01.31.08
Everyone loves latex!
Yo. Thursday. What to say about it? Slammed again at work, I guess that’s not news anymore. The weather is setting up for the Storm of the Century, or in actuality it shall be about 15 hours of rain and wind. Which is actually fine because despite the fact that it’s not tops on the news anymore, we are still laboring under the most severe drought in about 50-60 years. It would have to rain non-stop for about a month for it to even catch up to normal. So yay: rain.
Last night I went running at the gym and am happy to report yet another pain-free day. This pleases me, naturally. Then I went home and had a salad and an Amy’s frozen palaak paneer, which also pleased me. Except for the fact that I could have eaten, like, eight of them. So yay: portion control.
Many of you know that I suffer from self-diagnosed parasomnia, which is different from insomnia in that 1) you have trouble falling asleep; 2) should you happen to fall asleep you won’t stay asleep; and 3) you usually won’t achieve REM sleep. Insomniacs, when they manage to fall asleep, sleep like the dead. Paranomniacs are agitated even when they happen to manage 45 minutes of shut-eye. Of course, I’ve never been to a doctor to have this formally diagnosed, this is just from my own experience from, oh, every single night since I was born. With the exception of those many, many nights when I passed out from intoxication. Sweet, sweet intoxication. One reason why I haven’t gone to the doctor is because the number 1 method of treatment are drugs, and I won’t take drugs. Another reason why is because I’m lazy, or you could say I’m just too tired to go, heh. Anyway, this week has been particularly trying in terms of sleep or lack thereof. You get used to operating with fatigue, but sometimes after several days of very little sleep, you get run down. Right now I am laboring under about 8 nights worth of <3 hours per night. One major factor in the lack of sleep is most definitely our very uncomfortable bed. So I’m thinking that this year’s big purchase (thank you, tax refund!) will be a latex mattress. The brand name for these is the Tempur-pedic, but with the brand name you also pay an extra $1000. The Canadians have a Tempur-pedic, and they swear by it.
So, I’m ready for the weekend. At least if I don’t sleep on the weekend, I also don’t have to be on the ball. There’s no reason to be on the ball when you are watching the Jane Austen Masterpiece Collection over, and over and over again. Yes, I have now watched the first two (Persuasion and Northanger Abbey) twice each. So. Good. I’ve already informed Dice that all of them will live on our DVR for all eternity, for my viewing pleasure at any moment. I still have Mansfield Park to watch from this past Sunday, and next up: a biography called Jane Austen Regrets. Le sigh.
01.30.08
We’re DINKs and we’re fine with that, y’all.
Not much going on with me today. I had lunch with my Paypal today, and we went to Taqueria del Sol in Decatur. One of my favorite places in town, and the second best cheese dip I’ve come across. Their special today was a nutty shrimp taco, which my Paypal had. She said it was shrimpy and nutty. That’s good, right? It’s chilly today, about 40 degrees, but it’s supposed to warm up to 60 this weekend. One of the best things about Atlanta is the springtime. It starts in early February, lasts about 4 months and it’s absolutely delightful. Not too hot, very sunny and breezy, altogether pleasant. I don’t mind winter in the least, but the springtime down here is not to be scoffed at.
So, Giuliani and Edwards are both dropping out of the presidential race. I am not surprised by One-Trick Horse Giuliani, but I am surprised by Edwards. Thought he would hang in there past Super Tuesday at any rate. Would it really cost him that much money to get through the next five days? It makes me think there must have been political shenanigans whereby he gets something (vp ticket?) in return for pulling out in time to leave all his would-be delegates for Clinton or Obama. We may never know. On a side note, every evening I watch CNN or local news at the gym on TVs with closed captioning, which as we all know is a computer program that’s supposed to accurately type out the spoken word. The other night during a story about Rudy Giuliani the closed captioning called him “Rudy Jerusalem.” Heh.
