friday--things that amuse me

the indictment of barry bonds

wednesday--things that are orange

two for the price of one

since i missed yesterday due to a 6:30 am arrival time, i give you both

monday--things that please me

and

tuesday--things that displease me

in one posting.

the answer to both is las vegas.

friday--things that amuse me

(since i'll be deep in the heart of vegas tomorrow)

the essay big red son in david foster wallace's consider the lobster.

and yes, this is the electronics show weekend, and no, i don't think i'm up for any awards...

thursday--things that make the heart beat faster

that i'm not packed yet!

wednesday--things that are orange

happy halloween!

tuesday--things that displease me

how cold it is here in the morning. good thing i'm going to vegas at the end of the week!

monday--things that please me

• mike lowell
• that the series is over and i can finally get some sleep
• that a few colorado residents will be coming to see me this spring!

friday--things that amuse me

jonathan papelbon, lord of the dance (youtube link)

thursday--things that make the heart beat faster

food allergies--at least according to the today show

wednesday--things that are orange

tuesday--things that displease me

• the smell of old dish sponges
• centipedes
• doing laundry

monday--things that please me

that the red sox can still win, even if i can only watch the game through a nyquil daze. seriously, i dozed off for a second and they scored 6 runs.

now, my 6 readers are divided. there is a decided colorado contingency here. will there be wagers? taunting?

it will have to wait until i take more advil cold and placebo and perhaps some coffee...

friday--taking suggestions

having given up my swank office for half an office and a cubicle, i now need decorating advice.

how do you, my 6 readers, suggest that i decorate said cubicle?

thursday--things that make the heart beat faster

being a red sox fan this week. dear lord.

josh beckett--red sox nation turns its lonely eyes to you . . .

wednesday--things that are orange

good to know. . .

tuesday--things that displease me

• waking up with a sore throat.

i do not have time for this.

monday--things that please me

• potato leek soup

i made a big vat of it yesterday, and it is providing some solace from the ever dropping temperatures.

friday--things that make me beam with pride

that today, Drew Gilpin Faust will be installed as the 28th president of harvard.

thursday--things that make the heart beat faster

guns in movies.

nix can testify to this. we watched the lookout the other night, and despite my undying love for joseph gordon-levitt, i had to keep leaving the room when the guns came out. i'm not sure what part of 'heist movie' i was unclear about.

still a great movie.

wednesday--things that are orange

tuesday--things that displease me

having to leave so early for yoga. ugh.

monday--things that please me

season one of veronica mars

(yes, i did have a whole lot of work to do on my thesis this weekend, why do you ask?)

friday--things that amuse me

larry craig. there is something almost dickensian about this whole thing. he would have needed a better name, though.

thursday--things that make the heart beat faster

more under the category of things that raise my heart rate:

messes

• the mess that is my apartment
• the mess that is my job
• the mess that is my life

sadly, you can't hire a maid to clean out your life...

wednesday--things that are orange

tuesday--things that displease me

• i can't find my shoes
• i haven't packed my old office, though i've started at my new office
• this computer is so slow!

monday--things that please me

on-line bridal registries--how did we get along without them? shopping for wedding gifts has gone from a day long chore to a 10 minute process. i love it!

friday--things that amuse me

the emperor's new groove

okay, hear me out. it has eartha kitt (the world's coolest person) as the villain. it has tom jones as a character called "theme song guy." and it has the world's best evil plan. (youtube link)

you can start judging me now.

thursday--things that make the heart beat faster

• realizing that i really do start a new job on monday
• realizing that after an hour of clearing my desk of extraneous paper, that somewhere in my over-flowing recycle bin was the only record of several hotel confirmations
• realizing that i turned off my alarm in the middle of the night

panic time

wednesday--things that are orange

tuesday--things that displease me

finding out too late that a shot glass has fallen into the garbage disposal

ouch

monday--things that please me

• the office--nix and i have been watching a marathon of the american version of this show and it is adorable.
• kevin smith was on wait wait don't tell me this week. it's all of my podcast addictions in one.
• fried clams--we had a nice dinner on the beach last night. i'm trying not to think that it was probably the last one of the summer.

friday--things that amuse me

thursday-things that make the heart beat faster

• deadlines.

i keep thinking of that line by douglas adams...

