Today in the library I was given an air assault by a serial farter. Big, trumpety wet ones, too. What is the matter with people!
I will get my apartment key next week and then I have to find willing/able movers on labor day weekend. I don't think that's going to work out, for some reason.
I am loving the heck out of Aberdeen so far. I described it in an email today as a honeymoon stage situation, where everything is new and all the articles are good and the personality quirks haven't gotten to either of us yet (except the gassiness of the library patrons. Seriously, people!) and we have yet to argue about anything. And that's kind of where I am right now.
My new place will be on the fourth floor of an older building, facing the bay. It's very cool. It's also a little bit smaller than my old space, so I'm ruminating on either getting rid of stuff or putting a bookcase in the small, narrow kitchen.
Another reason to love Aberdeen: Good electronics mojo. For the first time I don't have to get up and adjust the connection between the cable and the TV; the cable that sends the signals from the VCR, that is. Maybe it's because I put the VCR next to the TV instead of under. I have no idea. It's very nice to not have to decide if I want to get up and fix it or see if I can wait it out.
Because I have no cable, I am relying on Netflix, the DVD rental place of champions. Right now I'm watching "Rome," which is all the stuff they SHOULD tell you in seventh grade Latin classes. Actually, I'm pretty sure Florence mostly did (there's some pretty raunchy stuff (there is, where I'm at in the series, a completely gratuitous lesbian subplot, and that seems to be the way the BBC and HBO people like it) and hard-core suggested violence in the series), as you kind of can't avoid it when people like Herodotus wrote most of the history of the place and you had historic exemplars like Caligula ruling you. But it's fun to be reminded without the middle school atmosphere and grueling tests.
I still miss TV, but I'm doing okay without complete access to it, I guess.
Thursday, August 24, 2006
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Blogging difficulty
It's hard to blog when you don't have your own internet access. Getting to the library is a pain, but it is nothing compared to the agony I feel at not being able to check out more than three items at a time until I get a real residential address. There are books out there, people. Books that need to be read. By me.
I had my first actual story published yesterday (I don't count the Fair story because, well, everybody has to write about the fair). It was about the local gospel mission looking to raise money to fix itself up. You would not believe the amount of stuff to be stored in their building. The tour I took just made this anti-clutterbug freak out a little, to the point where the woman giving me a tour commented how overwhelmed I looked (today, at the women's facility nearby, which isn't quite as packed but also has lots of stuff in it). At any rate, I heard today that I got an ovation for the story from a local group that was getting a presentation about the mission's fundraising. Best of all, my editor/publisher was there.
I feel markedly unproductive compared to some of my coworkers, notable Steven F., who puts out copy like it was going out of style. He had three stories on the fair on his day to go and managed to crank out four or some ridiculous number today. I know I've only been there a week, but sheesh, I feel like a slug.
But I don't like to talk too much about work on my blog. It's inside baseball to you guys.
Instead, to the tragedy of forwarded mail. Apparently it takes two weeks for the Post office to collect, then, in one big bunch, forward your mail. And I have a Netflix DVD in there, so this is a money-wasting proposition for me. Especially since I won't have cable until next month. I also have a bank statement and a $50+ discrepancy between my checkbook and Quicken registers that is making me bonkers. I never have that big a discrepancy. And with all my free time I've had, what with no TV, I still can't parse where I have messed up. I am a little anal-retentive, so this is causing me a little distress. Not as much as the frozen enchiladas in green sauce I had the other night (they were much more like tamales, in my estimation, and the salt just about knocked me out), but some none the less.
I also found another NPR low-talker that enrages me. Public Radio International, anyway: Sarah Fishko. An occassional commentator for "On The Media," her low, un-enunciated to the extreme voice tends to forget that there are such things as consonents and vowels that are not pronounced as schwas. My iTunes will only turn up so loud, Sarah. You have to do some of the work here for me. I have an auditory processing learning disability, for pete's sake. It's very hard to go from the joys of enthusiastic but appropriate Bob Garfield and Brooke Gladstone to "the fish. Ko." (and yes, Meegan, I do feel an extra affection for Ann Taylor knowing that she makes her clothes in such a way that they fit me well and I can get them cheap at the Supermall).
Any more gripes? Anyone who got an email from my mom saying that I "razz"ed her about her weight should be aware that that is not totally true. I was supportive. Up to a point. People, I can only give you loving care and tender words that you poop on for so long before I start trying another tack. Negativity is the enemy of fitness, physical or mental.