There’s a lot of discussion on my neighborhood online forum about the definition of middle class. The idea is interesting upon further thought. In 1960 “middle class” meant a family could afford a 4 bedroom house, two children and a car on one income. Public schools were adequate and daycare unimportant because one parent stayed home. These days most middle class families require two working parents, two cars, more household bills (including cell phones, cable TV and internet access), daycare and a much smaller house (depending on location). Further, public school is inadequate for the majority of school systems, making private school something to consider. Further, citizens are required to give up much of their free time (what’s supposed to be their reward for working) and spare cash in order to fight for things that ought to be part of our local infrastructure. In my neighborhood there aren’t enough cops to sufficiently police the streets, so many homeowners have bought into a neighborhood security patrol, for which they pay an annual fee. Then again, if people in 1960 had the option to buy a 42-inch flat screen TV you bet your ass they would do it. And the giant gorilla that is health care puts an entire extra facet to the question given rising costs for less coverage. There are so many sides to look at the question that it’s impossible to come up with one conclusion, but the question itself is intriguing.
I guess part of the question seeks to differentiate “middle class” from “working poor” and, for lack of a better term, “lower upper class.” Working poor would have no choice but to work or starve. Lower upper class has the luxury of either living comfortably on one income or, having two incomes, being able to save cash in enough quantities to sustain their level of living in case of unemployment for a certain period of time. But I would consider middle class to mean that one person (assuming a household of at least spouses/partners, if not children) would be required to be constantly working in order to maintain but two incomes in order to sparingly save money against a rainy day. Or, not saving against a rainy day but being able to afford a certain lifestyle. I would definitely consider Dice and myself middle class, and we have very few of the expenses that families have and live a quieter life than many of our peers. We also don’t have a flat screen TV, so there ya go.
Is it wrong that I had cheese dip for lunch and now I want it again for dinner?
01.29.08
Resurrecting old products and dead presidents.
This morning I heard a short piece on NPR about a new product out called the Mini Motel. Does anyone remember when this product first came out in the 80s? It was basically a bed tent that fit like a fitted sheet on a twin sized mattress with a tent on top of it, and it had cartoon characters and superheros on them. My brother had one, I think his had Spiderman on them. (I, in turn, had Smurf sheets which were totally smurfy.) They were perfect for siblings who had to share a room, which my brother and I had to do for about three months one time, back when we didn’t get along so well as we do now. So while I have no comment on the product’s usefulness or whatnot, I would just like to state for the record that the idea is not new, but a redux of an old defunct product. A superficial Google search produces nothing except the probability that bed-tents are probably still available at toy stores.
Did everyone watch the State of the Union address last night? I didn’t, for the same reasons why I didn’t watch last year. For the link-clickers, it still holds true except in Reason 2 I would substitute “the economy” everywhere you see the word “Iraq.” And with the addition that the lame duck last State of the Union address from any 8th year president would be less worth watching than any other. For some reason this year there have been a lot of references to Reagan’s administration, and I believe this has more to do with Obama’s recent Reagan resurrection than the fact that he was the last two-term Republican president.
I felt the need to take it easy running-wise last night. There are times when a runner needs to listen to her body when it tells her that it would rather not be worked to death, thank you very much. Differentiating those needs from plain laziness is a skill that takes time. I’m not saying I’ve mastered it, I’m just saying I took an easy 3.5 mile run on the treadmill last night which was perfect in so many ways. Because I’ve been plagued with so many overuse injuries lately I am finally coming to the realization that I can’t push it to the limit with every single run. Some of ‘em are gonna be easy. It’s hard for me to accept, given that I spend a lot of my energy trying to get the maximum performance out of myself, and generally feel like a failure when I don’t feel like I want to vomit or die. Also in the past I’ve noticed that I have better performance throughout the rest of the week when I take it easy on Mondays. So let’s hope this strategy works.
01.28.08
The Gastro-telligentsia.
