Verb My Noun

Congratulations!

2010-11-24T09:39:00.000-06:00

To Temp, who rocks in so many ways.

Vacation! (Now with pictures)

2010-10-18T11:26:00.003-06:00

The China trip was awesome, but I find I'm having a hard time coming up with anything coherent to say about it. Maybe I'll try a list.

Awesome Stuff:
1. Diplowhat and Wog! So great to see them both; I wish Diplowhat hadn't had to work so much of the time, but what time we did have together was lovely. They were amazing hosts and tour guides and took very good care of us.
2. The food. Everything from the higher-end restaurants all the way down to the bowls of beef noodles and jian bing street food (totally craving this right now). And any country where spicy noodles are standard breakfast fare is good in my book.
3. Scenery. The mountains at The Great Wall, the rivers and karst hills in Yangshuo, the fields and oxen and towering bamboo. So much gorgeousness to look at.
4. Guardian Lions and dragon turtles and all the other impressive, iconic imagery that goes with China's ancient sites.
5. Ridiculously affordable, awesome Chinese massage. The exchange rate in general.
6. Being on vacation.

Less Awesome Stuff:
1. The air.
2. The crowds/scary traffic.

I guess that'll do as a nutshell version. I'm sure Puck and I will both bore all of you to tears over the next few months with random "Oh! And in China..." stories though. Meanwhile, here are some pictures.

VACATION!

2010-09-28T07:09:00.002-06:00

We leave for China tomorrow! Holy crap!

No.

2010-09-21T17:17:00.003-06:00

Dear Dodge:

No, the Caravan did not literally give birth to all other minivans.

No love,

Pusher

p.s. This still isn't as bad as your grossly sexist Hemi SUV ads. I'm sort of glad you make such a shit product so I will never feel tempted to give you my money.

Awesome.

2010-08-20T15:07:00.004-06:00

I just got to edit copy written by a non-native speaker. Wow.

The best part? The restaurant review that talked about foie gras, caviar and happy pills.

Edit: Okay, I got to see it again, so I'm reproducing the whole thing here for your ...enjoyment?

"Taste of Discovery Station and happy pills, caviar and foie gras, terrace barbeque, pink therapeutic cocktail lounge and international DJ... Sunday brunch in pink themed new perspective awaits your discovery."

Or, as I thought of it at the time, "Copy edit this, bitch."

Under the wire

2010-06-30T07:27:00.002-06:00

Just noticed that I have not posted once in June, despite it being a perfectly lovely month in which many good things happened.

Kicked it off with a visit to Temp in her new digs. She took us to the licorice store, an awesome street market, the Nebraska store with its incredible selection of Nebraska wine (don't laugh), several nifty beer joints, and The World's Most Homoerotic State Capitol. There was also a little gardening in what locals seem to consider soil but I know as modeling clay.

Hit the lake for the first time this year for a rainy weekend with the folks. It dried out long enough for us to go on a few good walks and for my dad and I to fail to catch any fish. We did, however, have a splendid bird-watching excursion from the boat, so let's just pretend that was the point.

Last weekend was the Minnesota wine tour! Yay! A bunch of us squished into J & TSB's minivan (thanks again for driving, J!) and drove around the southeastern part of the state drinking wine. Beautiful vineyards and sparkly shirts abounded. Couldn't have been nicer, even down to the dramatic thunderstorms on the return trip.

The garden is going well. I built a raised bed for the tomatoes this year and filled it with mostly compost, so I have huge, beefy, mutant plants. Whee! Since Ken retired this year, he's growing his own. It feels very strange to only have five tomato plants instead of my usual 15 or so. The snap peas have been weird this year. The plants only got about a foot high. They still gave me peas, but on these tiny, spindly little vines. For the first year since I put them in, I'm getting a bountiful blueberry harvest. Oh, so tasty. Now I'm wobbling again on whether to move them. They just finally started producing well, so it seems a shame to dig them up! Accidentally bought bush beans instead of pole (oh seductive purple, why could I not read the packaging beyond your allure?). The poor zone 5 peach tree is still with me, but the center keeps dying off every year, so it's weird and sprawly and completely lopsided. I'm sure I could fix some of that with pruning, if only I had a clue how to do it properly and what to take out (though there's really no pruning that can balance out an empty center). But it did bloom this year, which was pretty damn cool.

Also, bought a reel mower. I should really do a product review of that soon -- it's nifty, but does have some issues.

Faster, Day, faster!

2010-05-28T11:40:00.002-06:00

Not a lot to do at work to day, and wow am I impatient for the weekend! Heading out this evening for the long drive to Lincoln to visit Temp and check out her new digs. (Poor Puck is going to have quite the drive, since I haven't managed to stay awake much past 9:30 yet this week....)

Is it time to go yet? How 'bout now?

...

...

Now?

No fair doing this while I'm on cold medication

2010-05-21T10:56:00.002-06:00

Seriously, L.A. Times, you had me wondering whether I had (a) fallen asleep or (b) started hallucinating with this one.

I mean, Kevin Costner May Hold Key to Oil Spill Cleanup? Really? And it all started with Waterworld?

WTF?

I think I need to go back to bed.

Pusher's Guide to Weight Loss

2010-05-21T07:35:00.002-06:00

C'mere. Let me cough on you.

In the week and a half that I've been sick, I've dropped eight pounds. Of course, I'll be gaining it all back as soon as I start staying awake long enough to eat supper....

In which we are raided by the police

2010-05-16T08:34:00.005-06:00

Update: For those of you who expressed curiosity: A very nice young police officer just stopped by to apologize and explain. They had the wrong address. He gave more details than that, but that's someone else's life and I'm not comfortable telling more. I almost preferred not knowing. Then I could pretend it was just a dumb prank.

Let me set the stage: It's 3:30 a.m., and I am sleeping the sleep of the grossly ill before being jolted awake by a tremendous noise and what seems to be the house shaking. Briefly wonder what could have fallen with that much force, then bedroom window is pierced by intensely bright sweep of light, and the tremendous noise is repeated, proving to be emphatic knocking, accompanied by someone shouting "POLICE!"

I wonder if the neighborhood is being evacuated. Ah, the stupidity of a clean conscience!

Then I hear voices in the back discussing an "unsecured entry" -- we never lock the back door when we're home -- and I realize they're coming in. My main priority at this point is getting into my robe before they get into my bedroom, because I am *not* dealing with the police naked. The robe is, of course, mulishly uncooperative, but I manage to find the arm holes eventually and shuffle out, meeting several of Our City's Finest in the kitchen. The one in the lead is wearing a bright yellow vest over body armor, and is carrying a a very disorienting flashlight and maybe a gun.

Anyway, they are tense, I am tired and confused. I wonder why they're there, they establish the address, say there was a call, ask some questions about who else is in the house and whether there's a basement apartment, blah blah blah all-a-mistake-cakes. They clear out with an awful lot of noise, light, and radio chatter, and I wander back toward bed. Am met in the hallway by Puck.

Puck: "Were the police just in our house?"
Me: "Yeah."
Puck: "Weird."

Hee.

Anyway, no big deal, just a surreal sort of interruption. I really hope it was just a prank or something equally stupid, and that there wasn't a real emergency at, say, our address on a different block.

May in March, March in May, wth is going on around here?

2010-05-10T07:34:00.002-06:00

Actually, I have really appreciated the long, cool spring. But it's mid-May now. Time to start warming up a little so I can put my tomatoes in the ground.

Those would be the tomatoes I bought at plant sale, which was as fun as ever, even though it was really chilly and I did (accidentally) try to ditch No-Nick on the way there. I behaved myself quite well this year. I didn't even buy the contorted-needle pine that I fell madly in love with at first sight. (I briefly considered selling my house and moving somewhere that I'd have room for it. It was that awesome.) What is it with me and plants that look diseased? Veggie was equally strong in the willpower department, and we both managed to escape within budget, or near enough as makes no difference.

