Just What We've All Been Waiting For

I receive a weekly e-mail from the Hartford Courant on local arts events. Couldn't help but notice this upcoming show:

The Life Of Lizzie Borden Set To Music
Did she or didn't she? Lizzie Borden was found not guilty of brutally murdering her parents with an ax in 1892. But the small community of Fall River, Mass., had already convicted Borden in the court of public opinion and shunned her until her death in 1927. A new musical at the Norma Terris Theatre in Chester brings the audience inside the mind of the American legend. The performance at the 200-seat theater promises to be suspenseful as well as humorous. Runs November 1 - 25.

That's right, folks, it promises to be suspenseful as well as humorous. Because you know, there's nothing quite as funny as a brutal ax murderer, guilty or innocent! I'm tempted to trade in my tickets for The Music Man on Broadway to go to this instead! (Just kidding, Anna!)

This reminds me of that movie The Tall Guy starring Emma Thompson and Jeff Goldblum (now there's an odd couple). Jeff Goldblum plays an out-of-work American actor in England who lands the lead role in a new musical -- Elephant! -- based on (you guessed it) the life of the Elephant Man. Not surprisingly, the show closes on opening night.

Wonder how Lizzie! will do?

All Hallow's Eve

Well, happy halloween, everyone. Despite my love of candy, this is not one of my favorite holidays -- I don't like costumes, and the whole trick or treating thing makes me very nervous (that's why we hardly ever participate). For many years, we went out to dinner on halloween so that we could miss the trick or treating completely. Lately we've just left the lights off in the front of the house, and that keeps people from coming to the door. There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of trick or treating in our neighborhood, anyway.

The one thing I do like about halloween is jack-o-lanterns -- and this year, we didn't even do that. I just couldn't get in the mood. The time-lapse pictures above are from last year. I made the jack-o-lantern on the left and we put it up in a tree in our yard a week or so before halloween. It was quite a project -- Marty had to climb up on a 16-foot ladder to get it to the branch. It was so cool! Within a day or so, though, the squirrels discovered it. They started gnawing away at the face. First it was just the mouth, but by the time halloween came around, they had chewed off half the face! It was a really scary jack-o-lantern!

Of course I didn't always loathe halloween. I think I trick-or-treated every year of my life from ages 2 to 13. When I was growing up, my mom made almost all of my halloween costumes, and I wore each one for a few halloweens in a row. The ones I remember (in order) are: pink terrycloth bunny suit (see picture), angel costume (white gown with gold rick-rack, and wings), clown suit (can you believe that?), witch dress with cape and hat (black with orange trim), fake fur leopard suit (the one costume I remember not being made by my mom but by a friend of hers), and Raggedy Ann dress. The Raggedy Ann dress, which I wore in junior high, was my last costume for trick-or-treating. I also remember wearing it to a ninth-grade halloween party at my best friend Ellen's house, and I think that was the last time I dressed up for halloween.

So, happy halloween. Hope everyone has a nice day.

Huh...

I was surprised to discover that one of my music log entries has been archived at a huge Wallflowers web site: Raspberry World Review of Breach.

I really don't mind that they used the review (even though they didn't link to Raspberry World), but it's kind of funny... on their "About" page for the Wallflowers Network, they have this statement:

The unique information, articles, and images used within this site are made possible from contributions of generous Wallflower fans worldwide. These individuals have invested their time, effort, and money in collecting these items. Out of respect for these Wallflower fans, please do not copy any images or text without contacting the Wallflower Network for permission first.

But did they ask me for permission to use my review? No.

Time Change Blues

Oh my goodness! It got dark so early tonight! I always have trouble adjusting to the end of daylight savings time. But of course the mornings are a little easier now.

One thing that I have noticed in the last five years or so is that it's much harder for me to deal with the time change than it used to be. I think it's because I'm getting older. Oh, no!

Tonight Marty and I had dinner at Eli Cannon's in Middletown. We were up there after work for a business meeting, and it got finished so late that we decided to stop for dinner. I hadn't been in over a year, but it was great. The food there is okay, but their beer selection is absolutely fantastic. I had a Troubador Belgian blond ale, on tap. Very nice.

I posted some pictures from the weekend. Hope you enjoy them!

Disappearing Weekend

How is it Sunday night already? Sheesh.

I had a great day yesterday with a friend from work. I went over to her place and met her husband and all her (many!) animals, and took a carriage ride with her behind a sweet mule named Molly. I have many, many pictures to share and will try to get them up in the next couple of days. For now, enjoy the picture of Doodles, above.

Today I felt a bit under the weather and just couldn't seem to get it together to be very productive. And now it's already Sunday night! Sometimes I wish I could stop time for a little while so I could catch up on things.

But now it's time for sleeping.

Big News!

Fox is re-releasing Moulin Rouge in the theaters on November 21, according to this article at Excite. This is great news! I think it's only going to be in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco, but those cities are convenient for a lot of people. Go see it if you have the chance!

The other good news: the DVD is being released in the US on December 18 (of course I have pre-ordered it).