Hello people. It is my greatest wish (at this moment) that you all had a delightful weekend according to your needs. And now that moment is over and I’m back to thinking about myself. I had a great weekend, if the level of greatness is defined by how much food I ate. Friday night we went to beer club at Graveyard, and I am happy to report that Graveyard appears to have totally turned around. They are under new management (not new owners) and they did some redecorating, adding in some really pretty high-top tables that seat 8 comfortably, and a couple lounging areas with leather couches (I am morally opposed to leather, but not to couches). They also changed the front entry to the middle door which improves the flow quite a bit. The service was much better than it has been, too. Our waitress actually checked on us every few minutes and brought our beverages and food in a timely manner. So, much improved over the last incarnation. I had the sliders, and I have totally fallen in love with this meal. I didn’t even know what sliders were until just a few days ago, and immediately wanted to try them. Good stuff. Note: the menu on their website is the old menu.
Saturday Dice went to work and I puttered around the house, cleaning and watching TV. Spent a few hours down at K&M’s house with the wee doggies, but then K&M returned home after their successful vacation that evening so our doggy duty was over. Saturday night we went to Twain’s for dinner. I got a small order of wings as a starter. I really like wings, and I like them more plain than fancy. I’m not crazy about sauces and whatnot, nor do I care if they are spicy or not. So I ordered them mild, and they were anything but mild. They were seriously, burn your lips and cry, spicy. Of course, this doesn’t stop me so I enjoyed them anyway, but it’s a shock to people who don’t like spicy things. Poor Dice ordered wings and he does not like spicy things at all (British people are so boring) and he literally only managed to eat three before curling up into a fetal position and rocking himself back to a state of serenity. Then I had a cuban sandwich which was a little dry, but otherwise just fine. We haven’t been to Twain’s very many times since their renovation which occurred a little over a year ago, but that’s not due to any other reason than that we are often too lazy to drive out to Decatur. It’s very nice at Twain’s and I made a promise to myself to go there more often.
Sunday we lazed around the house for most of the morning, catching up on the TV shows we’d missed this past week. The Amazing Race ended with the good team winning, thank goodness. The good team were dirty hippies, and we all know how I feel about dirty hippies, however they were also patient, thoughtful, calm and honest. They did not spaz out nor did they try any underhanded tactics to get ahead. They just plain raced better. So yay for them. Mid-afternoon we rallied and went out to the Brick Store for lunch where I had a most delicious burger and a glass of the Stella pinot grigio. There’s a rumor going around that the Brick Store owners are going to open a second location in Grant Park, and if that happens I will be a very happy, fat and drunk girl. Not much different, really.
Dice at Brick Store. And this concludes my latest gastro-telligentsia report.
This week should be quieter at work, hopefully. I’ve also got a lunch scheduled with my Paypal and a dinner on Friday which I will detail at a later date. Otherwise, I plan to be a most boring soul and eat healthily and run at least 30 miles. That probably won’t happen but I think if I shoot for 30 I should make 28 at least, and I’d be happy with that total.
01.25.08
The lies people tell.
So I was thinking about it yesterday, and I realized that I totally lied. In my defense it was not a conscious lie, and yet it was a lie nonetheless. There I was, bemoaning the fact that I, apparently, never go out to eat anymore when in reality I went out to eat three (3), count ‘em, times last weekend. Friday night after we watched Ray’s cripple-stravaganza we went to Kasan Red for dinner, which, by the way, I heartily recommend, not only was the food delicious and the booze list capacious, but the owner came over and chatted us up like he wanted to take us home and keep us as pets. So friendly! Then Sunday night we went to The Thinking Man for their super-fabulous grilled cheese sandwich which they serve on texas toast for that extra heart-attack flavor. And finally on Monday night I went to Fritti wit da girlz. This all just goes to show that you should take everything I say with a grain of salt. Just because I believe something doesn’t preclude the fact that I’m retarded.
Especially after the week I’ve had, after all. I’ve been totally slammed this week, and I am looking forward to some down time. The other half of the Handitards are out of town, which means we will have to make shift on our own for the weekend. And this means we’ll probably go out to eat more than once, considering the other half of the Handitards is the half that’s talented in the kitchen. K&M come back tomorrow, which means no more doggy-sitting [sniff].