This was the second weekend in a row at the Arboretum for me, as Puck and I went down with my folks to be blown away by the crabapples in full bloom (pretty impressive tulips in the annual garden too). Also getting some work done in the yard, though, as always, the more I get done the more I see that needs doing. Which reminds me, must take the annual picture of Mixologist's bleeding heart!

Picture!

2010-04-21T10:07:00.002-06:00

My coworker who sits at the corner was treated to a nifty show today as the vulture sat outside his window and preened for while. He snapped this shot with his phone, and was kind enough to share it with me.

What, you wanted something current?

2010-04-20T12:05:00.002-06:00

Okay, so the 2010 Arboretum Plant Sale list is now up.

http://www.arboretum.umn.edu/AuxiliarySpringPlantSale.aspx

Meanwhile, there are dozens of blooms on my blueberries, the serviceberry turned completely white with flowers while I was away for the weekend, the garden is turned over and ready to plant, the weeds have already taken over, and there is a vulture stalking my office windowsill.

Ah, spring!

Weather

2010-03-14T15:53:00.002-06:00

Sixty-five degrees before St. Patrick's Day? What the hell?

Played in the dirt today. Yay.

Slacking!

2010-03-08T13:34:00.003-06:00

Good thing Veggie is around to make up for my slacker ways. She's on top of things, and informed me Saturday night that the Arboretum Plant Sale List is up! Woo-hoo! Time to start planning in earnest!

So who's in for the annual trek to the Arboretum May 8? And are we doing a Landscapalooza this year? I'd be happy to host one if folks are interested.

Nifty

2010-02-23T09:11:00.001-06:00

I love being downtown on the 17th floor and watching it snow up.

Life is good

2010-02-16T06:37:00.005-06:00

Between having an office with windows and getting out cross-country skiing every weekend, this has been the easiest February of my life. I am continually amazed at how much difference sunshine and fresh air make to what is, to me, the most dismal month of the year.

Last weekend in pictures:

There was a fog Friday night, so Saturday all the trees and shrubs were gleaming with frost. So pretty!

We got out skiing at the Arboretum every day – including Monday for me, because I had the three-day weekend. Three-and-a-half miles each day Saturday and Sunday, then two miles Monday. I definitely have more stamina than I did in December! The Arboretum is ridiculously gorgeous. Looking around at the views is as much of a falling risk as any of the hills are!

Saturday night after skiing, Puck put together this beautiful supper. Wine, cheese, fruit, saucisson, a fresh baguette from Patrick's ... ah, bliss.

And in continuing retail therapy, I have once more purchased Spring In A Pot. Ridiculously overpriced as bulbs and soil and a plastic pot go, but one of the best values I've ever found for winter blahs.

As promised

2010-01-21T08:36:00.002-06:00

The three-day weekend was just as awesome as I had anticipated. Filled with good things happening for several people I love, including Sunshine getting a job (in case some of you hadn't heard about that yet). Hooray!

Got out skiing all three days. None of them were long jaunts, but that's okay, because three days in a row, y'know? Aside from Puck repeatedly trying to kill himself on Day One, it was all good fun.

I love wine tastings. So glad so many of you were able to attend this time around! Came away from it convinced that Meritage wines are universally yummy, which will probably bite me in the ass someday. Throw in some Dominion and Rock Band and that was a darn good Saturday.

Ended up at Jax for Dad's retirement supper. I'd had a late, copious lunch, so I had all these good intentions about just getting soup and a salad. Which I did, but...somehow I don't think a bowl of dark, rich french onion soup topped with about half a pound of gruyere and a large Caesar salad (complete with anchovies) quite counts. Many thanks to J for calling to remind me about Book Club, because that was really fun and I'd've hated to have missed it.

Monday I skied and relaxed and made vichyssoise. Because if potato and leek soup is good, potato and leek soup with cream is even better. Then Puck and I went to a Surdyk's wine class on Bordeaux. The presenter was a former math teacher who showed us pictures from his vacation to France. It was seriously awesome. :-)

Definitely racking up some karmic debt these days, determined to enjoy it while it lasts.

Can it be the weekend now?

2010-01-15T13:09:00.002-06:00

Slow day at work = slow day at work.

Especially when I have a three-day weekend coming up, chock-full of awesome plans. Cross-country skiing (providing the snow holds up to these warmer temps), wine-tasting party (hope to see many of you there!), meal with the folks (Dad has actually, really, honestly, you'll-never-believe-this, RETIRED! Today is his last day! I suspect his Friday is going even slower than mine), and the chat for Book Club in which we get to talk about dead bodies. Is it any wonder I'm impatient for it to start?

Best headline ever

2010-01-11T15:53:00.002-06:00

One of my editing groups just put this up. It's from three years ago, so maybe the rest of you have seen it, but gosh it makes me happy.

Skywalkers in Korea Cross Han Solo

Winter

2010-01-10T08:06:00.002-06:00

I continue to be absolutely amazed at the difference it makes for me to have windows at work during the winter. I was never dangerously affected by SAD, but it did make a difference in my life. But now? Winter is just cold, and the time when I get to go cross-country skiing instead of gardening.

The skiing helps tremendously too. Being able to get out and appreciate how beautiful winter is makes for a powerful mood tonic. Yesterday Puck and I went out to the Coon Rapids Dam, and there was a cardinal sitting in a branch just a few feet up off the ground, all fluffed up for warmth. So gorgeous against the snow and dark branches of underbrush. Today we're going to Bunker. After I beat my outa-shape self into some semblance of endurance, we'll hit the Arboretum.

Meanwhile I'm wishing I'd managed to sleep later. Dear self: When you are up until 2 a.m., it is not necessary to get up at 7:30. It really, really isn't. (And yes, I can imagine all of the parents reading this rolling their eyes about whining over 5.5 hours of uninterrupted sleep....)

Blogging. Right. I have a blog.

2010-01-05T08:23:00.003-06:00

So, sort of skipped the month of December. And most of November. Oops?

Updates since then. Let's see....

I didn't succeed at NaNo this year. I had an awesome first weekend, and a pretty good finish, but there was a while in the middle there where I pretty much just stared at the glowy box and did nothing. That and my unwillingness to give up Wednesdays this year was too many days lost to make up for. I'm not too bothered by it though. I make up my own measures of success, and this year's novel was fun more often than it was frustrating -- that's good enough for me.

Puck and I took a mid-December long weekend up to Grand Marais and attempted downhill skiing. It was cold and the conditions weren't great since it was all fake snow, but still very fun! I was hoping I'd be a little better at it this time since we've been doing cross-country and it's been less than ten years since the last time I attempted downhill, but I think I was about the same. We visited the Ben Franklin, and ate at the Coho Cafe and the Gunflint Tavern. Also stopped at Gooseberry on the way up and admired the frozen falls. Neat.

Went to Chicago for Christmas. Stayed with Puck's family, but dropped by to see my sister and the nieces for a couple hours. Just long enough for the girls to give me a cold, which is inevitable anytime I come in contact with children who aren't afraid to climb on me. Must work on instilling necessary fear. Welcome suggestions that will not cause family rift. Sadly, even though the cold was minor, it brought a lingering cough that kept me from being able to stay for Iron Bartender on New Year's Eve. Woe! Still, I did get to show up long enough to see everyone and enjoy the lovely spread J and The Sexy Blonde put up (as well as No-Nick's hot buttered rum. Mmmmmmm).

Greatly enjoyed our December guests: first The World's Coolest Mother-in-Law, and then our very own much-missed Temp.

Finally got out cross-country skiing this past weekend, despite the high temperature of 1°. Yay! Looking forward to doing more, hopefully with slightly warmer days and healthier lungs.

The most exciting bit is probably that we bought our plane tickets for the trip to China next October. Wheeee!!!!

No New Year's resolutions. I never keep them anyway.