I had a lovely day yesterday. I took some pictures and I hope to post them later, so I'll wait to write about it as well. Last night Marty and I stayed in and watched Billy Elliot, and I liked it just as much as I did when we saw it in the theater. That kid makes me so happy. I love him in that movie. And the soundtrack is just excellent, with ingenious use of music by T. Rex, The Jam, and The Clash. What a great movie.

Don't ask me what I'm doing up so early. The worst thing is, I didn't just wake up -- I've been up an hour or so already.

The sky, 30 minutes ago, a quarter-mile from my house. It was so beautiful tonight! *

It's Friday night and the weekend stretches before us. I'm playing Harry Belafonte and feeling happy. Marty's downstairs having a beer, and as soon as I finish here, I'll join him and grab an English cider. Then it's out to dinner for an adventure somewhere.

It should be a lovely weekend.

* If you'd like to use the picture above for your computer desktop (like I'm doing right now), follow these instructions: Go to the big version of the picture, then right-click (click with the right-hand mouse button) on the image and choose "Set as Wallpaper." Voila! **

** Those instructions are really for my mom. I realize not too many other people will be interested in this picture for their desktops, but I know she will. :-)

Happy Happy Music Day

Work goes so much faster with The English Beat (okay, The Beat). Hooray for skadiddle! Makes me want to dance!

After playing that, I switched over to Marel's latest world mixes, and they're simply divine. Yesterday I got a new shipment -- a package from Central Pennsylvania full of CDs and a magazine all about cats. So much better than an anthrax letter!

Yes, I know I usually try to limit the music talk to the music page, but I already updated that today. And I only update that once a day, at most. So today Raspberry World is all about the music!

Smart Man

Thomas Friedman of the New York Times op-ed page writes some of my favorite foreign policy columns. Today's is particularly good: We Are All Alone.

Morning Edition

It's Friday. Hooray. How come I love the weekend so much? (Um... could it have anything to do with my job?)

I have been spending a lot of time recently thinking about what I could do besides what I am currently doing for a living. (I realize that's a little vague.) I've decided to look into writing magazine articles freelance. In recent months I've run into several people who are doing this, some in addition to their day jobs and others who are solely freelancing. I think it sounds interesting and like something I'd be good at. So I'm exploring the possibilities now. If anyone has any advice to offer me on this topic, or would like to recommend resources, please do write me. I'd be very grateful.

A few weeks back, Rob wrote in his journal about having attended a speech given by Bill Clinton at Yale. I'm happy to say that the text of that speech is now online at Salon. I really enjoyed reading it. I wish I'd been at the speech myself. Lucky Rob!

Thursday Morning

Well, the Cuban pot roast (ropa vieja) turned out great last night. It was a big hit with both Marty and me. I will definitely update my recipe page this weekend with that recipe and some of the other new ones I've tried lately.

Coming up soon, I am planning to make Caribbean black beans, Thai garlic beef, and another Cuban recipe. (Separately, not all for the same meal.) Also, I think I'll get my vegetarian cookbooks out and try some new dishes. We used to eat meatless dinners all the time, but I fell out of the habit of cooking them. But it's healthier and (usually) cheaper, so it's definitely worth the effort to try out something new.

The weather is expected to change abruptly overnight. Today the predicted high temperature is 72 deg F and tomorrow it's 43 deg F. Then we'll turn the clocks back an hour this weekend, and I expect that by Monday it will start feeling and looking a lot more like winter. But we are ready! We have a shed full of firewood all set for the cold weather to start.

A Few Links:

The official Harry Potter site is fun if you are on a fast connection. Lots of toys and games here, including an interactive sorting hat feature. Of course I was sorted into Gryffindor.

YETI@Home is a great idea for distributed computing. We ran the SETI@Home software on our PC for several months last year, and never got a nibble, but just think how much more exciting it could be to help discover Sasquatch!

Rice Recipes from Around the World could come in handy.

James Lileks' Institute of Official Cheer is one of my favorite spots on the web. The Gallery of Regrettable Food has now become a book (I saw it in Barnes and Noble last weekend!). There's still much more to discover on the site, though.

Stamps & Beads

I've been enjoying Farrago, a weblog by a rubber stamp and bead fan. I haven't talked a lot about stamps and beads around here lately, but they're still a big part of my life.

I feel like I should write something about current events, what's going on in the news, but I just can't seem to do it. It wears me out to try to express what I'm thinking about all of that stuff. The one thing I will say is, people really need to get a grip on this whole anthrax panic. I am pretty sure that the panic over anthrax is significantly more dangerous to society as a whole than anthrax itself. Look at the science instead of the hype.

I, for one, was heartened by this article in yesterday's New York Times:

In Some Circles Anthrax Falls to the B-List
By Abigail Zuger, M.D.

Even as New Yorkers flinched at every new mention of anthrax last week and fought rising panic, the regular Monday meeting of the city's infectious disease specialists unfolded more or less as usual.

