another cat with eyes that color.
*rustle* *crackle* *rustlerustlerustle* "Morwen, leave the bags alone, it's 2am!" *squeak* her fascination with those crackly plastic grocery bags. any time you left a grocery bag on the floor, she would just KNOW, and then come to investigate it. usually she would pat it for a while and then sniff it and maybe lick it a little bit. after that, she would lie half on it and nose around the other half. we don't know why, but we know that all it was noisy.
she would talk to us in her little squeaky voice, literally carrying on a back-and-forth conversation, frequently about the fact the dog won't pet her even though she is ever so pretty.

bye Wennawennawenna. we'll miss your little paws and your green eyes and even your dead weight pinning down the covers at night so that we cannot get comfortable. most of all, we'll miss the sound of you, curled up in bed with us, your people, on a Saturday morning, purring so hard that we can feel it in the mattress. you were, and still are, loved.

the first day of the rest of your life

2005-08-10T12:30:00.000-04:00

Nothing like dreams of an ex to start off the first day of your 33rd year on the planet.

In my dream, I was trying to talk to M about something, but he was being difficult so I had to trick him into talking to me at all. It was something important, but he was being distant with me for some reason that I knew in my dream, but I don't remember now. Probably he was pissed that I was seeing someone else.

Then later he and I and a few other people we knew were working at a resort that some group had rented to use for paramilitary simulations, so we kept coming across people pretending to be dead while we doing our daily work. There was also something about how the group would let us join them if we "proved our worth". Then one of the simulation guns turned out to be a real gun and some of the bodies really were corpses and it all started getting very bad-late-night-cable-movie (no, not the naked people kind) and then I woke up.

The dream's details are already escaping me, but the resort had, as a pet, a big cat. When I say big cat, I mean a Big Cat, at least sixty pounds, mountain-lion-esque. It was fluffy, like Percy, but with a mottled brown and orange coat. I remember it lying nearby, the tip of its tail twitching, when we discovered the first dead body.

M always used to try to get us to feed Wenna several times a day because, he said, "If you feed her more, she'll grow up to be as big as a bobcat". We didn't, of course, but she very quickly figured out he would feed her anytime he came over.

My conclusions from this dream are:

Be careful about overfeeding the cat.
Stop playing PS2 games that involve guns and military-type situations if you can't handle the stress.
Don't watch so many suspense/horror type movies that you can't have a nice dream about a resort. I mean, really, if you're going to dream about a resort it should involve relaxing and fabulous food and drink and good times, not stealth and dark clothing and laser rifle sights.

And, probably the most important lesson that we learn from this:
When guys are difficult, just trick them to get them to do what you want.

2005-08-05T13:28:00.000-04:00

lobster with pasta

foooooood

2005-07-26T22:48:00.000-04:00

not sure if this will encourage us to write more or less frequently, but food-type writings can now be found here.

like so:
superior hummus

and so:
apricot-cherry sauce

mmm, food.

recovery time

2005-07-24T23:30:00.000-04:00

we got back from the marathon-drive-with-whole-family-to-new-york-for-my-cousin's-wedding around 2am Monday morning. it took us until about Thursday night to get back into the rhythm of our normal life.

it didn't help that we both started the trip with an all-nighter Wednesday night catching up on work and house things--oh, and packing--before we left the house at 6am (also not helpful was the inevitable fight right before we left: inevitable because we were both stressed and exhausted--but making up is always nice). as for the trip itself, my family is still speaking to one another; the wedding was very um, modern Catholic; the reception was lavish; and Saratoga Springs is pretty happening for a tourist town. the drive up, she was long. the drive back, she was longer.

anyway, after a week of fussing about having to go to work and do the dishes and so on, we finally buckled down on Friday afternoon and starting actually doing things again. as a matter of fact, it turned out to be a really productive weekend. my checklist now looks like this:

~~herd cats~~**
~~rearrange living room~~
~~purchase and assemble new tv cabinet~~
~~decide on paint/finish for cabinet and small chest-of-drawers, purchase~~; testing in progress
~~food blog started and inaugurated with new recipe specially created for the occasion~~
~~footie "practice"~~
~~yoga (for two, whoda thunk?)~~
~~liverpool friendly highlights watched and discussed~~
~~grocery shopping: supermarket and farmers' market~~
~~return wedding clothes possibilities that didn't make the cut~~
~~catch up on battlestar galactica~~
vacuum
marinate lamb

hell, I feel downright accomplished. the lamb and the floors can wait. I'm going to go have a single malt and read my new book.