Thursday

2009-11-09T13:25:00.002-06:00

This Thursday at 7 p.m. I'll be headed to the Northtown Barnes & Noble for a reading and book signing by Rachel Coyne. Anybody want to join me?

Better than finding $20 in your pocket

2009-10-28T11:47:00.002-06:00

I counted up my vacation days wrong. Turns out I have two whole days that I need to use or lose before the end of the year. This felt like such a bonus, such a gift, that I couldn't accept the idea of not doing something fun.

So Puck and I decided to use one of them to head up to Lutsen for a weekend of skiing. As the kids used to say last year or thereabouts, WOOT! Mid-December holiday FTW! Maybe this time I'll even try a MEDIUM difficulty run!

We'll be staying at the good ol' trusty Cascade Lodge, in the lodge part. If folks could help me remember which restaurants in Grand Marais are don't-miss, I'd appreciate it. (I do remember The Coho Cafe in Tofte, but that's the only name I recall.)

To NaNo or not to NaNo?

2009-10-27T14:34:00.002-06:00

More weekends like that, please

2009-10-19T07:51:00.002-06:00

Had a fabulous time out at the farm. Lots of beer (Oktoberfest, of course!), games, a weird and brief polka interlude, kites, and windy, beautiful walks. (That's windy as in lots of air moving around, not windy as in meandering.) Thanks Temp!

Got back in time to do some fall gardening chores in the gorgeous sunshine, eat one of The Beauty Queen's freakishly perfect acorn squashes for supper, then kick back with a glass of scotch and chat about The Dante Club with The Sexy Blonde and All-Knowing Jen.

Feeling pretty contented with life.

...And talk about the weather

2009-10-14T11:49:00.002-06:00

We had Christmas in October this past weekend with Puck's paternal grandparents, so the snow was entirely appropriate in my world. Besides, Monday I drove past one of those classic fall maple trees, all luminous in rose and yellow, and with the snow cover on top of that it was too ridiculously beautiful to be believed.

I wouldn't be so cheerful about the early snow and cold if I didn't believe we would still get an autumn. At least a week or two of sunshine and temps in the 50s to 60s. There's still time. The veggie garden looks appalling, since every time I've had the free time to pull it out, there's been precipitation of some sort. It's a little ode to death out there right now, which I suppose is seasonally appropriate if nothing else.

Support local authors!

2009-10-08T09:58:00.003-06:00

Especially when they are the sister of a friend of ours!

Rachel Coyne's first novel, Whiskey Heart, is now available on Amazon and at Barnes & Noble. I'm no good at reviews, so I'm just going to quote a random bit. (Random so I don't have to go through and decide what to quote. Gosh I'm being lazy about this.)

Constance's boys and a dozen of their maternal cousins showed up. They poured out of their aunt's car like water from a jug. The boys cut warpaths between the rows of church members, running and screaming at the top of their lungs, playing or dying, I wasn't quite sure which. The church children did not play with our children, but sat serenely at the feet of their elders, looking pale and ill.

The neighbors filed in but didn't stay too long. The women from Momma's work came to eat and seemed determined to outlast the church people. I wasn't sure if this was a gesture of solidarity with Momma or just their love of potato salad. They lined up at the food table, their big hips bumping softly against one another as they moved. In their flowered and polka-dot dresses, the effect was slightly hypnotic, dizzying. Eventually I fled into the house, towards the shelter of my attic, taking the stairs two at a time.

ETA: I just re-read this and realized how indifferent it may sound. I wrote it at work and my brain was in a half-dozen different places. Just to be clear, I think this is a damn solid book. After a couple interrupted starts, I sat down and read the whole thing in a long Sunday afternoon. It's not a happy book, but it is very honest, raw, and ultimately hopeful. Definitely worth a read.

Because I know many of you will appreciate this

2009-09-17T12:45:00.001-06:00

Some for the fencing, some for the lightsaber, some for both....

Fall gardening, or lack thereof

2009-09-11T11:07:00.002-06:00

Oh right. I keep forgetting that the reason I don't get anything done outside after mid-August isn't because I'm lazy (though I am), it's because of the damn ragweed. Last weekend I tried to break it up some -- half hour here, 45 minutes there, maybe an hour and a half when I got all distracted by deciding to dig out the lily of the valley. Then I spent the next three days mostly unable to breathe despite the allergy meds. Stupid ragweed.

Speaking of lily of the valley, if I could go back in time and deliver one message to myself, it would be, "Don't change the grade of your yard with the dirt from someone's basement, and don't think that piling inches of dead, mostly clay soil on top of lily of the valley will kill it. It won't. It will only make it stronger." I still love lily of the valley, and I'm delighted with it in the shade garden on the northeast corner of the house. But this had been planted on the south side, where all the sun just gives it entirely too much encouragement. Lily of the valley does not need to be encouraged. This year I noticed how much it was encroaching on my iris and lilies, so I figured I'd pull some out and try to restrain it a bit. HA! Silly me, I went in with a little hand cultivator. Isn't that adorably naive? Twenty minutes and a good sharp shovel later, I was pulling up clumps of lily of the valley roots ten inches deep and so dense there was very little room for soil around them. I know I didn't get it all, but I think I've at least slowed it a little.

Nothing to see here

2009-09-03T14:23:00.002-06:00

Nope, still nothing interesting happening in my life.

I'm looking forward to Open Forge at the end of the month. After changing my mind several times, I'm now planning on making tomato cages that don't suck. That is, big and sturdy enough to actually support tomato plants. I love the way the spirals look, but I would like to let the plants just grow next year instead of pinching them back to a single stem. Of course, I don't actually know how I'm going to make said cages, what design I'll be using, etc. I do want to be able to store them without taking up half the garage. Any suggestions?

And hey, three-day weekend coming up and a remarkably open calendar for the foreseeable future. Does this mean I'll actually get some of my fall garden chores done? The ones I talk about every year but never seem to manage? Let's not hold our breath.

Guilt-free pie!

2009-08-21T12:31:00.001-06:00

That is all.

Oh this modern world

2009-08-19T14:20:00.002-06:00

This may be one of the more surreal Internet experiences of my young life. The gentleman next to me, who must be in his seventies, is watching a Flash something-or-other with "Amazing Grace" playing very loudly. I'm sipping a hot chai. Coffee shop? Hardly. Does the hum of multiple coolers seem out of place?

I'm currently enjoying the wireless services of the Ideal Corners Gas, Convenience and Bait Shop (now with schmancy coffee and Internet). Ahead of me? A pizza oven and microwave in front of the cooler of eggs, cheese, milk, various Carl Budding sandwich meats and pre-wrapped Deli Select sandwiches, then the pop cooler. To my right, the chips and snacks aisle. Past that, the minnow tanks and ancient refrigerator that holds styrofoam containers of worms.

Wireless is everywhere.

Even the resort, in fact, though I can't get it in the trailer. So I didn't really need to come to the Ideal Corners Gas, Convenience and Bait Shop, but...oh who am I kidding? I so did!

Besides, it's a great day for bike riding today. Cloudy and cool but not too windy, for the first day since I arrived. Haven't been to A-Pine for pie with my wireless, as I haven't ridden a bike since last year so thought a shorter jaunt would be better. Good thing. My legs wobbled like a colt's when I got off my bike after only a mile or so.

Am having an amazingly good time, which I guess isn't so amazing since I do every year. Suzuri joined me for the first weekend (lucky for me, since Puck took the car to Wisconsin so I lacked a way to get here). We caught fish and cleaned them ourselves! And then ate them for supper, yum. Have been out on the boat lots but haven't been swimming much because there's always been a good stiff breeze to keep me cool. Am most of the way through reading my third novel. Keep half-expecting Temp to show up, sigh. (Stupid railroad.) Why did I only buy six ears of corn? It is so delicious!

Have been away from the news for days, and when I got here all the front pages were talking about Favre, so I still don't know what's happening in the world. So there's something good to come of that anyhow.