True, there were two cases of anthrax in the city, possibly more. But there was also a case of cholera here last spring. An unusual, near-fatal case of the dire food poisoning known as listeriosis surfaced over the summer. A young German man picked up a peculiar, disfiguring case of H.I.V. A businessman came down with a bizarre fungal infection on the golf course. A Mexican deliveryman almost died from inhaling a rare soil organism common in Central America.

Against the panorama of microbes that routinely wander through this city and threaten its residents, the hypothetical threat of anthrax seemed to fade a little.

For 30 years, the Monday afternoon infectious disease meeting has drawn specialists from around the metropolitan area. Every week, doctors take turns describing the most interesting, perplexing or alarming infections they have seen.

Back in 1979 and 1980, when AIDS, still unnamed, was sending a trickle of sick patients into New York hospitals with puzzling symptoms, it was the overview at this weekly meeting that gave city doctors a vision of a new and frightening pattern of illness well before the rest of the country caught on.

Last Monday, the anthrax scare created exactly the opposite situation: the name of a disease was resonating through the city, but the regulars at the meeting had no actual cases to discuss. The single case of cutaneous anthrax to have been identified here at that point had been treated for two weeks and the patient was doing well. Any other cases were still hypothetical.

"We thought the collective wisdom of this group could be extremely useful to the city at this point," said Dr. Stephen Baum, head of medicine at Beth Israel Medical Center, president of the Infectious Disease Society of New York and a member of the mayor's task force on bioterrorism. Dr. Baum took the podium at the start of the meeting for a brief brainstorming session about anthrax.

Not one of the 150 doctors in the auditorium was seriously worried that a tide of infection was about to drown the city. Anthrax, which is not transmitted from person to person and is treatable with antibiotics, is not a scary organism in these particular circles. It is not nearly as frightening and potentially dangerous as, for instance, the drug-resistant tuberculosis germ that swept through the city in the early 1990's, killing hundreds.

It was the rising tide of unnecessary anthrax panic that bothered the doctors, and also the obsession with the antibiotic Cipro, when drugs related to Cipro should also treat and prevent anthrax, and penicillin and tetracycline should be safer and cheaper alternatives for most patients.

[read the whole article]

Now I am headed out to my local branch of the post office to mail some packages.

Autumn Day

This picture is from the weekend. This morning the back yard looks a little different -- there are three inches of fallen leaves on the ground. And it's windy out there today.

Even after going to bed at a decent hour last night, I still overslept this morning. Maybe the change in the season is bringing out my hibernation tendencies. At the moment I feel like I could sleep for 10 hours a night and still be tired during the day. Ack!

In the car these days I'm listening to Marel Trout's world music mixes. And this morning I was happy to hear from her that she's sent me some more. I am so lucky!

Laura is talking about making an autumn CD. I think that's an excellent idea. I am a big fan of her mixes and designs. (And yes, "Broken Arrow" is a slash song -- which is why I put it on my original Mulder/Krycek slash tape.)

I'm not sure if it's the influence of the Personal Journaling article or those pictures of Punchy, but yesterday Raspberry World had over 100 visitors. (That's a lot for this site.)

Yawning

I'm terribly sleepy lately. I even went to bed early two nights last weekend, but I'm still dragging. Now it's past ten and I am just about ready to drop.

Sunday night I cooked jambalaya from the Gumbo Shop cookbook. (We ate at the Gumbo Shop when we were on vacation in New Orleans a couple of years ago.) The recipe was easy and turned out good. We had leftovers tonight.

Tonight I also started working on a Cuban dish I plan to make later this week, ropa vieja ("old clothes"). It's what you might call a double-cooked pot roast, Cuban style. Tonight I cooked the flank steak in a dutch oven for a couple of hours. Tomorrow or Thursday I'll shred the beef and cook it up with tomatoes, wine, and a bunch of other stuff. This is the dish I had at Victor's Cafe a couple of weeks ago. I only hope mine comes close to theirs.

I'm really yawning now, so I'd better go.

Afternoon Break

Hee! Those pictures of Punchy seem to be a big hit! Thanks for all the comments. He really is a great cat.

We're getting past the peak of our leaf color around my house now, but this past weekend was really pretty. I took the picture on the right in our back yard on Sunday. But this morning I noticed that both big trees in the front yard have just about dropped all their leaves.

Now that the fall TV schedule has started up again, I should mention Mighty Big TV in case there are still TV fans out there not reading it. If you're a fan of a current show (or even some old ones) you'll get a kick out of MBTV's recaps. They have some of the funniest writers online working on the recaps over there.

Besides reading recaps for the shows I watch (well, mostly that's Buffy), I even read them for some shows I've never seen, like Dawson's Creek and PopStars. (Actually, Pamie writes the PopStars recaps. So if you miss Pamie's journal, like I do, you can still catch a little Pamie action over at MBTV.)

So check it out: Mighty Big TV.

Fall Colors

I have a new series of photos I took in the yard last weekend; I'll be posting them here over the next few days.

Woke up early this morning, well before 6:00, and couldn't get back to sleep. Ziggy was happy about that. He likes to have company. And now it's 6:35 and still pitch black outside -- winter's on its way, I'm afraid.

