the 37 hour bug
Monday, January 31, 2005
is finally over, i think
let the people say amen
Bourbon and Bon Vivants
and other stuff your Daddy should have taught you....
so far...37 sucks
Sunday, January 30, 2005
i had such good plans for my 37th birthday today
all these house projects to finish:
finish painting the 2nd bedroom
finish painting the living room
paint the breakfast nook
but i have been so nauseous
so ill, loathsome, queasy, and sick
it has taken me 12 hours to be able
to sit up and look at my computer
but look at it this way...
it has to be looking up from here
37 can only get better
my last day at 36
Saturday, January 29, 2005
'twas the night before my birthday
and all through the abode
all the creatures are sleeping
i'm on the commode
gina in her nightclothes
the boys in her lap
had just settled themselves
for a pre-birthday nap
when out of my stomach
there arose such a clatter
i rushed to bathroom
to see what was the matter
we'll just stop there
but god help me, i'm sick as a dog
shave my head
Friday, January 28, 2005
last night i went to a barber
not a salon
an old-time, old fashion,
nothing but men
old, old men
barbershop
i said i wanted my hair buzzed off
because i don't want to deal with my
hair after surgery
the barber said to come back on Tuesday
and if i still wanted it done
it would be shaved
gina said she would love me no matter what
but she was glad i didn't just shave my head
spur of the moment
but come tuesday, i think the hair is coming off
third time's a charm
Thursday, January 27, 2005
my left knee has been feeling
a bit *loose* lately
so i called the orthopod.
he had an opening at 1:15
he took an x-ray
looked at the pics from my last surgery (2003)
commented that it was a sloppy job
and they'd used an achilles tendon for my allograft
and it has stretched out
the head trainer from the college came in to take a look
and asked me to come with her
so all the trainers at the college
could see my pivotal shift
the knee was pushed and pulled
and manipulated and wiggled and moved
whereupon i had a roomful of professionals
gasp and cluck and shake their heads
and so.... on February 11
i'll be having ANOTHER acl surgery
bone tendon bone
using the patellar tendon from my right knee
and screwing it into my left femur & tibia
and THIS time...the surgery won't be arthroscopic
nope...it's time for the big strapping scar
a new fireplace
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
4 men
bearing one very heavy woodstove,
and about 27 black stovepipes
showed up at the house
in a snowstorm
to install the
fire engine red
vermont castings dauntless stove
WOWZA
and gina promptly informed me
that i would be waiting for her
to build the first fire
crikey..this web stuff is tuff
Tuesday, January 25, 2005
i'm trying to do my own website
gina so kindly made the wttygrrl site
and rather than add to her already
Brobdingnagian stress
i thought i'd attempt to tweak my site
alone
just me and my wits about me
that and $2 will get me coffee downtown
man, how can anybody do this all day?
ugh.
slow, unwieldy and disagreeable
and that's just me
the html really sucked
but on a bright note
i went to the library and got
oh, about, 9 more books
for the nightstand
including, the soon to be classic:
What Would Buffy Do?
the vampire slayer as spiritual guide
i'm all a-flutter
rhymes with purple
Monday, January 24, 2005
the english language is such a fascinating creature
sort of like my brother's uncle amanda
but that's for another blog
don't ever let someone tell you
nothing rhymes with purple
hogwash
hurple rhymes with purple
curple rhymes with purple
hurple is a scottish word.
still used in scotland.
it means to hobble.
or walk with a limp.
curple is a strap under the girth
of a horses saddle
to stop the saddle kicking forward
rhymes with orange, you say?
besides door hinge?
discuss.
what about silver?
kill her.
by the way, Bill Bryson
A Short History of Nearly Everything
was boring.
alas.
not like his book, Mother Tongue
which was brilliant.
brilliant, i tell you.
borborygmus
toemas has a new middle name...borborygmus
i really love levenger.com
i love their books
i love their pens
i love their weird accoutrement
but mainly i love there is a catalog and store
for *serious readers*
not just you willy-nilly ones
there are new blogs to read:
timmy!