Did you know "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!" comes in a spray bottle? Doesn't that sort of invalidate their claim? I mean, it's in a spray bottle. I can believe it's not butter. (Sorry, glanced up at the refrigerator case. Welcome to vacation brain! Whee!)

On that note, I should shut up now.

Vacation! And books!

2009-08-14T07:19:00.003-06:00

Week of Solitude starts tonight! How much am I looking forward to this? You have no idea.

To kill some of the interminable minutes between now and then, here's a book meme I stole from Temp over on Facebook.

Rules: Don't take too long to think about it. List 15 books you've read that will always stick with you. They should be the first 15 you can recall in no more than 15 minutes.

1. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
2. The Liar, Stephen Fry
3. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
4. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
5. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
6. Watership Down, Richard Adams
7. The Portrait of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde
8. The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison
9. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
10. Good Omens, Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
11. Native Son, Richard Wright
12. Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
13. Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut
14. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte
15. A Song of Ice and Fire (series), George R.R. Martin

Huh. That was different than I thought. Mostly because of the "books that will always stick with you" bit. I mean, the degree to which I loathed Moby Dick means it will always stick with me, but damned if I'm going to put it on the list. And I just know there are some books that are really dear to me that I just didn't think of right off the top of my head. And then there's the whole thing where books like Jane Eyre were terrifically important to me in my teens, but if I read it now it would be completely different. Some of these are here because of how deeply comfortable they are, others because they are the opposite of that.

Yay books.

The most wonderful time of the year

2009-07-30T18:46:00.002-06:00

I have ripe tomatoes on the vine! (Not many, granted, because of weather, but still! Ripe tomatoes!) The basil is thick and lovely, and I see bruschetta and BLTs in my near future.

AND Colorado peaches are in season and at Bob's. Puck went grocery shopping, saw them, and bought me half a dozen. That oughta last until Sunday or so. Mmmmmm, Colorado peaches. *slurp*

Beans or peas...

2009-07-28T07:24:00.002-06:00

Time to put in a mid-season replacement for the sugar snap peas, which are, because of the very cool summer we've had, only just now starting to fade.

Do I put in more peas, because I like them better? Or beans, because I love how tall and wild the vines get? I do like beans, just not as much as I like snap peas. Hm.

The city has started work on our water line, which means we're currently getting our water from temporary pipes and hoses that put the water into our house through our external faucet — water pressure is actually better than under our usual system, which I hadn't expected. Parking on my block may soon become uncertain, they'll be digging up the easement and eventually replacing it with crap soil and sod, and I still haven't started prepping the space where I want to move my acid garden this fall. I also still haven't torn out the yews or decided what I want to plant in their place.

West side, near the foundation, flanking the front steps. At least on the south side of the steps, if it's an evergreen it has to be either less than three feet tall or very narrow, because Puck quite reasonably doesn't want shade to keep the ice from melting off our front steps. Anything formal would probably look rather silly given the increasing chaos of the rest of the yard. I don't know why I'm at such a loss for ideas.

In which my brain explodes from too much awesomeness

2009-07-23T11:56:00.004-06:00

One of the blogs I read regularly put this up. It's Iggy Pop, circa 1977, on ... get this ... "The Dinah Shore Show".

Did your brain already just short circuit a little bit? Just wait until you get to Dinah Shore's reaction to Iggy explaining how he lost his teeth. And the part where a chain-smoking David Bowie, who's sitting in on the keyboards, almost falls off the piano bench laughing is extra win.

God I love the Internet.

Plant tags are lying bastards

2009-07-14T07:35:00.002-06:00

Not just because of the dark red lilies Temp & I tried to give to Syl that turned out to be orange (okay, one of those tags did say orange, but the one in front said dark red and they were all grouped together and I've never been a careful shopper).

(Also, Syl? Speaking of those lilies, can't find a dark red to save my life. Come fall I'm buying you bulbs.)

Specifically, though, I'm talking about my geranium "Johnson's Blue" in the front yard. Love this plant. But I'm going to need to take a picture of it with a person for scale. The tag says "Height: 15-18 inches; Spread: 12-15 inches."

Hahahahaha! 15" spread? Try 60". Mine is three feet high, five feet wide and sprawly as all get-out. I really should cut it back, but it's still in full bloom and the bees love it, so it's just going to continue to dominate the front until it stops pumping out flowers. (It's been going strong for well over a month. Did I mention that I love this plant?)

Vacation pictures

2009-07-03T15:27:00.003-06:00

I finally got around to throwing a few vacation pics up on Flickr. Lucky for you, I only have the free account, so instead of 400-some, you'll only suffer through 34.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7369198@N06/sets/72157620904465576/

Once more, with feeling

2009-07-01T12:13:00.002-06:00

Last weekend I finally cleaned up an old mess. I'm talking, of course, about the aborted attempt to prune my lilac: the one that looked like some giant creature had come and taken a chomp out of it, the one that served as an object lesson for my fellow new-to-gardening friends on how not to do something.

I'll admit, I was dreading it. I'm afraid of pruning. I don't like cutting up trees and shrubs (but better that than cutting them down). I don't know what I'm doing, and what looks so clean and simple in how-to books is a lot more confusing and daunting in real life. But clearly the poor shrub couldn't go on looking like the victim of a wayward brontosaurus,* and besides, NoNick was having Yeti take down his maple tree, so I had access to a wood chipper.

So I grabbed my pruning saw, gritted my teeth and went to work. (I had, as my mantra, a quote from Macbeth. Fifty of the imaginary currency of your choice if you can figure out what it was.)

It's done. It's shorter, which was the plan. It no longer looks like something large took a bite out of it. It does, however, sort of look like something large decided to sit on it. I'm hoping that new growth will fix that.

I'm also hoping I don't have to prune anything else around here for a good long time.

*Yeah, yeah, I'm spreading bad science. I hardly think the name matters when we're talking about one chomping on my lilacs.

It's about damn time

2009-06-30T15:07:00.001-06:00

Three cheers for Senator Franken!

Brief update

2009-06-25T05:41:00.002-06:00

Temp talked to Syl by phone yesterday: surgery went well. I'll let Syl tackle any details she wants to, but I at least wanted to get that much out there. :-)

The wine came in!

2009-06-24T13:06:00.002-06:00

Puck and I have allowed ourselves to be added to the Surdyk's e-mail list, which is a bad bad thing for our pocketbooks but a good good thing for the very nice wine cellar he's created in the little room downstairs. (Now with wine rack!) A little over a month ago, said Surdyk's e-mail list forced us (forced I say!) to order three cases of Argentinian wine. And today they arrived! Woot! That will help the wine rack look less empty. At least for a little while.

Meanwhile, yes, vacation, weekends, GAW, 8 meme, gardening stuff...I'm a little behind on the blogging thing. I'll at least let y'all know if I ever manage to get the vacation pics posted up to Flickr.

Dear Sam Brody,

2009-06-09T08:03:00.003-06:00

Happy first birthday. (And thank you for being born on a date I will actually remember.)

All I ever wanted

2009-05-29T15:07:00.002-06:00

Leaving for the Pacific Northwest tomorrow morning. Have only 1.5 million things to get done before then. Whee!

Guest Post

2009-05-22T06:53:00.001-06:00

Diplowhat sent me the following.

Dear Loyal Readers,
No, Wog World and Undiplomatic Ravings have not been shut down. At least, we hope they haven't been shut down. They have, however, been blocked along with all other blogger sites. I know you have dearly missed our witty posts and snarky comments on your own blogs, but we hope to be back in action after June 4. (That's the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen "Policial Incident".) If not, we will have to find a good proxy server to get around these annoying blockades!