The Magnificent Punchy



Am I wrong? Punchy could give Leo a run for his money in the Joker department. What is it about orange cats and that evil grin? (Although I do think Leo actually looks like Jack Nicholson somehow, whereas Punchy just looks... demented.)

Actually, Punchy is a very nice cat. He's a long-haired orange tabby that belongs to some friends of ours. When they were out of the country for six months, a few years ago, Punchy lived with Marty in a one-bedroom apartment in Glastonbury (I was still living in Pennsylvania at the time, with Ziggy). Punchy was a great roommate, if you could ignore the hairballs and his habit of clearing off the coffee table so he could sleep on it. He's friendly and vocal, and lets you sleep in the morning. He has a wonderful personality.

And really, he's a very attractive cat. See?



He's a big cat, too. He weighs about 16 pounds and then has long, bushy hair that makes him seem even bigger. Don't believe me? Check this out:

Speaking of Adorable Orange Cats...

Check out JBB's picture of Leo. It made me laugh aloud!

I've always loved orange tabbies and I think it's great that I know so many of them (although I know some of them only virtually, including Leo and Ben). You guys just wait til I get home, though. I'm going to find those pictures of Punchy and scare you all half to death.

I am Odin's Minion

At the risk of turning Raspberry World into nothing more than an announcement service for Odin's Kingdom, I'd just like to say that the kingdom is updated again with a new chronicle: The Great Orange Hunter.

I love the picture of Odin in camouflage. But it looks to me like he's bulked up some. Those mice must be really fattening.

Report on the Batman Film Festival



[ Batman | Batman Returns | Batman Forever | Batman and Robin ]

Last night Marty and I finished up a Batman film fest that has run for the last month or so. We've been renting the Batman DVDs from Netflix (membership should be required for anyone who has a DVD player!) and last night we viewed Batman and Robin, the final movie in the series.

Before we watched them this time around, I had seen only Batman (1989) and Batman Forever (1995) before. I couldn't remember much of Batman, but I remembered liking Batman Forever very much. Here's my report on what I thought after watching the whole series.

The first two were directed by Tim Burton, the final two by Joel Shumacher. There's quite a measurable difference in feel between the two directors. Batman is fairly dark and brooding, and Batman Returns (in my opinon) verges on nasty and disturbing. Batman Forever, on the other hand, is campier and more fun than the first two, and Batman and Robin pushes the boundaries of camp and slapstick even further. Just from looking at the DVD covers (above), it's fairly easy to see which are the darker movies and which are the lighter ones.

I like all the actors who played Batman just about equally. Michael Keaton starred in the first two films; Val Kilmer was in Batman Forever, and George Clooney was the most recent Batman. I liked elements of each of their portrayals, but none of them did such a great job that the role seems completely his. (At the same time, none of them was just so wrong that he leaves me going, "huh?" either. Like that dude who played James Bond in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, whatever his name was.)

A few comments about the movies individually:

• Batman (1989) was a movie that Marty and I anticipated eagerly before its initial release, and saw in the theater when we were dating in college. (It's hard to believe it's really been so long since this movie came out.) I remember enjoying it, but -- this is telling -- when we rewatched it again recently, neither of us recognized a single scene from the whole movie. I remembered that Jack Nicholson was the Joker, but I didn't remember any of his scenes or lines. Also, the movie seems quite dated now, in ways that other movies from 1989 don't. (Maybe because Kim Basinger plays the love interest, Vicki Vale, and when was the last time you saw her in a movie?) Entertaining, but not a movie I feel the need to watch over and over again. Besides, there were way too many evil clowns in this movie for my taste.
  
  
• Batman Returns (1992) is probably Tim Burton's favorite of the series. It has that nasty edge to it that his work so often has. The Penguin (Danny Devito) is the series' most disturbing villain, and Selina Kyle/Catwoman (Michelle Pfeiffer) is definitely Batman's most fucked-up love interest ever. (While we were watching, I joked that it was a good thing he dates a psychologist in the next movie.) I liked Catwoman but didn't find the movie particularly engaging as a whole; the stuff with The Penguin just grossed me out. Christopher Walken made a very creepy appearance as a department store millionaire. And again, what's with the evil clowns?
  
  
• Batman Forever (1995) is campy and fun, and my favorite of the series. Maybe it's because of the introduction of Robin -- somehow it seems like having a sidekick develops Batman's character much better than any of the female love interests ever did. There's a huge subtext about acceptance and trust, and the scene where Batman is forced to choose between saving his sidekick and saving his girlfriend is great. (I won't make any comments about SNL's Ambiguously Gay Duo here.) I like Val Kilmer just fine as Batman; he's understated and stone-faced, the way Batman needs to be. Chris O'Donnell does a great job as Robin, and I think this may be the best role I've seen him play. Robin has a bit of an edge to his character that was a pleasant surprise to me. Joel Schumacher's direction is something of a departure from Tim Burton's style (although Burton produced this movie), and I think the lighter touch is a good thing. Jim Carrey does fine as The Riddler, but Tommy Lee Jones is woefully underused as Two-Face. Nicole Kidman plays Batman's new girlfriend, Chase Meridian, and I like her best of all the Batman love interests. More evil clowns, but not as many as in the first two movies, thank god.
  
