Update: The Great Alice Improvement Project

So, I vowed to be more creative and watch more movies and just be more positive in general. I couldn't stick with the Thing-A-Day thing because it honestly became too much to actually document the Thing I was making every day. For example, I make dinner almost every night and that seemed to count...so...I started to feel like the whole thing was a little redundant. I could have put restraints on myself, like, "making dinner doesn't count" but that's not very fair because I really consider cooking fabulous meals a creative outlet and I do it regularly.

For example, over this last weekend, I made:

Bread and butter pudding
Orange glazed tempeh, with kale and brown rice (I've made it twice now and I think it's one of my favourites, despite all the orange squeezing involved)
A lunch spread of pamboli, humus, olives and zata
Kale and feta salad with dill and spicy mustard dressing

I made stock yesterday and tomorrow's (Happy Birthday Ryan!) piece de resistance will be cake plus a similar setup to the above mentioned lunch spread.

I have started and frogged a project twice now and I have started writing a story that I will probably end up deleting.

Tomorrow, I will start volunteering at the front desk of a local organisation that is designed to help low-income people get back into the work force after a life changing event. While this isn't necessarily a "thing" or "creative" it is something I think will help me with some of the demons I have been dealing with since the move.

As far as seeing more good films, because I have do have some sort of regular form of cultural edification in addition to books, I have started watching things that have been on my "should watch that" list for years. For example:

Chinatown
Walkabout
The Machinist

And I've got copies of some others to watch including:

Badlands (Thanks Nina!)
The Fall (Thanks Nina!)

I have also started reading A History Of The Arab Peoples by Albert Hourani and made Ryan check out 2 books by George Bernard Shaw for me. I am also rereading The Orchid Thief, by Susan Orlean and making plans to accompany this with a purchase of an orchid. Seems to me that if the mold can continue to flourish on our window sills, despite frequent bleach baths, then an orchid would be quite happy here.

Okay, so I still haven't really made any local friends. Well, that's not true. I haven't made any come-over-to-my-house-in-your-pyjamas-let's-drink-a-bottle-of-wine-between-us-and-make-silly-jokes friends. I am working on this, however.

In OTHER NEWS: California is going bankrupt.

Mugwump and a repeat of "Spoil Her Valentines Day"

Last years Valentine's Day entry. I'm posting the link because I still find the typography in the pajamagrams.com ad hilarious.

***

I'm going to be a mugwump again and ask, "What the hell are my downstairs neighbours doing that results in my house shaking? It sounds like they're playing Dance, Dance, Revolution with clogs on."

I'm tired of being the grumpy upstairs neighbour. Have I really turned into a get off-my-lawn kind of asshole? I'd like to note that I never say anything to them. Nope, I just make passive-aggressive blog entries in the hopes that they might one day do a search for "Ithaca + How To Be An Inconsiderate Neighbour" and come across this, realise it's about them and then stop playing loud music at all hours, smoking under our windows, leaving trash out, yelling at each other, drunkenly, in the middle of the day (or night), filling the main hallway with smoke, not recycling, frowning at me in the launderette and giving the wrong address to the take out man when ordering in the middle of the night.

***

Squished Friend and my brother got engaged in a BART station.

WELL. This weekend was a little different.

1. Ryan's parents came for a very nice stay. I made bread and butter pudding one night. It wasn't as good as Jenny's, but still passable. I also made pamboli, which I had been anxious to try, every since I copied the recipe out of Jenny's cookbook: How To Cheat At Cooking by Delia Smith .

2. A horse flipped over onto Annie and squished her. She has a fractured pelvis and will be wheel chair/bed bound for 6-8 weeks. I may go down and spend some time with her in Cincinnati.

3. My brother and his girlfriend got engaged. Both this piece of news and the last piece of news were brought to my attention within five minutes of each other. My brother sent me this email:

Oh, and I got engaged last night. While waiting for BART in the Powell
street station. Thought you should know.

meemo.

I responded with (of course):

You know, whatever the bums at the BART station shout at you, you really shouldn't take it so seriously.

Happy Birthday-In-One-Week Ryan!

Because I got my Valentine's Day present early (and at all), I'm going to say Happy Birthday to Ryan early.

I sent the following out to Ryan's school chums:

Ryan's birthday is on Thursday 19 February - I was wondering if you were interested in meeting up and having some cake? We won't sing, because otherwise Ryan will leave.

***

Happy Birthday, Love. Thanks for the pearls.

Jeeves' second near death experience in 2 days

This morning, in a bout of self pity after my job interview offer was rescinded, I went for a walk. (honestly, who does that? Who sends someone an email asking to interview them and then changes their mind? Not to get all sour grapey but I got the feeling that they were horribly disorganised. I've already worked for one disorganised maniac who couldn't make up his mind about anything.)
After crying a little, with regards to the job interview, I resolved that they were probably jerks, exercise was the best answer, so Jeeves and I went for out to the Triangle Woods, by our house. We've had a thaw the last few days (weather in the 50's!) and so all the ice is melting and the rivers that have been made through the ice are extra engorged and the currents are quite strong.

So, of course, Jeeves fell in. To tell you the truth, it was a lot scarier for me than for him. He just floated around scrabbling at things while I tried to get to him through the mud and underbrush. By the time I got near, he'd managed to find a foothold and was trying to haul himself out. I was afraid to get too close, because the ice could have held him, but I didn't know if it would have held me. And if it had crumbled under me, he would have been lost.

I was perfectly okay, rationalising everything I needed to do, ready to chuck my cell phone in case I needed to jump in (and might need it after). Then he scrabbled out, rolled around in the snow and I burst into tears. Again.

I came home, dried him off with a towel and tried to fry an egg. I'm terrified of egg yolk so if I fry an egg (which is a very, very rare meal for me in the first place), it has to be over hard. It fell apart in the pan while I was trying to flip it over and I ended up with a partially scrambled fried egg.

Today really sucked.

Is this your homework, Larry? Is this your homework?

Last night, I was walking home from Trivia Night at a bar that I went to with the girlfriend of one of Ryan's school chums. I found some kid's homework and across the top was scrawled: PLEASE TAKE MY ASSIGNMENTS MORE SERIOUSLY.

Pretty funny.

When will someone make something better than iTunes?

iTunes and MS Word are 2 ridiculously annoying programs and I think it's awful that any of us ever have to deal with them.

The Worst Thing Jeeves Has Ever Done

Dear Family,

Today, while we were out taking the laundry to the launderette, Jeeves ate a large bowl of rising bread dough, the equivalent of 2,000 calories or 2 loaves of bread. It has been deemed "The Worst Thing He's Ever Done." on account of the serious medical implications. We have been told by the vet that after inducing vomiting, we must watch him in case he becomes "drunk."

He's downstairs at the moment, going through his second round of hydrogen peroxide induced vomiting.

Lots of love,

Alice & Ryan.

