The Spirit of the Season

So yesterday after witnessing a truck rip the head lights off about three cars and having a mad man run screaming toward me in a separate incident, not to mention the many cars running red lights and honking needlessly at traffic, I decided that it's a miracle that more people aren't killed in mass murders, carjackings or just general knifings this season.

It's amazing actually that people still purchase gifts based upon how upsetting and hateful people in general are, not to mention the HORRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE of some organizations (I mention no names for fear of giving them any sort of positive advertising after 8 weeks of waiting for the product they charged for and now having to dispute the charge because of general unresponsiveness).

Today though, I found much joy reading this New York Times article explaining secular reasons for the season (or at least the reasoning behind the ubiquitous Christmas sweater). Please read this article, I hope it brings as much joy to you as it has to me.

Before realizing how blog worthy the article was I sent it around to some friends. Here were some choice comments that they provided along with some of my favorite parts of the article:

I like that kittens are great for Christmas sweaters because they're non-denominational and everyone loves them except dog lovers not to mention that fewer people are allergic to cat sweaters than to cats.

THEY TRAVEL THE WORLD FOR IDEAS AND THEY COME UP WITH CATS PLAYING WITH STRING?????? WHERE DID THEY GO? AN OLD SPINSTER'S HOUSE IN SOUTH DAKOTA? I CAN'T BELIEVE THEY TURNED IRONWORK IN PERU AND ASIA INTO CHRISTMAS SWEATERS!

YOU GUYS CHRISTMAS HAS THE WORD "CAT" IN IT AND CAN BE REARRANGED INTO "RAT SCHISM" SO KITTY SWEATERS ARE TOTALLY THE REASON FOR THE SEASON!

Chickadees are the new it bird because they are found all over the country but most importantly they're small so you can fit more on a sweater.

My favorite sentence is a death match between the one that uses the word intarsia and the one about how Chickadees is almost the American bird. Like it's just about to get approved by the INS so it won't be deported anymore because it's such a likable and productive member of our ecology.

I love that each sweater must match denim or black VELVET pants.

I also love the repeated refrain they make you smile.

So no matter what part is your favorite, I think you're agree that this article is a terribly good one. Please feel free to post your favorite part.

It's Snowing Again

I realize I live in Boston now and not in Alaska, but it's snowing and sleeting and I am supposed to go to a Christmas party tonight and I just want to stay in. I have decided that I am through with winter. I have weathered nearly 30 of them and I think that it's time to move someplace without it. I am sick of shoveling, I am sick of the cold and I am sick of the fear of falling.

Luckily, my roommate managed to upgrade us to far more channels (I thought she meant only HBO and Stars, but we get the Independent film channel which is fun) So if the mayor complies and declares a snow emergency (which looks unlikely at this point) I can just stay in bed and watch t.v.

Could it be a holiday tradition?!

B.Good is having their eggnog shake special again this year!!!!!!!!! The ENTIRE price of the eggnog shake is being donated to Starlight, the outreach team I support by cooking every Wednesday. If you're in the Boston area today (sadly it's only one day) Please, Please go out and get one -- there are lots of locations around the city. If you can't make it, pass the information around to other people in Boston you know who love eggnog and helping those less fortunate (and really, shouldn't that be everyone?).

I feel like I should put random tag lines in here so even the people searching for porn happen upon my site and hear about the eggnog benefit (because really, wouldn't that be a better use of their time and money too?).

C is for Cookie

So here's a random poll, my outreach group is making Christmas cookies for the homeless for next week. What are your favorite Christmas cookies? I don't think I am making rolled sugar or gingerbread/molasses simply because I think others will do that, so if that's your favorite, tell me your second favorite :).

Let me know and I'll write next week to tell you more about our Christmas on the common.

I'm getting old

That was my thought as I was sprawled in a neighbor's driveway this morning having a hard time getting up the nerve to stand back up and try skating the rest of the way to work. My friend Miriam has a notion that people in Canada dress in lederhosen and skate in the streets. I didn't see any lederhosen today, and while I could have used a stein of something to steel myself against the rotten weather, I simply had to continue on.



I have been considering writing a christmas letter (another sign I am getting old I think). My father has been talking about writing one for awhile now and I was thinking about how many friends I have lost touch with and how sad it is to see them fall by the wayside like that. Then I thought back to my post about multi-vitamins and how uneventful I find my daily life and how boring that would be on paper. I thought perhaps I should simply email everyone I miss talking to and tell them about my blog, it helps me keep in touch with lots of people, why not those friends who I have let slip? I looked back at some of my posts though, and really I tend to blog when I am annoyed (hence the last blog). So I thought perhaps that wasn't the most brilliant idea either.



Ah well, Perhaps I simply rely on the forward my dad sent a couple of years ago, to truly capture my sentiment (you don't get the full effect since the words don't zoom in and form a christmas tree, but whatever).

It's not me, it's you, no, really. . . .

When everyone in your life (except you reading this I am sure) is doing annoying things that annoy you, you have to step back at some point and ask, is it me? Am I the one being too sensitive? Is it that I drank too much the night before? Is it lack of sleep? Stress? A vitamin deficiency?

What if you just come to the conclusion, that no, indeed it is just that they're all annoying.

My small group on Tuesday talked about why we fight. According to James, it's because we're selfish and worldly and war because we do not have and think that's how we'll get what we want. As you can imagine, James had a lot of negative things to say about it.

Paul faced with people fighting had this to say in Philippians 4:8-9: Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

I'll try to think on lovely things, I'll try to focus on being pure and hopefully it will help the storm cloud over my head blow over. . . .

Stocking Stuffers

So a friend found the following two links today while perusing the web. I thought I would post them here in case anyone was looking for a charity (I know they're so hard to find especially this time of year) or an extra place to spend some cash. Any of the places I volunteer for would love to receive these little gems.

gloves only: http://www.amazon.com/Urban-Boundaries-Unlined-Fleece-Glove/dp/B000XSJM5I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=apparel&qid=1194984581&sr=1-1

and then set: http://www.amazon.com/Urban-Boundaries-Ultimate-Fleece-Gift/dp/B000X8RFC0/ref=sr_1_19?ie=UTF8&s=apparel&qid=1194984581&sr=1-19

If you want to get them for my groups, you're welcome to send them to me (I can give you my address if you don't already have it). Otherwise, they'd be a great gift for any number of outreaches in your neighborhood too, I'm sure.

More About Food

We tried a new Arepa place last night, this one is far closer than Viva Mi Arepa way out in West Roxbury. It doesn't have the same family feel, but it's quite nice and very reasonably priced. I really enjoyed our trip there last night and recommend any of the plantain dishes and the empandadas (which come with an incredible salad). There was also an especially good arepa that had avocado and tomato and chicken and was cold -- my friend called it a Venezuelan chicken salad.

I can't complain about anything we got, it was all really great. Sadly, I ended the night with one of my crazy stomach aches that wakes me up in the middle of the night (the last really terrible one I had was when I had arepas the last time, I think I might be "sensitive" to something in their yummy sauce or in them). Sigh.

Don't let that dissuade you from eating there though, no one else had any ill effects and it is really good!!

Not with a bang, but a whimper

T.S. Eliot could have written the picketing that went on at the church. Terrible people that we are, my boy, my roommate and I all got up early on Sunday and trooped to church in plenty of time to see the picketers. Suzib and my boy both brought cameras. When we came up out of the train station, my roommate said "I SEE. . . .Paul?"

That's who was waiting there as we exited. Paul, a homeless guy who's affable and always at church on Sunday. There were also two policemen, two girls with a video camera and as we came out the head pastor came out of church and talked to aforementioned Paul. We joined Paul outside the church and various other pastors came out from time to time to see how the picketing was progressing -- one even had a camera. Eventually we all just went into the church.

