Words of Lizzardie

2008-04-10T23:17:00.003-04:00

Briefly...

I was looking up the course number of a class I took in school and was met with a little bit of a surprise - Cornell changed the name of my department! Instead of Operations Research and Industrial Engineering, it's now Operations Research and Information Engineering! (See for yourself.) I get newsletters occasionally - when did this happen, and how did I not notice?!?!?!

I feel like my M.Eng. diploma that says "Operations Research and Industrial Engineering is now a keepsake. And I suppose the rest of the engineering school is thankful that it's still OR&IE, so the "Ohh Really I'm an Engineer" jokes can continue....

2008-03-20T17:54:00.002-04:00

I know it's been quite awhile, so I thought I'd just put up a short list of things I've learned in recent weeks:

I may be (suddenly) be lactose intolerant. If it’s true, while I’ll miss it, giving up dairy will be easier than I thought it would be (says the girl who up until now will and does eat just about anything).
One exception (for now) – I do miss half-and-half in my coffee, even though I was going to give that up for the most part anyway (since I’m drinking coffee on a daily basis again, thanks to a new coffee maker at work).
Milk chocolate with bits of bacon in it is not as bad as it sounds, though it’s not great, either (to me it mostly tastes like good milk chocolate tinged with salt and fat, though occasionally you do get a mouthful of bacon).
The way you present data is just as important as what data you present. And, presenting more data does not mean you are making things more confusing.
Unfortunately, I’m not sure how well this resonates with the company I work for.
I’m not sure where a lot of the music on my iPod came from.
I love Firefox, but hate that it signs me out of EVERYTHING, particularly my checking account (okay, that’s not a recent revelation, I’m cheating). I don’t need it to store passwords or anything, but could it just remember my ATM card number when I ask it to? I don’t have that memorized.
I am having a tough time figuring out what forgiveness means. Of course this only becomes an issue when it’s something BIG, right? I wonder if I’ve been looking at it the wrong way, though. Instead of, will I ever understand someone’s actions and be okay with them (the answer to that is no), or, is this relationship repairable or has it been irreversibly broken (I think it’s the latter), maybe I should be thinking, am I a better person because of what I have been through (I think I am), and, have I learned something about myself from all of this (I think I have). My general impatience does not make this any easier.

It's Restaurant Week here in Boston and I'll try to get a review up of the restaurants I ate at (five in total, including dinner out tomorrow). I was also sent to a seminar a few weeks ago, and I'd love to talk about that, I just haven't felt like writing lately. And I go to Atlanta next week! I'm definitely looking forward to a few days off and an opportunity to play tourist and eat (hopefully mostly non-dairy) Southern food!

2008-02-07T14:32:00.000-05:00

I did actually return to poker last night. I had started to feel like I kept saying I would but was never following through, so it's nice to have that barrier broken!

In my opinion, the night went fine. It had been predicted to me that it would be a disaster if I ever decided to come back (or to come back at this point) - I would be uncomfortable, other people would be uncomfortable, and that would lead to general discomfort for everyone involved. I was also told that it was not possible for me to just come in and play, without creating a scene.

Well, I DID come in and play, and I DID NOT make a scene. Was I ever so slightly uncomfortable? Yes, of course - I hadn't been there in 9 months and I know that while most of the people I know who were there were happy to see me, I also know that there was at least one hold out. Was it enough to make me not enjoy myself? Absolutely not. Was anyone else uncomfortable? Not that I could tell, but I could be wrong. All and all, I think it went just fine, and I would feel comfortable going back there any time. There were people I knew and hadn't seen for awhile, and there were people I did not know, who seemed to be friendly and decent poker players. I didn't play the best poker of my life (I am way out of practice), but it was still fun.

I know I've said it before - a free game of poker every week is such a minor thing in life to get worked up about. But I have missed it, and that's why it was so important for me to get it back. It's something that I don't feel I should have to give up because of the mistakes that I or other people have made.

2008-02-06T11:39:00.000-05:00

I have become somewhat of a news junkie since the beginning of January, all because of this crazy election. I've had an interest in it, but at the beginning of January were those debates on ABC that were so much more relaxed than the standard 90 second answer, 30 second response things we see so often. And right before that was Obama's win in Iowa. Then it dawned on me (I'm not sure why it took so long) that Massachusetts was voting on Super Tuesday. And I learned that if you're unenrolled in a party (Independent, as it were) the state no longer enrolls you in the party you vote for during the presidential primary. And Obama and McCain were picking up steam.

So I watched a lot of debates, and have watched a lot of CNN (it helps that there's not a whole lot of new television these days, and I can knit pretty quickly while watching CNN since it doesn't require 100% of my attention), and have read a lot of news articles (way more fun than working), and watched a lot of YouTube videos. And yesterday, I cast my first primary vote ever. Normally I don't like the idea of voting in the primaries (there's a reason I'm not enrolled in a political party), but this one felt important.

I voted for Obama, in case anyone was wondering. And if he doesn't get the nomination (though I hope and think he will), I'll be voting for McCain in the general election.

Anyhow, that ends my political discussion for the day. I'm a little election fatigued right now, from following results last night, and can only muster up the energy to say "Yay Obama" right now. :-P

Work sucks, though it's quieted down. It's become very lonely here for me, which is not fun. January was really rough, and my officemate has taken my "leave me alone, I have a lot of work to do" glaring and silence personally, which... is fine. On the bright side, I'm transitioning to a new position here at the end of the month - I'll move from being a Business Analyst to being a Marketing Analyst. I am (extremely) cautiously optimistic about what this will mean for me and whether I will enjoy it. But I think that marketing experience will be good for me, and I'm willing to give it a shot. Now to get through account transitioning!

Going back to poker last week did not work out because it was canceled. Someone actually hosted a house game that I was invited to, but TWO invitations did not get to me in time, which is serious bad luck on my part. But I'm planning on going tonight, and looking forward to getting the whole jumping back in part over with (it's just walking in the door that scares me - after that, I'm certain everything will be fine and I'll have a good time).

I'm also adjusting to a new roommate. She's much tidier than I am, which I'm afraid will get on my nerves. I'm trying to be flexible, though, because she moved into a place where all of the stuff is mine, and I'm used to my routine, but I want her to be at home, too. I hope she stops talking to me so much soon, though. :-P And stops switching the order of things for no apparent reason!

2008-01-29T19:40:00.000-05:00

I had some things to say last week, didn't write them down, and now I've forgotten. I guess THAT is why I should blog. So this will be a list of random things.

I went down to Providence this past weekend to watch all of Lost Season 3. Who knew 15 hours of television could be so tiring? I got there a little after 6pm on Saturday, we watched 12 episodes that night, slept, ate brunch and then watched the back 11, with just a break for carrot cake/drinks before the season finale. All and all, I was gone 30 hours. I had forgotten how dull the first six episodes were, but how great some of the back episodes were (especially the season finale). I'm really looking forward to the return on Thursday (also, is the strike over yet? No? Damn.).

Kathy has gotten me back into Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab. She got me a few bottles for Christmas (two of my favorites, Bordello and Madrid), I placed an order in early January for a few more bottles, and then after seeing Kathy's collection this weekend, placed ANOTHER order Sunday night. Perfume oils get expensive, but it's oh so addicting. Except... I've already got enough buying addictions (yarn, anyone?), thank you very much. Hopefully I can stop soon.

Steph moved out last week, and I've enjoyed having the place to myself. My new roommate (yes, I found one, her name is Catherine) has been moving boxes in since, and she hopes to be fully moved in tomorrow. I'm seriously leaning towards finding a place of my own once my lease is up at the end of September. I've got some preparations to do, it seems.

Today, Kathy and I booked our trip to Atlanta to visit Dan. We're flying into Atlanta on Tuesday, March 25th, driving to Savannah/Hilton Head that night, staying for two days, then driving back to Atlanta, where we'll be until Tuesday, April 1st. Interestingly, Kathy and I arrive in Atlanta and then depart from Atlanta within 15 minutes of each other, even though Kathy is flying on United with a connection in Chicago (both ways) while I'm flying direct on Delta. She's in it for the miles, I prefer the shortest trip possible. :-P We have things planned such as eating at The Lady & Sons in Savannah, going to the beach at Hilton Head, going to an Alton Brown lecture and book signing, seeing Avenue Q (which will be in Boston right before Atlanta and Kathy and I might be planning on going in both cities....), and other possibilities such as the CNN building, the Coke museum and finding a plaque in Marietta that represents where Elizabeth, GA, used to be. :-)

I discovered Meritage last night. I know, I know, where have I been, I know others love this wine. I'm beginning to realize that I really don't like oaky wines, because this Meritage (2002 Stuart Cellars Tatria, in case you were wondering - it's a Temucula Valley, California, wine) is very fruity, tannic and delicious. I try not to be too much of a wine snob, and do have a lot of wines that I like outside of Italian ones (though, yes, they are my favorite). I don't like Bordeaux wines, though, typically, because they tend to not be very fruity (more of a vegetable taste), and I'm not a Cabernet Sauvignon fan. But this is delicious, and I will definitely give other Meritage wines a chance.

I also bought a slow cooker recently, and I love it. Last week I made turkey and vegetables in it, and today and I made Beef Burgundy (which I used the Meritage for - just half a cup!). Making food in the slow cooker is fast (at least in preparation, and then I can leave it while I go about my day) and healthy, so it'll definitely get a lot of use this winter.

And finally, it looks like tomorrow is when I actually return to poker (barring a last minute change in the current circumstances), and I'm both looking forward to it and not looking forward to it (more the former, of course). This isn't the way I wanted to return, but it has to be done and once the first night back is over, I think everything will be fine. And I can stop talking about it. :-P

2008-01-21T14:13:00.001-05:00

Today is the celebration of Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday. I am at work today (no rest for the weary around here), but this has been on mind since last week, because of the election, of course, and one of his sermon's was the topic of yesterday's Homily at church (ohh, going regularly is one of my New Years Resolutions - I mentioned yesterday that I've been thinking a lot about faith lately, right?). Here is a link to the text of the sermon that was discussed yesterday: The Drum Major Instinct. The Pastor yesterday made sure to point out that this sermon was given exactly two months before he died, on February 4th, 1968.

I think the topic of this sermon, while different from the usual clips we get from Dr. King around this time of year, is of particular interest to me, given my mood lately. If you don't have time to read the whole thing (it is long), here are two passages that have given me pause:

"And this morning, the thing that I like about it: by giving that definition of greatness, it means that everybody can be great, (Everybody) because everybody can serve. (Amen) You don't have to have a college degree to serve. (All right) You don't have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don't have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don't have to know Einstein's theory of relativity to serve. You don't have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. (Amen) You only need a heart full of grace, (Yes, sir, Amen) a soul generated by love. (Yes) And you can be that servant."

The second one:

"If any of you are around when I have to meet my day, I don’t want a long funeral. And if you get somebody to deliver the eulogy, tell them not to talk too long. (Yes) And every now and then I wonder what I want them to say. Tell them not to mention that I have a Nobel Peace Prize—that isn’t important. Tell them not to mention that I have three or four hundred other awards—that’s not important. Tell them not to mention where I went to school. (Yes)

"I'd like somebody to mention that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to give his life serving others. (Yes)

"I'd like for somebody to say that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to love somebody.

"I want you to say that day that I tried to be right on the war question. (Amen)

"I want you to be able to say that day that I did try to feed the hungry. (Yes)

"And I want you to be able to say that day that I did try in my life to clothe those who were naked. (Yes)

"I want you to say on that day that I did try in my life to visit those who were in prison. (Lord)

"I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity. (Yes)

"Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. (Amen) Say that I was a drum major for peace. (Yes) I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter. (Yes) I won't have any money to leave behind. I won't have the fine and luxurious things of life to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind. (Amen) And that's all I want to say."

I hope that wasn't too preachy for any of you. Just because I'm going to church these days, doesn't mean you all have to come with me. It's just timely, given the day.

Ohh, and I think the words in italics were spoken by the congregation, but maybe they were part of Dr. King's sermon? I guess I could just listen to the audio, if I really wanted to know!

2008-01-20T23:53:00.000-05:00

Just because I haven't blogged in awhile does not mean I haven't thought about it. I've thought a lot about it, actually. I had a conversation with Dan recently where he was talking about why he blogs. And that got me thinking.... why do I blog? The real reason is that I do it because I've been doing it as long as I remember, and it feels weird not to. But that's not a great reason to do something. I've mentioned fear before, and that's still the case - I'm afraid of sharing my opinions and thoughts sometimes, because I'm afraid that will make people like me less. Which is sad.

I've felt a little (maybe a lot) scared recently. And that has led me to a lot of thinking about what is driving my life right now. I mean, on the surface, my life is great, right? I have a job that pays well, and I live in an apartment that is warm, and I can put food on my plate. No one I know is sick and/or dying. My family, though they are far away, loves me. I have a number of good friends. And if I just wanted to get up, and change it all one day... I have the means to do that.

And yet... I hate that job, and my apartment, while wonderful, feels "cold and empty". And those good friends? It doesn't feel like they're in or near Boston sometimes (no offense if you are).

And so I've been doing a lot of thinking about right and wrong, fear, forgiveness, love, faith. I want to make my life worth living, and that's not an easy thing to do, sometimes... I have high standards. :-) And this world is not black and white, so it is hard to find the line between forgiveness/love and right, because, sometimes, enough is enough, and you've done all you can. But because I'm me, and I want everyone to like me, I have trouble figuring out where to draw the line.

And I'm rambling, but I don't care, because it's my blog and I'll say what I want to, say what I want to... all right, done. I'm going to try harder here. I'm going to try harder to say what's really on my mind, and not care what other people think, or at least be okay if they have different opinions than me, and realize that we're not all the same, and just because we don't agree on something doesn't mean we're not friends anymore. And I'm going to try and remember that.... I'm the only one that remembers every word I say. :-)

So starting with... a mini movie review, first. I saw Juno this weekend, at the lovely Somerville Theatre... which is old, and it shows, but has its own character, and I love that. I liked the movie a lot more than I thought I would. To be honest, I just wanted to see it for the cast, which was awesome, but it ended up being really... real. And it was real right away, with a lot of awkwardness that I think makes you remember that the girl is 16 and doesn't really know what she's doing. I did think, though, that it moved a little slow, but that doesn't bother me - it reminded me of Garden State or Elizabethtown in that way. It's a movie that I will probably end up picking up the DVD for, and popping in on a cold, rainy weekend (or when I'm hungover), because while it's a pretty serious subject, it's light-hearted and just one of those movies for me.

Also this weekend.... I played poker! Ohh my, do I love that game, and I don't know why. But I do. I hadn't played in so many months, and it was different (in a good way), because I didn't know most of the people I was playing with. Also, I lost $40, which didn't bother me, because, hey, that's how the game goes. I enjoyed it, and I want to play more. And that really leads me to the forgiveness/right/enough is enough issue. Silly, isn't it? Every time I think about it, I cannot believe that so many problems in my life have revolved around a stupid (FREE!) weekly poker tournament that I really want to attend, and that there's this extremely unbalanced proportion between the people who want to see me there (high) and the people who don't (low), one of whom isn't even there most of the time. And the more I think about it (and the more I talk to those who want me there, which I did again tonight), the more I come to believe that I am right, and I have still bent over backwards to make people who are not my friends happy and comfortable with my presence, and that will never happen, and enough is ENOUGH. So I'm going back. Because it's important to me. Because I miss my friends. Because I am done second guessing whether or not I've done everything I can - I have. Because my presence will not "ruin" or "end" the game. Because this will never be over unless I make it over.

Thanks for still reading, if you do. When I check my web stats, I'm shocked to see who still sticks it out, to see if I've posted anything new (and it's all usually so mundane!). I of course won't make any promises, but I'm going to try and post more frequently, and maybe about more interesting things. Interesting websites, my thoughts on random things (there's this election going on, and I'm leaning towards voting in my first primary!), and more interesting reviews of the things I've done, because "I did this, then I did that" doesn't really tell anyone much of anything useful. :-P And... no one is going to agree with me all the time. And that's okay. After all, I am filled with love and forgiveness for all right now, and I hope that all of you are, too (and yes, that was cheesy). :-)

2007-12-17T14:21:00.000-05:00

My roommate is moving out at the end of January. January is a crappy time to find a new roommate. January is also a crappy time to find a new place to live. I really can't wait for this year to be over, as it's been a complete nightmare.

This weekend I had my haircut (long overdue) and I saw the Boston Ballet's performance of The Nutcracker. I love all of the music in that. My only complaint would be all of the children talking through the matinée. Next time, I'll go to an evening performance. The dancers were all lovely, and I enjoyed the costumes and sets. I sat in the balcony of The Opera House, which is of course a nice play to see a performance of any kind.

I leave for Illinois tomorrow evening. Hopefully my family doesn't drive me too crazy while I'm there. I have a few things planned for the week that should keep me out of the house for long stretches of time. Or maybe I'll just try and catch up on sleep.

2007-12-01T12:14:00.000-05:00

Two good things happened yesterday: I got my iPod working again (using this method - it's amazing how despite all the technology we have, sometimes a screwdriver and a business card are all you need to fix something) and I won some yarn (I know, I know, this is not my knitting blog, but sometimes it's the little things). The working iPod is particularly exciting both because it's been broken for about a year, and it has music on it that's not on my computer. Must figure out a way to fix that.

I have not been feeling the blog love lately, I'm not sure why. I often think ohh, I should write about this or that, but just haven't been able to get myself to do it. Add it to a long list of things I've been putting off because it seems that I don't want to actually live my life (live as in do things other than watch television and knit, not in the literal breathe sense - I'm just unmotivated). But hey, since I declared today no-television Saturday, why not give some of these things a shot.

Several weeks ago, I saw Ani DiFranco in concert (again, this was #4 for me, and I realized that all of the shows I've been to have been in the month of November; even the show I had tickets to but could not attend was in November). The opening act was slam poet Buddy Wakefield - he did four poems, which was "just enough" - I enjoyed those four but probably wouldn't have enjoyed a fifth. And then... something interesting happened. They brought out a presidential candidate - Congressman Dennis Kucinich. I ended up at a mini-political rally totally accidentally! He talked mostly about the environment and our dependence on foreign oil, which was interesting, but isn't enough to make me vote for him or go and volunteer for his campaign in New Hampshire (I also think his assertion that he's only a couple of points out of fourth place there to be a little bit of a stretch). Now, I MIGHT have changed my mind after seeing him playing the tambourine during the first encore, "Little Plastic Castle." It's not everyday that you see your next potential president jamming with Ani. In addition to that song, we also heard "Both Hands", "Gravel", "The Atom", "78% Water", "Landing Gear" and others. Ani was aware of what she played at last year's Boston show because of the bootleg disc that came out (I have both the disc and attended the show), so it was nice to hear a different set of songs, but still hear some of my favorites. The mezzanine seats in the Orpheum were amazing, but a little shaky.

That's a start to being caught up here. I won't promise to be better, but there are things I want to write about, so who knows.

2007-11-08T13:15:00.000-05:00

I found a gray hair yesterday. I guess my plans to stop highlighting my hair have been thwarted, because I WILL NOT be going gray in my 20's, thankyouverymuch.

I have decided that, while I definitely want to return to Venice and Florence very soon (like, in the next couple of years), my new European destination of choice is Barcelona. I think I could make that sort of trip happen at a relatively affordable cost (compared to, say, the Italy trip), so I might try and do that sometime next year.

I bought a pie today, for a good cause. Community Servings here in the Boston area hosts Pie in the Sky every year, selling pies from various Boston restaurants that can be picked up the day before Thanksgiving. I don't have Thanksgiving plans (I'll be in NYC that weekend, though), but I found a pickup location that's basically on my way to work. So, I ordered a pecan pie that I will be sharing with the people in my office. Pie for a good cause, but I won't be eating the whole thing. Win-win, I'd say.

2007-11-05T12:46:00.000-05:00

Actions speak louder than words. Such a cliche, and at times, so true. But now I have to use my words to say what I'm feeling, and have been feeling, and I'm not sure how well it's going to go.

I have been censoring myself on this blog for awhile now. Part of that is because of who my readers are. Some of you read because you're my friends, and I suppose you're curious about what's going on in my life. Some of you... don't like me very much, and I'm not sure why you read - maybe because you want to keep tabs on me or on my interactions with other people, or because you're looking for something to use against me? To mock me? I don't know. It's not really the point, though, the point is that because everyone in my life, whether friends or not, seems to be so very, very connected, I have been careful about what I say in such a public forum.

I am not going to stop questioning whether or not the things I have to say are appropriate for the internet - my day job involves reading the internet, and I also happen to know that sometimes the anonymity we receive by typing up a bunch of things and hitting a button isn't exactly what we think it is. But, I do need to stop caring so much about what other people think. And it would probably do me some good to be more open.

So here goes. I have had a ROUGH six (or seven?) months. No one has died, everyone I know is healthy. I have a job, and a home, friends... I bought myself a new car and went on an incredible foreign vacation. And yet, I have been miserable.

I can pinpoint what really kicked the misery into high gear to getting laid off from my job and having a very close friendship basically disintegrate within less than 36 hours of each other. And... I'm not over either of those things. I hate my job, and I've lost a lot of faith in the people I work for making things any better. I know what I have to do, but that doesn't make it any easier (neither did my commitment to myself to stay for at least six months, though that has come and gone with no improvement).

As for the disintegrated friendship... I wish I could say that it was as easy to move on from as I wanted it to be. But it's not. And thanks to interconnected lives, I cannot say that only two people were affected by it, because it's not true. Mistakes have been made on all sides, and I don't really know where to go from here. But, I am trying a few things, and hopefully we will eventually reach a point where we at the very least have a mutual understanding. To that point, I will not be going back to poker this week, but that is the (eventual) goal, and as long as that is everyone's goal, I'm willing to work toward it, instead of forcing the issue. Because it is one thing to say, "at this time, I don't think we can ever be friends again" (which I did say) and another to do the thing that you know makes it final.