Pictures of Jeeves during the midst of his discomfort (or comfort? We can't decide. He certainly did not want to walk anywhere or be in any position that was not lying down on the floor.):

England shuts down

Hello Alice,

You asked how are we dealing with the snow, well as you may guess with great difficulty. It seems a few flakes fell and Britain came to a complete standstill. London was in a terrible pickle as the bus depots were snowed in and much of the Unground was also snowbound. At the moment some of the counties have been reduced to using table salt for the roads as they have run out of the usual stuff!! Here in Hellingly we were virtually cut off from the world for two whole days. The worst part though was the biting cold - much, much colder than when you were here. It has now all gone but more is promised for next week!! Like Jeeves, Lucy thought it was all great fun.

Sue has now got herself a laptop and one of her neighbours is teaching her how to use it. He used to train the Metropolitan Police force so no doubt she will soon overtake me with her knowledge and skills.

Hope all is well with you both,

Love Fran.

P.S. Done anymore crosswords lately?

I, Anonymous

I found this great column on The Stranger, called I, Anonymous. People write in with their anonymous rants and they are published. It's kind of like Craigslist's Rants & Raves, but usually more eloquent. Sometimes they're sad, sometimes they're disgusting, sometimes they're funny (this one is funny and disgusting).

Felicia's Atomic Lounge plus I'm behind on my Things

I'm behind on my Thing-A-Day. Here's the latest thing:




Anyway. I'm going to make up for it today, as yesterday I was a little swamped with work and the creativity was sapped out of me. I need to make a birthday card for Ryan - I feel like I've got a handle on the felting thing and the rest of the Ron Replacement Placemat and Coaster set will take longer than a day per piece. On to smaller and less time consuming things!

In other news: I may have a job interview next week. It's a part time job at a software company. I'll still be able to work for Paula, but I'll have a little extra cash for clothes and trips home. Plus it'll get me out of this house.

In other, other news, I'm going to see a band tonight called the Hogwashers and a bar called Felicia's Atomic Lounge. This is exciting for several reasons. One, it's live music. (Remember the days when I used to post all the shows I was going to up here? Because I lived in/near a big city that had actual shows that I would want to go to? So much so that I would have to choose? What a great hobby that was!) Two, it's at a place in Ithaca that serves cocktails and vegan/vegetarian food. It's a bar with an ethos! Just like home! Three. My best friend from elementary school is in town this weekend, because she got waitlisted at Cornell Vet School. How awesome is that?

Pretty awesome.

Dumplings

This evening I had a hankering for some Chinese-esque food. Well, actually it started a few days ago, which was good, because that meant that today, when I really felt like it, I had the potsticker wrappers all ready to go. Here's a quick sum up. Apologies for the short nature of the description, but at least I'm putting up pictures this time!

1/4 of 1 large eggplant diced
1.5 carrots, ghetto-julienned with a potato peeler
1/2 lb mushrooms diced (yes, I know it's kind of a pain)
1/4 of a chinese cabbage, diced
1/4 packet of veggie ground
soy sauce, garlic, ginger, sesame oil, white pepper (to taste)

Everything was tossed in a wok, then put in a refrigerator, while the brothy soup was being made (miso, mushrooms, water, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, white pepper, cayenne, seaweed). After this it was removed from the fridge and a heaping teaspoon was placed in the middle of 38 potsticker wrappers, which were then folded over and stuck together with warm water. Some of them were then steamed and served with Ryan's version of Gyoza sauce (soy sauce, olive oil, brown sugar, sesame seeds and a splash of rice vinegar) and the yummy brothy soup. The rest were frozen, flat, so they don't stick to each other, in a freezer bag.

That is roughly a pictorial of the order of things, including the final sit down with Ryan, wearing his new shirt from auntie Fran.

Thing A Day - Project 2

You know that awful saying that people say to you about life giving you lemons and such? You know, it's that totally irritating saying which is just about the last thing you want to hear when something shitty's just happened?

I put it into practice (sort of).

Unable to knit a flat circle, because of my very distractable brain (which, mind, is one of the reasons I try to knit - because it incorporates a lot of the things I am really bad at, like paying attention and following directions, at yet I still find it enjoyable.), I knit a very curly one. So curly, in fact, that it's nothing like the pretty felt coaster it was supposed to be. So I sewed the ends together and made a flower. I think I'll stick it on a scarf or something later on.









On to the next Thing.

Thing A Day 2009 - Project 1

Ever since Ryan's work friend Ron urinated all over our placemats in a fit of drunken sleepwalking, I've been searching for replacements. Yesterday, I decided I would just knit them and felt them and I thought I would do a whole set. So I started with a trivet.

Here it is pre felted:


And here it is, felted:


I'm going to try the coasters today. I realise this is hardly the more complicated stuff I'd hoped (nay promised) to get into with my knitting but it's Thing A Day. A mindless rectangle was all I could hope for.

Insomnia and Asparagus Scones

I have been suffering from frustrating insomnia, not for any particular reason other than genetic, but frustrating none the less. I suggested to Ryan yesterday that perhaps I was gradually becoming nocturnal (I mean more so than I am already) and asked him if he would still love me, were that the case.

"I'd try. But it'd be hard, because I'd never see you."

Last night, I went to bed reading a Christmas present from my father, Children Playing Before A Statue Of Hercules, short stories compiled by David Sedaris. I actually fell asleep (not because it's not a good book! It is! You should read it!) while reading for the first time in weeks and was in blissful somnolence by around 11:30. Then I was woken up, loudly by knocking on my door.

The knock came again, rousing me further from my unconscious state and thus I realised I'd better go and see what it was about. Ryan was no where to be found and I wasn't wearing anything except a small t-shirt and underwear. As I was steadying myself on the door frame and looking around my house in confusion, a voice called out,

"Hello! Hello?"

Yes, I replied.

"You order some teepiedoe?"

"What?"

"teepidoe."

"What?"

"Did you order some teepidoe?"

I was trying to figure out what he was saying as well as work out the current problem of me being trouserless. I couldn't really think how I was to solve both problems.

Luckily, at this point, Ryan returned.

"You live here?"

"Yes."

"You order some teepidoe?"

"What?"

"teepidoe."

"What?"

"Did you order some teepidoe?"

"No."

Ryan checked the address on the receipt and it was ours, but clearly, we couldn't have ordered any teepidoe as we had no idea what it was.

This morning, I asked him about it. He was just as confused as I was as to what the man was saying, but seeing as he wasn't mostly asleep and was wearing trousers, he had the wherewithal to send the man away.

***

Prior to that incident I had made Asparagus Scones. I absolutely love asparagus. And I love asparagus wrapped in phyllo dough, but having neither phyllo dough nor the time to make it, I looked for something that would provide the same satisfying, carbohydratey, buttery deliciousness. They're a great thing to stick in a packed lunch.

2 c flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
3 tbs parmesan cheese
1 1/2 c grated cheddar cheese
1 c butter, diced.
1/3 c milk
2 eggs
1 lb asparagus, steamed


Prehat oven to 425 F.

Trim the tips from the asparagus and reserve. Slice the stems into quarter inch thick little cylinders.

Combine the dry ingredients and the parmesan cheese.

Add the butter and smash with a fork or pastry knife until the mixture resembles a coarse meal.

Combine eggs and mik in a seperate bowl, then add to the flour mixture and stir until it all starts to come together.

