News and Notes

Work has been in the spot light lately. Last week a reporter from the Times Herald did a story on us and then Monday a feature reporter from Fox News came by with a camera and did a piece on us as well. He'd seen the article in the paper and thought we looked interesting. I managed to not be on camera. It's a skill I am quite proud of.


Life in general has been zipping by, but all good things. There are times I feel like I'm in constant motion, but I can't say I'm bored. The week starts with plans on Monday and Thursday, but by Monday afternoon it has been consumed with plans and the preparation for them. At least I can say my apartment is clean!


Saturday was a much anticipated trip to the Mutter Museum with Frank. The museum is interesting, but was very crowded and I felt like the air was a bit stale. That could explain the 3 trips to the lobby for air and freedom of movement. I'll be the first to admit I don't like crowds, but I'm not clostrophobic and this wasn't nerves. It was the third time when I just sat down in the lower collection that Frank realized I didn't just have a really small bladder (or an intestinal issue). He was great, came up to the lobby with me for a bit then we finished the tour. By that time the crowd had thinned out quite a bit.


But why would you send a man with a 40 lb colon home? Sure, they didn't find signs of cancer, but can you honestly tell me they thought this would clear up? That there was nothing wrong? At the very least give the poor guy an enima and see if you can't clear some of the debris out!


Dinner was at the same little diner we had our first meal in, and the conversation was just as good. All in all it was a good day. The rest of the weekend was running around with Connie and Monie on various shopping missions. Don's request for help buying curtains inspired me to get some for my bedroom that actually matched. Go figure.


Monday was a day where next to nothing was accomplished. Between the reporter and my pounding head I wasn't very productive, but I managed to stick it out until our late arriving messenger showed up. I made up for this with a very productive Tuesday, personally and professionally.


First I managed in 11.5 hours to locate my desk under a mountain of things needing my attention. Then once home I made cookies and cleaned the apartment. Callie even got some play time in the grass before Buttons/Walton arrived. Not too shabby.


Tonight is the walk in-drive in with Frank and finally seeing An Inconvenient Truth. Not the classic date movie, but it will be my first near drive in experience so I'm looking forward to it almost as much as the company.

Who Knew?

Vegan jerky is really pretty tasty.

Who knew?

Success!

On many levels this morning, I am feeling quite successful.

Last night I made dinner for Frank and made what I have to say was a very yummy vegetarian pot pie. I'm thinking he liked it too because there wasn't much left for lunch today. And Ms. Amanda has recommended a good veggie cookbook so hopefully I can widen my repertoire. Happiness!

In more professional news, we had a reporter from the Times Herald interview my boss on Tuesday for an article about entertainment businesses in Norristown. There is a movie studio being proposed for the city and we are all pretty excited about it. Ardia gave a great interview (I was so proud) and the story hit the paper this morning. We made the front page (below the fold though) with a nice picture of Ardia and a puppet to accompany it. If you are interested you can follow this link to the story:

http://www.timesherald.com/WebApp/appmanager/JRC/Daily?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pg_article&r21.pgpath=%2FNTH%2FNews&r21.content=%2FNTH%2FNews%2FTopStoryList_Story_608822

Stardust

Okay, I'm just going to say it.
You have to see Stardust.
You have to see it in the theater.
It is fantastic!

Other Lives

Sometimes I forget that once upon a time I was...well, a scientist for lack of a better word. In that life I designed research studies, worked on objective evaluations, drew conclusions from statistics and even have my name on a few bits of literature on the subject.

Today I got a nice reminder.

My former boss' wife sent me a note that Taylor Francis needs me to fill out a W-9 for my royalty check. Oh yeah, that chapter in Skin Moisturization, I forgot about that. It isn't a big check, but it's fun money and that's always good. In my excitement I mentioned it to a few people and much to my surprise one of them asked for the title so he could check out the book, not realizing it was a $300 text book. And really, how many people on this earth are enthralled by stratum corneum hydration and non-invasive ways to quantify it? Though "trans epidermal water loss" does just trip off the tongue, doesn't it?

Sometimes I miss that. I miss thinking more critically than I need to do now.

Things to ponder.

Playing Catch with Sleep

The weekend was another in a string of lovely ones. Friday was dinner at Thai Thanee in Abington then Frank and I headed to the movies to see Stardust. Oh it was good. Then off for coffee at my place since it was only 9:30 when the show let out. It was a good night. I dropped him back at his place around 5 then went home and passed out until noon or so.

Sunday I woke to a sad little text from Monie. The weather was not cooperating with her picnic plans. After some back and forth she decided to postpone, but she, Connie, Andrew and I got together for lunch and a nice chat. Poor Andrew played the role of much tormented little brother, but I got the feeling he didn't mind too much.

After lunch we went back to my place to lounge and digest. Eventually it was just Connie and I talking about the state of the onion, but this too was nice. Sometimes you just have to vent.

Around 7:30 Frank called, back in one piece from his soon to be brother in law's bachelor party fishing expedition. Oh the stories! He was up for the postponed picnic next weekend (possibly) and somehow we managed to spend 4 hours on the phone. I'm not sure what we find to talk about, but we do.

