Better Than Ezra - Love Is Stronger Than Death

I think I will learn this song. I forgot how much I loved it, and I listened to it tonight. I did get to see BTE perform this version the last time I saw them. It is cool when a band you love covers something else you really love well. BTE always puts on a great show. The chords are easy too.

My Lovin'

This one's for Pat! I know you want to belt it out.

Seed: The Listener

Seed: The Listener
This is the next book I want to read.

XXX Elmo

Fisher-Price - Tickle Me Elmo T.M.X. eXtra special edition - Top Secret (2007) :15 (USA) | Adland
I saw this ad, and it really looks like Elmo is doing something dirty. Of course the pixelation does not help either.

The 10 Best Books of 2007 - New York Times

The 10 Best Books of 2007 - New York TimesHave you read any of them?

Turkey Part 2

So, as I am sitting here trying to recover from my cold, I will fill in more holiday details.
As I said before, we were working the first day Mom and John were here. They did venture out of the house and take a walk around the neighborhood. They checked out Stinky Yellow (a house we are looking at around the corner) and wandered around the yard there. That was OK since the owners are long gone. Wednesday night we went to the Opera. It was fantastic (the set, the music, everything!). We took the train in to the city since that tends to be a busy night, and everything was bustling. The Opera was not over until 11:30, and we took our time back to Grand Central. We did not get home until 1:30, because we missed the express train home and had to take a local (I swear I always miss the express, probably due to the fact that I do not know the schedule!).

I think I chronicled the T-day fiasco. It was OK in the end. Friday we went to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. Mike and I have never been to the statue before. It was windy and cold, so we froze our arses off waiting for the ferries to come. We had to go through serious airport security before boarding the ferries. Mike brought his new trusty thermos for coffee, and the security lady slowly opened it up at arm's length. I suppose she was following procedure, and he was glad they did not take away his precious. It was crazy to think of all of the people they processed through Ellis island in a day. They only did not accept 2% of the people that came through there. I will never complain at an airport again! We got amazing city views after we visited the statue.

Sat I was out of commission, so Mike took Mom and John around the area. They got to drive by some houses we are considering, and they visited an art museum down the street (which got a thumbs up). They returned, and we dined on NY style pizza and played dominoes (until I wilted like a daisy). Mike is a trooper for trying to navigate some of the area. I am the designated navigator.

Sunday I thought I was better, so I went to the city with the crew. We wandered by the luxurious window displays, admired Rockefeller center, and went to the Top of the Rock. The Top of the Rock just was opened after several years in the last year or so. It was great, because we reserved tickets and did not have to stand in line (or on line for you new yorkers). I wanted to get the daytime to night timing, so we went about 3:45. Mike, Mom, and John probably thought I was being a spaz, because I wanted to stay to watch the city lights come on, but we got an extra treat of a full moon rising. The first time I came to NY, Mike took me to the Empire about the same time of day, and it was really cool seeing the city 2 ways. It was worth the wait. We wandered around Times Square, and ate dinner. The rest of the trip was lying around and driving to the airport. Here are some more pics from Top of the Rock. I like it better than the Empire.

The Office - Andy Singing Collection

I love the eclectic compilation. I dig the Indigo Girls, Cranberries, and Cardigans!

Heroes and some bitchin'

First of all, Heroes
1. Siler is so damn creepy. I still do not get how he can get his powers back. What is he going to do, fight Suresh man to man? Suresh is a wimp though, so he does not have much of a chance.
2. Peter on the dark side unwittingly? Or is Peter like the Suresh with super powers. Can he beat Adam?
3. Where is Noah Bennett anyways? He is not at the company since Bob and Elle think he is dead.
4. I have a feeling Jessica will be back really soon.

I am sick of being sick. I do not have time for it, and I am weary of napping, drinking juice, and watching trashy TV. I can not read or do useful work right now, so it is not productive being home either. Wahhhhhh!!!!!

Top of the City

We hit Rockefeller, holiday windows, Times Square, and The Top of the Rock today.

Holiday Hi jinks

We spent Thanksgiving with my sister-in-law and her husband's family. He usually puts on an elaborate holiday extranvaganza, and they go crazy getting ready. After we got out of the opera at 11:45, I had a message from them asking us to come 1/2 early. We were planning on going over there at about 1, but we had not even discussed a time with them at all. I called them back at about 12:15 to ask when they needed us. Now I will tell you that our hosts are night owls. I would feel bad about calling at 10 AM, but would not hesitate to dial the phone at 1 AM. Her husband got on and told me dinner was at 6:30, so please come at 5. I asked him to repeat this about 3 times, and offered to come at 4:30. He told me that was too early. Mike, Mom, and John witnessed our discussion and my frequent "what time? 5????" to him. We all thought it was weird that dinner was so late, but that's what I heard and confirmed.

