Visit 2000
Visit 1999
Visit 1998

Updated:
Music

Places I've been in 1999:
All over Connecticut
Belmont & Cambridge, MA
Northampton, MA
The Berkshires
Detroit
Pt. Pelee, Canada
New Orleans
Columbus, Mississippi
Providence, RI
Pleasant Gap, PA
Philadelphia
New York City
Westchester, NY
New Jersey

What am I leaving out???

I wrote up a little piece on my favorite CDs from this year.  But most of them aren't actually CDs that were released this year.  If I had to say what I thought were the best newly-released CDs I bought this year, it would be something like this (and in this order):

• Matthew Sweet, In Reverse - the best, hands down!
• Eddi Reader, Angels and Electricity
• Tom Petty, Echo
• Tori Amos, To Venus and Back
• Indigo Girls, Come On Now Social

I wish I'd also gotten the new Counting Crows. I hear it's good, but I'll wait until I find it for a good price.

So tomorrow is 2000, and I think it's going to be the start of a very good year. Although it's not the new millennium, I'll just say that once and say it now. I hope everyone knows by now that the new millennium doesn't start until 2001. But okay.

The end of the year has me thinking about stuff I've borrowed and need to return to people. For instance, I've had a hand-cart in my kitchen since we moved in August that I'm taking back to its owner today. Also, I have some videotapes and CD-ROMs that need to go back to people. And a Frankie Goes to Hollywood cassette that I borrowed about 12 years ago, I really should return that . . .

Happy new year, everyone.  Thanks for reading Raspberry World this year.  Best wishes for 2000!

Good news!
My xmas cards are actually going to be postmarked 1999 . . . I was worried there for a day or so.  Eeeek.

Listening to:
Cornershop
Ricky Martin
Caught in the Act
Boyzone
Marcy Playground
Dave Matthews Band
Liz Phair
. . . and more . . .

Well, Christmas was fun around here.  I mean, there always has to be some kind of Christmas trauma, but this year it was fairly minimal.   Plus, what trauma there was was balanced out by a very nice visit with Marty's mom and stepfather.  We had a marvelous time with them.

Tonight I was over at Eunice's, and she asked me again what I think about this "2YK" thing.  I told her not to worry, that everything was going to be fine.  :-)

It amazes me sometimes how mean people can be in their online journals.  I try to give other people the benefit of the doubt, but sometimes I wonder about the stuff I read.  There are some seriously passive-aggressive people out there.  I have frequently been called "nice," but I think I prefer that to the alternative.

My birthday is almost here and I got some neat presents in the mail today.  There seems to be a Ricky Martin theme emerging.   Today I got Ricky Martin's album Vuelve, which I like very much so far, and (from someone else!) a Ricky pen and notebook.   Now I'm the coolest girl on the block.  I think even Marty is jealous of how cool I am!  Although he'd never admit it.

I also got a dream journal, which couldn't have come at a better time . . . I've been dreaming some weird shit lately.  Really weird shit.  Maybe if I write it down I can remember it.

Today Marty's mom and stepfather arrived for the holidays.  I spent the day straightening up the house and putting out some decorations around the house.  It looks pretty here, especially downstairs in the family room.  Tonight I had candles lit on the mantel, with greenery around them.

The house is finally WARM!  Yes, the heat has been installed and it's so much more pleasant to live here.  It was finished about a week ago.  Yay!  Now people don't have to be scared to come and visit us.

Toenails:
Shiny red & sparkly green (alternating toes)
It's very festive!

Listening to:
Nine Inch Nails
Matthew Sweet
Velvet Underground
Sublime
Nirvana

What I really need to be doing is cleaning this house.   Marty's mom and stepfather are arriving on Thursday but somehow I haven't been able to get into full preparation mode yet.  Still have to go grocery shopping and everything.

We went out and got a christmas tree on Saturday and decorated it.  It was sort of growing on a little hill so there's a bend in the middle of the trunk.  On Sunday, after it was decorated, I noticed that it seemed to be bending over more than it had been the day before. Hmmm.  So now it's strung up to the wall with fishing wire.  I used to put up my grandmother's tree every year and anchor it with fishing wire, so this brought back memories.

Our new town is a hotbed of christmas light fans.  Almost every house on every street is lit up already.  Tonight on my way home I saw someone on our street who really has outdone the rest of town.  The whole yard is like a big red and white spiderweb of lights, they're simply everywhere, and there are lighted reindeer flying up the house and all kinds of other stuff in the yard.  It looks like an emergency scene!

We have been undergoing the installation of a new heating system these last two weeks.  Holy cow, is it ever gonna be done?  Originally it was supposed to be finished last Tuesday . . . today it's Monday again and they're still not done.   Tonight when I got home there were three (count 'em, three!) vans in my driveway, and about seven men in the house, working away.  They stayed til 7:00 and it's still not done.  But we're getting closer.  Surely in the next couple of days . . .

In the meantime it's still maxing out at about 50º F in this house.  The coldest we ever recorded was 35º F in the living room.   It feels like camping.  Last night when I got in bed, it took me 45 minutes to warm up enough to fall asleep.  And that was with the electric blanket blazing away.

Good news!  I got almost all the Christmas boxes mailed today.  Still have one or two more left, but they should go out tomorrow.   Productive weekend.  Even if I only got half my list accomplished.  It was the important half.  (Not the cleaning, I mean.  There's no point in cleaning when the house is full of people welding and drilling holes.)