and
babs
there is a superbowl to prepare,
my life to organize,
and the Patriots to blame,
i'm swamped
(if you haven't got your health,
you haven't got anything)
the blizzard
Sunday, January 23, 2005
so it snowed about a yard in boston
NH got less than a foot...all powder...mmmmmm
and i've just eaten about half a package of
double-stuff oreos
i'm sure it's a holiday somewhere
go PATS1
orderly conduct
Saturday, January 22, 2005
ok. the cd's have all be organized
i bought two 256 cd organizers
(i need one more)
and several dvd organizers
i've thrown away all cases
the cd jewel cases
the dvd cases
everything
alphabetical, by genre
i feel just like parker posey
in party girl
Leading Questions, A Novel
Friday, January 21, 2005
ok. ok. ok.
i've started the new novel.
chapter 1 is done.
the 1 page synopsis is done.
so all you book agents out there
email me, and i'll give you
dibs
the rest of you had better
keep on my case
or just send money
either way.
HoYay!
Thursday, January 20, 2005
short for
homoeroticism yay!
From UrbanDictionary:
Homoerotic subtext (and obvious text) in film, books, television shows, or movies. Usually followed by a feeling of glee in the viewer. Commonly used at TelevisionWithoutPity.com in recaps and forums.
Clark and Lex are staring into each others' eyes again! Hoyay!
meaning,
for the love of crikey...kiss him already...
also used "to describe awkward glances or sexually ambiguous dialogue between guys"
according to Newsweek 1/24/2005 page 12.
frankly i think
"kiss him already"
works just as well
but i'm probably not watching enough
The O.C. or Smallville
discuss.
637 books to read...
Wednesday, January 19, 2005
bookmarks magazine lists approximately
637 books to read next
so far i've read about 19 of them
shall we keep track of them as we go?
why not.
I've read:
| THE LOVELY BONES | By Alice Sebold |
| BLUE SHOE A Novel | By Anne Lamott |
| A SHORT HISTORY OF NEARLY EVERYTHING | By Bill Bryson |
| SKINNY DIP | By Carl Hiaasen |
| THE COFFEE TRADER | By David Liss |
| THE PURSUIT OF ALICE THRIFT | By Elinor Lipman |
| THE RULE OF FOUR | By Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason |
| HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX | By J.K. Rowling |
| THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA | By Lauren Weisberger |
| EATS, SHOOTS, & LEAVES The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation | By Lynne Truss |
| THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME | By Mark Haddon |
| THE DANTE CLUB | By Matthew Pearl |
| THE CRIMSON PETAL AND THE WHITE | By Michael Faber |
| THE BOOK OF SALT | By Monique Truong |
| ¡CARAMBA! A Tale Told in Turns of the Card | By Nina Marie Martinez |
| SHADOW DIVERS The True Adventure of Two Americans Who Risked Everything to Solve One of the Last Mysteries of World War II | By Robert Kurson |
| THE MEANING OF EVERYTHING, The Story of the Oxford English Dictionary | By Simon Winchester |
| THE EMPEROR OF OCEAN PARK | By Stephen L. Carter |
| CANDYFREAK A Journey Through the Chocolate Underbelly of America | By Steve Almond |
forget FrootLoops
Tuesday, January 18, 2005
there's a new Trix in town!
made with splenda
75% less sugar
and SOOOOOO much better than the
1/3 less sugar frootloops
(i can't believe i'm saying that)
pk...you must waddle to the store....NOW
and, i had my splenda trix with
raw whole milk from a small dairy farm
next to Wilton
holy bat guts.
the cream had risen to the top
this was the most delicious bowl of cereal ever
hooray for the milk!
(and i can't believe i'm saying that either)
monday holidays
Monday, January 17, 2005
oh how i love monday holidays
when i too can take a break from the
daily grind of being unemployed
and just enjoy the fact that i don't
have affordable health insurance
and am not going to get paid for today,
floating holiday or not
and the meter man just showed up
where upon the boys were ALL giggly
which translated into barking for an hour
and glaring at the space where the guys
van was parked
long after the poor guy had left
the old red mill
Sunday, January 16, 2005
we went for brunch over at the Old Red Mill
god, i love bridget & john & sadie & maggie
and frankly, mazie & sid too
the mill looks incredible
they have done all this work on it
and they are all so talented
i just want to move into the backyard
and practice my Bossa nova skills
they graciously agreed to let us use the mill
for the wedding
we are blessed by such good friends
and the fact that they think i'm mildly amusing
sid & the nfl playoffs
Saturday, January 15, 2005
for some reason i had it in my head
that the patriots played today
that's what you get when you aren't paying attention
and bu vs bc hockey again tonight
bu lost big last night at conte 3-6
but i always hope for the home rally
i wonder if catherine still has the
*BC SUCKS* poster from freshman year
have i mentioned that i thought goalies
were called *sid*?
as in the call, while pointing to goalies....