We got up on Thursday and ate a leisurely breakfast. We went for a walk in the Rockefeller preserve (in the unseasonable 60 degree weather). We wanted to go for coffee, but the shop was closed. We sat around watching high school football. Mom and John were about to take naps. The phone rings at 1:30. It is Mike's sister. She asked me if we went to the parade. I told her what we were doing. She then told me everyone was over, and she was checking on us. Dinner was at 2:30. We primped quickly and bolted out of the door. We got there at 3:30 and had our dinner (we asked them to go ahead without us, and it was fine 'cause there were about 25 people spread around the house and not at a big table). I felt bad since I was the one who called. But I asked and repeated the time over and over and over! 12:30 does not sound like 5 at all! Turns out, he did not remember talking to me. He was really tired and fell asleep on the couch. He wondered why I never called back last night! So, I made arrangements with him, and he talked to me in his sleep! I have done the same thing myself. When I was in my 20s, I flew home on a red eye flight and came home to crash. Weeks later, my mom yelled at me for signing her up for a class at her church. Why would I do that? Turns out I answered the phone and talked to some lady from the church. The lady told mom that I "sounded weird". We had a good laugh about it, and it was fine in the end.

We took our visitors to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty yesterday. We were the tired and huddled masses waiting for our ferries in the cold. The immigration museum was really cool (Mom did not cry though). I guess I am not a New Yorker since I have been to the statue though.

Today, I am staying around while the others wander about. Of course I have my new tradition during either Christmas or Thanksgiving. I have one of the myriad of colds that I have been fighting against all fall.

Happy Thanksgiving

Hey all,
Just been hangin' with Mom and John and celebrating the holiday. They got in Tues afternoon, and I got them and finished working for the rest of the afternoon. Wed I worked a short day, and we went to the Metropolitan Opera. We saw Marriage of Figuro, and the production was fantastic. The performance was amazing, and that opera was a lot of fun. We did not get home until 1:30 last night. We hit Rockefeller this morning and had a good hike in the warm weather. So we are settling in well.

Heroes

I guess we should cherish the next few episodes since it may really be it for a long time due to the writer's strike!

1. Mohinder is blowin' my mind. I thought he was really trusting Bob, but maybe he secretly fixed Noah somewhere else. I still think he is a dumbass, but I am confused. He is dumb for trusting Bob, but Noah has been quite a dick lately too.

2. I guess we have to get used the Claire's boyfriend. They did not finish him off. How come he was OK after falling?

3. Parkman is getting power hungry eh?

Big Sonic Broadcast

When I was living in Detroit, Sunday night meant listening to Big Sonic Heaven with Darren Ravell. Big Sonic Heaven was always on late (9-12?). I listened to it when it was dark and the weekend is almost over. I will always remind me of driving from the airport from weekend visits when Mike and I lived 650 miles apart. I was either sad to be dropping him off or to be returning home from a nice visit. It always matched my melancholy mood. Since Big Sonic Heaven is kaput, we have a new Sunday night tradition. I know I mentioned it here one time, but it was a long time ago. We always end up listening to the "Big Broadcast" on one of the local NPR stations. We are usually driving in the dark from my in-law's house (since we tend to visit on Sunday nights)when we hear it. It is Old Timey music (to borrow from Old Brother, Where Art Thou?) that is played by a really anal retentive DJ. The DJ is funny 'cause he loves to give all the stats on the songs he played. He likes to mention when he last played the song (often that can stretch back 20 years!). It just occurred to me tonight that the 2 shows have a common quality. One is ethereal and lost in time, but so is the Big Broadcast. You hear distant voices (sometimes thinly) reaching from the past. I suppose that is a reason why I like it too. I like to guess how the song will go. Many of the lyrics tend to be somewhat predictable.

http://www.wfuv.org/programs/bigbroadcast.html

Success

Mom, do not worry. We have a fully operational shower. Mike the Plumber was able to make it work. I did look up some plumbers (just in case), and a few lived our neighborhood. I think we need to change professions so we can afford it here. My arm is getting better, but I am turning into a Benadryl zombie in the process.

Water emergency

My mom is coming Tuesday, and our shower broke. It has had a little drip for a while, but I came home from work to a steady flow. We went to my favorite store, Home Depot, and bought some new parts and crossed our fingers. The problem appears to be greater than us. Who knows how old the parts are? The last time Mom came, our toilet broke days before. We were joking about having her and John hose off in the backyard or come to the Y to take showers. The last time we were joking about dumping a half gallon of water to flush or going out back. The last time our landlady was out of town, as today. So I sense a pattern. I hope they do not have this effect on the house we buy.