Speaking of not accepting or understanding one's body and its potential, in this month's issue of Vanity Fair (sorry, no link to the story) there is a really deluded article about plastic surgery by Alex Kucinsky (sp? of the NYT). It's deluded because although it purports to be her talking about how she was such an addict to it (and hence not deluded anymore) there's this veneer of rich-white-person priviledge just oozing out of every sentence. Like it was cool to go for weekly microdermabrasion and laser treatments, but getting fat sucked out of her butt was really transgressive or not part and parcel of the same ridiculous, expensive trap of the Beauty Myth of the fountain of youth. And then she moans how she had to work from home for a couple of days after an (illegal!) injection of Restylane made her lip swell up. See, without "Reno 911" I end up buying magazines that disturb me (don't even get me started on "Real Simple." That is the apogee of American consumer faux-minimalism cognitive dissonance, and for a teensy example, it has a recipe for a "rustic peach tart" that includes a frozen pie crust!! This is supposed to be about the good life, food porn! Why the pre-made pie crust? And I'm not even going into why they offer up $500 "storage solution" bookshelves when they're allegedly promoting a simple lifestyle). I need cable. I need Jon Stewart and Louis Black. I need little, plucky Veronica Mars. I need those crazy Cylons. TV makes so much more sense than magazines, you have to be the stupidest snob ever to read magazines and ditch the TV.
Where was I going with this? Oh, I was trying to be positive.
Went to a sandwich shop in a year-round farmer's market today. I can get fresh-baked pies for $10 with farm-grown rhubarb, strawberries and other NW berries. I cannot be positive enough about carbs. Luscious, sweet carbs.
Also, the Hoquiam library is a gorgeous old building courtesy of Andrew Carnegie, tiny Scots-born robber baron. It is packed with Elton Bennet screens, and artist I really dig who hails from Hoquiam.
At any rate, more pics and grumbles (and maybe some nice things to say) later.
I had my first actual story published yesterday (I don't count the Fair story because, well, everybody has to write about the fair). It was about the local gospel mission looking to raise money to fix itself up. You would not believe the amount of stuff to be stored in their building. The tour I took just made this anti-clutterbug freak out a little, to the point where the woman giving me a tour commented how overwhelmed I looked (today, at the women's facility nearby, which isn't quite as packed but also has lots of stuff in it). At any rate, I heard today that I got an ovation for the story from a local group that was getting a presentation about the mission's fundraising. Best of all, my editor/publisher was there.
I feel markedly unproductive compared to some of my coworkers, notable Steven F., who puts out copy like it was going out of style. He had three stories on the fair on his day to go and managed to crank out four or some ridiculous number today. I know I've only been there a week, but sheesh, I feel like a slug.
But I don't like to talk too much about work on my blog. It's inside baseball to you guys.
Instead, to the tragedy of forwarded mail. Apparently it takes two weeks for the Post office to collect, then, in one big bunch, forward your mail. And I have a Netflix DVD in there, so this is a money-wasting proposition for me. Especially since I won't have cable until next month. I also have a bank statement and a $50+ discrepancy between my checkbook and Quicken registers that is making me bonkers. I never have that big a discrepancy. And with all my free time I've had, what with no TV, I still can't parse where I have messed up. I am a little anal-retentive, so this is causing me a little distress. Not as much as the frozen enchiladas in green sauce I had the other night (they were much more like tamales, in my estimation, and the salt just about knocked me out), but some none the less.
I also found another NPR low-talker that enrages me. Public Radio International, anyway: Sarah Fishko. An occassional commentator for "On The Media," her low, un-enunciated to the extreme voice tends to forget that there are such things as consonents and vowels that are not pronounced as schwas. My iTunes will only turn up so loud, Sarah. You have to do some of the work here for me. I have an auditory processing learning disability, for pete's sake. It's very hard to go from the joys of enthusiastic but appropriate Bob Garfield and Brooke Gladstone to "the fish. Ko." (and yes, Meegan, I do feel an extra affection for Ann Taylor knowing that she makes her clothes in such a way that they fit me well and I can get them cheap at the Supermall).
Any more gripes? Anyone who got an email from my mom saying that I "razz"ed her about her weight should be aware that that is not totally true. I was supportive. Up to a point. People, I can only give you loving care and tender words that you poop on for so long before I start trying another tack. Negativity is the enemy of fitness, physical or mental.
Speaking of not accepting or understanding one's body and its potential, in this month's issue of Vanity Fair (sorry, no link to the story) there is a really deluded article about plastic surgery by Alex Kucinsky (sp? of the NYT). It's deluded because although it purports to be her talking about how she was such an addict to it (and hence not deluded anymore) there's this veneer of rich-white-person priviledge just oozing out of every sentence. Like it was cool to go for weekly microdermabrasion and laser treatments, but getting fat sucked out of her butt was really transgressive or not part and parcel of the same ridiculous, expensive trap of the Beauty Myth of the fountain of youth. And then she moans how she had to work from home for a couple of days after an (illegal!) injection of Restylane made her lip swell up. See, without "Reno 911" I end up buying magazines that disturb me (don't even get me started on "Real Simple." That is the apogee of American consumer faux-minimalism cognitive dissonance, and for a teensy example, it has a recipe for a "rustic peach tart" that includes a frozen pie crust!! This is supposed to be about the good life, food porn! Why the pre-made pie crust? And I'm not even going into why they offer up $500 "storage solution" bookshelves when they're allegedly promoting a simple lifestyle). I need cable. I need Jon Stewart and Louis Black. I need little, plucky Veronica Mars. I need those crazy Cylons. TV makes so much more sense than magazines, you have to be the stupidest snob ever to read magazines and ditch the TV.