What I find most interesting is that not only did the people who think we're too soft on gays not show up, but the groups that think we're too hard on gays who planned on counter picketing didn't show up and neither did the guardian angels who had said they'd come try and keep the peace. It's like they all got the memo and somehow we missed it.

To make the day more anti-climatic, we decided to go out for a nice brunch and ended up walking in a rather large circle and ending up at Kinsale, which was a disappointment to me. Then we took the train home and exhausted I collapsed into bed and slept for the rest of the afternoon. My boy made a nice chicken recipe from the NY Times which was perfectly comforting and for dessert I made some hot chocolate with warm milk. A nice calming end to the weekend.

Quick Poll

This poll is totally not for any real purpose, it does not affect my life at all (seriously, this isn't some veiled thing, where I am telling you in a round about way that I am about to elope or anything). I have a friend (a real living breathing friend with a name and everything even if I don't tell you what it is) who is deciding whether to have her wedding in Hawaii or in Puerto Rico. I know there are some strong feelings out there so I am wondering what people think would be better (either way you're not invited to the wedding and it really won't affect their choice since they're not really into popularity contests). I am just intrigued as to what you see as the benefits/draw backs to each place. Please post a comment with your choice (and the reasons for it).

This and that (again)

There's been some talk (you know, among perhaps two readers) that I haven't posted much lately. I pointed out that several of the blogs I know and love hadn't posted lately either. That, apparently didn't make it any better :).

I don't really have much to post about, I mean refer back to my multi-vitamin post. Last night in my small group we did draw/write what was on each of our individual plates (we even did it on fine chinet). I am not an artist (apparently everyone else in my group is, it was kind of amazing), so I simply wrote my plate. I wrote around the edges what I do each day of the week and then in a spiral all those little things that have to fit in somewhere. I was slightly dizzy looking at the plate, and I often feel that way looking at my life. When I was listening to some people talk about what's on their plate, I found myself getting jealous that they actually have a night set aside for laundry and grocery shopping. I also was relieved I didn't have some of their stuff on my plate. I mean a new baby, a pending baby, an entire church seeking answers from you. . . . It did make me think though.

Last night was also the night we celebrated God's bounty in a sort of harvest fest. We had cookies, pumpkin muffins (as requested) and full size candy bars. IT was a good night. The sermonette that was given was really powerful too. It wasn't so much a sermon as a group apology.

Two weeks ago someone who had met us on the common tried to come to church. He had felt accosted at the entrance when he was asked the name of the church and then his bag was searched. As a group, we felt frustrated at how little our church culture appears to have changed in nearly two years.

The guy speaking last night though, offered an apology. He apologized for the church that this would happen. On a separate note, he apologized for the planned picketing of our church this Sunday (as in he's sorry that it's come to picketing and so called Christians are so obviously missing the point of Christ's coming and that we can't get along). He apologized personally for people's names he got wrong week after week and for friendships that had become disconnected.

He apologized profusely and said he's only human and he's trying his best, but he knows he screws up and he hopes that everyone can accept his apology because he, and his church are trying the best that they can to live what they believe. I have really struggled with how little our church has changed and listening to his apology made me soften a little. It made me realize, we can't change what has already happened, we can only say we're trying our best and we definitely need the grace of God to come anywhere near perfection. . . .

In a perfect world, the church would welcome everyone with open arms --and we should and we're working on it, but we're also working through hurt, past problems, with computers that were flung, items that were stolen, trust that was broken. Just like in romantic relationships, sometimes that baggage adds up. The outreach team is probably a first step, hopefully, soon, we'll be ready for that blind date ;) -- you know, if in my stream of consciousness I haven't mixed too many metaphors.

Um, so yeah. that's about all that's going on in my life really.

Perhaps I'll post a Christmas list next, I mean if you're going to whine that I don't post, perhaps I should get something good out of it.

Because you don't have enough things vying for your time

I was sent this link for free rice and now I can't stop sneaking over and trying to play. I am not as bright as my friend who sent it, but I must admit, at one point when I missed two in a row, I was downright offended by the number :).

If you're the kind of kid who read the dictionary for fun, or you simply want to test how much knowledge you've retained from the word of the day toilet paper, I highly recommend this site.

Mother Knows Best

So apparently my mother isn't trying to over medicate or to cause me extra pain in my life, no matter how much it seems that way. The last two springs I have been sick as a dog with symptoms that match up completely with the flu (and then this year I had a side of dehydration to add to the fun). It is the worst feeling ever. I still feel slightly ill thinking about it. So I sucked it up and took my woosy self to the flu clinic at cvs today.

The woman asked if I was feeling ok. I didn't mention my neck which has been sore for five days (I am such an overachiever I managed to have the sore muscles even before the flu shot) but I did mention that I am scared of needles (or as my mother puts it, a baby). She said it wouldn't hurt and I said they always say that and the last time I got one it had to go twice. I don't think I was instilling confidence. . . . She gave me the shot though and I didn't cry (though I did tell her it hurt when she asked, but not that badly). I stuck around for 10 minutes promising to tell her if I felt light headed (which I had since the moment I walked in). I haven't died yet though and it's totally worth the pin prick of a shot if I don't get the flu.

The City on the Hill

Sunday, my first Boston roommate came into town. We asked her what she'd like for dinner and she said Chinese. There are a lot of Chinese places we like in china town, but somehow route one (the Las Vegas of Massachusetts) was on our mind. My roommate suggested Kowloon, which sounds like fun, but wasn't the draw I was looking for. I wanted something big, really big, enormous even. So we went to East Manor (formerly weylou), which is supposedly the largest restaurant in Massachusetts and sits high on a hill slightly away from the rest of the enormous restaurants begging for attention with their giant neon signs.

It was great. The place itself was just kitschy enough to satisfy everyone's desire (there is an escalator up to the second floor and lots of dragons and a network of bridges in one area) and the space was huge. They have a buffet with over 150 choices for dinner. There was a soup bar, a sushi bar (with a sushi chef making food right there, he even made suzib an eel nigiri as she stood there because she'd said she liked eel). There were some traditional dim sum buns and even frog legs. It reminded suzib and I of the place we'd been in flushing, we didn't like it quite as much, but we kept comparing the two. I found out today, that they're owned by the same people. So it makes sense!

Really, that's all for this post. I just wanted to tell you that East Manor lives up to everything you could desire from the largest restaurant in Boston.

And to Think that I Saw it on Mulberry Street

My boy reserved October 7th far in advance. I had already planned something for us on the sixth, but a month out he asked for the 7th. I asked him what we were doing assuming that it was something with his 30 something friends. He didn't respond to either email when I asked. Later I asked him in person and he said it was a surprise.

Time went on and I asked more questions. He said, "you said you liked surprises, don't you want it to be a surprise?" I do like surprises, but then I get scared that whatever someone thinks will be a pleasant surprise won't really be that great and I am terrible at feigning enthusiasm (just ask any number of my engaged friends).

I had said I'd like to go to water fire on October 6th and that we could have that as a day just the two of us, but as the day approached I was more worn out/tired/sapped of energy and we decided just to cancel.

Sunday came and I was still tired and didn't really want to get out of bed for church. I am glad I did though, the sermon was good and on a section of John I like (Peter being asked three times if he loved Christ, as if to redeem him for the three times he denied Christ. I LOVE Peter, I love his enthusiastic/impetuous love of Christ). It was Communion Sunday and the pastor tends to run long anyway. My boy looked at his watch several times. As soon as church let out we pushed our way out using every short cut we knew. I asked if we were in a hurry. My boy tried to play it cool. It was obvious we were in a hurry.

We got on the train to North Station, and I guessed our destination. He was taking me to the Circus. He had gotten the best seats in the house. We were practically on the stage. It was amazing. He even offered to buy me the cotton candy (I LOVE cotton candy) several times, but I refused, because I cannot support charging $10 for cotton candy even if you get a cheap hat thrown in. I was also disappointed that the circus is no longer three rings. But the motorcycle globe and the trick horse riding was as good as ever (though the Canadian mounties had some better formations at their show at the fair :)).