**not really. but making vacation plans/reservations for your in-laws (Dunc's parents) is not unlike herding cats, particularly when you're trying to get them to tell you what they actually want to do.

okay, here it is, now go nag someone else (sherry's baton thingie)

2005-07-08T14:15:00.000-04:00

Total Volume:
15G on work laptop, 15G on personal laptop (maybe a few gigs of overlap there), 45G on personal desktop—and about 350 CDs that aren’t ripped yet.

Last CD Bought:
Smokin’ at the Half Note - Wes Montgomery
This is the Modern World – The Jam

Song Playing Right Now:
"White Pepper Ice Cream” – Cibo Matto

Five songs I listen to a lot, or that mean a lot to me:

“Babylon” – David Gray
“Pearl” - Chapterhouse
“Three Lions” – Lightning Seeds/Baddiel & Skinner
“Anna Begins” – Counting Crows
“Mr. E’s Beautiful Blues” – The Eels

Currently in Heavy Rotation:

(albums)

The Birth of Cool – Miles Davis
Guero - Beck
From Here On In - South
Set Yourself on Fire - The Stars
Cellar Door - John Vanderslice
Sunrise Over Sea - John Butler Trio

(songs)

“Such Great Heights” – Interpol
“Can’t Help Falling in Love” – The Eels
“Won’t Give In” – Finn Brothers
“Sunlight in a Jar” – The Lucksmiths
“Baby Don’t Cry” – INXS
“Call Me Mellow” – Tears for Fears

Top 5 Songs of the 80's (not sure about this category, I ended up listing the 5 songs that I identify most intensely with the 80’s, i.e., when I think 80’s music, I think these):

“Take on Me” – a-Ha
“Call Me Al” – Paul Simon
“No One Is to Blame” – Howard Jones
“Everybody Wants to Rule the World” – Tears for Fears
“Power of Love” – Huey Lewis & The News

Top 5 Rock Albums of All Time (I do not like this category; I think my answer would be different every week):

Dulcinea - Toad the Wet Sprocket
Woodface – Crowded House
Rubber Soul - Beatles
What’s the Story, Morning Glory? – Oasis
Graceland – Paul Simon

Top 5 Greatest Hits/Compilation Rock Albums of All Time:

Decade - Duran Duran
Anthology - Tom Petty
Rock Spectacle - Barenaked Ladies
Every Breath You Take: The Classics (note, not EBYT: The Singles) - The Police
A Secret History – Divine Comedy

Music videos that you thought kicked ass at the time, but now they embarrass you:
Not sure I watched enough music videos to answer this, but I’m pretty sure I thought the video for a-Ha's “Take On Me” was very cool back in the day. Now it just makes me laugh. Also, “Land of Confusion” by Genesis.

Twirling baton to:
whoever wants. post a link (or your answers) in the comments if you bother.

2005-07-06T07:50:00.000-04:00

or, y'know, not.

breaking up is hard to do

2005-07-06T00:17:00.000-04:00

it's kind of like splitting up with that guy, the one you've been with for a long time, the one you were friends with first, the one your friends and your family and even your ex likes, the one that you thought maybe might be in it for the long haul. but when you were honest with yourself, you knew there had been something missing lately; you looked him sometimes when he didn't know and you could tell his heart wasn't really in it anymore, that he kind of wanted to be somewhere else, and you even had that thing where you thought he was cheating on you last year, but you worked things out, and, although it was up and down for a bit, it was really really good for a while.

and then things got really weird. you tried to talk about it, but that just made it weirder. and no matter what you said or did, he was positive he couldn't stay, he just didn't feel like you wanted the same things, even though you're sure that you do. what he didn't quite say, but you're pretty sure he meant, was that you're not good enough anymore.