Where was I going with this? Oh, I was trying to be positive.
Went to a sandwich shop in a year-round farmer's market today. I can get fresh-baked pies for $10 with farm-grown rhubarb, strawberries and other NW berries. I cannot be positive enough about carbs. Luscious, sweet carbs.
Also, the Hoquiam library is a gorgeous old building courtesy of Andrew Carnegie, tiny Scots-born robber baron. It is packed with Elton Bennet screens, and artist I really dig who hails from Hoquiam.
At any rate, more pics and grumbles (and maybe some nice things to say) later.
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
Aberdeen, OMG
So things are different here. I'm sitting in the library, using the WiFi, minding my own business, and some joker burps. Big, long, rowdy burping. Twice. Now he's farting. Oh the humanity.
The library isn't quite the promised land of quick hold gets that the Andrews-Strpinis family promised. I am 82nd in line for "Fiasco," and I can't quite seem to get holds on anything else. One hold at a time? Software bug? I don't know.
In other weirdness news, I washed a load in Michael's house's washer (where I'm staying until my apt. is ready to be moved into) and found a pair of panties from the previous owner.
This town has some openess issues.
And Tacoma was so nice when I left it. My landlord didn't prorate me for the week I stayed there this month, and didn't even bother to do a walkthrough. When I told her I couldn't get the scunge off the stove inserts, she waved it off and told me not to worry about it. Sigh. That makes three topics I'm too biased to write fairly about: the YMCA, Les Schwab tires (a Northwest chain, they lent me a tire when I bought chains in LaGrande, Ore. on my trip up and the guy who helped me put them on (without the $10 they usually charge to put chains on for a customer) noticed they were about to go) and any property owned by John Peranzi.
So there you go.
The library isn't quite the promised land of quick hold gets that the Andrews-Strpinis family promised. I am 82nd in line for "Fiasco," and I can't quite seem to get holds on anything else. One hold at a time? Software bug? I don't know.
In other weirdness news, I washed a load in Michael's house's washer (where I'm staying until my apt. is ready to be moved into) and found a pair of panties from the previous owner.
This town has some openess issues.
And Tacoma was so nice when I left it. My landlord didn't prorate me for the week I stayed there this month, and didn't even bother to do a walkthrough. When I told her I couldn't get the scunge off the stove inserts, she waved it off and told me not to worry about it. Sigh. That makes three topics I'm too biased to write fairly about: the YMCA, Les Schwab tires (a Northwest chain, they lent me a tire when I bought chains in LaGrande, Ore. on my trip up and the guy who helped me put them on (without the $10 they usually charge to put chains on for a customer) noticed they were about to go) and any property owned by John Peranzi.
So there you go.
Friday, July 28, 2006
Unspeakable cruelty for your amusement
Pop on a pig in Pike Place Market.
Mom enjoying the ride on the Walla Walla.
And the cruelest picture:
Mom and Dad eating at Salumi. So gnarly to post eating pictures of your parents. I am a bad daughter.
Mom and Dad come for a visit
Well, the stupidest thing that happened is I didn't get a picture of them with Hugh and Janice. I suppose we were having such a nice time at dinner that it never came up.
But anyway. Mom and dad were good enough to sleep on an air mattress in my teensy apartment, and Friday morning we piled out to Bremerton to catch a ferry to Seattle.
Here's dad waiting. He and mom were so nervous about getting tickets. Silly parents! You just walk on as a passenger going east! It was a lovely day for a ferry ride, and mom decided when she gets old she'd just like to ride a ferry all the time. They are nice boats.
We ate at Salumi, which was just as good as everyone says. Mom hit up all the bookstores in Pioneer Square minus Elliott Bay Books, which is so big and so full of good books I was nervous we'd lose her for good if she went there. We missed out on the Underground Tour because mom was overheated and had to stand too long for her sandwich. I thought this would mean she was completely out of shape but a few days later I took her to the Supermall and she wore me totally out in the commercial hiking endurance test.