Okay, I'm pretty sure it's time for tacos and beer now.

Got two new CDs in the mail today: Matthew Sweet's In Reverse and Dave Matthews' Live at Luther College (a double album). Cool!

Did anyone see Ricky on the Billboard Music awards last night?  Oh god, oh god. He looked . . . edible.

Happy happy sigh.  :-)

Then I saw the trailer.  Winona Ryder is playing Susanna Kaysen (the woman whose story it tells).  Hmmm.  I'm probably going to have to see this after all.

I'm still not sure about this, though.  I hate it when they make movies that don't do the books justice.  I couldn't see Beloved because of that.  And I was sorry I saw Wide Sargasso Sea for the same reason.

But then there are movies that are as good as, or even (in some ways) better than their sources: A Room with a View, The Princess Bride.  Love the movies, love the books.  Might this one be one of those?  Guess we'll see.

We had an event for work tonight, kind of an award ceremony/reception deal.  The best part was when they gave us nice boxes of Godiva chocolates to take home . . . yummmmm.

Listening to:
Smashing Pumpkins,
Siamese Dream
Black Crowes,
Southern Harmony and Musical Companion
The Cure,
Wild Mood Swings
Live,
Throwing Copper
Dave Matthews Band,
Crash

So yes, it's been a long time.  I'm okay, still alive and all, I've just been feeling kinda stressed and busy.  And a little lonesome, too.   Sometimes it feels like I'm out here in the middle of nowhere with this page, shouting into the void.  Or something.

We went to see Sleepy Hollow on Sunday.   I can't recommend it.  My boss liked it though.

I've done almost all the Christmas shopping and now I'm onto the wrapping.  Still want to bake some goodies before I do the packages, but mostly I'm ahead of the game.  I never understood about that whole holiday stress idea until I started working full time.  Ugh.  It was different when I was in school and my schedule was looser.

Why don't people know the difference between loose and lose, or between looser and loser?   Oops, I said I had only one question tonight, and I already asked it.

For goodness' sake, don't tell him about it if you know him.  He deserves a nice surprise.

Work is stressful for both of us these days.  Some days we come home grumpy and cranky and can't find anything to say without snapping.  Most of the time that doesn't happen, though.  Most of the time we get along peachy keen.  Hee hee.

I've been seeing a lot of deer lately.   There seem to be some big ones living right around here.  The other night as I was driving home one crossed the street up ahead of my car -- less than 1/4 mile from my house.  It's really surprising, considering how close we live to New Haven.  But I guess just because the humans move in, that doesn't mean the other animals move out.   They have to have somewhere to go, too.

Tomorrow's going to be a long day.   Work, then an appointment up in Manchester, then a date with Eunice.  I'd better get to bed.

Watched
this weekend:
Buffy (x 3)
Angel (x 2)
X-Files Songvids (swoon!)
Caught in the Act vids
Boyzone vids
X-Files ep

(Probably more tv than I've watched in the last two months . . . )

Marty's birthday is about a week away, and I've been planning to make him a special CD for a surprise. I finally got all the songs picked and the song list all set, and was ready to start -- and he decided that this would be a good time for him to start making CDs of his own.

So he spent this evening learning how to burn a disk, and making his classic Billy Joel best-of compilation into a great double disk set.  Very cool.  Except that I've been itching to get on the computer and do his birthday present.  But he doesn't know that.  And no, he doesn't read my page, so he's not likely to find out.  (Still, I'm not going to post the song list here, just in case.)

I'm feeling much better than I was last week.  Looks like PMS is past, and the cough is abating somewhat.  It's still violent, but very infrequent.  Plus I have started on this new cooking healthy initiative, so I'm eating a lot of fruit and vegetables.  That always makes me feel better.  Oh, yeah, and don't forget the brownies.  ;-)   Well you can't expect us to eat totally healthy.

Updated:
Links

Listening to:
The Pretenders
(yes I know I have a problem with CDs, okay?)

Have I mentioned the electric heat lately?  I thought not.  We should be having a new heating system installed in a few weeks (around the beginning of December) but until then we are toughing it out using as little heat as we can.  Unfortunately the usual temperature in the house recently has been just below about 50 degrees Fahrenheit, which is damn cold for indoors.  You know it's bad when you can see your breath when you're indoors, in your own kitchen.

Oh, I found out what's up with the cranberry sauce recipe.  It somehow got listed as one of the first recipes to appear for "cranberry recipe" and "thanksgiving recipe" searches on several search engines, so it's getting hit about 20 times a day right now.

I've updated the links page and now I'm off in search of industrial strength Midol.  Au revoir.

Loving:
Sunshine
Leaves
Cats
Music
Flannel Sheets

Hating:
Coughing
Cold Weather
Dirty Dishes

It's not that I dislike online journals.  It's just that I usually find myself unable to get involved with someone's life unless I know the person (for instance, like I know Rebekah, whose journal I recently caught up with, or my friend Maria, who used to keep a journal online). When I do know the person, it's much easier for me to follow along and maintain my interest.  It's like I'm getting another part of the whole picture, a part that adds to the parts I could already see with my own eyes.