In the mean time, know that life continues here in Beijing. We've made it out to a different section of The Wall (we will take you if you visit - it's awesome!), our home study rapidly approaches on June 5-7, and my Chinese test also rapidly approaches on July 2nd. My teachers claim I will do fine if I can keep my nerves under control. Yeah, well China would do great if it could get corruption and pollution under control. Likelihood of any of those things happening? You're smart - you can guess the answer.

Garden idea for AKJ

2009-05-08T12:04:00.009-06:00

For the first time in a long time, I have a really slow day at work. And hey, AKJ is looking for ideas for a shade garden! Hello timing. :-) For the record, I'm just screwing around here. I like building imaginary gardens.

Veggie is right that your soil will collapse a little as the roots die. Plus you have a maple that's going to want to compete for nutrients. So I say bring in a nice pile of fresh dirt and compost and make a subtle berm. (Of course I say that! I don't have to do the work!) If you want the garden to be viewable from all sides, you could make it highest in the center, or you can pick a side to be the "back" and make that the high point.

Here's what I would plant at said high point: Actaea (formerly Cimicifuga) racemosa "Hillside Black Beauty". It has handsome black-purple foliage, gets 4 feet tall (the flower spikes can go up to 7') and makes a nice, dramatic backdrop for all sorts of other shade-loving plants.

I couldn't have a shade garden without Polygonatum variegata (Solomon's Seal). Two to three feet tall, so you can plant underneath them.

Maybe something like the ridiculously charming Galium odorata (Sweet Woodruff)! It's cute, tiny, loves the shade, repels bugs and you can dry it and use it as potpourri. It can spread a bit, but the solution to that is to not water it. Seriously. About 6" tall.

Or if you want a groundcover with a little more substance, there's always Vinca minor (Periwinkle). Like the woodruff, it might try to take over your lawn a bit though. (That's what groundcovers do.) Grows close to the ground.

Of course, hosta are the ultimate can't-kill-it shade plant. And they're not so boring if you use them as a backdrop to show off your Athyrium (Japanese fern). (Maybe a foot high)

For funky foliage, you really can't beat Heuchera (coral bells) — drop these on the sunnier side. They'll do fine in shade, but you get the best color with some sun.

What? You want flowers? Well, okay, but you'd have to work for them a little. (By "work for" I mean water. Regularly.) Enter the Astilbe.

Yay. That was fun. :-)

It ain't LinkedIn

2009-04-22T07:03:00.004-06:00

...but if anybody knows of anyone looking to hire a graphic designer with skills in InDesign, Flash, and all kinds of other stuff, do let me know. Sunshine is in need of a job.

Scrabble pain

2009-04-16T10:24:00.002-06:00

This is why I shouldn't try to play Big A's game against him.

We got this far, then I had IIOUNRT in my tray and not enough letters left in the bag to swap. I had to concede. It's a cool-looking board though!

Plant sale!

2009-04-09T09:23:00.003-06:00

The plant sale list is up! You can download it here.

(Is anybody else going to the plant sale this year?)

Update: The plant sale is offering male and female hardy kiwi! Why oh why don't I have a good sunny location for two aggressive vines? Want.

Update two: Vandalizing city property and engaging in guerrilla gardening isn't all that bad if it's in pursuit of hardy kiwi vines, is it? It would just barely be vandalism....

Out my window...

2009-04-09T08:55:00.001-06:00

There's a vulture perched on the AT&T tower with its wings spread.

I'm choosing to not take that as any kind of omen.

(Very cool looking -- its wingspan is huge.)

Hooray!

2009-04-03T12:03:00.002-06:00

Dear Iowa,

I hereby officially take back every joke I may have made about you. You rock.

Much Love,

Pusher

I should know better

2009-03-31T08:00:00.003-06:00

Really, I should. I've been hanging around these interwebs long enough to know that comments areas are toxic wasteheaps that should be avoided at all costs. And yet, lured in by a couple glowing, happy, positive comments right up top, I went there.

So here's my rant for the day.

Dear Asshats:

The people of Fargo/Moorhead/surrounding areas have done and are doing a remarkable thing. The number of hours of backbreaking labor they've put in, the good spirits we've been marvelling at in the face of all this, the leadership, the astonishing volunteer response, these are all tremendous.

But every single one of you who took their accomplishment as an excuse to make snide, racist, classist, and hateful comments about the victims of Hurricane Katrina need to sit down and take a big dose of shut the fuck up. What do you keep in that void where your empathy and awareness of fellow human beings as fellow human beings should be? Never mind, I don't want to know.

Kitchen toys!

2009-03-29T20:04:00.002-06:00

I am one of those people who cannot poach an egg. I've read all about achieving the proper level of simmer, the vinegar, the whirlpool method, it doesn't matter. My eggs separate and end up looking like a yellow jellyfish with dozens of opaque white tentacles. So these silicone egg poachers that I just bought make me really, really happy.

So did the eggs benedict I made to try them out. Used crab instead of canadian bacon and made my own hollandaise that totally turned out this time. New toys + sense of accomplishment + deliciousness = very happy Pusher.

Behold my geekiness, and TREMBLE!

2009-03-14T15:53:00.004-06:00

Or: Why I shouldn't have weekends with no plans.

Here's how I spent my afternoon: the new and improved scale model of my front yard, complete with green construction paper Xs indicating my new plan for a whole lotta shrubs.

The black briefcase in the back is the same horizontal dimension as the house (well, within a half-inch anyway). The little brown circles are stepping stones.

...Don't worry, I'm pretty sure it's not contagious.

p.s. Sorry about the blank post earlier. I subjected y'all to my morning sense of humor, then thought better of it, but didn't know how to delete the post and was too foggy to figure it out.

2009-03-14T08:55:00.003-06:00

Target

2009-03-06T15:43:00.001-06:00

The Wednesday before this past one, I went to Target during my afternoon break and ran into Syl. Yay!

This past Wednesday, I went to Target during my afternoon break and ran into Veggie. Yay!

...I may be developing unreasonable expectations for Target on Wednesdays.

Good day

2009-03-01T02:27:00.002-06:00

The snowstorm Thursday meant an unexpected last chance for cross-country skiing, so we took advantage of it by heading out to the Arboretum. Really beautiful. Bright sunlight, wooded trails, good snow and lovely views pretty much every time we stopped to look around. Extra bonus: the orchid exhibit they had going on. So very cool.

This was followed up by some woodworking on Puck's part and a nap on mine. Mmmm, naps. Then we went to dinner at friends' followed up by lots of Rock Band, wine, and white russians. Yum.

Now it's 2:30 in the morning, and I totally know the answer to The Dude's musical quiz, but I feel like maybe I should give other people a chance to answer. But then I think, hey, I'm up at 2:30 in the morning, I'm going to pay for this unfair advantage tomorrow, might as well take advantage of it. What to do, what to do?

Three-day weekends are yay

2009-02-18T08:32:00.002-06:00

Lunch and cribbage with the folks, helping a little over at Superman & Sunshine's, baking fresh crescent rolls, a little cleaning, getting all the shopping done for Diplowhat's package (now just need to get to post office for box and again to actually ship it off....), and we still had a whole day to do nothing but sit on our keisters, drink wine and watch movies. Netflix On Demand = win.

Bottle Shock. It's about wine and has Alan Rickman and Eliza Dushku in it. We were bound to like it. (Also has Bill Pullman — not Paxton — and the kid who's playing Kirk in the new Star Trek.) Fictionalization of a 1976 blind wine tasting that brought Napa to the attention of the world. Cute and fluffy.

The Maltese Falcon. It had been many, many years for both of us. It's amazing how much I forgot what a bastard Sam Spade really is. Awesome.

The Candidate. Robert Redford! Politics! I can't believe I hadn't seen this movie before. Funny, depressing, and more even-handed and honest than I expected it to be.