We also went to Ocean Shores, part of the figuring out where Callie is going to live come her move thing. It was cold, windy and there was a lot of trash on the beach. Plus you can park there. When I tell folks I'm moving to Aberdeen, they get all excited about being near the beach. They tell me, on occassion, that I can now learn to surf. Well, I have done a Polar Bear jump and I'm pretty sure the water isn't any warmer in the Pacific than Puget Sound. Growing up on the east coast and having grandparents from Florida has spoiled me completely for any other beach. I am not sure I can even mentally handle the idea of surfing in the Pacific Northwest. I feel so cold ... so ... cold.
I will put up more pics as I find them. I have a humdinger of dad on the pig at Pike Place Market somewhere.
But anyway. Mom and dad were good enough to sleep on an air mattress in my teensy apartment, and Friday morning we piled out to Bremerton to catch a ferry to Seattle.
Here's dad waiting. He and mom were so nervous about getting tickets. Silly parents! You just walk on as a passenger going east! It was a lovely day for a ferry ride, and mom decided when she gets old she'd just like to ride a ferry all the time. They are nice boats.
We ate at Salumi, which was just as good as everyone says. Mom hit up all the bookstores in Pioneer Square minus Elliott Bay Books, which is so big and so full of good books I was nervous we'd lose her for good if she went there. We missed out on the Underground Tour because mom was overheated and had to stand too long for her sandwich. I thought this would mean she was completely out of shape but a few days later I took her to the Supermall and she wore me totally out in the commercial hiking endurance test.
We also went to Ocean Shores, part of the figuring out where Callie is going to live come her move thing. It was cold, windy and there was a lot of trash on the beach. Plus you can park there. When I tell folks I'm moving to Aberdeen, they get all excited about being near the beach. They tell me, on occassion, that I can now learn to surf. Well, I have done a Polar Bear jump and I'm pretty sure the water isn't any warmer in the Pacific than Puget Sound. Growing up on the east coast and having grandparents from Florida has spoiled me completely for any other beach. I am not sure I can even mentally handle the idea of surfing in the Pacific Northwest. I feel so cold ... so ... cold.
I will put up more pics as I find them. I have a humdinger of dad on the pig at Pike Place Market somewhere.
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
The gift of a motto, courtesy "Miami Vice"
I have begun the Ultimate Purge of my apartment, which will culminate tonight in an orgy of clip-reducing. I have, seriously, about three bags and boxes full of clips I need to cut out, sort through and organize. Also some award plaques and stuff. Funnily, about two years ago I bought an organization system for them, which lies empty in the closet as well. Better late than never, and maybe this time I can keep it updated weekly (yeah, right). Already I have gotten shed of a bunch of junk that's been needing to be gotten shed of.
One of the pieces of paper I need to purge is a press invite to Miami Vice (if anyone wants to go tomorrow I've got a pass!) which is so hilariously written I feel the need to share key elements of it.
First, we start off with the sentence, "Ricardo Tubbs (Academy Award [and here they use the circled r but I think that's bogus] winner Jamie Foxx) is urbane and dead smart." Not that urbane and smart are synonyms or anything. "He lives with Bronx-born intel analyst Trudy, played by British actress Naomie Harris, as they work undercover transporting drug loads into South Florida to identify a group responsible for three murders." Okay, Bronx-born intel analyst played by a Briton (but I'll buy that she's in Fla., although I think that's a lot of unnecessary backstory for "Trudy"). That is hilarious. And they're doing this dangerous work to ... identify a group responsible for THREE LOUSY MURDERS??? Maybe they should use their analysis skills and taste for danger to, I don't know, find Al-freaking-Qaeda? When is the last time the cops cared enough about drug killings that they invested like that in a case? Since when is a drug-related killing really that difficult to solve, come to think of it?
Anyway, Michael Mann's people continue thusly: "Sonny Crockett (Colin Farrell) is charismatic and flirtatious [which are not synonyms or anything] until — while undercover working with the supplier of the South Florida group [wait, isn't that who Tubbs and Trudy are working with? They are shipping drug loads, right? So they're working together already? What?] — he gets romantically entangled with Isabella, the Chinese-Cuban [ROTFLMAO] wife of an arms and drug trafficker. Isabella is played by Gong Li." What? Gong Li? "Raise the Red Lantern," "Shanghai Triad," "Ju Dou" Gong Li? Playing a Chinese-Cuban? She is the most classically Chinese beauty in the world which, I have to say, has a great deal to do with her popularity.
I also love how the whole of the backstory is laid out in ridiculous, willing suspension of disbelief-killing prose. But then we come to the film's philosophy. To wit:
"The best undercover identity is oneself with the volume turned up and restraint unplugged."
This may become my new motto.