But there are a few strangers whose sites I like, people I check in on from time to time, although not daily.  I still love the Disgruntled Housewife's front-page ramblings, and I visit Scott's opinionated journal at Chinese Torture once in a while.  I also like Zannah's sites, as well as Shireen's.  I like sites where people have put more up than just their journals; when there's other stuff about what they like and think about, it feels like I get a fuller picture.  Maybe that's why I find the sites that are just journals so difficult to follow, because there's no context for the life being presented.

With all of this said, I also want to mention that I'm very happy people have written me about my journal, because I've made some wonderful friends that way.  I guess when you click with someone's online journal, it doesn't matter whether or not you already know them.  It just becomes interesting.  It can happen to me, too.

Updated:
Journal
(actually, last night)

Have I mentioned about the Dunkin' Donuts addiction in New England?  It's quite amazing.  People here seem to be totally addicted, and it's not even the donuts that keep them coming back -- it's the coffee.  They drive like maniacs to get it, cutting across three lanes of traffic and stopping their cars in the middle of the busiest streets in town.  And the strangest thing is, it goes on all day and all night, not just in the morning.  And the Dunkin' Donuts are thick on the ground here, it seems like there's one in every block.  I think we should all buy stock in it.

I've been thinking in the last day or so that I really like the Pretenders' music.  You know, Chrissie Hynde?  Anyway I don't have any of their stuff but a friend sent me a burned CD with "Back on the Chain Gang" on it, and I remembered how much I liked their stuff.  I think Chrissie Hynde is really cool. 

See, this is how the trouble begins.

It's not just this cough, I also happened to have a dentist appointment later yesterday afternoon.  It had been forever since I last went.  I'm talking forever -- I remember there was a TV in the dentist's office last time, showing the Atlanta Olympics.  Live.  You do the math.  Scary.  But that's how it can be when you're in school and moving every seven months or so.  You don't put down the kind of roots you need to find a dentist.  (Roots, ha ha.)

But even though I'd waited so long, everything was in good shape.  No cavities, thank goodness, not too much tartar, gums okay, etc.  And I liked the new dentist.  That's important because I really hate going, so it needs to be someone I like.  Now it feels like there's all this space in my mouth that didn't used to be there.

So this morning I'm working at home and the sun is shining in the study window.  I can see why people like the thought of telecommuting or freelancing, working from a home office.  I'm just afraid I'd get sidetracked and end up writing e-mail all day long, or something.  Wouldn't be the first time.

Updated:
Recommended Reading

Something really strange -- awhile back my recipe page started getting more hits than any of my other pages on Raspberry World.  I put a counter on it to try to figure out where all these people were coming from, and most of them were jumping to my recipe page from my own recipes.  All I could figure is that people are searching the web for "apple pie" and "macaroni and cheese" and my recipes are popping up.   But that's not the really weird thing.  In the last two days, I have had about 15 hits to my recipe page directly from my recipe for cranberry sauce.  And it's not even a recipe!  I can't believe someone would link directly to that file, but who knows?

This morning as I was teaching a class at work, I looked down at one of my handouts and noticed a really funny, bad typo.  Yes, I am an editor and a writer, but even I make some howlers from time to time.  I meant to write public relations, I promise . . . anyway, the class found it pretty entertaining.

Current Music:
Eve 6
Dave Matthews Band
Tori Amos
NIN
Nirvana
Bob Dylan
and of course, the ubiquitous Liz Phair

I've been coughing and coughing and coughing for weeks, and it's really bugging me.  I have this constant headache from jarring my brain around in my head.  And let me just bitch and moan for a minute about cough syrup.   I've tried every kind I can find, and it's always the same thing: I take it and immediately start to become nauseated.  Can't they figure out a way to make it so it doesn't make me want to hurl?

I went to Philadelphia last week for a conference, and it was great fun.  Visited some spots I love, and some good shops, and had some excellent meals.  The best was at an Italian restaurant down at Penns Landing, called Panorama Restaurant.  Oh.  My.  God.  I had gnocchi and it was soooooo good.  I fantasized about it for three days afterwards.  Perfect little feather pillows of pasta in cream sauce.  Plus the waiter was cute and suave, kind of a tall European of non-specific origin, named Guy.  Hee hee.

I also read a bunch of books while I was there, so maybe I can update the book page soon.  I'm finishing up A Home at the End of the World first and then I hope to write something up.  I read another one by David Sedaris, Barrel Fever, a collection of essays and fiction.   His stuff is so weird and disturbing sometimes, and his essays are almost freakier than his stories.  Go figure.

While I was in Philadelphia I also visited Giovanni's Room, an awesome gay and lesbian bookstore that I love.  I can't get out of that place without spending at least $100.  I like it even better than A Different Light in New York.  (And definitely better than the Oscar Wilde bookstore in the Village.)  Anyway I got some new novels and cards and smut, so I'm set for awhile.

TV:
Buffy and Angel

It's raining here tonight, and I am coughing and listening to Nirvana records while reading the lyrics on the Web. They're quite fascinating.

Updated:
Links
Recipes
Goodies

Music:
Make A Wish
(dixiemix '99)

Over the weekend I cooked a new meat loaf recipe.   It was such a good recipe that I decided to update my recipe page. It's not a huge update (actually, it's not even a medium-sized update), but they're all good recipes.