One of the problems with being so down is that my default response it to protect myself, which I do basically by hiding. So I have spent most of the last seven months by myself. I haven't really gone out or tried to see my friends, except when they try to see me. Which, I have to say, hasn't felt like it's been that often. But maybe that's me. Maybe when I stop making plans, that sends the signal to others that they should stop making plans with me, I don't really know.

But now I'm done. At the very least, I'm going to do the things I want to do - theatre, music, see my friends, play poker, generally not be afraid to leave my house for fear of who I might see, figure out what I what to do with my life - because I want to do them. I cannot please everyone, and I just need to stop trying.

I have a feeling that this is going to continue to not be easy.... which is why I might have added a shot of amaretto to my coffee yesterday morning (ohh yes, it was before noon) before meeting someone for coffee. That's not bad, right? I mean, sometimes we need something to calm our nerves!

2007-11-02T12:28:00.000-04:00

My car now has a name: Chuck. Feel free to comment on this. :-P

The Stitch 'n Bitch last night was fun. It was held at Bloc 11, the new cafe in Union Square. I like Bloc 11 - it's sorta like Diesel in Davis Square (they are owned by the same people) but has its own character, as well. This just adds to my love of Union Square.

2007-11-01T14:11:00.001-04:00

Tuesday night was Girls' Night Out. I was a little skeptical, at first, even though the last Girls' Night Out was a lot of fun, just because I don't usually like hanging out with just girls (too much estrogen). But, I had a great time, and felt really good afterwards. This was really helpful for me because of what happened yesterday.

First, we met at Console on Broadway in Cambridge. I had never been there, but it turns out that it's this really delicious, really inexpensive Portuguese restaurant that I will definitely need to return to. The six of us (myself, Kristen, Cheryl, Jen, Natalie and Kara, who works with Jeff) had a pitcher of Sangria, a bottle of wine, two appetizers, an entree each, one flan and a bottle of house wine, all for $150, including tip. Highly recommend this place.

Anyhow, when I got there, none of the girls were there (they had gone to get pedicures beforehand and I needed to run some errands), but Johnny was. Johnny was the first to suggest I come to Sally's the next night, even though I've made it clear that I can't go. He brushed off all of my reasons for not going, and I said I'd think about it.

This was a trend throughout the evening. I showed my Italy pictures, we all talked, Kristen's friend Laura arrived, we heard about her recent engagement, we all talked, we moved the festivities to Sally's (ahh, a Sapphire and tonic at a reasonable price, ohh, how I've missed it!), etc... The conversation turned to the poker game that I no longer attend, which is usually upsetting to me - not because they go, but because I "can't". And they all put off my reasons for not going.

By the end of Tuesday night, I'd decided I'd had enough. Everyone was right - I have every right to be there. Jen, who lives right down the street from where I work, offered to meet up beforehand, so we could go shopping, get dinner, whatever, and then head to the poker game together. I agreed that it sounded like a great plan. After all, it wasn't about causing trouble (which is why I've stayed away for so long anyway) or creating a scene, it was about having a good time with my friends, and not letting anything get in the way of that.

In the end, poker was canceled. I still went to the bar, and had a good time with Jen, Johnny and a few others. Even more importantly, I feel really good about a lot of things. Yesterday was a HUGE step for me. I hope I can continue to take those kinds of steps in the near (and not so near) future.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do next Wednesday, at this point. Whether or not there will be a poker game or not seems to be a little up in the air, anyway. But whatever happens, I think I'm ready for it.

Tonight's step: going to a Stitch 'n Bitch with people I've never met. Wish me luck!

2007-10-24T13:30:00.001-04:00

I just updated my sidebar (again). No one told me my archives were totally out of date!

Anyhow, I would like to point out three significant events on my calendar:

Saturday, 11/10: Cornell at Brown Hockey
Friday, 11/16: Cornell at Harvard Hockey
Saturday, 11/24: Cornell v. BU Hockey at MSG

Yes, Cornell Hockey three weekends in a row. I haven't been to that many games in that short of a time period since I was still in Ithaca! Woohoo!

Speaking of Cornell, I received my first phone call from the Cornell Fund last night... and it wasn't that bad. I spoke with Nicole, a freshman AEM major. First she asked me to update my information (home and work), then she gave me a nice synopsis of events happening or recently occurred on campus (the Dalai Lama, Sandra Day O'Connor, Steven Colbert). I was expecting the plea for money to follow, but first she asked me if I had any advice for her. And finally she asked me for money - and by that time, I was actually tempted to give it to her! Of course, Cornell gets nothing from me until I pay off all of my student loans, which I kinda told her (I was nicer, of course). She said no problem, and just asked me to consider Cornell when I become a millionaire. Nicole, I will certainly consider Cornell when that happens. :-)

Links of interest (just because I have three, and that makes up a list!):

Plant-A-Daisy: Fans of Pushing Daisies (which just got picked up for a full season, yay)? This site lets you plant your own daisy, asking one question to a departed person. You can then read other people's submissions. My favorite? To Aristotle, "Were you on drugs?"

Freakonomics Blog: I loved the book, and now I'm loving the blog. The posts, by the authors of the book, are short, and usually point to other articles, but they're relevant and I'm enjoying them. Speaking of the book, I've also purchased this book to get the other side of the coin. Once I read it, it'll be interesting to compare the two books and form my own opinions.

(Side note: I couldn't remember the name of the book, and it took me awhile to find the link on Amazon. While I was looking, I stumbled upon at least half a dozen economics books I'd be interested in reading. Now I'm making a list. Spending money to fuel your interest in economics is good, right?)

Chianti, Not Steroids for Bike Racing: This is a Wall Street Journal video (you have to scroll down a little to find it). Not only did it remind me of some of the lovely sites I saw (and didn't get to see) and my recent trip, but what a great idea! I totally want to train for a bike race in Italy, fueled by nothing other than prosciutto and Chianti! That's my kind of life!

2007-10-17T11:56:00.001-04:00

Today I uploaded the last of the Italy pictures, and they are all online now, for your enjoyment. You can see them here. Of course, none of them are labeled. That's the next step. And then the travel diaries (you still want to hear about the trip, right?). And then figuring out which of the 650ish pictures I want prints of, and in what size. So... don't expect this to be the last you hear about Italy.

In the meantime, I have (sorta) been doing other things with my life, although work is doing its best to get in the way of that (I seriously just put the suitcases from both my trip to the Poconos and to Italy away this past weekend - really). A sampling:

Dan came into town the weekend after I got back from Italy (no rest for the weary), so he, Kathy and I took a sunset cruise around the Boston Harbor on a tall ship and ate at The Omni Parker House (Parker House rolls! Schrod! Boston Creme Pie! Port!). Dan and I also went to Castle Island (where Fort Independence was closed, despite what they told me on the phone), toured an Argentinian training vessel (the largest tall ship in the world - awesome) and ate at the Legal Test Kitchen. I capped off the weekend by driving down to Providence for carrot cake, and then driving to Newport where we ate at The Black Pearl. I also have a ton of pictures from that weekend (I was still clearly in tourist mode), which will get uploaded eventually.
I saw an outstanding performance of The 39 Steps by the Huntington Theatre Company at the Boston University Theatre. I love theatre, and this one was a real treat - very well performed.
One of my coworkers who I adore left, so we went out of an evening of drinks and appetizers. I miss having her around.
My roommate had a birthday! This past Saturday we went out to celebrate at the bar her brothers works at (don't remember the name, but it's near Kenmore Square), where three of her friends also celebrated birthdays. There was the Red Sox game and cupkaes. Afterwards, we went briefly to another bar, and then ended up getting pizza in Central Square (this was not our intention at first, and I do not advise walking from Kenmore to Central Squares in heels) before taking a cab home. I hadn't had a late night out in awhile, so it was a nice treat (though I was of course exhausted the next day, that part I don't like).
Went out for girls' night with Kristen and Cheryl a couple of weeks ago. We went out for sushi at Takemura in Harvard Square, saw Eastern Promises and then met up with Cecilia for ice cream at Herrell's and caught up on each other's lives.

And that's pretty much it, except for work. I bought some tickets, made some reservations for the next couple of months. I'm... evaluating things at work (that's the best way to put it) since I hit the 6-month mark, and that was the time period I set for my evaluation (is this what I really want? what's my future here? etc....). I'm looking forward to the trip to NYC, which is going to include dinner at Gordon Ramsay at The London, the BU-Cornell hockey game at MSG, and apparently a full English breakfast.

Hopefully things will calm down soon (ha! I always say that and things pretty much never change) and I can actually write about the trip (and add some details to my photos - they're currently labeled things like "Italy2007 1067").

2007-09-25T06:40:00.000-04:00

I'm back from Italy. I really enjoyed the trip, and would totally go back to Italy again. I'll start saving my pennies now...

Anyhow, more later, once I get through all of the pictures (about 1,300 of mine, and hopefully more coming from Steph and other people met while I was there) and have a chance to update and type up travel diaries (they are not exactly diaries right now, more like little notes to remind me).

In the meantime, I have today off of work (thank goodness) and then back to the grind starting tomorrow....

2007-09-13T14:56:00.000-04:00

I leave for Italy tonight! Crazy!

I'm hoping to keep a journal (written, of course - no phone or internet, I hope, until I return the night of the 24th) of my travels, so there will be that and photos when I return.

Before I go, though, I wanted to write briefly about the past couple of weekends so that I'm all caught up!

First, Labor Day weekend was spent in the Poconos at Rob's family's house. I put photos up on Flickr just now (uhh, I didn't even edit or sort through them, sorry, no time), and I wish I had time to say more about the weekend... BUT... I had a fantastic time. Seriously, the summer really sucked for me, for a number of reasons, and seeing some of my friends that I hardly ever get to see was a huge help. I feel so much better since going there - it was totally relaxing and I had an amazing time. I hope everyone else did, too. It even made my want to visit New York City, and I HATE going there - how crazy is that?

Last weekend was fun, too. Chris and Dana were in town for a wedding, so we went out to dinner at Sunset in Allston. My coworker loves to take her first dates here.... I'm not sure if it's that sort of place for me, but they do have a lot of beer, and the food was tasty (I got a "sausage sampler" - how could I pass that up???). On Sunday, we met in Boston, had lunch in the North End (why don't I do this more often? We sat by the big open windows, the portions were still huge and it's much less expensive than dinner), saw a parade go by, and then walked to and from Newbury Street for some shopping. And, of course, Dana and I made Chris pose for a picture in a lobster hat (or two) at the Best of Boston store - see one of them here. Hope we didn't scare him off from Boston too much, but he had his revenge by making Dana and I stop in not one but TWO cemeteries along the Freedom Trail (and we're not fans of anything along the Freedom Trail).

All right, that's all! Talk to you when I return from my fabulous vacation! :-D

2007-09-06T08:33:00.000-04:00

Sorry to keep you all in suspense last week. I meant to write as soon as I got back from the Poconos, but I've been exhausted. As Cat astutely figured out, though, I did put pictures up on Flickr, so I wasn't a total tease. :-)

Anyhow, I did in fact buy a new car. Here is my old car, sitting in front of my apartment for the last time, looking sad that I'm about to trade her in:

She had 69,001 miles on her when I finally turned her off at the dealership (ohh, the irony on that one, if only I could have managed to not drive that extra mile AT SOME POINT in the last six years):

And her is the shiny new car:

The shiny new car is a 2008 Mazda3 (Mazda Mazda3, I guess? That sounds kind of silly to say, though). If I knew much about cars, I could tell you the fun features on this one, but I don't, so you can just check it out on the site, if you want (I got the i Touring version). The features I DO care about include the moonroof, 6 CD changer (along with a place to plug in my iPod, if it was working and I had the right cord), the car saying hello to me and the largest glove compartment I've ever seen. It also has cruise control and keyless entry, which to most people I think seem pretty standard but they are NOT on cars like my old one. I also have anti-lock brakes and some side-impact air bags of some sort (you would think that one of these days I would pick up on car stuff, but I'm convinced I never will).

I have been talking about getting a car (this car, as a matter of fact) for awhile now. A few weeks ago, I even said that I hoped it would happen by the end of next year. The reason I moved up the timeline was I was in a position where I needed to put a good amount of maintenance into my car before driving it to Pennsylvania for the weekend, and it just wasn't worth the cost involved. So, I used that money to buy a new car instead. :-) I purchased it last Sunday, and picked it up Friday. The suspense last week had to do with not blogging about it until I had pictures, and because I was having some title problems with the old car (I had the title, but the car was in both my name and my mom's name, my mom is in Illinois and the dealership was telling me the wrong things) - I was afraid something was going to go terribly wrong if I was too optimistic.

But everything went according to plan, the car was picked up without a hitch and I drove it to Pennsylvania. The trip out there was a learning experience - the car is a little bit bigger than I'm used to, the brakes/accelerator are more sensitive, the sun was in my eye, my tailbone injury was acting up because of the extended sitting period and there was traffic - but the trip back was really smooth and I love cruise control.

I will give both Cat and Dan half-credit on their guesses - Cat for making it her SECOND guess and Dan for exclaiming "I knew it!" when I broke the news Friday night. Half credit is pretty good, considering no one else gets any credit at all, though. :-D

Everyone has been oohing and aahing about my new Mazda, so I guess that's kind of fun. This includes the lady who gave me my resident permit at the Somerville Parking & Traffic office (and if you have ever been to the Somerville Parking & Traffic office, you know these are not the most friendly people in the world).

Here is one more picture, this time with me and my new car, right after I got back from the Poconos on Monday:

2007-08-29T17:40:00.000-04:00

And now onto this past weekend...

I moved to the Boston area/Somerville a little more than three years ago (most of you know this, but it's important for perspective). In that time, my parents have come to visit exactly zero times. I wouldn't say I'm necessarily happy about this. I also haven't seen any of my other relatives in New England since I moved here.... until this past weekend! My mom's older brothers (my Uncle Nick and Uncle Tim) were in Rhode Island for a couple of weeks because Uncle Tim had a job out this way, and I finally was able to meet up with them in Newport, RI.

Newport was lovely. We ate lunch at 22 Bowens Wine Bar & Grill, where they import their beef from Chicago and get their seafood from local waters. Naturally we were there for the seafood (so that I could show my uncles what it tastes like out on the east coast), but it's nice to know they know good beef. ;-)

After lunch, we walked around, staying close to the water so that we could look at the boats. At first, my uncles said Newport was a little too ritzy for blue collar guys like them, but then they saw this:

and others like it, and they seemed to change their tune... apparently, they could get used to owning one of those. :-) I just enjoyed seeing some familiar faces and catching up, as well as being close to the water on a very steamy day. They might be back in the area for more work, and I hope then I can get them up to Boston where I'm in more familiar territory (yes, this probably does mean a little bit of time on the Freedom Trail).

Sunday, I went and did something... significant, but I'm not telling you what it is yet. Ha! If you're going to see me this weekend, you'll find out then; otherwise, it'll have to wait until next week. I don't mean to be a tease (okay, maybe I do)... it's just that the impact right now isn't quite what I want it to be. ;-)

Something I did on Sunday that I can tell you about is play poker. I miss poker so, so much. It was nice to see some faces I haven't seen in several months, and play a game I love. Every time I think about why I don't play every week anymore, I get angry/upset (depending on my mood). But I've told myself I can't go back to the old weekly game until I'm no longer angry/upset. Except then... will I even want to go anymore? This might not be the most logical way of handling things, but I'm at a loss for what else I could do. I lost $7 Sunday night, but it was $7 well spent, as far as I'm concerned.

Moving on... THIS WEEKEND should prove to be a fantastic time. I'm really looking forward to seeing friends I haven't seen in awhile, and to relaxing on the annual Labor Day trip to the Poconos. I've even gone a little crazy with the food preparations, pre-making some parts of the dishes I plan on making (roasted vegetable baked ziti with marinated grilled chicken for dinner one night, and two different types of breakfast strata/casserole for, well, breakfast one morning). I love cooking during this trip, and eating lots of homemade meals, since we're in the middle of nowhere, but I don't want to spend my WHOLE WEEKEND in the kitchen. Hopefully this will be a good compromise. I can't wait!

2007-08-28T14:32:00.000-04:00

I am behind on posting. Let's see if I can start to get caught up.

A little over a week ago I went up to Maine, where I met up with Kristen, Kim, Cheryl and Kristen's mom for the Maine Highland Games. If you're unfamiliar with what the Highland Games are, think bagpipes and men in kilts throwing really heavy objects (there are also women in kilts throwing heavy objects, but that's not the picture I have in my head from the weekend).

For example:

We camped on the grounds where the festival was. This was a little better than I thought it was going to be, but still wasn't the GREATEST night's sleep, either night. I brought fleece pajamas, so I wasn't cold, and thankfully had both flip flops and tennis shoes, because my tennis shoes got soaked overnight. Five people in a tent is surprisingly not that uncomfortable - it's really the hard ground that me.

Saturday morning we went to this cute little diner, and then on to the festival. In addition to the bagpipes, kilts and heavy object throwing, there was a sheepdog herding demonstration, little girl Highland dancers, a little tent with carding, spinning and knitting, highland cattle and lots of "fair" things to buy, including Scottish meat pies. The five of us took part in the haggis hurl and rolling pin toss, and we generally just walked around and looked at all the sites. I enjoyed a Bridie (seasoned meat pie), sweet potato chips I watched them cut on this cool spiral thing and then fry and an apple crisp with ice cream and whipped cream. It was all yummy.

If you want to see more pictures, they're here.

After the festival, we went to play cards at our campsite, and then made a trip to Wal-Mart (where we all found several flavors of Vitamin Water to tempt us) and then to this cool drive-in restaurant. It was fun to have them come to the car, take our order, and then bring the tray out to the car so that we could eat. It was a little cramped in Cheryl's car, but we made do - I had fried clams, which are one of my favorite foods during the summer.

On Sunday, we headed to Freeport to do some shopping, and spent a great deal of time at the L.L. Bean "mall" which was rather impressive. I was happy to get my shopping in there, so that I didn't have to stop in Kittery later on.

All in all, it was a fun weekend with the girls. I think I was a little disappointed, just because I'd heard Kristen, Cheryl and Susan all talk it up so much, and maybe it didn't live up to expectations. But other than the shopping, it was a very inexpensive little trip.

I'll have to write about this past weekend tomorrow....

2007-08-21T17:43:00.001-04:00

Here's a short list (uhh, two items count as a list, right?) of things that have caught my attention today:

25 Hottest Schools - Cornell might be tied for 12th on U.S. News & World Reports annual list of America's Best Colleges 2008, but Newsweek says we're the "Hottest Ivy" and, well, I can't say I disagree. :-) I was about two sentences in when I glanced at the picture, and noticed it was the A.D. White Library at my distinguished alma mater (of course, I couldn't remember the NAME of said library, but I knew it was of a Cornell location!). It made the rest of the article that much more interesting.

passiveagressivenotes.com - Uhh, the name of this one sort of says it all. I think we all have our moments of passive aggressiveness, but some of these are downright hysterical. I particularly enjoyed this one (as did the site readers, it seems) about a guy demanding $76 for the storage of a futon for 10 days, after moving into an apartment 2 days early. In the comments, the original poster weighs in, as does his ex-girlfriend, real life friend, mom and someone pretending to be his dad.

I have photos from the Maine Highland Games that were this past weekend, but I am right now too lazy to put my photos online or write about the weekend. Maybe later this week.

2007-08-16T12:24:00.000-04:00

I stopped posting meme-type things a long time ago, and I'm not about to start up again now. But my friends do post them, and I do participate on their blogs when I feel like it. Kathy had one up last week with song lyrics, which is not my forte, but I did recognize the Ani DiFranco lyrics. And THAT made me look up tour dates.

No, Ani is not coming back to Boston anytime soon, nor will she be anyplace I will be when I'm there (she will be in Italy at some point this fall, but not at the same time as me). But! She put out a CD from the concert I did go to at the Orpheum last November. Since it was only $10, I had to get it (and another one of her CDs, which are pretty reasonably priced with cheap shipping from her record label). It arrived yesterday, a whole four days after I ordered it - nice.

I've been listening to the CDs at work today, and I gotta say, this is WEIRD. Yes, I'm enjoying the music, and I have other CDs of Ani live, but I was at this concert. Except... I don't quite remember everything. So it's a very strange feeling, listening to a couple hours of music/chatter that you actually experienced, exactly this way (except I was in the balcony of the Orpheum sitting in a seat with a loose spring that ripped my cordoroy pants, but those are minor details). But as strange as it is, I am loving it, and I wish she would put out a CD from the concert I went to the next day in Providence, because that was such a fun concert combination of fun - some overlap, but a lot of the older classics (as "classic" as Ani is) appeared in one concert or the other, which was phenomenally good. Yes, a Providence CD would make me very happy.

The production on the CD is very good, by the way. It is of course a live recording, but they did a good job of filtering out the singing of the crowd, which is great AT the concert, but maybe not what you want on a recording.

The only bad thing about the CD is that it's making me relive the emotions I experienced the weekend of the concerts. I was very anxious about, and ended up partly dealing with, something that weekend, and those issues have led to some of the recent turmoil in my life. But I guess that's how life goes sometimes.

2007-08-15T23:38:00.000-04:00

I guess it's time for an update?

It's Restaurant Week here in Boston. I have been hoping for years that my birthday would fall during Restaurant Week, and this year it did... except I had a lot of trouble getting excited about it. However, I finally got my act together, and made a reservation at Harvest in Harvard Square - Jeff, Kristen, Cheryl, Steph, Kathy, Corinne and Ron joined me, and I had a nice time - the company was good and the food and wine were wonderful. I had an heirloom tomato salad, some pork dish which was good but I couldn't tell you what was with it, and a dark chocolate custard (panna cotta, maybe?). I went with the half glass wine pairing, which included a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc (quickly becoming my favorite white wine, if you can believe such a thing exists), a German Reisling and the Banfi red-colored raspberry-infused sparkling wine (which I've had several times). Before dinner I had a cocktail that was called a Ruby Red, but I think it was mostly orange flavored.

