Crazy Eight Musings

Summer

2010-06-30T08:28:00.004-04:00

Ah, it's been a whole season since I last posted. Let's see.... After working in the office for three months, I'm back to working at home now. It was a fun project and I definitely enjoyed not being on production for those three months. Sadly, it's back to the grind. I will enjoy, however, not having to commute over an hour each way.

The house is still relatively bare; K and I haven't purchased any rugs, furniture, etc. since moving in. We want nice stuff and didn't want to fill it with cheap furniture. Besides, we had to replace a gutter and the indoor AC unit. So, for money that could have gone to furniture, we had to blow on home repairs. Oh yeah, I also had to spend loads on maintenance for my car. We're looking for a bedroom set as well as some rugs for the house.

Commuting to the office did give me opportunity to read a lot. I read a bunch of books by Eric Ambler, Gregory Mcdonald, and Alan Furst. Furst is similar to Ambler, but Mcdonald's books are pretty light and funny. His Fletch character was almost ruined by Chevy Chase. The character is so much better than the silly one in the movies. I read After the Quake by Murakami and To Have and Have Not by Hemingway. The latter is a weird novel in that it switches from first person to third person, and then back to first person from another character's POV. Also, aside from the first five minutes, it's nothing like the Bogart movie.

This Sunday we're going to my sister's house down south. It's over an hour away so hopefully traffic won't be bad and add to too much to it.

Back to work....

Spring

2010-03-21T10:02:00.002-04:00

The weather's been so nice lately. It's awesome not to have to use heat and let the house warm up naturally.

Last night K and I ate at an Italian place with some of K's college friends. It's a local chain, but the food was pretty good. Beforehand we went to the gym and before that we watched The Hangover. It wasn't as funny as I was hoping it to be, but it was still pretty good. It had it's moments that's for sure. I loved seeing Mike Tyson. I said to K, Is that Mike Tyson? Wth.

I while I was working last week I watched Before Sunrise and Before Sunset. I liked them. They're dialogue heavy and plot light to say the least. I think I liked Before Sunset even more. The characters were more mature, less idealistic, and seemed more, I don't know, desperate. Desperate for their life to be how they want it. I also like the ambiguity to the end of Before Sunset. Will they get together? I'd like to think they do. I think he misses his flight and spends some time with Celine. But then he has to go back to NY and be with his son. So how are they going to work this out? It's an impossibly sad situation since they're in love with each other. Maybe they're just destined to long for each other and meet up on occasion. I want to watch them again.

I also watched Sunshine. It was visually stunning, but the plot was pretty bad in parts. It's like Alex Garland had a notebook full of cool sci-fi movie scenes and just threw them together in a single movie. The idea was interesting, but the crazy captain of Icarus I plot point was stupid. Also, I didn't like the slow deaths where the characters scream for a few seconds. That seems really unrealistic.

Hard rain

2010-03-11T15:59:00.002-05:00

(I feel like i've used that title before but i couldn't find it)

Anyway, it's supposed to rain its ass off for the next four days or so. That's too bad because my mom is coming to stay with us over the weekend. We might go to the mall or check out the new Alice in Wonderland. Might be too much motion for my mom on the IMAX 3d though; she gets motion sickness easily and it wouldn't be too enjoyable for her.

I've been plugging away at work these past couple weeks since I slacked at the beginning. I think moving into the new house and all that that entailed through me off this quarter. So as a result, I'm a little behind. But I should be able to do it in the next two weeks no problem.

I finished a short story collection of Dashiell Hammett and followed that up with Cain's Double Indemnity. Indemnity was crazy to read and know that it was published in the 1936. It deals with an insurance agent murdering a husband of a woman the agent fell in love with. They murder the poor bastard and then trouble ensues as they try to carry out their plan to collect on the, ahem, double indemnity insurance. Cain also wrote The Postman Always Rings Twice, another tale about murder most foul.

For a change of pace, and at the urging of my friend Brett, I just started Genius, the biography of Richard Feynman. He's been a source of fascination for me for some time now and I'm glad to finally read his bio.

Go ALA Go

2010-02-21T07:45:00.000-05:00

The freedom to read is essential to our democracy. It is continuously under attack. Private groups and public authorities in various parts of the country are working to remove or limit access to reading materials, to censor content in schools, to label "controversial" views, to distribute lists of "objectionable" books or authors, and to purge libraries. These actions apparently rise from a view that our national tradition of free expression is no longer valid; that censorship and suppression are needed to counter threats to safety or national security, as well as to avoid the subversion of politics and the corruption of morals. We, as individuals devoted to reading and as librarians and publishers responsible for disseminating ideas, wish to assert the public interest in the preservation of the freedom to read.

--from Freedom to Read

I couldn't agree with this more.

This made me tear up today

2010-02-20T11:05:00.002-05:00

The Things I Meant To Say
by Thomas Beechey

It seems that lately all I have spinning 'round my head
Are all the itty bitty things I never ever said
So many times I wanted to and countless times I tried
But who knows why? It seems I kept them locked inside
Days turned to weeks then months and years soon a lifetime passed
And what remains are endless tears instead of smiles to last
Oh I'd give everything I had for another day
To hold you close and whisper those things I meant to say.

I meant to say "Good morning" each time you awoke;
I meant to say "How are you" whenever we spoke
I meant to say "You're special" when no one seemed to care;
I meant to say "I thank you" for being there
I meant to say "I'll help you" no matter what the task;
I meant to say "I'll listen" to each question you'd ask
I meant to say "You helped me" for answers you'd give;
I meant to say "Cause of you" for reasons that I live.

So many things I meant to say but something always got in the way
Now no one's here to hear a word and so these things will not be heard
But they echo daily in my mind and so I find myself resigned
To listen as my conscience sings these intended but unuttered things.

I meant to say "I'm sorry" when I was wrong;
I meant to say "Don't worry" when roads ahead seemed long
I meant to say "I'll lead you" when you couldn't find the road;
I meant to say "I'll take it" when you couldn't bear the load
I meant to say nothing at all each time I'd complain;
I meant to say "I'll shield you" from every drop of rain
I meant to say "Forgive me" for each tear you'd cry;
I meant to say "Give me one chance to tell you why."

So many things I meant to say but something always got in the way
Now no one's here to hear a word and so these things will not be heard
What was I thinking? Why'd I wait? I know it now but now's too late
My heart lies bare with broken strings atop a mound of voiceless things.

I meant to say "I'll find it" when all you sought was time;
I meant to say "I'll pull you" over each uphill climb
I meant to say "Take my hand" as each road began to slant;
I meant to say "Yes you can" when you said you can't
I meant to say "We did it" as we passed each test;
I meant to say "It's over" when we'd find time to rest
I meant to say "Here's the key" to secrets I keep;
I meant to say "Dream sweetly" as you closed your eyes to sleep.

So many things I meant to say but something always got in the way
Now no one's here to hear a word and so these things will not be heard
Except by me from the morning sun until the day is finally done
Yes now you're gone and each day brings to mind these never-spoken things.

It seems that lately all I have rolling through my brain
Are all the teeny weeny things I'll never say again
The things I should have said to the one I was with
And all those misspent moments that have faded into myth
So many things I meant to say but something always got in the way
Now no one's here to hear a word and so these things will not be heard
Sometimes at night your name I'll call to a faded frame on a shaded wall ---
I meant to say "I love you"
I meant to say "I love you"
I meant to say "I love you"...
And that one hurts the most of all.

quick

2010-01-22T16:22:00.002-05:00

If I ever get through most of my ToBeRead books, remember to read Akerlof and Shiller's book, Animal Spirits. Seems like it might be interesting.

I just acquired The God Delusion by Dawkins and a book by Eric Ambler at a book warehouse. It has really great prices on books, but they didn't have the ones I was looking for- To Have and Have Not by Hemingway and Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace.

things and stuff

2010-01-21T19:14:00.002-05:00

Been in the house one month and one day. We were ready for it. That apartment was just too small since I started working from home. I like working in a separate environment from my living environment. K and I have been having fun trying slowly exploring the area. There are lots of grocery stores nearby and all of your standard suburban fare (Bed Bath and Beyond, Best Buy, Staples, Starbucks, etc.).

We joined a gym that's about 2.4 miles away and have been going a lot. It's less than a year old so everything is nice and new. We like the showers and steam room. The equipment's not bad either.

We have to get some furniture, but aren't in any rush. I'd much rather slowly buy really nice stuff than fill the house with cheap stuff just to fill it.

priceless

2010-01-11T18:19:00.001-05:00

From Roger Ebert's Twitter account: Michael Steele says there's no such thing as black dialect, in his blog "What Up?"

The beginning of december...

2009-11-29T20:51:00.003-05:00

(The title comes from a line in The White Stripes's song "The Same Boy You've Always Known")

December is in full swing and K and I are excited! We have less than 3 weeks now until we move into our new place. Lots of packing still left to do. We acquired lots of boxes from my sister, so hopefully we have enough. The books are all packed away and I've done some kitchen items that we don't use much. Then I think I'll tackle the DVDs and some clothes. Next weekend we'll pack up most of the stuff, leaving us with a week's worth of clothes and cooking items.

We might see a movie today- maybe The Fantastic Mr. Fox. I love all of Wes Anderson's movies, and this seems right up my alley. The stop-motion aspect is so cool!

I'm almost finished Alan Furst's The Polish Officer. About 30 pages to go. The plot is less continuous than his other novels I've read. But it is still really well written and enjoyable to read. I'm just such a sucker for WWII era spy books. And these have such a realistic feel to them. It's like a "down in the trenches" kind of spy, whereas with Smiley it was at a much higher level. Not sure what I'll read next. I'll have to dig in my TBR (to be read) box and see what's available.

I screwed myself again this quarter in terms of meeting my quota at work. My excuse is that the house-hunting and house buying took up a lot of time. It also distracted me like crazy. So I have to work extra hard until the end of the year. I'll most likely work half days on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I'll also probably work a full day on New Year's Eve since that'll be the final day. As Tim Gunn would say, "work, work, work!"

lovely quote

2009-11-20T23:22:00.001-05:00

Man is the only animal that laughs and weeps; for he is the only animal that is struck with a difference between what things are, and what they ought to be. We weep at what thwarts or exceeds our desires in serious matters: We laugh at what only disappoints our expectations in trifles.

--William Hazlitt's opening lines in his essay about the death penalty.

Cor McCar

2009-11-19T08:35:00.003-05:00

I love Cormac McCarthy. In my mind he's the best literary author out there. Yes, his works are violent and brutal, but they're full of such wonderful language. I just read a good interview with him and John Hillcoat, the director of the film version of The Road. My favorite bit in the interview is where McCarthy says "Your future gets shorter and you recognize that. In recent years, I have had no desire to do anything but work and be with [son] John. I hear people talking about going on a vacation or something and I think, what is that about? I have no desire to go on a trip. My perfect day is sitting in a room with some blank paper. That's heaven. That's gold and anything else is just a waste of time."

Been working away, trying to make up for time I lost by being lazy/slow/stupid in previous weeks.

This weekend K and I are off to my Aunt and Uncle's house. We haven't been there in a while and we're looking forward to a relaxing weekend. Our settlement for the house is Monday. I think all that's left to do is get a certified check for the requirement amount; we'll do that tomorrow most likely. I also have started packing up some stuff. Most of the books are packed now. Then I think I'll tackle some kitchen stuff that we can live without. There's no rush really since we have until 12/19. Still, don't want to wait until 12/17 to begin!

Interesting article on the whole health debate with a historical perspective: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/19/opinion/19kristof.html?_r=1&em=&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1258671270-k9c+JtIxCWIsMOLOtpGSTg

jebus

2009-11-12T15:51:00.002-05:00

Hot damn, it's been a while since I posted. But I've been busy, ok?

K and I are under contract for a townhouse and settlement is scheduled for 11/23. We have to transfer some funds around, but hopefully there won't be any surprises. We'll also decide on a mover over the weekend and book that; moving date is around 12/19 or so.

It'll be nice to be there before Christmas. Funds are going to be pretty tight for a while since we're pretty much depleting our savings. But after saving again for a while, we should be comfortable again. We just won't be for a little while, which makes us nervous. But we're excited to finally have a place to call our own!

Haven't really seen many movies. I saw Inglourious Basterds. I liked it. It was typical Tarantino, with interesting dialogue and over the top violence. K and I saw The Invention of Lying, but much preferred Ghost Town. The thing that bugged me about the Invention of Lying is that even though you can't tell a lie, it doesn't mean that you have to say whatever is on your mind. That was annoying, but once I got over that, the movie was enjoyable.

I finished a John Rebus novel by Ian Rankin yesterday. It was titled The Falls and was typical, but I mean that in a good way. I just started a WWII spy mystery by Alan Furst called The Polish Officer. I've read two of his other books and really like his writing style. Speaking of which, I thought of a good plot for a story that I might start writing if I have any free time. I won't reveal it just yet in case things change.

Work sucks this quarter so far. I've been really slow, most like since I've been distracted with the house hunting business. It's taken up a lot of my mind and energy and I don't see that abating much before 12/31! Oh well, I can earn a C this quarter rather than my usual A. It's not like I'll get fired or anything.

the search is on

2009-10-03T09:43:00.003-04:00

We're meeting up with our realtor again tomorrow to look at a townhouse. We're not as enthused about it as we were the one we saw last weekend. Man, that place was freakin' sweet. No wonder it sold in 3 days. We submitted an offer, but were one out of eight. According to the sellers' agent, we were in the top three, but they ultimately went with a "stronger offer." Most likely they got more money and/or a five month leaseback. K and I would have gladly offered a 5 month leaseback if it didn't amount to mortgage fraud! (Lenders only approve a 60 day leaseback for conventional loans; any amount over 60 days and you need a "lender loan" which has higher interest rates and larger down payment requirements.

It'd be nice if we like the place we're seeing tomorrow and they'd accept a figure lower than asking price. K and I were bummed for few days after losing out on the one we submitted an offer for. It was a little pricey, but we could have made it work. It had everything! Great school district, short commute, end unit that backed to a national park, fully renovated/updated, two car garage, large master bathroom. *sigh*

This week went pretty fast due in large part to my mind being preoccupied Monday and Tuesday by the offer on the townhouse. On Sunday K and I are playing golf with a couple we know from school. On Monday we might see a movie and take it easy.

K and I watched an HBO movie last Sunday called The Girl in the Cafe. Bill Nighy plays a very shy, awkward, introverted British civil servant who works in the exchequer's office. They attend a G8 summit in Iceland and this guy he just met accompanies him as his "date." It was cute in parts and the political message was one I support. Iceland seems like a beautiful country. I'd like to visit it someday. I bet it's not that expensive either; airfare wouldn't be too much and most like likely things wouldn't be too expensive there either. I think I'd stay away from the rotten shark though. Jesus.

Random things

2009-09-28T18:14:00.003-04:00

Why is Bones still on TV?

Ew, look at this decorating disaster.

Cool Kennedy clan image here. Another good portrait of John here. I should read a good, comprehensive Kennedy biography. A coworker recommends Manchester's books, Portrait of a President and Death of a President. Vanity Fair did an article about the controversy surrounding the commissioned Death of a President.

I made a roast chicken last Friday. It was pretty easy to do, but the grease got all inside my oven. I'll have to clean that later.

I might see Inglorious Basterds tomorrow. Hopefully it'll be as good as it is in my head.

bummer

2009-09-27T16:03:00.002-04:00

Yesterday K and I looked at 4 townhouses and 1 detached house. We liked one townhouse, but it was "over improved" in the sense that it was the best in the neighborhood, which isn't really a position you want to be in when you're thinking of moving again in 5 years or so. So, that kind of sucks since they probably won't drop the price by $40k; at that price it might be worth it.

After touring the properties we ate at a cool Hong Kong restaurant that we went into randomly. I spotted it while I was getting gas and we were going to drive around a bit, but since we were really hungry we turned around and went into the little shopping center. There were other restaurants, but we chose this one and I noticed the article they had posted on the window said they were not your typical American-Chinese restaurant. We ordered a taro and duck hot pot, which was like a very thick soup with taro and roasted duck. The duck had bones, which sucked, but it tasted good. We also ordered a Hong Kong-style rice and veggie dish which was excellent.

Last weekend we visited my parents and my uncle, his wife, and my sister, her husband, and their daughter were there. Full house, that's for sure! K and I spent one night on the aero bed since the bedrooms were all ocupado. It was fun to spend time with everybody and the food was yummy. Make your own sundaes! (with fro-yo though).

Next weekend we'll probably see some more properties. It's getting harder to find ones we want. We've figured out that we're only willing to put up with long commutes (1.25-1.5 hours each way) if the school district is stellar. So we're looking at townhouses a little closer in in excellent school districts.

Last night K and I watched another Wong Kar Wei movie, Fallen Angels. He wrote it and directed it early on in his career. It tells two separate stories, one with Takeshi Kaneshiro who was also in my favorite Kar Wei film, Chungking Express. It was an interesting movie, but the better of the two stories was Kaneshiro's. He plays a mute, who "breaks into" other people's shops at night and operates them for customers who may stop by. His character has a sweet nature and is kind of funny. Kar Wei is hit or miss because I really hated Ashes of Time. His films are visually stunning and he is kind of like the Kubrick of the present era.

The Book of Love

2009-09-22T22:55:00.004-04:00

Quick lyrics I wanted to post. It's a lovely song by The Magnetic Fields. Peter Gabriel covered it and it appeared on the series finale of Scrubs. It brings tears to my eyes.

"
The book of love is long and boring
No one can lift the damn thing
It's full of charts and facts and figures
And instructions for dancing but

I...
I love it when you read to me and
You...
You can read me anything

The book of love has music in it
In fact that's where music comes from
Some of it is just transcendental
Some of it is just really dumb but

I...
I love it when you sing to me and
You...
You can sing me anything

The book of love is long and boring
And written very long ago
It's full of flowers and heart-shaped boxes
And things we're all too young to know but

I...
I love it when you give me things and
You...
You ought to give me wedding rings
"

Here's the original and here's Peter Gabriel's version.

2009-09-14T19:17:00.002-04:00

Okay, so lots doing. Last Saturday K and I met with a realtor and looked at 4 properties. We didn't like 3 of them, mostly because they were too old. We don't want to spend a lot and still have things to fix. We wouldn't mind the age if they'd been "updated" enough. We want a relatively open floor plan. We also want a nice master bathroom; K wants a tub. I could live with a shower since I haven't taken a proper bath since I was about 12. We also were looking for areas in nice school districts and with a reasonable commuting time into the city.

We're going to go Thursday evening to look at some more properties. But we might have to shift our gameplan a little bit. We may have to settle for a townhouse for 5 years or so and then move later to a house in a good school district. We'll see.

I finished Rising Up and Rising Down. I took me 6 six, I realized. It was pretty interesting, but I skimmed the section where he develops his "moral calculus," a set of rules in which you can analyze any violent action to determine if it was warranted or not. Pretty interesting book. Too bad no one has the unabridged version. I'd like to read some of his case studies.

I just started Murakami's Dance Dance Dance. I've read other Murakami books and have enjoyed them. This one seems good so far. His writing is like a surreal Hemingway. That's the best way I can describe it.