We're having a little problem around here . . . as you can see in this picture, our home has been overrun with alien bug-bears. They have fur and antennae, and Marty and I can't decide if they're dressed for Halloween trick-or-treating, or if those little velvet bug-costume bathing suits are supposed to fool us into thinking they're not aliens. You may be wondering how they found us . . . the answer is, Maria gave them our address.

Music:
Marc Cohn,
Marc Cohn
Nine Inch Nails,
Pretty Hate Machine
Prince,
The Hits 2

I've been meaning to update for awhile, but I wanted to write something for the journal . . . finally I decided it's better not to wait for that.  Who knows how long it could take.  Ha!

Right now it's about two years since I decided to leave grad school.  I'm happy to say that I'm still very glad I made the decision I did.  It was one of those things where there was no one right answer, really, just different options with different consequences.  I'm happy it's worked out the way it has.

The trees here are glorious at the moment.   Here's a picture Marty took on Saturday from the back step of our house, looking up into the sky.  And here's one of the front of the house, also from Saturday.  It's fall, for sure.

Music:
Dave Matthews Band,
Crash
Tori Amos,
To Venus & Back

Toenails:
Out of this World Glitter

Site:
Fonts for Freaks
Yeah!

What's the homework for?  At the end of the month I'm going to the American Medical Writers Association (AMWA) national conference in Philadelphia.  I'm signed up to take some classes there, and the homework is due on Tuesday.  Yes, day after tomorrow.  Which means I must mail it tomorrow.  Which means I must do it now.   Eeek.  Now I remember why I don't miss school much.

I am looking forward to going to Philadelphia, though.  I can't wait to go back to Giovanni's Room, a great GLB/feminist bookstore near where we'll be staying.  That's where I got my Girls Kick Ass bumper sticker!  It was right near the neatest store, full of handmade stuff, where I bought my favorite earrings and a pair for a friend . . . I definitely have to go back there.  Maybe this time I won't come down with a raging case of consumption.

Marty keeps teasing me about going to the AMWA conference.  He says the key is to be on top of the pyramid.  I have to tell him that it's AMWA, not AMWAY.

I can't seem to get through a novel lately, so I've switched to reading poetry.  This is a very new thing for me, because even as a grad student in English I never liked poetry much.  Now I'm finding that I enjoy it more than I used to.  I'm reading poetry by Margaret Atwood at the moment, and it's great.

Listening to:
k.d. lang, Drag
Stevie Ray Vaughn & Double Trouble, Greatest Hits
Tj, The Possibilities are Endless
Susie, Sunny Side

It's another cold night in Connecticut.  I actually broke out the magic blanket.  It's this heavy wool quilt that Marty's great grandmother made . . . ugly as sin, but it's warmer than an electric blanket, and we call it magic because it makes you sleep like the dead.  Even insomniacs sleep under this blanket.  When Marty saw it on the bed earlier, he said, "It's coma time!"  You sleep the kind of sleep where you wake up in the morning and can't remember what day it is.  (But without resorting to controlled substances.)

Drag is not my favorite CD by k.d. lang, but it's a good one.  I mostly think of it as the one with the amazing portraits on the liner notes (swoooooon), but the songs are good, too.  And they're just right for late at night.

Updated:
Links

I had ice on my windshield this morning.   Noooooooooo!

I just read
that Matthew Sweet is almost exactly five years older than me, and he went to the University of Georgia, too. That's pretty cool. :-)

Speaking of Matthew Sweet, last week I heard he was supposed to have a new album out, the same day as the Indigo Girls' new one.   But I never saw it in the store or heard that it really came out.  What gives?   Anybody know?

Ich traumatized gerade durch diesen wirklich schnellen Programmfehler, der alle über der Wand vor meinem Schreibtisch laufen ließ. Ich klopfte ihn niederwerfe mit einer rückseitigen Ausgabe von wissenschaftlichem amerikanischem und eine Minute später kam sie, heraus heftig zerreißend von unterhalb des Monitors, scaring das lebende bejesus aus mir heraus viel yelping und um gefolgt springend, der die Aufmerksamkeit der Katze abfing (aber nicht des Ehemanns). Sowieso jetzt ist der Programmfehler nicht mehr. Gerader Gedanke, den ich teilen würde.

Granted, this is gonna be funnier if you know another language so you can sort of understand what it's trying to say. I particularly liked scaring das lebende bejesus aus mir. Hee hee.

I got the Indigo Girls' new CD (Come On Now Social) last week when it came out, and I'm liking it a lot so far. It's different from their others, of course, but then the new ones always are different from their others. The Indigo Girls are also the Artist of the Week at UBL this week. Anyway, I'm bumming because they're playing next Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday nights at the Beacon Theater in New York, and it looks like I'm gonna miss it. There is much pouting going on over this.

It's damn cold here tonight. Rainy all morning, then colder and colder all afternoon until sundown. And sundown was early, too. Hey, I'm not ready for winter yet!

New hobby:
Burning CDs.
Just what I needed, another expensive obsession.  Now I can make mixes of everything, on CD! It's amazing.  And of course the process of making the CD labels is also perfect for the obsessive in me.  I have spent more time in Publisher in the last week than I have in the last year...