I also went out to Pigalle in the Theatre district on Saturday with my roommate and her friends Angie and Chris, and this evening I went to Eastern Standard in Kenmore Square with Corinne, Ron and some of their friends. At Pigalle, I had duck liver terrine, crispy half duckling and a lemon tart with blueberries, all of which I enjoyed very much. The wine we chose was a red Burgundy. And at Eastern Standard, we found out that they were not offering a dinner menu for Restaurant Week, but we went ahead with the reservation anyway. We split a cheese platter as an appetizer, and then I had veal schnitzel, which was really tasty. Thanks to the Pigalle and Eastern Standard meals, I have developed quite a taste for sparkling water - that stuff is really delicious.

Friday ended up being the perfect day to use many of my birthday presents. Kathy got me a "Remover of Obstacles" candle, which has a picture of Ganesh on it. Jeff and Kristen gave me a tea set (with a tea pot and little tea cups), which is great because I've been wanting one for awhile, and this one is beautiful. And Steph gave me rose petal-infused black tea and two types of chocolate - lavender and blueberries, and dark chocolate. These were quite complimentary gifts, and all by people who don't know each other! I guess they know me, though. Since it was so cool on Friday, I lit my candle and drank my new tea out of my new teapot. My other presents included an electronic translator from my parents and an Italian travel book and map from Kim - those will come in handy very soon. :-)

The apartment is coming together, all though it's quite a mess. We finally have curtains up in the dining room, and it only took me two years! I've also started to drink more wine - my tolerance seems to have gone out the window the last several months, and I want to make sure I can drink as much wine as I want when I go to Italy (I leave in less than a month!).

Otherwise, work sucks, and there's a lot of it. There's talk of a potential promotion in my future, but I'm not holding my breath. Committing myself to staying for six months might not have been my best idea ever - it didn't seem like so long when I decided that's what I was going to do, but it's only been four, and those have been excruciating. I gotta figure out what to do at some point, but I'm so not motivated right now.

I'm looking forward to a couple of adventures, I guess you might say, in the coming weeks, so at least there's that. This weekend I'm going to the Highland Games in Maine with Kristen, Cheryl and Kim. Then Labor Day weekend will be the annual trip to the Poconos, which I'm really looking forward to. Plus Italy. If I get my way, next week will be my last full week of work until October, and THAT is definitely something to look forward to.

This entry has only served to remind to me to look forward to things. It's sad that I need so many reminders lately. :-/

2007-08-02T12:23:00.000-04:00

A random set of things....

I finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows a little less than 11 hours after it arrived on my doorstep (I had no trouble with my Amazon.com preorder). I have some thoughts on it, but I'm waiting to really discuss until I've reread it, which won't come until I've reread the other six books (I'm on Chamber of Secrets right now). It took me about 3 pages into DH to realize I'd forgotten A LOT - I'm hoping the rereads will allow things to make sense. Overall I'm satisfied.

I stumbled upon this New York Times article sometime last week, called, "101 Simple Meals Ready in 10 Minutes or Less," and it's GREAT. Lots of recipe ideas (uhh, 101 of them) and it's perfect for the humid weather we've been having (hello, August and July). I wish I'd gotten a chance to write about it before it went into the NYT archives, but if you don't have a Times Select account and are REALLY INTERESTED in this, I might have printed it to a pdf. :-) I've been trying to both cook and stay out of the kitchen, which is a difficult task (uhh, I wish I'd remembered to NOT make risotto in the heat), and this helps a lot. Mmm, food.

My roommate and I have been watching a lot of Law & Order this summer, while nothing much else is on (which is of course entirely a work of fiction). And I'd like to think I care about women's rights without being fanatical. So I'm both fascinated and appalled by this case out of Nebraska, where a woman who was sexually assaulted was forbidden to use the words "rape," "victim," or "assailant" during the trial. I want more information before give any more of an opinion on it (and I haven't had much time to hunt down the information), but wow, everything I've heard so far makes my stomach turn.

I don't talk a lot about knitting here anymore, because I've moved all of that content over to my knitting blog, but there are a couple of things going on that I think might interest other people. One of them is Ravelry, which, while still in beta, is going to be this HUGE knitting community/resource, where participants can input all of their projects/yarn stash/needles/knitting books, search for ideas/help/other local or faraway knitters, and of course network and discuss knitting to their heart's content on their message boards. I got my invite (because it's in beta and everyone wants to be a part, there's a waiting list) last Friday, and have already spent many hours inputting all of my stuff. This is interesting to me not only because it's my hobby, but also from my perspective of working for a company very interested in word-of-mouth marketing and social media. As far as I'm concerned, this site is a marketer's DREAM and I'm interested in seeing where it goes. And this site is big enough to have made some waves over at TechCrunch.

The other knitting-related thing is something called "Mystery Stole 3," hosted by a knitblogger and designer, that has more than 6,000 participants (yes, I am participating and it's a lot of fun - you get a set of "clues" or instructions to knit, and you don't know what it is your knitting other than that it will be a stole and there is a theme). The "knitalong" is being hosted on Yahoo Groups, and apparently there are so many of us that we managed to temporarily "break" Yahoo Groups when we all tried to download a clue at the same time. I wish I could find an article on that, but I know that someone at USA Today interviewed Melanie, who is hosting the knitalong, so if I ever stumble upon that, I'll be sure to post it. Apparently it's a BIG community. :-)

July ended up being a big baking month for me. I made two batches of cookies, two blueberry pies, banana bread and sour cream blueberry muffins (and I still have a ton of blueberries in my fridge from blueberry picking with Kim and Patrick - which means more baked goods and probably some freezing this weekend). This is ironic, given my desire to stay OUT of my kitchen, but oh well. Baking was very comforting. And here's a nice blueberry pie picture:

I saw the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company's performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream on Sunday. Now, I've gone to Shakespeare on the Common every year since I moved here (this my fourth performance), and while it's always a good time to some extent - you have to get there early to get a good view, so bringing a blanket, food and knitting/a good book makes it more enjoyable for me - this was not my favorite performance. It was just.... weird. This is a little disappointing, because last year's performance of The Taming of the Shrew was phenomenal. Still, I hope it continues, because it's one of my favorite summer activities.

My passport came on the same day as Harry Potter, and I paid for my trip last week, so now I can really get excited about Italy. I need to start thinking about things to buy for the trip (comfy shoes, clothes, etc...). At some point I'm also going to solicit addresses for postcards. :-)

I started my Christmas shopping a few weeks ago. I know, I know, it's early, but it turns out this way it's more fun - I actually have time to consider what people might want and what would make a great gift. Plus, I can spread out some of the cost. I've been doing quite a bit of shopping on Etsy, and I'm going to have to leave it to another post to go into some of the fun things I've found on there. It's hard not to buy a ton for myself, but I already have a bad yarn habit and I've got this trip coming up, so I'm trying to have some self control.

I've now been to five Red Sox games this year (my roommate and I went to the game against the Orioles on Tuesday). Despite their stellar record, I've now seen them lose 4 out of 5 games this year - depressing - and this is after they won all 5 games I saw last year! At least, as of this moment, the Cubs are tied for first place in their division, so I'm not terribly upset. :-)

I think that pretty much sums up what's been grabbing my attention the last few weeks, while I've been overwhelmed with work. I'm really hoping August will be busy with things other than writing reports (which might make for a less gloomy Liz). We'll see.

2007-07-18T10:19:00.001-04:00

Let's see, how about a quick update to say hello? Hello.

I have thought about writing over the past couple of days (I like to update at least once a week, really), but there hasn't been much to say. I've been working A LOT. I wake up and do a little work before going into work. Then I come home and do some more work. When I'm not working, I'm thinking about how I probably should be working. Or I'm preparing food/eating/sleeping. It's really not that exciting.

I did manage to make my blueberry pie Monday night, and it is delicious. This weekend I will probably make banana bread. The baking urge continues!

I THINK this weekend I get a break, which is good because of Harry Potter. I plan on spending all day Saturday (starting whenever the book arrives) and then as much of Sunday as I need reading the book. The posts on other blogs I read amuse me, as everyone warns everyone else not to spoil them. I myself am not that worried about being spoiled (I'm working too much to dig around the internet), and while I plan to have the whole book read by the end of the weekend, rest assured, I will not be posting spoilers here. :-)

I should probably get back to work now....

2007-07-14T08:46:00.000-04:00

Good news: When my roommate has had a bad week, she has the same idea as me: gin and tonics, and baked goods. I got to try Hendricks gin last night, which is quite good.

Bad news: All of my weeks are bad lately. :-(

2007-07-11T12:05:00.001-04:00

For some reason, I've had an incredible urge to bake lately. I don't know why. It's summer, which means it's warm and baking is, well, not the thing to do. But it's summer, and fruit is in season, so that' s what I want to do - bake with fresh fruit. Plus I've deprived myself of most sweets, so I need to make my own.

Last night I made a blueberry clafouti (because I knew you were going to ask) - this is what you do when blueberries are buy 1 pint, get 2 free. :-) Next week, I might make a blueberry pie, if blueberries are still on sale. I made one three years ago, and haven't made one since, but they are super easy (if you are like me, and don't know how to make pie crust, and have no desire to learn). Last night, I also made more espresso ice cream "batter" (I'm not sure what you'd call this - it's the concoction you put in the ice cream maker, otherwise known as unfrozen, or "melted" ice cream). I'll freeze it when I get home tonight.

The other exciting thing that happened yesterday is that I got my new car insurance policy. This probably doesn't sound exciting to you, but it is to me - my premium was cut in half, due to incidents from September and November 2001 FINALLY coming off of my record. This puts me one step closer to being able to buy a new car (next year, maybe? I think that's what I'm aiming for right now - sometime in 2008).

I am STILL waiting for some scripts to finish running at work so that I may get to MY work. My frustration grows every minute. This is ridiculous and not conducive to creating happy employees (I'm not sure that any exist right now).

2007-07-10T17:14:00.000-04:00

I hate my job, I hate my job, you have no idea how much I hate my job right now. I put in extra hours Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday and Sunday in order to get reports out on time. Only to come in today (or rather, wake up today and check my email) to learn that nearly all of that work has to be redone. And I cannot start until tomorrow. Not only did I waste my time this weekend, but now I'll probably have to work even more this weekend to have any chance at getting my work done in a timely manner. Grrr...

Anyhow, because I was stuck with very little to do today, I managed to upload my photos from the pirate/ghost boat ride onto Flickr. This is my favorite one:

I do not have the steadiest hands in the world (this is probably an understatement to how badly my hands shake), so I have a lot of trouble taking even okay photos at night, because of the long exposure time when not using flash. When I have the opportunity, I like to set the camera on a flat surface, because then it is not subject to my shaking hands. To take this picture, I set the camera on the rails of the boat, and did not touch it while it took the picture. The angle is from the boat, and the blurriness of the Boston skyline is also due to the boat - we were moving that fast. I love this picture. :-)

I also forgot to mention in yesterday's post the number of fireworks displays we saw, from all around the Harbor. Kathy said that we could have only possibly seen three from where we were, but we must have seen more - her list (which did include Lynn) did not have anything from the south shore on it, and there were definitely fireworks in that direction.

Back to twiddling my thumbs until 6pm... :-/

2007-07-09T03:15:00.001-04:00

I have been meaning to write a blog post for a few days now (really, I've been writing it in my head), and I'm having a ridiculous amount of trouble falling asleep tonight (I supposedly went to bed nearly four hours ago) so I figured now is as good of a time as any.

There's a lot of work going on right now. I suppose I could not kill myself in the evenings and on the weekend, but I'm not all that efficient at work, and work is usually a little more satisfying when I'm delivering reports on time (which would require extra hours even if I was more efficient), so that's what I've been doing. It will not make for a very social July, but hopefully August will calm down, and I don't work a full week in September, so there are things to look forward to.

The "pirate" tour of the Boston Harbor (officially titled Harboring Boston's Mysteries Sail) was a lot of fun. It was on the Liberty Clipper, one of the Liberty Fleet of Tall Ships, and the weather was wonderful Tuesday night - a little colder on the boat than I expected (I even had a sweater!) but altogether a very nice night. The captain was entertaining, the Freedom Trail people who narrated the mysteries were fun (the guy, whose real last name is Poops, had no idea what he was doing and the girl, playing John Hancock's wife, did but let the other guy make a fool of himself), and it was generally nice to be out in the harbor on a boat - I like boats. :-) We did happen upon a party boat blasting Jay-Z and Beyonce, causing Mrs. Hancock to make a comment about "Colonial Girls Gone Wild" (though she had too much trouble trying to rip open her bodice), and Mr. Poops was unable to talk about Edgar Allen Poe and Fort Independence - so the captain of the boat fired the cannons on the party boat. :-) I have pictures, but I need to sort through them and then upload - a lot did not come out well because it was night and my camera doesn't do night photography very well. And I now really want to visit Fort Independence and reread "The Cask of Amontillado". And while I also really would like to try the Boston Cream Pie (mmm, drunk pie) at the Omni Parker House, I do not want to spend much more time there than I have to. :-)

Speaking of ghosts, I seem to have one of my own! Or at least, it's the only explanation I have for something. Several times, I have been sitting in my living room, knitting and watching TV, when I will smell smoke, as if someone is smoking. And this someone is smoking all sorts of things - cloves, pipe tobacco, pot - apparently it is quite the connoisseur! This smell does not make any sense, though, as I'm inside and no one is smoking in here. One explanation would be that it's from the open windows, since there are fans blowing air into the house. But for me to smell smoke from an actual pipe or cigarette would require, I think, someone to be smoking on my porch (which would also be strange - I think my landlord smokes on occasion, but he's out of town right now). So I've decided it must be a ghost. Kathy, who has also experienced the smell of cloves, but from my kitchen, thinks maybe my ghost likes to throw ghost parties, because it is unusual for one person/other worldly being to smoke that many different things. I am fine with the cloves and pipe tobacco, but would rather it/they lay off the pot - I really don't like the smell.

In more random news, my apartment looks like a craft store exploded, due to my knitting and my roommate's scrapbooking. It's nice to have discovered my roommate is into crafts, though, because it makes me feel less guilty about all the yarn around the place.

V8 Fusion is not nearly as good as V8 Splash.

Ohh, I really wish that I'm now able to get a few hours of sleep - it's going to be a long week!

2007-07-02T09:43:00.000-04:00

Weekend was very low key - my roommate was away and I was home by myself the whole time. This is probably pretty good, because I was in a really crappy mood on Friday, and the me time is always helpful. Plus, I got a lot done! I cleaned the kitchen (dishes, counters, swept the floor), swept and washed the floor in the bathroom, did laundry, straightened up the living room, and swept the dining room and the living room. Plus, there was cooking/baking: I made two batches of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies (some with and some without pecans - turns out the pecans don't really add anything to the cookie - they don't take anything away, but they don't add anything), espresso ice cream (Ina Garten's recipe), Monte Cristos (I had wanted to get one if we'd found a diner last Saturday night in NJ, but alas, diners were evading us) and a BLT. There was going to be my chicken couscous salad as well, but I never got around to it, and that's okay - I'll make it tonight. Plus, knitting (of course) and I finally started making my way through my DVDs of The West Wing (I'm a little more than halfway through the first season). My landlord also came by to fix the sink and he helped me install my air conditioner correctly (turns out I had no idea what I was doing) - and I informed him of the mouse problem, so hopefully if everyone is trying to combat it, they'll go away (I've taken care of 4 so far). Oh, oh, and I also did a small amount of (job) work.

Phew! One other thing is that I downloaded Demetri's pictures from Scott and Julie's wedding, which led to me downloading pictures from Jeff and Kristen's wedding (yeah, I'm really behind - while I'm at it, I should go back and see if I can still download pictures from Adam and Catherine's wedding, which was 3 years ago). Those pictures, combined with Kathy finally passing on this link (I have linked directly to the picture, instead of the array of photos, so you don't have to scan through looking for someone you know/me) made me realize this:

Photos of me are only taken at weddings and baseball games.

I may have to create an album somewhere.

This week will probably be interesting, what with work picking up because it's July and the holiday right in the middle of the week. I'm going on some pirate tour of the Boston Harbor (really, that's all I know, wish I could tell you more at this point) with Kathy tomorrow night, which should be fun, and then maybe a birthday party on Friday. Maybe more apartment cleaning (next up: my room!) this weekend, if work doesn't interfere.

By the way, if you want to take some of the oatmeal chocolate chip cookies off my hands, please let me know - I do not want to eat them all myself (two batches equal approximately 9 dozen cookies).

2007-06-26T11:29:00.000-04:00

All of the pictures from the weekend/Scott and Julie's wedding are up on Flickr, in case you're interested.

The wedding was lovely. It was outdoors, at basically a country club with lots of yachts near the shore. The weather was perfect. Some personal touches made it really special, everything went well and it looked like Scott and Julie had a wonderful time. The "international coffee station" was my favorite touch - coffee with whatever kind of booze you could think to mix it with (I had coffee and Godiva liquor, with a touch of Bailey's).

I generally enjoyed my brief trip to New Jersey. Dan came up to where I was to visit Saturday night, and while we couldn't find a diner (someone tell me how this is possible), we did have a nice drive looking for one (there are some really nice houses in that area) and dinner in what appeared to be downtown Red Bank was pleasant enough. Meeting up with Kathy, Demetri, et al. was at first hard to coordinate, but we eventually all agreed to drive out to Point Pleasant and hang out on the boardwalk. I'm happy to have been able to go to "The Shore" while I was there (plus custard and salt water taffy, though no skee ball). Seth drove me back to my hotel, so that Dan could head back south to his dad's. And then the wedding Sunday. I had gotten a ride to New Jersey from Corinne and Ron, and we agreed to take Demetri back to New Rochelle on our way home. We stopped to buy Yuengling on our way out.

And that's when the trip turned disastrous.

Okay, that's maybe a little too dramatic. Traffic on the Garden State Parkway was horrendous, though, and it took us 4 hours to leave New Jersey. Demetri felt terrible (we would have gone a different way, getting us out of some of the traffic, if we weren't bringing him home), Ron was cranky, Corinne was quiet and I was terribly uncomfortable with no leg room. The ride was smooth sailing after the GW Bridge (Demetri took us by way of the Henry Hudson, where there was no traffic, unlike 95, and then we took the Merritt through Connecticut), but I didn't get home until 1:30am (we left the reception at 5:00pm, when it ended). That is not how Sunday was supposed to go.

But now it's over! And it's HOT in New England this week. But, good news, Steph owns an air conditioner and has no qualms about using it, so I installed mine (which hasn't been used in nearly 3 years) last night, and am so happy I did. I may be spending more time in my room in the next coupla days. :-P

2007-06-23T23:59:00.000-04:00

I am blogging from New Jersey, which I think I've done before. I am pretty sleepy, so I will not be writing a terrible amount right now.

Left Boston/Somerville around 9am this morning. There was Dunkin' Donuts, New York style pizza, Petsmart, AC Moore, New City, New York, the Garden State Parkway, my hotel room in Red Bank, a place called the Murphy Style Grill for dinner, nice houses, Point Pleasant Beach, the Jenkinson Boardwalk, sand, salt water taffy and frozen custard. And I did a lot of knitting in the car (so far today I've had three people drive me around, I'm happy to have left my car at home).

Other than not making it to Elizabeth (I'll post later about why I want to go there), I think my New Jersey weekend is pretty much complete (except, ohh yeah, Scott and Julie's wedding, which is why I'm down here in the first place - but that's tomorrow).

2007-06-12T14:46:00.000-04:00

Mmmm, Tuesday. How I wish it was later in the week already!

Weekend was okay. Friday I played poker at Natalie and Kevin's. It was sort of an interesting invite for me, because I did not have Natalie's number in my phone, so when she text messaged me (it was a group text message, which means it followed allowable rules), I had no idea who was inviting me to play poker at their place! It ended up being pretty easy to figure out though (she'd mentioned it the last time I saw her, the address, etc...). I brought a bottle of Asti (the one Cat gave me on Monday, so it was quickly consumed!) - Natalie and I went through that AND a bottle Natalie ran next door to buy very quickly. This was of course fun while we were drinking it but did not make for good poker playing later in the evening! I lost $40 on the night. We also ordered sushi, and after I came out of the tournament (tied for fifth out of nine), watched the WORST MOVIE EVER (probably not, but it was pretty bad) - Music and Lyrics. Natalie has a nice place, and I like that the core group from the free poker game has started to get together more often for house games (even though I haven't been able to make it to many).

Saturday... I have not been that tired in a LONG TIME. I got home around 3am Friday night and went straight to bed. I woke up around 9:30am, was up for about 5 minutes before I decided that I couldn't function, and went back to bed - I woke up again at 1:30pm. And I dragged all day! At 5:30pm, I took a nap until 8pm and then went to bed before midnight - it was ridiculous. Sunday was a little better, but I didn't do a whole lot. At least I had knitting to do, but even that was difficult on Saturday - crazy. I don't think it was the alcohol, because just a bottle of sparkling wine should not have that effect the next day.

Yesterday I had dinner with Kim and her family, as well as Patrick, Jeff and Kristen. We ate Vietnamese food in Harvard Square (parking took me half an hour, probably because of some event at Urban Outfitters), which was really delicious. Kim's dad was so cute - he said he was worried that Kim would be lonely when she moved here, but now that he's met us he knows that's not true! Aww... While I'm usually a little apprehensive about it (due to my generally antisocial nature), meeting my friends' parents is usually a good time.