K and I finished Dexter Season 3. It was an interesting story, but didn't hold up to the previous two seasons. The Dexter character is still very compelling. Although he's developing more into a real person with normal emotions. Initially he didn't feel love or human attachment. Now it seems that he does with respect to his wife and her kids, his sister, his friends.

Enough of that. Next weekend K and I are going to my parents' place. My uncle from Florida and his wife will be there and so will my sister, her husband, and their daughter. Full house! Should be a fun weekend. Looking forward to it.

Need to get blood drawn tomorrow. *sigh*. Good times...

skibbidy-bip-bop

2009-09-01T18:21:00.003-04:00

Man, it feels like it's been a busy couple of weeks. The weekend at my parents' was fun. My niece is super cute and is almost ready to cruise along by holding herself up with the assistance of a wall or table. We didn't do too much, except hang around and eat. K and I went into town one day and walked around some shops. Then we played a quick round of mini golf. For dinner we had London broil on the grill and a good salad and potatoes. The next day my aunt and uncle came by and we all had pulled chicken and cole slaw for lunch.

The work at home has been going well so far. It's new and different and fun. I like being able to work more if I want to. LIke last Saturday I worked for two hours in the morning. Normally, I wouldn't have been able to do that because it would have entailed driving to the office, finding parking, and working in my office. I do really want to move so I can have a proper office in my home though.

K and I have been watching the newer episodes of Mad Men Season 3 and we finished Season 2 of Desperate Housewives. We also started Dexter Season 3. I was excited to learn that Mad Men was renewed for a fourth season. It's one of my favorites.

I'm STILL reading Rising Up and Rising Down. I have about 100 pages left. I don't read as much since I'm not commuting every day. Still, I've got to make time though, since it's something I enjoy. While at the beach, I bought even more books at the library's used book drive. I need to stop! I can't keep up!

On a sad note, one of my favorite bands of all time broke up for good last Friday. Basically, it's a band with 2 brothers who never got along. They nearly broke up several times in the past- 1994, 1996, and 2000. But it seems like they had another violent encounter and it was too much for the elder bro Noel. I'm glad K got us tickets to see them back in December because it seems like that was my last chance! I'm looking forward to their solo projects though. Keep the music coming!!!

K and I picked out wedding bands this past Saturday. They should arrive some time this week. The wedding planning is going slowly, but we're shooting for January or February. We have to decide about size next. Then venue. Then catering. Then gift registry, baby!

Fly Fly Fly

2009-08-19T17:10:00.002-04:00

This week, and August come to think of it, is going by fast. In exactly one week I'll be working at home. Next week I have a few hours of training, then I pick up my equipment, and then I'm off, working at home in all of its glory. Hopefully it won't drive me too crazy in my one bedroom apartment. I think I'll like it a lot better once K and I move into a new place.

We finished Mad Men Season 2 and enjoyed the hell out of it. The last episode, set during the Cuban Missile Crisis, was great. Pete redeemed himself somewhat. I liked how he talked back to his father a few episdoes ago. Also, Duck got schooled in the last meeting and that was truly awesome.

This will be short since I'm getting ready to leave.

Catch the wheel that breaks the butterfly

2009-08-14T15:03:00.004-04:00

Finished Bleak House by watching it online via Netflix. They're "Instant" viewing thing is pretty cool, if your monitor is a decent size. I don't think I'd really want to watch things on it for a long period of time if it were under 20". Bleak House was pretty interesting. I liked how all of the stories intersected at some point or another. Also, I'm somewhat fascinated with nineteenth century England, so this fits in nicely. Tulkinghorn the lawyer was masterfully played by whatever his name was. He's been in lots of stuff, but I recognized him from Gosford Park. Also, the end is precious because the estate battle that has been waged for generations is finally over. But, it doesn't really matter that they found a newer, and controlling, will. There's no money left in the estate; it's all been consumed by court fees and lawyer fees!

I might pick up the novel one day if I can get my To-Be-Read pile under control. It keeps growing! I picked up some used stuff at the library. I pretty good haul, actually- Netherland, The Downhill Lie, and Plainsong.

This week was relatively uneventful. I was sick on Tuesday with a weird 24 hour bug. I had a low grade fever so I stayed on the couch all day and watched Bleak House, Gosford Park, and The Good Shepherd. I felt fine on Wednesday and returned to work. Tomorrow my coworkers are taking me and K out to dinner at a fancy chocolate place. I'm hoping we just share appetizers so we can all order dessert!

Still working on Vollmann's Rising Up and Rising Down. It's full of interesting little bits about history. It's still slow going and I'm probably going to have to renew it from the library since it's due on the 22. There's no way I'll finish it by the 22nd. Next weekend, K and I are headed to my parents' house. Should be fun, hopefully the weather will be nice.

Title is a lyric from "Falling Down" by oasis.

Bleak

2009-08-08T13:40:00.003-04:00

Nothing much of importance happened this past week. Last night K and I ate at a Vietnamese place in an area we don't frequent much. For dessert we split some yummy gelato from Bocatto. We shared two scoops, one of mango, one of lucuma. The lucuma was kind of cool- a little starchy, sweet but still fruity. Hard to describe, really. Before bed we watched an episode of Mad Men. I think we have 5 left in Season 2.

One of the things I like about that show is the pace. Others hate it and feel like it's watching paint dry. But to me, that's part of the beauty of it. I think people are used to quick jump cuts like in Scrubs, Arrested Development, and frankly, most other shows out there. Don't get me wrong, I love Scrubs and Arrested Development. But the beauty of Mad Men is that it takes its time with scenes and doesn't feel the need to fill it with action or dialogue. In the episode we just watched, it ends with a secretary rubbing her shoulder at the end of the day where her bra has been digging in; another female worker tries to relax in a bathtub but is lost in thought. Very moving. Here's a short WSJ article about the woman writers on the show.

I put in a couple hours at work today to try to get some stuff done so I don't fall more behind than I already am! Hah.

Still reading my Vollmann book, Rising Up and Rising Down. I like it so far, but it's not exactly a page turner. I think I'm about 150 out of 700. So, it's going to be a while. Not sure what I'll read next. Maybe another Vollmann book or maybe the Haruki Murakami book I bought used.

The title of this post is from the BBC mini series I've been watching, Bleak House. I'm only a few episodes in, so it's hard to tell if I'll like it.

August already

2009-08-04T14:37:00.003-04:00

Gosh, the summer's going by quickly. This past weekend we ate at Ted's Montana Grill on Saturday. Their bison burgers are yummy and apparently healthier than cow meat. Afterwards we got ice cream at Cold Stone. We rotate who pays between Chris, K, and me. It was my turn for dinner and K's for dessert. K and I didn't feel like going to drinks with Chris and his friend so we went home, watched Mad Men and went to sleep.

On Sunday K cooked a lot and we had someone K works with over for dinner. He brought a yummy orange/honey beer. Good for the summer. Dinner was great and I ate too much. It was hot as hell in the apartment because the AC was down and needed repairing. Maintenance promptly checked it out, but told us that they needed to replace the motor and that it would take 2-3 hours and they couldn't do it until the next day. Oh well, we suffered (not in silence).

Work sucks but that's because I'd rather be reading or doing something fun.

I finished reading Chaos. It was very interesting. I love reading those kinds of books- books about mathematicians/scientists that describe mathematical theories in ways lay people can understand. Man, in another life I think I'd be a mathematician. I'd highly recommend that book. It's not too long either, roughly 300 pages.

I just started reading a book by William Vollmann called Rising Up and Rising Down. Only, the version I'm reading is an abridgement of his 3300 page set. It's about a history of violence. The author is strange and interesting. What piqued my interest was a NYT article on him. Read the article and you'll see that he's pretty strange. But the amount of work he produces is impressive. Besides, he writes in a building that used to be a restaurant. How cool is that?

I'm a latecomer to Arrested Development. It's really well written and clever and it's a shame that it was cancelled after only 2.5 seasons. You can see shades of Scrubs and The Office (British)- both of which are favorites of mine. On Hulu.com you can find all of the episodes.

boom boom clap

2009-07-22T16:04:00.006-04:00

Last weekend was an eventful one. Ray's the Steaks was awesome and afterwards was even better! More on that later.

...

On Sunday we went to the driving range again. My hitting wasn't that great. Like 3 out of 10 shots were decent. Oh wells, you'll have those days I suppose. Then we went to the mall, the food store, and the gym. Kind of an eventful day.

This week at work is better so far. Although today I got bad news at the dentist's office. I have two very small cavities that need to get filled. Ugh, not looking forward to that. I haven't had cavities since elementary school or middle school. So disappointed! I think I might start using a flouride rinse at night. Maybe that'll help. I also brush too hard, so I need to go easier.

I finished Destruction. Man, I think it took me like 2 months. Maybe a little bit less. It's very very dense and detailed. Much more so than most history books I've read. I'm still digesting it though. I haven't quite collected my thoughts about it.

In Mad Men, Don Draper reads a really great poem by Frank O'Hara called "Mayakovsky" at the end of one episode. Here's the part I like:

Now I am quietly waiting for
the catastrophe of my personality
to seem beautiful again,
and interesting, and modern.

The country is grey and
brown and white in trees,
snows and skies of laughter
always diminishing, less funny
not just darker, not just grey.

It may be the coldest day of
the year, what does he think of
that? I mean, what do I? And if I do,
perhaps I am myself again.

It's really fitting for Don Draper to read this text, but I love the words.

uh oh spaghetti-o

2009-07-18T14:44:00.003-04:00

Sorry, dear readers, that I haven't posted in a while. And by dear readers, I mean no one since I don't think anyone regularly reads this.

Last weekend was spent mostly working, going to the gym, and going to the driving range. This week at work was pretty bad. We have a "temporary" manager since our regular boss is doing a work project until the end of November. Anyway, this new guy is not too cool and hit a lot of us with some bad case reviews. Ugh. So, to relax some of us went to see Harry Potter 6 on Thursday in the middle of the day. It helped a lot. I felt better after that.

Last night Chris, K and I went on a college alumni event. It was a cruise along the Potomac with an open bar. The boat was not nearly as nice as I'd envisioned and the booze wasn't that great; it's the brands you never hear of that are like $7 for a gallon of vodka. But we got kinda tipsy and enjoyed the evening. I don't think we'll be doing it again, but it was fun to do once and to see some of the landmarks from the river.

Today we went to the range and are going to go to the gym. Tonight we're going to eat at Ray's the Steaks. We've been there before, but not at their new location. They own Hell Burger, made famous by Obama a few months back.

Oh yeah. We also finished Desperate Housewives. It was interesting, but all of the characters are kind of disreputable. I actually like Carlos the best since he's kind of funny in a stupid way. I'm nearly done Destruction of the European Jews and only have about 50 pages left.

2009-07-09T10:22:00.006-04:00

Jebus, I'm falling behind in posting this week. Not too much going on. All day yesterday it felt like a Tuesday for some reason.

K and I made some Korean been on Monday and I ate some more of it last night. I think we'll eat it again tonight, but after that we should probably pitch it. K looked up the marinate recipe online and did all of the chopping and cooking. I sat back and watched. Nice.

K's been working late the past few nights this week. I know she's tired from working hard.

We've managed to watch more of the first season from Desperate Housewives. I'm still not sure how I feel about the shot. It's interesting, but sometimes the characters get annoying. Especially the character Susan Meyer, played by Teri Hatcher. She's just so goofy and awkward sometimes it seems almost like a cartoon. Like how Kramer got pretty goofy towards the last few seasons of Seinfeld.

Haven't really been listening or downloading much music lately. I've been trying to finish Destruction of the European Jews. I have about 200 pages to go and just started the section about the crematoriums. Not sure what I'll read next, either. I think I'll shoot for some quick fiction and then pick up another history book perhaps. But still, this book will most likely take me another week or two to finish.

I've been reading various gadget blogs and notice that every once in a while the consumer in me takes control. I read about new iPhones and want one. I read about Flip video recorders and want one. I read about new golf drivers and want it (but as I mentioned previously, I haven't even come close to mastering the driver that I have currently). But then I tell myself that I'm saving for a house. I ask myself, 'Do you really need those things? Or are they wants?' They're all obviously "wants."

5th of July

2009-07-05T18:31:00.002-04:00

Had a good three day weekend. Thursday I took off a little early and went to the gym, got a haircut, and went to the store to grab a few things. On Friday K and I took it easy all day, went out to grab carryout from a good little Peruvian chicken joint, and watched Desperate Housewives. On Saturday we played 9 holes of golf with K's coworker and her husband. It was my first real golf course playing. I think I did well for my first time. Lots to improve on, but it was pretty fun. And the people we were with were cool in that if you really clunked a shot, you could just do it over. We weren't competing for top score, just enjoying the game.

Later on Saturday K and I went over to my sister's for a Fourth of July barbecue. Her husband, Jakob, bought a grill and did hamburgers and hotdogs. Very yummy. K and I brought cream puffs and apple cake for dessert. My parents spend the weekend at my sisters, arriving on Friday morning. It was good to see everybody and hang out. I helped Jakob set up his new Macbook Pro and AirPort Express and printer. I think he's all sorted now. I love Apple. (sigh).

This week should just be like every other; i'm hoping to get some good cases and maybe try to get off to a good start. Also, I was approved to start working from home. It's scheduled for some time in late August. I'm not sure it's the right move at this point, but I made my decision to try it out for a quarter or two. I think once K and I move, and I get a proper office set up, I'll enjoy the "work at home" a lot more. Until then, I plan on going to the gym a lot more, maybe taking some walks too.

It's a New (quarter), It's a New Day

2009-07-01T10:25:00.004-04:00

New quarter today! I ended up with plenty of points so the last two days of the quarter were not too stressful. I can carry points over from one quarter to the next, so I'll have some "bonus" points this quarter. Not a lot, but still, it's something.

Sunday I had my lesson and got videotaped. Man, it's strange watching yourself swing. I kept thinking, "why does my arm do that? I'm not consciously moving it that way." It's weird how when we do certain physical movements we develop habits that we aren't aware of. So I have three key things to work on. Then in a month or so he's going to videotape me again and see if I improved on them.

After my lesson I worked for a little bit. I was hungry so I got a salad from Robeks. It was really good and seemingly really nutritious. I'll be getting more salads from there. I love their non-fat frozen yogurt because you can mix in any fruit that you like. My favorites are mangoes, pineapples, and raspberries. After more work, I went to the gym and relaxed for a while. K was golfing with some coworkers. She hadn't been in a really long time and she said she did really well!

We're going to try and play 9 holes Saturday morning. We're thinking that if we reserve an early tee time, there won't be many people since it's a holiday. Later that day we're going to my sister's for a cookout. Should be fun. I'm supposed to bring some dessert, but haven't decided on what to bring yet. Maybe cream puffs?

Friday we're going to meet up with our friend from school and attempt to have him shoot headshots of K. It's weather-dependent, so it might get aborted.

2009-06-27T14:13:00.003-04:00

Okay, I didn't make what I said I was going to make. Instead I made some easy rice pudding since we had some cooked rice in the fridge that was going to go bad. Basically all you do is combine equal parts rice and milk, a dash of vanilla, and some sweetener (and raisins if you wish) and let it come to a slow boil. Then reduce it to simmer until it reaches desired thickness. Take it off the stove and then add spices. I added cinnamon, a dash of nutmeg, and a tiny bit of cardamom. It was good and I ate too much and had a tummy ache.

I'm at work now actually. I'll be here for a little while longer, then stop at the food store for a few things, go to the gym, and chill out at home. Tomorrow morning I have an early golf lesson, which means I'll have to get there earlier to warm up a bit. Afterwards, I might work and maybe get a haircut. I'm long overdue.

It's Friday night and I just got paid...

2009-06-26T17:48:00.003-04:00

Ah, the weekend is upon us. I'll probably work a bit tomorrow morning. On Sunday I have a golf lesson, but otherwise, not too much planned.

I feel like making something- either a dessert or some bread or something. I found recipes for Tibetan flat bread that you make on the stove and another for vanilla cream pie. Maybe i'll make both! Then I'll just have to figure something out for an entree.

Not too much else to report, really. Because apparently, the only news that fit to print, put on TV or the interwebs is that Michael Jackson died. ... Or did he? Perhaps he faked his death and is now in an underground lair.

Summer movies are coming out that I want to see: Harry Potter Seis; Public Enemies; and some other ones i can't remember right now.

This is precious if it were 100% factual.

(title from an old Elvis song "rip it up" found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZPpd8-pbm4)

Look out the saints are coming through

2009-06-24T17:30:00.003-04:00

K's been working late this week as she's got lots going on. She's pretty tired when she gets home so I feel bad for her. I try to have tea ready so she can wind down a little bit.

I'm about halfway through Destruction. The chapter is finishing up the period of deportation. The next section, which comprises most of the book, is about extermination and the camps. Not exactly uplifting reading, but interesting still. The bureaucracy amazes me. That's one of the author's points. It wasn't just the decision of one man, but rather, this bureaucratic machine, that one in motion, was unable to stop. Also, the beginning of the book was very interesting because the authors goes to great lengths to show that what the Nazi party did, up to a point, was not new in both Jewish history and European history. Anti-jewish decrees can be traced back to the Weimar period, Luther, and even Rome. Anyway, I'm still finding it interesting.

I haven't been baking much these days. I think tonight I might stirfry some chicken. Either that or freeze it for another day! Yeah, maybe I'll be lazy and do that. Lately I've been having as a snack, half an avocado, cut up into cubes, and drizzled with some soy sauce. So good! Tonight I'll have that and most likely a salad with tuna.

This weekend I plan on working and also having a golf lesson.

(title is from a Dylan song found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gsx6tEXHi44)

dang

2009-06-22T21:41:00.002-04:00

Crazy Metro crash today. I heard about it when I was still at work. Still, public transportation is so much safer than driving. I wouldn't give it up for anything.

The weekend went by quickly. I went to work on Saturday for most of the day. Meanwhile, K got lucky and managed to get a behind the scenes tour of the Smithsonian through a connection from her coworker. lucky.

After I got home, K and I saw UP. Very well done, like all Pixar films. I think I liked Wall-e and Ratatouille better, but this one was still good and I plan to buy it when it comes out.

Afterwards we made some dinner at home and watched the first couple of episodes of Desperate Housewives. It actually was pretty well written, i thought. I mean, it's way sensationalized, but interesting nonetheless.

On Sunday we went to the driving range and the gym. I tried out my new hybrid club. I'm not too accurate with it, but I could hit it further than my other clubs and it's easier to hit with than my driver. We made yakiniku for dinner using some beef and veggies. At night we watched some more of Housewives to finish the disc.

I'm close to reaching my goal at work. Ideally, I'd like to make my goal sooner rather than later so that I can relax and any points i get thereafter would be a bonus and carry over into the next quarter.

cuuuuuuuute

2009-06-18T15:00:00.003-04:00

My niece is so cute. She's such a happy baby, smiling most of the time, bright eyed and inquisitive. She's almost crawling. She kicks her little legs, but can't quite figure out that you have to angle your feet downward and then push off. She just looks like a frog on the floor, feet a kimbo.