On another note, my arm broke out in a rash Thurs. night. I went to the doctor for it yesterday, and he made fun of me. He walked in and asked me if I was Scottish (in reference to a red plaid headband I was wearing). What the hell?

Not much of a Suprise

Officials find 'undercurrent of racial intolerance' at CMU
I attended this college for grad school, and I heard the most God-awful and ignorant things coming out the mouths of some classmates. When our class was given a presentation about trying to increase the diversity in our profession (by increasing awareness of the profession in schools, etc), somebody in my class actually stated. "Isn't that giving false hope?" I was mortified. One of my classmates assumed another friend of mine recieved a scholarship for being in a minority, rather than academic merit. Needless to say, my friend's scholarship was based on academic achievement. My impression while I went there was that many people were from rural areas and had never encountered anybody of another race. Needless to say, I went home many weekends.

Who's fighting the war?

WNYC - The Leonard Lopate Show: The War on Cancer (November 15, 2007)

I heard this for about 20 minutes today, and it is fascinating. It is worth a listen when you have time.

Left of Center

I discovered something disturbing tonight. I was watching an old Simpsons where Ned Flanders opens the Leftoriumin Springfield Mall. I discovered that along with Ned, many of Springfield's residents are also left-handed. These were my shocking discoveries.

Monty Burns
Moe
Barney

Later in the show, the store was full of other residents. I am not sure I am proud to share this trait with these particular characters. I will not mention everyone in the store since I can not confirm hand preference. These are not what you would expect on a list of noted lefties like this one:

Gerald Ford
Ronald Reagan
George H.W. Bush
Bill Clinton
Alexander the Great
Napoleon
Joan of Arc
Henry Ford
Helen Keller
Cathy Guisewite
Richard Simmons
Fidel Castro
Wink Martindale

OK, the list was really huge, but I thought some of them were interesting. I think it is pretty cool that one of my childhood obsessions was a leftie. I can not believe I did not know that! See if you can spot the childhood obsession. The other one has to do with my confirmation.

Platinum Janet

I am so high rollin'. The first piece of evidence I received was in the mail today. It was inviting me to test drive a Maserati. Then I opened my email, and here was the message beckoning me

Please find your free issue of Gold Investor Weekly

Wow, do I feel exclusive! I have no idea that I fit the Maserati demographic. I suppose I should stop going to Target, the laundromat, and eating a bagged lunch. I deserve better.

Heroes

Not too many questions since they were going to answer them tonight.
1. I was wondering why the Haitian was there until the final scene.
2. Do you think the new guy (Kenzei) is bad 'cause Hiro screwed things up? Or is he actually good? I can not tell.
3. Nicki, what a ho-ah.

Fall at Rockefeller

Here are some images from our walk tonight.

Anniversary and Happy Birthday

This week was my 18th Anniversary of being an Aunt, or in other words, Jim is now 18! I decided to include a blast from the distant past in honor of his birthday. Here are 2 pages from my scrapbook (circa 1989). The other ones include alcoholic beverages and outrageous behavior. These just have strange behavior. Do you like my Aunt Janet pose? Also, check out P's hair!

What is the world coming to????

Real-Life Pepe Le Pew Rapes Cat | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

Ich bin Yanet

I have been listening to my CDs for German in the car. They are pretty good actually. I can now say "Excuse me" "How are you?" "I understand a little German", "I do not understand German" "I am an American" "You are German" "Where is ___ Street?" "___Street is here"
Mike did teach me Please and Thank You for my first trip. I decided since I can not remember how to say American properly (for a female), I am going to resort to "I am a foreigner". That was one of my first German phrases anyways. If only I had a reason to say the keys are in the onions!

Sesame Street - The Ladybugs' Picnic

I remember more than I thought. If only I could remember anything now!

You and me baby ain't nothin' but mammals...

Cognitive Dissonance - Social Psychology - New York Times

Dirty laundry

I bet you thought this would be a juicy post full of scandalous information! I am going to actually write about dirty laundry. As many of you know, Mike and I do not have access to a washer and dryer. Before I moved out here, my flat in Ann Arbor had a washer and dryer. I had not been to the laundromat since college, and I graduated from grad school 10 years ago!
I am always cranky about going there. It just sucks. We have bought underwear, socks, and other articles of clothing to avoid going for a few more days. I can not tell you how many pairs of undwear I own, but I think it is close to 50 pairs. We average one trip a month there, and we bring shitloads of laundry when we go. It tends to be crowded and incredibly annoying to me. We go late at night during the week to avoid the biggest crowds. When you have huge loads, you need the big machines. People tell me I should drop it off and use a service, but I suppose I am kinda a control freak about it. As it was last night, we spent over 20 dollars to do our own, but we washed about 180 pounds of laundry (as measured by the machines).
The past couple of years we have been using a "good" laundromat. It is the newest around and the biggest. They usually have a TV on, and lite rock is piped in. One of the things that bothers me in there is the local lite rock station. We usually time our trip to coincide with a certain radio program where the host reads advice out of women's magazine and calls it "Intelligence for your life". It is not as if they are discussing Proust! http://www.tesh.com
Adding insult to injury, I almost always hear this song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-zBMpJJhXY
Oh well, it still beats when the doowop show was on and it sounded like dogs were howling. We need to buy a house now! I told Mike I will stretch my laundry to the closing date!

