As you can see, I'm restructuring things around here. Please bear with me over the next few days as I get things working again. Right now, links and design are likely to be messed up. I will let you know when I think I've got it all under control, then you can point out all the problems to me.

Thanks,
Susie

This kid just makes me laugh.

This afternoon I was in the midst of cooking Katynka's Fast & Easy and I discovered we have NO BEER. And it's Sunday. In Connecticut. So I improvised with a half a cup of balsamic vinegar and some water. I hope it'll be edible.

No beer. Sheesh.

Speaking of fast & easy, Katynka herself is coming to visit next weekend. Not that she's that kind of girl. That's just the way she, er, cooks.

Yesterday I wasted 8 hours of my life in front of the television watching Rocky, Rocky II, Rocky III, and Rocky IV. Why? I have no idea. I had only seen the first two before. They were . . . well, better than I expected. Let's leave it at that.

At least they were better than the Patrick Swayze film festival. Road House, anyone?

(Katynka really, really needs a web page. Really. There are some things that must be shared with the world.)

New journal entry today. :-) Happy Saturday!

What a great day. My sister is here visiting, and we went into New York this morning to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. It was a blast. Just a really, really fun thing to see, despite the 1000 clowns involved.

But I am tired beyond belief. This trip involved getting up at 4:30 AM and walking for blocks and blocks in Manhattan, and at this point I am way beyond staying awake any longer. So I will have to say more about the parade later on.

Oh and YAY!!! Rebekah has updated! First entry from Africa! Wow.

Rat Sushi is ticking away happily. Whether you come visit or not. :) But it will be more fun if you do.

I just read an interesting NYT article about the upcoming American version of Queer as Folk, which will be shown on Showtime. The British version of this show was great, and the American version sounds different enough to make it worth checking out too. Unfortunately I don't get Showtime, but the article is interesting anyway.

This week's episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer was way cool. The best part was learning much more about Spike and his past. I've always loved James Marsters on this show, and I've always thought Spike was sexycool, but my god! This week's episode just takes it to a whole new level. I am still thinking about it 2 days later.

I'm so glad I taped it. ;-)

Tim is thinking about something that a lot of people who keep online journals tend to think about at times:

I've started to treat people I know reading this page as a challenge of some sorts. A challenge I'm not sure I really want to undertake. All morning I felt sick as I waited for a reaction. This has happened before, and I don't like it. It was one thing when I wrote personal stuff but nobody read it, another thing when I wrote silly stuff and everybody read it, but writing personal stuff for everybody to read it as little scary. More than a little scary. Near to throwing up in the middle of Geography scary!

What have I learnt from this? Mainly that though everyone says they don't care what I write, the truth is they do. Will it change what I write? No. I like the thrill!

I think about this too. I don't care at all what the strangers think, it's the people who know me that I worry about.

But then I usually just get over it and write what I want.

Oh dear, Gracie's World is so funny. Once again, thank you Katynka for sending me a cool link. One of these days you're going to have to finish Katynka's world, so I can stop stealing all your material. :-)

Well, Thanksgiving is less than 2 weeks away, and my goofy cranberry sauce recipe is once again the most popular kid on the block. The hits are building up. A couple of days last week it had 60 visitors; I expect this to keep growing. Last year on the day before Thanksgiving, 360 people viewed the page. (The day after Thanksgiving, I think the hit count was 0.)

I wonder if people are disappointed when they get there. It's not really a recipe, even.

I am worn out tonight, just exhausted from I-don't-know-what. I think it's about time for bed.

Tonight we went to see the movie Billy Elliot. It's a good story, and although it got a little emotionally hamfisted in places I really liked it. But best of all was the soundtrack! I was surprised. It was full of T. Rex, The Clash, and The Jam. I came home wanting to listen to Electric Warrior. "You've got the universe reclining in your hair . . . "

I have enjoyed Gail Collins' opinion columns in the New York Times throughout the campaign, and today's was no exception. Here's how it begins:

Oh no, every vote does count.