After the circus my boy took me to dinner at this cute little place in the North End where we were practically by ourselves. The food was good and the service great (since there was a guy at a table for one and one family downstairs).

We finished by getting cupcakes at lulu's (not as crowded as mike's or modern) and went home where I took a nap and my boy watched the game.

A perfect day.

P.S. After that last post, I promised my dad and my best friend I'd be back to my bitter self, so here's a tidbit for them. While at the circus I told my boy I'd only been to Ringling brother's once as a child and the two things I remember from the show are being so excited about seeing the unicorn and my dad leaning over and saying, "it's just a goat with a horn glued to its head." and then my cousin getting a sno cone and I wasn't allowed to have one (in retrospect it's probably because it cost so much). My boy bought me a sno cone in an elephant stein. We carried it proudly for the rest of the day.

God is good, All the time/ All the time, God is good

My friend's sister is a pastor and she had the hard task once of talking to her congregation after three of their congregants had died, one of them being just a baby. She said:"Back in my Youth Ministry days I took my youth group to a conference. The preacher there was an African American minister who would yell at us, 'God is good!' and we would respond, 'All the time.' and then he would say, 'All the time.' and we would yell back 'God is good.'

She talked about how especially the baby's death "hurts and makes it nearly impossible to say, "God is good all the time.' But that is why it is important that we come together as a fellowship of believers so that we can help one another find the words to praise God. The Apostle Paul in I Corinthians tells us the following: 'Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all consolation, who consoles us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to console those who are in any affliction with the consolation with which we ourselves are consoled by God.'We are here today to both be consoled and to do the consoling. We are here today to build one another back up and remind each other that God is good and the Congregation responded: all the time, and then I said All the time God is good"

I wish I had remembered this long ago email last night. It might have helped. I found last night really hard and really depressing. One of the guys from the common is dying. He knows he's dying. We know he's dying. It's only a matter of time, and not that much time either.

He became a Christian this year and his facing faith testing things that many Christians don't face until far into their walk.

Last night it kind of hit home. He's usually stubborn and pretty good at appearing healthy (he hates for people to see him when he's not at 100%). Last night he kept throwing up from the pain and he could barely walk. He admitted to me that his doctor told one of his concerned friends, "he looks fine on the outside, but on the inside he's really far gone, he's really deteriorated."

He's been talking about Halloween a lot recently. I didn't get why. It's not a major holiday by any stretch of the imagination. But every week he keeps asking if we'll have special muffins, orange muffins for Halloween. I realized last night, it's because that's as long as he thinks he'll live. It's like when my grandfather knew time was short and aimed for just the turn of the century (which sadly he didn't even make).

He already told me that when he goes he wants chocolate muffins and he wants people to know they were from him. I am telling you now, they will be the best damn cupcakes I can afford.

Someone in our group a couple weeks ago asked what we were going to do when he does pass away. We're not grief counselors and it will affect others out there. Our pastor pointed out that he's not the first person out on the common to die, and he's right, but he's the first person out on the common that we've grown close to, that has become an integral part of our Thursday night's, who has joined us in our walk as brothers and sisters in Christ to die.

I know there's the cheezy song from Michael W. Smith about friends are friends forever. But last night all I could think about was a song we sang when I was in college that was called the benediction, here are the lyrics:

My Friends May You Grow In Grace
And In The Knowledge Of Our Lord And Savior.
My Friends May You Grow In Grace And In The
Knowledge Of Jesus Christ
Chorus
To God Be The Glory Now And Forever,
Now And Forever Amen (Repeat)
I Pray Tonight If We Learned From One Another, May We Glorify Him.
And If The Lord Should Bring Us Back Together,
May We Be In His Arms Till Then.

So between chanting God is good All the time/All the time God is good and repeating in my head, If the Lord should bring us back together, may we be in his arms till then, I plan on getting through this -- God willing -- and helping those around me get through it too. In the meantime, it's taken a long time to write this blog with a couple of near misses on tears. So if you could pray for him, for his family, for us out on the common, I'd appreciate it.

Sarah Jackman

When I was little my grandfather used to sing Sarah Jackman to me and I loved it. I mean it's a fun song, it has my name in it, what could be better?

Today I was reminded of the song when someone I haven't spoken to in ages sent me a random email. It turns out I was included on the email accidentally. She did ask me how my life was going (since we haven't talked in well over a year). She has settled into married life and had a baby since the last time I saw her. The biggest news in my life is that I have started taking a multivitamin.

I am not jealous of where she is in her life. I mean I am still in the pining for a puppy stage and then realizing it's far too much responsibility for me (perhaps this is what happens to people when they wait too long to get married, at 20 I wanted five kids). Anyway, it got me to thinking about accomplishments and what I do with my life.

Another friend of mine said to me this week, I don't know how you do it. I just couldn't keep up the pace you do. That's really sweet and yet, when I look back on what I do week to week I usually can't pin one big thing down. . . .

Unlike most products of the 80's I wasn't raised to think I could change the world. My parents were too much the realists to implant that kind of self-esteem crap into my sister and I. Yet, sometimes I look back on how days fly by at a break neck pace and wonder what I am doing.

Another friend once told me people don't like me because of what I do, they like me because of who I am. I have a hard time understanding that, because who I am is so wrapped up in what I do. My Tuesday night small group is studying James and he's pretty emphatic that if you have faith you do. You don't just listen, you act.

I do act, I am busy (and at this point, a lot of the time I'm not too busy, just booked), but when someone asks me what I have been up to it's still hard to show something exciting or interesting I have been up to.

Perhaps I just concentrate more on one of my favorite passages from Rats (which I recommend you read if you haven't):

On the way, we ran into an acquaintance, a guy whom we knew from high school who knew nothing of our rat endeavor -- a central paradox of life in the city is that in the midst of several million people, each of whom seems to live a life in complete anonymity, you can run into someone you know. As we greeted our friend, I moved the trap from my right hand to my left hand so that my right hand would be free to shake his. As I did this, I noticed that the guy looked down at the trap but didn't say anything.

Then he looked up and said "So what are you guys up to?"
I was practically bursting with my answer, of course. "We're going to try and trap rats, " I said.

He looked me up and down and nodded hesitantly. Then he looked at Dave and said, "So, Dave, What are you up to?"

Next time, that's going to be my answer when someone asks me what I have been up to.

I don't feel inspired, but. . . .

I thought I would share that we took our annual trek to the fair. It involved a lot more time spent eating and a lot less doing other things. While I love eating (especially fair food), somehow, it meant that the fair wasn't an overwhelmingly fair experience this year.

We tried to capture fair-ness by going into the grange building, but we saw a sad little display of handiwork and a few jars of relishes and jams for sale. The livestock area was overrun with alpacas, which were cute, but certainly weren't beautiful jersey calves eager to suck your fingers. There was a fun goat fashion show where people showed off clothes they'd made using the goat hair (and dragged the obliging goat along often with a matching collar). There was also a sheep shearing demonstration, which some of our crowd seemed to enjoy, but we sat too far back to totally enjoy (though the run away sheep was some short lived excitement).

The tackiness promised in the mutual of omaha wild kingdom electronic animal exhibit was not even fully realized since it was such a tiny exhibit. Also, the shark demonstration was much smaller than it appeared in the brochure and lasted about 20 minutes total, another disappointment. The chinese acrobats, a fair staple, were nowhere to be found this year, apparently replaced by drumming (which we didn't go to out of mourning for the acrobats).

Looking back, aside from insanely large corn dogs and other treats (including the not to be missed cheese curds, which one contingency of our group consumed three times over), my favorite part was the Canadian Mounties Musical Ride. It was amazing what those horses were capable of (and so much cheaper/more interesting than seeing the lipizzaner stallions).