  
• Batman and Robin (1997) takes the campiness of Batman Forever and pushes it about five notches farther. Sometimes it works, other times it just goes over the top. This movie is kind of all over the place, and I think it's partly because there are just so many characters -- two sidekicks (with the addition of Batgirl, played by Alicia Silverstone) and two villains who don't make much sense together (Mr. Freeze, played by Ah-nold, and Poison Ivy, played by Uma Thurman). Add to that a pointless love interest (Elle McPherson) and Alfred, and you've got a lot of major characters in this movie. George Clooney is completely serviceable as Batman, and Chris O'Donnell is great -- again -- as Robin. The movie definitely has its moments -- Mr. Freeze forcing his frozen minions to sing along with "I'm Mr. White Christmas" from The Year Without a Santa Claus had me laughing so hard I had to put the DVD back to hear what came next. Lots of physical humor and one-liners in this movie. We laughed a lot more during this one than we did in any of the others. One big plus: I don't remember any evil clowns. (But I could be blocking them out.) In the end, this is my second favorite Batman movie, after Batman Forever.

So that's the verdict. I like Batman Forever and Batman and Robin best, followed by Batman and Batman Returns. Sure, they're not great art or high cinema, but they're enjoyable. And, as Poison Ivy said, "There's something about an anatomically correct rubber suit that puts fire in a girl's lips." Almost makes up for all the evil clowns.

Tandoor, the Indian Diner

I can't help but love this: an Indian restaurant in an art deco diner. Last night we had dinner at Tandoor, on Chapel Street in New Haven.

The food last night was excellent. We had vegetable samosas, chicken biryani, and chicken vindaloo. For bread, we had garlic naan and poori. Marty had a Kingfisher beer to drink. It was a great meal! (And there are leftovers!)

The atmosphere is just as good. It's set up inside with tables instead of booths, but it's definitely a diner. The counter is still intact with stools running all the way down the place. It's a gorgeous specimen of early 20th century pre-fab restaurant architecture. And probably the cleanest diner I've ever eaten in.

Truly Impressed

I love my creative friends! The Story of Frankenella will get your weekend off to a very giggly start!

Welcome

For the last few days I've been wondering why so many new visitors were coming to Raspberry World -- my site statistics have shown a significant increase in hits this week. It turns out that the newest issue of Personal Journaling magazine is out, with an article on web logs that features RW. (Regular readers may remember that I was interviewed for this article back in the summertime.)

So, welcome, readers of Personal Journaling. It's nice to have you here. Please feel free to check out my web log archives or my "real" online journal. And if you'd like to write me, you can reach me at susannahx@hotmail.com.

Thanks for visiting!

Had Thai for lunch (Thai House, in Orange). There was an unfortunate mixup where my order was served to the man at the next table, who ate it (despite it not being what he ordered), so I ended up waiting longer than I should have.

But the spring rolls were wonderful.

Redeemed

Okay, I got it done. The gallery for Rebekah's page is updated: Thoughts from Moz. Her pictures of the Mozambican children are just wonderful.

As for the rest of the evening, the chicken turned out great, and the Jedi are most definitely in da house. I enjoyed the Phantom Menace DVD, although we've only watched the movie itself, so far. This weekend I'm looking forward to checking out all the extras -- including all those deleted scenes. (Of course, I doubt they're the scenes I really wanted to see... but still. I expect they'll be enjoyable.)

And I am up waaaaaaay past bedtime, so I'll go now. But at least tomorrow is Friday.

Good Intentions

Oh, man. I had such good intentions. I was going to come home from work, throw a chicken in the oven, and finish the gallery for Thoughts from Moz. Rebekah sent a bunch of pictures home that I really want to get up there so everyone can see -- they are great! I've done quite a bit of it already, but need to finish the whole project up.

But.

When I got home, my Phantom Menace DVD had arrived. Oh dear. I don't think I'm going to be able to get anything done now except things that involve sitting on my ass and watching this movie.

(Except I am going to do the chicken. After all, we have to eat. And I will definitely work on the gallery later tonight, or tomorrow afternoon.)

But for now, I am off to Jedi-Land.

I've been getting more than my fair share of Disturbing Search Requests lately. Actually, they're not disturbing so much as bewildering. (Well, except for that "Wil Wheaton naked" search; that actually was pretty disturbing.)

Celebrating Diversity

This week is National Diversity Awareness Week and my company is celebrating. Tables are set up where employees can talk about their home countries (or their religion) and demonstrate arts and crafts, cooking, or whatever they like. It's always fun to go and check out the displays and talk to people about where they come from.

On Tuesday I stopped by the Korea/Japan display to talk to a friend who was staffing the table, and she got me to try calligraphy (see picture, left). The figure means "spring," and I picked it because it had the fewest brush strokes of all the examples they had on display. My attempt is the one on top; the one below was done by my friend, who is Korean, after I had finished. It's an interesting art form -- of course the brush strokes have to be done in a certain order and the brush has to be held just so.