*goalie* *sid* *goalie* *sid*
until jami took me aside
and said quietly
*it's SIEVE, you rube*
ah.
pigs in space.....
Friday, January 14, 2005
piiiiiigs iiinnnnn spaaaaaaaace
the boys now have their own pages
on dogster.com
their pictures can also be found
under the *bark* tab on my site
whew...it's wacky times here in sceneic nh
Hypnerotomachia Poliphili
Thursday, January 13, 2005
sigh...
just read The Book of Four and
while i enjoyed it...it pointed out a most egregious
breach in my education..
...i do not know Latin
Hypnerotomachia Poliphili
and while i don't really have any desire to read
500 pages of Latin
only to see if i can decipher the puzzles therein
i dislike the fact that i cannot. read. latin.
(as julia would write)
my mother had over 12 years of Latin
she knew german from her Ph.D. program
my father speaks spanish
my sister is fluent in spanish having spent
years in central and south american
and that year abroad in santander*, spain
*A city of northern Spain on the Bay of Biscay west-northwest of Bilbao. It was a major port after the discovery of America and is now a resort and industrial center. Population: 191,155.
but frankly, and sadly, i SUCK at languages
i got a D in spanish in college
a D for the love of pele
and had to withdraw from italian
because i surely would have flunked
woe be unto me
hard questions
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
i have a tough time with questionnaires
especially the ones that only want ONE answer
for example:
1) how would you describe your eating habits?
a. no change
b. not hungry
c. always craving food
now wait a minute...
with the meds, i'm never hungry in the morning
can't eat much lunch
am STARVING by 7pm
and can't seem to get enough food before bed
so which letter is the ONE correct answer?
let's try another:
2) how well do you sleep?
a. no change in sleep patterns
b. don't sleep well
c. always tired
hell...i've never slept well so there isn't a change in that sleeping pattern, and of course i'm always tired, name me one adult over the age of 18 who isn't
one more:
3) last night is snowed 5 inches in NH. today it snowed 2 inches. if bobby's mother can make 10 snowmen in 3 days, what colour is mary ellen's speed racer?
a. plaid, naturally
b. lavender (mary ellen is totally a dyke)
c. 7 inches
food cravings
Tuesday, January 11, 2005
for the past couple of weeks i've been craving
raisin biscuits.
gina had no clue what i was talking about
and i couldn't find them at any grocery store
finally i googled it and found out
Golden Fruit Raisin Biscuits,
nay..the entire golden fruit family
has been discontinued...
oh! the humanity.
but on a strangely sideways note
i also discovered a great list of discontinued food
from my childhood era
which lasted until about 47 minutes ago
hearths
Monday, January 10, 2005
ok kids, i need to build a hearth
anybody know how?
something in the corner...
stove board?
brick?
stone?
hell, you'd think i could find something
on the web
but NOOOOO...apparently nobody
is doing this stuff now-a-days...
just you wait..it's gonna be the next big thing
diy hearth kit
fire extinguisher included
which reminds me
i almost burned the house down last night
sigh...
there was a log that was TOO BIG to fit in the stove
but i was determined
and it caught on fire
and was sticking halfway out of the stove
and i couldn't get it in the stove
and then it was REALLY on fire
and i put the gloves on
hauled it out of the stove
and put it in the ash pan
then took it outside
and dumped it in the snow
it wasn't until i sat back down
that i admitted how scared i was
what do porn stars download?