So yes, I was sort of disappointed in this year's big e, but will I go back next year? Absolutely. Every year is a new experience there full of new memories. Wanna go with?

What Are You Afraid of?

Last night I saw a snake.

I am rational enough to know it was a small snake.

I am still squirmy today though.

I was on the phone with my mother and I exclaimed (but did not scream) "oh, there's a snake." My mother said what? and I said, "there's a snake, I just walked right past a snake, it was small but it was a snake." My mother, who hates snakes far more than I do said, "ew, ew, ew" I pointed out she was 6,000 miles away and that it couldn't possibly come near her. She still didn't like it.

She went on to tell me a story about a tv show she watched on a snake doctor though. While she thought it was gross it was so fascinating she couldn't turn it off. The man heals snake bites, but also keeps a garage (since his wife made him move them out of the house when they had a baby) full of poisonous snakes (perhaps for use if business gets bad?).

After awhile I asked her to stop talking about it. She asked why and I said because I've now seen a stick and nearly jumped and a leaf blew across the ground and I almost screamed, I'd rather not talk about snakes any more. She laughed at me.

I pointed out I didn't even yell when I'd seen the snake and she should be proud, she said she was and pleased I hadn't blown her ear off on the phone. So she switched to talking about weddings and still today every so often I feel a shiver go up my spine as I think of the snake slithering by.

I don't like snakes.

God Bless You

So this is probably blasphemous, but I loved a stand up routine I saw Dane Cook do some time ago (we watched it because for the second or third time tivo hadn't worked for me and it was my consolation prize -- and not a bad one really). Anyway, they are currently filming a movie outside our library that he's in (and I saw him run across the street at one point). I haven't felt the urge to go see any of the movies he's in, but I still think it's kinda cool (my co-workers heartily disagree, they find it an annoyance :)).

Final Wedding (at least for awhile)

My boy and I went to our last wedding of the season. It's been a long wedding season for us, while I have a friend who goes to at least eight a year, I have a much more moderate number, usually. We had two in a row this month and I am looking forward to a weekend without a wedding and to a long time before the next one starts (so far the next one I know about that I think I'll be invited to is way off in August 08). I have liked all of the weddings I have attended this summer though, and I have learned a lot about keeping guests well fed and hydrated and how often that equates to happiness.

At the office we're deep in the throes of planning our yearly event and it took my boss and I about an hour (and a couple of seating charts) to get a tentative seating chart put together. It's very much like a wedding; certain groups are too competitive to sit next to each other, and this group should be seated near the front or they'll be hurt and this group is more than happy to sit in the back if you place them near the bar etc.

When we finished this job I told my boss I am not getting married. I said, earlier, I'd thought about how I was certainly not making my own wedding invitations if I ever got married-- I almost posted about the tediousness of the 100 invitations I folded (I gave up after that many and left the rest of the folding for someone else) for our event and the 500 post-its I had carefully printed (they require precise placement on the paper you're feeding into the printer) but, at the time, even the post was tedious. The difficulty with the seating arrangements have nearly clinched it. If my landlord lets us get a cat, I may jump the rack from the librarian action figure, over to the crazy cat lady skipping soccer mom altogether (she doesn't have a good action figure anyway).

This weekend will be a good break from both activities. My well traveled friend is visiting again. Tonight we're getting sushi and tomorrow, after our soup kitchen, we're planning a trip to Portsmouth and Kittery. Who knows what Sunday will bring. . .

100th Post and a Guest Blogger

So my friend sent me the following and I so thoroughly enjoyed it I asked if I could post it. To be clear, this really is a friend, not me saying it's a friend. I am still at the stage where when engaged friends stick their rings on my finger I flip out because I fear that the ring will never come off and I feel terribly constricted and tied down. . . .

Dear Bitter Friend,

So, after a few months of social disconnectedness, accompanied by much unplanned weight loss in an unwillingly bulimic sort of way, I'm finally feeling human enough to do productive things like read the last 20 weeks or so of getting bitter and thereby getting some sense of what other people did all summer while I threw up. I am strengthened in this endeavor by the fact that as of this week I've finally managed to reattain the weight I was at in April when the unpleasantness began.

See, despite repeated assurances over many years by many physicians that such a thing was medically improbable, if not impossible (for lots of dull reasons), it came to pass that I got knocked up. And just to make sure that I didn't come to doubt the continuance of this unlikely state of affairs, God has allowed me to experience every possible disagreeable pregnancy "symptom" (if it's not a disease, why are they called symptoms, I ask you?) during the last four months. The highlights? Well, next to the constant nausea, bizarre food/smell aversions, and daily (sometimes hourly) opportunities to throw up what little I had managed to consume, they'd have to include boobs so sore and swollen that they've actually popped the underwires out of my bras, horrible acne, and blood vessels bursting all over my face. Are you really excited about being pregnant someday? It's so, so much fun.

Pregnant. With a little hiccup-prone person swimming around inside me, accruing a wealth of things to resent me for over the next 50 years, like the fact that the only thing I've been able to keep down is that nutritional paragon, the mocha frappuccino. Weeks and weeks of daily injecting my unborn child with caffeine, refined sugars, preservatives, and non-organic, hormone-studded dairy. Also, a wealth of early pregnancy health violations including the consumption of sushi, hard liquor, lunch meat, soft cheese (oh, how I miss you, soft cheese) and salami, which I blithely ate, secure in the knowledge that I was incapable of conceiving. Ooops. I've made up for that by managing to eat as little as possible after those first 4 weeks, and the poor thing must be starving, because it kept trying to shove its hands in its mouth during my last ultrasound.

Other than that and getting laid of from one of my two jobs (the other had obligingly promised to lay me off in December), it's been a pretty low-key summer here. I'd say the highlight was when my in-laws came to visit and my father-in-law ate some bad clams. For once, I wasn't the only one getting sick, though I did have to cede our one bathroom to him and throw up in a bucket for a while. Babies. Doesn't the thought of it make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside?

In truth, I'm not bitter about being pregnant. I'm delighted about it. Really. I'm just bitter that every woman I meet says something like, "Oh, yes, I felt a little queasy for a day or two early in my pregnancy. No, I didn't throw up, but my tummy was just a bit upset once, I remember." Grrrrr. Or, even better, from a friend who's busy growing her second mini-me, "Oh, well, I haven't thrown up with either of my pregnancies, but I'm just a trooper about that sort of thing." A trooper? A trooper, you say? No, you haven't thrown up because you haven't been sick. It's not something one does because one is a pansy, or weak-stomached. (Before this, with one exception, I hadn't thrown up since third grade!!!) It's something that happens when one's entire body convulses in a horrible paroxysm of rejection over the mutant you're making it sustain!

Forgive me, I begin to rant. Therein the root of my bitterness.

Love,

Your Acerbic Friend Plus One.

Like a trapeze act, timed to the second and high flying fun

Okay, so I am still working on the maine post and a post on this weekend (which includes such highlights as me being terribly confused when we visited Sandwich, MA and I would see things like the Sandwich Ship Shop and think what does that mean?! Do they specialize in subs?). But in the mean time, I have realized that my weekend is planned down to the minute. I am a planner, so this doesn't bother me too much, I am concerned that if one thing goes wrong though, it will set into place an irreversible domino effect (I am also planning on being exhausted when this weekend is over).

Friday, I am going to be participating in a wedding rehearsal at 3:00pm in Newport, RI. This means I have to actually take the whole day off work because I can't find transportation leaving at a time early enough to get me there, but not so early that I am only missing half a day (unless plans have changed again).