Add cheddar cheese and asparagus pieces (not tips). Bring together to form a nice stiff dough and knead (add more flour if necessary).

Once all is incorporated, lay dough out on a floured surface, knead a few times and then form it into a rectangle, about 1/2 an inch thick.

Using a sharp knife cut rectangle into 3 strips, lengthwise. Cut each strip into triangles or rectangles or whatever. Place triangles onto a greased baking sheet.

Brush with milk.

Press asparagus tips artfully into the tops of the scones.

Put in oven for 15 - 20 minutes.

Ridiculously Easy Soup

1 Onion, chopped

3 heads of broccoli, floretted

1 block of Gorgonzola (or Stilton or Bleu etc), crumbled (maybe 6 oz?)

3 cloves garlic, minced

salt, pepper, olive oil to taste

Water/stock

Toss the chopped onion in a saucepan on low heat. Once it is softened, add broccoli and garlic. Cook for about a minute. Add the water/stock (I did about a pint and a 1/2 water with 4 cubes of my homemade stock). Leave to simmer until broccoli is cooked. Remove from heat and add Gorgonzola, stir until it is fully melted/incorporated. Whiz in a blender, in batches, until smooth. Return to saucepan and reheat.

SERVE AND EAT. (You can sprinkle a little extra Gorgonzola on the top if you wish and serve with nice, fresh, crusty bread)

Thing A Day, Butchering Lou Reed and Volunteering

I have been sending out resumes and searching for further employment but the current economic situation (Cornell has instituted a 'hiring freeze' and has gone as far as to remove the water coolers from Ryan's department in order to save money) has lifted some of the weight off my shoulders, because I can now, in all honesty claim:

It's not me! I'm still a viable human being even though I can't find a job!

So. I have decided that I am going to try and be more productive for productivity's sake and have registered for Thing A Day 2009. I have also sent an email to the Women's Opportunity Center ("a local non-profit organization dedicated to helping women and men overcome obstacles to gain employment.") offering my volunteering skills, helping teach people how to Microsoft Word, etc. (or, in my brother's terms: M$ Word: The Basil Fawlty of Operating Systems).

I'm losing interest in the dog walking at the SPCA because it's so strangely run. They seem to have an appearance of organisation but there are so many loose ends, like 3 different ways to make notes about each dog, 4 different places to go to find the information you need. I sort of feel totally unnecessary every time I go, but then they tell me otherwise.

I'd also like to help people and I'm not quite brave enough for a suicide hotline. Something that I think my grandmother instilled in all her daughters, is that it is important to be useful and help others. All her daughters, except one (she is no longer living), went into some kind of nursing and they all give generously with their time and/or money to help the community. I admire them all immensely. It's something I feel remiss in not doing more of, so as sappy as it may sound, I think that this sort of thing (volunteering my time and being productive) is important in order for me to become the kind of human being I want to be and to stave off my own personal demons.

It's these sorts of sentiments as well as my unabashed "Get Off My Lawn" kind of outrage at our downstairs neighbours last night for playing some sort of BUTCHERED version of Walk On The Wild Side make me realise that I'm showing my age. We have to shovel the sidewalk outside the property when it snows otherwise the city sends a bill. I wasn't going to shovel the driveway that only these offending neighbours get to use this morning out of spite. Then I felt that was petty. Then Ryan told me not to.

Cornell is about to turn down my application for health insurance

Because I was not insured prior to my petition to be added to Ryan's plan outside of the enrollment period. The reason I did not apply during the enrollment period was because

a)It seemed absurdly expensive for spouses
b)I assumed I would get a job with health insurance

Seeing as my parents have generously volunteered to cover the extra expense of health insurance for me and strangely, Cornell has the cheapest available, I petitioned claiming that I had started a job that did not have health insurance - working for Casey.

This was turned down, infuriatingly, bureaucratically, in very "Computer Says No" terms, because I had applied outside the enrollment window. Which I was aware of. And why I had to fill the forms out in the first place.

I sent an email to someone I had been communicating with earlier on the subject. She got back to me with this:

Dear Alice,
Your petition stated that prior to your employment you could not afford
the student insurance. It did not mention any coverage prior to your
latest position...did you have insurance?
Lori

If I follow the reasoning here, they are denying my health insurance because I was previously uninsured. Uninsured because we moved to Ithaca and I am no longer covered by Ryan's work. I assume then that they are denying my insurance because I didn't 'lose' it unvoluntarily, I was already in an uninsured state before I accepted a position without benefits. Somehow, I chose to be uninsured and thus must remain so.

I'm already composing a letter in my head about how inhumane their bureaucracy is. That in this economy, everyone needs all the help they can get and to deny someone health insurance on the grounds that they were previously uninsured is, ludicrous, greedy and cruel. I can't understand how a country that claims to be as civilised as it does allows this sort of thing to happen.

Cornell does little or nothing for the spouses of it's graduate students besides offering them an id card with their picture on it, unless you have a child, which I don't, nor do I plan on having one anytime soon. The least they could do is make it easier for spouses to get health insurance, as that is in everyone's best interest.



PS. Ryan discouraged me from sending the above video to the woman turning me down.

Yam Soup

Last night, I made Fantasy-ish Fudge from the 101 Cookbooks Blog. It's in the fridge setting at the moment, but based on the spoon licking that I did last night, I'm looking forward to it.

I had leftover coconut milk from the fudge and 2 yams, so the obvious choice for dinner was:

Yam Soup.

First I baked the yams in the oven until they were nice and soft. While this was happening, I tossed some Quorn in a pan with garlic, pepper and soy sauce. I'm not the biggest fan of Quorn, with it's long ingredients list, but it adds some protein and texture when needed. It's better than some other, similar products.

When the yams were ready, I took them out, peeled them (Jeeves had a lovely breakfast this morning of cooked yam peelings and dog kibble) and put them in a bowl with some soy milk and mixed it into a slurry. I'm sure a lot of people at this point would have shoved it through a siv, but I feel like that sort of thing is a little wasteful, both time wise and resources wise. I might do it if we had dinner guests over (and maybe save the leftover stuff for stock?).

I tossed chopped onions and sliced garlic into a sauce pan with some olive oil. I stirred it around a bit so as to get the scrummy browning bits of the bottom of the pan and did this until the onion was translucent. At this point, I added the yam slurry, the coconut milk, ground black pepper, salt and curry powder (about 2 teaspoons). I also added the Quorn (making sure to spatulate the frying pan so as to get the garlic and olive oil into the pot as well) and some frozen peas.

I squeezed half a lemon in, to balance out the sweetness of the coconut milk and yams and a little more salt, to taste.

Yum.

Winter Riding.

Yesterday Casey had some people driving up from Pennsylvania to look at some horses. This was a tricky endeavor because it involved trailering horses from her place to the indoor arena up here for two days in row as well as some creative craftwork on my part, fashioning ear plugs for horses out of pom poms purchased at AC Moore. You see, the normal pom poms they sell there are too small for an averaged sized horse ear, so I stitched 2 together to make one ear plug. I made a total of 3 sets. I was quite pleased with myself.