I also heard traditional Puerto Rican music and sampled some Indian snacks. There was a display about Islam, too, and lots of people were gathered there asking questions. I figure that can only help.

It was also interesting to see my colleagues dressed in the traditional garb of their native lands. They have such pretty clothes, especially the Indian women. I love those bright colors and long, flowing saris. And all that beautiful gold jewelry.

Speaking of Handsome Cats...

Odin's Kingdom is updated (check the Chronicles).

And, like both Katynka and Alicia, I am also in possession of a very handsome cat. Below, he poses for Halloween:

The sky has been so incredible around here lately. I know I'm not the only person to notice it, because I see Laura's been taking pictures of it, too.

Tonight after work I found myself skulking around in a graveyard trying to get a good shot of this beautiful pink, gold, and silver sky. This isn't a perfect view, but it captures at least a little bit of the magic.

Driving home, I marveled over how wild it is during this brief period when the leaves are all changing at once. The peak only lasts a few days or a week, really, but while it's happening you feel like you're living inside a Chagall painting. The raucous colors, clashing together in every hue from pink to red to orange to gold, it almost seems like too much to process all at once. It's very distracting when one is driving, I find. I just want to hang my head out the window and drink it all up with my eyes.

Here's one more picture. I took this one on the way to work at 8:30 this morning, across the street from the Post Office. Incredible.

Exciting News in Journal-Land

Do you read When in Doubt, Use Parsley? It's one of my favorite journals. Amy (the writer) is pregnant, due very soon, and I have been checking her page obsessively for a birth announcement for the last week or so. Well, this morning I went to her husband Andy's page, and learned that their baby girl Quinn is scheduled to arrive tomorrow! Yay for them!

No Smoking

Here is a picture of the monster living in my car. He sits on the cigarette lighter button (to make sure nobody starts smoking in there, I guess). He is very frightening.

The weather looks and feels like fall here in Hamden, Connecticut. In my backyard, the leaves are turning gold and orange, and it's hard to believe this is the third fall we've spent in this house. Marty's got a shed full of firewood in the backyard so we should be all set for fires when it gets cold enough.

I'm finding it hard to believe we are almost down to the end of the year now. It's really only a matter of weeks. This year has flown by incredibly fast.

Food, Glorious Food

For some reason I am obsessed with food lately. I don't know why. I go through these foodie phases, though, and right now I'm in the middle of a big one. (I remember one from back when I was studying for my PhD comprehensive exams in 1994. I was home studying all day, every day, and all I could seem to think about was breakfast, lunch, and dinner.)

Anyway, this food phase has me thinking about trying some new recipes. I have a cookbook from our trip to New Orleans in 1999 that has some cool-looking dishes in it, and I've found some Cuban recipes online. I like the variety of recipes on this page, too.

I'm also planning to update my recipe page pretty soon. I have some great recipes to add, including a wonderful goat cheese spread for parties, a lemon-garlic chicken recipe, a New England apple crisp, and Savage Cookies (a most delicious cookie with a great name). Stay tuned.

Big Mac Falafel and a Side of Fries

On Thursday Maria and I had lunch at Mamoun's, a Middle Eastern restaurant on Howe Street in New Haven. We both had combination platters with falafel, lamb, and other yummy Middle Eastern specialties. The food was very good. And they have Turkish Delight! Always a favorite.

Today Maria is back in Detroit. We had a wonderful visit. It was four years ago this month that we met for the first time in person -- we had known each other online for about six months before that. Since our first visit in 1997, we have seen each other about ten times. Every visit feels too short, and it is hard to live so far away from someone I'm so close to emotionally. But ours is truly an internet friendship success story.

The dining on this visit was, I think, even better than usual. Besides the Cuban restaurant in New York and Mamoun's in New Haven, we also had a some good home-cooked meals. I made Katynka's pot roast, Laura's macaroni and cheese, and a favorite chicken dish with lots of garlic. We had an apple pie from Lyman Orchards, too. You can't beat that with a stick.

Dos Mojitos, Por Favor

Yesterday Maria and I went to New York for the day and (among other activities) had lunch at Victor's Cafe, a Cuban restaurant in the theater district. The food was absolutely incredible. We followed the recommendations of this review:

Stick with traditional fare. The moist, hearty Cuban tamale, served with a mild pepper sauce, makes a nice starter, as does yuca con mojo, a surprisingly delicious boiled root vegetable. The best entrees have the least appetizing translations: ropa vieja, "old clothes," is meltingly tender shredded skirt steak served with fried and fresh vegetables; vaca frita, "fried cow," is toothsome churrasco steak on mashed plantains. Pork dishes are also good. But steer clear of the flavorless seafood, and beware that the heavy-handed kitchen tends to overcook chicken and fish. Desserts are achingly sweet and gloopy--have another mojito instead.

I had the ropa vieja and the (moist, hearty) Cuban tamale, and Maria had the vaca frita. And we had dos mojitos. It was a great, great lunch.

Have you ever had a Cuban drink?