"i love deadlines. i like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by."

wednesday-things that are orange

the super-cute picture i imagined i could take of my cat in an eye-patch. turns out there are things that m. won't do for art.

here she is trying to eat the eye patch.

happy talk like a pirate day. (and happy birthday to the great f.p.!)

tuesday--things that displease me

• lima beans
• international faxing
• jackhammers

monday--things that please me

nothing at the moment, but i'll get back to you

friday-things that puzzle me

why the 6 am motorcycle guy has started up again, now that it's cold and dark at that hour. i would have thought summer would have been the ideal 6 am motorcycle weather.

thursday-things that make the heart beat faster

the car that is always parked right underneath my window with the hyper-sensitive car alarm--both in the sense of startling me at 3 o'clock in the morning and raising my heart rate with unadulterated hatred

wednesday-things that are orange

tuesday-things that displease me

early morning doctor's appointments (ugh)

monday-things that please me

• being back from texas
• coming home to a clean apartment (nix you're the best!)
• bananas

(oh--friday was post 400)

friday-things that amuse me

i only have my phone camera here, so you have to look closely. this was on the sidewalk right next to the fire hydrant.

thursday (a day late) things that make the heart beat faster

crossing the street in texas. dear lord. one guy actually sped up and swerved toward me.

wednesday-things that are orange

tuesday-things that displease me

lonestar edition

american airlines displeases me. it took me thirteen hours to get from the east coast to austin yesterday, and after a two hour 'trapped on the tarmac' experience, they still charged for peanuts.

monday-things that please me

special labor day nostalgia edition:

• corn on the cob
• grilled oysters
• volley ball
• canoeing
• dk--who i miss every year around this time...

friday-things that amuse me

stephen fry

i finished moab is my washpot, as i mentioned, and am now most of the way through the liar

he's a little bit stoppard and a little bit laurence sterne and highly recommended

thursday-things that make the heart beat faster

swimming

which is why i'm up so bloody early in the morning...

wednesday-things that are orange

(i don't know why that whole picture is so blue but i'm too lazy to retake it)

tuesday-things that displease me

back pain caused insomnia

on the upside, i finished moab is my washpot (highly recommended) and i saw the lunar eclipse.

monday-things that please me

9:49 am addendum:
this

(i take full credit for this as an early birthday present for nix)

friday-things that puzzle me

how nbc seems to be taking an amazing book, the time traveller's wife, and turning it into a really horrible looking tv series--journeyman.

i wonder if audrey niffenegger gets royalties for them taking her idea and turning it into trash...

thursday-things that make the heart beat faster

nix

who has yet to divorce me after 4 years of marriage.

happy anniversary, darling.

wednesday-things that are orange

tuesday-things that displease me

• hurricanes
• media coverage of hurricanes
• global warming

zen explained to me, once upon a time, that global warming will not make the weather warmer, but will make every weather pattern more severe. the blizzards will be snowier and windier; the rain will be more intense causing more flooding;

and the hurricanes, oh the hurricanes...

monday-things that please me

more information here

friday-things that puzzle me

why the clock on this computer keeps loosing an hour.

i don't know if it can't get over the revolving daylight saving time date, if it thinks we should move back to indiana, or if nix is gaslighting me.

in any case, it's a nuisance.

thursday-something a little different

another random rules thingie today because i'm lazy

the first five songs on my iPod this morning:

Comes A Train Of Little Ladies from The Mikado

Riffs and Variations On a Single Note for Jelly Roll, Earl Hines, Louis Armstrong, Baby Dodds, and the King of Swing, to Name a Few by Sufjan Stevens

Troubled Times by Fountains of Wayne

Alison Krauss' Down to the River to Pray

and

You've Really Got a Hold on Me by The Miracles

(i skipped the luckiest by ben folds because it is apparently not available in the itunes store and i'm too lazy to get you a link this morning)

wednesday-things that are orange

because i continue to live in a construction zone . . .

tuesday-things that displease me

last night i attended a concert by the lovely loon (this was very pleasing)--a wonderful program of flute and piano.

half way through the second movement of the first piece, a horrible woman came in with her two children. now let me be clear, the children were only being children. i do not hold them at fault for being 3 and 6 and unable to sit through a classical program without talking/fussing/keeping still. i blame this woman--who interrupted the program by coming in late--for giving them noisy things to do to occupy their time, for talking incessantly with them, for letting one of them run around unsupervised, for not leaving at the end of the piece when it was clear that her party was ruining the experience for everyone around them, for not leaving at intermission, for teaching her children this level of disrespect for performers is acceptable, and for leaving in the middle of the second to last movement of the evening with so much noise that the whole thing probably should have stopped so that everyone could applaud her leaving.

i understand that children have short attention spans, but if your child cannot sit still for 3 minutes, why bring him to hear an hour of classical music?

monday-things that please me

that someone is going to be spending time with his family

friday-things that DO NOT amuse me

my tailbone

i do not know what the hell i did, because the choice provided on the internet for the causes of acute sacrum pain are falling or that giving birth. i think i would have remembered either of these things.