Heroes

1. Next week they are going to give us all of the answers? I wanted to sit here and wonder some more!
2. I wonder if Matt's dad is locked up for good. KC, you were right that they would have to battle it out in the nightmare world. I am sure there is more to come.
3. I thought Nicki got Nate with the syringe.
4. Mohinder...........WTF????? Although Mr. Bennett is pretty evil too.
5. We thought Hiro would become Kenzei. I think he will go back so he can become the badass samuri we saw talk to Peter in the subway last season.
6. Nice twist on the mastermind character whose name escapes me right now.
7. I wonder where they are going with Claire's boyfriend. He is up to something.

Look to the skies

Comet draws scientific, amateur interest - Yahoo! News

NYC trifecta

Today was our third day in the city, and we went to the marathon. Mike was invited to the official finishing banquet and grandstand by a banker who works for the major race sponsor. We usually know somebody to cheer on, but this year none of our friends were running. So the fancy brunch at Tavern on the Green and perfect finish line viewing was a blast since we did not have anyone we knew to lend moral support to during the race.
I always want to run the NY city Marathon when we go, because it is just so damn inspiring! I want to run across the Verazzano bridge with "New York, New York" blaring and the fire boat making a fountain in the water. I want to run through all of the boroughs and use the huge crowd to buoy me when I am sinking. I want to finish in Central Park and run down 1rst Ave to the legendary wall of sound! I want to do it, but I know I would totally wreck my knees training for it. So please athletic friends, run NYC next year so I can cheer you on at least twice during the course and take you out to dinner!
The brunch was elaborate, and they had to set up a massive tent to accommodate everyone there. No donuts and bagels at this shindig. Our seats were amazing. We had a great view of the finishing action. We watched the wheelchairs, women, men, and Lance Armstrong finish. Here are some pics to give you a feel. Check out the finishing shot of the male winner (click on it to see some other cool details of the shot). We saw "da mayor" and possibly one of the guys who was on ER. I took a picture of him, so email me if you want to help me assess. So we will be back to our mundane lives now.

wedding, NYC style

Socialite

Most of the time, my social life is pretty lame and quiet. Most of our best friends live out of the state (or in another country). The last month or so, things have picked up. It always seems to come in waves for us. We will have absolutely nothing for months, then have social plans all on the same weekend. I guess I need to make a bigger effort out here. Last weekend was spent in Minnesota, so that explains why we were being social :)

This weekend goes like this:

1. Wedding tonight in Brooklyn. My friend Tracey is getting married at 6 at a place right by the Brooklyn Bridge. Location is cool, but logistics will be difficult. Mike and I debated about taking mass transit or just driving. The idea of taking a train into Manhattan, a subway, and possibly a cab (while dressed up) seems unappealing. So does driving during rush hour too! I hope we can be on time, but I am sure a lot of people will be late.

2. Meeting with Mark and Audrey in the city. They are in town for the weekend. Mark wanted to meet at 7 to watch the Olympic marathon trials, but Mike politely declined. Who knows how late we will be up? Plus 2 days of marathon will be too much.

3. Watching the NYC marathon in style. We usually go every year and watch (regardless of friends racing or not). It is quite the event, and the course is lined the whole way with spectators (up to a million, and believe me this is an accurate estimate!). Mike was invited by a banker friend to get grandstand tickets in the park followed by brunch at the Tavern on the Green. Tavern is something I need to cross off my NYC list, and I am happy to do it on somebody elses dime.

4. Sneaking in a birthday celebration for my mother-in-law.

Bratwurst museum?

Historian finds oldest recipe for bratwurst - Yahoo! News

Forgot this one...

On the halloween post, I forgot to mention the strangest costume ever worn by a child. We saw a little boy at the mall who was dressed like the pope.

All Hallow's eve

Our living situation does not allow us to participate in Halloween. When I got home last night, or whenever we left the house, we felt like mean adults who do not want to be fun. We ran out to the mall last night, because I needed a dress for 50 degree weather. There were a ton of kids trick or treating in the mall. When did kids start doing that? My best guess was if you live in apartment or bad neighborhood, the mall may make sense. You also do not have to worry about the weather either. Has anyone else seen mall trick or treating?