The move-in went pretty well. All of the boxes are accounted for and are in the appropriate locations. The furniture is mostly in place and all that she and her husband have to do is unpack some boxes and get things situated to their liking. It's a nice little community with lots of strip malls nearby. I'm jealous that the Trader Joe's is so close. Ah, if only....

Added Desperate Housewives to the Netflix queue. I know, I know, no one even needs to say it. My friend from school recommended it. And I've liked the other shows he's suggested- Damages and Mad Men.

Still reading Destruction. Right now they're talking about the einsatzgruppen, or "mobile killing units." Afterwards the book starts discussing the camps. I'll save my analysis until the end, I think.

Movin On Up

2009-06-17T07:17:00.002-04:00

Taking off work today to help move my sister into the house that she and her husband are renting for a year. It's in the same town that we grew up and is about an hour away from my current location. I'm really excited to see my niece for the first time!

Quick recap. Last Sunday we didn't do too much. Went to the driving range and gym though. And I ordered a golf club from eBay. I hope it isn't a counterfeit (fingers crossed)! It wasn't too expensive and was a 2007 model. I'm going to look up to see how to tell if it's a counterfeit. If I determine that it is, I'm going to send an email to the manufacturer with all of the pertinent contact information for the seller. Well, even if, it wasn't that expensive. Maybe it's a grey market good.

For work, I should be okay with points. I'll probably work this weekend since I'd rather hit my goal early than be scrambling around June 30.

beatles

2009-06-13T20:12:00.001-04:00

I'll stop with the videos, but the anime in this one is just so cool.

Moon

2009-06-13T19:39:00.000-04:00

I so want to see this movie.

Bistrot du Coin

2009-06-13T12:20:00.002-04:00

Had dinner last night at Bistrot Du Coin, a great place I've been to maybe 3 times before. The first time I got their steak, which was served French-style. Then every time after that I order the mussles in a light cream and curry sauce. Truly awesome, especially when you've finished eating the mussles and you can dip bread in the sauce that remains. We had dinner with an old classmate of K's that was in town for a wedding.

Today I worked for a while in the morning. I'm taking Wednesday off to help my sister move into her house. K and I are going to also offer to help out on Saturday too. I haven't been in that part of Maryland in ages! Really looking forward to seeing my sister and niece (for the first time!!).

This weekend we don't have much planned. I may work for a bit tomorrow. We'll probably just go to the gym, do some food shopping, and maybe try a new Korean restaurant.

Work is going alright. I turned in my application to work at home since I'm eligible now. I don't know if it's the right decision necessarily, but it'll be more convenient since K and I are looking at houses. Our lease is up in September. We could extend it, of course, for how ever long we choose. Perhaps the fall is a better time to buy? Next week I'll have to pick up a loan application from the credit union at work. I mean to earlier, but forgot. That way, we can at least see what kind of ballpark amount we could get in terms of a loan. We don't want to kill outselves so we're also trying to budget and figure out how much is reasonable for us. I also got names of realtors from coworkers.

I'm still reading The Destruction of the European Jews. It's slower going, but I'm about 125 pages in (out of 725 or so). So, a long way to go. But it's interesting. I may have to rewatch Conspiracy. I was talking with a friend of mine a while ago, and both of us said, if we turn on the TV and see something about WWII, we can always watch it. So at least I'm not unique with my (minor) obsession about WWII.

Munchen

2009-06-09T09:31:00.004-04:00

Had a tiring but fun weekend. On Saturday K and I cleaned, cleaned, cleaned for a few hours since we were expecting company. A friend from law school was in town for a few days from Munich. We drove to the airport, but had to wait about an hour and a half for our friend to come out of customs. It was very tiring to stand there so long, watching people turn the corner and walk out of the international gate. But she eventually arrived and we went home, fixed yakisoba, and stayed up late talking.

I'm so envious of her job! She lives and works in Munich and travels frequently to other European cities for work. She says the pay is not as much as the US, but that she only works 39 hours a week, and working on weekends is frowned upon! Also, they have a mandatory 3 weeks vacation during the summer. Not all at once, but still. Health care, obviously, is not a problem either. I'm sooooooo jealous. (sigh).

The next day we had a nice breakfast and talked for a while more. We went to Georgetown and walked around the shops for a while before meeting up with her friend for dinner at a cool Belgian place her friend recommended. K and I ordered mussels which were delicious.

We dropped our friend off at her hotel and got home around 9:30. We were both pretty tired, but it was still a fun weekend.

In other news, my sister and her daughter (and two cats) are arriving some time early next week. I'm going to take a day off work when the moving company arrives to help her unpack a bit. Then on Saturday K and I will go back to visit some more and help with whatever needs helping. I'm so excited to meet my niece!!!!

So, I finished Karlology in a couple of days. It's similar to his other books in that it just shows how strange Karl is and how his mind works. On Sunday I started The Destruction of the European Jews by Raul Hilberg. It's very dense and methodical. I first heard of it about ten years ago when I read a book about Stanley Kubrick. Kubrick is famous for his intense research and at one time he was considering a Holocaust movie. He eventually abandoned it, due in part to Spielberg's movie. (Kubrick was going to do an adaptation of Wartime Lies in the early 1990s. If you search the internet you can probably find his screenplay titled Aryan Papers.) It's a thick book and will probably take me a while to get through.

Primer

2009-06-05T15:09:00.003-04:00

Oh, jebus. Primer was such a good movie. It's crazy short- 1 hour 17 minutes. But it's so enjoyably confusing. It's akin to Memento or something like that. I was with it until the last 15 minutes or so. Then I got lost. I had to read about it on wikipedia in order to make some sense of it. I think I"m going to buy it since it's worth repeated viewings. But be warned, only watch it if you like to think about paradoxes (is that the right spelling for the plural of paradox?) and such. Next up is the French thriller Tell No One.

Otherwise it's been an uneventful week. On Sunday I think K is going to try and get headshots taken again. Also, a friend from law school is visiting from Germany tomorrow. It'll be nice to see her and go out to dinner. She's going to stay over one night so K and I have to clean, clean, clean tomorrow.

I haven't been making many meals lately, although two days ago I made a paprika chicken dish that usually turns out well. Think I'll make a dessert this weekend. Maybe the flourless chocolate cake I made back in March. It was super moist and very chocolatey, but not that bad for you (other than the chocolate of course!).

Just about every day K and I have been checking out www.ziprealty.com to look for properties in the area. Things are so damn expensive. I keep forgetting to stop by the credit union that is affiliated with my work to get an application. We've been saving for a down payment (so we can have 20%), but I think we'll be limited due to our salaries. Now, we're not hurting financially, so I'm not complaining too much. It's just a shame we don't make a little bit more. I think it'll be fun to have a proper house though. I think i'd like tinkering in a backyard vegetable/herb garden. Also, it'd be fun to decorate it (probably with IKEA stuff initially!). It's exciting to dream about.

Speaking of things I'd been meaning to do, I made an appointment with the doctor to get a physical. But get this, the soonest they could make it was the middle of July! Hehe, and people say national health care is all about waiting. hehehe.

2009-06-02T12:24:00.002-04:00

This past weekend was nice and relaxing. The weather wasn't too hot either. I didn't manage to go to the driving range, but went to the gym Fri, Sat, and Sun. I didn't cook that much, except on Sunday I made a concoction of red peppers, chicken, onion and soy-ketchup sauce. It was good. K liked it too.

Saturday night we met up with our friend Chris. The headshots didn't turn out and we postponed it until next weekend.

Otherwise, I don't feel like I accomplished much. I didn't watch Primer, didn't see Up, and haven't finished the second Otani mystery (yet). I can tell you what I did accomplish today: at work i ate two small muffins, and one and a half donuts. Yeah, that's right. And now I feel full and gross. I think that'll do me for lunch today. Hehehe.

I cracked up to the "hoedown throwdown" and various people's attempts at it on YouTube. It's from (gasp) Hannah Montana, but what's funny is other people doing it.

All the phonies have blown my mind

2009-05-29T10:14:00.007-04:00

(title is from an Oasis lyric in "Mucky Fingers")

Last night's dinner was catch as catch can. I had warm polenta as well as yogurt with dry cereal on top. For dessert I had an apple and some tea. I guess it was healthy, but no veggies really. Just dairy and carbs! Hehe, good thing I'm not watching those.

Saturday K and I have having dinner with our friend Chris. Before that though, weather permitting, Chris is going to shoot some headshots of K. He's a professional photographer on the side and offered to take K's headshots for free. We'll treat him to dinner though. I'll probably just watch and make (not) funny comments.

I finished my first Superintendent Otani mystery. Kind of interesting since it's written by a Brit about Japanese cops. It was a quick read and I started the second. After that it's on to Karl Pilkington's book. Then I'm not sure which history book I'll start.

Primer arrived from Netflix. It's a film made on a shoestring budget that I've wanted to see for a while. Running time is just under one hour twenty minutes! I'm really looking forward to it. It's noted as "the thinking man's science fiction."

This weekend UP comes out. I'm looking forward to it since I love Pixar movies (aside from Cars and Toy Story 2). Not sure if K and I will go this weekend since it'll probably be really crowded.

midi

2009-05-27T22:29:00.003-04:00

So it's midweek. That came fast since we had Monday off.

The weekend was fun. The dinners were enjoyable. The couple from law school were nice enough to let us stay over night so we could both drink and enjoy ourselves rather than abstain due to having to be sober enough to drive home. Mrs. Y makes such good food! On our way home K and I stopped at a bakery and got some fruit cream tarts that we enjoyed Sunday night and Monday night.

I finished those nasty cases I discussed in my previous post. Actually I have one more to send out tomorrow. Ah, on to the next.

The other night I made these "brownies." They were so fudgey that they weren't really brownies, but a chocolate dessert. Good with some whipped topping though. I bought some frozen raviolis from MOMs last weekend, so maybe I'll have them tomorrow night when K's at class. She has class twice a week during the first Summer session. I'll probably work late myself and then make a quick dinner.

I've been paying more attention to baseball this year. And it's nice to see that my team is doing so well. (In case you didn't notice, I was being sarcastic ((to quote Homer from The Simpsons)).

Sister, niece, and two cats arrive in about 3 weeks!!!

Ah.

2009-05-22T10:37:00.002-04:00

Glad it's the weekend. I think I'll take it somewhat easy and maybe not work too much on Monday. The weather is supposed to be nice, so maybe I'll go to the range later today and Sunday to get some more practice in.

Last night K and I went to an awesome little Chinese dimsum place that is so cheap, but good. We're off to the gym in a bit. Then we'll probably go to the range and the food store. Tonight we have a dinner with some friends from law school. Should be nice; I haven't seen them in several months. Plus, their dog is cute.

On Friday I pulled some nasty cases. They're nasty in the sense that they will require a different analysis than usual. So that means more work and more time. That means less cases I'm able to do. That translates into more time it'll take overall to meet my quarterly job. Gotta love it. Not really.

I finished Red Rabbit. It wasn't really that great. Like I stated before, his characters are so cookie cutter. They're noble good guys or evil bad guys. I get annoyed at his Jack Ryan character. His books before were pretty realistic, I think. But this one has Ryan just doing too much. He's an analyst for Christssake. I find it hard to believe that CIA has no field officers available in Europe that it has to send him to supervise a soviet defection in Hungary and try to thwart an assassination attempt on the Pope in Rome. WTF?

I think I'm going to read some short mystery books set in Japan by James Melville. I have two of them and they're less than 180 pages each! After those I plan on starting either Karl Pilkington's last book or Battle Cry of Freedom. We'll see.

Maybe we'll see a movie tomorrow.

Off topic, but I've noticed that I don't really tune into american media anymore in order to keep up with the news. I usually go to The Guardian, BBC News, Int'l Herald Tribune (which is kinda the NYT, I know). I know all reporters have their own biases, but I've grown sick of the distortions I find evident in Wall Street Journal, Fox News (teehee), MSNBC, New York Times, etc. I NEVER watch it on TV unless I'm at the gym and someone else has it on. In which case, I try to just focus on my tunes.

2009-05-20T13:52:00.004-04:00

K and I finished season one of Damages last night. It had a good finish and the two different timelines finally met up with one another. It was a good ending in the sense that it concluded one season while effectively leading into season two. Not sure if we'll end up watching season two, but season one was pretty interesting. I don't know what we'll get next from Netflix. I don't think Mad Men season 2 is out yet, nor is Dexter season 3. Come on, people!

Haven't done much in the way of cooking lately. Tonight I think I'll make rajma, an easy kidney bean curry. Hopefully it'll turn out alright. I also found a cool recipe for brownies that I want to try. Only problem with the brownies is that it calls for 2 very ripe bananas and I don't have any. Maybe I'll stop and buy some if I have time and then put them in a brown bag.

Work is annoying and I'm predicting a repeat of last quarter where I have to bust my ass the last month. If I can just keep on track and maybe get a couple of lucky pulls, I think I'll manage slightly better than last quarter.

I need to sign up for 10 more golf lessons. The next 10 focus on short game as opposed to just trying to hit the ball far and with accuracy. Actually, I need to go to the range more to practice. It's just hard during the week because I'm tired after work. Plus, if I do have energy, I'd rather go to the gym. I suppose I should make an effort to try to go once during the week and once on the weekend.

Rollover DJ

2009-05-18T13:20:00.006-04:00

Went to a wedding in NJ on Saturday. K and I got up early to catch a train and then rented a car. The scheduling worked out well and we got to the hotel plenty early. I went to the gym for a little bit. The treadmill was fine, but the weight machines were like something out of the 1970s. Very old and I couldn't tell how to adjust them to the proper height.

The wedding ceremony was held outside at the site of an old converted mill. There was a large body of water with a fountain right next to the sitting area. The ceremony was non-demoninational and was short. The reception had an open bar, great food, and awesome desserts. Not only did everyone get a slice of the wedding cake with a couple small pastries, there was a "Viennese table" in the reception room that had 12 cakes and tons of puff pastries, baklava, ecclairs, etc. I couldn't believe they had so many cakes!

I managed to read some more of Red Rabbit on the train ride home. (On the train ride there I felt sick at my stomach, so I tried to keep my eyes shut and fall asleep most of the way). Only about 200 pages to go. Not sure what I'll read next. Maybe Karl Pilkington's last book, Karlology. That should probably just take a couple of days. Then maybe I'll tackle some of the history books I've been putting off. I enjoy history books, but they don't inspire me to write like fiction does. I read Clancy, especially his later stuff, and think to myself that I could write stuff like this.

K and I only have 2 episodes left of Damages. The deaths are starting to pile up now. I think there were two in this past episode. One of the characters (a lawyer) I liked ended up dead, so that kind of stinks.

Looking forward to the barbeques this weekend. I might go into work for a bit on Monday. The end of the quarter is starting to approach, so I'm trying to get stuff done rather than killing myself at the end. We'll see, i suppose.

rants

2009-05-14T18:25:00.003-04:00

1. Why is Paula Deen orange now? Her new fake tan really makes her white teeth stand out.

2. Why do they still show so many reruns of Everybody Loves Raymond? I guess it's just me. I've never really found that show funny. I"d rather watch continuous loops of The Simpsons and Seinfeld over and over than watch a single episode of Raymond. I'd rather watch Friends than Raymond and that's saying a lot.

3. People who use the phrase "it is what it is." It's a meaningless phrase! Say nothing rather than that crap.

4. Has Rachael Ray ever made you laugh?

5. How can anyone not smirk at Fox News's tagline, "Fair and Balanced"?

6. People who say "how are we doing today?" I didn't know we were a group, chief.

/End Rants/

Read a really cool article. Makes me want to move to Holland (or at least outside the U.S.)! Too bad my job is not really one that is marketable overseas. If only.

why won't everybody give over

2009-05-13T14:02:00.010-04:00

Good news- maintenance fixed the kitchen sink so that it does not drip underneath. The bottom of the dishwasher still had some water in it. But I'm going to run it again and see if it doesn't drain. If not, I'll call maintenance again.

Last night I made a blood orange yogurt cake based on Joy the Baker's recipe. It's slightly undercooked at the bottom, but it's tasty. The blood orange adds a good bit of citrus. I used unsweetened applesauce in place of the oil which makes the cake a little denser, I think. So that'll last a couple more days probably.

Damages is getting intense. K doesn't like it because it's dark and there's no clear protagonist. Unlike Dexter, which has its light moments and has Dexter as a likable protagonist (who only kills bad people), on Damages everyone has flaws and everyone is, well, damaged. It's still compelling. I'm sure Ted Danson will end up paying LOTS of money. Hopefully the SEC guy will get his comeuppance. Also, it'll be interesting to find out who killed David and who Ellen killed in Patty's apartment.

Tonight I think I'll make the green lentil Indian dish. It's pretty basic. Just some onions, garlic and lentils. Then you mix in cumin, tumeric, and some curry powder. That's it!

Odds and ends:

-I took the Karl Pilkington quiz and got 9/10. Is that sad, or just weird? Probably a combination of the two. I've listened to those radio shows and podcasts way too much. But they're just so damn funny. By the way, I think Karl looks just like my cousin that I've only met a couple of times.

-This summer I want to paint some more too. It's just, my apartment is wall-to-wall and it's a pain to try to cover the area with newspaper. It's probably easier to just cover the kitchen table and paint on that. That's what I plan on doing. Maybe I'll rent some documentaries on Picasso or Pollack to get inspired.

-Interesting article regarding organic vs. free range eggs found here. Seems like, for the buck, free range might be more important. Plus, they're often lower in cholesterol.

-Title of this post is from a song "Those Swollen Hand Blues" by Oasis. Apparently, "give over" is a northern English expression that means "stop it" or "take it easy" when someone isnt' doing something to your liking.

Relax and Float Downstream

2009-05-12T10:52:00.005-04:00

Feeling back to normal, thank you very much. Rested up this past weekend. Went to the gym for a bit, but took it easy. No more shoulder pain which is good. Also made it to the driving range. First time in a while, but I did a lot better than I expected. Most went straight, but some went waaaaaaaaaaay to the right.

Recently, I made this appetizer. It tasted alright, but of course, I didn't have Peruvian potatoes, so I used regular old Idaho. Also, I didn't have creme fraiche so I used fromage blanc (like sour cream) that I had in the fridge. It was very salty, but kind of interesting. Fun to try but I doubt I'll make it again. For dessert I made a German apple cake that turned out okay. I preferred it warm, but K liked it cold. Go figure. Last night K worked late, but I made Korean potatoes. They're spicy and salty with a hint of molasses (since I didn't have malt syrup). They came out well, but I think they taste better cold.

I think I might make David Lebovitz's gingersnap cookies again. I have all of that candied giner that I have to use up some time. I don't know when I'll ever use it otherwise. But I also wanted to make these cookies that call for oatmeal, chocolate protein powder, and prune with apples baby food. Seemed interesting, but K might have munched on the chocolate chips in the pantry.

The kitchen sink is dripping underneath and I've put in 3 work orders to get them to fix it. Hopefully the third time is the charm and they do it right. Also, the dishwasher doesn't drain all the way. Not sure what is going on there.

K and I were searching housing prices the other day. Bowie seems to be quite a deal, but we're not sure about the area. Also, it'd be farther away from all of the places we've grown to love around here.