The earplugs were for Lucy, a 5 year old Oldenburg/TB cross who is just gorgeous and easy to ride, but young and silly. Anyway. We forgot to put the earplugs in after all and she was fine. Raina, because she's perfect in every way, doesn't need earplugs.

The equestrian facilities were surprisingly dismal, considering it's affiliation with a major institution. The school horses appeared to be kept in these funny, old fashioned stalls that are really just made up of dividers, with no 4th wall. That is to say they are made up of the wall of the barn and two perpendicular walls that are about 3.5 feet high. There is no stall door, just a space. There are 2 horses to a "stall" and they are kept "separated" by a plank that is dangling on ropes from the ceiling. The reason this "works" is because in their stalls, they are tied to the barn wall. But that doesn't stop them from kicking out at each other. So you walk down an aisle with nothing between you and 30 sets of hindquarters but air and your own good sense to stay far away. I saw not a few pinned ears and carefully aimed swipes. I'm sure I'd be cranky and snappy too if I spent the day tied to a wall.

The real stalls (presumably the stalls for the boarders) looked so tiny that a biggish horse wouldn't be able to lie down comfortably.

The ring is nice and huge and the footing is great. On Friday we had it mostly to ourselves. I went for a good long gallop on Raina and then switched to Lucy because Casey wasn't feeling brave and there was a 17.2 hh 3 year old gelding who was leaping around at the end of a lunge line. I don't blame her - I may not have health insurance, but she has 3 kids all under the age of 10.

Riding on Saturday however brought back all the hell that was riding at (the old) Stanford during the winter (or really anytime of the year...). Something which, after 10 years of riding at private facilities, I had really not thought about.

Let's see, we had:

The tottery child learning to steer, on a tiny pony. A tiny pony that I could barely see from atop Lucy.

The weird horsie version of a crazy cat lady, insisting on running her poor (very pretty, I might add) Arab at a (our) jump while throwing herself at its ears. It stopped, three times, before she gave up and went back to trotting slowly around in a circle.

Rubber booted undergraduates doing practice rides, trying to remember what they learned in their lesson program when they were 12, white knuckling the reins, terrified because of the people that know what they're doing keep riding near them and thus they are continually stopping suddenly, for no reason, in the middle of the track.

The very serious dressage rider making sudden and violent circles in front of the jump you are pointed at (I know, I know. Dressage is just so much more legitimate than anything else you could possibly do on a horse).

Horses being ridden in a halter. Not something I am entirely opposed to, but given the circumstances, not something I would have chosen to do, considering the amount of time it takes to get the average horse to turn or stop while wearing a halter.

People getting off and letting their horses roll in the middle of the ring (really!). One girl got off and had her horse follow her around without a lead, practicing stopping and starting, while she desperately looked around for someone to notice. I noticed all right - I noticed the poor clip job her horse had and what a dangerous thing to do that was.

The place was rampant with Pony Club Don'ts, and I don't mean draw reins or spurs (I didn't think their were enough of those sorts of things, actually, considering the behaviour of some of the horses, who had obviously been cooped up on account of the winter - if you think there's a possibility that your horse might want to stand up - and I saw 2 horses do exactly that - wouldn't you want something - anything! to attempt to keep its front feet on the ground??). I'm talking about the kind of things that made my inner riding instructor want to start listing loudly to the person committing the error, all the ways in which the particular behaviour in question could/would result in injury or death to either person or horse.

I realise that these places are necessary. I understand that for some people this is the only way they can ride. I'm so very glad that it's not that way for me.

ANYWAY. Sarcasm aside, I had a great time and I can't wait to go again. We'll be riding there again soon because Casey's ring is still frozen solid and will be for another month or so. I was so happy to be riding that despite the fact that I noticed all of these things and laughed about them, none of the difficulty of the situation mattered. I'm sure I'll get used to it again. Besides, in a month or two, I'll be able to go back to my own, private little barn surrounded by miles of trails and mountains, and ride whenever and whoever I want with little to no interruptions. I can put up with the inconvenience for now. Besides, the at least the ring's heated.

Here's some music.

Say what you will about Kylie, her videos kick ass (even the ones that aren't directed by Michel Gondry) and I know you like dancing to her better than Madonna. These days, anyway.

PS. facebook viewers: click 'original post' below to see the video I pasted up.

Dream job! Again!

In order to continue my current, non stressed lifestyle, but also to return somewhat to the lifestyle I became accustomed to in California, I have decided that I need a part time job to supplement the work I do for Paula and still allow me to ride for Casey and purchase avocados willy-nilly, so to speak.

I know in the past, I have noted jobs at Arby's and other such delightful places. Today I bring you a most prestigious of positions, offered by a company known for its quality products, built to last and bring tasteful elegance to your home, the Kmart Corporation. It is also known for its ability to employee marketing geniuses who realise that the word "shelf stocker" may dissuade people from applying for the job as they would have to tell people at cocktail parties that they were a "shelf stocker." Far better to present the job as:

Now you can proudly tell your friends that you are more than just a stocker, you are an associate and therefore an integral part of the Kmart Corporation. Did I say corporation? I meant family. Because you know how well treated and valued Kmart employees are. Why in Santa Barbara, they even employed the mentally handicapped people from the local halfway house, to help build a sense of community. Of course, this meant that Kmart didn't have to pay them full wages but that just made it win-win. Kmart saved money and these people were given a sense of purpose, as replenishment associates.

Sparkly Positiveness and More People Should Watch Peep Show

I was trying to write an email today, recommending a vegetarian recipe website to a friend, but I couldn't make it not sound like spam.

I guess because it was an unsolicited email but still. I know her really well and I know she would dig it. Especially now that she has a real kitchen with an oven and sink, instead of a hotplate and plastic bucket.

I think I'll just call her instead.

***

I've reread over the last few entries on this blog and realised that they all seem somewhat negative. My boss from PAI told me once that he felt I was too sceptical and sarcastic. I spent 3 days in a panic thinking that I was too sceptical and sarcastic. Then I woke up one morning (at 5:30am, so as to be at work on time at 6am) and thought, "What the hell? I've worked damn hard to cultivate a healthy scepticism. I think it's an important path towards growth and learning. What does he know? He thinks going to one Goo Goo Dolls concert consitutes a love of live music and that Burning Man is the end all-be all of creativity." (No. I've never been, I'm sure I don't understand. Or whatever.)

But since living in this grey land of the White Witch, I'm worried if I am actually getting too negative. It might be because I secretly hate it here. Which is most likely my own fault - I am a firm believer in creating your own happiness, it's just it's just a lot harder to create it when it feels like you're 3,000 miles away from the nearest person who understands why "Peep Show" is funny. Plus all my attempts at creating happiness haven't quite worked yet.

So. Here are some New Year's Resolutions to help gussy up this blog in sparkly positiveness.

1. Make more jams and preserves. This will be assisted by the joining of a CSA.

2. Find a place to use my new snowshoes (and use them. Obviously).

3. Knit a sweater. It's time, Alice. You've diddled around with scarves and gloves long enough. Knit something substantial for God's sake.

4. Read more and better books. Watch more and better films (Can you believe I only just watched Cinema Paradiso? I also just watched Night at the Museum, duped into watching a Ben Stiller movie by the additional presence of Steve Coogan and Ricky Gervais in the credits. The less said the better, that movie is terrible.)