So today is a little bit of a sleepy day, but a good one all the same

Awake on Wednesday

Okay, can anyone name that song?

Yesterday my lovely boss brought in flowers and lunch for Beverly and I to celebrate our birthdays. So very nice, and an opportunity to torment Bill with the birthday cake. I couldn't ask for much more fun.!

Last night was a quiet one. I had thought to run to the nursery and pick up plant food, but then I realized I had no plans. This meant I could go home and relax with the cat, pig and bird for some much put off home time. And that is what I did, though I don't think Feldon really cared one way or the other.

When I am home on a Tuesday night there is actually a show I try to watch, Eureka. It's quite good and I was very excited when the new season began. There are very few shows I make a point to watch, really just this one and new Law and Orders. So of course at the last 15 minutes of the show the phone rings. And it's not a call I can ignore because he's going through...not exactly a mid-life crisis, perhaps more of a reality check. Hopefully I can catch the episode again at some odd time this week. We shall see.

The reality check is that my friend is getting too old to crash things while out having fun. His back is completely fubared and most of the damage is permanent. This doesn't stop him from doing stupid things, but now he at least acknowledges they are indeed dumb. He is 37 and has also begun thinking that dating a 23 year old who still lives with her parents is not for him. Of course the idea of a monogamous relationship is also not for him, go figure. This led us to an interesting conversation.

The girl had just made a snippy comment about him probably going out this week, getting drunk and hooking up with someone else. At this point he told her they needed to not see each other for a while, not because she was wrong, but because he wanted to do just that and was tired of her nagging about it. Oh there are sooooo many things wrong with that situation, anyhow...

So he asks me what I think about it. I tell him that as long as all parties involved know that you aren't exclusive then I don't see an issue. I'm guessing he wasn't quite that straight forward with her when they started seeing each other. His next question was if I was seeing someone seriously would I fool around with someone else? Um...no, not if it was serious. He was a little defensive here, telling me other girls had said they would. I pointed out that other girls wanted to get in his pants, I didn't.

Then there was a pause, and he said maybe he should date women his own age. I said it might work out better. Then he wanted to know if I was available. Um...no. And even if I was, no. Did he hear what I just said? Ug.

If I haven't mentioned it before, he was a summer fling from last year. In fact as of yesterday he is the 3rd guy from last year to pop back up and say hello this month. Maybe it's the weather, maybe it's the birthday thing, but it's kinda creepy.

Okay, and really funny for the most part!

Why?

I am 33 years old.

I have been out of high school for 15 years.

Why on earth am I still having dreams that involve forgetting my locker combination?

Starlight, Starbright

So in keeping with my birthday norm, last night I headed out to see the Perseid Meteor Shower. It should have been spectacular, but sadly it ended up being a game of peek-a-boo with the clouds. One fun factor was texting with Monie and she too tried to see the show...until I lost reception anyhow.

My original plan of going to Valley Forge was altered due to sleepiness. I ended up outside of Skippack in a field next to a church, laying on my blanket and catching glimpses of the shooting stars. Frank was dead on his feet, so I didn't remind him about the shower. He was a little bummed this morning, but admitted he would have died had he tried to make it.

It may not have been perfect, but it was a lovely end to a very wonderful weekend.

Another Year

I turned 33 on Saturday and it was quite the nice event. In fact, all of 2007 has been pretty darned good so I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised. And I got exactly what I wanted: Time.

Saturday night my near and dears came over to share pizza and movies, and to catch up with me as well as each other. I can't think of a better way to spend a day. Charles was already installed on the couch when Don arrived. They then got there first exposure to what is the tornado of me hostessing. It involves a lot of dashing back and forth, which elicited comments that I needed to do a different dance each time I ran past the doorway and comparisons between this a the shooting gallery at a State Fair. Don missed out on this experience at Christmas because I was still on crutches. Instead he just got to laugh at me while I hobbled around.

As Don and I caught up Monie arrived with a beautiful bouquet of roses and a pan of yummy cookies. She is still the best date a girl can ask for. Clan Reisse arrived with the always entertaining Miss Charlotte. She was sleepy from her nap in the car, but soon perked up to explore. Andrew and Connie were hot on their heels, Andrew sporting a jaunty cap which he tried to persuade Miss C. to wear and Connie still wired for sound. Within an hour we had Charlotte dancing in pearls, you really can't beat that for entertainment.

Pizza was ordered, then Lydia and Ralph arrived much to my delight. Though I expected Lydia I had little hope of Ralph coming as he is allergic to cats, and I have a big one. He made it through the evening surprisingly well (or hid his suffering well) and bartended in grand style. They brought a bottle of Absolute New Orleans (profits going to help with Katrina reconstruction). Thanks to Ralph I rarely had an empty cup.

My invite for this gathering did not mention my birthday, as I figured most people knew and for me it was really more about everyone seeing each other. Of course what I didn't know was that Ms. Monie sent an addendum to my invite telling folks it was my birthday, adorable brat that she is (is it any wonder I love her so?). This led to a flaming pan of Monie's delectable cookies. Happily the smoke detector didn’t go off.