so right now, he's upstairs packing his stuff, trying to decide where to go.

oh sure, there've been other guys, and there will be more to come. some of those you might already know--there's that green-eyed Dutchman who just got into town, and that French guy with the cheeky grin and more energy than a miniature poodle, and what about that quiet young Spaniard with the twinkle in his eye--and maybe some you haven't met yet.

but right now, you're just confused and disappointed and hurt and sad.

with or without you

2005-07-05T11:16:00.000-04:00

Liverpool won or drew 65.12% of the games Steven Gerrard played in last season (league, cup, and Europe). They won 48.84% of those matches. That's almost half of the 43 in which he made an appearance, usually playing the full game, but occasionally being substitued after 65 or 80 minutes.

For the 17 matches we were without our "inspirational" captain, we won or drew 76.47% of the time, winning 52.94% of them outright.

My head can understand it's not the end of the world to sell him (for at least £40,000,000, of course), but my heart is still struggling with the idea.

On the other hand, if he wants to go, I can't help thinking fuck 'im, we don't need players that don't want to play for us.

And regarding why this happened, I'm not at all convinced that it's the club's fault. The whole thing is disappointing, but I can hardly see how Gerrard can say we didn't start talks soon enough when his own agent was away on his HONEYMOON until the end of June.

happy fourth

2005-07-04T01:27:00.000-04:00

pictures on flickr. too tired to tweak them, though, or write anything useful.

imagine I've said something patriotic, and yet not necessarily pro-current-administration. thanks.

servants

2005-06-30T15:46:00.000-04:00

for that is what I think Jen and I need. servants, like in Merchant Ivory productions. like in bad victorian novels (and most of them are).

but why, I'm sure you're wondering, do we need servants for a 2 bed, 2 bath one storey house. go on: ask.

Good question, I'm glad you asked. Well, it turns out that I'm really fricking lazy. monumentally lazy. if my kind of lazy was a planet it would be sitting on uranus. that's how lazy I am. on a scale of one to ten thousand million, I'd be ranked at *yawn*, I so can't be bothered to do anything productive.

so. send me servants, the dishes need to be done and I have to have clean clothes for lounging around in.

Make it so.

Now, dammit.

petit bourgois merde

2005-06-29T20:21:00.000-04:00

So what's your favorite moment in movie cursing? While "I [Heart] Huckabees" has an awe-inspiring sequence of the foulest vocabulary imaginable, my hat goes off to Anne Heche delivering these lines to Dustin Hoffman in Mamet's "Wag The Dog":

"Whadda we do now, huh? Huh? What do we do now, huh, Mr. Boy-producer? Mr. Win-an-Emmy, social-conscience whale-shit save-the-rainforest peacenik commie hire-a-convict shit-head? Huh, whadda we do now, liberal affirmative-action shithead peacenick commie fuck? Whadda ya wanna do now?"

So, it's time for those Oscars that are never gonna happen: this category, best swearing/foulest mouth.

damn, it feels good to be a... Southerner.

2005-06-29T13:10:00.000-04:00

pork shoulder (slow cooked over wood fire for 9 hours) served pulled with spicy horseradish pepper slaw and topped with apple wood smoked bacon on a kaiser roll. from the posh new sandwich place near the office.

that was my lunch. pork, with bacon. only in the South, baby.

okay, so I couldn't finish it, but I'll eat the rest this afternoon. heart attack scheduled for later this evening. and it will be SO WORTH IT.

food advice

2005-06-27T20:43:00.000-04:00

never eat anything that will leave your body with greater velocity than it entered with.

this is the end of the lesson, you may go about your business. God knows that's what I've been doing all-too-frequently for the last couple of hours.

update

2005-06-26T23:11:00.000-04:00

spent today helping a friend/co-worker of Dunc's move. everyone else had bailed on him, poor guy, so the three of us (and Dad's truck) worked our butts off. in the drizzle and eventual rain and later humidity. we now have so much moving karma that it hurts. then we came home and ate french bread with fancy butter and soup and red wine, so that made up for all the calories we burned today.