And we finally got around to starting on MI-5. Temp, I thought you told me it didn't start out all that good? My expectations for later seasons are now ridiculously high. And I'm sure you mentioned the part where Anthony Stewart Head and Hugh Laurie both pop up in episode 4, but my memory being what it is, I completely forgot. I managed to restrain myself to happy "Giles!" noises, but by the time Hugh popped in I had devolved to embarrassing squeals. The Hugh Laurie/Peter Firth bitchiness gave me no end of glee. I had also forgotten various spoilers, but then I went to IMDB to figure out where I knew the woman who looks like Helen Mirren from, and the spoilers were sort of unavoidable. Oops. Doesn't matter. We're through episode 4 and I'm completely hooked.

Stupid weather

2009-02-10T12:29:00.002-06:00

Dear Plants:

I know it's 40°. For a week. And the snow is almost all gone. Yes, I know! But really, trust me, it is not spring. No buts! It's still February. Say it with me, H-E-L-L-M-O-N-T-H. Honest. I swear. Stay dormant. You'll thank me later.

-Pusher

Free stuff

2009-02-07T11:12:00.002-06:00

I went to The Body Shop yesterday to replenish my massage oil supply. The bastards stopped carrying bergamot, and they started blending their lavender with chamomile. But that's not the point, that's just a side whine. Point is, there was a free gift with purchase. It's a collection of four little sample-sized TBS products in a canvas bag. Full disclosure: I opened the bag, and the strawberry scent damn near knocked me on my ass. Now, I imagine it's less overpowering when it hasn't been closed up in a bag for however long, but still.

Anyway, I'm not going to use this stuff, so anyone who wants it is welcome to it. Here's what's included:

• 1.7-oz. strawberry body butter
• 2.0-oz. lavender/chamomile shower gel (airline size)
• 0.5-oz. vitamin E moisture cream
• 0.2-oz. Hi Shine Lip Treatment 10 Perfectly Pink

I think the moisture cream is probably quite nice, and I do like the scent of their lavender/chamomile blend (though not as much as I liked the straight lavender). The strawberry I found appalling. But if you take anything, you get it all. I think we're all probably past the age of Perfectly Pink Hi Shine lip gloss, but maybe it could be a fun dress-up cosmetic for those of you with little girls. Anyone? I am perfectly willing to toss it in an Amazon box and ship it, because mail is fun.

I have willpower. Honest.

2009-02-05T12:14:00.002-06:00

See this? This is me, on my lunch hour, NOT going to Au Bon Pain for a sweet cream and blueberry croissant.

Finally!

2009-01-20T11:25:00.000-06:00

Happy Inauguration Day!

Blogging fail

2009-01-16T09:00:00.002-06:00

Okay, I've clearly forgotten how to blog. Here are a few of the things I never got around to saying.

Mr. Kluges: Thank you & Ms. Huis Herself for the book, but the whole idea was that you were supposed to raise backyard chickens so I could participate vicariously through you. NOT the other way around! How did this backfire on me so badly? You are a devious man.

Temp: The other day when I was out on my skyway wander, I found myself thinking, "Hm. I should pop over to Arby's to see if they have fountain diet Dr. Pepper," even though I didn't want a diet Dr. Pepper. If this is some voodoo mind-whammy thing to get your friends to locate diet Dr. Pepper fountain pop for you all across the state, I'm sorry to inform you that my laziness trumped your witchcraft.

Left 4 Dead is a creepy, creepy video game. When can we play again?

Pneumatic flooring nailers may be my new favorite tool.

Reason #86 that I love my new job: I have Martin Luther King Jr. Day off. Yay!

Fight!

2009-01-07T12:27:00.003-06:00

Cabott and Jasper Hill Vermont Cloth-Bound Cheddar: 1
Cheap knife from Target: 0

Pusher strikes again

2008-12-01T21:18:00.003-06:00

Okay, I've been accused on more than one occasion of being ... how shall one put it? ... just the slightest bit evangelical about various things non-religious? So here I go again.

The movie Persepolis? Watch it. OMG, watch it. (Yeah, I said OMG. You wanna make somethin' of it?)

In other news, we now have a tiled shower surround, thanks to Thanksgiving weekend. And we actually got Thanksgiving fare and a healthy dose of family, thanks to Aunt Temp and relations. (Many thanks, in keeping with the season, to Newt for the lovely invitation and hospitality and delicious, delicious leftovers. The experimental stuffing was grand.)

I finished NaNoWriMo at about 9:59 p.m. yesterday (hooray for November ending on a long weekend!), and truth be told I'm beginning to wonder whether I'll go through it again next year. I've said over and again that I'm not a writer, and that continues to be true. I don't have that story in me that needs telling. Every year I just make up a bunch of crap and keep going until either I hit 50k or November comes to an end. It's fun, but.... Oh hell. I'll probably just as gung-ho next November, who am I trying to kid?

The job is eating my brain. I used to be really good about leaving work at work, but I'm so pleased with the new job that I find it creeping into my dreams. Possibly because we had a huge side project all of last month, so there has been zero down-time. And this week I'm on my own 3 of 5 days doing a job that really requires two people. I have been assured that it will calm down next week. I look forward to that.

That's about it for my life of late. I do miss Teh Internets. *sigh*

...it had good cupholders

2008-11-10T14:32:00.002-06:00

As of Saturday morning, Puck and I officially became a one-car household. The Neon has been donated. Buh-bye, good riddance. I keep expecting to freak out over the fact that I don't have a car, but it hasn't happened yet.

File under "Every Vote Counts, Bitches"

2008-11-05T08:59:00.002-06:00

Final tally:

Norm ~~Quimby~~ Coleman — 1,211,437
Al Franken — 1,211,092

That would be a difference of 345 votes. Hello, recount.

cries a little

2008-11-04T22:58:00.000-06:00

I'm just so very happy right now.

I Voted

2008-11-04T12:38:00.000-06:00

Yayyayyayyayyayyayyayyayyay!

I love my new job

2008-10-29T12:09:00.002-06:00

Not just because I share an office — like a real one, with walls and doors and a whole wall of gorgeous, ceiling-high windows — but that's what keeps popping up every time I think about it. An office. For the copy editors. Dude. Nobody gives copy editors offices in this biz!

Commuting by bus also rules, including my morning sprint through the skyway with Puck. (He doesn't consider it a sprint, but my cardiovascular system would beg to differ.)

This is the first real down-time I've had, but I'm enjoying being busy after the long, long dry spell at the other job. I think the best part about being here though (office aside — oh, and did I mention one of my walls is purple?), is that everyone else seems happy to be here too. It's a really positive vibe. People like it here. Takes some getting used to, but it's neat.

I'm feeling very, very lucky.

New job changes

2008-10-17T14:24:00.002-06:00

I've started clearing out my cube at work. Not much to do there, really. I haven't accumulated much even though I've been here eight years.

Found the place where I'm going to donate my car. Since Puck and I will both be taking the bus to work now, we're going to try being a one-car household for a while.

Still need to do some serious clothes-shopping. Yuck.

People keep coming by to talk to me, which is kinda weird.

But yay — in just over an hour, I'm outta here for the weekend and we're going to visit Ms. Huis & Mr. Kluges! Hooray!

I win!

2008-10-09T11:22:00.001-06:00

Apparently all that was needed was for me to yell in my blog about how the new company had to hire me. 'Cuz they just did. YAY!

...yet I don't use my Twitter account

2008-10-07T13:31:00.003-06:00

Not a fan of Starbucks coffee, but their pumpkin lattes are infinitely superior to all other pumpkin lattes and may be a tool of the devil.

The lake in early October with almost no other tourists is a wonderful thing.

Dear other company: HIRE ME ALREADY! SHEESH!

When am I going to get around to planting the nearly 200 bulbs I've purchased? And where? Eep.

Shut up, Sarah Palin.

Fire and melty metal this weekend! Crazy yay!

How long will it be before I can walk through the grocery store without sniffling every time I pass Newman's Own products?

Dear self: You don't actually hibernate and you live in controlled environments. Stop trying to store up winter fat.

pssst, AKJ!