Thursday I'm going to the Red Sox game with Kathy, and then hopefully Kristen and I will play tennis this weekend (Jeff thinks it will never happen, and I'm determined to make sure it does, if only to prove him wrong), so it should be a decently busy week coming up.

2007-06-08T11:28:00.000-04:00

Have I mentioned my hatred for text messages before? I feel like I'm telling everybody these days, as people start using them more and more. They are awful.

This does not mean I do not find them useful, because they can be. Trying to get a message to multiple people? Text messages let you do that! Communicating with someone in a loud place, or you are in a loud place? Use a text message! They are also great for communicating with people who are traveling via T (or subway), because of reception issues. And if you have exactly one thing to tell someone, and it doesn't require a response, a text message is a perfectly acceptable form of communication.

BUT! I do not want to have a conversation via text messages. It's time consuming and costly - pick up the damn phone and have a 45 second conversation. I also do not want to receive a text message from someone in the same room as me. It's stupid. If you think I'm in the car, driving, a text message is not the ideal way to communicate with me - I think it's much safer to answer my phone than to look at a text message. And let's not even get into how I'm going to respond to you (I'm not stupid enough to type a text message while driving - I'm going to call, which means you should have called me in the first place). Plus, my "friends" at Verizon Wireless like to raise the price on text messages without any notification (if you don't have a text message plan, you might have noticed the increase from $.10 to $.15 a few months ago). And the icing on the cake occurred yesterday - text message spam! Grrr....

I recognize that most people now have text message packages that let them send unlimited (or nearly that) messages every month, and they have cute this phones with QWERTY keyboards. Good for you. But I don't have one of those phones (nor do I want one) or a text message plan (and I don't want one of those, either). I'm fine with many other forms of communication - AIM, Google Chat, email, as well as a simple, quick phone conversation (I promise I'm not going to keep you on the line forever) - why can't I get the point across that I'd like to keep my text messages to a minimum?

2007-06-05T13:01:00.001-04:00

I uploaded pictures from Friday night's Yankees at Red Sox game to Flickr, in case anyone is interested. Unfortunately, my camera died midway through the game, and I didn't capture a lot of the exciting things (Joe Torre arguing with the third base umpire, Torre getting thrown out, the message that Don Mattingly had replaced him), the bench-clearing "brawl" in the bottom of the ninth, etc...). The game was fun, even though the Red Sox lost 9-5.

Before the game, Kathy and I met up with Scott and Julie, which was nice, because I hadn't seen them since December. We also walked with them back to Cambridge after the game (their tickets were in the upper bleachers).

Sunday I was supposed to play tennis with Kristen, Natalie and Kim, but instead I went to The Neighborhood for brunch with Jeff, Kristen and Natalie. After bringing cod cakes to Sally's, drinking very large mimosas and meeting up with Kim, we headed to Everett to do some shopping. Not terribly exciting, but a reasonably relaxing day.

Last night Cat was in town (on her way up to Maine for 2 1/2 weeks of research), so Kathy stopped by on her way back from her internship in Lowell. We ordered Chinese food from "the best Chinese food place in Somerville." I cut way back on the amount of food I order from that place, so it was a nice treat. Otherwise, I was kinda tired and in no mood to be a great hostess, so Cat and I just watched TV and chatted the rest of the night. She also brought me a bottle of Asti, which was nice of her.

My life is boring. But! This summer I'm hoping to help plan or participate in a couple of dinner parties (fondue, sushi, Land Air and Sea Take 2) and I really really REALLY want to play tennis some time. I'd love to play regularly, but I just don't think I'll be able to find anyone motivated enough to join me. Maybe some time at the beach this summer, too? Who knows, but I want to start making plans. :-)

2007-05-30T16:17:00.000-04:00

Memorial Day Weekend, a Photo Essay

(not really)

Uncovering Pulp Fiction, one of the exhibits Kathy helped put together as part of one of her Public Humanities classes at Brown:

Here's the part of the exhibit Kathy worked on:

Students for Democratic Society: A Graphic History (Kathy's other exhibit - this one is touring):

WaterFire in Downtown Providence (the guy in the green shirt is Demetri, and yes, I realized the lens on my camera needed to be cleaned):

WaterFire is when they light a ton of bonfires on the rivers. There's music and food and some festival-type things with lots of people. As Kathy said, it's art. Demetri was whelmed.

You can take a variety of boat rides around the bonfires! We considered doing this, but never followed through. Kathy and I also wanted to buy funny hats, but Demetri wasn't willing to go along with that.

Monday night at the Red Sox game: Curt Schilling pitched, which is always a treat.

A servicewoman sings "God Bless America" during the 7th inning stretch:

Monday marked Trot Nixon's return to Fenway Park (he's an Indian now). I swear he could do no wrong (single, strike, score, bat, catch a fly ball, etc...), and for awhile, Kathy and I were counting the number of "9's". Jonathan Papelbon is warming up in the background.

Now Jonathan Papelbon is pitching, and making us sweat out the 9th inning:

Our seats were supposedly "obstructed" but all I really couldn't see was home plate, and I could see it if I leaned forward (as you can see from this photo):

Red Sox come away with the win in the end (and I finish playing with the digital zoom on my camera):

This weekend also involved making nearly a gallon of marinara sauce (some of which went into baked ziti last night, and the rest is hanging out in the freezer), finishing some awesome kneehigh socks/stockings and poker at Jeff and Kristen's Monday afternoon (Kristen made my couscous! Jen brought raspberry lambic!). There were seven of us, and when I had to leave for the Red Sox game, there were still four of us - Natalie took over for me and I hear she came in third (no money but still better than if I'd just forfeited my chips when I had to leave).

Thinking back, it was the most laid back Memorial Day weekend since the one right after my freshman year of college. That is insane.

2007-05-22T16:27:00.001-04:00

Whatever it was that made me feel so terrible for five days seems to have passed, though I am still pretty damn tired. That is less unusual, though.

Because I was sick, though, I have very little to report. I spent pretty much five solid days on my couch. I stayed home Wednesday and Thursday, and then managed to get myself into work on Friday - only to leave after lunch time (four hours is a respectable day, right?). I skipped Kim's Sushi Party on Saturday, because I was pretty certain I would have a lousy time (and I didn't want to risk contaminating anyone). I did a lot of knitting (shocker).

Yesterday I did have a fantastic time catching a mouse. My roommate and I decided to at least initially use catch-and-release traps for our exterminating needs. These are the stupidest traps ever, but I put them out Sunday night anyway, pretty certain no mouse would be dumb enough to fall for them, even for some delicious peanut butter. Yesterday morning, one of the traps was closed, but it felt light, and again, are the mice really that dumb? I opened it up and a mouse was staring at me! Yikes! That thing got closed pretty quickly (and I screamed, I'll admit it). So, despite running late, I took the trap outside, ready to free my new little friend. Apparently, he liked that trap, though, because he wouldn't leave! Really? I buy traps that cause no harm, and then bring the poor thing out into the sunshine, and he does not want to leave his small little cage? I should have just killed him. Not knowing what to do, I brought the trap back inside (I had to get to work and could not quickly think of a way to keep the trap open). My coworkers think I'm insane. Luckily, all day in that dark, tiny space seemed to freak the mouse out enough, because he seemed to be shaking when I picked the trap up after work. I waited until dark, and he pretty quickly fled the trap. Unfortunately, he fled straight towards the house, so I'm sure he'll find his way in again (there's got to be some opening that allows them to come in through the basement - I wonder if it's just a reality of living on the first floor of an old house). We might have to kill the rodents, after all.

Today was a department lunch to celebrate the end of the reporting period. We all had some sort of drink with lunch (Oyster Bay Sauvignon Blanc for me, to go with my Calypso Shrimp) and split a dessert eight ways. Very strange to be having a drink during the work day like that. Apparently we're planning to start cocktail hour really early on Friday, which will be fun.

It looks like Saturday could involve a trip to Providence to see Kathy's exhibits, with other guests and festivities. Should be fun. I otherwise have no Memorial Day Weekend plans right now.

Life otherwise feels pretty dull lately. Not sure if it's just a lull, or me feeling kinda down, being sick or something else. Hopefully it'll pass soon.

2007-05-18T20:28:00.000-04:00

Hahahaha, this is what I get for thinking my life sucks. Of course, it sorta started to suck even more! I've been sick since Tuesday night, and haven't really slept since then (or eaten solid food, come to think of it), which is not helping. Sore throat, swollen glands, fever (which finally broke yesterday, but came back briefly this morning), fatigue, nausea, etc... You know things must be bad when I have some really delicious chocolate cake in the fridge that I cannot eat because of the sore throat. I am HOPING that I'm finally coming around to being better, though I was hoping that yesterday and it turned out not to be the case. I was "working from home" Wednesday and Thursday, and only made it through four hours today. I'm glad it's the weekend. It's unfortunate that normal drugs don't knock me out, because I could use some sleep. And a clean apartment - everything here is a mess because I spend nearly all of my time on the couch (television and knitting, I guess it could be worse).

I will stop complaining now, and get back to resting...

2007-05-15T17:22:00.000-04:00

A few brief things... it looks like (at least according to the website) the dates for the Italy trip are guaranteed, so everything should be set. I'm looking forward to my passport arriving. I ate at Out of the Blue in Davis Square with my roommate on Saturday, cute little place. I had a Caprese-like salad and seafood risotto, and we enjoyed a nice white whine from Crete. Interestingly enough, I drank the red Greek wine I had from a Christmas present later on that night, so it was a very Greek wine filled night. The red wine had an aftertaste of marshmallows. I went back to poker last Wednesday for the first time in a month, which was nice, and I took second place, which was nice, but I won't be going back again for at least a few more weeks. I'm seriously wondering if I should give up the game entirely, even though I really love it.

Other than that... I am having a really tough time with some things. I will not be going into any detail at all here, and honestly, have realized that I shouldn't go into detail with anyone, really, just because of the nature of my problems. But yeah, things are rough. So if I seem out of it or distant or reclusive, you'll know why. I wish I knew how to make things better and when that can happen. But I don't.

2007-05-07T10:50:00.000-04:00

This weekend was rather dull, but I did manage to get a few things done that had been on my list forever....

First, I submitted my passport application. I am not sure why this was causing me so much stress, because it was rather painless. I went to the Somerville Post Office and I think it took all of 5 minutes. It has been the one thing that has really held me back from wanting to do international travel, and, um, I'm not sure why. Anyhow, I should have my passport in 6-10 weeks.

I also broke down the giant box in my kitchen from my wine fridge. Again, this might not seem like much of an accomplishment, but that box had been sitting there for over a year. Yikes. I replaced the box with the wine fridge, so it now sits right next to my roommate's wine fridge, and makes us look like alcoholics. This may not be so far from the truth - Saturday night I drank an entire bottle of Chianti on my own, and I wasn't even trying to. At one point, I went to pour myself another glass, and realized there was only one glass left in the bottle, so I might as well finish it. Ahh well.

And some of you may remember me talking about donating all of my loose change to charity. Well, it took several months, but I finally got around to taking all of the change to a Coinstar machine (also a ridiculously easy errand, given that they are in every grocery store I go to). Here is what $10.36 looks like in pennies:

And here's what $75.90 looks like in quarter, dimes, nickels and a single dollar coin:

So a total of $86.26 went to the American Red Cross from approximately 2 years (maybe a little less) of my pocket change.

So nothing terribly exciting this weekend (I did go out for a couple of glasses of wine last night, making me not quite a total hermit) but things got done and that's fine by me.

2007-05-04T15:16:00.000-04:00

All right, I need to stop spending money if I want to have money for the Italy trip. Not buying yarn during Lent worked pretty well, so, after a month of a complete free for all (lots of books and yarn), I'm grinding it to a halt again. I apply for my passport tomorrow (hopefully) and that's supposed to take about 10 weeks. So no yarn until my passport arrives. I will then allow one yarn purchase for myself as a birthday present and a few skeins to make other birthday presents (what I have in mind won't require a lot of yarn). And that should get me through until the trip.

The other shopping vice I have is clothes. I don't think I need anything right now (just ordered a bunch of flipflops and a long-sleeve cashmere t-shirt), so we'll also say no clothes until my passport arrives. Then I'll reassess.

2007-05-03T11:13:00.000-04:00

There's not a whole lot to report here. I have been trying to maintain a schedule that consists of sleeping, working, cooking, eating, knitting and walking. I watch a lot of TV, too. I know it's not exciting, but it's what I need right now.

This weekend I did try to venture out of the apartment. Friday night I went over to Corinne's for a small little party. We ordered pizza from Pizza Regina and played Apples to Apples. Saturday night I went out with my roommate and her college friends to PA's Lounge in Union Square - her college friends apparently follow this band called Township that we saw. The balance was off, but the band was pretty good. Since we were in Union Square, Steph and I stopped into Sally's for a little bit. I hadn't been in there in weeks, and Jeff and Kristen happened to be there, so in a way it was good to be back, but it was also a little weird. And Sunday I went out to dinner with Corinne and others to Kowloon (we had a gift certificate to spend from when we went to the Phantom Gourmet Food Festival). When we went for Ron's birthday, he got all this sushi that looked so good, so that's what I got - Spider Maki (with soft-shell crab) and Black Rolls (plus a set of tuna rolls). I really enjoyed the sushi.

That's about it. This weekend is Somerville Open Studios, so I may try and check some of that out, but I'm not sure. I am aiming to get my passport application taken care of on Saturday, so hopefully I can get myself out of bed and dressed in time to do that.

2007-04-25T09:55:00.000-04:00

Monday night I went to the Red Sox game (v. the Toronto Blue Jays) with Corinne, Jen and Lindsay (all Dove people, or at least currently). It was nice to see them - I hadn't seen anyone (Corinne included) since I was laid off - and it was also a fantastically wonderful night to be at a baseball game. Seats were in the Infield Grandstand, but on the left towards the center, and they were awesome! Here are some pictures:

The Red Sox lost, but that's what happens sometimes. I'm looking forward to the other games I'm going to this season.

In other news, my roommate and I put down a deposit on the trip to Italy! One of the things I have on my list to do for next week is get a passport, because it appears this trip is definitely happening. Right now, we're booked on the trip that runs September 13th through September 24th, but there's a chance that trip won't happen (it might not fill up), in which case we'd hope to get on the September 20th through October 1st trip. The dates of the first trip are way better for me, though, so I hope that works out. I'm starting to get really excited. :-)

And... we apparently have a mouse. *sigh* Looks like some heavy cleaning/traps in the kitchen are in our future. I haven't seen the thing (my roommate got to see him scurry from the kitchen sink into the stove yesterday morning) but that could be what's been getting into some of my food in the pantry (it's easy to tell which food and I always just throw it away). Mice are not fun.

Back to work and daydreaming about Italy... :-)

2007-04-21T16:17:00.000-04:00

Today it's 75 degrees, so I decided I had to get out of the house for a little while. I went to knit in my favorite outdoor spot, and get some sunshine. It was wonderful (though limited - stupid tailbone).

I also opened some of the windows in the apartment. It's nice to have some sunshine in here.

I have had more time for knitting lately (the past 2 weeks, really). And more time for sleeping. And that's all well and good, but it turns out I was much happier when I was having fun, playing poker and not sleeping. So I continue to be incredibly conflicted about my life. :-(

2007-04-20T10:49:00.000-04:00

Tulips!

Steph's friend Casey brought tulips when she came over for the wine tasting on Saturday. They are beautiful:

Here they are close up:

The best part, though, is that they really bring our living room together. Okay, so I was pretty buzzed when I first had this thought, but I still think that sober:

The picture is a little dark, so you may just have to trust me. :-P Hopefully, between Steph and myself, we can keep fresh flowers in there most of the time. :-)

2007-04-18T23:21:00.000-04:00

I am conflicted. It's funny, because there are not too many things wrong with my life. And for the recent changes I've gone through, the common thread is that everyone is able to say, "You're better off without..." Maybe it my job, my things, my living situation, particular friends, activities.. whatever. And so yes, maybe everyone giving me advice is right. Maybe I'm better off without all of the things I've lost recently. BUT. I feel like someone is telling me that I've made mistakes, and that they can't trust me to fix them myself, so they are going to fix them for me. And I don't like that at all. I'd like to believe that I have some control over my life, that I can make my own decisions and I am responsible for the consequences.

The Virginia Tech situation has added a new wrench into the whole thing. Dan's girlfriend goes there (she's okay). PSP has a chapter there, and they lost an initiate and an alum's sister. I am so sad, and I want to do something - and at the same time, I am so proud of Phi Sigma Pi and my chapter for the outpouring of love that they have shown. I don't know why it is that every time something tragic occurs I am so proud - you'd think I'd come to expect it by now, but I'm always amazed. And yes, I want to do something to help. But again, just as I did in August when the chapter was going through a struggle (though nothing like this), I am forced to examine my own life, and consider what it is that I'm doing. What am I doing to serve? Also, is life to short to be mad, or is life too short to put up with certain actions? I don't have any answers right now.

2007-04-17T13:53:00.000-04:00

Does this picture look familiar to anyone?

It is NOT the picture I took in November 2001. My sister Christina took this either on her way home from school or her way back for Spring Break last month. Where did she take it? I-57 South in Effingham, IL.

My picture was taken on I-70 East in Effingham, IL, on the way back to Ithaca from St. Louis (PSP National Convention, for those that don't know).

I-57 and I-70 meet up for a short while in.... Effingham, IL!

Apparently taking photos of this cross is genetic.

Here's mine:

2007-04-15T11:55:00.000-04:00

Everyone (okay, not everyone, but some people) keeps asking me how my new roommate is. I've thus far told everyone that she's fine, no complaints, loves wine, etc... BUT, I have a new answer - she's amazing. I really feel like I've found a new friend (or even more new friends in hers).

Last night she hosted a wine tasting. She found 3 Malbecs, which we tried blind and then unveiled.

They were:

2004 Sabato (95% Malbec, 5% Cabernet Franc, Mendoza Argentina, $22)
2003 Le Petit Clos (75% Malbec, 20% Merlot, 5% Tannat, Cahors, France, $16-20)
2005 High Altitude (65% Malbec, 35% Cabernet Sauvignon, Agrelo, Mendoza, Argentina, $8)

She was really hoping to identify the French one, which most of us were not able to do! My favorite was the Sabato, which she's going to buy another bottle of (she works at a wine/liquor store in Beacon Hill, have I mentioned that?).

I also bought cheeses that were supposed to go well with Malbec:

Parmigiano Reggiano
Manchego
Reblochon
Epoisses

(The Parmigiano Reggiano and Manchego were fantastic, as expected, the Reblochon was pretty good and the Epoisses was... interesting.)

It was a small crowd - just her, me, and two of her friends, Angie and Casey. They were really sweet - they arrived at about 6pm, we ordered a ton of Chinese food, ate, drank, gossiped, had a great time (Casey works with Sara, who is Corinne's roommate's girlfriend and went to high school with Corinne, too). It was so much fun, and so necessary for me, given that I've been pretty down lately.

The best part: Steph (roommate) is planning on going to Italy in September, looking for travel buddies and is really pushing me to go with her. I am so excited. I haven't been this excited about a potential vacation (or about the vacation my parents gave me) ever. She wants to do an organized tour that would be just for 21-38 year olds and cover a good chunk of Italy - what do you think? Part of my is apprehensive about going with group, but if I'm with someone I know, that would help. Also, in planning a trip to Italy, I would be totally overwhelmed - it would be nice if the first time I went I got to have the trip planned for me (because I'm pretty certain I'll want to go back). Plus, she did this sort of thing in Greece last year, trusts the tour company and says you do get to have some time to yourself. This could be a lot of fun. :-)

So yeah, very happy with my new roommate right now. :-P

2007-04-06T17:01:00.000-04:00

Well... I had been hoping my life would calm down, and I could settle into a routine. Seems like the routine I will be settling into is... my old one.

I was laid off from my job on Wednesday. This may sound like it was a horribly traumatic event in my life, and while I would agree that the actual getting laid off part was a pretty big ego bruise, I would have to say that it's for the best. I was not happy there, and there was not enough work to go around. And with vacation time and severance, I'll be getting paid through the end of April.

On Monday, I will be returning to my old job at Cymfony (at the same salary, too). No, I wasn't happy there, either, but I was HAPPIER. And I'm hoping that now they know I'm serious about leaving if I'm not happy, they'll be more willing to address some of my concerns. Plus, they are absolutely THRILLED to have me back, and I'm happy to be working with my old friends again.

I am not sad that I took the job at Dove. It was certainly a learning experience, and I do not have that nagging wonder of "what if" going through my head. I know exactly what I had in store for me, and the worst thing that has happened is that I get to go back to the way things were before. While I'll miss knitting on the T, I am very happy to be going back to flexible hours (I was literally told to come in "whenever" on Monday). I am also hoping that I can go back to cooking more often, and whipping myself back into shape. I am committed to giving it at least 6 months - if after that time, I'm not happy being back, I will be more upfront with my boss about leaving. We'll see how it goes, but like I said, this is probably for the best (and I am extremely lucky to be in such a good position after being laid off).

There are some other things going on, but they are a little too fresh and a little too personal to write about. Also, I hope to go back and write about some of the more fun things I do with my life, but I just don't have the energy right now. My roommate is gone this weekend, so I'm looking forward to having a mostly quiet, reflective weekend.

2007-03-19T21:38:00.000-04:00

I was going to continue knitting while watching 24, but my hands hurt (from knitting cotton, not really important), so I thought I would write instead. I had to look back at the last time I REALLY updated, to figure out where to start. It seems a lot has happened in the last 6 weeks or so - crazy. I think (I'm hoping) my life has calmed down and it will be a good spring! Anyhow...

My old roommate has moved out, and a new roommate has moved in. Her name is Steph, and so far so good. She's a little older, works during the day as a trading assistant downtown, but her real passion is wine! Yes, that's right, I've managed to find a roommate who is more into wine than I am, which I think is great. It's been so long since I've had a roommate who wants to enjoy a glass of wine after work just because, and she works at a wine shop in Beacon Hill once a week, which means discounts, yay! Finding a roommate was stressful, of course - February isn't exactly the time of year you start looking for a new place to live - but in the end it all worked out.