Dunc updated his resume tonight for a possible upcoming interview (phone interview happened unexpectedly Friday afternoon and went very well) doing the very busy and important things he was doing in Newcastle. with any luck, he'll get the new work permit on Wednesday at his INS appointment, so it'll all be sorted and they can offer him a fabulous job when he only works when the sun is up and we can live like kings in Patagonia.

belated Father's Day celebration Friday night. the two of us had dinner at the Peruvian tapas place with Dad. got a couple good pictures, but mostly we gobbled up the food as fast as they brought it to us. then we met Mom and Kate and went to the Braves game, where we ate lots of cotton candy and wondered why baseball now has cheerleaders. good game, though, and they won (10 wins in their last 13, as of today).

ate a fabulous thing for dinner last night, carmelized apples and a creamy pancake batter in a skillet, finished under the broiler with raw sugar crystals on top. recipe coming soon.

green wing is one of the funnier shows i've ever seen on tv.

that is all.

no, wait, one more thing:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHERM!!!

smart vs. not-smart

2005-06-22T13:15:00.000-04:00

ways I am smart:

I made our radio thinger work for Ben.
I remembered to start the dishwasher before I left for work.
I figured out where to get good Braves tickets for the sold-out section we wanted for Friday night.

ways I am not smart:

I was changing the 5-gallon water bottle for our water cooler and didn't think it would matter that my fingers were right where the bottle fits into the collar. ow.
I somehow changed the association for .exe files, which meant none of the programs would open on that server. not a single one, not even the registry. whoops. that was four hours of my life I'll never get back.
I forgot to rinse out my half full tea mug. now it's fuzzy and talks back.
I planned to get up at 6am, but didn't bother to change my alarm from 7:45, so of course I didn't wake up early at all.
I hit myself in the lip with the (very) spring-loaded part of a barrette clasp. no blood, just a small welt. sexy.

right now I think the not-smart list is outweighing the smart list by quite a bit. I shall have to be a GENIUS this afternoon.

made-up lamb from sunday

2005-06-21T19:27:00.000-04:00

obtain lamb sirloin (top part of the leg). ours was almost three pounds, deboned, pounded until even thickness (about 1.5"). not sure the deboning is necessary, but if you do, you'll need to pound it.

saute a sweet onion, a red onion, four cloves of garlic until soft.

season each side of sirloin with salt, coarsely ground black pepper, oregano, coriander, cumin, chili powder.

sear the meat on each side and then finish cooking on top of onion mixture. remove from onions, let side, slice as desired.

in original pan, add around a cup of canned chopped tomatoes (with juice), add salt and seasoning to taste, cook for a few minutes. add red wine vinegar (3T?), white pepper and taste again, adjust seasoning as needed. olives may be a good addition to the sauce.

served on Sunday with yellow rice and green soup. pictures on Flickr.

last.fm personal radio tips

2005-06-20T11:34:00.000-04:00

-once or twice I've clicked on it only to find that it didn't find the part of the code that tells it to load the radio for "transferwindow" and so it doesn't play anything because it doesn't know whose radio to play.

-you probably already figured this out, but you have to download a plugin for your music player (winamp, windows media player, itunes, etc). apparently the plugin is what tells the desktop that clicking THERE on the button means "pull up the music player and play the stream from this server for this user".

-check Jen's blog and try hers, just to see if it's something wrong with ours or if it's your end somehow.

-try going to last.fm, logging in with your account there, then go to the search and look for transferwindow as a user. see if the personal radio link on that page works. if it does, there may be something up with the code on our page.