I've never had a Cuban anything...

Very Quiet

Yes, I've been very quiet suddenly. It's been busy around here. Work's been busy and so has home. Today I had a doctor's appointment at 8 AM, followed by a full day at work. Then home to do some clearing up (Maria is arriving tomorrow!) and then over to Trish's for dinner and Buffy. Then back here for a couple more loads of laundry and some straightening up and getting a few things ready to mail out tomorrow. I just haven't had a lot of time to sit down and think of anything to write.

I've been organizing my Internet Explorer "Favorites" (ie, bookmarks) lately. It's kind of the computer equivalent of organizing your sock drawer, I think. My journal list had grown out of control so I split it up into three sections. It's working out much better now. My slash links were woefully out of date. So I've been correcting things and organizing.

Maria arrives tomorrow afternoon, and I will be off work Thursday and Friday. I am so ready for this visit. And these two days off work. I can't wait to get started.

There was ice on my windshield this morning. One day earlier than last year. (I'm so glad I have a weblog so I can keep up with important items like that...)

An Interesting Article

The Effects of September 11 on the Leading Search Engine by Richard W. Wiggins explores how Google responded on 9/11.

A Brush with Fame

I always enjoy The Glimmer Smoke Shape Experiment, but this entry about the first time Taracy met Marky Mark really made me smile.

Huh?

Okay, I just really don't think so: The Tingler. Some things are just too strange, even for me.

Last night we watched the premiere of Enterprise, the new Star Trek series (we taped it last week when it was on, and just now got around to watching it). I didn't expect to like it, but it turned out to be better than I had anticipated. That was a nice surprise.

It has a different feel from the other Trek shows, or at least, the first episode does. Chronologically it takes place before the original series (Trek Classic), and Starfleet doesn't seem to be governed by that pesky Prime Directive yet. That could be interesting. I also like Scott Bakula as the captain. And there appears to be a southern character as well (which I think is a first on Star Trek). (Oh, wait, I'm forgetting Dr. McCoy. Never mind.)

Anyway, I liked this episode better than the premiere of Voyager (Trek Lite). And that, for awhile, was one of my favorite shows. So I'm pleased about Enterprise.

Kind of a low-key Saturday. We ran some errands and then mostly stayed around the house. We were both kind of worn out from this week, so we took it easy.

Tomorrow Marty's planning to split some logs for firewood, and I'll probably do some cleaning and laundry. Our lives sound very exciting, don't they?

Well, not much news. Just thought I'd check in and say hello. So hello.

Referrer Log Fun

Just lately my referrer logs have been very entertaining. Well, entertaining to me, anyway. Here are a few of the ways people found Raspberry World recently:

• "pictures of the New York public library"
  
• "Alicia Kiss"
  
• adopt a kogepan
  
• san-x store
  
• hallucinate on orange peels
  
• pictures of Kogepan
  
• afro ken wallpaper
  
• Fire From Heaven
  
• download "junkyard wars" episodes
  
• songs moulin rough

I especially like that last one, songs moulin rough. Heh.

On Everyone's Mind

Everyone seems to be worrying about layoffs right now. I'm no exception; it's making me nervous, too. I don't think anything is likely to happen to my job, but of course there's really no way to know. My company is laying people off right now. Marty's is too, and he works in an industry that is readying itself for a lean period, even more than mine is.

You can actually feel these companies battening down the hatches. The temps are always the first ones to go. My company is gradually letting go of most of its temps through the next month or so, and at Marty's they were all cut loose in one fell swoop last Friday. After the temps, they start cutting positions in different areas, trying to shave away any excess. What usually ends up happening is that work has to be stopped. Things that used to be considered essential are redefined as dispensible. I've seen it happen before, when my department went from four people to two early last year. (And of course, when it went from two people to one -- me -- last August.)

So I'm not really surprised that everywhere I turn right now, I'm hearing about layoffs. One friend whose company was just sold has been told that her job (which is very similar to mine) will be eliminated in a few months. A writer whose online journal I read every day was laid off yesterday. The company one of my former coworkers went to last year just had a big layoff. I don't know whether my old colleague was involved or not.

When this is the atmosphere at work, it doesn't seem there's a whole lot you can do besides just keep doing your job. But sitting around and waiting for something to happen feels so awful. So next week I am going to a career roundtable dinner meeting sponsored by a professional organization I belong to. I'm taking along my friend whose position is being eliminated at that other company. We're both planning to learn more about how to start doing freelance writing and communications, and other opportunities for writers and editors like us.

As Shaquille O'Neal once put it, I got skillz. I just need to make sure I keep getting to use them.

Here's an interesting article from the New York Times, on how pop culture is returning to normal.

I had to link it. Any article that quotes Elaine Showalter is going to get a link from me.

Fire Drill

Today at work we had an evacuation drill. Right around 1:30, the fire alarm went off. Usually people take their time getting outside, but today I was out of my office like a shot. And when I got outside, there was a much larger crowd than usual in the parking lot. I guess everyone is taking safety more seriously these days.