So, as usual, my office is deserted post mid-afternoon. I shall do the same. If you are reading this, I hope you are doing so within the comfort of your own home/barstool instead of at work. And if you are at work, go home!
01.24.08
File under: Rants.
We continue to watch tiny doggies at K&M’s house. We basically end up spending most of our free time watching the wee things. I am happy to do it as it pays back my neighbors for cat-sitting, but man is it a lot of work. I am more and more convinced (like I needed it) that when we get a dog we will get a miniature pinscher. They are just so adorable, and full of energy! Further, they don’t shed as much as a larger or fuzzier dog. After having cats for decades, I am officially sick of fur sticking to everything.
Masterpiece Theatre has been playing some wonderful screen versions of all six of Jane Austen’s novels on Sunday evenings. It started a couple weeks ago with Persuasion, then last week was Northanger Abbey, and continues through April with Pride and Prejudice and Emma as well as a biography. The series finishes with what should be a delightful version of Elizabeth Gaskell’s Cranford, one of her few comic novels. Fans of early Victorian comic fiction should get on this bandwagon, it promises to be highly diverting. I already watched Persuasion and found it to be tolerably good, although it was only an hour and a half which necessitated some broad plot omissions. The gist was still there, well acted and replete with a happy ending, so that’s what counts. I’ve seen other versions of Persuasion (thank you, BBC!) which were better, but it could have been much, much worse. It’s worth a watch.
In other news, I am officially sick to death of hearing about Iraq. Please note: I am not dissing the troops in any way. I am not making a statement about the war (well, except that I think it should end) or weighing in on any political debate regarding our role in the world. I don’t want troops dying at all, and I sympathize with the families who have lost loved ones over there. I’m sure they have stronger feelings about the whole situation than I do. I’m only addressing the media saturation. I’m just sick, sick, sick, so bored, with hearing story after story after story from every communication medium. Even Fresh Air, which should be telling stories that you wouldn’t hear anywhere else, has an episode entirely devoted to Iraq at least twice per week, which is a LOT. Normally I would hope that NPR would steer clear of mainstream reporting on the war, but no, they succumb to it just as much, if not more, than all of the TV new stations/shows. At this point, I will listen to anything having to do with the presidential race, no matter how petty, fulsome or shady, over anything that has to do with Iraq. There are a lot of other situations occurring in the world. Just because the war in Iraq affects us fundamentally does not mean that we should ignore the rest of the world. The US media is broader and more multi-faceted than that of any other country in the world. I would hope that some media would think, “Hm, this story has been covered by [SuperMegaGlobalMediaNetwork] so perhaps I will do a piece on the French bank that lost $7 Billion due to massive fraud instead.” Just a thought.
Aaaaand, end rant. May I reiterate that if anyone reading this is offended by what I’m saying, please first of all take a step back and think about the actual point, and second of all, discontinue to read my blog. For the first, you should realize I am bashing the media and no one else, and for the second, you will only be offended by tomorrow’s topic as well, which will probably be something about killing babies and eating them like veal. Just for your own peace of mind, don’tcha know.
On a related topic, please don’t eat veal.
01.23.08
This Just In: Northeast ex-pat in the south has superior attitude RE: snow. Shocker.
Wow, I am so swamped at work this week. Just when I think it’s settling down, something new happens to rile it up again. Craziness!
So my weekend was fine. Nothing super exciting. Ray put on a marvelous Opening Ceremony for the GA Special Olympics. My hands were literally sore for two days straight afterwards because I clapped so much! M&K went away on vacation so the Handitards spent most of the weekend dog-sitting. And by “dog-sitting” I mean “watching HD DVDs on their 44-inch flat screen TV.” And I had a delightful girls’ dinner with the female half of the Canadians and some other people of the female persuasion at Fritti, which was deeelicious as usual. Seriously, you should go to Fritti if you ever have the chance. Otherwise we mostly laid low. Gone are the days when I went out 4 nights out of 7, folks. These days I’m lucky if we make it out for dinner once a week. It’s nice to save the money but my local restaurant appraisals are sorely lacking. Perhaps this weekend I will scout out a new restaurant to go to just for blog fodder, eh?