List of things:

-Looking forward to Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox. I'm a huge fan of his other movies and own them all on DVD: Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, The Royal Tanenbaums, The Life Aquatic, and Darjeeling Limited. Watching the DVD extras, it's apparent that his attention to detail is amazing. It's similar to the anecdote about Kubrick where he objected to the prop designer's choice of paperclips. Haha, how awesome is that!?

-Still listening to Mando Diao. But I've added some of a band called The Ganjas and another called The Rascals. The latter is very mid-60s sounding while the former is more psychadelic.

-still reaidng Red Rabbit. I'm about a third of the way through. Not sure what I'll see next.

-This week we travel for a wedding. Should be fun, hopefully the food is good. Next week there are a couple of Memorial Day barbeques we're going to. Also should be fun if the weather cooperates.

tum

2009-05-07T14:54:00.002-04:00

Woke up and felt like I might be getting sick. The feeling has persisted throughout the day. I wish I didn't volunteer to help set up for this expo at work. It's after work, but hopefully it won't take long. I just want to go home and lay down and watch tv.

I haven't baked much this week. I was going to make cream puffs but don't really feel like it. Maybe next week when I feel better.

Anyway, not much else to report.

Gold and silver and sunshine

2009-05-05T10:38:00.008-04:00

Had a quick dinner yesterday which consisted of warm polenta (a new favorite), yogurt, and a cupcake. Nice, huh? Tonight I'm making a pork dish in my slow cooker. I'm always paranoid that it's going to burn my apartment down. It's supposed to be cajun style in that it has some vinegar in it and some worchestershire sauce. Hopefully it'll turn out well. I think we'll just have that and a salad for dinner. Maybe some rice to go along with it.

List of things I'm into at the moment:

-Mando Diao- a great Swedish rock band. They have lots of albums and I've just started to get into them. I also like the Swedish band The Soundtrack of Our Lives. The latter has this great tune, "Confrontation Camp."

-started reading Tom Clancy's Red Rabbit. It's a "Ryanverse" book set in the mid 1980s, after Partiot Games and before Hunt for Red October. So far it's alright. But his writing style is a little annoying at times. Also, his characters aren't very three dimensional. There are good guys and bad guys and not many in between. For example, Jack Ryan is this perfect man- he's smart, tough when he needs to be, and never seems to make a mistake! Also, it's clear Clancy dispises the Soviets. I think it would be more effective to not take sides so clearly. I don't know, it's just me. I think Littell's The Company does a better job at this.

-David Lebovitz's website. I made his gingersnap cookies a month or so ago and they were great. I plan on making more of his stuff in the future. The banana bread looks great too.

Before I forget, I wanted to jot down a book that I should add to my never-ending list of books-to-be-read: A Brief History of Neoliberalism.

I hate having to always think of titles

2009-05-04T10:07:00.005-04:00

My right shoulder/back/arm area feels better. It was a little sore this morning, but better still.

Saturday I went into work for a little bit in the morning and then went to the gym. I took it easy on my right underarm. I made chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese icing. I made the cupcakes with K's help and we let them cool while we went out to dinner. I think our oven is really hot because i took them out 2 minutes before I should have and they were still a little dry. After dinner we made an easy cream cheese frosting. It's wicked good. I could eat the whole thing and then want to vomit.

For dinner we went to a restaurant I've been meaning to try called Food Matters. The waiter was kind of funny and the food was great. The restaurant uses all local ingredients. We ordered two soups, lentil vegetable and cream of carrot. Both were excellent and very different. For dinner K had the halibut which was pan fried and had greens on top and mashed carrots on the bottom. I ordered the chicken which was roasted and came with cream rice and carrots and pearl onions. Very very good; I'm sure we'll go back. After dinner we were driving past this make-shift amusement park. We stopped by, paid $1 entrance fee and walked around. The carnies are so funny. We noticed that at first they try to entice you to play their game by giving you a couple of free tries. Then if you ignore them they employ tactic number 2, namely, bribing you with the luxurious stuffed animals (actually they were filthy looking). If numbers 1 and 2 fail, they insult you- "you're so cheap, you won't even play for free?" Haha, they made us laugh. Plus, they fit the carney stereotype, as demonstrated here.

Sunday we got up early and went to a local farmer's market. It was raining so it made shopping difficult. We were able to look around and buy some greens. We intend on returning when the weather is nicer. I'd like to try some of the local pork and dairy. We came back and made an awesome breakfast with an omelet, grits, and green salad. For dinner we made steamed pork buns. They tasted just like the ones you get an dim sum restaurants! We are definitely making those again.

My Mom's been visiting my sister in St. Louis these past few days. My sister's family is moving back to the east coast in a about a month. I'm looking forward to it! It'll be nice to have her, her husband, and their daughter to within driving distance. I'm also going to try and convince my brother in law to take up golf, damnit!

Ouch

2009-05-02T11:10:00.002-04:00

Man, my right side is all shot to hell. After working out yesterday I noticed that a different part of my right shoulder area hurt. This time it's not located in the back, but right near where the arm meets the armpit. It's real sensitive to the touch and when I gently massage it I can feel it shooting down my arm into my fingers. What the hell did I do. I iced it a bit last night and it feels better today, but still a little sore. I plan on going to the gym today, but won't work my chest or do anything that would put strain on it.

K and I are almost finished with the cheesecake. She calls it tofu cake. Maybe next time I'll use more cream cheese so it's more cream cheesy. I might make cream puffs next. I didn't realize they're so easy to make and not really all that bad for you. There's not that much sugar in them and it only seems to use about 3 eggs all in. Besides, they only basically require sugar, eggs, flour, vanilla.

There are NO movies I want to see. I think we'll go to the driving range for a bit, but I might have to take it easy due to my goddamn arm. Not sure what else we'll get into. Maybe there's something going on in the city.

Finished Damages disc 1 last night. Pretty captivating show so far. I think Tate Donnovan's character is my favorite. I remember him from Space Camp, a movie I watched a lot as a kid. His character on the show, Tom, is really loyal to Patty (Glenn Close). He does unethical and illegal activities which would get him disbarred if revealed. He wants to be like Patty, but isn't quite ready to be on his own. I wonder if his character will develop more over the course of the show.

Hard Rain's a Gonna Fall?

2009-05-01T11:06:00.005-04:00

(Title just refers to the fact that it might rain again today.)

Thinking of leaving a couple of hours early today. I plan on maybe stopping at the food store for a few items and going to the gym. My back/shoulder area is still a little strained, but feels better than it did. I'll try to go easy, but it's hindering my plans, damnit. My experiment is to work out more but not really alter my food intake or diet. I'm not going to start slamming on the protein or any crap like that. Nor am I going to spend hours at the gym. About an hour does me. 20 minutes or so run and then some weight machines and free weights. Then I go home and do some abs for about 10 mintues while I watch part of a DVD. Yup, that's it.

Last night I made a curry and yogurt braised chicken dish. It wasn't as thick as I would have liked, but it tasted alright. I think it's my least favorite of the Indian dishes I've made recently: number 1 is the green lentil garlic dish, number 2 is the chickpea with tomato puree, number 3 is this one. For dessert I made a cheesecake. I think the cheesecake turned out pretty well too. I prefer the flourless chocolate cake I made a couple months back though.

My friend Angela from work suggested I try this Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. The concept sounds awesome. Basically you keep a bowl of dough in the fridge. And you scrape off a chunk when you want to make stuff. Sounds awesome. They also have a naan recipe that looks perfect! I may have to order the book soon or see if the library has a copy available.

I took pictures of my office but need to go home to load them on the computer. I'll post them soon.

Thought about doing a "things I'm into lately" list, but it's pretty much the same as it's been for a week or two: Bob Dylan, Ricky Gervais, Oasis, etc.

Oh yeah, I finished 2666. I think I enjoyed the last part the best, the story of Archimboldi. It's hard to explain what the story is about. A major theme is how the fictional city, Santa Teresa (really, Juarez), changes the people that visit and inhabit it. The book contains violence and there are a lot of murders that are discussed clinically. Overall, I'm glad I read it. It's written very well and I can see why it won all sorts of awards.

I just finished Darkness Take My Hand. It's very fast paced and the main characters are private investigators Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro. I've read all of the books in this series (out of order) except for Gone Baby Gone. I did see the movie though, so I think that counts for something. It's a pretty good, quick read. I like the Kenzie-Gennaro team. Unfortunately, it seems like Lahane has moved away from writing about them. I have to say, though, that serial killer plots seem played out. In the news anyway, they're very infrequent (which is a good thing!). I much prefer reading about PIs solving a missing persons report, or finding stolen stuff. I think I'm a classicist about PIs. I love Philip Marlow (thank you, UB and AJ) and the detectives in Dashiell Hammett's and Raymond Chandler's books.

Wednesday Rain

2009-04-29T10:48:00.005-04:00

Forgot to mention that I tried this vanilla brown sugar polenta dish last week. This morning I made if for K and me. I didn't think she'd like it since she doesn't like oatmeal that much. The consistency is more like cream of wheat. The vanilla and brown sugar go well with the corn meal. It would probably also be good with syrup or jam. Plus, it only takes about 10 minutes on the stove to get thick. Half the time it takes my steel cut oats.

Recently, in our spare time, K and I have been looking online at the available properties all over the region. I think the first step is to choose a mortgage company or bank to figure out how much of a loan you'd qualify for. Then you can select a realtor based on friends' recommendations and/or the region you're interested in. As the time ticks by, I think K and I will start this process. But right now we just like looking at the stuff online.

It's a rainy day here. I think I'll eat lunch inside rather then go out for lunch. Hopefully the cafeteria has something that will strike my fancy. Otherwise it's sushi and salad.

Yesterday I made an apple snack cake. I didn't use walnuts and substituted apple sauce for the oil, but otherwise it turned out pretty tasty. It was real quick to make and it's made with stuff you almost always have on hand. On Thursday I want to try a cheesecake recipe. I'll post about it if/when I make it.

K and I watched the second episode of Damages, the Glenn Close-Ted Danson-Tate Donnovan legal drama. Normally I hate legal shows, especially the ones where everything is all tied up nice within one hour. It's so fake. This is a show on FX where it's one long case over the course of 13 episodes. I like it so far. Glenn Close, who I'm no fan of, is a real badass lawyer. The characters are compelling. Like other shows, Rescue Me, Dexter, etc., she's a fascinating character you love to hate.

Tuesdays with Dorrie

2009-04-28T09:26:00.003-04:00

Weekend was mostly uneventful. As previously indicated, I took off work an hour early to go to the gym. For dinner K and I had the two leftover Indian dishes. We also made fresh naan. The problem was, I tried to use a yeast-less recipe that the baking soda/baking powder duo didn't cause it to rise that much; they ended up like pita chips. Still went well with the Indian dishes, so it wasn't a total loss. Saturday I went to work and had lunch with two coworkers at IHOP. I hadn't been there in a long time. One coworker ordered some Fruity Tuity thingy and the other got a sandwich. I got 5 buttermilk pancakes and ate them all. I was stuffed.

K and I had a late dinner with some old friends from law school. We ended up being rushed because they had to go to a party, but it was still fun to be out and try a new restaurant. Restaurant was so-so overall, but I enjoyed my sesame tuna salad.

Sunday K and I made Japanese-style pancakes. (I know, I just had pancakes the day before, but it would take a lot for me to get sick of pancakes.) They're like American pancakes except a lot fluffier and thicker. The recipe incorporates the usual flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, but also adds yogurt, butter, eggs, and milk. They turned out real well. Then we let everything digest, went to the gym, food store, and returned home to make pizza.

The pizza dough was pretty sticky. I think it was too wet and had too much water and/or not enough flour. I'm going to keep trying out new dough recipes. My good friend recommended American Pie and the "cold rise" method where you put the dough mixture in the fridge for 24-48 hours. Interesting. I want to try it.

On an unrelated note, my parents mentioned they saw Shine a Light, the Stones documentary. I'm not really into the modern era Stones. I think I noted before, though, that I really enjoy Scoresese's Bob Dylan documentary No Direction Home. It's not that I don't enjoy concert DVDs; I own several. Off the top of my head, I remember the following: Jet's Family Style, Oasis's Familiar to Millions and Live by the Sea, The White Stripes's Under Blackpool Lights. Oh yeah, one more, The Who's Live at the Isle of Wight.

Anyway, speaking of The White Stripes, I mentioned to my friend Brett that Jack White is turning into the Ryan Seacrest of indie rock in that he's everywhere these days. He just formed a third band: The Dead Weather. Cool band name! Check out their first single, "Hang You from the Heavens." Pretty heavy but cool. Video is kinda creepy though.

Not too much else going on this week. Next weekend I want to go to the driving range and I plan on having a golf lesson.

Kari

2009-04-24T13:11:00.002-04:00

I made two Indian dishes last night. One was made with green lentils. I soaked the lentils all day and then all I had to do was add spices and one tomato and let it reduce for a while. The other dish was a little more complicated. I cooked up some onions, garlic, ginger, jalapeno, and diced tomatoes. Then I put it in a blender to get everything all pureed. Then all you have to do is add 2 cans of chickpeas, a little bit of water, and let it simmer for a while. I had to add more water as it got a little dry at some points.

I didn't have time to make naan, but I want to try out a yeastless recipe I found from the BBC. I might make it tonight when we have leftovers. For dessert K and I made these chocolate peanut butter banana yogurt smoothies. Basically you just throw everything in a blender: bananas, chocolate powder, Greek yogurt, peanut butter, milk, ice, and some honey. It was alright and very filling due to the air!

I think I'm going to leave work early to go to the gym and start the naan. I try to keep my gym time to under an hour. I run for 22 minutes (20 minute run, 2 minute cool down) and then use some of the machines. Lately I've been using the bench press, the "backward pull" machine that works the triceps, and the device that allows for body dips and leg lifts. Then I ususally use the free weights. Sometimes I use the leg press too.

This weekend I hope to go to the driving range. It's been a while and I'm way rusty. I'd like to get back into it so that I can finally play a round. Maybe we'll catch a movie too, if there's anything worthwhile.

Morning Meals

2009-04-22T20:12:00.000-04:00

Still enjoying the new office. There was a very quick thunderstorm yesterday and it was cool to see the rain pour down.

A coworker said they hate breakfast because they never know what to have. I was like, What the deuce? Breakfast is freakin awesome. Granted, I usually don't have the time to make pancakes, eggs, and all that gear during the week. Typically K and I save one of the weekend mornings for that.

But I still really enjoy my breakfasts, even the quick(ish) ones I have during the week. I usually make espresso via my Bialetti stovetop maker. I bought it last Summer when my good friend Brett was in town. He said he's had one for years and loves it. So most mornings I get that going on the stove and heat up two mugs of milk filled half-way. Now some mornings I make coffee using a french press just for something different. For the espresso, I usually stick with Pilon. For regular coffee, I usually grab whatever is on sale. Right now it's Caribou Coffee.

For a long time now I've been having oatmeal and fiber cereal. Usually I add the fiber ceral and cinnamon to the oatmeal and mix it into one big concoction. About a month ago, I tried steel cut oats. They're really different than rolled oats, but enjoyable just the same. I've come to the conclusion that for breakfast I like things warm and mushy, be it oatmeal, polenta, cream of wheat, rice porridge. I prefer them slightly sweet, but not overly so.

Listened to Dylan's new album last night. Pretty cool. Not as funny as his last one though.

New Dawn New Day

2009-04-21T16:07:00.000-04:00

Had a late start today because I forgot to set the alarm. It's the first time I've ever done that. I woke up around 8:20 and got K up. She didn't seem that upset about it which was nice. So I got to work later than usual, but since I've been coming in on weekends, I'm not worried about the time. K gets her haircut today. If it turns out like the picture she showed me, it should be cute. Sadly, my "hair cut" days are over. My hair's way too thin and fine too do anything other than cut it short. I get it cut every few months and that's about that. When it gets really thin and short I'll probably go shorter, maybe keep it at a half an inch or less.

The day got better because I moved into my window office this morning! The guy came and transferred my stuff over (CPU, monitor, printer, etc.). I had to move some other stuff, but I don't have much so it wasn't a big deal. The view and natural light is awesome. Only problem, and it's not a big one, is that the blinds don't really work all that well. In order to keep them up, the guy before me uses an anchor to keep the string thingy tied down. Eh, it'll work.

K and I have 1.5 episodes of Dexter left. I'm thinking it's not going to end well for Doakes and Lila. BUT, Dexter can't kill them because they're not really killers themselves. It would leave a sour taste in the viewers' mouths so to speak. So, my prediction is that they'll meet their end but not at the hands of Dexter. We'll see if that comes true.

In contrast to yesterday's weather, today is really nice. Sunshine galore.

Litany of my favorite things at present:

-Russel Brand and Noel Gallagher cohosting radio show about soccer here. Most of the football talk is over my head. The English football fanatics are crazy but funny. Russell and Noel are pretty funny together.

-Ricky Gervais, Karl Pilkington, and Steve Merchant's latest podcast. It's called "The Ricky Gervais Guide to Philosophy." Pretty funny. I need to get the next one.

-Closing in on 2666. About 100 pages left. The last part is all about Archimboldi and largely takes place during WWII. How cool is that?

-Wondering what recipe to try this week. I'll have to go through the ones I printed out and see if anything is doable.

Monday Monday

2009-04-20T09:53:00.000-04:00

You know, Quentin Tarantino's right. I can't listen to California Dreamin' without thinking of Faye Wong in Chungking Express. Speaking of Tarantino, his new film, Inglorious Basterds seems pretty badass. Can't wait until August for this one.

Let's see, what's been going on this past week. Work has been alright. I'm getting a window office some time this week. I'll try to post pictures once I'm all moved in. I think I'll enjoy the natural light.

Here are my recent baking attempts-- During the week I made a Ricotta Pie. Pretty easy, especially since I had a pre-made Oreo-type chocolate pie shell. I just combined some ricotta cheese, eggs, sugar, and vanilla. Wasn't too sweet, pretty light, good. Then on Saturday I made a version of this recipe. I call them "sweet muffins" since I don't have mini donut pans. They were pretty light and fluffy. Later I had to get rid of some overripe bananas so I made banana bread, trying a new recipe. It wasn't that good. You could really taste the baking powder for some reason. We still have to finish that.

On Friday K and I made a simple Udon soup. Not too salty and filling! Saturday night we made a garbanzo bean and cherry tomato chicken dish. How come some people call them cherry tomatoes and some call them grape tomatoes? Are grape tomatoes bigger?

K and I have also been thinking about looking for a condo/house in the near future. Lots to think about: stay close to the city to have the convenience but sacrifice space, or go further out and have larger space, but sacrifice commuting time. The current lease is up in September.

We're winding down Dexter Season 2. I don't believe Season 3 is out on DVD yet. Not sure what we'll get into afterwards. I heard Damages was supposed to be good. We enjoyed the second season of Dexter, but were frustrated with his character. Lila is so obviously crazy it's strange to think someone like Dexter would be drawn to that. Also, some parts of the story are unbelievable. Like a police station that doesn't have a front desk and lets people just wander right on in to where the officer's desks are. Or a police station that doesn't have cameras, interior or exterior, allowing people to break in willy-nilly. (I like that phrase willy-nilly.)