I am excited today because Mr. Yale Reader (aka Dave, one of my regular readers and e-mail correspondents) sent me a bunch of restaurant recommendations for New Haven and the surrounding area. I am excited just looking down the list. I can't wait to try out some of these places. Maybe when Maria comes to visit next week.

Dinner last night was excellent, as dinner at Consiglio's always is. I had the penne vodka, which some folks will be surprised to learn I'd never tried there before (seeing as it's my favorite pasta dish and all). They do a very nice job with it there. Clarissa had lobster ravioli, and we split a tartuffo for dessert. A most enjoyable meal.

I love these way these tomatoes look in the evening sun. Like strings of red beads dangling down.

Today is my friend Clarissa's last day at work. She's leaving to go to a different company, a major competitor. It's a promotion for her, a great move. But I am going to miss her so much. It's one of those situations where I feel happy for her but sorry for myself. We work together a lot, and spend time together at lunch and outside of work, so this is going to be a big change in my day-to-day existence.

But it's a great thing for her, professionally as well as personally. So I'm pleased about that.

I am taking her to Consiglio's for dinner, to celebrate. That's why all I can think about today is grilled portobello mushrooms, chicken Amalfi, and tartuffo.

Hey, there are worse things I could be thinking about.

Buffy Report

Last night's Buffy was pretty good, but I sensed a different feel to the show. There was a darkness that I don't remember from before. I'm wondering how much of this is just a natural shift into the new season, and how much of it can be attributed to its move from WB to UPN this season. Last night was the first episode to air on UPN.

UPN is notorious in fandom for taking good shows and ruining them by trying to make them appeal to the primary UPN demographic: 18 to 25 year old men. What you end up with is violent, misogynistic, emotionally bankrupt shows. Buffy the Vampire Slayer has always been violent, of course, but there's violent and there's violent (for instance, the difference between dusting a vampire, and a bunch of biker demons tearing the Buffybot limb from limb onscreen).

I hope that the makers of Buffy will be able to withstand the pressure to conform, if the pressure actually is there. It's the only show I watch on TV. I guess I'm feeling a little protective.

A 7:40 AM doctor's appointment at Yale had me out of the house bright and early today. It is pretty quiet in New Haven before 7:30, even over by the medical school. It looks like it's going to be a sunny day here today.

Buffy Lives (or so I hear)

Buffy, Buffy, Buffy! It's eight pm on Tuesday night and a new season of Buffy starts in minutes!!!

Buffy!

A Viewing Tip

I hate to say this, but my most recent journal entry really should be viewed with Internet Explorer rather than Netscape. It doesn't make a huge difference, but for some reason the design doesn't work properly with Netscape.

For years, I was a die-hard Netscape user, but like so many I finally gave it up for the increased functionality of IE. I still use Netscape at work because that's my company's standard, but I don't think I could ever go back to Netscape for personal use.

Anyway, just wanted to mention that about the journal entry.

Hot Chili Peppers in the Blistering Sun

Well, okay, it's more like hot chili peppers in the kitchen, but aren't they gorgeous? Another picture from Saturday night over at Amy's house.

I would like to make a museum recommendation. I visited the Frick Collection (in New York) for the first time yesterday, and I enjoyed it more than I can remember enjoying a museum in years. The collection is primarily European art (only two American painters in the whole bunch), and includes sculptures and furniture as well as paintings. The building itself was built as a home, but also as a showplace for art, and every room seems perfectly appointed to display its considerable treasures. I particularly loved the Fragonard Room. But there were so many beautiful paintings throughout the place that it's hard to choose favorites.

As I mentioned earlier, I went to Manhattan yesterday. I've decided to post some of my impressions of it, along with some pictures I took. I should say, though, that I'm really focusing on what I saw, rather than what I felt. It is too much to process all at once. And I am getting somewhat weary of writing about the feelings, too. So with all of those caveats, if you would like to read the journal entry, it's here: New York City.

All right. That's enough for now. And it's time for bed.

It's Always Something

I just heard from Alicia about some e-mail she's sent me recently that was never delivered. If you've written to me at susannahx@hotmail.com lately and haven't had a reply, it might be worth sending off the message again. I'm not sure what the problem is.

Thai food is a Very Good Thing. I went to lunch today at a restaurant near work that I'd never tried before, and it was great. Unfortunately, they didn't have the coconut ice cream like they have at the restaurant Sonal goes to in Tampa, but everything I had was wonderful.

Up Late

It's the end of the weekend and I am up way too late for a "school night." But I'm feeling a little wired so I'm not quite ready to sleep.

On Saturday we saw Amy and Tony, two of our friends from graduate school who were visiting family in Connecticut for the weekend. They invited us over and cooked a wonderful dinner. Then we played cards all evening, gals against the guys, and the guys won both games. In Pennsylvania, we all used to belong to a "pot luck and cards" group with a bunch of other grad students. I really miss that.

Oh, and I took the pictures over at Amy's family's house.

Today (Sunday) I went to Manhattan on the train. Marty has a bad cold, so I went alone. I'm still thinking about it and processing what I saw. It was good that I went.