Palm Beach County gets to pick the next president. Or maybe it's a handful of sailors who have been at sea since the campaign began. We treasure the idea that any one individual's ballot could decide an election. But watching the interviews with some of the men and women on the street in Florida, you can't help thinking, Oh lord, not that one.

Actually, the whole NYT Op-Ed page is good. I check it daily.

Here's a journal entry I wrote yesterday but didn't have a chance to post. I also decided to move the tour of breakfast into the journal from the Today page.

Last night for dinner I cooked Black Bean Chili and added 2 pounds of ground beef. It's amazing what that does for a vegetarian, low-fat recipe. (I'm kidding . . . I love that chili without the beef. It's just such a good recipe that I use it for both veggie and carnivore chili.)

Speaking of beef . . . I discovered this year that I am no longer welcome at the American Red Cross bloodmobile. Yes, just like gay men all across the nation, I am in a group whose blood they don't want. Can you guess why? Mad cow disease. Apparently, anyone who lived in England for more than 6 months between 1980 and 1996 has been identified as a possible risk to the blood supply. I was there from 1980 until about 1982, so I'm right out.

I wasn't really all that interested in giving blood anyway, ever since that time back in college when I passed out.

Can you believe it? They're making The Year Without a Santa Claus into a movie. I don't know what to think.

What is even funnier is how they described what it's based on: The beloved 1974 claymation telefilm, The Year Without a Santa Claus, which was likewise based upon the novel of the same name by Phyllis McGinley.

Uh, the novel? Memo to self: xmas present for Katynka?

Don't wet your pants . . . the journal is updated. Again. Twice in two days.

I think I'm going to faint from overexertion.

I'm just completing an intensive treatment of retail therapy. What that means is, I've bought a lot more new music lately than I have in a long time.

The new U2 album, All That You Can't Leave Behind, is wonderful. There are maybe 2 songs on it that I don't like much, and about 8 that I just looooooove. I recommend this CD wholeheartedly, especially if you enjoyed Achtung Baby.

The Indigo Girls have released some remastered versions of their early albums. I got Nomads*Indians*Saints and Rites of Passage. They both sound great, and have a couple of bonus tracks on them too. I think NIS in particular is different from the old one, the guitar and vocal levels sound different to me. (I have played the originals so many times, I can't help but notice these changes. They sound good, though.)

I also recently got the Indigo Girls' new Retrospective, basically a greatest hits album. It's very good, even for people who own almost all the albums, and features two new songs.

I'm also listening to a Napster copy of Ricky Martin's new album, Sound Loaded, which is due in stores next Tuesday (November 14).* It's really good. Better than Ricky Martin (1999), I think, although maybe not as good as Vuelve. I have been playing it just the last couple of days, and so far some of my favorite songs so far are Amor, She Bangs, One Night Man, Loaded, and Are You in It for Love? That last one is a great song. Luckily, the cringe-worthy lyric "you're my sweet mamacita" is offset by the amazing line, "One fine day, when your name is up in lights, then you'll know why I'm asking you tonight, are you in it for love?" Loaded is over-the-top fun, but I'd probably call it "trying too hard" if it wasn't for the big band horns. I am such a sucker for big band horns. :-)

* Before anyone gets all bent out of shape about my bootleg Ricky CD, let me also say that I have my own copy on order and have paid an advance deposit; I'll be buying it the day it's released. Okay?

Good morning. Start your week off right with a visit to Dr. Toast's Amazing World of Toast.

Breakfast today: oatmeal with raisins, orange juice, cheese toast.

I guess the waiting has finally paid off. My Journal is updated. I plan to start writing in it on a regular basis.

Also, if you missed my announcement earlier today (somewhere down below), don't miss Rat Sushi, a new weblog Maria and I have created. We are having a lot of fun over there talking to ourselves. Come check it out.

Sunday night already and almost time for bed? I can't believe it. We got a lot done today, but mostly just chores around the house. The biggest news was that we went and got a rug for the dining room. Here's a shot of the room (notice the dictionary on the floor flattening out the rug where it got folded a little). And here's a detail of the rug. Isn't it pretty?