In addition to a new roommate, I have new furniture and a new room! I took the other room in my apartment, because it's slightly bigger, and I already feel more moved in. I needed a couch, so when I bought that, I also finally bought myself a nice bedroom set, and wow does having a dresser to put my clothes in feel nice (it's the little things, people). I also hung up my diplomas, and started putting pictures and art on the walls. Plus my desk is in there now (as well as a new 19" wide-screen monitor for the Mac Mini) - all that's missing is new bookshelves and some picture frames. A headboard for my bed might be my favorite addition, though.

Also new (well, used-new, because they came from Craigslist): a television and a dining room table and chairs. The table and chairs were necessitated by Jamie leaving; the TV was because the sound on mine DIED right in the middle of everything else falling apart (I was at the end of my sanity when that happened).

And if all of that wasn't enough stress, I couldn't escape winter without an injury! I slipped on the stairs in the Davis Square T station on my way into work one day, and injured my tailbone, which I HIGHLY do not recommend. It's been 3 weeks and I still can't sit in a chair normally most of the time. The doctor gave me some drugs, though, so at least there was that (they didn't really help, I stuck with the mega doses of ibuprofen for the most part).

There have been good things: Harvard-Cornell hockey was fun, even if we lost. I saw a live event of This American Life with Kathy, which was tons of fun (despite the fact that it was the day after the tailbone incident, and I had a hell of a time sitting in the Opera House for 2+ hours). I want to start listening to the weekly radio show, but haven't gotten around to it yet. Soon, though. Last weekend I went to a Celtics game, but not just any Celtics game - a Bulls-Celtics game! The Bulls won, which was great for me (but not so great for Corinne and Ron, I guess). I went to Foxwoods a few weeks ago with Herb and Jeff (and we met up with AJ there), which was great - we were there for about 18 hours, and I lost about $120, but I had a great time. We played "group roulette," for HOURS, which may be the most fun I've ever had gambling, and we came out entirely even. There was also some Pai Gow poker and Texas Hold'em, though we didn't get to play that until about 2am, because it was so crowded there. I've played 2-4 limit the first two times I went; next time I want to do 1-2 no-limit - I think I'm ready.

There's also been a TON of poker among friends here - I've been playing at least once a week outside of the bar on Wednesdays. I missed Wednesday this past week, because I was sick (after running the tournament the week before) - when I went to the bar Friday night (despite residual illness and a snow storm), I was told by a few people there that they felt something was off all night on Wednesday - they finally realized it was because I wasn't there. :-) I won't be missing Wednesday night because I'm sick again, though (unless I'm in the hospital or something, which, let's hope that doesn't happen) - I wound up with a phone call at 4am because I hadn't been there and therefore wasn't at the late late game. :-)

I guess that's it. I'll try and update a little more regularly, as long as things stay calm and normal around here. :-)

2007-03-17T19:06:00.000-04:00

An update is an update right? Last week was Winter Restaurant Week, and of course I went out multiple times (because I live for Restaurant Week). Here’s the lowdown….

Monday night I went to Taranta with Corinne, Ron, Jen (one of my coworkers), Mark and Sara. We ordered a bottle of Cusumano Syrah, which might have been the 2005 Benuara, but I don’t remember. They had a special Restaurant Week wine list, which I thought was cool – dinner was $33.07, so all of the wines were $33.07, $43.07 or $53.07. The wine was quite smooth (not spicy like Shiraz is), and we all liked it (Corinne, Ron and myself, that is). For dinner I had Calabaza Squash Soup, which was great both because it was so cold outside, and because it was prepared the way I like squash soup – slightly sweet (with amaretto cookies and browned butter crisp sage). My main course was “Salmone in Crosta di Macadamia.” The salmon was really good – served pretty rare – and the asparagus was perfectly cooked, with a yummy accompanying sauce (blood orange sauce). The herbed risotta was all right – not my favorite. And for dessert I had Hazelnut Mousse, which was also tasty. I got to try the mussel appetizer, which was delicious, and also a bite of the other dessert – “Limoncello Flute.” That so far has been the most innovative dessert – it was like a lemon cream with whipped cream – really refreshing and lots of lemon flavor. This was a pretty good meal with good value, I think. I’d go to Taranta again.

On Tuesday I went out to lunch at The Oak Room in the Fairmont Copley Plaza Hotel. The weather was ATROCIOUS – the restaurant is just a few blocks away from our office but the winds were strong and blowing against us, so we suffered quite a bit! The people in The Oak Room were really nice, though – the Maitre’D thanked us for coming and invited us to come in a little further to stay warm. Our waiter was also quite charming and funny, which made for a nice lunch. We all had the same thing – New England Clam Chowder, Aged New York Sirloin Steak, and Boston Cream Pie (that was the only dessert). The clam chowder was really good and buttery, and it warmed us right up! The steak was served with yummy mashed potatoes and asparagus (Taranta had better asparagus, but that’s a minor point – this was just a little mushier). I was SLIGHTLY disappointed with my steak – I asked for it to be cooked medium rare, and it was served more what I would consider medium (mine did not look much different than Corinne’s medium-cooked steak). The meat was good, though, and was served with a yummy merlot reduction sauce on the side. The Boston Cream Pie was more of a cake, but had all the right ingredients, and was quite tasty. This was a great value, because we all had steak and chowder for $20.07 ($25 with tax and tip). Choices were a bit limited, though, with only two appetizers and two entrees.

Thursday was lunch, again with my coworkers, at Ivy Restaurant. (Side note: whenever I pass this restaurant and see their sign, I always think it’s some Ivy League Club or something, it didn’t register that it was a restaurant until I made the reservation). Again, choices were limited – two appetizers, two entrees and one dessert. For my appetizer, I had arancini (fried risotto balls) with fondina and black truffles. This was quite tasty. My entrée was a tomato, fresh mozzarella and basil panini (the other choice was also a panini), served with “greens.” I thought the salad was really good – it had some sort of vinaigrette on it, and the panini was okay, maybe a little watery. Dessert was Ivy’s signature gelato, which turned out to be two small scoops of chocolate gelato, and one scoop of vanilla gelato, with a mini sugar cone inverted on top of the scoops. The vanilla gelato was delicious, the chocolate was all right. This meal was decent and our service was good, plus the restaurant has some nice décor, but I did not think it was a great value. We could have gotten the appetizer and the entrée for less than the Restaurant Week price, so I was a little disappointed. However, this place does do wine tastings, where they pick five wines and pair them with their own entrée, and that might be worth checking out.

Friday night was Icarus, with Herb, Jeff, Kristen, Cheryl and John. I went to Icarus last year for Summer Restaurant Week and I really enjoyed it, so I was expecting this to be a treat, which is most certainly was. We all decided to do the half-glass wine pairing (which I think is what Kathy and I did over the summer). My appetizer was a Winter Green Salad, with toasted almonds, grapefruit and manchego (one of my favorite cheeses), served with Honig Sauvignon Blanc (Napa). The salad and the wine were delicious together. My entrée was Roasted Niman Ranch Pork Loin, with bourbon sweet potatoes, black mission figs and spinach, served with Au Bon Climat Pinot Noir (Santa Barbara, CA). I really enjoyed it all, because I love figs and the pork was cooked perfectly. The wine was also lovely. And for dessert, I had Caramel Pot de Crème, which was served with a Sauternes, which I know nothing about. Again, this was really good – a caramel pudding of sorts, that came with ladyfinger-like cookies, a small dollop of whipped cream and a raspberry (all of us who got this dessert agreed that the bite with the raspberry was the best one). Icarus did not disappoint.

I can’t wait for Summer Restaurant Week (in August, of course), though my wallet is happy for the wait in between. :-)

2007-02-15T21:38:00.000-05:00

I have been meaning to update. And I know I say that every time. :-) I do have things to say, but I think now is not the best time, because I'm not having the best day. So I'm going to go back to watching TV and knitting (and there has not been enough of that lately). And this weekend I will update. :-)

2007-02-02T21:56:00.000-05:00

Once upon a time, I used to make an effort to go to different restaurants in the Boston area, in an effort to try out as many as possible. It feels like it’s been awhile (in reality, I guess it hasn’t – Corinne and I went to an Italian restaurant at the beginning of January that at least I hadn’t been to before), so Corinne and I went out last night. After a little bit of research – neither of us wanted to spend a fortune – we settled on Teatro. Teatro is located on Tremont Street, right next to the movie theatre and across the the Boston Common, which meant that it was super convenient for both us (on our way back to the T!). We both thought our meal was really great, and I enjoyed the décor as well, particularly the ceiling. One of the nice things about the restaurant is that they sell some of their appetizers, entrees and wines in half portions (for the wine, a carafe is half a bottle) at pretty much half the price as the full portion – so you don’t feel like you’re being cheated by getting a smaller size. Corinne and I ordered a carafe of 2003 McManis Family Cabernet Sauvignon, which was fantastic (and I’m not normally drawn to cabs). We both got a small mixed green salad with small tomatoes and red wine vinaigrette – again, fantastic. I also went with a small orecchiette with sausage and broccoli rabe, and Corinne chose what was basically a Margherita pizza – and we both loved those, as well. For dessert we split vanilla panne cotta with mixed berries – yum. We were both particularly impressed at the serving sizes, even though a lot of the things we ordered were the half portions. And for all that, our bill came to $74 (including tax and tip), which I don’t think is that bad at all!

So there you go – I’m not a restaurant critic (though even Phantom Gourmet gave it an 87 – but I would recommend Teatro if you’re looking for a nice meal in downtown Boston (perhaps before a movie?). :-)

2007-02-01T23:32:00.000-05:00

All right, so I know it’s been awhile. January has been a pretty busy month, some good, some bad. When I last left you all, I have having a pretty rough week. Things in my apartment were bad, I wasn’t happy at work, etc… That weekend, I went to Foxwoods and played poker at a casino for the very first time (2-4 limit). It was fun, but I lost $102 (plus $20 lost on Bingo, which I will never do again).

But the next week, things got better. I won the heat battle with my roommate, I had a good, productive week at work, and I won a good chunk of cash in a late night poker game (though I was dead tired the next day).

The rest of the month has been so-so. Work seems okay, but it remains to be seen, I think. Things were back to normal in the apartment, but my roommate told me Sunday that she’s moving out March 1st – now I need to start hunting for a roommate and prioritize the things I need to buy with Jamie gone (maybe a couch?). Things have been pretty decent other than that – still playing poker every Wednesday (I won last week), Dim Sum, Chinese food, Risk, the Bears are in the Super Bowl this coming weekend (I ordered deep dish pizza from Chicago to celebrate the occasion), and knitting is, of course coming along.

Speaking of knitting, here is the exciting thing I’ve wanted to post about (but haven’t had a chance to, yet). I decided to go ahead and create a knitting blog. There are a few reasons for this, but the biggest thing is that I want to be better about documenting my projects – what I made, what I used, how long I took, what modifications I made, etc… - and that’s just not interesting to most of you, I think. It is, however, interesting to many people in the knitting world, and I might as well try and participate. I’ve been spending some time lately getting it to where I want it to be (hence the lack of posting here), and I think it’s now ready to be introduced to the rest of the world. So, if you want to hear all about my knitting, you should visit that blog. That’s not say there will be no knitting content here – it is, after all, a part of my life – but I’ll probably scale it down some. And if you just want to browse through the pictures, they’ll still be up on Flickr.

Here’s the knitting blog: Lizzardie Knits. It’s not original, I know, but that’s me.

The only other thing of interest is that, as I’m sure many of you heard, there was a series of bomb scares in Boston yesterday. It turned out that the “bombs” were part of a marketing campaign by Turner Broadcasting for Aqua Teen Hunger Force. Now, if you don’t live here or if you heard about this incident after it was all said and done, it probably sounds hilarious. And I know that many people wonder how anyone could have mistaken these things for bombs. But for those of us that were impacted – even just a little – by it, nothing was really funny, and it was a rather ominous day. It took Corinne two hours to get into work yesterday because they shut down the Orange Line (and a friend of mine from poker goes to the T station where it all started, so she was there), then they shut down the Red Line (which is how I get to and from work), and then one of these billboards was found 2 blocks from my work (which is where I was all day). I’m not really upset by what happened – it’s good to know that while I heard traffic was a nightmare, the authorities responded quickly and took the matter seriously. And as far as Turner Broadcasting goes, I’m not really upset with them, either, and actually feel sorry for the two guys who have been arrested. I just think that perhaps some though should have gone into following city guidelines about permits and such and being aware that placing these things on infrastructure may not have been the best idea. That’s all.

2007-01-11T22:50:00.000-05:00

I have had an incredibly bad week. Okay, so nothing DISASTROUS has happened. But my roommate has gone psycho about the heat (see previous entry), so my apartment is cold (literally and figuratively). And yesterday, I received my review at work - you know, at the job I've been at for less than three months. Now, I understand the whole annual review cycle nonsense. But really, repeating several times that I seem "dis-engaged" from the rest of the staff - how is this important to my job? And honestly, if it is, maybe it's the wrong place for me. I don't make friends very easily, which I know and maybe I should work on, but that's who I am. I want to be at a place where I feel comfortable to be me - that's where I tend to thrive. This does not make me comfortable. And the office is freezing, so now I have two environments where it's cold (literally and figuratively). I don't want to be in either place. Thank goodness for poker last night - I might have otherwise wanted to kill myself. And thank goodness tomorrow is Friday. And THANK GOODNESS for knitting and for Lemony Snicket, which have been helping me with my sanity this week.

2007-01-09T21:59:00.000-05:00

Note: being unwilling to lower the thermostat from 68 degrees is not unreasonable. Nor does it mean that there's something medically wrong with me. *sigh*

2007-01-08T19:44:00.000-05:00

So, the only reason I haven't posted is pure laziness! I wanted to post pictures from my trip to Chicago (actually trip to Chicago, not general trip to Illinois), but I didn't feel like getting my camera, uploading pictures, formatting, blah blah blah. But now it's done!

I went into Chicago on the third day I was home to have lunch with Alexis. I ended up coming into the city from a different direction than I'm used to (I came in on my good friend I-90, which is everywhere I go!), so I got a little lost, but eventually made it to where I needed to. We had lunch at a placed called Rosebud, which was pretty tasty - I had rigatoni alla vodka with grilled chicken. Afterwards, I visited Millenium Park for the first time - it opened Summer 2005, and this was only my third visit back since then (and the second visit doesn't really count, funeral and all). It was just what I thought - a giant bean - though I think it might be nicer in the summer, with flowers and fountains and such.

So here's "the bean" (errr, Cloud Gate):

And the gratuitous "MySpace photo," as my sister referred to it, from underneath:

(I'm in there somewhere, but not even I can find me.)

This week has been pretty low-key. I even started cooking again! Bringing lunch to work makes me feel way less guilty, both from a health and a financial point, so I'd like to keep it up as much as possible (besides, I'd rather eat out once a week, and have it be at Parish Cafe, than to eat out every day at ABP).

There's been knitting, of course. And there's something in the works that will most likely make those of you sick of the knitting talk and those of you who want more extraordinarily happy. Now I just have to stop knitting long enough to put it all together.... :-)

2007-01-02T22:14:00.000-05:00

I hate New Years.

I know I've said it before, but it bears repeating.

Anyhow, despite that, I too, have resolutions that I'm sure I won't keep. But here they are anyway!

Get into shape. It seems like I do have an equilibrium weight/shape, but the current one isn't it. A little more exercising and cooking for myself (which I loved to do before the new job in the city) will do wonders.
Read more. Say, half an hour a day from 10:30pm to 11:30pm, right before bed (except on Wednesdays and weekends, though weekends should also have a designated half hour). I used to read all the time, getting caught up in books. Now knitting has taken over, but I still do like books. Speaking of...
Knit more for myself. Yes, I have gift knitting to do still. But at some point (and possibly soon), I will have gifted all the small things and will have to either be more creative and more committed. But I'd rather make things for me! After all, knitting is supposed to be relaxing, and gift knitting doesn't seem to fit this goal.
Be more dedicated to my job. I feel like I'm not living up to my potential. I can be better, I want to be better, and I think it all starts with getting a better night's sleep. The insomniac in me is protesting, but we'll see how it goes.

That's really it. I have other things I want to do, but making them resolutions is silly, because it's setting unrealistic expectations. So these 4 are enought, I think, and at least manageable for, ohh, say, January. :-)

There would have been a picture tonight, but that's before I was out until 10pm. Since today is Tuesday (so confusing), perhaps on Thursday (tomorrow is not going to happen) I will post more about Chicago, complete with photographs.

2006-12-29T21:14:00.000-05:00

I'm back in Somerville (SO HAPPY). I did not take a picture of a single one of the 6 pairs of socks I knit for my family (though I do have to reknit one pair, and you may get a picture yet). This is because my digital camera died on Christmas Eve... but fear not! I got a new one for Christmas (thanks, Santa, and I'm so glad I thought to put it on the list, even though at the time I didn't think I needed one).

Other Christmas goodies included lots of DVDs, clothes, gift certificates, a leather coat (yay - I'd been plotting to get this for more than 2 years), and, the big gift, a trip ($1,500, anywhere I want, for me and a friend).

There was a trip to the yarn store out in the middle of farm land, a trip to Chicago (same day, no less), lunch with my friend who is having a baby (and I'm so excited about knitting for), and way too much family time. I'm glad to be back, let me tell you, and even happier that I have 3 days until I go back to work!

I may post more details later, but for now I'm just happy to relax in my apartment!

2006-12-24T00:13:00.000-05:00

In case anyone was wondering, I finished the Christmas knitting! I knit my last stitch sometime after 11pm last night, but left the grafting and weaving until this morning. That was all done before noon, and then there was blocking. The little gifts are now drying on my dining room table, and should be all ready for the place ride to Chicago tomorrow morning. Thank goodness!

Of course, what did I start today so that I'd have something for the place tomorrow? Birthday knitting. It just never ends.

Too tired to really say anything else, but hopefully I will have lots of pictures to post of things later this week (what else am I going to do while at my parents' house), since I will have gifted many of my knitted objects.

Merry Christmas! :-)

2006-12-19T23:13:00.000-05:00

How I resolved the Great Needle Disaster of December 2006:

Monday night: Place order online at Knit Picks for new US 1 circulars (2 sets). Also purchase US 0 circular (just in case). Add some yarn to purchase to make me feel better. Pay $14 in expedited shipping so that the package will arrive before I leave for Chicago.

Tuesday morning: Purchase yarn from Sunshine Yarns in Harry Potter dragon colors (also to make me feel better).

Tuesday noon: Walk with Corinne to Windsor Button in Downtown Crossing. They have Susan Bates US 1 circulars and Clover double points, but they are the wrong size (there's a weird sizing issue with the 1's - mine are 2.5mm, some are 2.25mm which won't work for me right now).

Tuesday afternoon: Call Knit & Needlepoint on Newbury Street to find they have the same needles as Windsor Button. Call Newbury Yarns (also on Newbury Street) - they have Addi Turbos! I'm saved!

Tuesday afternoon, 10 minutes later: Walk to Newbury Yarns to purchase new needles. Have a much more relaxed work day (though I wish I'd put on my walking shoes for the quick jaunt).

Tuesday night: Work on part 12 of 12 of the Christmas project. Feel good about the fact that there are not one but THREE yarn/knitting stores within walking distance of work. Try not to think about the money I spent on needles and "sympathy" yarn. Eat one oatmeal chocolate chip cookie, and think both that I wish I had made me some and that I can't wait to get these out of my apartment tomorrow night.

:-)

2006-12-18T23:02:00.000-05:00

Ahh, the Holidays. When everything starts to go wrong!

Okay, I might be exaggerating. But the events of the past few days have not been good to me. Or maybe just part of Saturday and part of today. Saturday I managed to lock myself out of my apartment, and it was more than 7 hours until I got back in (my roommate's phone was off and the landlords were not home). Of course, I do have good friends, and Jeff and Kristen took me in for the afternoon - we went to the mall, had lunch at The Cheesecake Factory (turns out their food is better than their cheesecake), did some shopping and had coffee at Borders. It was a nice time, I just wish it had been under better circumstances. Not being home meant that there was less knitting done on Saturday (and I'm now on a pretty tight deadline, what with Christmas in one week) and the cookies I wanted to make did not materialize (I had left my apartment to gather ingredients, actually). I did, however, make it to Corinne's cocktail party, where I got to see Scott and Julie and Anubhav, among others.

Sunday was much better - I went over to Jeff and Kristen's again, this time with knitting bag and cookie ingredients in hand - where I baked more than thirteen dozen oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. Surprisingly, it only took 4 hours, and I had the company of Jeff, Kristen, Kim and Patrick, as well as the football game. Jeff was even reading off the plays of the Chicago game to me while I was finishing the last of the cookies! Plus, I managed to finish #10 and #11 of the 12-part Christmas project through the weekend.

Today, though... the day started just fine. I went to work, knitting on the T (more about that some other time). After work, Corinne and I headed to Harvard Square, where we planned to do some holiday shopping and get some dinner. On the way there, I pulled out the knitting, where the worst thing happened - my knitting needle broke. This is BAD. I cannot even describe how bad this is for the Christmas project. It's only the one I have in that size (if you're thinking, but don't you use TWO knitting needles at a time? It's a big circular needle). Finding a replacement that size in a store will be incredibly difficult (I already know Spark doesn't have it, I will probably try and go to Windsor Button tomorrow at lunch). Shipping is a little slow on the site where I bought the needle in the first place, but I did place an order with expedited shipping. I cannot use a different size needle, because I am already pretty far into this part of the project. And maybe, if it was for my mom or dad or one of the older sisters, giving a halfway-done Christmas present would be understandable. But no, I left Emilee's present for last. I can't give a 9-year-old a half-knitted present! Grrr....