i gone so far as to purchase flat shoes! that is how seriously i am taking this.

of course the flat shoes gave me blisters, so i am sort of back to square one on the shoe front.

perhaps today i'll try to consult a physician...

thursday-something a little different

the loon and i were talking about songs that we cannot hear without thinking of someone very specific (it started out with songs we cannot hear at all because they remind us of someone very specific, but most of the following make me smile)

so i present: five songs that i cannot hear without immediately remembering specific people:

• loreena mckennitt's dark night of the soul
• lisa loeb's stay
• the dresden dolls' the jeep song
• can't get enough of your love, by barry white
• on the way up, by peter mulvey

feel free to add your own (oh, and three of these make me think of specific readers of this thing, so hi!)

wednesday-things that are orange

• al roker's heat index map
• female, caucasian celebrities between the ages of 18-28 (come on girls, do not succumb to mystic tan--be pale and proud)
• oranges

tuesday-things that displease me

• having my pupils dilated

(i would have taken a picture, but i spent most of yesterday afternoon unable to focus my eyes.)

optometrist's verdict--yes my eyes have gotten much worse. new contacts are on their way.

monday-things that please me

green things

• guacamole
• pesto
• the wicked witch of the west

friday-things that amuse me

• about half of the simpsons movie (shouldn't that be the simpsons' movie?)
  
• simpsonizeme.com--sure it's a marketing ploy--but it's fun

this is what nix would look like as a simpson. or me. i get us confused sometimes.

thursday-things that break the heart

this.

my heart goes out to all our friends in minnesota.

p.s.--i understand that they made a good call in not cancelling the twins game because a few 100,000 more cars on the road was a bad idea at the moment. however, i do think they could have done without the organ. . .

wednesday-things that are orange

thanks to ms. b who took me on the cruise out to this island last week!

tuesday-things that displease me

• my bruised knee
• my sun burn
• my paper cut

i look like i'm six! i should break out the pirate band-aids and be done with it.

monday-things that please me

• nix back from texas
• cal ripkin, jr--welcome to the hall of fame, sir.

r.i.p. ingmar bergman

friday-things that puzzle me

why people feel the need to re-invent shakespeare

over the past few years i have seen

• hamlet in nazi germany (this was the one with the ghost on stilts and the moat)
• taming of the shew in boston's north end (not that i saw it there, that was where it was set)(bonus--petruchio takes kate away to revere beach)
• and now, last night, what i can only describe as midsummer night's dream in space. i didn't get a program, so i can't really verify what the artistic vision was. but the athenians were dressed in lab coats and the fairies looked like alien drag queens. the players looked like park rangers. puck look like he'd spent too long at mystic tan.

bonus--i saw a guy wearing a shirt that said "shakesepeare hates your emo poetry"

thursday-things that make the heart beat faster

• realizing that i turned off my alarm instead of hitting snooze
• yoga in the morning
• a really nice sunset (thank you miss b)

obviously not in that order. . .

wednesday-things that are orange

tuesday-things that displease me

• the backs of my legs (i'd post a picture, but a. i haven't been keeping up with my yoga, and b. you might be eating breakfast--you'll have to trust me on their still really burned and tragic condition)
• that many people spent money to see i now pronounce you chuck and larry
• hillary clinton--i know i keep saying that, but she keeps displeasing me, and what's worse, she keeps leading in the polls. here, again, because nobody seems to be listening, is molly ivins' take on the subject
• which reminds me that i'm still so sad that we lost miss molly. we need her and no one has risen to fill the void that she left.

monday-things that please me

• finding these at my grocery store

• jon lester
• hairspray--who knew john travolta looked so good as a woman?

friday-things that puzzle me

• how to get a copy of the new harry potter book without waiting in line or attending a party
• how to get rid of my sunburn lines without going into the sun
• the first 100 pages of the life and opinions of tristram shandy, gentleman (i don't mean to imply that i understand the next 376--i've only gotten to 100 so far)(joyce has nothing on sterne)

thursday-things for which i am thankful

• that nix bought cream for my coffee
• that more people weren't hurt in the ny steam explosion
• that there are fewer days left to work in this week than we have already endured

wednesday-things that are orange

tuesday-things that displease me

• sunburn
• day long conferences
• spf 30 that still doesn't prevent sunburn.

i am no longer going outside without a mumu and a large hat

monday-things that please me

smurf juice

friday-things that amuse me

imelda staunton in the new harry potter movie. brilliant.