"The intensity of this case pushes Crockett and Tubbs out onto the edge where identity and fabrication become blurred, where cop and player become one [this sounds suspiciously like the interpretation of a Gender Studies 101 student] — especially for Crockett in his romance with Isabella and for Tubbs in the provocation of an assault on those he loves." First of all, thanks for getting super literal, I needed that. And second of all, thanks for introducing the idea that Tubbs has more than one person who he either attacks or provokes to get attacked. Were these people his mixed-race lesbian couple of aged aunts who raised him with seven other babies of assorted other races and accent provinences when his parents died in a car crash during a freak snowstorm in Tampa? I don't think there was enough goofy-ass backstory provided.
At any rate, remember: The best undercover identity is oneself with the volume turned up and restraint unplugged. Especially if you are an undercover cop, because Lord knows people attracted to cop work are never the slightest bit upstanding or legalistic or pragmatic or any other personality trait that might not be appropriate while doing undercover work to turn up the volume on.
Seriously, how can this movie not rock.
One of the pieces of paper I need to purge is a press invite to Miami Vice (if anyone wants to go tomorrow I've got a pass!) which is so hilariously written I feel the need to share key elements of it.
First, we start off with the sentence, "Ricardo Tubbs (Academy Award [and here they use the circled r but I think that's bogus] winner Jamie Foxx) is urbane and dead smart." Not that urbane and smart are synonyms or anything. "He lives with Bronx-born intel analyst Trudy, played by British actress Naomie Harris, as they work undercover transporting drug loads into South Florida to identify a group responsible for three murders." Okay, Bronx-born intel analyst played by a Briton (but I'll buy that she's in Fla., although I think that's a lot of unnecessary backstory for "Trudy"). That is hilarious. And they're doing this dangerous work to ... identify a group responsible for THREE LOUSY MURDERS??? Maybe they should use their analysis skills and taste for danger to, I don't know, find Al-freaking-Qaeda? When is the last time the cops cared enough about drug killings that they invested like that in a case? Since when is a drug-related killing really that difficult to solve, come to think of it?
Anyway, Michael Mann's people continue thusly: "Sonny Crockett (Colin Farrell) is charismatic and flirtatious [which are not synonyms or anything] until — while undercover working with the supplier of the South Florida group [wait, isn't that who Tubbs and Trudy are working with? They are shipping drug loads, right? So they're working together already? What?] — he gets romantically entangled with Isabella, the Chinese-Cuban [ROTFLMAO] wife of an arms and drug trafficker. Isabella is played by Gong Li." What? Gong Li? "Raise the Red Lantern," "Shanghai Triad," "Ju Dou" Gong Li? Playing a Chinese-Cuban? She is the most classically Chinese beauty in the world which, I have to say, has a great deal to do with her popularity.
I also love how the whole of the backstory is laid out in ridiculous, willing suspension of disbelief-killing prose. But then we come to the film's philosophy. To wit:
"The best undercover identity is oneself with the volume turned up and restraint unplugged."
This may become my new motto.
"The intensity of this case pushes Crockett and Tubbs out onto the edge where identity and fabrication become blurred, where cop and player become one [this sounds suspiciously like the interpretation of a Gender Studies 101 student] — especially for Crockett in his romance with Isabella and for Tubbs in the provocation of an assault on those he loves." First of all, thanks for getting super literal, I needed that. And second of all, thanks for introducing the idea that Tubbs has more than one person who he either attacks or provokes to get attacked. Were these people his mixed-race lesbian couple of aged aunts who raised him with seven other babies of assorted other races and accent provinences when his parents died in a car crash during a freak snowstorm in Tampa? I don't think there was enough goofy-ass backstory provided.
At any rate, remember: The best undercover identity is oneself with the volume turned up and restraint unplugged. Especially if you are an undercover cop, because Lord knows people attracted to cop work are never the slightest bit upstanding or legalistic or pragmatic or any other personality trait that might not be appropriate while doing undercover work to turn up the volume on.
Seriously, how can this movie not rock.
Last day at the Gateway rockin' the spot
Well, wouldn't you knw that my last day at the paper the biggest story in my two years of working the city hall beat came down. The city administrator got the announcement of his sacking sent out over the email. And I had a 9:30 a.m. meeting with a guy from Aberdeen who seems oddly amenable to the idea of me crashing in his (as yet unlived-in) house. So Kalyn and I were forced to collaborate. Poor kid has to take over the city beat with the Lifestyles and the education beats for at least the next couple of weeks. And isn't this the best time for stuff to be hitting the ceiling. She already had an emotional moment after talking to above-mentioned administrator; I told her (and I ended up telling him) my first day doing the city beat, and talking to that administrator, I just wept my little eyes out, but everything got a lot better quickly. That's right, people. I pulled a Mary Tyler Moore in the newsroom before. And he's not so bad. In fact, he told me I failed to meet his exceedingly low expectations to become one of his favorite reporters, and, yes, he's got us all ordinally ranked and I'm not number one (or two) but I'd rather not be any source's favorite reporter they dealt with ever. Except maybe some of my feature-y sources.