Saturday I am trying to convince my boy (who is being decidedly practical at this point) that we can take the car we rented for Friday and visit both Restaurant Depot and Costco so early we can drop the stuff at the church (which will hopefully be open at noon) and then drop the rented car back in its appointed spot. We will then take the train back to my house, quickly get dressed and then pick up the next car we reserved and possibly my roommate from class. We will get to the wedding (also in Newport which is an hour and a half away on a good day) by 5:00 and party like it's 1999 (or something like that) and then drive back home completely exhausted.

Sunday we'll sleep in till 9:00 and then start roasting a pig for my contribution for the welcome dinner my small group is hosting next Fri and hopefully get to nap on the couch for the next 5 hours as it roasts. Then we'll go to the 4:00 service at church and out to dinner for my boy's friend.

We'll see if it all works out. . . .

Cheating

So I have started several posts about exciting things and then I get bogged down in details. I realized part way through my incredibly long post about Maine that people might not actually care to read an entire blow by blow of my weekend. I also realized that I don't really care, they can stop reading at any time. I kinda like being able to look back and remember what happened. So I am slogging along on that.

Just now I had a brief scare when I thought I would be giving a sermonette out on the common tonight (sort of a last minute thing). It reminded me of the last time I gave a sermonette and I decided to post that for the two of you who haven't already read it :).

So here it is:

Tonight I want to talk about loss and I want to talk about blessings. I want to talk about how through all of it, everything belongs to God and the God we serve is a God who wants the best for us.

There was a guy in the Bible named Job. He was a great guy, he was rich and happy and had a big family that all got along and a lot of property and he wasn’t stuck up or proud, and was incredibly faithful to God. The story goes that one day Satan was up chatting with God and God said, have you seen my servant Job who’s soo faithful? And Satan was like, duh he’s faithful look at all you’ve given him, it’s easy to be faithful when you’re rich and your family gets along etc. So God says, no, he’s really faithful, do whatever you want to him as long as you don’t physically hurt him and you’ll see.

Of course Job didn’t know any of this was going on so he’s living his life like normal, praying for his children to be faithful thanking God for his blessings etc. when a servant comes running to him and says the oxen that were plowing and the donkeys nearby were taken by a gang visiting the village and I was the only one who survived. Before Job could say anything, another servant comes running from the other direction and says, there was a freak fire and all the sheep were burned up and I am the only one who survived! Then another servant came running from yet another direction and said your camels were stolen and all of the servants riding them, and I am the only one who survived. Then ANOTHER servant came running (I think we all know where this is going) and he said there was a tornado that hit the house of your oldest son and all of your children and grandchildren were killed and I was the only one who escaped.

Talk about a bad day right? I would be whining and complaining and I would certainly be bitching to God. But this is what Job says:

Naked I came from my mother's womb,
and naked I will depart.
The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away;
may the name of the LORD be praised

Let me repeat that one more time. That’s what he said in the face of all that loss. May the name of the lord be praised. I’m not gonna lie, I have been hugely blessed, but everyone’s had some loss right? Think of the most blessed person you know, brad pitt Angelina jolie, whoever it is whatever person you know who has the greatest life ever, they’ve all had some kind of loss. And I can tell you when I have had my losses, I haven’t handled it with the same grace as Job, I haven’t always looked at my loss recognizing whatever it was, was God’s originally and through it I need to say “May the name of the Lord be praised!” After reading the story of job and re-reading numerous times his response to loss, I now strive to live so I can say praise the lord in the face of any loss. I’m not trying to tell you I actually succeed, I fail at this a lot. But I think they’re powerful words and I pray that I can meet them, and I pray that they’re as powerful for you.
So now we’ve talked about loss, but I promised I would talk about blessings tonight too though, not just about loss. Job said, the lord gave and the lord has taken away, so let’s talk for a moment about when the lord gives, or his blessings. . . .There are two passages I want to read about blessings, the first is:

Matthew 7:9-11:

9"Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

I was telling a friend of mine recently (and I really believe this when I am at my best) that our God is a God who gives us far more than we ask or imagine, sadly in the process the obvious/ best choices we see don't fit into that “I'm giving you more than you can imagine plan” and so we're left wondering what the heck is wrong with God that he can't see what we need/desire and give us just that meanwhile he's probably thinking I KNOW I GOT IT, thanks for your input but I am handling it!!! Or as he said to our friend Job at one point when being questioned, chapter 38: 2 -3 "Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me."

Usually, God isn’t that vocal though, and we’re left to wonder as we continue to pray/ask for good things what he could possibly be thinking. The thing is, God has promised to give us good gifts (and not because we deserve them – because we don’t in the least, but because he loves us), He’s promised us good things, but he hasn’t promised to give us everything we desire.

I have a friend whose brother was in a cult. The friend and his family prayed for years that the brother would see the light, that he would leave the cult and re-join the faith of his childhood. Wasn’t that a good thing? Why wasn’t God answering? Because our God is a God who can do more than we can ask or imagine. Recently the friend’s brother did return to his Christian faith but he didn’t return alone, he took everyone in his cult with him and they’re now a budding Christian Congregation. There are lots more examples (I am sure you can think of some yourself) where God’s timing and God’s blessing is far more perfect than anything we can ask for.

I’m not saying it’s not tough waiting for that blessing, yeah, it sucks for now I get that I am often right there with you in the frustration, but I also know that God does such amazing things when we let him that we need to stop getting caught up in that frustration, and focus on his power and goodness. Sometimes we have to pray to have the desire to have the patience we need, or the desire to have the understanding, when we can't just pray for patience or understanding because we’re still to focused on what WE think is better or what timing we think God should have. We’ve forgotten Job’s reminder that we came with nothing and it’s all God’s and we need to praise him no matter what.

I said I had two verses on blessings I wanted to read. The second passage I wanted to read comes from Ephesians and I would like to close with it.

Ephesians 3:20:

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

So there you go, do you feel enlightened? One guy liked it so much he asked for the verses from Job. He told me he wanted to hang it on his wall. I found this rather amusing since he's homeless (so he doesn't really have a wall). I managed not to laugh at the irony and promptly gave him my copy!

Confined Books

August 7th my small group volunteered at the Prison Book Program in Quincy (I started this blog on the 8th, but haven't managed to get it out yet). It was a lot of fun. Some of the letters were heart wrenching and you wanted to help them the best that you could, whether it was searching high and low for a Catholic Bible or trying to determine whether a book on arthritis, sports injuries and bursitis or a book on Tai Chi would better suit someone looking for a book on stretching.

Of course, being a librarian, this totally pandered to my love of finding the perfect book for someone. It also pained me to know that these people can only get books from the Prison Book Program twice a year, that because of limited resources the program can only offer up to a little over a lb worth of books (even though some people are allowed up to 5 books at a time -- which is well over a lb) and the letters are on a 2 month back log AND since books are sent media mail it can take up to 2 months from the time we send them for them to get there.

The other thing that struck me that night was the concept of compassion vs. forgiveness and how different they really are. As I was reading the letters, my heart was moved and I felt so sorry for these people in this confined situation. I felt so badly that they had no access to books etc. I wanted to do whatever I could to help. The thing is, it's not like these people are political prisoners, or refugees, except for the odd false confession, or false imprisonment, most of these people have done something bad to be in jail --I went on a short tangent in my thought process and thought well they've done one thing wrong, they've all stolen remembering a great passage from the Kite Runner:

"Now, no matter what the mullah teaches, there is only one sin, only one. And that is theft. Every other sin is a variation of theft. Do you understand that? When you kill a man, you steal a life," Baba said. "You steal his wife’s right to a husband, rob his children of a father. When you tell a lie, you steal someone’s right to the truth. When you cheat, you steal the right to fairness. Do you see?"

Then I got back on track and thought if I were raped, reading these letters would I feel just as sorry for a rapist? If I were the mother of a kidnapped child, could I be just as compassionate? If I were an abused wife or a family member of a murder victim could I muster anything but hate? Could I be as gracious as the little girl a couple years ago here in Boston who forgave the man who left her paralyzed?