I planned on going to the driving range this weekend to practice a little bit, but didn't end up going. Damn it. I'll have to try to do it next weekend. I've been going to the gym more, which is good. My muscles are sore today after having gone Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

NaLiWeek

2009-04-13T14:41:00.000-04:00

It's National Library Week so I think everyone should stop by their local library and check out some book and/or media. I have to admit, I love my local library, but I've only checked out one book. I patronize the library for DVDs mostly, CDs on occassion, and sometimes read magazines. I also frequently get old paperbacks for 50 cents.

So, I made banoffee pie Friday night. I think my choice of fat-free sweetened condensed milk screwed things by making the "dulce de leche" too much like hard caramel. Maybe I shouldn't have put it in the fridge and just let it cool to room temperature. I still ate it, mind you, but I heated in the microwave first. I might try it again. I think there are slow cooker recipes for it as well where you cook the sweetened condensed milk for hours to get it like a dulce de leche consistency.

On Saturday we tried a Mexcian place not too far away. I ordered a chicken mole verde and K got lime steak tacos. We liked our meals okay, but I think the place was slightly overpriced. On Sunday we had K's coworker over for dinner. I hadn't met him before but he's a nice guy. Dinner was great too; K made potato and beef croquettes, soup, salad, and bean sprout side dish.

K and I started Dexter Season 2. It's off to a good start and is interesting to see Dexter struggle with getting over his brother's death.

I've been going to the gym more. I think I went 4 times last week. Going to try and keep that up.

Okay, now my random list of things I was/am interested in:

-Watched Out of England, the Ricky Gervais standup. I laughed a lot, but don't think it's his best work. There's better stuff on YouTube. K didn't like it too much (even though I caught her laughing several times).

-Still on my Dylan kick and have been listening to lots of his albums again. Man, his poetry is incredible. I can listen to the same song ten times and still not get it. Lately I've been listening to "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" and "Chimes of Freedom."

-For a few months now I've been shopping at MOMS. Mostly I get produce, milk, and chicken there. For whatever reason I never noticed their bulk items or their spices. So this past weekend I got a pound of some steel cut oatmeal and a pound of lentils. The steel cut oatmeal in bulk is so much cheaper than buying it at the store! Also, I think i'm going to get my spices from there too. You can get however much you like and it's also a lot cheaper.

Mid-week musings

2009-04-08T13:30:00.001-04:00

This week is chugging along.

I realized I've been baking up a storm this past month or so. It started when I made a vegan flourless chocolate cake for K's return from Japan. I think it turned out really well, but was maybe ever so slightly undercooked. I might have made some stuff in between. But last Friday I made rosemary bread. We ate it in less than 24 hours! It didn't rise as much as I was hoping for but still tasted yummy. Saturday for dessert I attempted cinnamon rolls. They were a disaster. The filling tasted good, but the dough was not tasty and the texture was off. I might attempt Alton Brown's recipe some day.

Oh yeah, another disaster was almond cookies. It was 3 ingredients and seemed simple enough: almond paste, sugar, and eggwhites. Maybe I didn't whip it enough or something, but they remained super flat. I ate a couple and threw the rest out.

Last night I made gingersnap cookies according to David Lebovitz's recipe. They're supposed to be like the vegan ones that Whole Foods sells. They're pretty close. I like them and K liked them too, but she's not as crazy about the Whole Foods ones as I am. I think I'd make them again.

This weekend I plan on making banoffee pie or a peanut butter pie. I try to make everything as healthy as possible. Take banoffee pie for instance; it's going to be super high in sugar and calories, but I'm going to try and minimize the fat by using Cool Whip Lite and fat free condensed milk.

Watching Don't Look Back last week piqued my interest in Dylan again. So I've been listening to his stuff whenever I'm in the car or on the computer at home. At work, I'll occassionally pop a CD in if I remember to bring any. I want to check my library and be sure that I have all of his albums. At one time I had all of his studio albums in MP3s, but when I got my Mac back in July I didn't transfer everything.

K and I finished up Dexter season 1 and started season 2 last night. We'll have to find some other TV series once we finish that. We still watch 30 rock episodes from Hulu after they air on TV.

More items

2009-04-01T21:01:00.001-04:00

Thought of some other items I've been into for a while:

-Ricky Gervais- probably my favorite comedian. His blog is hilarious and he posts frequently. I'm glad he's making more movies. I thought Ghost Town was great for what it was. That's a movie I'll have to pick up one day. Also, his podcasts with Karl Pilkington are hilarious too. K doesn't understand why I like them so much. She likes the stuff Ricky's done, but not to the same extent that I do.

-Cooking stuff- I made a flourless chocolate cake a few weeks ago that turned out pretty well. It had a couple "secret ingredients," but still tasted very fudgy and good. Last weekend I made a "healthy" carrot cake. I think the only bad bits were the coconut and sugar. Otherwise, pretty healthy. I make bran muffins now and again too. K and I like those and they're usually gone in a few days. I want to try these pumpkin cinnamon rolls- maybe this weekend.

-Finished watching Don't Look Back, the Bob Dylan documentary by DA Pennebaker. It's such an iconic film and I'm a pretty big Dylan fan that I had to watch it. Pretty good, I think. It's not really a bio, just one of the first "tour documentaries," following Dylan during his 1965 tour of the UK. This was the tour right before the one featured in the Scoresese documentary, No Direction Home. This was before he "went electric." There's a cool bit where he's working at his typewriter, Joan Baez is behind him on a sofa, playing one of his songs. You can also see the tension between the two of them and it makes sense that they broke up shortly after it was filmed. My favorite part is where he politely listens to Donnovan play a song. It's all nice and flowery and stuff and then Dylan plays a song that completely silences the room. "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue." I like the subtle arrogance Dylan has. He wasn't mean to Donnovan, but I"m sure it was apparent to every one there that Dylan's song was far superior.

Okay, that's all for now.

New Quarter

2009-04-01T13:14:00.000-04:00

Been a while since I posted stuff regularly and I'm going to try to make it more of a habit. I stopped posting a little less than a year ago. I want to do it again since it's a good way to memorialize some things and also to keep in touch with people.

So to start I'll just list some stuff I've been into:

-Oasis (of course)- saw them live 12/20/08 in Fairfax. It was a birthday present from K. I enjoyed the show immensely, although Liam struggled a bit a couple of times.

-Russell Brand (http://www.russellbrand.tv/)- listened to his radio show on the BBC before he quit. He's good friends with Noel Gallagher of Oasis and it's always funny when he was a guest on the show. Russell's a pretty funny guy--so manic.

-I read some good books, but can't be bothered to list them all right now. At the moment I'm reading 2666. It's a long sucker, but pretty interesting. Too bad the writer died a few years ago.

-TV- K and I loved Mad Men and we're almost finished with Dexter season 1.

Alright, back to work....

my favorite things

2009-03-24T18:30:00.000-04:00

two cites that I love:

www.tastespotting.com

www.foodgawker.com

They give me lots of ideas about recipes to make or, even if i don't follow a recipe, they inpsire me to make something else entirely.

testing

2008-12-13T22:54:00.000-05:00

testing; testing; testing

Lover in the Snow

2008-04-22T21:36:00.000-04:00

From the library I watched Chinatown and an indie movie from Norway called Monster Thursday. Upon rewatching Chinatown I realized that Daniel Day Lewis's performance in There Will Be Blood was largely an imitation of John Huston. They talk the same and their mannerisms are the same. I borrowed Children of Men. That's a pretty cool movie; I like the first half better than the second half. Monster Thursday was okay. There was a lot of surfing in the movie, which was cool. I wish I knew how to surf. Never too late, I suppose, but a little hard to do when you're far from an ocean with sizable waves.

I had leftovers for a couple of nights and smelled like garlic. I could smell it coming out of my pores on Monday. Gross.

I'm going to my parents after work on Thursday. I'm taking Friday off. It'll be nice to have some time off. I need it. Plus, some sh*t's been going on this past week such that going to the beach will be a welcomed distraction.

I'll probably finish The Hot Kid soon. Elmore Leonard is such a master of his genre. He has an ear for dialogue and quick plots. Rumpole awaits.

I'm still listening to "Lover in the Snow."

"I wanna know
What were you doing with my friend?
Out in the eve
Deep in the shaded glim I saw you,
Lying with him, down in the snow,
Letting him do all of the things that he wants to.

And what does he do?
What does he do to you that's so nice?
And how does it feel
When he takes your hand and kisses it twice?
Lying with you, down in the snow, letting him do
All of the things he wants to.

So laugh and play around
Fall and hit the ground
You think I’ll never know
Your lover in the snow.

Letting him fill you up with his wine
Letting him flatter you with his line
Letting him put you down in the snow
Taking him in and letting me go
It hurts for me to see you so
And I can't take you back no more
Lover in the snow."

Blueberry

2008-04-19T15:48:00.000-04:00

This week wasn't too bad. On Friday before lunch, our building was evacuated because there was some gas leak. We had to wait outside for about 15 minutes. In the stairwell you could smell the gas. I left a little after lunch, so I really didn't work much on Friday.

Since sushi-grade tuna was on sale I bought some and pan-fried it. I didn't cook it all the way through, just the top and bottom a little bit. I made a soy and mustard sauce to dip it in. I also had peas, salad, and boiled cabbage. Tonight I'm going to prepare a recipe I got from msn.com. It's similar to Indian recipes because it calls for a yogurt sauce with cumin, paprika, and chili powder. You spread some of it over the chicken into the pan and save some for when you eat it. Hopefully it'll turn out okay.

Last night I saw Smart People. It was alright, but I feel like it had the potential to be much better. It never showed you what was likable about Dennis Quaid's character other than that he was a smart literature professor. Ellen Page played a Republican version of Juno. I hope she chooses some roles where she isn't a smart-alecky kid who always has something sarcastic to say. I wonder if that's how she is and maybe that's why she chooses those roles! Also, Sarah Jessica Parker needs to remove that mole already. I couldn't stop staring at it. Ew. The saving grace in the movie was Thomas Haden Church's character as the dysfunctional adopted brother of Dennis Quaid. He was hilarious and the most "with it" person, even though he wasn't successful monetarily. I think there's something to be said about jobs that don't pay well, but are rewarding for those that work them. I'm thinking of day laborers, teachers, librarians, etc.

This morning I saw My Blueberry Nights, Wong Kar Wai's first English movie. For those that don't like him, I think they'd hate this movie. It was mostly a study of different characters. Norah Jones's boyfriend gets another girl and she doesn't know what to do, but strikes up a friendship with Jude Law, owner/operator of a cafe in NY. Norah heads off to Memphis and works as a waitress at a bar trying to save money to buy a car. She meets David Straithairn, an alcoholic police officer who is separated from his wife, Rachel Weisz. To put it mildly, Straithairn and Weisz have a dysfunctional relationship. Norah eventually moves on to Nevada where she meets Natalie Portman, a poker player. Norah loans her some money and afterwards they drive to Vegas to see Portman's dad. Eventually Norah winds up back in NY and returns to Jude's place.

Even though some parts could have been edited a little better, I liked it. It was beautifully shot and I think Norah has promise as an actress. I normally don't like Jude Law's characters (see Alfie), but he was charming in this one. Plus, he rolled his own cigarettes which is cool. My favorite Wong Kar Wai is still Chungking Express with In the Mood for Love a close second. I think anyone who saw Chungking can't hear "California Dreamin'" and NOT think of that movie.

I'm enjoying The Hot Kid by Elmore Leonard. I'm not sure what I'll read next. Maybe a Rumpole book. I recently bought Rumpole and the Primrose Path, one of the more recent ones.

As for music, I downloaded Rivers Cuomo's demo album that was released in December. It's okay, but there's one song that's great, "Lovers in the Snow." The melody is fantastic and it's just an electric guitar, a tambourine, and some clapping. Great song.

Swearengen

2008-04-15T21:13:00.000-04:00

Last week I finished The Wire Season 4 and all of Deadwood. The Wire finished how I expected with Dukie and Michael working the corners. I was surprised about Raymond living with Major Colvin. That was sort of unexpected. Also, McNulty will probably go back to his old boozing and whoring ways in Season 5 since he's rejoined the Major Crimes division. A great drama. Same with Deadwood, but for different reasons. Deadwood is a great drama because, for me anyway, characters that were introduced ended up being not what I expected them to be. For instance, at first I hated Swearengen and thought he'd be the villain of the show. But, like Tony Soprano or Tommy Gavin on Rescue Me, you end up rooting for Al Swearengen even though he's a pimp and occasionally kills people or has them killed. He's just such a likable anti-hero. Anyway, I highly highly highly recommend Deadwood. The language is beautifully written as well.

From the library I borrowed Little Children which was nominated for some acting awards a couple of years ago. It was a pretty good drama about suburban life. The voice-over narration was really unique since it was done by a classic radio style voice.

I finished Death on the Nile. It's very similar to Orient Express, the only other Christie novel I've read. Maybe they're all like that, I don't know. It was entertaining, but I don't think I'll read another one for a while. My next one is one of Elmore Leonard's recent ones, The Hot Kid, set in the 1930s or 1920s (I'm not sure which).

This weekend or the weekend after I might go see My Blueberry Nights. It's Wong Kar-Wai's first English language film. It's also Nora Jones's first film. I like Wong Kar-Wai's movies for the most part. I love In the Mood for Love, 2046, and Chunking Express.

This week is going okay so far. Better than last, but still not great. I might take a day off of work and visit my parents this weekend or next weekend. I haven't figured out which would be better yet.

Long One

2008-04-09T21:20:00.001-04:00

This week so far has been a long one. I'm not productive at work and the hours seem to drag on and on. Only 2 more days, so that's good at least.

Last weekend I watched Priceless in the theatres. It was okay, but not great. It's about a seasoned gold digger (female) and a novice gold digger (male). He starts out following her around because he likes her. But he's poor, you see, so he has no appeal to her. Then he joins the game and gets a sugar momma. Then, finally, alas, she realizes that she likes him. So there you go. I read that the filmmakers wanted Tautou to take the role of the woman because if she has an inherent likability about her. They said if it were any other actress, the audience would hate the character. I think what they said is true.

From the library I watched Millions by Danny Boyle (of Trainspotting, 28 Days Later fame). It was okay; it's about an Irish boy who finds lots of money and struggles what to do with it. The director's visual quirks were neat and didn't distract from the movie. I also watched Wicker Park starring Josh Hartnett. That was just weird. I was bored and confused and barely made it through the whole thing. I have 2 more episodes to go in The Wire Season 4. Like the others, it's been awesome. I also have 2 more episodes in Deadwood. I can't believe that Deadwood will be over once I watch them! Stupid HBO for canceling it.

I finished Trainspotting (the book) some time early last week. It was good. I like reading about addicts for some reason. Same reason why I enjoyed A Million Little Pieces. Then I read Dennis LeHane's Sacred. It's a private eye book about two private eyes who work together. It's a quick read and I enjoyed it. I might look into getting his other works about these characters. They're the same ones in Gone Baby Gone, the Casey Affleck movie. I haven't seen it, but it's in my queue. Right now I'm reading Agatha Cristie's Death on the Nile. I like the Poirot character. He's so cool!

I've been listening to a few songs over and over again lately. "This Time Tomorrow" by the Kinks, "Powerman" by the Kinks, "Here Comes the Nice" by the Small Faces sung by Noel Gallagher at a tribute concert.

Anyway, I'll write more later.

soda cake

2008-04-02T18:28:00.001-04:00

Let's see, last weekend I checked out a few movies from the library. I watched a coming of age Japanese movie called Firefly Dreams about a girl from Nagoya who has to spend a summer in the countryside with relatives. It was pretty interesting; I'm usually a sucker for coming of age movies.

I watched Fracture with Anthony Hopkins and Ryan Gosling. It was actually entertaining and wasn't as bad as I thought it might have been. I feel like Anthony Hopkins is like De Niro, Paccino, and Nicholson in that they don't really act anymore, but play the same character in every movie. The movie was interesting although some of the legal stuff seemed improbable.

I watched The Last Kiss with Zach Braff and Casey Affleck. It's about a bunch of late 20's early 30 year old guys who are going through crises. One is with a girl who's pregnant, another is married with an infant, and another recently got dumped. They each are struggling to grow up and come to terms with their lives. It was well acted, but you sort of end up hating Braff's character because he cheats on his pregnant girlfriend.

I also watched Alfie starring Jude Law. It's about a playboy who eventually learns that he wants more than just meaning less sex with random girls. It was okay and the ending wasn't typical; there wasn't "the one" who made him realize the error of his ways.

This week I started Season 4 of The Wire and started Season 3 of Deadwood.

Last Friday I made what I'll call Soda Cake. You take any cake mix (I used low-sugar Pillsbury Yellow) and add one 16 oz. can of soda (I used diet Sprite). You mix it a little bit, pour it into a pan and bake according to the box. It tastes surprisingly good- no need for all of the oil and eggs! And if you use fat-free cool whip as icing, it's a relatively low-cal desert, at least as far as cake goes. On Sunday I made roast pork in my slow cooker. It always turns out good because it's hard to screw up.

GF and her mom had me over for dinner yesterday. Her mom makes really yummy, healthy meals. I brought over wine and cookies. It was good to see her mom since I hadn't seen her for about a year- since the swearing in ceremony.

This weekend I might go see Priceless, a French movie with Audrey Tautou. It's gotten mixed reviews. On Sunday I'm meeting up with family for my grandfather's birthday.

deadwire

2008-03-28T21:03:00.000-04:00

This week went by surprisingly fast. I didn't have to do too many things that were difficult or annoying. Hopefully next week will continue this trend.

This week I finished Season 3 of The Wire and I also finished Season 2 of Deadwood. Both were excellent, but comparing both seasons, I think I preferred Season 3 of The Wire to Season 2 of Deadwood. The Deadwood plot seemed to plod along and take a while to get anywhere. But finally George Hearst showed up in camp and I'm sure more of the ol' ultraviolence will erupt in Season 3. With The Wire, the Barksdale crew is most likely finished, leaving Marlo to build his empire. The cops will have to start again, but I'm not sure how since Marlo's crew doesn't seem as sophisticated yet.

I also watched 21 Grams, Unforgiven, and Lucky Number Slevin. I didn't like Unforgiven. I was just bored from the get go. I couldn't get into it; maybe it was the mood I was in. 21 Grams is a good drama by Mexican filmmaker, Alexandro Gonzalez Inaritu. It's pretty heavy, but well acted all around by Penn, del Toro, and Naomi Watts. Lucky Number Slevin is a comical wrong-place-at-the-wrong-time kind of movie. Parts of it aren't that great, but I like the relationship between Josh Hartnet and Lucy Liu. It flows really well and feels natural.

I might see Stop-Loss tomorrow with a coworker. His wife's in medical school and has to work so he's going to put in a few hours at our work and then maybe we'll see a movie. I'm not putting any more time in since I usually work 9 hour days and then take a few hours off early on Fridays.

I finished the Rankin book early this week. It's well done, although I feel like some of his books are more long winded than others. I like them when they're under 450. I started Trainspotting, a book I picked up for 50 cents at the library. I'm about halfway through it so far and it's pretty neat. Some of the passages are written in the Scottish vernacular, so it makes for challenging reading. I might rent the movie again once I finish the book.