Okay. I think that's enough for now. Are we all smiling? Can we think of anything else I should do in my mimimally employed capacity?

Ludicriously tragic ways financiers do themselves in.

Ahh, my strange fascination for the camp ways in which today's financiers do themselves in. I never did get to blog about Bernie Madoff, although I (obviously) followed the case in whatever newspapers I managed to find left behind on the London Underground. You'll remember my entry about the Paul Giamatti doppleganger who faked his own death by parking his car on a bridge and scrawling those immortal words "suicide is painless" across the hood. In that entry, I also mention Norman Hsu, the Clinton campaign contributor and Ponzi scheme operator, caught fleeing from justice on a train on account of his being violently ill. Then there was fund manager and CNBC comentator Seth Tobias, found dead in his own pool, possibly drowned by his wife. His story is worthy of it's very own Lifetime made-for-tv movie (here's a quote from the NY Times article: "Mrs. Tobias confessed to him that she had cajoled her husband into the water while he was on a cocaine binge with a promise of sex with a male go-go dancer known as Tiger.").

The latest in this list is Marcus Schrenker, another financier who faked his own death by leaping out of a plane and making his escape by way of hidden motorcycle. Here's a description of the shenanigans, courtesy Jessica Pressler of New York Magazine:

The Plan: Schrenker, an accomplished pilot, would arrange to fly himself back from Florida to Indianapolis. Near Birmingham, Alabama, he would radio a distress call, parachute out of the plane, and when it crashed later, everyone would assume he died! Or something!
Where It Went Wrong: When Schrenker made his distress call, he overelaborated, saying "his windshield had shattered and he was bleeding profusely." When the plane was later found in a Florida swamp — where it had landed and thankfully not injured anyone — the windshield remained unbroken, and there was no blood in the plane.

The Plan: When he emerged from the woods 200 miles away, he would tell police he had been in a "canoe accident."
Where It Went Wrong: He was still wearing aviation goggles.

The Plan: Check into a motel, then casually disappear. Go pick up red motorcycle stashed in a storage unit and drive into the sunset.
Where It Went Wrong: (1) According to motel owner Yogi Patel, Schrenker was "last seen running into the woods wearing a black hat." (2) He rented the storage unit in his own name. (3) A red motorcycle? Really? (4) Around this time, a self-congratulatory video Schrenker made of himself doing DARING STUNTS on an airplane made him a giant YouTube star.

The Plan: Go to campground, commit suicide.
Where It Went Wrong: Marcus slashed only one wrist, and somehow punctured his elbow.

Dear Sir Richard Branson,

Dear Sir Richard Branson,

In spite of the fact that your name is so similar to that of Branston Pickle, I have a problem with your airplane service. It's not just that the names are so similar that I feel misled that you serve no Branston Pickle on your flights (which is something that should be remedied).

Yesterday or whenever it was, I woke up early (6am) to go to Heathrow and catch my flight to JFK, where I was to catch a bus to the Port Authority Bus Station and then catch another bus to my home in Ithaca, where my husband and dog were patiently awaiting my arrival. I had hoped to find my friend Brian in New York - a friend I haven't seen in several years, have ane nice leisurely meal and a good old fashioned chin wag before departing on my 6 hour bus trip to Ithaca.

Things didn't go according to plan and, Sir Richard, I blame you. Or at least your airline. I was notified of a one hour delay, when I checked my bags. This one hour stretched to 2 hours, then 3 and then canceled. It was by the grace of fortune that the Virgin desk is next to the toilets that I was just leaving when the flight notification board was changed to read: New York, VS003, Flight Delayed to 12:00, Gate Opens 15:45. The fact that the gate was set to open several hours after the flight was supposed to gave me pause enough to walk straight over to your desk. Within 10 minutes everyone else on my flight was standing behind me, including a loud Welsh woman and her mortified daughter (the Welsh woman kept threatening to faint) and a crabby, depressing New Yorker woman with droopy eyelids and a permanent frown who kept making increasingly more rude and scathing comments about the girls behind the desk.

We were then told that we were all to be transferred to the 2pm flight. And this, Sir Richard, this is where I feel there must have been a gross misuse of us as customers. Because, I just don't see how it was at all possible to fit all of us on another flight. I think that one of the flights - and I'm inclined to think it was the 2pm flight, wasn't full. And you'd be damned if you were going to send a plane over that wasn't full to capacity. Even if it resulted in your customers trips to New York (there were a lot of vacationers) being ruined or it meant that it made an already unpleasent trip, infinitely worse. I didn't get home until 25 hours after I woke up to get ready to go. I almost missed the last bus of the evening which would have resulted in my arriving home at 4am.
I felt even more unfairly treated when I opened up my "Sorry Voucher" packet, only to find that I was totally ineligible for any extra miles offered by Virgin, because I was only delayed 5 hours (not 6) and I hadn't paid enough for my ticket. Of course I purchased a cheaper ticket out of stinginess and because I am uncouth and unstylish and don't really understand what the word "luxury" means. Not at all because I couldn't afford a more expensive ticket and that we paid for the trip by scrimping and saving money, so that I could spend at least one more Christmas with my 100 year old grandmother. Which explains why I am so undeserving of any compensation beyond the 5 pounds I was given for 'light refreshments'. The actual flight itself was an interminable 8 hours, not including the extra time we spent circling JFK and subsequently taxiing on the ground at JFK. I had selected an aisle seat, near the front but was given a seat between a 6'3 Swede and a little old lady who applied nauseating perfume twice throughout the trip.

So anyway. My trip was absolutely horrible. And your airline's attempts to make me feel better were weak and infuriating. I am an unhappy customer.

Alice

NYE

I think it can all be summed up in this photograph, courtesy Malcolm Hobbs:

Blustery.

It's blustery today. But you don't really expect any less from England - in fact, it's been quite mild.

Ryan and I have a deal. To use a phrase one of the evil hedge fund managers used to use, irritatingly all too often (read: at all), it's on the DL. So I'm certainly not going to publish it here.

Of course, Ryan'll probably read this and think, "What the hell is she talking about?" and then ask me, and then I'll tell him, and he'll say, "I don't remember making that deal."

The DL is where I was told to keep my insane "work"-related trip to Reno (loudly, so that everyone in the office knew that I was keeping something on this apparent "DL"). Out of some strange sense of integrity, I suppose I'd better not go into the details. Conversely, out of some strange sense of needing to get things of my chest I will enter some words that could be used in the formal description of the trip:

irresponsibility
smelly
rude to the taxi driver
rude in general
obnoxious
smelly
supposed to be moving
"I can't wait to never go"
somewhat exciting
good story after all
...what's wrong with this country today and I can say that with utter seriousness and prove it, by using the current economy as evidence.
no artist I know would be caught dead there, even if it was part of an exhibit and I told them so
sheltered
terrifyingly large
smelly
insular
dusty
overuse of the word "burner"
adventure

Son House to the rescue: I get stared at on a train for an hour.