It snowed almost all day on Saturday, which engendered extreme excitement from everyone. People went a little crazy. It was most definitely snow, it fell all day on Saturday and in my neighborhood it accumulated to about 2 or 3 inches on certain surfaces. Events were canceled, roads were closed, and car accidents abounded. Of course, the roads were totally clear because the snow was too ephemeral to stick on anything except grass. For me, the best part about it was watching it fall, it felt so calm and looked so pretty. I have not forgotten how soothing it is to curl up under a blanket on the couch while the snow falls outside. It’s my absolute favorite thing about winter.
Exciting TV news: Prison Break is back from hiatus! Wheeeee! I had forgotten about that show until I saw it, already recorded, on the DVR queue. And happiness abounds. Still haven’t watched this week’s episode yet but last week’s finds all the characters back into the mix. I live in hope that somehow the beheading of Dr. Sara was faked, more because I luff her and so does Michael “Drool” Scofield than for any other reason. Usually in January I am entertained by a one-two punch of Prison Break followed by 24 (followed by me too wired to sleep all night) but unfortunately 24 is one of the writer’s strike casualties. I understand, you can’t order only 10 episodes of a serialized drama that plays in [ahem] real time [cough] over a 24 hour period. It is for this reason that I am okay with no 24 this season. It’ll play next season, made all the better because there won’t be a danger of production-woes hanging over it.
We are back to our regular mid-week routine. I am building up my weekly mileage again, which feels good. This week I am on track for 30 miles, which before the holidays would have been a normal week, and will be again by the end of this month. My new running shoes kick ass. I am ruminating on a new photo essay for my Flickr account, but this one is proving more difficult than the others, and may require actual planning on my part. Hmph! Lastly, so many deaths in Hollywood! Last week, Brad Renfro; this week, Heath Ledger. Livin’ on the edge, sometimes you fall over!
01.22.08
It ain’t happening today, folks.
Please look forward to another chapter in the days of our lives tomorrow.
01.18.08
Discipline is the gift that keeps on giving, especially if that gift includes alcohol.
One of my little tricks to keep from eating bad things is I keep a large stash of sugar-free LifeSavers Pep-O-Mint and Wint-O-Green mints in my food cupboard at work. They are minty and tasty, and dentist-approved. However, sometimes when I really want junk food I end up eating several mints, at which point they become the junk food. At least they are only 6 calories a pop. Discipline!
I’ve been very good discipline-wise this week, if I do say so myself (which I just did). I’ve run 6 miles a day and only eaten whole, unprocessed foods and not much of it. Last night I treated myself to an Amy’s frozen meal of tortellini with pesto sauce, and it was fantabulous. Of course it’s a tiny serving, and if given the choice I would (and could) have eaten four of them. But such is the genius of portion control. The upside to all this is that tonight I can enjoy my glass of wine guilt-free. That’s saying a lot about someone who’s entire life is built upon avoiding omnipresent guilt about darn near everything.
So it’s a three-day weekend, thanks to a man who changed the face of our country through his bravery, intelligence, perseverance and ability to think in the long term. It’s rare when I think of a public figure without cynicism, but Martin Luther King, Jr. is one whom I revere without reservation. His assassination was a far deeper tragedy than any other death in the 20th century, in my opinion. Other deaths were tragic, but none caused the harm that his caused.
Tonight the Handitards go to watch the Special Olympics Winter Games Opening Ceremonies. Ray is the director of the event and we are all going to cheer her on and hopefully spur some public sentiment for the poor, “special” athletes. Tomorrow we are supposed to get some bad weather, so it might be a day off from running for me, but I will get out there either tomorrow or Sunday. Dice and I plan to take much of the weekend easy, considering all the craziness and travel from the holiday season. Dice especially since he had to work all last weekend in Philadelphia has not had a day off in a couple of weeks. Then Monday I’ve got girls’ dinner with a gaggle of ‘em at Fritti, which as we all know is one of my favorite places in the ATL. Included in the gaggle should be the female half of the Canadians.