Our day in New York yesterday was lots of fun. It was very crowded but Marty and I had a good time anyway. We went to the Museum of Natural History, where we learned about Vikings, space, and evolution. No, we did not enter the hall of the dinosaurs. Then we went shopping at FAO Schwarz and Opane. We also had lunch at Cafe Mozart, which is a great little coffee and pastry shop at 70th and Broadway. All in all, it was a good day, but I had a few suspicions about the accuracy of the displays at the Natural History Museum. I lived in South Georgia for years and I never saw any birds who looked like this:

Here's something new and fun: Rat Sushi. It's a weblog my friend Maria and I just started. The formatting's not quite done yet, but it already looks good and it's fun to read. Come visit!

Giggle of the day: Marty's boss, who is Turkish, said the other day, "I like donuts, but I think they'd taste even better if they were fried."

Marty used to fry the donuts at Weis Market (a Pennsylvania grocery store chain) in State College, PA. He said to me, "I don't know how they could get any more fried than they already are."

Today we're going into New York to visit the Museum of Natural History. What a gorgeous web site. Someone over there really knows what they're doing.

I'm psyched about the Vikings. For some reason I love vikings. Just keep me away from the damn dinosaurs. Arrrrrgggghhhhhhhhhhh.

From the new U2 album, All That You Can't Leave Behind:

Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of

I'm not afraid of anything in this world
There's nothing you can throw at me that I haven't already heard
I'm just trying to find a decent melody
A song that I can sing in my own company

I never thought you were a fool
But darling look at you
You gotta stand up straight, carry your own weight
These tears are going nowhere baby

You've got to get yourself together
You've got stuck in a moment and now you can't get out of it
Don't say that later will be better
Now you're stuck in a moment and you can't get out of it

I will not forsake the colors that you bring
The nights you filled with fireworks
They left you with nothing
I am still enchanted by the light you brought to me
I listen through your ears, and through your eyes I can see

And you are such a fool
To worry like you do
I know it's tough, and you can never get enough
Of what you don't really need now . . . my, oh my

You've got to get yourself together
You've got stuck in a moment and now you can't get out of it
Don't say that later will be better
Now you're stuck in a moment and you can't get out of it

I was unconscious, half asleep
The water is warm 'til you discover how deep
I wasn't jumping, for me it was a fall
It's a long way down to nothing at all

You've got to get yourself together
You've got stuck in a moment and now you can't get out of it
Don't say that later will be better
Now you're stuck in a moment and you can't get out of it

And if the night runs over
And if the day won't last
And if our way should falter
Along the stony pass
It's just a moment
This time will pass

I came across Great Buildings Online while looking up information about the Crystal Palace of the 1851 Exhibition. What a great site. Use the search function to check out the pictures of the Taj Mahal, and the Palm House at Kew Gardens in London. This site makes me want to go places.

Japanese cute. Oh, c'mon, you want it. You know you want it. If you can't hold out any longer, check out these sites. I've ordered from all of these in the past:

DreamKitty
Opane
9's Bid
Panda Products
Fancy Space

And if you can't get enough, there's always eBay. Just search the listings for Sanrio, San-X, Korean Anime, Tare Panda, Kogepan, Badtz Maru, or Chococat . . . the list goes on and on.

Over the weekend a friend was visiting from Cincinnati, and we went to Stonington, CT for the day. Here's a picture I took of a gorgeous house in town:



In Stonington there is a cool store called The Fun Company that has 3 locations. I guess they sell discounted items from high-end catalogs or some such source. I found some awesome xmas presents for people there.

Plus it was just a gorgeous day. Here is a shot of the water:

It's a strawberry Pez day. I got to work this morning and in the parking lot I could smell the synthetic strawberry wafting across town from the Pez factory. Whenever this happens, I start craving Pez. That's why I always keep some on hand in my desk. I'm about to load up my Speedy Gonzales Pez dispenser and start popping strawberry Pez for the rest of the morning.

In other candy news, we only had 3 trick-or-treaters last night. As you might imagine, we have a huge pile of Smarties left over today.