-if it still doesn't work, find me on instant message, and I'll try to think of something else.

comcast must die

2005-06-19T22:47:00.000-04:00

after two months of us complaining, our cable and internet provider has finally realized that there's a problem with the signal as it comes from the street.

um, duh.

the weekend without internet was a nice vacation from the work I usually do on the weekends, even if it was unplanned and will make the coming week busier. we had meant to hit a movie Saturday afternoon, but ended up dealing with the cable company most of the day. instead we spent some time unpacking books (finally) and playing PS2.

on the plus side, we won't be giving the cable company any more money until the fall, at this rate. and at least we ate well:

friday dinner: brie, french bread, grapes, red wine.

saturday: turkey, avocado, swiss sandwiches for lunch. dinner was breaded tilapia, asparagus, rosemary creamed corn, double chocolate brownies.

sunday: lunch was more brownies, but dinner was slightly more elaborate--mediterrean-seasoned lamb, yellow rice, accidental tomato sauce, chilled cream of avocado soup.

and in other news, The Tick is back on tv. SPOON!

no sense of urgency

2005-06-17T13:31:00.000-04:00

So I'm sitting here, waiting for a call back from the US Postal Service Consumer Affairs Office.
Sounds fancy, no?

The problem is this. Jen and I asked them, a couple of months ago, to forward the mail from our old house to our new house. A simple, everyday, nothing to get your panties in a pickle about, kind of request, no?

Apparently not. After having no luck calling the information center, I escalated the issue to the USPSCAO to see if they could fix it, since I'm waiting for a letter from immigration that I need to take to an interview with me, and failure to have the letter (saying I am actually supposed to be there at all) will result in my not getting an appointment to renew my work permit which is bad, since I've been waiting for that appointment since SEPTEMBER, and may have to wait another nine months to get another one.

Oddly the lady wasn't interested in that and asked if I could "go by my old address to see if there's any mail collected there for me". Let me ask you this: you move in somewhere, you maybe put "Not at this address" or "return to sender" on the first week or so of mail, but after that...? Yes, it goes in the bin. Stupid people not changing their address with the people who send them credit card bills and stuff.

So I suggested that maybe, just maybe, the lady should have called me back a month ago like she said she would. In fact, I shouldn't have had to talk with her at all because the post office should have been forwarding my mail like they promised they would.

I told the lady that her company had broken a promise to me every day for two months and that, since she had taken over dealing with my complaint a month ago, I would be holding her personally responsible when I complain higher up the chain.

Needless to say, she hung up on me and now I'm waiting for her boss to call me back.

Secondly.
Comcast. ComCANT, more like.
We've been having what you would call "issues" with our internet since we moved in here. From simply not having any connectivity to take advantage if the 6Mbps stream, to being lied to by people on the phone, it all seems to have happened this last two months. They have been outside the house, inside the house, back outside and finally fucked off. We haven't had to pay for the service (which they're spectacularly failing to provide) for any day since we moved. That's thanks to my superior negotiating skills, naturally.

So I'm wondering: do I have an over-inflated sense of customer service and responsibility/ownership or does the rapidly growing field of customer service need to hire people with better soft skills?

Discuss. You may use your textbooks.

vodka tonic mix

2005-06-16T15:45:00.000-04:00

it's summer in Atlanta. which means it's hot and humid. which means I need a drink. a cold refreshing drink. like a vodka tonic with lime. bubbly and bright and tangy. not unlike this mix.

ben lee - catch my disease
franz ferdinand - auf achse
a-ha - the sun always shines on tv
hot hot heat - middle of nowhere
elvis costello - oliver's army
dum-dums - you do something to me
the killers - smile like you mean it
teenage fanclub covering the pixes - here comes your man
the stars - ageless beauty
the jam - it's too bad
rem - (don't go back to) rockville
dave matthews band - lie in our graves
modest mouse - float on
divine comedy - gin soaked boy
oasis - stay young
travis covering the beatles - here comes the sun
tears for fears - call me mellow
the eels - someone to break the spell

boo yah.

the thing about work is

2005-06-15T15:47:00.000-04:00

it gets completely in the way of the hundreds of thousands of things I'd much rather be doing instead. No, there are a lot of things. Really.

Aside from working with (mostly) young hipsters like myself I have found that this week has been much less tedious than has been historically true. And I can only think that the reason for this is that we changed the music in the store. We're playing a mix that includes the Alanis Morrissette Jagged Little Pill Accoustic album, the new Dave Matthews record, a not horrible young country-style bunch of girl-rockers called Antigone Rising and also a few songs by the Finn Brothers, the Decemberists and the Clumsy Lovers. So at least there's good tunes on while I toil.