Easter

2008-03-24T18:46:00.000-04:00

Since I last posted I've mostly been watching The Wire Season 2 and 3 that I rented from the library. I only have 2 more episodes to go for Season 3 and then I need to put Season 4 on hold. Yesterday I watched Deadwood and only have 2 more episodes to go for Season 2.

I also watched a movie/musical called Once from Netflix. It's not a musical in the sense that everyone on the street starts singing and dancing a la West Side Story or Grease. It's a "musical" in the sense that there's a lot of music playing and singing. But I find this more realistic because it's about a down and out Dublin musician trying to start a music career and a Czeck immigrant who's also a musician whom he befriends. The story was a little long in places, but was pretty decent. The ending wasn't cliche at all. Also, it starred the singer from the Irish band The Frames.

I've been reading the Ian Rankin book and have about 150 pages to go. It's a typical Rankin book and is an enjoyable police procedural set in Edinburgh.

At my parents we watched several movies- Things We Lost in The Fire, Rendition, and Revolver. Fire was pretty good and starred Benicio del Toro as a recovering heroin addict and Halle Berry as a recent widow. She sort of resents Benicio over his relationship with her dead husband and he seems to need her family to help him maintain his sobriety. Very well acted. Rendition was about an American resident taken to a secret CIA prision in Northern Africa because he MAY have ties to a terrorist group. It turns out the ties are extremely tenuous and it shows a complete disregard for his civil liberties. I was sort of bored with his wife's character, played by Reese Witherspoon. Jake Gyllenhal played a young CIA analyst turned agent who observes the interrogation and torture. He struggles with what he's participating in and tries to come to terms with it. Revolver was a Guy Ritchie movie that was just plain awful. It had no redeeming qualities except that there's a lot of chess playing, which I like.

I went out to dinner at a sushi place with my dad on Thursday and the next day my mom and I did some outlet shopping but didn't buy too much- she bought me a kitchen knife and two pillows. My mom and I made an Asian stew and steamed dumplings for Friday dinner. Both turned out quite well; the stew was easy to make because it was a mix and all we did was chop vegetables and meat. On Saturday we went out to breakfast and then dinner to a seafood restaurant. It was a nice visit and I'll be seeing them again in 2 weeks for my grandfather's birthday lunch/dinner.

Facing Four

2008-03-16T18:47:00.001-04:00

This week will be a short one because I'm taking off on Friday. I don't think I've used any leave in a while. I plan on driving down to my parent's place at the beach. So only four days working this week instead of five. And maybe I'll leave early on Thursday. I'm not sure yet.

On Thursday I watched Rashomon, which I'd rented from the library. It's really interesting in that it tells a rape/murder from four different points of view. It's pretty interesting and it seems like lots of other storytellers have copied various aspects from it. Saturday night I watched two movies- The Lady in the Water and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Lady was directed by M. Night Shyamalan and it wasn't that good. I can see why critics panned it. The story was pretty ridiculous and it didn't explain why people were so willing to believe in "other worlds" and "people from the water." Hitchhiker I saw in the theatres. It was okay, but since I'm a big fan of the books, I wanted a lot more. I wish it had done better so that they'd make more of them. On Sunday I watched lots more of The Wire. I have seasons 2 and 3 from the library that I'll be going through this week.

I finished 'Tis. It took me about a week, but that's just because lately I only read on the bus and metro. It's pretty good. It just tells his life from when he arrived in New York city when he was 19 or 20. The book spends most of the time describing his life in his twenties, but it does go until his father's funeral in 1985. He has another book that concentrates on his teaching years in inner city schools- Teacher Man. Maybe I'll eventually pick it up. Now I'm reading an Ian Rankin novel.

That's all for now. I'm going to go watch some more Wire.

Not halfway

2008-03-11T21:12:00.000-04:00

Had a good weekend with my parents. They arrived around dinner time on Saturday. We went to a cozy place nearby that has a pretty interesting menu. They have normal things like sandwiches and paninis, meatloaf, etc., but they add things to it that you wouldn't normally find in your run of the mill places. Like apples in chicken salad. We watched Kiss Kiss Bang Bang at night since I thought my parents might like it and they did.

On Sunday we ate at a diner and then made our way to Ikea. It only takes about a half an hour to get there. We spent a couple of hours in the store. My parents were looking for a couple of lamps and I was looking for some wooden crates to stack and use as a bookshelf and a cheap loveseat. I found a love seat for $130 and also bought a footrest, cutting boards, and a strainer. My parents bought two lamps and a painting. My stuff was really easy to assemble and probably took about twenty minutes.

I'm tearing through 'Tis. McCourt's writing style just makes for easy and fast reading. It's a writing style I wish I had. I'm not sure what to read next. I have an Ian Rankin and an Agatha Christie. Those would likely be quick reads too. I also have plenty of non-fiction- book on Booth, the Civil War, Philosophy. Tons.

I'm still getting Deadwood DVDs from Netflix. I have 2 discs left in Season 2. It's such a good series so far. I'm really enjoying all of the characters and the storylines. I got notice from the library that they have Season 2 of The Wire ready for me. I'll pick it up on Friday or Saturday. I need to be sure and put a hold on Season 3. I also recently watched Grapes of Wrath, and re-watched Eat Drink Man Woman. Watching it makes me so hungry since a master chef is one of the main characters. It's neat to see him cook (what I think is) traditional Taiwanese dishes.

Long Time Passing

2008-03-06T20:17:00.000-05:00

Over a week since I last posted. Let's see, last weekend I did my taxes. I will mail my Fed taxes tomorrow, but need to finalize my state taxes. They're a lot harder to understand and don't explain things as well as the Feds do.

I also burned through the entire season one of The Wire. Over a year ago I watched an episode from season four (?) with my aunt and uncle. It seemed really intense and I didn't really like it. But season one at least was a great depiction of the Baltimore police department and the city drug trade. It made me wonder what kind of cop I'd be. I don't think I'd be a very good beat cop; don't have the physique or the demeanor. But I think I might be a good detective. Dealing with that kind of element must take its toll mentally though, which the show depicts quite well. Hopefully the library will have Season 2 for me; I put it on reserve.

I also borrowed this bad indie movie called Me You and Everyone We Know. It seemed like it was quirky just for the sake of it. I was really bored and almost turned it off. My other borrowed DVD was 2046, the Wong Kar-Wai film that's a sequel to In the Mood for Love. His films are beautifully shot and are well acted. The main character is a writer and it's a sequel documenting the women in his life following Maggie Cheung's character in Mood for Love. I'd seen it before, but wanted to watch it again.

I finally finished Men of Mathematics! I'm glad to be done with it, but enjoyed reading it. They all blended together and I can't distinguish one life from another except that Abel seemed like a really nice, genuine person whose life was cut short by TB. He was only 27!

I think I might read Frank McCourt's 'Tis next. I bought it from the library for $1. If it is no good I'm going to leave it on the metro.

Work sucks, but I'm working on some other applications for another federal agency.

My parents might come this weekend for a short visit. My dad works on Saturdays so our time is shorter than would be otherwise. We might go to Ikea.

I was so excited to find Helen DeWitt has a blog! She's the author of one of my favorite books- The Last Samurai (nothing like the movie by the same name). She seems to post a lot which is great so I can waste time at work reading all of her entries.

moviesmoviesmovies

2008-02-26T21:06:00.001-05:00

Since I last posted I've watched some more movies. I watched Be Kind Rewind on Saturday morning (cheap tickets!). It was pretty enjoyable and I laughed out loud a few times. I like the creativity to Gondry's movies. I think I like Eternal Sunshine the most, followed by Science of Sleep, and then this would be number three. Be Kind Rewind is about a couple of guys who recreate famous movies after accidentally erasing all of the videotapes in their video store. It's cute. I felt like a nerd because I could spot the director's cameo.

After the movie I went to the library and the food store. I borrowed a Japanese film called Who's Camus Anyway? that I watched Saturday night. It's an ensemble film about a bunch of college art students who are making a film as part of a class. It was pretty interesting. It's very Altman-esque with lots going on with various characters. GF recognized some of the actors; she says they're popular in dramas now.

I also borrowed a French one called Cache starring Juliette Binoche and is a 2005 film about a couple that gets terrorized by being sent video surveillance tapes. The tapes are just of the outside of their house. It's interesting to watch how it affects the couple differently. There's very little violence (one or two scenes) and almost no music in the entire movie. The lack of music was noticeable. There's also one really disturbing scene that must have been shocking to see on the big screen.

Last night I watched Solaris, the original 1970s Russian sci-fi movie that was remade a few years ago with George Glooney. It was sort of boring and long- two and a half hours. It was cool to hear the Russian language since I don't think I've seen that many Russian films. It's sci-fi in the sense that it takes place on a space station orbitting the planet Solaris. There are 2 other people there and the main character is a psychologist. Somehow, people from the main characters' past suddenly appear in their respective staterooms. They aren't exactly human since they have no memory themselves. They are created based on the human's memory of them. Weird. But not really that interesting.

I also have Battle of Algiers to watch. I might watch it tomorrow night since Deadwood disc 4 arrives today.

I'm still reading Men of Mathematics. I didn't get a chance to read much when I was feeling ill, so I have a couple hundred pages still to get through. But I'm enjoying it more now; it was boring for a little while. I still have plenty of books to go through in my To Be Read box. I might read one about the capture of John Wilkes Booth and his co-conspirators.

A couple of weeks ago (right before I got sick) I used my slow cooker to make a pork roast (pork butt with carrots and potatoes underneath). It turns out really good and I eat it like pulled pork with BBQ sauce. I might make it again this weekend. Although it's probably pretty fatty and not that good for me. I try to trim some of the excess fat off though.

sickness

2008-02-20T12:43:00.000-05:00

Last week GF got sick so I tried to take care of her by buying Gatorade, soup, tissues, etc and fixing some soup for her. I tried to keep my distance and she wouldn't let me stay long. She was sick from Wednesday until about Saturday. On Sunday she was feeling much better but still recovering.

Well, Sunday afternoon I started to feel like I was getting a fever. I had chills, my body ached, all that good stuff. On Monday I had off work and thought I was getting better. I probably had a slight fever, but I felt like I was rallying. Yesterday I took my temperature in the morning and it was 99.0 so I thought I'd go in for a few hours. I left after 4 hours or so and went home. My fever returned something fierce and I pretty much slept from the afternoon off and on until this morning. At the high point my fever was 101.9. This morning I slept in and my fever was gone. I'm still pretty weak but am taking it easy today. I will go to work tomorrow, but if I get too tired I may leave early instead of working 9 hours like I usually do.

I'm still plugging away at Men of Mathematics. I'm halfway through it, but it is starting to get a little boring and I'm starting to skim the more complicated mathematics descriptions. I saw some movies since I last posted too. In the theatres I saw In Bruges, the Colin Farrell movie set in the city of the same name in Belgium. It wasn't what I expected; the previews make it seem like a Guy Ritchie movie, but it has a much larger dramatic element to it. I enjoyed it though. It seems like it'd be a cool city to visit too. That same day I saw Atonement with a coworker. This movie was also unexpected because I thought it was going to be a typical love story, like The English Patient or something. It was pretty good, and there were some stylistic quirks that worked well. I'd recommend it, but I'm not sure I'd want to watch it again.

From Netflix I've been watching Deadwood, the HBO series. It's pretty good. The modern language curse words are sort of funny at times. I read that the writers originally were going to have nineteenth century swear words but that ended up being truly comical and they didn't want that. I also read that the characters are based on real people (other than Wild Bill and Jane that I already knew about). It's pretty interesting though and is "lawless" in every sense of the word. South Dakota hadn't joined the Union and I suppose it was owned by the Sioux. So there are no courts or law to speak of in the town of Deadwood. I'm only 4 episodes in right now with 8 to go, but it's been enjoyable so far.

Books and Things

2008-02-11T19:50:00.001-05:00

I forgot to mention the books and movies that I've gone through since I last posted.

I finished the LeCarre book. It was okay, but I think I'm done with him for a while. Although I probably should read the Smiley trilogy before I stop altogether. I think once I read those I've read his complete works! Drummer Girl was okay. It's the story of a Mossad team that employs an English actress to infiltrate a Palestinian terrorist organization. As usual it was well written, but took a while to get going.

After that I read Alan Furst's The Foreign Correspondent. It was excellent; I'm going to make it a point to read all of his books. It's WWII spy fiction at its best. Actually, it's pre-war, but whatever.
It's about an Italian born journalist for Reuters who is involved with the Italian resistance (anti-Mussolini) headquartered in Paris. Throw in a wealthy married German as a love interest and you get an interesting plot.

Most recently I finished Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy. It's truly one of the first "modern" books that feels like it should be taught in high school English class. Well, maybe at private schools since there's way too much violence and sex for public schools. It's the story of young guy (14) and how he joins up with this bunch of criminals who get paid by the Mexican government to scalp Indians. There's a wicked character named the Judge who is sort of like a devil-incarnate type figure. My description is not doing it justice, but some of the passages are truly poetic. I think the violence would turn some people off though.

Now I'm reading Men of Mathematics. The title says it all really; it's a chapter by chapter chronology of the famous men of the history of mathematics, their lives, and a relatively easy to understand summary of their contributions. I'm enjoying it so far, but it's pretty long- nearly 600 pages. I'm only at 175 now.

For movies, Hamlet was good, but very long. Very, very long. After that I watched Marie Antoinette. It was alright, but I'm glad I had the fast forward button. The setting (Versailles), cinematography, costumes, and music were great. But the story was just okay and the acting was just alright. I'm not a huge fan of Kirsten Dunst. One guy calls her snaggletooth, which is quite fitting. After that GF and I watched Dopamine. It's an indie film and is sort of a romantic movie. It's about a computer programmer who believes that love is nothing more than brain chemistry and that emotions and "love" doesn't really have anything to do with it. Needless to say, he ends up changing his mind. There are some touching scenes involving his mom who has Alzheimer's and is slowly slipping away. It reminded me of my Grandma and it made me sad. I liked the movie because the two leads didn't need each other to figure themselves out. I mean, they didn't save each other, but figured themselves out and then got back together in the end. I just gave away the ending, but come on, it's an obscure film.

Next I watched Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures. It's a documentary done by his daughter. I knew a lot about Kubrick already, but the interviews of people who worked with him were interesting and I learned some new information as well. It's too bad he never got to do Napoleon, The Aryan Papers, or AI. I think his AI would have been very different and much better than Spielberg's. I watched The Break-Up with Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston and was glad I didn't see it in the theatres. It was pretty bad. Vince Vaughn is great when he can riff and he just does his normal motormouthed schtick. Otherwise it's not very good. This weekend I watched Hard Eight, Paul Thomas Anderson's first film. I'd seen all of his other films: Boogie Nights, Magnolia, Punch Drunk Love, and most recently, There Will Be Blood. Hard Eight is about an old gambler who helps out a couple of young people in Vegas. There's more to it than that, but it was well acted and has some good dialogue. It "feels" like someone's first movie.

I think Deadwood is next. I've heard such good things. I considered buying it, but before dishing out $50 I thought I'd try it on first.

Okay

2008-02-10T19:24:00.001-05:00

Gosh, lots of time has past since I last blogged. I let a month and a day go by. Well, it's been a crazy, rough month. Rather than trying to recap everything I did, I'll just summarize it briefly. I visited my parents one weekend, attended my brother-in-law's dad's funeral, visited my aunt and uncle the next weekend, and saw lots of movies in between.

I saw No Country for Old Men with my parents. It was a faithful adaptation of McCarthy's book. Even though I knew the plot, it was a very good movie. It's about a guy who finds some drug money and it on the run because the drug dealers have hired a psychopathic killer to track the money down. The acting was phenomenal and the minimalist music was excellent. It focused on breathing so much. Some people were disappointed at the ending and the red herrings in the movie. But to me, that's what makes it great.

I saw Juno with my aunt and uncle. It was pretty well done too and had a good indie soundtrack. It's about a high school girl (16 I think) who gets pregnant and decides to have the baby, but give it up to Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman. It's got this great song, Anyone Else But You in it that the two costars sing at the end.

Last weekend I saw 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days with my coworker David. It's a Romanian film about a girl who helps her friend get an illegal abortion. It's set in the 1980s. Needless to say, it's a pretty heavy movie. But it was interesting nonetheless. Afterwards David and I hung out and ate at Five Guys.

Yesterday I went to the first show of There Will Be Blood at 11 AM. It was pretty good and met my expectations. It really reminded me of Citizen Kane in its plot; it's about a man who becomes obsessed with success. The first 10-15 minutes was an homage to 2001 in that there was no dialogue. Day-Lewis was awesome. He's one of my all time favorite actors. His character Bill the Butcher in Gangs of New York is one of the best characters in film.

Today I saw Charlie Wilson's War. It too was good and Philip Seymour Hoffman was excellent in his portrayal of a crusty CIA officer. I was glad that the film was only 90 some odd minutes. Too many movies stretch on and on. I can't remember if Hoffman was nominated; if not, he should have been.

I'm going to apply for an FCC job. It'd be nice to get an interview at least. I need to get to work on that application. After this week we have a 3 day weekend. That'll be nice. I've been into using my slow cooker and making pulled pork. On Friday I made a pot roast with potatoes and carrots and peas on the bottom. Maybe I'll make a beef one next Friday.

midweek

2008-01-09T19:24:00.000-05:00

I feel maybe 80-85% better, but my throat is getting worse. I'm coughing more and my voice sounds horrible. I don't think I've ever sounded this hoarse before.

Anyway, last weekend we did end up going to Tysons and shopping for a little bit. On Sunday GF did some work for a little bit and we otherwise took it easy. We made kimchi jigae (kimchi stew) for dinner. It's a Korean dish consisting mostly of pork, tofu, kimchi (duh) and is served with a bowl of rice. It turned out pretty well, I think, but I think I'd change it slighly when I make it again. We finished it up on Monday.

On Monday we watched The Simpsons Movie. GF thought that it was a little boring and prefers 30 minute episodes as opposed to a one hour and 20 minute movie. I enjoyed it. I think I'm just a huge Simpsons fan and would like almost anything that they did. I thought that the plot was clever and was glad that they didn't try to do too much. They just extended what would otherwise have been a 30 minute episode. I feel like I missed a lot of the jokes, so I want to see it again. Maybe I'll wait a year or so and get it on DVD when it's $10. Kenneth Branagh's version of Hamlet is due next. It's unabridged and is really long, but I'm looking forward to it since I like the story; it's probably my favorite Shakespeare story. I like it better than Romeo, MacBeth, King Lear, and Tempest (yuck). I think those are the only truly Shakesperian movies that I've seen.

I'm finally almost finished The Little Drummer Girl by LeCarre. I think next I might read either my WWII spy novel or McCarthy's Blood Meridian. I can't decide just yet.

I wish my throat would hurry up and get better. It's hard talking to people when my voice is a little squeaky and hoarse.

recovering

2008-01-05T10:15:00.000-05:00

Even though it was a short week it was a tough one. On Wednesday it felt like I was getting a sore throat. As the day progressed I felt worse and worse. By night, I had a fever, chills, and achy joints. I was too sick to go in on Thursday. I pretty much slept during the day and watched Ratatouille. On Friday I went in a little later than normal and worked 6 hours. GF and I took it easy at night and watched Ever After, the Drew Barrymore retelling of Cinderella. I feel better today, the fever's all gone, but my throat is still sore.