Soon Charlotte was showing signs of sleepiness so we said good night to Clan Reisse. After the first movie, Shaun of the Dead, Lydia and Ralph also said their goodbyes before his head exploded from the coughing induced by Callie. We lost Charles to a headache somewhere around this time, so he headed into the bedroom to let the Tylenol do it's work. The rest of us settled into talking when the phone rang.

Jill called in birthday greetings and there was a birthday song from Clan Krellen as well. Greg, Aly and Miss Julia Rose arrived in time for the second movie, and JR delighted all with cuteness. I gave Aly the grand tour, as we realized she never saw the apartment when it was just me living there. Aly was my first roommate and I'd rearranged so she could move in. We disturbed the sleeping Charles for the bedroom tour (the back room had been Aly's) and there was also a quick introduction that I'm fairly sure he has no memory of. At least I didn't pile purses and coats on him.

JR and Aly played as we watched the second movie, Hot Fuzz. I have to say Aly has an amazing ability to multi-task. It was quite adorable. Good thing for us the kids were staggered or we all would have needed insulin shots!

Around 11 we all started to get the sleepies, except Julia Rose of course. It took some convincing, but she was finally persuaded that she would get to come back and play with my bears, and there was a promise of water ice as well.

I stayed up to see the day end, quite happy and feeling very, very lucky.

Hot Tuesday Night

Last night was the Michael Buble concert at the Mann Music Center. I met my friend Matt (who I haven't seen in close to a year but who is responsible for my love of MB) and we caught dinner before the show to catch up. All in all we are both having good years, which is such a nice thing to be able to say. He caught me up on the kids and the lady in his life, I babbled about friend's little ones and the person I've been spending time with.

It was not exactly awkward, but it wasn't quite relaxed either. We are both a little slimmer, my hair's longer and his is...a little less thick. He's met a nice girl while playing World of War Craft and is quite happy. It's a shame she lives in Canada though.

We also worked on not to passing out from the heat. It was brutal! I have never seen such a large group of people fanning themselves! At one point MB told us he appreciated the love and enthusiasm, but it was hot so we didn't have to clap...just wave a pinkie and go woo. It didn't work, but the thought was funny.

Jann Arden opened for him and was amazing. She was also quit funny, which made for great audience interaction and a very fun set. Soon enough MB was on, and he too was quite the comedian. He reminded me a lot of Tom Jones, just with more energy (and about 40 fewer years). I love his shtick of using a corded microphone, though it was a little unwieldy when he decided to take the act into the audience. The security guards weren't letting folks up to the stage after he'd invited them, so he just hopped down and and performed in the seats. Not something I've seen much of. But two roadies were on stage trying to keep the cord from killing anyone.

I would have loved to be on the lawn dancing, but alas it was not to be. F. would have danced, or at least crashed on the grass with me where I think it might have been cooler. Ah well. All in all though a great night, and I'd see MB again in a heart beat. Even thought about trying to get tickets to his other show this week, but I'm thinking 3 concerts in a week might be a little much for me...

Question

How do you know when cottage cheese goes bad?

Once Upon a Monday Dreary...

Well, I'm not weak and not particularly weary, but I felt it made for a good title!

The weekend was full of fun really. Friday I gathered Connie and we headed to Bristol to see "Just So" at the Bristol Riverside Theatre. My counterpart in NYC, Russell, directs a kids show there every summer and I usually go. The show was much better than last year, not because the acting last year was poor but because it was "Thoroughly Modern Milly"-a show that thoroughly doesn't thrill me.

After the show Connie headed out to pick up her newly shaved cat from Petsmart and I headed home to gather some odds and ends for Clan Hoag before hanging out with Lydia. It was a very relaxed chat, the kids were occupied with their own play and we had a chance to really catch up. Sometimes it's hard to switch my attention from the kids who I adore to the adult I want to talk to. It works out though.

Once home I had a nice long chat with F. and we firmed up plans for the weekend. Saturday we met at the Rodin Museum at 2 and wandered through making comments insightful and comical. The museum is nice, if small and in need of dusting. Once we finished there we walked up to the Art Museum and poked around until they kicked us out at closing. We then got dinner at Hinge which was actually a little sad. There were no vegetarian options on the menu, which surprised me because there used to be, but they were nice enough to whip something up for F. And of course it was delicious.

They made up for the lack of veg by not minding us sitting there and gabbing until 8:30, though there were some good natured jokes as we left. No Monie, I didn't see Simone. We once again proved ourselves incapable of ending an evening before 2 AM.

This of course meant that Sunday I did...almost nothing. I managed to get myself together by 5 to run to Staples then forage for food. I also cleaned the apartment and put stuff in the attic between naps. I could get used to the lazy Sunday.

The birthday week festivities seem to be concerts on Tuesday and Friday then seeing a good chunk of friends on Saturday. I'm a happy camper!

Ick

Diet tonic water is gross, FYI.

And yes, I like regular.

Finished!

I finished The Deathly Hallows this morning around 2 AM...Had my first excited discussion about it with Amanda at 8. She was happy to have someone else around who's finished it.

Very good book. If anyone wants to borrow it (to read or hold up a corner of their home) just let me know.