2008-09-26T09:36:00.001-06:00

Over at Tomato Nation, Sars has some choice words for your celebrity nemesis. Enjoy!

(Yes, I am a blog-posting mofo today.)

dictionary

2008-09-26T08:41:00.002-06:00

I was just flipping through my M-W 11C and the page header "die on the vine" caught my eye, so I dropped to the bottom right of the page and...it wasn't there. So I figured there was a layout error and turned the page, but it wasn't on the next page either. Missing definition, and you wouldn't know it except that at one point of the book's production, it was the last definition on the page so it ended up on the page header.

Anytime I find a copy editing error in a dictionary I feel two things: surprise that anything made it through what has to be among the most rigorous editing processes anywhere, and awe for dictionary copy editors. I mean, can you imagine? Editing a dictionary? Dude.

I think that was part of what was weird for me in The Professor and the Madman: The Making of the Oxford English Dictionary. It had this story that involved murder, insanity, genius, self-mutilation, all this drama, and none of it stood up, for me, against the story of how they put that book together. Just amazing.

Is there such a thing as dictionary appreciation day?

NaNo?

2008-09-26T08:22:00.002-06:00

Who all is doing NaNoWriMo this year? Temp, Puck and I are in, and I know the Dude was talking about it. Are any participants interested in the weekend at the HoDo?

I feel...dirty

2008-09-23T15:22:00.001-06:00

I don't support Paulson's bailout plan,

Crazy-ass Michelle Bachmann doesn't support Paulson's bailout plan.

...I don't like agreeing with crazy-ass Michelle Bachmann. Ew.

What I learned today

2008-09-16T14:22:00.001-06:00

When a recipe calls for "swede," they mean rutabaga.

Movie

2008-08-29T08:21:00.002-06:00

The Dark Knight = totally worth seeing in IMAX.

So much love for, like, everyone in that cast.

More birthdays!

2008-08-27T21:40:00.001-06:00

Happy birthday, Syl! I hope there was cake.

World's Biggest Dumbass

2008-08-09T07:56:00.003-06:00

So last night we're driving up north, and Puck realizes he didn't bring the bow saw he was going to use to cut a stump out from the lake where my folks dock their boat. So we stop at Fleet Farm in Brainerd. I go to get out of the car, and ... I don't have my purse. Sonofabeep. No money, no credit cards, no i.d.

Then we get up to the trailer, and I eventually realize that (you're not even going to believe this) I also don't have my whole fucking suitcase.

Yeah. I don't even know quite how I managed that little bit of brilliance, but there it is. No purse, no money, no CLOTHES. For a week. So ... I'm back home at the moment. Waiting for my e-mail program to cooperate and open up so I can send myself my resume to work on this week 'cuz Friday I found out about an opening I want to pursue (wish me luck!). I don't think I'll be mentioning this little incident at the interview if I get one...

Anyone got a spare brain? Mine is apparently useless.

WoS

2008-08-08T09:05:00.001-06:00

Leaving for Week of Solitude tonight! YAY!

Cheers!

2008-08-07T07:29:00.001-06:00

Happy birthday to Veggie! I hope it's a splendid one.

Wrong again

2008-08-06T14:59:00.003-06:00

You know, most days I'd swear I don't really take much pride in my job. But apparently I'd be lying through my teeth because being told to proof only for spelling errors and ignore everything else? Really chafes my hide.

A little warning would be nice

2008-08-05T13:10:00.002-06:00

Why didn't anyone tell me it was bad covers day at The Current? Ugh. Between the just plain unnecessary Astrid Swan cover of "When You Were Young" and this current hell, Hot Chip doing "Nothing Compares 2 U", I really feel like they've subjected me to a month's worth of mellow piano stylings of otherwise good songs.

Lucky for them, the Paul Westerberg/Decemberists/Arcade Fire/B-52s set earlier in the day means I've already forgiven them.

Belated

2008-07-28T10:09:00.002-06:00

Belated: The nice way of saying, "Yeah, I'm a fuckup who can't even remember her friends' birthdays."

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY, WOG!

Question & answer

2008-07-28T09:08:00.002-06:00

Q: What's better than the first garden-grown tomato of the season?

A: The first garden-grown tomato of the season

...in a BLT

...at the lake.

Got a last-minute invitation from the folks to join them up north this weekend, so despite all the looming house/yardwork, we jumped at it. Weather was perfect. Dad rented the pontoon so we spent half a day just cruising the lakes. Found wild blueberries in the woods YUM. So, yeah. Life is good.

Where are you getting your information?

2008-07-24T12:18:00.003-06:00

From a piece I just proofed about stuff to do in China other than the Olympics:

"When viewing the Great Wall it is hard to believe that it was constructed in only 10 years."

...
...

wtf?

Garden envy

2008-07-22T15:28:00.002-06:00

A couple GardenRant bloggers are gearing up for the Buffalo Garden Walk, and I followed a link to images from last year's event. There are some really awesome gardens in there, but I have fallen completely in love with this one.

I mean, yes, clearly this was photographed on an overcast day with everything freshly wet, which is definitely how to show this sort of thing to best advantage, so it probably doesn't look quite this awesome every day, but still.

Anyway, just thought I'd share in hopes that you all might enjoy it as much as I did!

Valleyfair Day

2008-07-21T07:47:00.002-06:00

It's time again: Saturday, September 20, is the company's annual Valleyfair day, and this year I'm not going anywhere near the Tilt-a-Whirl.

If anyone would like reduced admission to Valleyfair for that day, come with me! Tickets are $16 for adults, $15 for kids, children 2 and younger are free. The water park will not be open.

Reason 376 why I love the Internet

2008-07-16T07:54:00.001-06:00

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, with Neil Patrick Harris and Nathan Fillion.

Damn it, I'm completely hopeless

2008-07-10T15:04:00.002-06:00

Happy birthday to NoNick!

Happy birthday to The Sexy Blonde ~~either today or~~ two days from now!

GAW and the terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad waitress

2008-07-10T09:07:00.003-06:00

Much fun was had at GAW. Good friends, good weather, kind and generous hosts, ridiculously good weather, fireworks, yummy food, waterskiing, ski-bobbing, floating around the lake, handmade jewelry, Pamida and Giant Twine Balls. But the part AKJ says I have to write about is the waitress.

Those of you who were at last year's GAW will remember Cafe Persepolis, the surprisingly marvellous Greek/Italian/Persian restaurant in Willmar. (And the adorable owner, whom we wanted to put in our pocket and take home.) AKJ had the inspired idea to return this year, and the food was just as good and the owner just as adorable as we remembered. (Though I'm afraid we freaked the owner out by being inappropriately happy to see him.) But our waitress ... oh, the waitress. The tiny, cute, very teenage waitress whose desperate need of a class in tact kept us well entertained all evening.

After seeming entirely at a loss by our entrance, she suggested a table for us in the mostly empty restaurant, then made us wait until it was cleaned off. No big deal, but our first glimpse at a sort of vacancy we were to become better acquainted with. The rest of the meal went like this:

[I ordered a beer and got carded.]
Me: "Hey, I got carded!"
Clueless Waitress: "I had this friend who was, like, 16? And she looked, like, in her THIRTIES or something. I card everyone. If you don't it's, like, a $700 fine."

Dear Clueless Waitress: Old people will exclaim over being carded. The correct response is to smile or just ignore it. It's like "How are you?"/"Fine" or a comment about the weather. It's a meaningless verbal space-filler. You don't respond by talking about your friend who looked so ancient she could have passed for my age.

[Taking orders: I order the moussaka, AKJ orders the gyros dinner, Suzuri is wavering between the two.]
Suzuri: "Which would you recommend, the moussaka or the gyros dinner?"
CW: [immediately] "Gyro dinner. Don't get the moussaka. It's all fatty [glances over at me] and stuff. It's kinda gross. I don't like it."