i also loved the girl who played luna lovegood.*


*no relation to the guy in the dead can dance song, whose surname i gave her originally--thank you a.l.

thursday-things that make the heart beat faster

i was going to say michael chertoff, as watching him on the today show does give me palpitations, but i've decided to stay positive, so i'll go with:

inside the park home runs (you tube link)

wednesday-things that are orange

tuesday-things that displease me

• american politics
• world politics
• republicans
• democrats
• almost every presidential candidate
• the tone of the debate
• tony snow
• scooter libby
• people who won't apologize or take responsibility for their votes
• everything on the news

monday-things that please me

• vacation
• vermont
• apple cider doughnuts

friday-things that amuse me

the weather yesterday:

you can't really tell, because these were just taken on my phone, but it was pouring. and the sun was shinning so brightly you could have gotten a sunburn and pneumonia at the same time.

i'm taking a vacation next week. i trust the seven of you who read this will come up with orange things on your own.

thursday-things that i need

to stop hearing about dumb blonds.

i don't care if they became famous for their dad's money or for saying horrible and malicious things to sell books that feed the bigotry and intolerance that divides this country.

stop rewarding their behaviour by putting them on the news! they are not news. and it is too early in the morning to have to hear about either of them. much less both of them.

for my part, i will not refer to them here again (unless they get shot into outer-space, in which case, i will mention that as pleasing me).

wednesday-things that are orange

i'm still getting used to the new camera phone...

tuesday-things that displease me

that i am now out of cupcakes.

monday-things that please me

cupcakes--they're not just for breakfast anymore!

friday-things that DO NOT amuse me

public displays of affection. not the kiss hello or goodbye or holding hands--but the insistence on constant tonsil contact, in public, for several hours.

okay--i am officially old and cranky.

nix and i went to a play last night and the couple in front of us made out the entire time. now this was a very small theatre, so every time la femme leaned back for l'homme to bite her neck, her head bumped my knee. and even more fun, we took two separate trains with them. so all in all i had to witness about 5 hours of their undying love fore each other.

now i concede that the play was not that good, but really?

thursday-things that i need

to wish mrs. k. a happy birthday!!!!!

wednesday-things that are orange

tuesday-things that displease me

geothermal drilling
i appreciate that in the end it is quite wonderful that this building in the foreground will be green and sustainable and all of those tree hugging words. but right now, the thing is freaking loud. (this is the view from my office window, by the way)

monday-things that please me

• iced tea (just the regular kind, not the music video one i've mentioned before)(still a you tube link)
• sunshine
• that we still have three more days of lengthening daylight

friday-things that amuse me

ladies and gentleman, i present to you, the ethel merman disco album

i couldn't seem to get it to play on amazon and itunes doesn't have it--so you may have to trust me that it is as remarkable as it sounds. i do love the merm!

thursday-things that i need

• for it to be 10 degrees warmer
• for watching the news to depress me a little less
• to elves to come in the night to revise my proposal
• for massachusetts to realize that civil rights shouldn't be put up to a popular vote

wednesday-things that are orange

these were at a party for grown-ups near my office yesterday. all afternoon it was like i was upstairs from the lamest wedding ever--a constant stream of bad music including the electric slide, groove is in the heart and love shack.

i think they did it so we wouldn't complain so much about the construction going on next door. sure they're loud and throw duct work out a third floor window, but they have never once played the macarena.

tuesday-things that displease me

getting my thesis proposal back

for forty-some days it was all i wanted. now that i have it, it occurs to me that summer is now over. back to work.

monday-things that please me

• nix, who starts a new job today!
• nectarines

friday-things that amuse me

i didn't put this one up with the last round of viral marketing amusements, but i think it just won an award, so here 'tis (you tube link)

thursday-things that make the heart beat faster

hearing the back door to a grey van slam at 2 a.m.

also file under things that keep me from sleeping.

wednesday-things that are orange

no, that's not the color on your screens--i took that in november.

tuesday-things that displease me

• that i seem to have woken up in the 80s
• that they haven't given me my thesis proposal back yet

monday-things that please me

• ceiling fans
• preston sturges movies
• paris hilton in jail

friday-things that amuse me

alec baldwin on 30 rock.

many of you know that i am a long suffering grey's anatomy fan, but nix and i watched the nbc shows last night because i couldn't cope with mcnonsense (i didn't get home until 8 and my brain was seriously fried). i have to say, the show has some weaknesses, but mr. b was fantastic. my solution--import sarah paulson, nathan corddry and d.l. hugley from studio sorkin.

i would also like timothy busfield and allison janney to have their own show.

and bring back veronica mars

whew. i clearly need to get my thesis proposal back.