I mean I have a hard time forgiving just the little things people do to me. . . Of course, this all makes me think of my religion and how I say EVERY week "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us" (or some variation). How I know the parable of the man forgiven a huge debt by the king who went out and demanded repayment from someone who owed him. I know all of this, I confess all of this, I believe all of this, but could I do it if called upon?

That's really all for this post. I really am still thinking about it from time to time, wondering how hardened my heart is when something is done to me, and how much I value the grace and the gift that God has given me and thinking about how much responsibility comes with accepting that gift. . . .

Boring is in the Eye of the Beholder

My friend who travels A LOT for business was visiting this weekend. It was a lot of fun! She and SuziB were talking at one point though and she described herself as the boring friend. She told SuziB she wasn't blogworthy. SuziB insisted she must have blogged about her at one point. She looked up the last time world traveler had been here though, and not so much.

I told my well traveled friend not to worry, my boy says I never blog about him either. So it's not a sign of being unloved or boring. My traveling friend (and he) didn't seem to buy it though. . . . (though talking to my sister last night she asked if I was even still dating the boy, last night was our 6 monthiversary -- so yes, we're still dating and perhaps my well traveled friend and boy have a point)


To prove them wrong, I am blogging about this weekend (briefly) even though I have other posts started and neglected.


This weekend was so fun, mostly because it was so laid back. My well traveled friend has been to Boston enough times that I don't feel the need to cart her to every tourist event there is. She's also an incredibly good sport and she is pretty much game for anything.


Friday night we ran a couple of errands (in the complete opposite direction of our final destination) and then headed to Jacob Wirth's for some good old fashioned sing along fun (and some hearty German food). Sadly, we were greatly disappointed in both. While last time my friend visited we had a great time singing along, this time there was one table of very loud very drunk girls ruining the fun (and at one point dumping beer down an innocent bystander's shoe). My dinner was also comically late and, as a result insanely dried out. The waitress (who we had last year and I swear hated us) was really, really kind and took it off the check completely. The sweet potato fries were well worth the trip (in my opinion) :). We went home very early though and rather bitter. We stopped for ice cream (coffee oreo) at JP Licks but went home and fell asleep before eating any.


Sat. I got my friend up at the crack of dawn and we went to the soup kitchen. I forgot some garlic at home though, so halfway to the train we turned around and got it then got on the train. I made some mistakes on the trains that resulted in us running up and down some extra flights of stairs and then catching the correct train. Finally we met my boy about 30 min late and I announced we were grabbing breakfast. We got some dunkin donuts and then took the bus the rest of the way to Chelsea, where my friend was a huge hit. When we walked into the kitchen, I turned to my friend and said ooh, it looks like frozen chicken for lunch. There were bricks of frozen thighs floating in cold water. The chef said, "yes, it's frozen, but we also have some lovely corn too. Reg said to me wouldn't it be wonderful if we could give the guests some corn on the cob?!' and I said 'yes, that would be wonderful', why don't you go get it?" So we did, it was three foot high bag of corn that needed husking. Oddly enough it was slightly frozen too. We told the chef we didn't know you could freeze corn in the husk and he said, yeah, you usually don't. The chef thought it would take us ages, 30 some minutes later we were back on schedule.

My friend stayed busy, she washed spices, shucked corn, and pulled frozen pieces of chicken apart like a pro (professional frozen chicken pullers know you always wear gloves and you stick your fingers into the crevices and let the warmth of your fingers help you melt apart the individual pieces, sometimes this means taking breaks and washing your hands in warm water to get the blood flowing again -- the best professional frozen chicken separaters have really, really good circulation). My boy left early and my friend and I caught the bus back to Boston alone. We went to Lulu's Bakeshop in the north end and got some great cupcakes (s'more, peanut butter cream, marshmallow filled, red velvet and raspberry mocha -- the last one was just a weird flavor combination) then wandered through Haymarket where we got some blueberries, Rainier cherries and a lovely assortment of tomatoes (including a little purple one) to add to those from my garden for a tomato salad.

We went home via the esplanade (for those of you from Boston, you know that that's a rather long detour). We were planning on going to the Beach Boy's concert that night and we wanted to scope it out. Our recon tour told us enough, there's no way we'd have a decent seat in the already 2/3 full concert area (the concert was still 5 hours away mind you) when we still had to go all the way home and come all the way back. We walked back to the train passing loads more people bowing under the weight of multiple camp chairs and coolers.

It was time for plan b. I called the friend we were supposed to be going to the concert with (a sort of late birthday celebration for her except she doesn't really accept birthday celebrations) and told her that the outlook wasn't good. Instead, we decided to have our picnic at our house. It was a very chill evening involving curried chicken salad sandwiches (suzib made the chicken salad even though she couldn't attend) on 7 grain bread I'd scored from the soup kitchen that day (When I suggested using the bread for something else -- I forget what, perhaps toast?-- my boy burst out, sure, it's not like it could be any harder -- which made me laugh and also ask why he hadn't said something at the time about the bread being too hard, we could have used different bread!!). We also had the fruit, and a lovely tomato salad consisting of halved cherry tomatoes and heirloom tomatoes (from my garden and the supplement from haymarket), salt, pepper, balsamic vinegar and oil -- I forgot to add in the basil I'd just picked from my garden, and 100 calorie pack chips. For dessert, obviously, we had the cupcakes. After some struggle we even managed to put on some Beach Boys. It was a lovely evening full of fun conversation (my birthday friend's mother was in town so she came along too and livened up the evening).

Sunday, my well traveled friend packed her stuff and we took it to the church. We then rushed to Filene's Basement (which is slightly a misnomer at this point as their currently on the first floor of the former Filene's as well) for a quick shopping spree and then we were off to dim sum. I love dim sum. It was a flurry of activity, women rushing at us etc. We were kind of in a corner though, so this dim sum trip also involved sending various cart women off on quests to help us find exactly what we'd been waiting for. The conversation was fun and we left with very full stomachs. Sadly, this also meant it was time for my well traveled friend to return home.

My Boy and I took her to the airport and then we returned home where I laid down suffering as I was from a cold and he made dinner which I ate in bed.

So that was last weekend (not the one we just had). I will do my best to blog again, but I don't know when. This week is shaping up to be crazed and then this weekend we're going camping at Sebago Lake in Maine.

I <3 Manhole Covers

Last night I met four interesting people, and had three interesting conversations.

1. D who has been out of jail three weeks and had alcohol in his system so he refused to pray with me though he asked me to keep him in my prayers with pleading in his eyes. He was telling me he was Boston born and bred. His great grandparents were Bostonians and so on down the line. His family has always lived in the Roxbury/Dorchester area, he acknowledged that it's a rough area now, but he said when his family first lived there (you know, great grandparents era) the neighborhood was all Jewish (you know before they all got rich and moved to Brookline and Newton ;)). His family is African American, but he was quick to point out that they were never racist, if you're nice people, you're nice people and we want you around!

He told me the story of his grandmother who owned her own beauty shop. She used to set all the black women's hair and he went on to describe how particular they are about their hair. He said at one point his grandmother went out on a cigarette break and was smoking with her hand on her hip (he demonstrated and the attitude he had was soo funny) and she noticed this white guy going around knocking on doors shaking hands. He looked totally out of place and she thought it was amusing. Her break was over though so she went back to setting hair. Awhile later, this little white man walks into her shop and asks if she's the owner, she puts her hand on her hip and says yes, giving him a look that says whaddya want? He says, Hi, I am Jack Kennedy and I wanted to introduce myself. . . . D said, she was in love from that moment on. She thought he was the greatest president and in 1963 she truly mourned. I thought it was such a cool story!