Or rather, while I "direct" the toil of others. Ha!

That is all. You may go about your business now.

in which I praise IBM

2005-06-15T09:22:00.000-04:00

the acquisition of our company by a German IT consortium has finally been completed and we'd been told that one of our new owners/board members would be in the office today through Friday. "please dress appropriately and make sure your desk is tidy" etc.

so, it made sense that I should get up later than I'd planned, take a longer shower than I meant, and leave the house later than I'd planned (frankly, it was a miracle that I found my board-meeting-black-jacket at all). obviously I would be unable to find my laptop case, even though I swear I saw it yesterday.

and naturally, two major customer things would break while I was on my way in, so that the second half of my journey was spent on my mobile phone (don't worry, I used the speakerphone).

so of course I would drop my laptop onto the concrete surface of the parking deck while simultaneously talking on the phone and fishing in my purse for the access card to get into our building.

and, as you would expect, I dropped it on one of the corners that's the top edge of the screen when it's open. then it bounced sideways and impacted again. my stomach turned over. I've just had this laptop for a few months, and it's been my favorite computer ever since the first week.

I was expecting a crack or two in the screen at best. at worst, a hard drive crash and a spiderweb of cracks in the display.

but, so far, the only evidence of trauma is a few wonky keys, which were happy to snap back into place. I'm running a hard drive check now, but it looks okay.

according to IBM's website, one of the features of this laptop is a shock absorber:

The ThinkPad HDD Shock Absorber helps protect your hard drive and prevent hard drive failure due to operational shock and other common types of shock events. Like an automobile bumper, it absorbs some shocks to help prevent damage — whether the system is turned on or off — and provides up to 30% more protection than the system case alone.

the television commercials aren't kidding. I've seen other laptops take lesser falls (onto carpet from less height) which turned them into expensive doorstops. I didn't mean to field test this feature quite so dramatically, but I'm overjoyed that it did so well.

and after all that excitement, the German(s) won't even be here until tomorrow. scheiße.

radio radio

2005-06-13T19:42:00.000-04:00

Alright.

That button away to the right of here. You're going to need to sign up for a FREE account here to listen to our playlist but it's worth it. The site is tres user-friendly and you don't even need to own the songs you want to play back.

If you want to get access to a few extra tools (the site explains what they are so I won't) you can make a one-off or regular donations of as much or as little as you want. I'm not begging for them, but I think it was worth parting with a little cash for.

smarter than the whole of the internet

2005-06-12T22:06:00.000-04:00

Yes, folks, that would be me. See here to see how.

You may all send t-shirts to me, or find some other way to better express your unfettered adoration of the superior intellect that wrote this post.

I thank you.

You can't go home again, but they just might let you look around a bit.

2005-06-09T12:59:00.000-04:00

Wednesday night we had the unusual pleasure of taking my grandmother to dinner. She was in town to spend the night with my parents so Mom could take her to the airport early in the morning. We went by to pick her up and found her drinking Canadian scotch with my father. When we told her where we were having dinner, she clapped her hands in delight and said "Oh, I used to live in that neighborhood!" and tried to convince my father to come with us. Alas, he had already eaten, and was organizing his fishing equipment for the weekend, so he declined her enthusiastic invitation, despite her promise to show us the house they lived in when Mom was born.

She finishes her drink, and off we go. She insists on sitting in the back seat, which meant that she generally doesn't see intersections coming up until it was too late to turn at them. She mentions that her drink earlier has made her a little silly feeling. We refrain from saying "yes, we noticed." Eventually we got to the right neighborhood. This is more or less what the conversation sounds like at that point:

GS: Now what's this street?
D: Fourth Street
GS: No, that's not it, keep driving... what's this next one?
J: Third Street
GS: Ummm, I don't know, try turning right.
[we turn right, go all the way down, turn twice more to circle the block, when we pass Third again, she wants to keep going]
GS: How about this one?
D: Second Street, and probably the next one is First Street
GS: No, keep going... what's this one?
J: This is First St.
GS: no, keep going.... turn right at the next one.
[we turn at the next street]