On the train from the Victoria station to Polegate, I had the very odd experience of being stared at for the entire trip. On the one hand, I think it's great that 19 year old boys think me attractive enough to stare at for over an hour, on the other hand, it was a little disconcerting to say the least, if not utterly distracting. Try reading a book when someone is literally leaning out of their seat staring at you. He moved seats 2 times to get a better view.

So, I fished my ipod out of my bag, found some Son House and stared out the window. To break the tension and relieve the boredom, I pretended to look suprised or interested at things outside or at the other end of the train, in an attempt to see if I could get him to turn his head and look at what I was looking at. It worked on several occasions, but the hard part was trying not to giggle in victory afterwards. I think he had just about worked up the nerve to say something to me when just around the time I had jammed my headphones into my ears, because as soon as I did that, he put his hands up to his face in an expression of utter defeat. Then he moved to the seat next to the one he was in (the second seat move) and continued staring at me through the space between the seats. At one point, he was leaning on the seats in front of him with his eye pressed up to that space.

For Nina's friend, Paul:

Someone found my blog using these search terms:

"Huell Howser, restraining order."

Finally!

Pirates Of The Caribean. Yes, it was terrible and I'm sorry I watched it.

I wish it was possible to make a film with loads of great special effects and awesome action scenes that didn't feature cutesy attempts at humour and irritating actors.

More Liberal Elitism

Call me a member of the liberal elite, but, well, um, duh (from Slate):

Places that went for Obama are richer and smarter than places that went for McCain.

I'm didn't just post this because I voted for Obama either. I'm not so delusional as to think that Obama is going to save the world like we all want him to. He did, after all, choose Hilary Clinton as his Secretary of State. But still. A competent, well adjusted politician verses a past-it (who doesn't use email in this day and age?) toady* and his gun toting, uneducated hillbilly of a running mate who nobody (including the ) even likes?

*and before you even dare think the word "maverick" [shudder, shudder] and start claiming that he's not like other Republicans (he is, he really, really is), what kind of "maverick" allows this man to pick your running mate after being told "no" to your first and second choices.

***

Here are some pictures to calm you down.

My Family

Wonderful though they are, are entirely and utterly predictable. I sent them an email several days ago, asking them what the want for Christmas. In my family, we have a tried and true method of wishlists. Everyone is responsible for submitting one and discussions take place between the other family members. No one ends up with something they didn't want or can't use. Sure, some of the spontaneity and creativity but that issue is mitigated by the fact that you get something you actually want.

So back to this email. I am leaving for England in a scant few days. I wanted to be able to get all my Christmas shopping done and be able to have sent the packages off yesterday. So I sent them the requisite email, then walked into Ryan's office and said, "I've just sent an email asking my parents and brother what they would like for Christmas, but I bet nobody replies."

Sure enough, 3 days later and not even a "Yes, sorry, I'll get to it later" response. Totally ignored.

The same thing happened at the beginning of the year, when I was trying get our trip to England in order - we were going for my grandmother's 100th. I sent out a long email about what dates we could go, how we would work out certain sleeping arrangements, what our tentative plan would be while we were there. Nothing. Nobody even mentioned to me that they received the email until I threw a fit about it.

I'm not really sure what to do, except not buy anyone presents.

Parsley Dumplings

me: Last night I made parsley dumpling soup.

MargoBee: ooh!

post the recipe? Please?

me: Sure.

MargoBee: I have parsley and veggies...

9:58 AM me: It's quite simple. Just start a simple broth and add your vegetables like you would any other soup.

10:00 AM While that's cooking, put 1 cup of flour, 1.5 teaspoons baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda, about half a cup of finely chopped parsley, salt and pepper in a bowl.

Combine that, then add 1/2 cup buttermilk, 1 tablespoon of olive oil.

Then, after you're soup vegetables are cooked, drop golf ball sized blobs of the batter in the simmering soup.

10:01 AM Put the lid on for 5-10 minutes.

Then check them to see if they're done.

They should be puffed up and cooked through.

10:04 AM MargoBee: thanks!

Strange Things I've Found On The Internet

Well, to be fair, I did not find this thing on the internet. Ryan and I found it when we were standing in line at Michael's waiting to purchase a crochet hook. I don't recommend going to Michael's ever, let alone during this particular season but when you live in the middle of nowhere and it's them or Jo-Ann Fabrics for knitting supplies, you do what you have to.

I really needed a crochet hook to assist with the thumb making of a certain pair of gloves.

Anyway, we were standing in line when we saw a box containing this:
Now. You may ask what it is. Ryan did, even when he was presented with the name of the product: The Original Candle Warmer. For warming your candles. You know, the awful smelly ones that people inexplicably have in their houses (usually houses with valances). I always assume that they are there to cover up a worse smell. I assume the same about air fresheners. I find this category of product baffling - why don't you just clean your house regularly and possibly open a window every once in a while?

From the Candlewarmers website:

"From it's inception in December of 2000, Candle Warmers Etc. has dedicated itself to providing to the public a superior and safer way to enjoy scented candles without the need of lighting the candles."

"The only way to use a candle today is to use an Official Candle Warmers, Etc. candle warmer."

The only way to use a candle today is to not use it all, just let it sit around your house gathering dust and occasionally cooking it slightly on a hot plate, thus releasing the scent of sparkling cinnamon loganberry delight, which will almost completely cover the smell of your filthy, filthy house and no one will know that you haven't taken the rubbish out in over 3 months.

Walk

Today we went on a magical walk through icy, frozen Ithaca. We found, washed up on the shore of the lake:

A baby seat - I hope that it's contents had been removed before it was callously hurled in to Lake Cayuga.

A rock that had been engulfed by a tree - picture below

A DVD of the movie Noel, starring Penelope Cruz, Susan Sarandon and Robin Williams - despite the fact that littering is terrible, I think whoever had the grace to hurl it into the lake must have been in the middle of a fit of public service. Have you even heard of it?

An oar - we discussed bringing it home and turning it into some kind of unique furniture piece or hanging it on our wall. I thought it would be a fun thing to keep in the bathroom to freak our our guests.


More pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/rdougher/Ithaca_Getting_Cold#

Arguing On The Internet: One More Entry Involving The LDS Church and Proposition 8

I came across this article in a Mormon person's blog - I was reading someone else's blog and this blog was linked to their blog. I think arguing on the internet is silly, which is why I did not leave a comment on the blog, but I do believe that ignorance is a terrible, terrible thing, which is why I chose to include it in my blog, with my own comments. The author, appears to have thought about the issue a great deal and I commend him for that. He also appears to have completely misunderstood what the issue was.

A crisp, cold vitriol is in the airwaves; must be an election year---and with it the caustic smell of heated brain cells. Good arguments have shaped this great Country; ideas that oppose in the extreme move actions that benefit the majority to somewhere in the middle.

[The word "country" is capitalised in every instance in this article. At first I thought it must be poor use of grammar, but on second thought, I realise that it must be some strange way of expressing beliefs, rather like when feminists use the word "womyn".]