2. Another guy, we'll call him first since he told me his name was the name of the first non-Jew to become a Christian, late in the evening as we were on the verge of going in came up to me and also told me a cool story. First he showed me a beautiful red leather Bible with gilt edges he had. He said defensively, "you know all homeless people aren't crazy!" I laughed and said, "I am aware, thank you." This seemed to appease him because then he asked me to sign his Bible. I said "you want me to sign your bible?" I asked, sounding totally confused and probably a little dim. He said "yeah, what's your favorite verse? Sign by your favorite verse."

My initial thought was how much I love Isaiah 40:8 "The grass withers and the flowers fade but the word of the Lord stands forever." growing up that was always my favorite verse. The firmness, the consistency, the strength. In the past couple of years though, I have really been taught about how everything belongs to God and how in the face of loss we're called to say "May the name of the Lord be Praised" I also have had the song Blessed Be Your Name stuck in my head for two days so I chose to sign next to Job's response to all of his loss in Job 1:20-22 The man asked me where I was signing and I told him and he started quoting it and we discussed it for a bit.

Conversation diverged slightly and First told me he was Roman Catholic and he talked about Cardinal Sean O'Malley (who it turns out has his own blog which makes me think he's even cooler :)). While he was talking about him, he said he first met Sean (as he called him) when he was a bishop. He said that since that initial meeting, the Bishop remembered his name. First also said that when his sister died Sean sent his family a note and they emailed First the content and asked him how the hell he knew a bishop!

The coolest part of the conversation was when First told me that even though he's now a cardinal, he still continues to visit Pine Street Inn (one of the largest homeless shelters Boston). First had nothing but good things to say about Cardinal Sean O'Malley, including the fact that he (First) had had a vision that the Cardinal will one day be Pope (it won't happen till the third vote). So we'll see about that. I felt bad, we were going in and First so obviously wanted to continue talking (and he was very interesting). Hopefully, he'll be back next week.

3. The other conversation I had last night (actually in the middle, so this is organized topically, not chronologically) was with a couple of Russian guys, one was from 800 km outside of Moscow, and the other was from Vladivostok (I told him I'd been to Magadan once). They asked us how much the food/drinks cost and were surprised/confused when we said they were free. I told them we were with the church and that we just came out on Thursdays to hang out etc. They told me that the church in Russia doesn't do that at all. That the Russian Orthodox church might go out in the street, but they never handed out food or clothes. They said they did have people that handed stuff out but it wasn't food, they were Hare Krishnas (it was actually amusing, it took some prompting/pantomime, but we got out that they wear orange robes, and have shaved heads and pony tails).

During our conversation I also trotted out some of my Russian words (you know like a little kid). I said hi, and ice cream and beer and then I remembered how to say I like so I said I like ice cream and I like beer and then I remembered onions, so I trotted out that line and then they looked at me like I was from another planet.

The one with slightly more English asked me to say it again, really trying to understand me. Then he had an aha moment and he said, you mean lewk, not luke and he turned to the other guy spoke some Russian that included lewk and luke and said onion and the other guy laughed and nodded. I said ok, and tried it again. I don't think I still quite got the distinction. But the guy with more English was kind enough to tell me I had just told them that I liked manhole covers, and I suppose I do, in the same sense that my mother half asleep and praying with us girls once thanked God for car doors because they keep people safe. I like manhole covers because they limit the number of people falling down sewer holes, but I like onions (caramelized especially) much better (or at least more regularly).

I had such a good night last night!

Places I Want to Eat in Philly When I Finally Get a Chance

I have been to Philadelphia three times, two of those times have been in the past year. I have NEVER had a philly cheesesteak and I am starting to give up hope! I have also been told about numerous other places to eat and, as all my loyal readers know. I LOVE to eat!! So I thought I would make a list of places I want to eat.

Now there's debate about Pat's vs. Genos but my two friends who took me to philly at Thanksgiving think that Jims is the best. Someone I was talking to likes the Steaks at Genos but the fries from Pats and I can't remember what I was told by other Philly natives. Suffice it to say there are at least three sandwiches I desperately need to try!!!!

I also heard pleasant things about a place called Ritas that serves custards and water ice. Apparently it's not as good as the mom and pop places it shut down, but since it's almost the only game in town now, sure, go for it :).

I have also been told that Philly is the mecca for diners. The one I remember being highly recommended was Morning Glory Diner for breakfast. My friend says you have to get the glory cakes and scrapple (a PA "treat")

My boy and I went to Cereality which is kind of a cute place (and dead if you get there at 8am on a Sunday) in the Penn area they have four really cool pre-made ideas for mixing cereal and topping (it includes malted milk balls in your cereal for heaven's sake) and then there's the sky's the limit choices if you yourself are creative. They also sell the lucky charms marshmallows separately in little sealed bags if you don't want to take the time to pick them out yourself (it was one of those cash register buys like gum I thought it was really fun :). Oh, and they have a cute specialty spoon that's also a straw, it comes in four colors. It's kind of pricey for the cereal concoctions (costs as much as a high priced box of cereal) but it is a fun treat. This time we bought cereal to go, we brought it home for my roomie. Next time we're hoping to enjoy some ourselves.

Also in the Penn area is a restaurant called White Dog Cafe. It tries to purchase food from local farmers and when we were there the food was great (the service was pretty bad, but in an amusingly bad way as in the waiter poured water down himself and a person's menu).

Speaking of terrible service. . . . Everyone says Morimoto's is a must. My boy stops there every time he goes to philly (makes a point of stopping in philly every time he goes home) and Christina and Robert went both times they were in philly and Laurie LOVES it too. I am more excited about the sushi places I talk about later though. Anyway, I had three really good dishes and a great dessert, but I didn't like the service (as in they didn't pass the "diet coke test" I couldn't hear all of the servers, the manager had to come over twice to straighten out difficulties etc.) and the dishes weren't so good that I was willing to spend that much money. Everyone assures me that usually the service is incredible though. So perhaps it deserves another chance.

Miix is a sushi place that has a weekday special of all you can eat (but you get to order it). Such a novel idea (to me anyway, Christina assures me it's rare, but there are better places in NY -- of course she'd say that though ;)).

While I was searching for that place, I found KISSO mentioned as really good several times. I especially liked this article about the place.

Also, rumor has it that sometimes the Sofitel also has fruit sushi for breakfast (it's seasonal). I have heard it's incredible though and based upon the fruit sushi we helped make (as in my friend Christina did all the work and the rest of us took the credit for it) it has to be delicious!

My Philly friend's favorite place (and another place that Christina and Robert returned to -- as in they've visited it twice -- on their second trip to Philly even though they are not beer drinkers) is Monks It also happened to be half a block away from the place where my boy and I were staying, still we managed to miss it.

To follow the Belgian theme, there's also a Belgian sugar waffle place nearby called Bonte My friends Christina and Robert are still talking about it (it kind of makes me hate them). Apparently these waffles are not like normal waffles they're made from a yeast dough and you can get items mixed into the dough (instead of topping it) and then the dough is pressed into a waffle. People are really wowed by this treat!! Plus it's designed to be portable so you can eat it as you walk to the next place I want to go.

We actually managed to make it to DiBruno Brothers (one of the few places). They have a place in the Italian market apparently but my boy and I went to the one in the city center or whatever. It's a huge specialty market with soo much good food and the people are really knowledgeable, friendly, and excited about their product whether it be cheese, or bread or whatever. They remind me of my candy store people here. There are lots of samples and really good sandwiches and pizza, and cheese and bread, and they have giant pickles that have pickle flavor all the way through, and cool specialty products like blood orange vinegar and giant ($98) bottles of nutella. I really could keep going on, I loved it here.

So that's my list. Feel free to leave me comments with more recommendations.

Oh, and in gastronomical sadness, apparently the place I mentioned when I was home in AK (Mumbo Gumbo) that has the best biscuits ever is closing :(. That was a total tangent, but that's not unusual.