At any rate, my last day went down with some spot news. And, as I rushed to get comments and interviews, I realized, "hell yeah, I love this adrenaline deadline shiznit!" Which bodes well for the Daily World. Spot news, baby. I rock ALL the spots, call all the shots.
At any rate, my last day went down with some spot news. And, as I rushed to get comments and interviews, I realized, "hell yeah, I love this adrenaline deadline shiznit!" Which bodes well for the Daily World. Spot news, baby. I rock ALL the spots, call all the shots.
Friday, July 21, 2006
It's official
I'm leaving the Gateway for the Aberdeen Daily World.
I don't know what the hell I'm thinking either. Oh, wait. Daily paper, more money, I'll still be independent, managers who get my writing ... it'll be hard leaving my Tacoma community, but it's about time to move onward and upward.
In the meantime, I've kind of given myself an extremely rigid deadline for finding a place to live and move into. Oops. And I'm stressing to get all my work stuff done. Oops.
In better news, I get to judge a chocolate baking contest at the Key Peninsula Fair tomorrow.
Also, I made a delicious bread pudding. Here's what went into it:
Almost a whole loaf of banana bread (largish loaf) that had dried up a bit.
three egg yolks
one egg
two cups milk
one cup heavy cream
1/2 cup sugar
vanilla
nutmeg
cut the bread up and put it in a glass casserole. Buttering the casserole is optional.
mix all the other ingredients, minus the vanilla and nutmeg, until blended. Then mix in the vanilla and nutmeg. Pour the custard over the bread. Let sit 30 minutes, then bake at 350 for 45 minutes covered, 15 mins uncovered.
The recipes called for bananas to be sliced up and layered with the bread, but that just seemed unnecessary to me. Also for a rum sauce to be made (rum, water, brown sugar and butter cooked together). If I could have changed anything I might have added an extra 1/2 cup of cream and milk mixed to extend the custard a bit.
But dang, it was good. Also I had two pieces of cake today (it was for my going away and said "Good Luck Lois At The Daily Planet," which is funny because I keep calling the DW the DP, and because I've always been a little obsessed with superheroes as journalists) and a pack of Reese's cups and a margarita and chips, so after tomorrow it's all salad and whole grains for a while. I'm a little strung-out on the sugar.
I want to get a place to live with a functioning oven so I can make banana bread and banana bread pudding. Yum.
I don't know what the hell I'm thinking either. Oh, wait. Daily paper, more money, I'll still be independent, managers who get my writing ... it'll be hard leaving my Tacoma community, but it's about time to move onward and upward.
In the meantime, I've kind of given myself an extremely rigid deadline for finding a place to live and move into. Oops. And I'm stressing to get all my work stuff done. Oops.
In better news, I get to judge a chocolate baking contest at the Key Peninsula Fair tomorrow.
Also, I made a delicious bread pudding. Here's what went into it:
Almost a whole loaf of banana bread (largish loaf) that had dried up a bit.
three egg yolks
one egg
two cups milk
one cup heavy cream
1/2 cup sugar
vanilla
nutmeg
cut the bread up and put it in a glass casserole. Buttering the casserole is optional.
mix all the other ingredients, minus the vanilla and nutmeg, until blended. Then mix in the vanilla and nutmeg. Pour the custard over the bread. Let sit 30 minutes, then bake at 350 for 45 minutes covered, 15 mins uncovered.
The recipes called for bananas to be sliced up and layered with the bread, but that just seemed unnecessary to me. Also for a rum sauce to be made (rum, water, brown sugar and butter cooked together). If I could have changed anything I might have added an extra 1/2 cup of cream and milk mixed to extend the custard a bit.
But dang, it was good. Also I had two pieces of cake today (it was for my going away and said "Good Luck Lois At The Daily Planet," which is funny because I keep calling the DW the DP, and because I've always been a little obsessed with superheroes as journalists) and a pack of Reese's cups and a margarita and chips, so after tomorrow it's all salad and whole grains for a while. I'm a little strung-out on the sugar.
I want to get a place to live with a functioning oven so I can make banana bread and banana bread pudding. Yum.
Saturday, July 08, 2006
Tacoma celebrates freedom with fights
So I went down to the Freedom Fair on Ruston on the Fourth of July during the day. What a crowd. I was simultaneously sorry I didn't bring a camera and glad I wouldn't have to worry about losing it in the crush of people.