Now, there is still finishing work to be done on the other presents. And should the new needles arrive on Thursday (and I paid more than I normally do for expedited shipping in hopes that they will), I should still be able to finish on time, albiet under a TON of stress. But did this really need to happen?

I guess I might as well get some sleep, it's not like there's knitting to be done.

2006-12-12T22:39:00.000-05:00

I forgot the most important news when I posted yesterday! I found out last week that my friend Jaime is having a baby! She was the first of my friends to get married, and now she's the first to be expecting (she's due in May). I'm so excited for her and Jeremy, and I can't wait to see her when I go back to Illinois later this month.

Also, I updated my Upcoming Events, over to the right, and I realized I have next to no events left! I'm not so sorry about this, because no events means less money spent, and also I get stressed when my weekends are all planned and I have no possible down time. I wouldn't have been sorry to get Red Sox tickets, though - at least Corinne got some, and there will be others on sale, so I'm sure I'll get to go to a few games this season.

2006-12-12T00:22:00.000-05:00

I've been negligent. It's not that I haven't thought about posting. It's that I've been so busy and so tired in the last few weeks that it just hasn't happened. I've stayed up tonight to watch the Bears beat St. Louis, and need to go to bed, but here's a brief "review" of the last two weeks:

I put up my Christmas tree and decorations, including my Nativity.
I placed third in my work's Texas Hold'em Tournament to benefit the United Way (yeah, definitely should have done better, given that we played with my chips and I helped with the rules, but it was for a good cause!)
I went on an off-site retreat to Bretton Woods (which is where the Mt. Washington Hotel is, where the Bretton Woods Agreements, establishing the World Bank, among other things, were signed in 1944) with my coworkers. We stayed in a lovely condo, and spent most of the time drinking.
My first project for work finished! And I was immediately placed on a new project - this one involves modeling in Excel, which I'm enjoying more than I thought I would.
I won at poker this past Wednesday (making up for losing the work tournament, and then losing $29 more on the off-site)!
Dan came to visit! We had a wine & cheese Friday night (where Jeff threatened my Nativity), saw Body Worlds 2 on Saturday, and had a Champagne brunch and did some exploring in Providence on Sunday. We are now officially over Body Worlds.
I went to my work holiday party Saturday night at Brasserie Jo (which also has a location in Chicago!). Delicious French red wine (offered to me as red wine, which you all know I'm skeptical of), yummy appetizers, loafs in French bread in paper bags, and a four course meal (with one of the best steaks I've had in a long time) made for a surprising fun night (said only because I've spent A LOT of time with my coworkers lately).
Enough Christmas knitting to make me want to kill myself.

And that's the short summary. The Christmas knitting has really been taking up all of my spare time, but I should make the deadline in 2 weeks and then hopefully I can slow down a little (and, I don't know, clean my apartment maybe? spend more time with friends? sleep?). But for now, I'm not allowed to think about that, and need to focus on the task at hand! More knitting (and I can't wait until I can show pictures again)!

2006-11-26T23:42:00.000-05:00

Briefly... I almost didn't go to the football game today, but in the end decided to, and I'm glad I did. I'd been looking forward to it for months, and it was a great game.

I took the train, which isn't bad. $10 gets you to and from Foxboro, arriving an hour before the game. That got me there in time to get a great STANDING spot - at the top of section 201 - basically I was looking down at the bridge, which was to my right. I could see the whole field, and the screen, and the only problem was when the fans in the seats decided, at weird times, that they just couldn't sit in their seats! I wasn't too cold - I brough enough layers to stay pretty warm (including my new klein bottle hat, which I finished last night).

I was on my own, but I still enjoyed the game (even though I decided that OF COURSE I had to cheer for the Bears - I knew it as soon as I saw Bears fans in South Station - it made me smilke, and there was no way I could cheer against my home town team). I also managed to easily sell my other ticket outside the stadium. I probably could have gotten more than face value for it, but since I didn't think I was selling it until I actually did, it doesn't really matter to me.

And there was knitting on the train, which is always a happy time for me. During this little vacation, I did fair isle for the first time - my first try (on a sock) was a little sloppy, but the second sock looks much better.

Anyhow, I wish at least ONE of my friends had been in town/free today, but I still had fun. I would be very happy to go to another Pats game someday (and this time to cheer on the home team).

2006-11-24T17:53:00.000-05:00

This year I'm thankful because....

I'm healthy. In fact, I've pretty much always been healthy. Not everyone is that lucky.

I have a great apartment in a great city. It's cozy and warm and while a little messy, very inviting. Again, I'm lucky.

I have a new job. And while it's difficult at times, I know I have the skills and determination to do a good job. And my new coworkers are fantastic.

I can cook! And I have the means to buy food and make whatever I want, which resulted in a delicious dinner yesterday, even if it was just for me.

I have a wonderful hobby. It makes me feel creative and useful and there's something to show for it when it's all said and done. Also, I get to make things and give them away to the people I love, and there's no better feeling than that. Plus, on many days, it's like therapy, and you should ALL be thankful for that!

I have a good family. Sure, they drive me crazy, and by hour 4 on Christmas Eve I'm going to want to come back to Boston. But they are still my family and I'm glad I get to see them in exactly one month.

I have amazing friends. I love them (you, if you're reading this) so much and am so happy that they are there for me. They are all so so so crazy, but wonderful at the same time, even if some of the try to "adopt" me, or take me to the cleaners with a NINE of the river (good story, but will totally be lossed in writing).

Anyhow, Thanksgiving by myself was hard, I won't lie. The hardest part was spending the better part of this week having people telling me awful it was that I was going to be by myself - comments which I did not invite. But overall it's okay. I made dinner - Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic, Morrocan Couscous, Roasted Vegetables, Pumpkin Pie with Streusel Topping and a bottle of French red wine (I don't feel like getting the bottle). Not QUITE what you would expect of Thanksgiving dinner, but it was really delicious.

There's been plenty of knitting, which totally makes me happy. And I think I'm going to go and buy dye so that I can color some yarn, which is fun. And I will eat leftovers, which is TOTALLY a Thanksgiving thing. And knit some more. And sleep! Lots of sleep! And the Pats game on Sunday one way or the other, because I have to. And it will be fun.

I hope everyone has had a happy, healthy, safe Thanksgiving, and that you all get back safely as well. :-)

2006-11-19T16:36:00.000-05:00

Posting on Sunday seems to be the way these days. All I want to do when I come home from work is relax, not write about my day or anything else going on in my life. Saturdays are so sleepy, but Sundays are when everything gets done.

I feel like I've gotten into a rhythm with the new job. I don't have as much free time, now that I've figured out I can sleep half an hour later, but I'm still getting to work on time (some days are more miraculous than others, of course). I like that I get knitting time on the T (that I wouldn't normally have) - usually I get a seat, but many times I don't, and I've even gotten used to knitting standing up (and managing to stay standing up through the jostles of the train). I'm tired of all of my new clothes already, but such is life. I like the walks to and from the train station. I actually have stuff to do in the office. I'm getting to know my coworkers. I'm going to be donating handknit items to our silent auction for our United Way campaign (which will also include a casino night!).

Some things are difficult - I've gone from a position where I had a lot of seniority to one where I have none. So it's an adjustment. I think that this will be the right move for me long term, but short term it's definitely difficult. I'm looking forward to the little break this weekend for Thanksgiving, and to the week off for Christmas next month.

Knitting things are good. I'm slowly but surely working my way through Christmas presents - still don't know if I'll make my deadlines, but I'm going to try! I can't wait to start knitting for myself again, but it'll have to wait until January, it seems. Today I finished the wristwarmers that I made for Susan (for her sister, really) - they are gorgeous and I want a pair of my own! Hopefully I'll get a picture of them before I have to send them out (the batteries to my camera got confiscated at the first Ani concert, so I need to get new ones). Also, Patriots-themed hats have been delivered to Herb, Ron and Jeff, so I only have one more of those to make (Patrick). Speaking of the Patriots, I'm still looking for someone who will be in town next weekend and would like to go to the Bears-Pats game with me - the tickets are standing room only, but it should be a fantastic game.

Friday night I went out to Sally's, The Nog and Shay's with Herb, and then we played some cards... and I lost some money. I should know better than to play cards for money when I'm that tired, it's that late and I've had that much to drink. After getting up way later than I had planned on yesterday morning, I somehow managed to meet Jeff, Kristen, Kim and Patrick for Dim Sum (though I was pretty late, I'm so happy they waited to do most of their eating until I got there!). Then we headed to the Pru (with a brief detour at Eldo Cake House, my office and Paper Source) so that I could return my boots (so sad that they don't fit, but I will buy a new pair!) and we could all stop into Teavana (mmmm... tea). It was actually a great day, despite my hangover - I want to have Dim Sum every time I'm hungover! When I told Jeff that, we both paused, and after a few seconds said at the same time, "that's too often." Jeff says he can't possibly get Dim Sum with me every Thursday, which is unfortunate but realistic. :-) Dim Sum really helped my stomach, though, as did the green tea and water, and later the tea from Teavana (Azteca Fire and Mate Vana, which tastes like chocolate and I've been drinking all day today).

I got home, watched a few episodes of Veronica Mars (had to actually watch some scenes twice, because I kept falling asleep), and then went to bed at the fine hour of... 8pm. I do not remember the last time I went to bed that early and managed to sleep so much. I did get up at 5:30am (note that already I had gotten 9 hours of sleep), but went to bed 3 hours later for another 2 hours. I'm actually feeling pretty refreshed today! There's been some football, and now I'll probably finish the day with cleaning and work (yes, I do need to get some things done for tomorrow, such is life). Weekends make me happy. :-)

No plans for Thanksgiving, but quiet time and rest (and knitting! lots of knitting!) should be fine. I might make myself the Barefoot Contessa Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic, because it is quite tasty and fancy.

2006-11-14T19:41:00.000-05:00

I owe a post about Ani concert #2... let's see... the opening of the concert was pretty much the same, and I still don't know the names of the songs! Songs I do know that she played both nights are In the Way, Napoleon and Hypnotize (which was the last song of the night both times). There was also Little Plastic Castle, Anticipate, Untouchable Face (!), Gravel (!! - also the pre-encore closer) and Both Hands (!!! - the first encore, and at that point I was truly excited). Kathy and I sat in the balcony at Lupo's in Providence (it was general admission) - we weren't as close as the night before, but the seats were still great. The theatre was pretty worn down, with old posters up all around (Kathy knows more about that) and was almost as fantastic as The Orpheum. Ani was wearing a white tshirt for the second show, and her big pregnant belly was hanging out most of the show! :-) So much fun to see her dance around. It's hard to say which show was better - it was utterly fantastic to see both of them, and to enjoy two similar but different sets - definitely not a waste of my time or money! I can't for her to come back into town again (though I imagine it could be awhile, with the baby and all).

As for the opening act, it was pretty much the same, and I could have done without seeing it twice, though Hamill On Trial's son, Detroit, was awfully cute. :-)

Yesterday I had jury duty, and I thought you should all know it was one of the most boring days of my life. I got there at 8am, checked in, sat for half an hour (okay, I had to get coffee), was given a speech about responsibilities, blah blah blah, saw a video, got told how important it was for us to be there even if we didn't get seated on a jury, and sat some more (sitting for me = knitting). A couple of groups were called to be seated on juries, but my number was never called. At some point, they sent us to lunch - I ran over to the Galleria to get money, food and reading material since I ran out of knitting I could do - and when I returned, I got to sit some more! Eventually they sent us away, and I don't have to come back for another 3 years! I went home, because going into work didn't seem worth it, but I did do a few hours of work from my living room. So I've fulfilled my civic duty for awhile, by voting last week and going to jury duty this week. Woohoo.

2006-11-11T11:18:00.000-05:00

I'm writing about Ani concert #1 now, so that I don't get the two mixed up. Last night, I saw Ani DiFranco with Kathy at the Orpheum Theatre in Boston. The Orpheum is a lovely place, as I'd heard, and we had great seats - balcony, row D, right in the center. Ani is 7 months pregnant, and not only is she positively glowing (you hear that pregnant women glow, right? It seems weird, but apparently it's true), but she was dancing around in typical Ani fashion. She is positively ecstatic about the election results, and about life in general - she at one point said that the past several years she's been so angry and written so much angry music, but this week she's happy and she reached into her bag of tricks to find... not much! :-) Anyhow, I didn't recognize all of the songs, but the ones that I did included Napoleon, In the Way, Shameless (finale, pre-encore) and Evolve (encore #1). During Napoleon, I felt good for the first time in 36 hours - what a way to take my mind off of the things racing through it! I even enjoyed myself for the second half of Ani's set, after Kathy ditched me. :-) Maybe I could do a concert like Ani by myself in the future, if need be... In any case, I'm defintely looking forward to seeing her again tonight!

2006-11-05T08:41:00.000-05:00

Well, another week goes by, and October is gone! Yikes! I'm really not sure where the time went.

I THINK work is about to pick up steam, and I won't be sitting around doing nothing this week. I have all of the tools to teach myself SPSS (stats software that I've never used but shouldn't have a problem with), and data finally came through (one week late) for the project I'm on. Plus I have a book to read on "logic in writing" and "logic in presenting" for consulting. Okay, that part isn't terribly interesting. On Thursday, Corinne put me to work on the United Way stocking project (we, as in the company, have 15 stockings to fill for low-income families for Christmas) - I made a list of about 80 things that could go into the stockings, and then tried to figure out which age groups and genders they were appropriate for. I like that they do a lot of things for charity there.

Tuesday was Halloween - I never did find anything fun to do for Halloween, so no costume this year (which I'm sort of relieved about). I did however get to hand out candy to the adorable trick-or-treaters, which is always fun. They were so cute! And they took most of the candy I bought (which is a relief, because I would have otherwise eaten a ton of it). The rest of the candy I brought into work, where I'm sure it will pull a quick disappearing act.

Friday night was spent down in Providence to see the Cornell at Brown hockey game. There was a good cheering section for Cornell (surprise surprise) and the pep band was there (Kathy pointed out that our pep band was the same size as Brown's pep band, it's still football season and they had a game at Cornell the next day). Cornell came out victorious, but it was not an easy road - I have never seen so many penalties! The Cornell fans started to cheer "Worst ref ever" towards the end of the game, and it certainly was crazy, but I'm wondering if the teams were just playing each other REALLY hard. We could hear people making up random penalties - "too much 5 on 5 time," "looking at the ref cross-eyed," etc... - there was AT MOST 13 minutes of 5 on 5 hockey that entire game. And the penalties minutes JUST FOR BROWN added up to more than the 60 minutes (the entire length of the game, for those that don't know). Fun game, overall, though, and I can't wait for Cornell at Harvard hockey - I just wish I could go to see a game at Lynah again sometime - nothing beats that.

I stayed over at Kathy's Friday night, because the last commuter rail train back to Boston left at 9:42 - could have made it, but what's the point (I actually would have done it if I hadn't forgotten my cell phone at work - I needed to pick it up and didn't want to do so that late at night). We went to the restaurant in the basement of Kathy's building (which looks like a hotel and has a concierge) and it was fantastic! I had butternut squash ravioli with brown butter sauce, walnuts, peas and chicken in a marsala sauce - weird combination, but really amazing. Kathy had spaghetti and meatballs - nothing special but incredibly delicious. And we had a bottle of one of my favorite chiantis - the Ruffino Aziano. I so wish I had grabbed every bottle of the 2001 vintage of this wine when it was readily available. For dessert, we both had carrot cake - I was skeptical of Kathy's claim that the carrot cake was amazing, but she was so so right. With cinnamon cream cheese frosting on the bottom, two layers of carrot cake separated by ice cream, more cinnamon cream cheese frosting and fresh whipped cream, garnished with some orange things, it was easily the best carrot cake I have ever had. Yummm.

Saturday morning, we hit the yarn store right near Kathy's apartment - she lives in this incredibly cute square with incredibly cute shops. The yarn store didn't hold much interest for me, though, so I decided to do the yarn store "tour" - I went to Windsor Button in Boston near Park St. and then to Woolcott & Co. in Harvard Square. I had previous been disappointed in Windsor Button, but they have some yarns I've been looking for, so I'll definitely be back. and I love Woolcott - plus they have Anne, the sock yarn that comes from Interlaken!

Last Sunday I went over to Jeff and Kristen's to watch football and eat chili. They got me a pattern book and some aran tweed wool from Ireland. I'm going to use the wool to make felted flowers that I will put on a felted purse, I think. I found this really cute purse pattern and a fantastic spring green yarn (which I got at Windsor Buttong - and the aran wool is magenta - very bright). I can't wait to start on that project.

I haven't been talking that much about knitting recently, and that's because I'm super busy with gift knitting. Most of the gift knitting is for my family, and they don't read this, but I still don't want to give away anything about the presents, just in case. After Christmas, though, there should be a whirlwind of pictures somewhere, and I'm starting I might break things off a little - maybe start a knitting only blog, where I can better keep track of my projects, and not necessarily bore my friends to death. We'll see.

And here's an article, sent to me by Herb, that should be interesting to just about anyone. Like knitting or crocheting? Interested in research out of Cornell? What about hyperbolic geometry? A fan of Discover magazine? Read this article! :-D

2006-10-29T08:54:00.000-05:00

This year, I LOVE Daylight Savings Time. I mean, I always enjoy the time when the clocks fall back (and disdain the clocks moving forward again in a few months, but who is thinking about that right now). But this year, it really is a lifesaver. For one, I have an extra hour this morning and can actually update this damn thing. But also, I get the hour of sleep back that I lost all this past week with getting up at 7am for the new job. I suppose I could have gotten used to going to bed earlier, too (which I will, I promise!) but having my hour back is great. :-)

Anyhow, the new job... I gotta say, it's a little too early to tell. I spent a lot of my first week reading about consumer payments and ATMs, in preparation for my first project. I also have done a few training sessions, on various things (from templates to timesheets to survey writing), and there will be more of those to come. My new coworkers are great - everyone seems friendly and a lot of fun, and even congregates in the conference room at lunch time to eat together (as opposed to everyone eating at their desks, as we did at the old job). Apparently I'm going to have to get used to eating earlier, though I'm not sure how happy about that I am - I like not eating until 1pm, and when you go out to eat then, often the lines are shorter because it's after the lunch rush! Ohh, and speaking of eating out, looks like I'll have to do that more often, too, unless I can figure out an easy way to bring my lunch (and I didn't do that this week, at all). I think it's going to be more of a hassle than a time or money saver (after all, bringing less lunch means making less food). This week I had Bertucci's (brought in by the company on my first day), Souper Salad (in some building kinda across the street, which also contains some other stores - like a mall! - as well as the magical shoe guy that Laura from Cymfony was telling me about), Au Bon Pain (really across the street, right next to the Park Plaza Hotel), the "burrito cart" (not a cart at all - located in some sort of food court off of Charles St) and finally Viga (Stuart St, a few blocks away and every bit as cheap as Laura told me). The great thing is that while all of this food was of course tasty, I didn't even exhaust the food possibilities for lunch. AND, Smith and Wollensky (which is... somewhere - maybe within the Park Plaza Hotel building?) has $2 and $3 appetizers after work, and they are really tasty (as are their drinks, I hear, but I had wine Monday night when I went there). It's all about the intangibles, people!

Commuting is different. I enjoy being able to get more exercise - between the walk from my apartment to Davis Square (and back) and the walk from Park Street, where I've been getting off and on the T, to the office (corner of Arlington and Boylston, kinda), I'm walking about 2 miles a day. I may end up at times taking the T all the way to Arlington, but I'd like to continue walking to Park Street after work unless the weather is truly awful. Walking is good! Of course, the actual train on the other hand... Monday and Tuesday it made me late (not a good start, in my opinion, but everyone seems sympathetic). I was getting a little worried that it would be late everyday, but things were better Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. I suppose I could leave earlier - I seem to have plenty of time in the morning if I get up by 7:15am - but I like having a little down time before I leave - I knit and watch the news. I've also been knitting on the train - I don't get a lot done, but some does get done, which is better than nothing.

The other nice thing is having my weekends back! I hadn't had a free from work weekend (when I was in town) in a long time, so these past two weekends have been nice. Last Friday, after my last day at Cymfony (which was so sad, having to say goodbye to everyone), I went to Sally's and then to the Tir Na Nog, where I had never been before. I'm not sure how I feel about the Nog - it was awfully crowded and I could barely hear anything (plus I hate shouting to be heard). But overall, the night was a lot of fun, though I had way too much to drink (all those gin&tonics really gets to you after awhile!). Then on Sunday, I picked Jeff and Kristen up at the airport, and then we went to get dim sum in Chinatown (where we met up with Kim). It was so nice to see them, and to hear about their honeymoon trip to Ireland. I headed to Corinne's afterwards, where I managed to catch a whole quarter of the Pats game (she had invited me over to watch the whole game, of course) and stayed for the first half of the Indy game. This Friday I also went to Sally's, but this time I drank far less and there was no trip to the Nog. Last night Elenka had a dinner party for her birthday at her house in Newton - she made beef tenderloin, roasted veggies and whipped sweet potatoes, as well as a flourless chocolate cake (one of her coworkers is allergic to gluten, so everything was gluten free). And of course there was plenty of wine, because Elenka bought some and just about everyone brought some. It was nice to see Elenka, and hopefully I can hang out with her more now that things have calmed down a little for me. Today I'm supposed to watch football with Jeff and Kristen (hopefully this isn't where they have me come over and watch a 2000 picture slide show from the Ireland trip - they've promised lots of alcohol for that).