So, not a really eventful weekend here.  Marty varnished the bookcase he built, and it looks great -- I am very impressed with his carpenter tendencies.  That tool belt is just getting closer and closer; thank goodness his birthday's next month.  I worked on trying to put stuff away in the kitchen . . . we have a big kitchen, actually, but it doesn't really have much storage.  It's a challenge.  I still can't find anywhere to put the grits, so they're just sitting out on the counter under the lamppost.  (The lamppost must be seen to be believed.) 

Earlier this evening I was reading my old journal entries, the ones from last year (you know, back when I actually used to write in the journal).  It was funny to go back, kind of like reading someone else's stuff.  But I thought some of them were interesting.  That's pretty funny, I guess, but it's better than the alternative.  I used to have a lot to say, and I wonder why I don't write as much for the online journal now.  Last year I was reading a lot more than I have been this year, that's one thing, so maybe that helped me write more, too.

Drinking:
Bass Ale

Listening to:
A Moment of Peace
Green Cheese
Day & Night
True North
Ricky Mix

I am a little obsessed with the song Wish List by Pearl Jam at the moment.  (I almost typed Pearl Ham . . . TWI is a scary thing.)  I could listen to it for hours.  "I wish I was the full moon shining off a Camaro's hood . . ."

It's been a busy week.  Last weekend I took a trip to New York where I met a friend and attended a Ricky Martin TV taping.   Ricky is great in person, definitely something not to be missed.  Then my friend came home with me for a quickie visit, not long enough but still lots of fun.   Then I was sick for a day . . . then it was Friday . . . and I had a date last night with the Manchester Slasher.  Quite a week.

Is it really October?  I'm scared of that.  Where has this year gone?  Am I really getting old enough that the years seem to fly by?  Eeeeeek.  Okay, let's not worry about this right now.   Bass Ales for everyone . . .

Updated:
Links
Journal
Another update? What is this world coming to?

Updated:
Journal

Listening to:
T. Rex
Aerosmith
R.E.M.
Jamiroquai
Smashing Pumpkins
Cake
Tori Amos

I've lost the use of my HTML editor in all the mess with the computer. I used to code the Jan and June page by hand, and I do know how to do that, but I have become so lazy since I use a wysiwyg editor all the time. It makes it difficult to bring myself to do updates. The code starts to give me crossed eyes after awhile.

This weekend we went down to Yale to hear James Randi speak. He's one of Marty's heroes, and a leader in skepticism. He was really entertaining. But the best part was being in the auditorium with all the Yale skeptics and humanists. It was so much fun to see them all, so earnest and young, so busy being cool and intellectual. It seems to take a lot of energy. I have a hard time remembering that, which I think means I'm getting old.

It's not so bad. As they say, it's better than the alternative. ;-)

Can you believe the summer is gone already? I can't. I mean, gone! Not only is it already September, school buses on the streets and all, but up here in Connecticut the leaves are starting to change.

This is actually my second autumn in New England. Last year at this time I was gearing up for the job search, and we were trying to decide if we should move, where we should move, etc. It felt like a pretty difficult time, when it was happening.

But now I'm remembering a bunch of fun things that happened last fall, like trips to Belmont and Newark (yes, Newark!), Katynka's weekend at our place, outings with Eunice, and finding a pen-pal in Ohio. Oh yes, I do love fall.

It hasn’t all been bad, though. I’ve caught up with a few old friends by phone. I’m reading an amazing book, The Persian Boy by Mary Renault (required reading for slash fans). I’m listening to some great music, like Smashing Pumpkins and T.Rex. We found an excellent Mexican restaurant. And right near where I work, the Pez factory is scenting the air strawberry for miles around. Life may be frustrating sometimes, but it certainly isn’t bad.

Besides all that, I love my new commute (well, love is a strong term for any commute, but relative to my old commute I have to say yeah, I love this one). I drive on a little old parkway, which I think must still look about like it did fifty years ago. And as I drive to and from work I pass through this great tunnel, about a quarter of a mile long, that is just the best part of the drive.  When I go in one end I can already see the trees outside the other end. It's kind of magical.

Car tunes:
Tori Amos, Under the Pink
HAL & Gillian Anderson, Extremis
Liz Phair, Whip-Smart
The Wannadies, The Wannadies
R.E.M., Green
R.E.M., Document

See, this house has hardwood floors, but the previous owners had carpet in every room, including the kitchen and bathrooms.  So we decided that we'd get the carpet pulled out and have the floors refinished, then bring our furniture in.  That was the plan.  But when we pulled out the carpet, we found all these ugly spots on the floors, all over the house, where someone had patched the hardwood with plywood, two-by-fours, and all kinds of stuff.   Guess now we know why they had all that carpet in this house.

We looked for a carpenter but every one we called was busy until October.  That's really a lot longer than we intended to go with out our furniture, our stereo, our VCR, our printer . . . so we did the only thing we could do under the circumstances: got a book and started doing the floor repairs ourselves.   Now when we come home from work in the evenings we put on protective goggles and masks and go to work with chisels and hammers.  This weekend we'll lay new treads on the stairs and build a bannister, and (I hope) finish the patching on the floors.  My arms are sore but I can feel the muscles getting stronger, too.

So that's the update on the house and what's going on.   We're glad we're here, we're glad it's ours, but boy are we in for some backbreaking work.

Wearing:
butterfly earrings

It's enough to make me want to drive by Burger King every chance I get.

Reading:
A Boy's Own Story,
Edmund White

Today's Quote:
Without wearing any mask we are conscious of, we have a special face for each friend.