As a Philly girl and civics nerd, I am perpetually disappointed by Freedom Fairs that do not feature a Benjamin Franklin reenactor or, in any case, pay tribute to our forefathers and their incredible wisdom and bravery in creating both the Declaration of Independence, the best breakup letter ever written, and the Constitution. Most celebrations are not unlike the Freedom Fair, gauche fair food for miles and stupid trinkets for sale like rip-off beanie babies and Ren Faire-style clothes. Freedom to stuff our faces and bloat out and buy clutter and shake our fat bellies like we're seductive, that's what the FF was all about.
And there were fat bellies. To the FF's credit, there was markedly less camel toe than at the Gig Harbor Maritime Gig. At least on this side of the bridge women are more inclined to wear clothes that fit. Not that they are necessarily good clothes. I saw one enormous woman in an unfortunate skin-tight tank top with an very very skinny T-back that showed an expansive tattoo of birds and flowers and skulls across her upper haunches, for example, and a man with a shirt that said, "If I agreed with you we'd both be wrong," which I just found unnecessarily arrogant and abrasive.
Perhaps the oddest shirt I saw was not being worn but was for sale, printed with an old tinotype of a Native American with a shotgun that said "The Original Homeland Security: Fighting Terrorism since 1492." I just wondered if the vendor had any idea how that sentiment went along with 7/4.
Tacoma gets some pretty crappy vendors. The air show was pretty cool, though it got loud when the fighter planes came out from McChord and I turned around for home. The most interesting set up was a drum circle with additional drums so anyone can join in. Tacoma is not exactly Seattle when it comes to drum circle enthusiasm. Which is kind of cute when you see a couple of hippie types playing while little kids who are not theirs join in. But it seemed that the drum circle instigators were aware that Tacoma is not, indeed, a Seattle-esque city because they had a sign on some nice posterboard with multi-colored shiny paste-on letters that said, "TACOMA IS A PRAYING CITY." That cracked me up. Another sign, in marker this time, said, "STAY in SCHOOL," a message I found to be at odds with the typical drum circler lifestyle.
The plan was to go to the McMillans for their annual Fourth blowout. I was a little sweaty from walking about six miles, but I figured I was okay, I whipped up a Mrs. Cole's Congealed Salad (aka white trash salad: mix one container cottage cheese with one container Cool Whip, a drained can of crushed pineapple, a big handful of walnuts or pecans and a package of red Jell-o and keep cool) and headed out for the Key Peninsula in remarkably light traffic.
Well, that insured that I missed the riots that broke out later. And CNN, the Discovery Channel and USA Today have all called Freedom Fair one of the best tourist draws for family activity in the U.S. What. Ever. Seriously, scroll down on that first link.
"Police got reports about 9 p.m. of fights involving 150 to 200 people near Jack Hyde Park. Surrounding the fights were a couple of thousand people," reported the TNT. I figure they had had enough Andean music. How many times can a person listen to "El Condor Pasa" and "Llorando Se Fue," anyhow? Criminy that stuff was playing when I got there and when I left more than an hour later at Hyde Park. And I say this as a fan of Andean tunes.
Hugh's was calm until Cameron started setting off fireworks and one of the festival balls blew up in the container after failing to pop into the air. Good times.
So today I went to the library to return some books and as I was walking back heard a commotion from Wright Park. Apparently it was Out at the Park day, which I never would have known was going on if I relied on the entertainment section of my local daily.
Again, missing my camera. All the local drag queens were there, most of them looking hott. There's this one older DQ who wears a trashy take off on a poodle skirt and lace collared shirt ensemble, I have seen him before. But not the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, who give away condoms and popsicles. They were awesome, with their habits and fake eyelashes tipped with beads. I also liked the Dockyard Dames booth, a roller derby team I briefly considered joining but didn't want to drive to Lakewood for. But there were more social service booths than anything and they're kind of boring.
No fights, though.
I swear as I left I heard a guy say, "The best thing is people can't tell when I'm drunk because I have Cerebral Palsy," but I could have been wrong because, well, he had Cerebral Palsy.
As a Philly girl and civics nerd, I am perpetually disappointed by Freedom Fairs that do not feature a Benjamin Franklin reenactor or, in any case, pay tribute to our forefathers and their incredible wisdom and bravery in creating both the Declaration of Independence, the best breakup letter ever written, and the Constitution. Most celebrations are not unlike the Freedom Fair, gauche fair food for miles and stupid trinkets for sale like rip-off beanie babies and Ren Faire-style clothes. Freedom to stuff our faces and bloat out and buy clutter and shake our fat bellies like we're seductive, that's what the FF was all about.
And there were fat bellies. To the FF's credit, there was markedly less camel toe than at the Gig Harbor Maritime Gig. At least on this side of the bridge women are more inclined to wear clothes that fit. Not that they are necessarily good clothes. I saw one enormous woman in an unfortunate skin-tight tank top with an very very skinny T-back that showed an expansive tattoo of birds and flowers and skulls across her upper haunches, for example, and a man with a shirt that said, "If I agreed with you we'd both be wrong," which I just found unnecessarily arrogant and abrasive.