One of the downsides to the new job is Wednesday nights. I still hope I'm able to make it to poker every week, because it's one of those things that I look forward to, and I've been unhappy the few weeks when I haven't gone, for one reason or another. But I'm used to staying until the bar closes (or until well after the bar closes), and then just sleeping in Thursday morning and no one caring. Can't really do that with a new job (at least not yet, I'll have to give it some time), so I've made midnight my Wednesday night cutoff, and I'm also really truly going to try and drink less so that I'm less hungover on Thursdays. We'll see how it goes - on the one hand, being hungover every Thursday has many downsides. On the other, I love Wednesday nights and many times those hangovers are totally worth it.

Other than that... I have five new pairs of shoes! Okay, not at all exciting to most of you. I guess... I feel a little less stressed and a little less overwhelmed now that I've actually switched jobs. Is it going to be hard? Yes. Is it going to be stressful at times and require working long hours and weekends? Yes. But at least I can start getting myself into a new rhythm. And I'm really hoping that I like the new job - consulting could be a great new building block for my career. I am a little worried I'll hate consulting and that I will have to totally switch industries and start my career over, but I'm trying not to think about right now. There are also some unpleasant things going on in my life that I can do nothing about - I'm pretty upset but at the same time hoping that this will not cause too many problems (at least, any more than it already has) and I can just move on with my life.

I hope you all feel sufficiently updated now. :-)

2006-10-26T00:18:00.000-04:00

I know, I know, I know - I owe an update about the new job, leaving the old job, the weekend in between... I've been so busy and tired (switching jobs has taken the life out of me) but I promise that I have not forgotten and will update soon!

2006-10-18T17:06:00.000-04:00

Life has been pretty dull lately, but hello anyway.

My neck hurts. This is from what I think is 4 consecutive nights of sleeping funny. I'm not happy, but I guess it's my own fault since I'm the one who purchased the bed and the blankets and the pillows, and I'm the one who apparently throws the pillows off the bed while I sleep. It's no wonder I nearly left my pillow in Maine a few weekends ago!

I stayed home from work yesterday in hopes of having a more relaxing day, and I could actually get things done! Unfortunately, that failed. I hate my last week at the old job - I'm sick of saying the things that have gone wrong, and it's not worth it for me to speak up about people walking all over me. *sigh*

Susan's goodbye party was on Friday night, and I saw her very briefly Saturday morning (she was dropping off keys), but otherwise she's gone. So sad, but I know how much she hates Boston. And there was fondue, and her old roommate wanted to make sure that I would go to parties there still even though Susan is gone. So sweet.

Monday night was my going away party thing for work, though only a few coworkers came out for it (mainly just the people I work directly with, but I do like them the best). We went to Shay's in Harvard Square, and I had never been there. Our waitress was a little crazy, but she was nice enough to charge us for a whole bottle of Rioja, even though Elly and I were drinking it by the glass. And apparently they have some good wine specials coming up, so I'd like to go there again (and it's right across from my favorite yarn store, what could be better).

I have done A LOT of drinking lately, what with the wedding, and then last Wednesday and Thursday and Friday and this Monday... yikes. I keep telling myself I'm going to cut back (particularly since it's no fun to go into work hungover) but it doesn't happen. AND it's Wednesday again, so more drinking tonight! I hope it loosens me up enough that the pain in my neck will go away!

2006-10-11T12:41:00.000-04:00

Here is why I hate my name. This morning, I had email inviting me to join a Facebook group called "my name is Liz Jones." And yes, the person who invited me is named Liz Jones (these sorts of emails should not be read in the morning, by the way, because they are as disorienting as receiving mail addressed to you in your own handwriting). Yes, of course I joined, but really - do I actually need to see how many people are out there with the same name as me, rubbing in the unoriginality of it?

2006-10-10T21:15:00.000-04:00

All right, now for the weekend in review:

Let's start with Saturday. Basic summary is that I left at 8:00am, picked up Cecilia and Ryan, and headed up to Maine. We stopped in Kittery so that I could do some shopping, and I managed to spend a ton of money, but now have a good base wardrobe for the new job. Afterwards, we continued on our trip, and after a few phone calls, ended up in Bar Harbor. We eventually had dinner, and made our way to Belfast (about an hour from Bar Harbor, and 10 minutes from where the wedding was), where we stayed for the night. The bad: there was a lot of confusion about where I should go Saturday afternoon, which ended up frustrating me. When I finally got to Bar Harbor, I didn't really want to talk to anyone until halfway through dinner. The good: Herb showed me around Bar Harbor, which is really a lovely little town. I'd like to spend some time up there some time. I bought some chocolate at this shop where the smell was intoxicating (I got dark chocolate pecan bark). I also saw the moon rise over the harbor, shown in the picture in my previous post. At dinner I had a real Maine lobster. And I got to chitchat with Kristen and share a hotel room with her on her last night as a free woman. :-)

Sunday: Woke up, got Kristen out for her hair appointment, finished Patriots hat #1 (which will most likely be for Jeff, since it actually fits him) and another knitting project, checked out of the hotel, had brunch in Belfast, and then headed to
Captain A. V. Nickels Inn, which is where the wedding was. There was wedding prep, followed by a beautiful wedding on the ocean. Then the reception, some hanging out and finally bed time. The bad: no hot water at the hotel Sunday morning, which meant a cold shower for me (and for Kristen). Hair appointments went longer than expected, and I think that stressed some people out. I cried during the wedding, and got drunk at the reception. They took away the food a little too soon. The sun was in my eyes during the ceremony. The good: it was a truly lovely ceremony. I thought the whole wedding party looked amazing, and I loved my outfit, including the shawl that I made and the earrings Kristen and Susan made me. The weather held out and was a pleasant temperature through the whole ceremony. The toasts were touching. It was nice to be with good friends. Susan brought me Chianti from the head table (which is how I got drunk). I got drunk (see, both good and bad), which led to lots of dancing.

Monday: We got up and had breakfast, then packed everything up and after Jeff and Kristen through their wedding announcement in a bottle into the ocean, and their car was decorated, everyone parted ways. The bad: I was so totally hungover. Driving that way sucks. I just want to be left alone when I'm hungover and of course I couldn't be, because so many people are around. The good: bed and breakfast means that the breafast is amazing - quiche with sun-dried tomatoes, a yummy biscuit, some pastry thing with meat in it and maple syrup stuff on top, cantelope with raspberries and of course as much coffee as I could drink. Friends mean well when you're hungover (I was even given wine - something about the hair of the dog that bit you - it tasted like raisins).

All in all, a very beautiful ceremony, and Jeff and Kristen both seem so incredibly happy. And I'm happy for them. But I still hate weddings (nothing against the people getting married, though - I want to get married someday, too!).

Monday when I got home, though, the world seemed to hate me. I figured I would just watch TV all night and relax. Well, RCN had something different planned for me - they upgraded my menus while I was gone, unbenownst to me, which meant that I lost all of my previously recorded shows (yes, that includes the ones I set to record while I was gone) and deleted all of my series recordings. I hate you, RCN, but at least you're refunding the DVR cost for a month with minimal complaining from me. And I figure, well, I have 2 Veronica Mars disks that I can watch, so not a huge deal. Turns out Netflix hated me, too, because the disk won't play! So I was hungover and without any TV to watch, and sad because of the whole wedding thing. :-( Fun.

And now for my last 2 weeks at Cymfony, which will be incredibly stressful and busy! Yay!

2006-10-10T10:51:00.000-04:00

Nearly full moon rising over Frenchman Bay with the Queen Anne, Bar Harbor, Maine, Saturday, October 7th, 2006.

I have a lot of work to do, so no long post about the wedding this weekend right now. I also did not take a ton of pictures, but there are some and I uploaded a dozen (including this one) onto Flickr. Hopefully a lot of the pictures will be made available online, and I can link to them later.

2006-10-06T15:32:00.000-04:00

I went out for Vietnamese food in Arlington last night for Rosanne's birthday. Arlington, it turns out (I did know this) is practically down the street from me - just 2 miles down Broadway brings you to what I'm guessing is downtown Arlington, because Broadway, Mass Ave (Rte 2A) and Rte 60 all meet right there. It appears there are some cute little shops there, and it may be the perfect place to explore on a nice fall Saturday. One day I may have to do this (though it might get added to the growing list of things I want to do but never will).

There are also, of course, lots of restaurants. We ended up at Viet's Cafe, which was quite delicious. I had vermicelli with a combination of pork, lemon grass beef and crispy spring rolls - this wound up being a giant bowl filled to the brim with bean sprouts, lettuce, noodles and beef, with a fish sauce on the side. A little colder than I would have liked, but quite delicious. I would love to try the soup that Vicki had - it looked really good and she raved about it (also served in a giant bowl). I don't think I'd ever had Vietnamese food before, and I have to say I was quite pleased with the experience.

And my plans for this weekend have finally been nailed down! I have to leave my house at 8am (which is earlier than I normally get up during the week) but there will be shopping along the way, and wine tasting and friends once I make it up to Maine. :-)

2006-10-05T11:28:00.000-04:00

I don't want to work. I just wanna sit and knit all day. (Doesn't quite work, but give me a break, I'm tired.)

I don't really have anything new to report. I've felt... fatigued all week. Being a "lame duck" (my boss said it, not me) at work is still strange. I'm not quite excited about leaving (I'm sad about leaving the people, actually), but at the same time I'm unmotivated. And yet there's so much to do, and I feel like I'm not giving myself enough time by wasting what time I do have. *Sigh* Add on to that the feeling of not wanting to do anything at all and you get... a not happy Liz. Ahh well.

Poker last night was... interesting. It was the second time I ran the tournament in Herb's absence, and that part went well, I think. There were some hot-headed participants, but everyone calmed down at some point, and we got through it, and I still think everyone had a good time. Plus, one of the regulars, who had been in Iraq since the beginning of April, was back, and it was nice to see him. Our game after the tournament, though... well, let's just say the combination of a drunk guy kinda hitting on me ("Why don't you like me? I think Elizabeth is the prettiest girl here." and "I'm not going to go out with you." "Oh yes you are!" are just a few examples, and it kept going on and on and on...) with a conversation I absolutely did NOT want to have... yeah, interesting. I would have to say that I am so so so happy that things will be back to normal next week, and I can go back to playing poker - I'm not cut out to run this sort of thing on a regular basis!

Tonight I'm going out for Rosanne's birthday, tomorrow packing and then Saturday morning heading up to Maine, making it in time for wine tasting (with hopefully a stop in Kittery for a little shopping along the way).

2006-10-02T11:38:00.000-04:00

Good weekend. Friday I took off from work a little early, and took Kristen to pick up her wedding dress. It's hard to believe she and Jeff are getting married in less than a week, and it's been kinda fun to see how exited they are. Then I went to the Red Sox game with Kathy, Scott and Julie, though I was a little late, since the Red Line decided it didn't really want to run (which then backed up the Green Line - I guess I better get used to it and just make friends with the MBTA - at least I got a lot of knitting done). Kevin Millar plays for the Orioles, and the Red Sox "record" for the 5 games I attended this year was 5-0, so that makes me happy.

Saturday was busy! I got up, went to have the oil changed on my car (long time coming, let me tell you), went to buy Jeff and Kristen's wedding gift, went to buy bachelorette party presents for Kristen, had my hair done (2 1/2 hours for a partial highlight, cut and blow out, which is so ridiculous and yet it's because of how much hair I have) and then headed out for Bachelorette Party madness. There was makeup, burgers, strippers, dancing and of course lots of alcohol. I was pretty tired by the end, and my feet hurt, but Kristen seemed very drunk and happy, and that's what's important.

Sunday it was raining, and I decided that it was a good soup day. So I made soup and watched football (Pats AND Bears both win, yay), did some cleaning and of course knit as much as I could (lots of knitting got done over the weekend, even though I wasn't home that much Friday or Saturday). And I blocked my shawl, so it is finally done and ready to be worn next weekend (when I will hopefully get some pictures).

Reality still hasn't set in about the job switch, though I imagine it will seem more real after I actually switch (I still have 3 weeks). I did hit the J.Crew sale HARD this weekend, and plan on stopping in Kittery on my way up to Maine this weekend, because the one thing I do need is nice clothes. And apparently I already have projects at the new job, and I'm not even that close to starting! Yikes!

2006-09-29T00:02:00.000-04:00

News (in case you haven't heard)....

I quit my job today. I've been keeping this under wraps, but I have accepted a position with Dove Consulting, which is located at Park Plaza, in Boston (near the Arlington T stop). Dove is a consulting company (duh), mainly involved in financial services. They are a division of Hitachi Consulting, and it's where Corinne works. Interviewing and trying to figure out if this is the right move for me have been part of what has been stressing me out for the last three months. I'm incredibly scared, but also excited. I think that I can't go wrong with a new opportunity, and I hope it's everything I want it to be. If it's not, maybe consulting is not the right industry for me. :-)

So there you have it. I start October 23rd. I'm going to have to get up earlier, take the T (which I'm looking forward to) and wear nicer clothes. I'll also be downtown, which I think is going to be fun, and something I've wanted in a job since I moved here.

Quitting was one of the harder things I have ever done. It seems lately that everything is hard. I hate being an adult.

Tomorrow - Red Sox game, and maybe taking Kristen to pick up her dress!

2006-09-25T12:10:00.000-04:00

Ahh, Monday again. The weeks are going by fast these days, and I just haven't had enough time to get enough done. But I'm trying.

Work continues to be busy. I am hoping that I will have a weekend without work this weekend (particularly because it's Kristen's Bachelorette party, and I'd like to have a fantastic time without worrying about work), and then I have to be free the following weekend for the wedding, but then things will be packed until November.

Speaking of the wedding, not only did I finish the shawl last night (just a few touch up things and blocking), but I found shoes! I thought shoes would be easier than they were - I was out with Jeff and Kristen, and we went to DSW (no turquoise shoes there, at least no good ones), Aldo in Downtown Crossing (nope), Macy's (no turquoise shoes and the beautiful brown shoes were not available in my size), Aldo in the Pru (the turquoise shoes were not in my size), Bandolino, Jasmine Sole and finally Nine West where I found these shoes, and they are a perfect match in color AND my size. Kristen and Susan are making my jewelry, I'm carrying my Coach purse, and now all I have to do is buy a wedding present (but it's been decided what I'll buy) and figure out details for the weekend in Maine. Attending a wedding is hard, being a bridesmaid is harder (which I'm technically not) - I can't imagine what it's like to actually PLAN a wedding. Yeesh.

The rest of the weekend was pretty good. Saturday morning I went to the Phantom Gourmet Food Festival, where the food was yummy and I got to see a lobster roll eating contest (with someone famous Japanese food eating guy - he ate 41 lobster rolls in 10 minutes). I was a little upset that some places ran out of food so early (we left the festival at around 1:30, and at least 2 places were out of something - all you're doing is serving food!). I also had a bit of a disaster with my ticket - I kept telling myself I was going to forget the ticket, and made a point to put my ticket envelope in my purse (at the time, it had the festival ticket and my Ani DiFranco tickets in there, and Corinne was giving me my Pat tickets, so I wanted the whole envelope). I left the house, went to get money, got coffee at Starbucks and got onto the T. I was at Harvard Square when I realized I didn't have the envelope! I was so sure I had put it in my purse that I thought it must have fallen out... but it was on my dining room table. So a momentary panic attack and I wound up being late (by the way, if you ever do go to the festival, go early - it's not quite as crowded and the food will all be there).

After the festival, I helped Herb move into his new apartment, along with his mom, Jeff and Josh, and then Herb took us out to Christopher's for dinner to say thank you. I love Christopher's (I had French onion soup and the ravioli special), but our waiter annoyed me when he brought me the wrong beer and gave me attitude about it. Oh well.

Sunday morning I went for dim sum with Jeff, Kristen, Kim and Patrick. Then all of the shopping, then over to Jeff and Kristen's for dinner (tomato, fresh mozarella and basil sandwiches and some sort of yummy veggie casserole, as well as blueberry beer with Maine blueberries in it) and to watch the Pats game. I also got to see Susan for the first time in forever.

And tonight I'm going over to Kim's for sushi. I love seeing my friends, but my apartment is a mess and I think my roommate is about to murder me in my sleep (things aren't really going well on that front these days). Not sure what I can do, though. :-/

My feet and legs hurt from the moving of boxes up to the third floor and then all of the walking around the city yesterday. Ow.

2006-09-19T01:41:00.000-04:00

That, my friends, was some of the many stages of writing a report. Procrastination, directed optimism and utter frustration. But I finished the report at 10:50pm this evening (I got into work a little before 10am, and if you count eating, the procrastination and the drive home, I'd say it's a little under 12 hours of work), drank half a bottle of wine (okay, I started while writing the report), did some knittnig (will this shawl never end) and watched some TV (it's official, as I suspected, I am addicted to Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip after only one episode). Now that I have that hazy feeling that only half a bottle of wine can give you, I'm going to go to bed and wake up... an hour later than usual. Just because I can.

2006-09-18T20:39:00.000-04:00

This is the third night in a row that I have turned down friends when invited to do something (drinks in Davis Square Saturday night, Patriots game viewing with pizza and wings yesterday, Vietnamese food in Harvard Square tonight). I hate my life.

2006-09-18T16:17:00.000-04:00

Ooohh, here's some positive news I forgot about - I bought a ton of CDs today and yesterday! I got a combination of old stuff to fill in holes in my music collection - The Cars, Bob Dylan, Jeff Buckley, Johnny Cash, Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, Bon Jovi, Simon & Garfunkel - and some newer stuff just because - The Fray (I have a few songs on my iPod and have been listening to them over and over again since I finally watched the video/promo for Grey's Anatomy), KT Tunstall, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Tool. I may also pick up a few more CDs in the next few days, and it'll be awhile before they are all delivered, but I'm excited. :-) Buying CDs and yarn will not help pay off the credit cards but at least I'm provided with hours of entertainment.

2006-09-18T13:18:00.000-04:00

I'm still totally stressed, and I'm not sure when this is going to let up. I've had a lot of job work lately, and it's interfering with all the other stuff I need to get done (because, hello, it's still September and we're not supposed to be this busy right now). I was able to get a little bit of break this weekend, though. Friday night was the Santana concert, and despite my reservations about going because I was tired and it was far away, I had a great time. Jeff Beck opened, and that was phenomenal. I don't think I have ever seen an opening act come out for an encore before, but he did. I don't know his songs very well, which is unfortunate, because he is a great guitar player, but the encore was definitely "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." :-) And Santana was great, too. I know his songs a little bit better, so that was nice. I did leave after "Black Magic Woman," during "Oye Como Va" - I hate leaving a concert early, but Corinne and Ron were leaving, and the idea of staying by myself in an unknown place for the end of the concert, just to spend an hour and a half getting out of the parking lot (followed by the hour drive home) was just not appealing. Besides, we only paid $17 for the tickets (and that includes all of the Ticketmaster fees), so I feel I got my money's worth. Must now buy some Jeff Beck CDs. :-)

Saturday I did some work. And then I went out to dinner for Patrick's birthday. Kim had organized a surprise birthday dinner at Changsho, which was fun and tasty as usual. Plus I got to see Eryk and Rosanne, along with Patrick and Kim of course. We went to JP Licks for ice cream afterwards - I got a rum raisin ~~milkshake~~ frappe, which was not as tasty as I would have hoped, though it did have actual dark rum in it. And then more work, although this work was finishing the playlists I had been working on for way too long (it's a good thing I got a ton of free music as part of this deal). And at least there was wine.

Sunday, after getting up at noon, I did work for pretty much the rest of the day, until 1am. I did take breaks here and there, did some food shopping and cooking (Tabbouleh, which came out tasty but looks watery and unappetizing - next time I need to drain the cucumbers and tomatoes, I think, and braised boneless pork chops with fennel and capers, courtesy of the episode of Everyday Italian I watched on Saturday). I had wanted to go see this Gershwin to Gillespie (or is it the other way around?) exhibit at the National Heritage Museum (exhibit closed yesterday) but there was too much work. I wish I hadn't forgotten about it until this weekend.

Very little knitting got done. I really need to finish the shawl for the wedding, which I thought I had started in plenty of time. I also need to push a little bit more on the Christmas knitting, because I know it will come up faster than I think. On the plus side, Kim loved the scarf I made her (or at least she said she did). I really liked the pattern, as well, so it was a quick knit. Plus I used yarn I already had. Usually when I make things for people, I pick out the yarn especially for them. But I didn't have time to do that for Kim, and just happened to remember that I had this yarn in my stash. It ended up being a great match, because she said it's her favorite color! I'll try and remember to post the pictures on Flickr sometime tonight.

I need to get back to work now. At least I have my iPod back, so I can listen to music.

2006-09-14T20:32:00.000-04:00

So tired. So very very tired. At least today is over. Now I just have to get through tomorrow (at this point, I don't even want to go to the Santana concert, but I will), and then the weekend. And maybe then I get to come up for air.

I skipped poker last night. I had to go into the bar briefly, and I'm happy to report that I did NOT succomb to their attempts to convince me to play (even when Herb handed me chips). I really wanted to, though, and I'm sad to have missed it, because I make it a point to go every week. Ahh well, hopefully that will be the only time, and I really did have more to get done and not enough time. There's always next week.

2006-09-11T12:51:00.001-04:00

The weekend was nice, even if I didn't get some of the things done that I wanted to (oil change, coins, cleaning my room). I guess those will have to happen next weekend. :-)

Friday night I played poker at The Neighborhood. I love a good money poker game, even if I did come in behind for the night. We played two tournaments with a $20 buy-in - I came in third for the first one, giving me my money back, and was out first in the second one, because I was too drunk to play poker by that point. :-) The Neighborhood is an awesome place in Union Square - I've only eaten there once but really should go more often. On nice days they seat people outside, under this trellis that has grapes growing on it (wine-making grapes was the answer I got to "what kind of grapes are they"), something I did not realize the one time I ate there. The owners are also wonderful people, as I have found is true of a lot of the places in Union Square.