We kept exploring for a while, with no success, and when we wound up around the corner from the restaurant, I suggested we eat and then try again. Our waiter was very tall:

GS: You're very tall, how tall are you?
W: Six-eight.
GS: SIX-EIGHT!! Goodness!
[Waiter smiles tiredly.]
GS: That's very tall, six-eight.
W: What can I get you to drink?
[She's still gazing at him in awe, but manages to order a mojito anyway. He leaves. She turns to the people that have just sat down at the table next to us.]
GS: Did you know he is 6'8"?
[They look at her blankly but politely.]
GS: That waiter, did you see him? He's 6'8"!
Them: Oh? How tall are you?
GS: 5'3"
Them: I'm sure he would seem very tall if you're only 5'3".

[D and I are trying not to laugh out loud at this point, barely managing only by avoiding looking at each other.]

Her drink comes, and she settles down a bit; we speak of this and that, some of family stuff, some of not. We feast on South American tapas (black bean hummus, ceviche, paella, red pepper-garlic shrimp, mussels in coconut milk, followed by pastel de tres leches and churros). Fantastic place, terrible lighting, but we'll go back and take pictures next time when we sit outside.

We resume the search by going over the same neighborhoods, either she doesn't recognize them, or she thinks we missed it the first time; I'm not sure which. This time, we go farther down the main road and turn onto another busy street. Luckily at the first light, she recognizes the cross street.

A block down that road, she points out the house she lived in when she was very little, recognizing it by the huge stump in the yard. It was a giant oak when she lived there, but the placement and size are enough to jog her memory. Her mother and father moved soon after that to the next house, the one we've been trying to find all this time.

Happily for all of us, she's able to navigate to the second house from there. We miss it on the first pass because she says it's over the hill. It turns out that it's not over the hill, but she recognizes it once we find the mailbox on the second pass.

GS: I want to go ring the doorbell, will you come with me?
J&D: [looking at each other] Um, sure.

We walk up to the door, noticing there's a Jeep 4x4 in the driveway, but it looks like there's another car usually parked closer to the street. She rings the doorbell and we wait. No answer. She rings again, with no response. We're just about to walk away, when a *very* expensive SUV pulls up, and a man in surgical scrubs gets out. We shuffle around and try to look harmless and un-Jehovah's witness-like and the crazy woman I call my grandmother greets him in her cheerful old lady voice. He returns her greeting very amiably, but is obviously puzzled by our sudden appearance on his front stoop.

She explains who she is and why we're there, and, as he reacts with what appears to be geniune enthusiasm, goes on to say she would love it if she could see inside the house. We continue to try to look non-murdery and also slightly like we don't know her at all, never seen her before in our lives. We have introductions all around, he is Keith, an anesthesiologist at a respected hospital here in town, and has lived in this house around five years.

My great-grandparents bought the house in 1943 and lived in it until the early 70s when they moved to Lake Burton to live year-round. My grandmother lived there as a teenager, and as a college student. When she and my grandfather were married, they lived there for a few years until they could afford to buy their own house. My mother and uncle were born during that time.

He gives us the full tour. In the living room, she turns to me and says "Your mother learned to crawl on that floor." They talk for three-quarters of an hour about the house and the changes that have been made since my great-grandparents moved out in the seventies. It is a truly lovely house, full of what a realtor would call character. There are trees in the backyard that my great-grandmother planted. One of them is enormous, it must have a circumference of at least fifteen feet. Keith tells us he and his friends were estimating that it was well over a hundred years old. After exchanging email addresses and mailing addresses, my grandmother promises to send him pictures of the house; I suspect she'll wind up corresponding with him for a while.

We were, and still are, amazed at how gracious Keith was. He had just come from a shift in the operating room; we didn't even give him time to use the bathroom, eat, feed his cat, hide the porn, etc. before traipsing all over his house, peering into every nook and cranny. He said all the right things, like "I just knew good people had to have lived here before me, I've had such a good feeling about this place since the first time I saw it."

Then again, he thought the tree was very old. Funny how people can be wrong about things.