I’m almost ready for my next race. Today I went to the gym at lunchtime and happened to be wearing my Buckhead Sizzler 10K 2007 t-shirt, and there was another girl there who was wearing the same shirt. Which is unusual, although I don’t know why considering there were literally thousands of people who ran it. While we reminisced about that race it occurred to me that I was ready to race again. For a while there I was raced out, after having run several 5Ks and 10Ks within a short period of time. I’ve had enough time off so that I can start to think about running another one in the near future. The Handitards had discussed running a half marathon in March, and if that’s still on I will focus on that. If not, well then I will focus on a 10K in the near vicinity instead. I do not think I will do the Atlanta ING half marathon, which is also in March, for various reasons, not the least of which is that the course is super hilly. The half marathon we Handitards had picked out was nice and flat, heh. So, we will see what evolves within the next couple of months.
Happy MLK Day, y’all!
01.17.08
I made two very small friends at the gym.
I would just like to state that it is surprising how many people do a Google search on “famous dead people.” Guess I’m not the only one! Perhaps I will put some links to my famous dead people websites on the right hand galley and see if that helps.
So last night I got chatted up by an old dude at the gym. You know the type, you see them at every race. They are older (at least 60 or older) and they wear those super short shorts, and their legs are like toothpicks. So this guy got on the treadmill next to me just as I was getting on mine, and said, “Have a good run!” before I even programmed the machine. Which means he knows who I am, otherwise how would he know that I was going to run? Then we both ran for 55 minutes after which he proceeded to ask me if I were training for a race, tell me about a half marathon he’s running on Saturday, etc. All the while he’s talking to me he’s got one leg up on the armrail, “stretching.” And by “stretching” I really mean “showing off the wrinkled family jewels.” Did I mention he wore short shorts? It’s no secret that I don’t like people all that much, but no one wants to be confronted by moldy golf balls after a long and arduous run. I blame it on the weather. Let’s hope those cherries didn’t freeze out there in the cold, cold night.
Because it snowed last night, folks. Real, honest to goodness snow. More snow than I’ve seen in Atlanta since I moved down, and this here is my third winter. It mostly melted, but there were a few roofs of cars and houses that managed to sustain about an inch of accumulation for a little while. I’ve seen snow several times on my trips up north so it’s not like I was missing snow or anything. In fact as it was falling last night I had that same old feeling of unsurprised inevitability, where snow is a fact of life. However, the fact that I’ve devoted an entire paragraph to snow flurries proves that I am somewhat affected by this here southern climate. I’ll try not to let it go to my head.
This week my evenings have been short and boring. Last night we got home late because 1) Dice had to go to a reception, after which he picked me up at the gym; and 2) naturally we had to go to the packy to stock up on booze just on the off chance we might be, ahem, snowed in. Heh. So by the time we got home and showered there was just enough time to eat dinner and watch 1.5 TV shows before bed. I realize that I choose to spend my free time at the gym, and I’m not complaining about not having very much down time in the evening, but it does elucidate part of the reason why I graze the couch every weekend.
Tonight should be more of the same. There are more new episodes of TV shows on these days. I can only assume that the networks held some new episodes back in the event that the writer’s strike spanned most of the season. Which it has now done, thank you very much. I want the writers to get what they deserve, but at some point, I want new TV more. But since Dice was gone all weekend we have a few of the new episodes to get through, and since we get home from work so late we watch only one per night. This is an excellent way to spread the love.
I am still reading Samuel Johnson’s poetry. This line is so a propos to my personality:
“I live in the crowd of jollity, not so much to enjoy company as to shun myself.”
Rasselas. Chap. xvi.