And right now, we are in the extreme season waiting for more common sense on Prop 8 to blossom so we can all be friends again. The problem is not so much with media, but with the way we read media (or don’t). We tend to react to sound bites with fear, disgust, or self-righteous cheers (and jeers). It’s difficult not to react and vote emotionally. Scientists tell us that the Hypothalamus [more poor grammar], the part of the brain that controls emotions has much more influence than the part of the brain responsible for logic and reason. That’s why men buy SUVs and women fall in love with men who do---logic might dictate that an SUV in Southern California is a waste of money, fuel, and environmentally stupid; and marrying a man that insecure and self-absorbed might leave the spouse of such longing to be cuddled.

[Actually, not quite. I'm not even going to bring up the argument that a lot of women buy SUVs, because while the author is oversimplyfying, I take his meaning to be "expensive, flashy cars". The reason why women are attracted to men with expensive, flashy cars is because they display perceived resources, the idea that he will be able to provide for offspring, much in the same way a peacock has a big flashy tail: a liability and waste of resources, but because of this, proof of the peacock's supposed infallibility. Things like being environmentally conscious don't really enter to the environment of evolutionary adaptiveness, so therefore can't really be counted as a reason why women should have better sense - they have perfectly good sense, evolutionarily speaking, as they are reading the cues provided to them with the tools that they have]

And yet those emotional decisions are made every day. Campaign managers know basic psychology-- a mediocre, emotionally charged campaign, beats a well-thought out, logical and reasonable campaign.

[Several months ago, I would have agreed. And then Senator McCain introduced Sarah Palin as his running mate and Senator Obama won the election.]

Witness the Prop 8 campaign asking voters to say yes to legally defining marriage as between a man and a woman. Seems simple and logical enough: Men and women are biologically created to fit anatomically together to become “joined” as marriage defines. Now, that’s not to suggest that any other two or three or five people of any gender combination could never live happily and emotionally fulfilled together. It also doesn’t mean that a biological match makes an emotional one---that’s the mystery of love, and love and marriage do not always go together. But that’s not the point. We are talking about the meaning of words, and therein lies the bigger problem. The meaning of a word, one word can stall an entire judiciary system for years. A word can have so many meanings that it no longer means anything and needs an attorney to decide based on a client’s emotions.

Unfortunately, emotion leads many people away from civilities and mutual respect into using their personal beliefs to change laws that would better accommodate them whenever they feel threatened.

[I agree with his idea that "...emotion leads people away from civilities and mutual respect into using their personal belief to change laws..." but if the author truly understood the issue at hand, he might change his mind. Proposition 8 is exactly this, an emotional outcry that lead people away from civilities and mutual respect towards a change in California's constitution.]

At a little-league game we define those people as sore losers who “let their emotions get away from them.” Seems to be a lot of soccer-parents on both sides of the Prop 8 issue. And both are wielding the “Right to believe” stick; or “make it-fair-for-everybody” rule. Some are even absurdly comparing the issue to Women’s Suffrage and Equal Rights; an emotional sucker-punch if you ask me. Homosexuals may be discriminated against by individuals, maybe even communities (and for a time, the military [I would argue are still discriminated in the military - how many straight members of the military are forced to live double lives?]), but there has never been a law on the books that prevented them from voting or sitting where they like on a city bus. No extermination order was ever issued against them [except Hitler's and Stalin's], as it was the Mormons.

[The addition of this last sentence seemed more self-serving than anything else - what have the Mormons, specifically, got to do with this?]

Hate crimes now merit a more egregious sentence and justice to all minorities is more attainable than ever before in America.

[So why stop now?]

Homosexuality even enjoys chic status among Hollywoodites, intellectuals,

[What does he mean by intellectuals? People who read books? Is he referring to the words of Boyd K. Packer?]

artists,

[Well, they're just so emotional]

and on college campuses.

[Seriously? Is he referring to LUGs?]

It’s hard to argue homosexuals being treated as second-class citizens when being out of the closet is so in. That gives the emotional victimization campaign about as much credence as “God will kill us all if we let gays marry” argument.

[This implies that homosexuals are homosexual because it's a fun fashion accessory. And while to Hollywoodites, intellectuals , artists and on college campuses , homosexuality might be accepted as just part of who someone is, that does not mean that the people in say, Provo, Utah, will do the same thing. The reason why one might think it's "in" to be gay, is because we live in a world where it is becoming increasingly more accepted and less of a big deal. So more people are coming out - people who would, in earlier times, have been forced to live double lives.]

A little common sense: Let’s have a look at the bigger and better things to worry about: Government. I know, it’s a nasty word right now given the missteps of our elected officials this past decade and again, that’s the point: They sent us to war, they failed to fight the war with enough resources, they failed to react to the worst natural disaster in our history; policies and pressure from both sides of the aisle plunged us into the worst economic depression since the great depression (few remember it, but many remember the scenes from Cinderella Man and don’t want to go there). It’s been a tough decade. Our government has failed us in many ways. And now we entrust them with a new definition and all the legal entanglements that will come with it?

[Once again, Steve, you've missed the point entirely. You complain about big government here and further on in your article, but what you don't understand is that Proposition 8 was about adding legislation. A vote against it is a vote against changing the California constitution. I can't understand how any self respecting republican couldn't see that.]

William Borah said: “The marvel of all history is the patience with which men and women submit to burdens unnecessarily laid upon them by their governments.” Well, I think we have been patient enough. Are we really prepared to propose a change in the definition of a word that will allow Judges and Legislators to parse meanings, create ever-burdening laws that clog our courtrooms and drain our tax dollars, our savings, our time---just to engage in the sophistry of “new definitions?” When will it stop? The slicing and dicing and diluting will only leave our passionate citizenry dispassionate, apathetic, cynical. When Bill Clinton was on trial for his moral misjudgments, he asked for a definition of “it”. What a bold obfuscation! Oliver North must’ve been his secret defense attorney---can’t you hear him: “No matter what, don’t make a point, or make one then retract it or retract a point of an unknown origin by definition of its locale in the present.” What a waste of tax dollars that trial was, what an exercise in obfuscation from everyone involved beginning with the crusade by Kenneth Star. Can you imagine the same type of trial being played out in courthouses all over the Country as they battle to apply a new definition of marriage to man and woman, but not with man and woman, and therefore what said parties of and/or are entitled to? What a calamity our judicial system will be if judges and lawyers and clerks are suddenly burdened with the task of redefining marriage, sexuality and all the implications foreseen, assumed, and perceived both publicly and privately.

[The only reason this would happen is because of the people who argue that homosexuals should not be allowed to marry. But I don't see how this is a reasonable argument for Proposition 8 - you don't want to vote against it because if it doesn't pass, other people will complain about it? I'm also confused as to how you equate grassroots movements to change a philosophy long held by this and many other governments to Bill Clinton sticking his cigar where he shouldn't have.]

John Adams wrote: “Democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts and murders itself. There was never a democracy that did not commit suicide.” The same can be said of government.

[As it was, by John Adams when he said: "“Democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts and murders itself. There was never a democracy that did not commit suicide.”]

Our system is already a Jabba The Hutt government---bloated, immovable, on the verge of cardiac arrest. Why feed it? Better to trim it down so it can get back to work for us.

[YES. So don't change the constitution. Exactly.]