~ Oliver Wendell Holmes

Today's Other Quote:
All I need to know about Personal Protection, I learned from Larry, Moe, and Curly . . .

~ Marty

Updated:
Wildflower

Music:
Michelle Lewis,
Little Leviathan

A friend is visiting, helping us pack this weekend. So let me just amend what I said yesterday -- real friends do help you move, and not just bodies. ;-)

We drove by the house today, and the sellers were having a big yard sale! Or, as they say in these parts, a tag sale. So we stopped and introduced ourselves. It was the first time we'd met, and it was very nice to talk to them about the house, especially since they've lived there longer than thirty years.

One more hour of packing, then pizza, beer, and Buffy. Life is good. Back to work.

Updated:
Links

Just re-read:
The Enchanted Castle,
E. Nesbit

Singing:
I sometimes used to try to catch her
but never even caught her name . . .

~ The Cure

You know I feel so dirty when they start talking cute
I want to tell her that I love her but the point is probably moot . . .

~ Rick Springfield

The other day I saw a big old black Cadillac hearse on the road, complete with frilly white lace curtains and a "Cramps" sticker in the rear window. A very spacious car. The boy driving it looked to be about 25, hip, nodding along to the music, his hair blowing in the wind as he cruised up I-95. I loved the car. Sure, it has that whole Harold and Maude thing going on, but it also just seems so practical, in a way. Just think how many boxes of books you could get in that thing.  And you know what they say, friends help you move, but real friends help you move bodies.

I've spent the last four days immersed in Microsoft Access. Two days in class and two days wrestling with my database at work. I'm not what you could call a perfectionist, at least not in most areas of my life, but there are just things that become like an obsession to me, and software is one of them.   When I first learned Photoshop it was just the same.  I couldn't leave a project alone until it was just right.  My relationship with Access could probably be called love/hate.  I get something to work, then I break two things.  Then I decide I'll shut it down for the rest of the day and work on something else, and four minutes later I've got the program back up again, and I get sucked in for the next two hours . . .

Anyway, I've decided to take a break from Access until next week, Tuesday at the earliest.  Well, on Monday my whole department is taking a field trip to New York City, so I just have to get through tomorrow without opening the evil database, and then I know I can make it until Tuesday. It's just a matter of will power, and pretending I don't hear when it starts calling my name.  (Now if I can just stop dreaming about it at night . . . )

Listening to:
Nirvana, Nevermind
Liz Phair, Exile in Guyville

Activity:
Stringing beads

Today we heard that our mortgage is all set.  In less than a month we'll be in the house!  We're getting so excited!  There's still a ton of stuff to pack and arrange, of course.  Besides turning on the utilities and getting the floors done, we have to find someone to build a bannister, find a place to sleep while the floors are being varnished, and do a bunch of other things.  But it's going to be so great to be in our new place.  Even Ziggy is looking forward to moving.  Or maybe he just likes the boxes.  ;-)

Moderation is a memory
Dive right in and let him send me
I could take this in doses large enough to kill

~Liz Phair,
Johnny Feelgood

Last night I went to see Notting Hill with two friends.  What a funny movie -- some classic lines in there.  Plus, it made me long for London.

I updated the music page with a new review this morning.  Oh, and the links page is updated, too.

We got a lot done for the house this week.   Made plans to get the floor sanded and polished, called the phone company, etc.   It's starting to seem real, finally, and I am getting excited.

I'm spending today packing stuff.  Marty is in Philadelphia with a friend; he'll be home tonight.  Zig and I are holding down the fort pretty well, though.

Feet:
Googly-eyed ladybug sox

A friend's thoughts on Pixy Stix:
"When I was eating them, I kept getting the tip of the wrapper all soggy so that nothing would come out, and then I'd put it too far back in my mouth so that I was practically choking on the powder. Sheesh! It was like a bad blow job!"

We found the greatest restaurant near here last night.  Angellino's in Vernon, Connecticut.  It's about two miles from our house but we'd never tried it before.  Turns out they have great Italian food and really good prices.  Too bad we're moving in less than a month!  But at least we found it before we left.

Tonight we're headed up to Tanglewood for our first Boston Symphony concert of the season.  It's a hot day today, but when the sun goes down in the Berkshires it always cools way down.

I've got my ladybug ensemble on today . . . ladybug sox, ladybug earrings, and a red shirt.  I do love those ladybugs.  :-)

Oh, yeah, updated the links today.  Whoo-eee!

Music in the car:
R.E.M.
Roxy Music
Elastica
Violent Femmes
Lil' Kim

Mmmmm:
strawberries and
whipped cream

I wonder, too, how people find me. I know some come through slash sites, maybe from Jan and June, and some come through my recipes. Then there are the people who know me first, and look for the site because of that. I think most of my readers are people like that, actually. I am very lucky to have such interested friends. And hey, they're interesting, too!

We're moving a month from today. Lots to do before then, and lots to throw away . . . that's always the hardest part, for me, but the most important. Knowing when to get rid of things. I'm such a pack-rat (or a rat-packer, perhaps) that I can't let go even of the most useless things. People have tried to help, but it hasn't worked yet! Now I'm starting to try to find ways to look at this as a positive trait, rather than a flaw. Let me know if you have any ideas. :-)

Nothing to say over here today, I'm feeling kind of boring . . .