I drank more than I should have Friday night. In fact, I drank more than I REALIZED. I hate when that happens. I also hate that the meters in Union Square start at 8:00am, and not 9:00am, as I had thought (who assumes meters start at 8:00am anyway?), so I wound up with a ticket when I went back to retrieve my car. :-( It was a fun night, but I wish I hadn't gotten so sick (sick enough to think it might have been more than the drinking that did me in), because Saturday was pretty much wasted.

By 6:00pm, I was feeling... okay... which was good, because I met up with Helen, who was in town, along with Corinne, Ron, Herb, Scott and Julie for dinner at Christopher's (food really REALLY helped). Afterwards, we went bowling in Davis Square, so that Helen could try the candlepin variation that is so popular here in New England. While we were there, we ran into my roommate and her boyfriend, and they were put at the lane right next to us, which was a crazy coincidence (they were meeting Herb's roommate and his girlfriend who also works with Herb, so it added to the connections). A little while later, Helen ran into someone she knows, and she doesn't even live around here. It seems that Boston (and Somerville, too) is quite a small place, not unlike how Cornell felt (despite large numbers of people, though on different scales).

Sunday... was absolutely wonderful. I had a fabulous time with my friends this weekend, and going out both Friday and Saturday in the same weekend always reassures me that I do indeed have a life. But there is A LOT to be said about a day by myself where I don't have to talk to anyone, don't have to get dressed and can do whatever I want all alone. In two weeks I had had a whole two nights where I was home, and even those came about only because of last minute cancellations. Now, I was on vacation and there was the fraternity crisis, so that certainly factored in. But things were getting ridiculous enough that yesterday was very much needed. I got some sleep both Saturday and Sunday nights, I did a ton of laundry, I cooked a meal and did some cleaning, I knit, I watched TV, and I worked on some projects that I had been neglecting. And I don't think I said one word, out loud or via IM, until my roommate called me around 10:00pm (apparently something sketchy was going on outside the apartment, but I didn't notice). I feel so much more refreshed today, and am ready for another chaotic week. :-)

I never mentioned the Red Sox game from last week, I realize. I unfortunately go there late, causing Corinne and Kathy to have to wait, and Elenka to be sitting by herself for 2 innings (stupid door lock), but once we arrived it was a great time. Very low-scoring game, which was intense, but in the end the Red Sox pulled off the win (and took a series, thank goodness) against the White Sox (good sox won against bad sox, as Kathy would say). I did wear a Red Sox t-shirt with my new Cubs hat, just as I promised (Corinne didn't realize why until halfway through the game). I didn't even mind when it started raining - turns out a baseball cap projects your head from rain! This was the first year that I was able to go to a Red Sox game, and I went to 4, where the Red Sox were 4-0. That makes me happy, and I have had several people tell me that I need to go to more games, but I don't think my luck is that good. :-)

Next weekend will have to be the coins and the oil change (and cleaning my room and I think jewelry making and other things I'm sure I'm not remembering right now, *sigh*).

2006-09-08T12:14:00.000-04:00

Flickr

I love Flickr. I'm not really sure why, I just do. I like the way it organizes pictures, I like that it lets me make notes and allows visitors to make comments. I think it's user-friendly, and viewing pictures other people put up on Flickr is very easy. It's not bulky, so even large pictures load quickly, which I do not find true of other photo-sharing sites. I can view the picture in its original size, which is great for printing or saving, if the photo isn't from my camera.

My only complaint with Flickr has been the bandwith limit. All of the pictures I take with my camera are high resolution, so I go through the limit very quickly. But I've been considering for awhile the idea of buying a pro account, since it's only $25 for the year. Chris did this recently, and he has nothing but good things to say, so I'm very likely to do that in the future.

Plus, Flickr got even better for me yesterday. I've known for awhile that Flickr offers printing services, but for the most part I've never taken advantage of this for my digital pictures (though I've wanted to for a long time). I sent out a thank you card to my grandparents, though, for the books my grandmother sent for my birthday, and I wanted to include some pictures (can't email pictures to them like I can to my parents, if I have any desire for that). I knew I could get 10 free prints, so I figured I would give Flickr a try for this. I must say, I'm very happy with the results. First of all, you can either have the pictures delivered by mail or pick them up at Target. Well, there is a Target just down the street from my work, so I was all over this option. I submitted the request at 4:30pm yesterday, and they were ready in an hour. And the prints came out great, so I'm definitely looking forward to using this again. To have the prints delivered, it's $.15/4x6 print, plus a shipping fee ($2.29 for the first 25 prints and up from there). To get the prints from Target, it's $.20/4x6 print, but no shipping fee. So my math calculations say that Target is cheaper, plus much faster, and not too much of an inconvenience.

The idea of upgrading to a pro account is now really appealing, because then I can upload a bunch of pictures I've always meant to have printed, including lots of pictures from college that I always wanted to put into an album or make a scrapbook out of.

2006-09-07T13:53:00.000-04:00

More service-relating things....

Since I moved into my apartment last June, I have been saving all of the coins I receive when making cash purchases (I had been saving before that, but it really isn't effective when you have to take the quarters out to do laundry). Now, I don't really like using cash, because I can't keep track of my purchases as well as if I use a credit or debit card, and sometimes I have need of change for a parking meter or a T token. So the saving has gone slowly, but I think it's at the point where it's over $50 (being the math nerd that I am, I occasionally count the "silver" coins, which are separate from the pennies).

Last year, after Hurricane Katrina, I decided I wanted to donate my change, when it reached a suitable amount, to the American Red Cross. The way I see it, since all it does is sit in a jar in my apartment, and it's hard to spend large amounts of coins, it's not really money for me, and so a charitable donation is the perfect thing to do with it. I'm a little lazy, though, and the idea of converting it to a usable form of currency (through a CoinStar machine, most likely, which takes 8.9 cents on the dollar), depositing that money, and then writing a check or donating online seemed like a lot of work. Plus it's not something I think about all the time, except when putting more money into the jar.

Today I noticed that the bottom of my purse had almost $5 in change on it, and I was reminded of this pledge I made to myself. So I believe this weekend I will put the plan into action and bring my change to a CoinStar machine. But now that I'm ready to do this, I've actually done some research, and it turns out that I can donate directly to the American Red Cross through the CoinStar machine - it's only one step! There's still a service fee (I will get a tax deductible receipt for the full amount, but I think CoinStar takes some sort of processing fee before giving it to the Red Cross) but it's lower than the 8.9%.

So there you go. This reminds me a little of my Initiate service project, where we had a penny drive for the MS Walk. Once I've donated all of my change for this one, I will start again. Maybe I can choose a different organization each time!

2006-09-06T16:20:00.000-04:00

I love TV. Why? I don't know. I think that there's definitely GOOD TV out there. I also think that there is definitely BAD TV out there. And of course, there's TV that's so bad it's good. So I watch a lot of TV. Part of the reason is that it gives me something to look forward to on a nightly basis. When you're at work all day, you want to be able to take your mind off of things once you get home and be able to unwind - cooking dinner, doing dishes, tidying up, paying bills - these things do not give me much (if any) joy or relaxation. TV is a nice break. AND it's a great activity to do while knitting, so I feel much better about how much TV I watch now that I have something else to do while watching TV (and knitting is productive! Yay knitting!).

Needless to say, when I watch a pilot, I usually get sucked into whatever it is. So now I try and pick my pilots carefully, because I can only watch so many shows in a week (and the DVR can only handle recording so many, so 2 shows on at the same time is my limit). Here is my list of pilots I'm going to watch this fall:

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (NBC, premiers at 10:00pm Eastern on September 18th) - Aaron Sorkin! Thomas Schlamme! Bradley Whitford! Matthew Perry! Timothy Busfield! I don't think I need to say anymore.
Six Degress (ABC, premiers at 10:00pm Eastern on September 21st, right after Grey's Anatomy) - J.J. Abrams. Again, I don't think there's more to say.
Brothers and Sisters (ABC, premiers at 10:00pm Eastern on September 24th) - I'm intrigued by this show because it sounds like it has a great cast (Sally Field, Calista Flockhart, Balthazar Getty, Patricia Wettig, Ron Rifkin) but there's been some reports that the show is unstable. The pilot apparently originally sucked but since some of it has been redone it's better. I like a good unstable show. Besides, I don't have anything to watch on Sunday nights right now, and I like unwinding with some TV before the work week begins.
Heroes (NBC, premiers at 9:00pm Eastern on September 25th) - I've heard great things about this show (and Greg Grunberg, yay!). Apparently the characters all have flaws, which is great for character development. I think this is the one I have the most hope for this season.
The Nine (ABC, premiers at 10:00pm Eastern on October 4th, right after Lost) - This one is supposed to be pretty good, too. There are a few cast members I'm familiar with (Scott Wolf, Kim Raver, Tim Daly) and I like the premise.

All right, so 5 new shows. Part of me hopes that I hate at least one of the shows, and that at least one other fails to get picked up for the whole season. While I don't want another Reunion-like situation (Reunion gets filed under so bad it's good, and when Fox cancelled it last season I was really annoyed), I also already have a ton of shows that I watch now (Prison Break, House, Grey's Anatomy, Lost, Law & Order et. al., The O.C., One Tree Hill, How I Met Your Mother, Gilmore Girls, Scrubs, Monk, Psych, Project Runway) and some that I'm working my way through (or will be working my way through) on DVD and would consider adding to the repertoire (The Shield, Weeds, Veronica Mars).

[Note: Please feel free to mock me for my serious dependency on the made-up lives of TV characters.]

So, now that I've stated pretty much everything I watch and will be watching on TV, does anyone have any thoughts? Are there shows I'm not considering but should be (i.e., what's the best show on television that I'm not watching)? Do you think something I watch is total garbage (I probably agree and that's probably why I watch it)? Any new shows that I should consider (not that I really have time for them)?

If you haven't seen any pilot reviews and would like to, I've gotten most of my information from this site.

2006-09-05T23:57:00.000-04:00

I have been thinking the last few days about.... life, I guess. In some ways, the summer has been difficult, and I have spent a lot of time trying to figure out what it is I want to do and how I want to get there. I have at times felt very lonely, but usually I try and remember that I have a great network of friends who care about me and who will answer their phones or their email/IMs at any hour of the day. The stress of this past week, though, has made me think that maybe I have lost a little bit of focus. And maybe that is why I have had so much trouble figuring out what direction I'm supposed to be going in.

I'm pretty sure my coworkers think I'm a little crazy for caring so much about my college fraternity. They've seen my frustration at emails and have heard me on the phone with the IRS and even the office of a member of the U.S. House of Representatives (that was kinda cool, by the way). Some of my friends also seem to think I'm a little crazy, including friends from PSP. But in a lot of ways, the ideals of Phi Sigma Pi are a way of life, and affect me on a daily basis. Yet as I got a little older and grew away from the current members of my Chapter, it feels like that has gotten away. Yes, many of the people I see on at least a weekly and almost a daily basis are people I have met through the fraternity. But am I necessarily living the ideals of Scholarship, Leadership and Fellowship? I don't know. But I do know that I want to.

Anyhow, it's something to think about. I do know that I'm trying to make an effort to reconnect with friends, even though it is difficult to stay in touch with so many people that are spread out all over the country (and at times internationally). I'm starting with birthday cards. :-) Also, I want to do something to serve society, because I feel I haven't done enough of that lately. I am thinking that I will knit for charity. Knitting is something that brings comfort and joy to my own life, and I would like to spread the affects of that to others. If there is any interest, I could turn it into a project that others could join me in, either by knitting for charity along with me, or contributing materials. So, if you have any interest, please let me know, but otherwise maybe for now I will carry out the idea myself (at least until I do some research on where to donate knit items to, what to knit, what the timeline is and what my goals are).

Like I said, something to think about. Last week felt like a crisis, and my only hope was to help to educate and inspire people to continue to carry out the ideals of Phi Sigma Pi. I don't think it was such a bad thing if I was a little inspired, too.

2006-09-05T12:11:00.000-04:00

I took Thursday and Friday off and gave myself a little mini vacation. More details will follow later, I presume, when I am less tired and less busy, but here is the brief recap. This weekend I:

Started and ended my vacation with poker and drinks at Sally O'Brien's (okay, so last night's poker game was very informal);
Spent 18 hours in Ithaca, where I was able to eat at The Nine's, Collegetown Bagels and the State Street Diner, and get drinks at The Chaper House;
Did my part to ensure the continued existence of Beta Nu Chapter of Phi Sigma Pi;
Drank a bottle of Barolo with good friends on top of Olin/Kroch Library overlooking the Arts Quad;
Bought yarn that is produced and handpainted in Upstate New York (from Susan's Spinning Bunny in West Danby, NY, and The Schaefer Yarn Company in Interlaken, NY);
Bought a ton of food at Wegman's
Forgot to buy Upstate New York wine;
Spent Friday afternoon until Monday afternoon in Lake Ariel, Pennsylvania, for a nice Poconos vacation with 16 other friends;
Spent some of the above time without power, due to several storms;
Cooked a lot, for a lot of people, including making breakfast (sausage, bacon, hashbrowns and scrambled eggs) on the grill while we had no power;
Played lots of board games, including Yahtzee, Apples to Apples, Clue and Trivial Pursuit (where the girls beat the guys);
Saw good friends I hadn't seen in quite some time, including Bolcar, Ian, Vinny and Kat.

I think that pretty much covers the basics. The next couple of weeks are going to be quite hectic, so I'm glad I got to go away for a few days. And now I'm even happier to be home. :-)

2006-08-29T17:24:00.000-04:00

On a complete different, and very much lighter note, this article is a must-read for Dan (and maybe anyone else from Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland or Virginia):

Foie gras, farewell. Bring on the pig!

Trust me. :-)

2006-08-29T17:15:00.000-04:00

AND.... now I feel like I've been riding a roller coaster for the last several days. Up and down, around a loop, upside down, stomach sinking... usually I love roller coasters, but definitely not this one.

Now I really feel like a vacation, and at this point I don't even know how much of one I'm going to get. :-/

2006-08-29T02:40:00.000-04:00

Lalala, I'm awake because I was asked to remain awake just a little while longer. In some ways, the last couple of days have been so.... familiar. It's amazing how, given the right circumstances, we all so very quickly revert back to our old roles. I can see how that might not be a good thing necessarily, but in this situation it is extraordinarily comforting. And at this moment I feel much better about the situation, compared to earlier today, and even yesterday or the day before.

And it looks like I'm going to Ithaca on Saturday! I guess it's good that I'll be less than 3 hours away, as opposed to the normal 6 hours away, despite the fact that it will be an interruption of my vacation. Now I just have to work out logistics (but not tonight, because ohh my it's almost 3am and I have to work in the morning).

2006-08-28T15:11:00.000-04:00

I'm having quite a bit of trouble biting my tongue right now. I know it's the best thing to do at this very minute, and I'll get to take action and say what is on my mind in the coming days, but wow, is my blood boiling. I wish I did not have to work for the next three hours and could go home and knit, because I could really use the repetitions right about now....

2006-08-27T23:03:00.000-04:00

Until last night, I do not think that I had ever literally cried (heaving sobbing crying) myself to sleep.

2006-08-22T10:42:00.000-04:00

All right, LAST post about Restaurant Week. Last night I went to Great Bay with Jeff, Kristen, Susan and Cheryl. The restaurant was quite elegant, with comfy seats and delicious bread (since it's the first thing you taste at a restaurant, I always think it's important). The wine we (I) chose was another Sauvignon Blanc, 2005 vintage from New Zealand, but I don't remember the producer (and it's not on their online wine list). Everyone seemed to like this one, as well, and Sauvignon Blanc is fast becoming a favorite white wine for me. I chose to eat the Gazpacho with Crab, Avocado and Cilantro (couldn't really taste any of those things), Potato-crusted Halibut with Hand Cut "Chips" and Great Bay Tarter Sauce (yes, fish and chips, basically, although way less frying and the chips were sweet potato chips), and the Butterscotch Pudding with candied pecans. I also had half of Cheryl's Crisp Calamari, which was decent, but not great, and most of Kristen's butterscotch pudding, which was fantastic. Kristen let us all try her Braised boneless beef short ribs with polenta, and I must say that was outstanding and I feel like I made the wrong entree choice (but what are you going to do - it was a seafood restaurant and we were drinking white wine). Susan ordered striped bass off of the regular menu, and that looked incredible (and Susan said it was incredible) so it may be worth going back there to try some of their other entrees.

2006-08-21T10:28:00.000-04:00

This weekend I:

Went out for dinner once;
Went grocery shopping, which including purchasing lots of pantry items;
Cooked a nice meal, complete with dessert;
Cooked lots of marinara sauce to freeze;
Made and wrote out thank you cards from my birthday;
Created a dozen playlists for a friend;
Did laundry;
Cleaned out my pantry;
Did a ridiculous amount of dishes;
Drank a great deal of wine, none of red (*gasp*);
Bought a new bag (red, courdouroy, will make a great knitting bag);
Still managed to get some knitting and lots of TV in;
Caught up at least somewhat on sleep.

All in all, I think it was a pretty accomplished weekend. There are some things I wanted to do but didn't get to, and I barely left the house, but I'm okay with that. There is only so much I can do in a weekend, and I still got to relax, so I'm happy.

As for dinner... since I'm recounting every restaurant week meal, here's what I had on Friday at Upstairs on the Square: Chilled Andalusian Gazpacho, Grilled Halibut with Cool Summer Succotash, Avocado & Provencal Vinaigrette, and Chocolate Panna Cotta with Vanilla Sable and Port-Berry Sauce. I think the Gazpacho was the best part of the meal - I'm not sure that I've ever had Gazpacho before, but this made me want to eat it all the time - maybe even make it (which is pretty easy -purchase vegetables, throw into blender, let sit overnight to allow flavors to blend, eat chilled)! It's such a nice, refreshing dish, particularly since we were sitting outside (on a perfectly lovely summer evening in Cambridge). We also had a 2004 (I think) Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc (Malborough, New Zealand), which was nice and refreshing, and went well with the chilled soup, grilled fish (I'm guessing also with Corinne's pork) and summer evening. Tonight is Great Bay with Jeff, Kristen, Susan and Cheryl, and it is my LAST Restaurant Week dinner (at least until Restaurant Week comes again).

Making thank you cards was so much fun! It's a little time consuming, and I don't think I'd make cards for anything but thank you notes, but I really enjoyed the different cards I made. I think the next time I do it, instead of buying a kit, I will just purchase the supplies and make cards that are a little more similar than the really varied ones I made this time - I have an idea of what I'm doing now, and I'm hoping the supply purchasing route will be more cost effective. I thought about taking pictures of the ones I made, but I decided against it - they are (for the most part) en route to their recipients, and maybe it's better if they are the only ones to enjoy them. :-)

My only regret is that I forgot it was Employee Appreciation Week at work, and therefore we're having lunch in the office today (and a BBQ tomorrow), so I'm hoping my nicely prepared food doesn't go to the waste before I have a chance to eat it!

2006-08-18T15:14:00.000-04:00

Tuesday seems so far away, but I'll try and recall what I had for dinner for Restaurant Week meal #2. I started with a Caprese salad, which was pretty good - it could have used balsamic vinegar, which is how I now prefer my Caprese, but that's okay - the base is still yummy. Instead of a dessert, Monica's had a second, pasta course - I had cappellini with prosciutto and peas (that's one of my favorite new combinations, by the way - I got prosciutto and pea ravioli from Dave's Fresh Pasta just yesterday). My main course was grilled salmon with wild rice, which was also decent. I also picked a nice Barbara (which might be the 2001 Contratto "Panta Rei" Barbara d'Asti - the online wine list has only one that it could possibly be, but there were two similar ones on the actual list - apparently I didn't grab the cork like I thought I did), which Corinne, Ron and Gene all seemed to enjoy. Not the best meal I've ever had in the North End (Mamma Maria remains my favorite restaurant in Boston, followed by Icarus now), but it was still tasty. After dinner, we went to Mike's Pastries to get dessert, and I picked up a pound of rugalach (none of my coworkers knew what this was when I brought it in, which surprised me).

I have a confession to make. While it may surprise all of you, I do not feel I know a ton about picking a good wine. Sure, I know the varietals, and the characteristics of the grapes (the most important part of a wine's taste, as many of you know). I also know which wines are good from which regions (second most important thing) - except for France (French wines confuse me, and to be honest, I don't like them very much). I of course know more about red wines/varieties than white, but I could hold my own a pick a white wine. But past that? I only know producers/vineyards for some of my favorite wines. When I'm at a restaurant with people and I'm picking the wine, I gather opinions on what my friends are looking for in a wine (red, white, "summery", tannic, etc...), decide on a varietal or two, based on what's available on the wine list, and then pick one in the appropriate price range (typically the least expensive one on the menu). My feeling is that chances are, the people who run the restaurant, whether it's the owner or the executive chef or the sommelier, have picked the wines they carry based on tastings and experience. So, using that sort of information, I trust what's on the wine list. Because of all of this, I was somewhat surprised when I was complemented on my selection, because I didn't feel like I'd done all that much in my determination. I guess I should just take the compliment in stride, though.

From the time I got home from dinner on Tuesday until yesterday evening, my life has been somewhat of a rollercoaster - some ups, some downs, but all with unknown consequences at this time. I feel like I could be at a really major fork in my life, but I don't know for sure and I don't know what I want. The next week could be interesting (for better or worse).

At least I won the poker tournament on Wednesday (second week in a row), despite being exhausted and not really wanting to be there. I also received a nice variety of new music, some of which I'm really enjoying right now.

Tonight is Restaurant Week dinner #3, at Upstairs on the Square. Unfortunately, the menu doesn't really appeal to me right now, and I'm so exhausted that I'd rather just go home tonight, but maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised. And thank goodness it's Friday - one of my coworkers said today that she kept thinking it was Thursday - I told her that it's a good thing it's Friday because if it was Thursday, I might kill myself (though not really). It's been that kind of week.