To recap a bit, on Tuesday GF and I had a lazy day and cleaned up a bit and watched some TV. We went to the international food store and bought some stuff, but otherwise stayed in all day. We watched Ocean's 13 at night. I liked it. It was better than the second one, but still not as good as the first. I need to watch the original one of these days- the one with the rat pack.

Today, we woke up early to get GF's car inspected. Then we went to the food store. I think we might go back to Tyson's and maybe to a food store we'd been meaning to try, Wegman's. We also have The Simpsons Movie to watch. I've been looking forward to that one.

Oh yeah, next week GF and I are getting sworn in to the local bar. We didn't have to take the test; it's admission on motion. We're getting sworn in at different times on Friday. Then on Saturday we have an all day mandatory CLE course. Good times. Plus, we have to do another all day CLE course on Thursday in order to meet the NY bar's yearly requirements. Jesus, it's such a sham because they're so expensive. Oh well, at least I'll be out of the office.

Happy New Year

2007-12-31T22:23:00.000-05:00

2007 is kaput and 2008 has almost arrived. It's been a while since I last posted (over 10 days), but I was gone for a while and then had lots of unpacking and settling in and stuff.

Christmas as my sister's was a lot of fun. GF and I (and everyone) enjoyed ourselves. We didn't do too much- watched movies, walked around malls, cooked, ate, played board games. We only saw one in the theatre and that was National Treasure 2. None of us really liked it. The plot was ludicrous and I kept getting distracted looking at Nicolas Cage's plastic surgery-filled face. We watched Eastern Promises that my brother in law rented. I liked it. It has these scenes of intense violence that are few and far between. The plot seemed to be borrowed somewhat from Road to Perdition, but the acting was great. Viggo is great as a Russian gangster and the tattoos all over him were cool too. That might be one to buy eventually when it is cheaper.

Over the time we were there, we cooked some great food- pasta, fillet mignon, turkey dinner, not to mention desserts. Yummy bread pudding, pumpkin pie, and lots of cookies. No one wanted to leave my sister's but we all had to return to our lives at our respective homes. In less then a year and a half they'll be returning to the east coast. My brother in law has a fellowship for a year at a school that's about an hour and fifteen from where I live. Hopefully after that they'll stay close.

To relax after our delayed flight we did some laundry and watched Music and Lyrics. It was better than I thought it was going to be. Plus, I didn't know that Hugh Grant sang his own songs in the movie. His voice is okay, but the one that Drew Barrymore sings on is pretty good. Her voice is surprisingly good in this one tune.

Two day work weeks are awesome! On Friday, GF worked late and I watched Shooter, a Christmas present. On Saturday we went to the mall and returned some things that didn't fit. We went to eat at an upscale "diner" and then watched Sweeney Todd. I normally don't like musicals at all, but this one was really interesting. How many R rated musicals are there? I'd recommend it to Tim Burton fans, Johnny Depp fans, or anyone who wants to see a musical that's different from all the rest. On Sunday we went to Tyson's Corner to walk around the mall for a bit. We had lunch at Five Guys (great burgers and fries- they don't freeze their meat!). We also poked around Tiffany's. At home we watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (we were still in a Depp-Burton mood) and watched The Holiday. The Holiday is a movie with Kate Winslet, Cameron Diaz, Jude Law, and Jack Black. It was a cute chick-flick where the female leads swap locales for the Christmas holiday and end up meeting guys. It's more complicated than that of course and was well done.

Today we went to the driving range and GF gave me some pointers. It was fun and not that far. It's the first exit after going into the city and it's close to the airport; you can see planes coming in to land. Afterwards we went to Sports Authority because I am in desperate need of socks, both white and black. All of mine have holes in them. Then we got coffees at Starbucks and went to the grocery store to get stuff for tonight's dinner.

We had cocktail shrimp for an appetizer and salad with a homemade mustard vinegarette dressing. I poured us some mimosas to drink while we had our meals. We boiled some asparagus and cooked the fillets on my cast iron skillet. It does a great job of charring the top and bottom. Plus, we cooked it just the right amount; still pink in the middle. Normally we over cook it. We made cookies for dessert and had them with this creamy non-fat frozen yogurt.

We had planned to watch Ocean's 13, but ended up watching High School Musical 2 and cleaning a bit. I think we'll stay up until the new year and then go to bed. Not sure what we'll do tomorrow. I'm definitely not looking forward to going back to work on Wednesday.

Almost vacation

2007-12-18T20:55:00.000-05:00

Just two and a half more days to go until my mini vacation. So far (knock wood) work has been alright this week. I'm leaving early on Friday so I can go home, grab my suitcase, head to the airport, stand in line to check the bag, and wait for GF to meet me before boarding the plane. I think GF is going straight from work. The flight is just over two hours, so it's not that bad at all. I'll probably read for a bit and then maybe listen to music.

I forgot to mention the movies that I've watched lately. I watched the made for TV movie Hitler: The Rise of Evil. It wasn't very good. The character was written to be a screaming lunatic. I think that's taking the easy way out in portraying Hitler so one dimensionally. Anyway, I wouldn't recommend it. Tonight I watched the european version of Insomnia. It was remade in the states into an Al Pacino movie directed by Christopher Nolan (of Memento fame). I didn't really care for the American version that much. But this version was pretty good; if you can get your hands on it, I'd check it out. It stars Peter Skarsgaard.

I started a LeCarre book called The Little Drummer Girl. It's about Israeli agents tracking down Palestinian terrorists. Seems like it might be interesting.

GF is dining out tonight with her boss and a client. I hope she doesn't stay out too late so I can see her before going to sleep. Tomorrow we're eating at a coworker's place. His wife and he are having us for dinner as thanks for feeding their cat over Thanksgiving weekend. It should be fun.

oops i did it again

2007-12-15T10:45:00.001-05:00

Darn, another week and only one post. Oh well...

Last weekend was fun. We went to GF's firm's holiday party. We got dressed up and went to a hotel downtown. The drinks were free (they had the hard stuff this year) and the food was pretty good. I ordered salmon and GF had steak. The steak looked yummy, but my salmon was good too. We stayed until close to 10 and then made our way home.

On Sunday we went to the Holocaust museum. I hadn't been in a while and GF had never been. We ate in the cafeteria for lunch (sandwiches and a knish to split). The museum took about 2.5-3 hours to walk through. Very moving stuff. It wasn't that crowded because it was such a gloomy cold day. It had rained over night and in the morning, but didn't rain during the day. For dinner we made fried rice.

On Saturday I watched Nine Queens, the Argentinian film. It wasn't really a "heist" movie as it was described by Netflix, but is more of a grifting movie. It's about conning people, not really about "stealing" like they do in Ocean's 11 or The Score. To me, those are heist movies. The movie was okay, but predictable. I am surprised how much Spanish vocabulary I remember. Plus, it's so much easier to understand Latin American Spanish speakers as opposed to Spanish speakers from Spain.

I finished all three Rumpole books that my Uncle sent a while ago- Rumpole and the Reign of Terror, Rumpole Rests His Case, and Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders. All were excellent. I particularly liked Penge because it describes Rumpole as a lawyer just starting out on his first few cases, one of which makes him famous. In all of the other books, he is a seasoned veteran with decades of experience; so it's neat to see him as a novice, making mistakes and having to follow orders in some situations. Reign of Terror was neat because it reflects a British resident who is detained and held without trial; quite relevant today in both America and Britain. Mortimer (the author) lambasts the British for disregarding the Constitution in the name of fighting terrorists. But it's difficult to balance the maxim of "better to let a hundred guilty people go free than to imprison one innocent person." I believe that's an essential part of our justice system. The Golden Thread as old Rumpole would say! And I think there are basic human rights that apply to citizens and non-citizens alike. It's all too easy to presume guilt.

phew. I'm not sure what book to start next. Maybe I'll tackle some non-fiction book that I have in my box. Or I could wait until Christmas for the books that I asked for.

Tomorrow GF and I are going out to a nice dinner at what is supposedly one of the best steak places in town. We'll be the judge of that. I hope this week is a quick one; GF and I are flying out Friday evening. Can't wait.

uh oh

2007-12-07T17:23:00.000-05:00

Talk about slacking off! I let it go over a week without posting! Oh well. Not too much to report anyway.

Last weekend GF played golf with a coworker and a client of theirs. She was gone for most of the day. I busied myself by doing laundry and then doing a little bit of shopping at the mall. With that venture as well as some online shopping I did this past week, my christmas shopping is nearly finished. All I have to do is get my mom something else and to get GF what she wants. I have an idea for a small gift for her, but not her "main" gift. On Sunday GF and I went to the mall for a while, but didn't buy anything. At least, I can't remember if we bought anything.

Oh yeah, I watched 28 Weeks Later. It had an interesting twist to it that I wasn't expecting, but it became sort of a typical "running from the evil government" type of movie and I didn't dig the last part of it. Now I have Nine Queens, a Spanish heist movie that is supposed to be good. Maybe I'll watch it tomorrow.

The work week went by reasonably fast. Nothing major happened. My bosses are taking forever to get back to me on stuff though; that's annoying. They're never around anymore if we have questions. Only 2 more weeks until my X-mas vacation! GF and I are going to St. Louis to visit my sister and her husband. My parents are flying out too.

Tomorrow GF has a golf lesson in the morning and then she is going to a firm activity around mid-day. At night we have her firm's holiday party. It should be fun. It's held at a hotel and everyone gets dressed up and has a nice dinner. I'm looking forward to the food.

I finished the Einstein book. It was quite enjoyable. I think in a few months maybe I'll pick up the recent one that got rave reviews. It really is inspiring, to me anyway. It makes me want to learn some science, or at least mathematics. Mathematics is so beautiful in the sense that it explains the world/universe around us. I wish I'd taken more math beyond Calc 2. Oh well. The Calc. I was in at college really stressed applied math, probably because it was an engineering-heavy school. I think pure math is what i'd be interested in. Number theory fascinates me. Maybe I'll reread the biography of Paul Erdos. I just started another Rumpole book that my Uncle gave me. It's more short stories. I'm already halfway though it; they're such quick reads!

misc

2007-11-28T20:41:00.000-05:00

Congrats to my sister! She finished her dissertation defense! So she can officially be called "doctor." Although I don't think she intends to ever use that pretentious old world title. But I'm so happy for her that she finally finished it.

On Sunday GF and I bummed around and didn't do too much. We did make ratatouille. It was relatively easy to make, although it involved a lot of chopping. But GF is good at chopping, so I didn't have to do it. It was pretty yummy and we've been enjoying it all week.

On Monday I watched the end of Traffik. The American version really copied so much of the story. It was okay although parts were too melodramatic for my taste. I think 28 Weeks Later is next. It's a sequel to 28 Days Later. Both are modern zombie movies. I enjoyed the first one because it was very stylized and tried to bring "realism" back to the genre, if that's at all possible when you're talking about zombies.

I'm still reading the Einstein book. I've really enjoyed it. I have about 200 pages to go. I was talking with a colleague and we both want to study more. He wants to study physics and I want to study math. I doubt he'll do it though. He seems to have other hobbies that he'd rather do. Maybe in his retirement he'll take some classes or something.

I realized this week that this job has really been affecting me in negative ways. For a while now I've been less inclined to do things over the weekends. I think it's because I'm (needlessly) stressed, bored, and drained. However, Monday and yesterday I really felt like I hit some sort of turning point. I'm sure I'll still have bad days, but I'm really going to try and not dwell on things as much. They're not going to fire me. I don't plan on staying there any longer than I have to. I've been tinkering with my resume. It's hard to describe what I do to make it sound appealing. I've always been bad at that sort of thing.

There are a couple jobs I might apply to that I have zero chance of getting, but I think just applying might boost my mood. I'm also making lists of activities that I want to do over the weekends. I feel bad for having been so boring for so long to GF. It must have been hard to live with that. But I really think I've turned a corner. I'm not saying I'm where I used to be just yet, but I think I'm on my way there.

good times

2007-11-24T20:50:00.000-05:00

Thought I'd post what I've been up to so I don't forget by tomorrow. Starting with Thursday, GF and I met my parents at my grandfather's place (retirement community) around 12. My aunt and uncle didn't make it this year because they were visiting an old friend in Ohio. We climbed into my dad's car and drove to the restaurant a few miles away. It was buffet-style, but I don't think that word does the food justice. It was really quite good (and expensive). The turkey was so moist and tender. If you wanted, they offered prime rib and ham as well. They also had the usual standards- mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, gravy, stuffing, string beans. As an appetizer, I had shrimp, salad, meatballs, and veggies. They had a slew of desserts, cut up into small pieces- brownies, pecan pie, cheesecake. They had large pumpkin pie slices as well. We were there for about an hour and a half. My grandpa's funny; he's gotten impatient in his old age!

My grandpa was anxious for us to go so we didn't visit with him. My parents took off to go home so GF and I did likewise. We were stuffed, so we didn't want to eat anything for dinner. We decided to watch Enchanted. It was pretty cute actually. It made fun of the cliches in most Disney movies and maintained a cohesive story. We both liked it.

On Friday we went to the food store and then walked to the mall. It wasn't as crowded as I thought it was going to be. We went there around 3:30, so perhaps that's why it wasn't too crowded. For dinner we ate at a French crepe place. GF had mushrooms in hers and I had spicy sausage. It was good, but we commented that we need to stop eating out so much!

Today we picked up a client of GF's and drove to the Naval Academy. The ride was a little long and the weather was cold. We took a guided tour that lasted about an hour and a half. The campus was deserted because of the holiday. It was neat to imagine what it would be like to go there; I don't think I'd like all of the physical activities that you have to do, but I think I'd like the education. Everyone graduates with an engineering degree. It seems quite prestigious. After the tour was over we went to the museum and looked at the model ships which were amazing. The attention to detail is incredible. It'd be fun to make models of things. We ate at a place called Buddy's that seems to specialize in buffets, but we didn't get the buffet. We all enjoyed our meals. We walked around main street for a little while and then finally drove home. GF and I went to the gym and now we're relaxing.

I'm not sure what we'll get into tomorrow.

one week

2007-11-20T20:20:00.000-05:00

Darnit, it's been a week since I posted. I could have sworn I posted Friday or Saturday. Hmm.

So, let's see. Last weekend, GF and I ate out a lot. On Friday we went to a korean place that specializes in tofu dishes (called soon doo boo or however they spell it). On Saturday we went to a Peruvian/Mexican joint. GF didn't like her dish that much because it had too much wine in it. I like my huevos rancheros. It was really good! We went home and bummed around. Sunday night we met one of GF's coworkers and a potential client of theirs at a local sports bar. It was sort of loud 'cos the local team was playing. The food was good quality bar food and we all shared 4 appetizers and a prime rib dinner. I like sharing because you can try lots of different things rather than just one entree.

As for movies, I watched Mostly Marta again and enjoyed it. I don't know if I want to see the Katherine Zeta Jones remake. I'm sure it won't be as good. It's about a single woman head chef in Germany who has to take care of her niece after her sister dies suddenly. It's a dramedy that I highly recommend.

I'm still reading Einstein and am on about page 300. Reading this book makes me want to study math! I might buy some cheap math books and try to go through it. That would sure take a lot of discipline though. Well, GF is going to take some science classes at a university starting in the spring, so maybe I'll sign up for a community college math class. I should probably take calculus over again since I don't remember much of it.

Oh yeah, and last Friday I bought Lord Don't Slow Me Down, a documentary about Oasis's last tour. It's really cool and a great insight into what it's like for a band to go on a long world tour. They're also really funny guys and it's cool to see them in an informal setting or around other starstruck celebrities (e.g., Charlotte Church).

This week is a short one (thank god). We have off on Thursday and I'm taking Friday off. On Thursday we're meeting my parents and grandfather at a restaurant to celebrate Thanksgiving. Then I'll be counting down the days until Christmas time because GF and I are visiting my sister and brother in law in Missouri.

Albert

2007-11-13T21:33:00.000-05:00

Today wasn't completely horrible. The long weekend was nice. GF had to work yesterday so I made the hour or so drive to meet my parents and have lunch with them. It was good to see them for a bit. My mom's classes are almost finished (3.5 weeks left) and I'm sure she'll be happy come december when she gets her degree.

Let's see, over the weekend, I didn't do too much. GF had an outing to go as a part of the conference that's still going on. I bummed around the mall for a little while and I made a pumpkin cake. It was really dense. I think my baking soda is so old that it has no effect anymore. It was yummy and relatively healthy (I substituted apple sauce in lieu of all of the oil). On Sunday we took it easy and GF did some work here at home. For dinner we went to a Spanish restaurant that we'd been meaning to try. GF got paella and I ordered a chicken and mushroom dish. Both were quite good.

I finished the Le Carre book on Saturday. It was entertaining like a mystery novel, but it's so different from his other spy novel works. So, now I think all that I have left of Le Carre is to read his middle works, the bulk of the George Smiley books. I think I have about 4 of them to read. But in the meantime I started a biography about Albert Einstein. It's not the recent one that got a lot of press, but a late 1990s book originally written in German by a German author. I'm about 100 pages into it and it's pretty entertaining so far.

Einstein was one of my heros growing up. Like a lot of boys, I had sports heroes, e.g. Bo Jackson, Joe Montana, Cal Ripken, etc., but I always loved reading books about Einstein. Reading this, it makes me wish I had tried my hand at majoring in math. Einstein wasn't a math major, but concentrated in physics. I just love the beauty of math and the fact that it's the universal language (universal in the literal sense). I wish I could understand the more complex subjects. I think if I ever take classes at a community college or a real college, I'd take math classes and language classes. I struggled in Calculus 1, but did well in Calculus 2. I think what killed me in Calc 1 was that I was in a class with people who had previously taken calculus in high school. They were destroying the average. Even though it was a struggle, I liked the concepts behind it.

I listened to Dylan's John Wesley Harding and Blonde on Blonde on my way to and from meeting with my parents. I'm surprised by how many songs I like off of JWH. It's a lot more country than his other albums.

oops

2007-11-09T17:22:00.001-05:00

This week was a painful one, but at least it's over and I have a 3 day weekend. I just didn't get too many new files completed because I had to deal with all of these pain in the ass old cases that people had responded to. UGH! Can't wait until I can apply to other jobs.

Last Saturday GF and I watched Identity, the John Cusack movie. It was pretty entertaining (although the very end was sort of lame). It was a quick 90 minute movie. Yesterday I watched part one of Traffik, the european miniseries which the american version was based on. So many elements and even character names were borrowed from this version. It's sort of entertaining, but not that great. I'll probably get part two just to see the conclusion.

I finished the Rebus book on Wednesday and I started a novella by Le Carre called A Murder of Quality. It was his second book and stars George Smiley. Just like his first book, Call for the Dead, this one is very much a "mystery book" and is not an espionage novel like his later works. It's still good and it's neat to read about Smiley solving a murder like a detective.

GF's been busy and stressed out this week due to the conference. Even though the conference goes on until next week, the stressful part is over, and I'm sure she'll feel better about things. She had to participate in a mock trial and her opposing counsel was a real jackass to her (and to everyone). There's no excuse for that, especially in a mock trial.