We went to a picnic at Hurd State Park near East Haddam, Connecticut.  East Haddam is a wonderful little town with old streets lined with trees and very historic, picturesque New England homes.  Plus we drove through South Glastonbury on the way there, which is one of my favorite parts of Connecticut.  It was a lovely afternoon.

Today's exactly six months since I started my job.  I'm still enjoying the work a lot.  And a month from tomorrow is when we close on our house.  Time to start getting ready to move.

My favorite online zine was updated today: The 11th Hour.  Check it out.

Book:
The Century,
Peter Jennings

Music:
Paradise in Me,
K's Choice

Have you noticed the Ricky Martin phenomenon?  He's everywhere.  It seems to be impossible to turn on the television without seeing his face.  I get the feeling that reporters are following him every minute of the day and night, bringing his every move to us live.  The strangest thing is that it seems to have happened almost overnight.  In a matter of hours, he became a focal point for popular culture.  I love to see him dance.

Tonight I cooked a pound cake, by request.   Now the house smells like lemon and vanilla.  Yum.  :-)

Updated:
Links
(well, updated about a week ago)

Weekend
Activities:
Cooking
Sweating
Shopping
Singing
Driving

On Saturday night I drove up to Tanglewood for the first time this season, to hear James Taylor in concert.  He was great, even better than when I saw him at Penn State several years ago.  The concert was a benefit for Tanglewood, and I was sitting behind two little old ladies who clearly didn't know who he was . . . I'm not sure how they ended up at the concert but they left at the intermission.  When JT was talking about the first time he heard the song "You've Got a Friend," thirty years ago in L.A., he made a crack about not remembering that evening too clearly.  One lady turned to her friend and whispered "Drugs!" really loudly.  Hee hee.  But it was a lovely night.

It's as hot as blazes here.  In fact, in this room with the computer it's about 85 degrees right now.  I'm not spending a whole lot of time online at the moment, as you can imagine.  I'm hoping the heat breaks soon.

We are busy with house stuff, getting inspections done and lining things up for August.  There's lots to get done, and not that long to accomplish it in.  I haven't even started thinking about actually moving, though.  We're going to have to start packing soon.  Argh.

Music:
Liz Phair,
"What Makes You Happy"
Wilco,
"I'm Always in Love"
Vertical Horizon,
"Willingly"

Not drinking:
Big Bad Voodoo Coffee

I loved seeing all the sights of New Orleans that I'd read about and heard about . . . Cafe du Monde, Preservation Hall, Bourbon Street . . . We visited Gallier House, a nineteenth-century house that has been restored to its original style; I hear from reliable sources that this is the house Anne Rice used as the setting for her first vampire novel.  Now I feel like going back and re-watching all the movies I've seen that were set in New Orleans.

I was reading a recent issue of Rolling Stone last week, and they had a feature on the "best 100 albums of the 1990s" or some such thing.  As I went through the list, I found that almost all my top ten CDs from my music page were on the list!  Off the top of my head, I can remember seeing Wildflowers, Diva, August and Everything After, Achtung Baby, Us, and Automatic for the People.   And many of the other CDs they picked are among my favorites, as well.  Now I can't decide if I like this because it validates my taste, or if I don't like it because it means my tastes are hopelessly mainstream.

Updated:
Links

Movies I've Watched Recently:
Star Wars: Phantom Menace
Velvet Goldmine
Austin Powers 2

Music:
Garbage, Garbage
Barenaked Ladies, Stunt
K's Choice, Paradise in Me
Tom Petty, Echo

New Orleans looks like it's going to be a lot of fun. Unfortunately, we haven't had a lot of time to plan our activities for this trip. But I'm getting a list of things together now. There's so much to do there! And I think the food and music are going to be great. You know, Emeril has a couple of restaurants down there . . . Marty's pretty interested in that. :-)

News: we found a house! It's a really neat old place down in Hamden, Connecticut.  Now we're in the process of getting the inspections done so we can finalize the deal. Our moving date is in mid-August. I am happy and relieved and nervous all at once.

Wondering . . . what music do you think Tom Petty listens to when he drives in his car?   I think there is no music more perfect for driving than Tom Petty, but I guess if you were Tom Petty then you might want to listen to someone else.  Like Del Shannon, I suppose, if I remember correctly from Running Down a Dream . . .

Updated:
Links

Quote of the Day:
The only service a friend can really render is to keep up your courage by holding up to you a mirror in which you can see a noble image of yourself.

~ George Bernard Shaw

It’s been a hectic month or so. We’ve been looking at houses all over central and southcentral Connecticut, in the passage between Hartford and New Haven. We’ve seen some we liked and a few we hated . . . we even made an offer on one we loved, and ended up getting scooped by another buyer. It’s a lot of hard work to find a place, and it’s emotionally draining, too. I hope we’re getting close.

Anyway, with all the house searching going on, the driving to and from work every day, and a little traveling for fun, it’s been busy around here. Which isn’t an excuse, just an explanation for why my page has been languishing all this time.

I've updated the links tonight, and hope to do a journal update pretty soon.  If I can get my scanner working again, I might even go for the gallery . . .