Dear CW: This should really go without saying, but don't describe the meal at your restaurant as fatty and gross, especially when talking to someone who has just ordered it.

[After ordering, I scooted off to the restroom. AKJ and Suzuri were discussing whether CW was going to remember that Suzuri had ordered a glass of wine.]
CW: "Your friend just went to the restroom, didn't she?
AKJ: "Yeah."
CW: [stands there aimlessly for a minute] "Um, was there anything else you needed?"
AKJ: "The wine Suzuri ordered?"
[CW goes to get the wine, AKJ and Suzuri wonder why she was asking about my whereabouts, surmise that it's because they're out of the moussaka, lay odds on whether I'll just leave if that's the case...CW returns with Suzuri's wine.]
Suzuri: "So what did you need Pusher for?"
CW: "Oh. I didn't. I needed the bathroom."

[Partway through meal, as we've decimated the pita that was served with appetizers and now need more for AKJ & Suzuri's gyros...]
Suzuri: "We're going to need more pita."
CW: "DEFINITELY."

What was funny about that one was the tone she said it in. Sort of a "You totally do after how grotesquely fast you crammed down that first basket."

So, yeah. A little lacking in the social graces, but very amusing for us. :-)

Free plants!

2008-06-30T12:59:00.003-06:00

One of my neighbors is giving away her massive flower garden before she and her husband move. I'd stopped to compliment it late last week on my way into work, and she invited me to take whatever I wanted. Cue heart palpitations.

So after spending all day Saturday and a little of Sunday morning putting a significant dent in my weed population and laying mulch, I trundled over there with my wheelbarrow. I took away a white geranium (cranesbill), a hybrid columbine, hens 'n chicks, an entire bag full of creeping sedum, and a few other groundcovers. Two wheelbarrows full of plants, and I only stopped because I wanted to be sure we'd have time to get everything planted right away. She's invited me to come back and take more whenever I want.

In other happy plant-related weekend news, Syl and I went with Kitten and Meimei to the arboretum yesterday. It was marvellous. Why don't I go there more? We wandered through a bunch of the garden collections, then took the 3-mile drive on our way out. We'll have to catch the maze garden next time! I could spend a whole day out there so easily. Syl and I have both fallen in love with smokebush, though now that I'm away from the heady influence of the arboretum, I'm willing to concede that it might be just a bit too flamboyant for my yard. (Syl's, on the other hand...)

Oh, and Syl? Here's that tulip I was telling you that you needed for your Dr. Seuss garden (tulipa acuminata). It's even winter hardy to zone 3!

Good Eats

2008-06-26T12:50:00.002-06:00

Had my first snap pea from the garden last night. Nummy.

Also related to the title of the post, apparently Alton Brown will be focusing more on sustainability and where our food comes from in his upcoming season. I dig this trend.

I get by with a little help from my friends....

2008-06-20T08:31:00.003-06:00

or,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TEMP!

Before you faint or anything that I remembered, I'm afraid I need to confess that if it weren't for The Sexy Blonde and her mad "writing things down" skillz, I wouldn't have. I'd've still been floundering around, going, "Um, it's sometime near the cusp of Gemini and Cancer?"

In any case, I hope it's a marvellous one. Wish I were there to lift a beer with you.

My dad cracks me up

2008-06-19T14:16:00.002-06:00

Okay, first, the reference post.

Right? Okay.

Last weekend the folks drove to Chicago. On the drive down, they hit flood detour traffic. But it wasn't just heavy traffic, it was the kind where you go from freeway speeds to dead stop. Which led to the following exchange:

Mama B: We're not moving at all! What on earth is going on up there?
Dad: Well, that's that. It's the rapture, and we didn't make the cut. I told you to stop sinning.

Pic for Temp

2008-06-19T05:47:00.002-06:00

Okay, when you asked for a peony picture, you probably meant a whole bush covered in huge pink flowers, but I'm afraid this is what I have this year.

Life is good

2008-06-16T10:20:00.002-06:00

I got to meet Sam Brody yesterday, but I forgot to inquire as to why that particular name. He's tiny and wriggly and has very active toes. The Sexy Blonde looks amazing and you'd never guess she gave birth less than a week ago! And J amused us mightily with all sorts of delivery room horror stories. (Or was the "horror" part just me? I'm never sure.)

I carpooled to work today! After putting my name up on the MTC and workplace rideboards years ago (and a few nibbles that fell through), I finally have someone to carpool with. It means I have to get up an hour earlier since this shifts my schedule half an hour earlier and we're a one-bathroom house, but it also means reaching an environmental goal I've been unable to hit for a long time.

The guy I'm carpooling with seems nice enough. Puck was right: the Mama B small-talk gene kicked in right away. We chatted the whole drive in this morning, so I now know the names of his wife and kids, how long he's been married, how he met his wife, where he grew up, where he went to school and what he got his degree in, his religion, how long he was in the Army and how long he was in the Reserves, his views on personal responsibility, how he likes to spend his vacations and at least some of his hobbies. I expect to be out of conversation topics by Thursday.

Puck & I went up to the lake over the weekend, and it was sublime. Too cool for swimming, but perfect for bike rides and walking through the woods and eating outside. Had a couple lovely trips out in the canoe, though it was a bit windy the first time, which meant I actually had to work a little. A big snapping turtle swam underwater right next to the canoe, and that was really cool to see. They're so prehistoric looking. And the garden up there looks great! I took pictures that I'll post later.

Speaking of gardens, I've commited a cardinal gardening sin. I'm pruning the lilac in the front yard to try to keep it small and bush-shaped instead of 20 feet tall with blooms only up at the top where I can't stick my face in them as I'm mowing around it. The Internet tells me that the way to accomplish this is to take out 1/3 of the oldest canes at the ground each year for three years. So Friday I went in and hacked out a couple big old canes, and then stepped back, and freaked out. It looks awful! It's got big holes in it! It looks diseased, ugly, lopsided, mangy! And that's when I sinned: I panicked and quit. I couldn't make myself pick up the lopper and get back in there. Temp, I think I need your dad to kick some sense into me, though he'd probably just wonder why the hell I was pruning a lilac in the first place. I can't stop thinking, "I've made a horrible mistake, and I'm only going to make it worse." Eep.

Verb My Noun

Congratulations!

Vacation! (Now with pictures)

VACATION!

No.

Awesome.

Under the wire

Faster, Day, faster!

No fair doing this while I'm on cold medication

Pusher's Guide to Weight Loss

In which we are raided by the police

May in March, March in May, wth is going on around here?

Picture!

What, you wanted something current?

Weather

Slacking!

Nifty

Life is good

As promised

Can it be the weekend now?

Best headline ever

Winter

Blogging. Right. I have a blog.

Thursday

Better than finding $20 in your pocket

To NaNo or not to NaNo?

More weekends like that, please

...And talk about the weather

Support local authors!

Because I know many of you will appreciate this

Fall gardening, or lack thereof

Nothing to see here

Guilt-free pie!

Oh this modern world

Vacation! And books!

The most wonderful time of the year

Beans or peas...

In which my brain explodes from too much awesomeness

Plant tags are lying bastards

Vacation pictures

Once more, with feeling

It's about damn time

Brief update

The wine came in!

Dear Sam Brody,

All I ever wanted

Guest Post

Garden idea for AKJ

It ain't LinkedIn

Scrabble pain

Plant sale!

Out my window...

Hooray!

I should know better

Kitchen toys!

Behold my geekiness, and TREMBLE!

Target

Good day

Three-day weekends are yay

Stupid weather

Free stuff

I have willpower. Honest.

Finally!

Blogging fail

Fight!

Pusher strikes again

...it had good cupholders

File under "Every Vote Counts, Bitches"

*cries a little*

I Voted

I love my new job

New job changes

I win!

...yet I don't use my Twitter account

pssst, AKJ!

dictionary

NaNo?

I feel...dirty

What I learned today

Movie

cries a little