Personally, and emotionally, I have enough faith in the American people that they will come to treat homosexuals as they deserve to be treated: with love, respect, dignity---much sooner without involving government intervention.

[By virtue of the fact that you belong to a church that breeds misogyny, misinformation and prejudice, I find it hard to believe that you are not, at least, naive, if not hypocritical.]

Now is the time to accept all human beings as human, to grant them the rights of legal companionship without imposing another redefinition into a governmental and judicial system already long-listed with frivolous lawsuits, absurd constitutional challenges and the clamor of self-interest groups. Now is the time for all of us, gay, straight, Christian, Jew, celibate, Atheist and undecided [What an odd combination of categories!] to stand up for the bigger issue: we don’t want more laws, more interpretations, more filibusters, more sophistries. Now is the time to remember the words of Bob Wells: “For every action there is an equal and opposite government program.” The future of our democracy depends not on an appointed government, but on self-government. We can throw off the weight of an increasingly Orwellian system of laws and demonstrate our respect for each other without being ordered to. It’s time for homosexuals to stop acting like religious zealots,

[I think that it's time for religious zealots to stop acting like religious zealots. Also, I'm not really sure how homosexuals have been acting like religious zealots, any more than any person who feels that they have been wronged and then uses the democratic system of government to make a change such that the wrong will be fixed, is a religious zealot]

and religious leaders to go back to their core beliefs of love and charity toward others---more important than living and preaching a sinless life is loving all, even the sinner. It’s also time for all of us to be honest, to stop living the selfish lie… “Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live.” (Oscar Wilde).

[Yes. So how is disallowing homosexuals to marry not imposing your way of living on others?]

The government is already in our pocketbooks and our facebooks. Do we really want them in our bedrooms? I’m certain we can come up with a solution that treats homosexuals fairly without spawning a Pandora department in the justice system and setting Gay rights back fifty years because of the resentment and reverberations this redefinition will cost. We talk about tolerance, but there are some things we should never tolerate: a compromise in our integrity, the abuse of power. Let’s also have little tolerance for the tyranny of stifling confrontations that would redirect our energies and our money into the bottomless sea of judiciary pontifications.

Emotionally, I wish prop 8 were only about being with the one you love---I’m all for that. But logically, I can’t see an already overloaded Justice [Again with the odd capitalisation!] system weighed down with the obligation of seeing to every lawsuit and counter lawsuit doing any community or individual any good at all---homosexual, heterosexual or otherwise. Common sense would dictate that before we take down any fences, let us be sure of what’s on the other side of the fence.

As obfuscation would have it, voting yes on prop 8 is a vote against a judicial Sisyphusean circus.

[Again, NO, it's a vote for it. It's a vote to change the constitution. That is more legislation, not less.]

So yes, let’s leave the definition of marriage the way it has always been, the way it is generally accepted in our society today so our judicial system and our public servants can devote their time to issues like Education, Poverty, Environment, and Taxes before there is a movement to redefine those words as well.

[Sure. Let's leave things exactly how they've always been and totally avoid progress in any way, because you don't want to deal with the paperwork. Redefining values, words, beliefs etc. is how people and countries grow move towards the greater good. Change isn't bad!]

--Steve Wunderli

Addendum, January 2009. The offending blog entry has been removed from the blog I found it on, instead replaced with a number of wedding photos. Did you know that Utah is ranked first in the nation for googling such terms as : "pornography," "naked girls," "striptease," "topless," "nude," "strip poker," "lingerie," "blonde" and "brunette"?

My favourite action hero: Huell Howser

When I lived in SB, I became a fan of Huell Howser. His grasp of the overtly obvious, his almost cartoonish mannerisms and accent and his terrible, terrible clothes. I love it when he does things he's been expressly instructed not to do. I could go on, but it's all summed up here in the Huell Howser Drinking Game.

Here's a clip of him talking to the border patrol - while the first bit is hilarious, what with the Mexican making a break for it while the interview is happening, make sure you continue to watch the whole thing, because the ending is classic Huell, with him repeating himself constantly while irritating/confusing his interview subject with inanity:

***

Here's some more Huell:

Odetta

I remember when I first discovered Odetta. It was the first time I went over to John's house and he had this video of a big black woman with an unbelievably powerful voice. She strummed along, singing "Water Boy", her face curling and contorting and on the rests she would making this loud, barking noise like she was expelling all the air from her lungs. John kept rewinding the tape and we must have watched it seven or eight times. It was part of the beginning of my fascination with blues and folk Anyway, here it is via YouTube:



Here's some more:

Delicious Dinner plus an article about Pirates.

Apparently a cruise ship was attacked by Somali Pirates yesterday. I include this because everyone loves a good pirate story.

***

Tonight I was finally feeling almost well enough to make a proper dinner. My compromise was to use up not-quite-leftovers. I made a butternut squash gallette on Saturday for Thanksgiving II. Some of the filling didn't make it into pastry (as usual) so it lived in my fridge as not-quite-leftovers until this evening. I tossed the uncooked but sliced squash, apple and onion (already coated in butter, thyme, salt and pepper) in a baking dish with 3 cubes of homemade stock after preheating the oven to 400. While this was cooking I made some buttermilk biscuit batter, with the added deliciousness of cheddar cheese (I also periodically checked on the stuff in the oven, giving it a stir now and then and making sure that the everything was getting nicely coated with juices):

2 cups flour
4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbs cold butter
1/2 cup (or more) grated cheddar cheese
1 1/4 cup chilled buttermilk

I mixed all the dry ingredients thoroughly, then added the butter and cheese. I used a pastry knife to mix it all together until it was fairly coarse. Then I made a hole in the middle and poured in a cup of butter milk and started to bring it together. I found it too dry, so I added another 1/4 cup of buttermilk. Once it was a beautiful sticky dough/batter, I pulled the squash, apples and onions out of the oven (making sure they were done). I spread my batter over the top, making sure it was nice and even, pushing it up to the edges.

I put it back in the oven and did some dishes, interviewed a house sitter and then took it out (after testing it with a toothpick, making sure none of the biscuit topping stuck to the toothipick upon withdrawal). It was nice and browned on the top and the filling was bubbling and boiling. Delcious. Next time, I would prefer more filling, but since I made it out of not-quite-leftovers, I was a little limited.

This sort of thing can be done with all sorts of other stuff - just toss some vegetables in a baking dish with some liquid (the homemade stock works), some fat (olive oil, butter, etc) and flavour (salt, pepper, thyme - whatever goes best with your choice of veggies) and let it cook while you make the batter. You can make vegan biscuit batter by substituting soy or rice milk, so the whole meal could be vegan.

Hearty and theoretically, fairly quick.

Long Island Wal Mart Worker Trampled to Death

Umm.... this is just horrible. (That is a NY Daily News article).

Here's what Fox News (shudder, shudder) had to say:

"MINEOLA, N.Y. — A worker trampled to death when customers stormed a Wal-Mart for bargains on the day after Thanksgiving had no experience in crowd control and was placed at the entrance because of his hulking frame, police and a lawyer said Monday."

Hulking frame. Hulking frame.

I just don't even know what to say. This is just so ludicrously tragic.