Listening to:
Bruce Springsteen,
Born to Run
Tom Petty,
Wildflowers
Brian Setzer Orchestra,
The Dirty Boogie

Wearing:
ladybug sox

Yesterday Marty and I took a picnic lunch to a nearby park that we love, and walked through the Japanese garden there looking at all the azaleas and dogwoods.  Oooh, and I discovered a taste sensation: Asti Spumante and raspberry Pim's.  :-)

Last night we went to a dance performance by MOMIX, an avante-garde dance company specializing in illusion, acrobatic movement, and modern dance.  They also have great taste in music.  It was a cool show: very imaginative, and it reminded me a little of ISO Dance.

Oh, man, I found the greatest site for U2 lyrics.   Check it out on my links page.  Whoa.  Oh, yeah, I also updated my site of the week.

Yum:
Mallomars

Singing:
Shiny happy people holding hands . . .

Tomorrow is Marty's and my sixth wedding anniversary.  This year it falls on a Tuesday, just like it did in 1993 when we married.  I've just been thinking tonight that it doesn't seem like such a long time that we've been married, but six years is pretty substantial.  Lots has happened, lots has changed.  But it still feels the same, too.

I remember that the day we were married it was unseasonably warm in State College, Pennsylvania.  It was one of the first bright, hot days of the year there.  We went with just a few witnesses to the justice of the peace, then out for dinner with our families.  It was a quiet, happy day.

Updated:
Links

Music:
James Taylor
Gorilla
Cat Stevens
Greatest Hits
Paul Simon
Rhymin' Simon
R.E.M.
Essential - In the Attic

Cooking:
Laura's Mac and Cheese Deluxe

It was misting rain all day, but it's beautiful up there in Massachusetts.   I also got to see Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, which has a lovely campus.  The dogwoods and the lilacs are blooming right now, and the red brick gothic buildings of the school looked pretty in the spring rain.

I've been revisiting my youth on the musical front lately.   Cat Stevens singing Moonshadow is one of my earliest musical memories, along with Paul Simon's early solo stuff and early/mid-seventies James Taylor.   Just to keep things balanced, I threw a little R.E.M. into the mix.

The other thing I'm listening to is True North, a CD compilation made by a friend, complete with a lyric booklet that looks like something you'd find in a professional CD. Actually, it looks better than lots of things you find in pro disks.  And the music is heavenly.  This is one very special gift.

Bonus link:  W&A's Record Reviews

Music:
Hall & Oates,
Heart and Soul Part I
Tracy Chapman,
New Beginning
The Pogues,
Essentials

On a related note, this weekend is the local public radio station's used music sale.  We may just have to check that out, too.  I guess this means the music orgy is still in full swing.  The only thing is, I'm getting a very bad attitude about having to pay full price for music.  Unless it's something I really, really want.

I just realized that it's the end of April and I haven't managed to update the journal this month.  I have been thinking about a lot of stuff, even writing about some of it, but the last few weeks have been so busy that nothing came to fruition.  I've been thinking about eyes and sight, and what is the right thing to say when things are going badly for someone I care about.  But I just haven't got it out in any readable form.  Maybe in May.  Anyway, I don't think I could top last April's entry . . . perhaps my favorite of all time.  It was kind of an awakening for me, I think.

Went out for steak tonight, under the long-distance influence of the lovely June of Fort Valley, Georgia.  The power of suggestion strikes again.  :-)

Reading:
Fashionable Food:
Seven Decades of Food Fads
by Sylvia Lovegren

Music:
The Monkees

"Come with me, leave yesterday behind
And take a giant step outside your mind"

I've just returned from an emergency cat chow run . . . and I'm back to report that the moon is bright in the sky tonight.  It's nice out, in the springtime after dark.  I like the way the air feels on my skin.

I got a short haircut today, complete with the clippers in the back.  Buzzzzzz.  I really like my stylist, but last month she didn't cut it short enough.  So today I took along a visual aid to help me make my point: a k.d. lang CD cover.  ;-)  This time she used the same clipper setting Marty's barber uses on him.  I like it.

Listening to the Monkees tonight, and remembering how much I liked their songs, particularly the ones Mickey and Mike sang.  On the other hand, as another onetime Monkees fan pointed out to me recently, Davy Jones has a really, really annoying voice.  I'd say it's even beyond annoying.  But dreck like "Cuddly Toy" is definitely cancelled out by the good songs like "Randy Scouse Git" and "Magnolia Simms."

Uh-oh.  Next I'm going to be digging out the Monkees episodes I taped from Nickelodeon fifteen years ago.  You know, Peter was always my favorite . . .

Updated:
Links

Music:
Schubert,
Trout Quintet

I taught a two-day business writing class at work this week.   It was interesting to be back in front of a class again.  I hadn't taught for about a year and a half, back when I was at Penn State.  This was pretty different from the kind of teaching I used to do, but it was fun too.  Teaching professionals for two days is a lot different from teaching undergraduates for a whole semester . . .

I got an excellent recording of the Trout Quintet at CD Revolution, my favorite used CD place.  Actually I got this awhile back, but I've been playing it a lot today.  What a great piece of music.  Ziggy likes it, too!

Updated:
Recipes

Cooking today:
Chicken Divan
Sour Cream Pound Cake

Send me your recipes:
susannahx@hotmail.com

This morning I updated my recipe page, and doing it put me in the mood to cook. I haven't been in that mood for quite awhile.  So I made my grandmother's pound cake rec