Sunday, January 09, 2005
the other morning around pre-dawn
i watching a documentary on ron jeremy
(which is certainly a whole 'nother topic)
and was struck my how *business*
the porn business is
the *it's just a job* sort of attitude
which made me wonder,
if you are in the porn business
do you download porn?
i mean, seriously...i don't watch clips of my co-workers
answer the phone or sitting in meetings or doing
whatever it is they do at work
does bambi bombshell really want to go home
after a long day at work
and watch hilda hooters
whose real name is probably mildred schznapshi-smith?
uconn vs tenn
Saturday, January 08, 2005
today is one of the best days in sports
there is nfl playoffs
but more importantly...this weekend
is the traditional playing of the
UCONN
vs
TENN
women's basketball game
this year both teams are out of the top 10
(uconn might be ranked 10th but shouldn't be)
i'm glad nicole wolfe is playing
i remember seeing her when she was still in high school
and she'd come the BU's mens game
where her daddy coaches
i always want to wear my orange pants
or some other equally hideous
Pat Summitt outfit
but this year, cooler heads prevailed
and I'm wearing basic black
waiting for the orange dog hair
to show my support
st andrews day
Friday, January 07, 2005
according to traditional folklore
today is the day the animals are given
the gift of speech
sadly niether of mine were given
the gift in english
so i have no clue what was said
kinda like the entire cast of LOST
relying on that one blonde chick
to translate the french for them
egad.
winter storms
Thursday, January 06, 2005
perhaps i've been in NH too long
(four months is like 2 dog years)
but i've really noticed how different
the driving is between NH & MA
holy cow.
the people in MA are MEAN
and not just a little mean
but really super mean
no wonder i spent most of my time
behind the wheel in boston
screaming at people at the top of my lungs
unless, of course, the window was open
then i just cursed them under my breath
and gesticulated wildly
unless, of course, they looked at me
in which case i just glared really hard
and thought mean thoughts
every day i like being in NH more and more
i like the laid back-ness of it
(ok, hell, compared to boston it IS laid back)
i like room for the dogs to run
i like my woodstove
i like neighbors that say *hey*
and i like that the drivers aren't
massholes
50 mile swim for the Red Cross
Wednesday, January 05, 2005
my friend joeb.b. has started the swim portion
training for the triathalon he's doing in a year or so
(meh, could be a month, could be 2007....who knows)
anyway he runs marathons like the dickens
(except he breathes too fast, but that's for another topic)
here is a guy that can run miles and miles and miles
for hours and hours and hours
and loves doing it
but is not thrilled with the idea of swimming a mile or so
when i was 17 or 18 i took part of the
red cross 50 mile swim challenge
basically you swam a mile a day until you made 50 miles
you had all summer to do it
about 100 days
i did it with my friend sharon
(who also broke my nose at our choir directors house
our senior year of high school
when she was on the floor watching television
and somehow
my nose got caught between her knee and elbow..
but that too is another story)
sharon..whom i taught to drive a stick shift
in the parking lots of asu during the said
red cross summer because we swam at 6am
and there were no students at school
so the parking lots were empty
hence the teaching her to drive a standard
and the morning campus security stopped us
car bouncing, smoking, and jolting
she and i laughing hysterically...
wet and smelling of chlorine
in my father's car
wondering what the hell we were doing...
sorta like this blog
what makes a dog's teeth chatter
Tuesday, January 04, 2005
henri, the cavilier king charles spaniel,
who turned 9 years old this past sept
has begun to slow
he can't jump up on the bed every time
so i usually help him up
and he'll sleep all day
and lately his teeth have been chattering
i don't know what's up with that
but i believe a trip to the vet is in order
static on the tv
Monday, January 03, 2005
i'm sitting here quietly,
dogs on the couch beside me,
trying to watch Auburn in the Sugar Bowl,
in HD
but all my HD channels have static
for the love of pete
so i can either listen to the game without static
and have a fuzzy picture
or
have a beautiful picture
but no sound
oh, the humanity
my father and my wedding
Sunday, January 02, 2005
so i call dad to tell him about the wedding
me: Dad, I got engaged!
dad: shut yo' mouth
seriously..that is what is said
me: um...yes..gina asked me to marry her.
we are going to have a wedding Columbus Day
i wanted to let you know and ask if you will
dance with me at my wedding
dad: well, i have a family reunion that weekend
and i'm the only living male relative...
me: oh. um. ok.
1.61803399
Saturday, January 01, 2005
phi
the golden mean
the golden section
1.61803399
it's my new favourite number
usurping pi
and the 50 digit memorization
therein
_____________
gina is a quite the epicurean
which pairs nicely with my bon vivant-ness
over the past 24 hours gina made:
stuffed pasta with feta, tomatoes and mint,
chicken & scallop fritters with a spicy gazpacho sauce,
pecan lace sandwich cookies with orange buttercream filling