I'm going to go read more Smiley. I'll probably update later in the week.

ugh

2007-11-02T21:15:00.000-04:00

Good lord, I'm glad this week is over. It sucked at work. Starting this past Monday, management in its infinite wisdom decided to abolish the mentor system that the office had had for many years. Now we have to get everything approved from our two bosses (well, one of the two at least). Still, it just makes things a lot more difficult. And on top of that I had a bunch of responses come in. Plus, I looked at the response of that one crazy bastard that I complained about before. And lo and behold, he didn't get it right. That means I'm going to have to write another letter to him and wait for the special day that I get his phone call.

I watched Apocalypto on Wednesday. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Also, I felt like it was a very "typical" Hollywood movie. I realize that that seems odd since the movie's in Mayan dialect with subtitles and is about the collapse of a civilization. But the plot is pure Hollywood. Nice stable village gets raided by a neighboring tribe (see Conan), neighboring tribe kills people, takes slaves, treats slaves badly, main character slave escapes and tries to make it back to his wife and child, small group of soldiers track main character. Also, it turns into Rambo II when the main character uses his more intimate knowledge of the jungle to dispose of the small group.

I'm still on the Rebus book. I'm probably about three quarters of the way through it. GF is going golfing tomorrow with her boss and some of the attendees from the conference. It seems like she enjoys it. I'm so proud of her. She has such guts. I'd find it difficult to be such a beginner and feel comfortable going out with much more experienced players. But she seems to take it all in stride.

I've spent more time looking for jobs, but I get discouraged because I don't get my raise in GS level until January and most of the jobs that I'm interested in applying to require that particular GS level. So it sucks.

I think I'm going to read now.

p.s. Happy b-day UB

70th post

2007-10-30T19:10:00.000-04:00

Ah, it's been almost a week since I posted last. Let me start with movies.... GF and I watched Brazil on Saturday night and, well, we hated it. I probably should have read about it more before adding it to Netflix. I didn't realize how much of a satire it was. I was just bored throughout. We both looked at each other after 90 minutes and were like, do you want to finish this? Neither of us did so we stopped it right there. And it had about an hour left! So, unless you're really ready for a satire, this movie isn't the greatest. Oh well.

I finished Rumpole and started another of Rankin's Inspector Rebus books. This one is A Question of Blood and is about Rebus investigating a school shooting. I hope to read all of them eventually. Why am I like that? Same with Rumpole. Once I really like an author or a set of stories, I want to read all of them! WIth Rumpole I have to get Rumpole Rests His Case, Rumpole and the Primrose Path, Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders, and Rumpole and the Age of Terror. I still have about 3-4 Smiley books to read before I've read all of them.

On Saturday GF and I went to a shopping mall that we hadn't been to. It's pretty big and has more stores in it than the mall close to us. We spent most of the day there and went home for a simple dinner since we had a late lunch (consisting of hamburgers and fries from Five Guys). On Sunday we went to the gym and went to Sports Authority and Target. It's crazy how busy Target is at 7:00 on a Sunday!

GF will be busy this week and next week with a conference that her work is sponsoring.

half

2007-10-24T21:36:00.000-04:00

Half way through the week. Only 2 more days to go. We had this meeting today to go over changes that the office implemented and that we have to now adopt. It makes me realize how stupid and picky the job is. It's these stupid details that "don't amount to a hill of beans." And I don't like the subject matter either, I realized.

Let's see, I'm slightly more than half way through the Rumpole book I started last weekend. As usual, I'm enjoying them. When I finish this one, I need to acquire his more recent ones, the Penge Bungalow Murders and The Age of Terror. Actually, I'll probably start another Ian Rankin book that I have in the Office. A coworker gave it to me because he was cleaning out his bookshelf.

Yesterday I watched Steel Toes, a Canadian drama about a Jewish lawyer defending a skinhead accused of manslaughter. It was okay, but I wouldn't really recommend it. The Believer was much better. Next up on Netflix is Brazil, the early Terry Gilliam movie. I think GF might like it since she likes the quasi-futuristic totalitarian state type movies. Hopefully it'll be here on Friday or Saturday.

Starting next week GF is going to be busy with a 2 week conference that her firm participates in. She might have to eat out a lot, so I'll probably have to fend for myself some nights. As I plan on buying the new season of Scrubs on DVD on Tuesday, at least I'll have that to keep me busy. Or I could keep on writing. I started 2 stories, but got stuck early on. One is about a young teacher just out of either rehab or a mental health ward (I can't decide which yet) and the other is about a dying hitman. Pretty different, huh?

Skin of My Teeth

2007-10-20T22:32:00.000-04:00

2 posts in one week by the skin of my teeth! A quick recap.

I started and finished reading Ian Rankin's Mortal Causes. He's written quite a few books about a Scottish detective inspector named John Rebus. They're quick reads and I love learning about British, er, Scottish culture. Now I'm reading the next book that followed the Third Rumpole Omnibus. I've been rewatching the Rumpole DVDs and realized that I had a Rumpole book in my to-be-read box.

As for movies, during the week I watched one called Jesus' Son. I thought it might be good because I enjoyed the collection of short stories by the same name. Either I falsely remembered the book, or for some reason my tastes have changed, but I did not like the movie. It was about a junkie who bumbles around, meets different people, and ultimately cleans up. Typical, right?

Yesterday I watched The First Year, a documentary about 5 teachers during their first year teaching in inner city California public schools. Very inspiring. I think teaching is my fallback. If I bumble around and still am not passionate about what I do, or if I continue to strongly dislike jobs, I think I want to become a public school teacher.

Work was alright because I went to a conference Thursday and Friday. Some of the discussions were interesting, some weren't at all. It was nice to be out of the office. 2 of my coworkers went too and we hung out and went out to lunches together. We get up to 40 hours work of conferences a year that we can go to without having to take leave. So I try to use those up. I think I'll go to another one in the early Spring.

Last night GF went out to dinner with a client and coworkers. So I watched the movie and went to the store. Today I woke up early and drove to my parents house to help them move their stuff out of the Pod and try to get resettled into their house. I helped them set up their new tv and unpack some boxes. They still have more to do, but I think they'll take their time with the rest. The work really looks great and is about 98% completed. It's like a totally new house almost! I'm happy for them. I plan on leaving around lunchtime so I can spend some time with GF before Monday.

Thief

2007-10-14T14:09:00.001-04:00

On Friday GF worked a little late and went out to dinner with some coworkers. I made a simple dinner and finished The Book Thief. I really enjoyed it. The narrative style is clever since it's narrated by Death with a capital D. The book is set in Germany during WWII. It's the story of a girl who is given away by her mother at age 10 to a family kind enough to take her in. The mother gives her away because she's a communist and will likely be rounded up by the Nazis. It tells how the girl gradually comes to love her foster family and her neighbors in the small town of Molching, a city outside Munich. I don't want to give too much away, but the ending is sad and it made me cry a little. I'd highly recommend it.

GF had to work yesterday, so I drove her to the metro and then went to the gym. I drove to the mall and poked around Borders and Best Buy. I went home and watched some Rumpole episodes on DVD. GF came back around dinnertime and we drove to a Korean place that specializes in tofu soup. It's a huge bowl of soup. We stuffed ourselves on that and came back to watch some TV.

Today we had a lazy day so far. We made French toast for breakfast and went to the gym for a little bit. I think we're going to go to Staples because GF has to fax something and then we might go to the international grocery store to pick some things up. I might make chili for dinner, but it seems like such a "big" meal, it doesn't sound that good right now, but maybe it will later.

The thought of going back to work tomorrow sucks. I hate the fact that when I wake up on Sundays that's one of the first thoughts that pops into my head. I guess I should apply to jobs now even though my GS level won't increase until January.

almost

2007-10-11T19:00:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow's Friday! Gosh, I'm so glad. This week has sucked and it wasn't even a full week! Not good.

No reason in particular for the sucking, just the usual crap. Pulled some bad files this week and had to roll up my sleeves and finish off some older ones that have come back to haunt me. Brett sent me some links of interviews with Chuck Palahniuk and they're pretty inspiring. He wrote 2 books while he was working crappy jobs. Also, what he says is a good motivator. I just have to start doing it. I have to pretend like I'm Raymond from Fight Club and I have 6 months to finish a story.

My birthday was yesterday. I received phone calls from my uncle, mom, dad, sister, and brother in law. They were nice to wish me a happy day. GF also made me a yummy dinner comprised of ginger-flavored chicken, string beans, egg, all on top of rice and miso soup with tofu. For dessert she bought me a small chocolate cake that we'll probably be eating for several days.

Tomorrow I might go out to lunch with some coworkers that I used to eat with. Most of them eat at their desks now or go to the gym. There are only a couple of us that still eat together. I'm sure that'll probably eventually end too though.

The Killers was pretty good. Lee Marvin was a really cool badass in the movie. Plus, the ending sort of surprised me. It was nothing like Hemingway's short story. I think they used his name to help market the movie. Today I watched Les Carabiniers by Godard. It wasn't that good. I think I'm going to stop watching Godard movies. I really like Breathless, Le Petit Soldat, and Band a Parte. But I don't really like his other movies. Masculin Feminin was okay though.

I forgot to mention in my last post that I finished One Man's Wilderness. I really enjoyed it. I wish I had the know-how and skills to know that I'd be able to survive in the wilderness and to create a cabin like he did. But I think those skills are really rare; that's why it makes it such a fascinating read. Now I'm reading The Book Thief. It's a novel set in Germany during WWII. I'll write more about it when I'm finished. I have about 150 left.

Darjeeling

2007-10-08T16:49:00.000-04:00

Had a nice weekend. On Friday night we had dinner out at a Vietnamese restaurant. GF and I split two dishes and an appetizer. For starters, we had vegetable rolls with peanut dipping sauce. One of the entrees that we split was pho noodles. It's basically a salty soup with noodles, onions, cilantro, and chunks of beef. The other dish was a papaya salad with a sweet vinegar sauce. It was good too.

On Saturday we drove to the airport to see a friend who is leaving for Germany. We got up sort of early and arrived back home after 9. We went to the gym and then decided to see Darjeeling Limited. We had to see it in the city since it is a limited release right now. It was pretty good; I don't think it's my favorite Wes Anderson movie, but it is still pretty good. His movies are very Salingeresque. The characters are all a litle bit sad with their present situations, but don't necessarily know how to fix it. I plan to buy this on DVD when it comes out. I don't think GF really wanted to see it, but she agreed to see it because she knew I wanted to see it. That was sweet of her. For dinner GF made okonomiyaki, a cabbage-based dish with pork.

On Sunday GF wasn't feeling all that well so we stayed in and did some cleaning. For dinner we had a spicy shrimp dish. We hadn't fixed a seafood dish in a while.

Today I had off work, but GF did not. I woke up and sat with her while she ate her breakfast. Then I went to the gym for a bit and drove to Barnes and Noble and Target. I was out for a couple of hours before returning home. I read for a while, talked to Brett, and watched some Scrubs on DVD. Season 6 comes out at the end of the month and I am excited to buy it.

Not looking forward to work tomorrow, but at least it's a short week. I'm still trying to figure out what to do with my life. I don't know if it's in my chosen profession or not. I think I'm going to try another Fed job (assuming I can land one).

I am going to watch Lee Marvin in The Killers, an adaptation of a Hemingway short story.

One Man's Wilderness

2007-10-04T20:04:00.001-04:00

This week has sort of sucked. It started out okay on Monday and Tuesday, but yesterday and today I've just gotten a bunch of crap. Today I had this old bastard call me to basically have me walk through exactly what needs to be done. He got pissed that 1) we couldn't do it all over the phone; 2) the office charges the fees that it does; 3) why should he have to pay taxes as well as our fees; 4) lawyers are horrible people. Ahh, I could go on believe me. After wasting 30 minutes on the phone with him, I think I finally got him to realize what he needed to do. Hopefully he'll do it and I'll never have to hear from him again.

On a lighter note, I'm glad tomorrow is Friday and that we have a 3 day weekend. GF and I will have to think of something to do. I want to see a couple movies that are due to come out some time over the next couple weeks: Into the Wild, Jesse James, and Darjeeling Limited. I think the latter may open this week.

On Sunday we watched Pan's Labyrinth. It was really violent and I just didn't find it all that interesting. Basically, a girl creates a fantasy world to deal with fascist rule in Spain in the 1940s. My coworker saw it in the theater 3 times! Yesterday I watched the Machinist. I didn't like it that much either. It was pretty predictable. The acting was superb though and I'm convinced Christian Bale really screwed his health up when he went down to 120 pounds. He literally looks like a concentration camp victim he's so thin.

I finished The Company and really enjoyed it. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes spy novels and is willing to take on the 900 page monstrosity. I started One Man's Wilderness, on loan from my Aunt and Uncle and am tearing through it. It's an account of a guy who went to Alaska, built his own cabin using hand tools and lived there for 30 years. It's written as a journal and is very Hemingway-esque. I'll probably finish it tomorrow.

More later. I'm going to go read some more of the book.

Damn computer

2007-09-30T18:46:00.000-04:00

My stupid computer keeps shutting off on its own, so we've been using GF's. However, it's in Japanese, so it's a little difficult to read the menus and the keyboard layout is slightly different. Yesterday GF and I went to the DMV before they opened, but it was still crazy busy! The line wrapped around the building. I think the fact that it was the end of the month didn't help; people were trying to renew their registrations before it expired. But still it wasn't too bad. We ended up only waiting about an hour total.

Afterwards we hung around the apartment and eventually went to the gym. We went out to dinner with a friend from law school who is moving to Munich next week! Well, she's going home first and then to Munich. We ate at a seafood restaurant in the city. It was really good. We all split oysters on the half shell appetizers. They were so good! I remember hating raw oysters as a kid because they were so tough and impossible to chew. Well, now I realize that the oysters I had as a kid were crap because these were so damn tender and good. A couple were from Prince Edward's Island and I forget where the others were from. GF ordered rare yellowfin tuna; our friend ordered trout from Idaho; and I had mako shark from somewhere or another. It was really excellent. We talked for a while and then went to a coffee shop for another hour or so and talked some more.

This morning I drove GF to meet up with some people from her work who organized a trip to Baltimore for a client. It sounds like they're going to have fun touring the inner harbor and seeing and Oriole's game. I washed GF's car, went to the gym, did laundry, went to Borders and picked up some stuff at the store. Quite a busy day if I say so myself. I'm trying to finish the book I've been reading- only 30 pages to go!

Everyone Gets a Star

2007-09-28T18:43:00.000-04:00

This week went by okay. It was nice to have GF back home again. It didn't seem to take her long to get over jet lag. She did wake up early on Tuesday and Wednesday, but not too much earlier than me. Tomorrow we're going to go out with a friend from law school. Well, she's more a friend of GF's than a friend of mine, but she seems like a nice person. Also, tomorrow morning we're going to go to the DMV to get GF her driver's license. We're going to try and get there well before they open to minimize the amount of time we'd have to stand in line.

This week I watched a movie called Factotum. It's based on a book and other stories by Charles Bukowski. I think it's somewhat autobiographical in that the main character is a short story writer who has menial part time jobs and spends his days and nights drinking and smoking. Bukowski seems like an interesting guy. I might pick up Post Office one of these days. I'm still reading The Company. It's taking me a while because the book is so long. I have about 150 pages to go. I'll probably make some headway this weekend and maybe finish it early next week. For Netflix, I think the next movie is Pan's Labyrinth. I've heard mixed things about it, so I'm curious about how good it really is.

I'm looking forward to Columbus day coming up. That's a nice thing about the fall- every month there's a holiday (or two).

My stupid computer keeps shutting down on its own. I think it overheats easily. I've been trying to backup my stuff every few weeks in case the computer fries itself one of these days. Then I think I'll look into getting an Apple.

(BTW, the title of this post is the name of a song I've been listening to lately.)

Long Weekend Part Deux

2007-09-23T16:20:00.000-04:00

I had another long weekend this past weekend, this time visiting my Aunt and Uncle. I took off Thursday and Friday from work (which was awesome). On Thursday I got up really early and drove to the car dealership to get an oil change and to get some other fluids replaced. It took forever, but I made it to my Aunt and Uncle's by lunchtime. We spent the rest of the day hanging around the house, playing with my Uncle's new tractor and seeing all the planting that they've done. It was fun to ride the tractor a little bit and I was surprised how easy to use it was. Also, their house really looks very cute both inside and out! We ate at a restaurant on the water and chatted for a bit. At home we watched Talladega Nights. It was on TV, but I forgot how funny it was at times. I still think I like Anchorman a little bit better, but Ricky Bobby sure was funny too.

On Friday we took a long boat trip. The weather was nice and we packed a lunch. We left in the morning and rode around to various spots, trying some fishing. We didn't have any luck fishing, but it didn't matter because the ride was so nice. I really like their new boat. It's a little bigger than their other one, but it seems so much bigger when you're actually on it. For an early dinner and drinks we pulled the boat up to a restaurant right on the water. We split some appetizers and my uncle and I split a burger. The sun was setting as we reached their dock at home and it looked beautiful. It's so peaceful and relaxing where they live. We had peaches and poundcake for dessert and watched some TV. The dog whisperer (or whatever the show is called with Cesar Milan) was interesting. It's neat how he commands such a presence and knows how to get dogs to obey him.

On Saturday my Aunt worked at the library for most of the day. My uncle and I ate at a little breakfast spot in town. We drove around for a little bit and then went home to watch Indigenes (Days of Glory in English). It was a Netflix movie I'd brought about the North African soldiers from Algiers who fought for the French during WWII. We enjoyed it. It was interesting to see the portrayal of those soldiers. Afterwards we ate dinner at a new restaurant in the next town over. It was a little expensive, but the food was really good. My Aunt had a strip steak, my uncle ordered the game hen, and I had a spinach salad and crabcake and springroll. We spoiled ourselves and we each got a dessert. All of them were really excellent too.

I left around lunch time today. It was sad to go, but I really enjoyed my nice relaxing visit. They're such nice people and they go out of their way to make sure that I have a good time. Also, like everyone else in my family, they're encouraging about my job situation. They know what it's like to have a job that you really don't like. My sister actually said something today that was spot on to something I was worried about. She said that when she didn't like her last job she thought "Maybe I just don't like to work. Maybe I'm just not a good worker. Maybe this is all there is to any job." But then she said that at her current job she's realized that there is work that you can enjoy. You don't have to spend time on your weekends dreading going in on Monday and spending your whole week looking forward to Fridays and Saturdays. For the past 6 months or so, I've been the same way. I worry that maybe I'm just a lazy miserable bastard who doesn't like to work. Maybe I just want to sit around and be retired- free to read, watch movies, travel, write, etc. I suppose that like my sister I just have find another job where I won't always be thinking of how I don't like my job. Where it won't affect my mood all the time and where I can more fully enjoy my weekends. I find that I sigh all the time now. I don't know why I can't be like my other coworkers and enjoy this job and be content with staying at it for the rest of my career. I wish I could! But I just can't. I think that if I need to find another job within a year.

GF's coming back tomorrow and she should be back by the time I get home from work. I've missed her an awful lot; it'll be so good to see her.