Falling Behind

So it seems any time I go on a trip I end up falling terribly behind on my blog. It's sad but true. I will try and catch up on the trip, but I also, want to talk about the sermonette I gave on the common and about getting Harry Potter (and no, I won't tell what happens in the book, calm down).

Getting Lost in Every State is Easier Than You Might Think

So we started out at 7:30am (half an hour after my boy had originally wanted to leave). We managed to get all the way to Weston (for those of you not from Boston, read not that far) without mishap. We hit the toll and instead of getting back on the highway we got diverted onto the exit and ended up in the quaint little town just outside of Boston. In the process of getting back on the road, we discovered a tiny turnpike sign covered in vines and behind a bush. I wish that we had taken a picture so I could show you how bad it was. Instead you'll have to look at my terrible clip art rendition (sort of like those old America's Most Wanted sketches).

Anyway, we found it. We continued on to Connecticut without mishap and stopped for breakfast (we'd been up since 6 and it was now close to 10am). The complex where we stopped for breakfast also had a grocery store so we went to get some ice. When we returned a guy hopped out of his car and started talking to me about mine (which doesn't look as good as the one in this picture). He said he had the exact same one (there were only 3,500 made in the year mine is from) and he asked where I got parts (it's getting harder and harder) and then he started asking detailed questions about type of engine etc. and lost me. He gave me his number and said to call him if I thought about selling (I think he plans on harvesting the parts from my car). I also plan on calling him soon. I can't afford the repairs on my car and while it lasted to PA and back, it's not going to last much longer. . .

We started off again with the cockiness that comes from driving an admired car. We didn't get far before we saw a sign for Route 7 South. That was what we were looking for according to the directions and I shouted at my boy as he flew past the exit. We turned around. and caught it again. Then we ended up down a road that reminded me of construction that happens in AK. It was down to one lane with lots of construction on the side and totally in the country. We were stuck on it for miles and couldn't turn around because of the amount of traffic. FINALLY after much finagling, we managed to get on a side road, off road it for a minute and then turn around. My boy patiently explained exit 7S wasn't until we were in NY. Oops. We continued on to my friend's house in NJ only getting slightly detoured as a result of a missing street sign (I was convinced it must be her street because of our luck, turned out it wasn't).

We had a very pleasant visit with my friend, who has a baby I haven't seen since he was a little tiny bulge in his mother's stomach (arguably I didn't really see him then). He's now a very active 1 and a half year old with strong feelings about meat (does not like it even hidden in pasta) and a love affair with fruit. He was game to try most foods though. Even though he didn't seem to enjoy them much, he did try two salt and vinegar chips. He also showed us around the whole house (with a good portion of the tour spent in the play room and in the back yard sand box area) and he sat down to read No David, which is usually a hit with almost 2 year olds :).

We pulled out of my friends drive way after our lovely visit and were zipping along (for a long time) before we realized we'd missed the turn. So we zipped back to almost where we started and found the correct street. We repeated this process a couple more times with a couple more streets and managed to see the mall my boy's firm is working on. I did not, however, manage to get a very good picture of the structure of the ski slope which was visible from the road. I will post my lousy (as in they may as well show a Sasquatch or loch ness monster) quality pictures sometime soon.

We got on the NJ Turnpike and stopped and started our way to philly. We managed to get there only 40 minutes late, but utterly exhausted because of the tension of riding around with crazed traffic for so long, and getting lost and having no air conditioning. It was with great relief that we dropped the car at a parking lot and washed up before meeting friends for dinner.

Blurrrrrrrrrrrr

So the vacation is a bit of a blur at this point. I am sure I can sit down and parse out a number of events (right now I am currently thinking about some random matching dresses, frogs sentenced to death by fire and my ability to get lost in every state from here to PA).

I will try and write more about it later. The trip was good. I am tired. Also, there was a break in at my library while I was gone so my boss's computer is gone and she is left using mine, meaning I can't write at lunch today.

I will try to either write a post tonight or tomorrow (when the other librarian leaves so we each have our own computer).

Well, I've Lost It. . . .

I just screeeeeeched in a guy's ear to explain how annoying it is. It didn't help, he won't transfer me to the powers that be that make the decisions. We've told them repeatedly that we close at 5:00pm, currently we're scheduled to have the tech visit us between 7:30pm and 8:00pm. I have called twice in the last hour. Both times they have assured me that they will call me back with a more exact time. It hasn't happened yet. I don't care that I am in their computer as a nut case. They have made me that nut case.

if I hear SQUUUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLEEEEEEE much longer, I might really, really lose it. I mean really.

I have to go home so my boy can grind his meat and so I can clean the house boil eggs make cucumber salad etc. Not to mention this is the one night a week I revel in television, watching Little People Big World and then tons of the Cosby show (on both TVLAND and Nick at Night). So they're not winning points over here, let me tell you.

UGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!

A Round of Earplugs

Perhaps we'll all become more productive now. One of the women here remembered she had earplugs. Plenty for all three of us. It's sort of surreal how quiet the library has become now, and yet a nice respite. I keep glancing at the phone to not miss a call.

When we called at 1:00 we were told that the technician had said at 12:50 he'd be here in an hour and a half. We called again at 2:30 since he wasn't here. We were told that he wasn't in route, but we were still on his schedule. It's 2:45 now, we're technically only at the library for another 2 hours and 15 min. I hope that they make it here before then. . . . .

Also, this alarm thing and the fact that it's fourth of July week has done nothing to cut down on requests. I currently have six requests I am supposed to be working on. None of them easy. . . . Tomorrow was supposed to just be a day of shelf shifting and that sort of thing. Now it looks like we might have to work on requests instead :(.

If One More Person

Asks whether we're doing something about this alarm I may have to kill them.

Oh, yes, it's still going on, almost five hours later. I am cranky and getting nothing accomplished (one might ask how that's different than usual, you know if one had a death wish).

It's not Improving

I am getting a headache. We're going on two solid hours of hearing aid feedback on steroids type sound (not to mention the hour and a half of sporadic sounds we had earlier today).

I opened my first diet coke of the day (because I am trying to save money) and it exploded and had to be thrown out. (after getting all over the corner of my desk and the floor).

I know I am not Job (I even have really close friends going through a lot tougher crap) but I can't take this much longer.

This Weekend

I forgot to update on this weekend. It was pretty chill by our standards. We watched several netflix movies and we ran some errands and got some prep work done for the bbq we're having on Wed.

The funniest thing, I think, was when my boy was falling asleep during one of the movies and I kept asking him questions to make him stay awake. He started only answering "I don't know" (which is his most frequent phrase in general and which quickly into our relationship became my least favorite phrase ever). I finally said "do you notice how answering 'I don't know' doesn't stop my questions?" His quick response, "giving you a real answer doesn't either" and then he turned away and went back to sleep.

Stop the Maddness

The burglar alarm here at the library has been going off sporadically since 9:00 (well for longer than that, I have just been here since 9:00). At 10:15 it decided to spice things up and the alarm in my office (and I believe the offices above) has gone steadily every since. We called ADT (if I haven't mentioned it already on this blog, I HATE ADT. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER,NEVER use ADT. They are a terrible company. They're unresponsive (by which I mean that they don't give a damn). ADT said it was our phone system. Verizon sent someone out 30 min ago (ADT said that the soonest they could send someone was next Monday). Our phone lines are all in perfect working order.

We called ADT back and they said if we paid an up front emergency fee of $300 we could get someone out. That was 30 minutes ago (after 6 phone calls and I was hung up on twice). Still no sign of ADT.

The other librarian here just came back from dealing with Verizon. She said (with a slightly manic look on her face) if you stand in just the right spot in the stairway it sounds almost like a song because everyone's alarm is just slightly off.

I am going to call other alarm companies now. I can't stand this one minute longer. I hope that the building can cough up the $10,000 it will take for a new alarm company to come in. Perhaps it's good that the alarm is making noise constantly -- it will make the cost of the new alarm company easier to swallow.