thursday-things that i need

• an extra hour in the morning
• a personal assistant

or

• a maid

wednesday-things that are orange

tuesday-things that displease me

leaving vermont

monday-things that please me

vermont

friday-things that amuse me

that my parents got home from a month abroad to 90 degree weather, went to open the windows and realized that the storm windows were still on. it was still mostly winter in vermont when they left...

happy long weekend!

thursday-things that make the heart beat faster

the great gate at kiev from mussorgsky's pictures at an exhibition

wednesday-things that are orange

tuesday-things that displease me

• the construction next to my office: as if having them throw enormous pieces of duct work three stories down into a waiting garbage pile wasn't enough, now they have an ancient generator which they insist on keeping outside, so i can slowly loose my grasp on sanity as it revs at sporadic intervals.
• tim wakefield--though i know that he is nix's favorite.
• this weather pattern of only sunny on workdays that we've had going for a while.

monday-things that please me

commencement season:

just when i'm getting fed up with the traffic and the extra work, i read Sen. Barak Obama's address to Southern New Hampshire University’s senior class, and i remember that this is a great time of year. . .

friday-things that amuse me

yesterday i saw a man in a suit with a briefcase jump a chest high fence to get out of a revolutionary war cemetery.

i have no more information, but i like to think that zombies were after him.

thursday-things that make the heart beat faster

the moment between committing to doing something, and actually doing it: between i could dive off that cliff, and taking flight; between i think i'll get a tattoo and the needle touching your skin; between leaning in and that first kiss. . .

wednesday-things that are orange

these are the kitten's toes (in dr. k's shoes). the color, if i remember correctly, is technically "the tasmanian devil made me do it" but they looked pretty orange to us.

tuesday-things that displease me

the lady from cnbc who appeared on the today show this morning to tell us that the reason that gas prices are so high is that there aren't enough refineries.

and those record smashing profits for all the gas companies came from where?

monday-things that please me

my mom.

friday-things that DO NOT amuse me

having to be at work at 7:30 when i commute an hour.

ugh

thursday-things that make the heart beat faster

thunder storms--nothing makes me feel like i'm seven years old again quite like lightening in the middle of the night.

wednesday-things that are orange

tuesday-things that displease me

junk mail.

i have stacks of it all over the apartment that i need to go through. i can't throw it away or recycle it or else someone will steal my identity. i get so much mail from crate and barrel you would think they wanted me to apply to their college. plus, someone sold my name and suddenly i get catalogs from the island of white sweaters, and fruit baskets incorporated.

bah!

monday-things that please me

helen mirren

• i love her because she was in caligula, and played Queen Elizabeth II
• i love her for being in calendar girls
• i love her for not being in harry potter or lord of the rings
• and i love her for that "i'll probably drop my chips" line

rent the queen if you haven't already. it is quite remarkable.

friday-things that amuse me

bill bryson

now i know i've mentioned him before, but now that the proposal is in, i have finally gotten the chance to start the life and times of the thunderbolt kid which is marvelous.

so i guess in the interest of not repeating myself, the life and times of the thunderbolt kid amuses me.

thursday-things that make the heart beat faster

6 and 0

i am a little in love with that kid

public service announcement

everyone send this boy a birthday card

tell your friends

(verified on snopes)

wednesday-things that are orange

so i woke up 10 minutes before i had to leave the house this morning, so here is a short list of the orange things i saw on my way to work

• an orange volvo station wagon
  
• a stick with orange paint (looked like it had broken off a traffic barrier)
  
• a traffic cone
  
• a very large pocket book
  
• a vest
  
• a stuffed bear hanging from the purse of a woman too old to get away with such an accessory
  
• a utilities truck
  
• the type face on a poster telling me that i could teach english as a foreign language

tuesday-things that displease me

the state of my apartment:

and these were taken on friday

a time i now refer to as "back when the house was clean"

i'll give a prize to whomever can name the most objects in these pictures

monday-things that please me

the history boys

i'm quite sorry i missed this in new york, but amazed that they managed to make it with the original cast.

friday-things that amuse me

dylan moran

• on screen
• on television
• on cd
• on youtube

thursday-things that make the heart beat faster

the knowledge that this proposal is due tuesday!!

(sorry this is so late, i've taken the day off to thesis)

happy st. cletus' day, y'all!

wednesday-things that are orange

difficult modeling session, this morning

tuesday-things that displease me

that i cannot find the cable for my sister's camera.

monday-things that please me

• high of 85
• 4 in a row
• high of 85!

friday-things that amuse me

not much at the moment.

so here are some monkeys...


let's hope for a better week next week