Perhaps the oddest shirt I saw was not being worn but was for sale, printed with an old tinotype of a Native American with a shotgun that said "The Original Homeland Security: Fighting Terrorism since 1492." I just wondered if the vendor had any idea how that sentiment went along with 7/4.
Tacoma gets some pretty crappy vendors. The air show was pretty cool, though it got loud when the fighter planes came out from McChord and I turned around for home. The most interesting set up was a drum circle with additional drums so anyone can join in. Tacoma is not exactly Seattle when it comes to drum circle enthusiasm. Which is kind of cute when you see a couple of hippie types playing while little kids who are not theirs join in. But it seemed that the drum circle instigators were aware that Tacoma is not, indeed, a Seattle-esque city because they had a sign on some nice posterboard with multi-colored shiny paste-on letters that said, "TACOMA IS A PRAYING CITY." That cracked me up. Another sign, in marker this time, said, "STAY in SCHOOL," a message I found to be at odds with the typical drum circler lifestyle.
The plan was to go to the McMillans for their annual Fourth blowout. I was a little sweaty from walking about six miles, but I figured I was okay, I whipped up a Mrs. Cole's Congealed Salad (aka white trash salad: mix one container cottage cheese with one container Cool Whip, a drained can of crushed pineapple, a big handful of walnuts or pecans and a package of red Jell-o and keep cool) and headed out for the Key Peninsula in remarkably light traffic.
Well, that insured that I missed the riots that broke out later. And CNN, the Discovery Channel and USA Today have all called Freedom Fair one of the best tourist draws for family activity in the U.S. What. Ever. Seriously, scroll down on that first link.
"Police got reports about 9 p.m. of fights involving 150 to 200 people near Jack Hyde Park. Surrounding the fights were a couple of thousand people," reported the TNT. I figure they had had enough Andean music. How many times can a person listen to "El Condor Pasa" and "Llorando Se Fue," anyhow? Criminy that stuff was playing when I got there and when I left more than an hour later at Hyde Park. And I say this as a fan of Andean tunes.
Hugh's was calm until Cameron started setting off fireworks and one of the festival balls blew up in the container after failing to pop into the air. Good times.
So today I went to the library to return some books and as I was walking back heard a commotion from Wright Park. Apparently it was Out at the Park day, which I never would have known was going on if I relied on the entertainment section of my local daily.
Again, missing my camera. All the local drag queens were there, most of them looking hott. There's this one older DQ who wears a trashy take off on a poodle skirt and lace collared shirt ensemble, I have seen him before. But not the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, who give away condoms and popsicles. They were awesome, with their habits and fake eyelashes tipped with beads. I also liked the Dockyard Dames booth, a roller derby team I briefly considered joining but didn't want to drive to Lakewood for. But there were more social service booths than anything and they're kind of boring.
No fights, though.
I swear as I left I heard a guy say, "The best thing is people can't tell when I'm drunk because I have Cerebral Palsy," but I could have been wrong because, well, he had Cerebral Palsy.
Monday, July 03, 2006
I've about had it with NPR low talkers
I listen to the NPR podcasts while doing my morning Sudoku and I've about had it with:
MEE-shell Norris
Sarah Fishko
Joanne Silberner
Scott Simon (except when he laughs and then he's loud)
That chick with the thick, plummy Irish-y accent on "On The Media." Blow your nose, you horrible woman. (I don't think she works there any more, but man I hate her voice)
Melissa Block
Lakshmi Singh
Bob Boilen
The worst thing about low-talking is not just that these horrible people let their voices trail off into nothing at the end of a sentence, but that their mumblemouth ways get grafted onto the people they are interviewing! Especially when they are interviewing the naturally quiet, such as museum curators, artists, musicians and librarians, who get a lot more NPR time than most professions. More horrifying, Scott Simon and MEE-shell Norris are about the worst of all, and they're hosts! The only thing Simon does with any volume or distinction is laugh at dumb jokes, often his own. And when I hear Michelle Norris mumble her way through and interview, her voice sliding down as if it were slipping away underwater, I feel like she's playing hide and seek with the listener. I can only crank up the volume so much on my Mac. It is the opposite of soothing. Melissa Block is her voice clone. Joanne Silberner sounds like she needs to blow her nose, too.
I guess they can't all be Liane Hansen. I don't know why she's religated to the Puzzle Patrol with Will Shortz, who has a fine voice himself for announcing.
Other good voices:
Brooke Gladstone
Bob Garfield
Sylvia Poggioli
Jim Zarroli
Don Gonyea
Ann Taylor
Steve Inskeep
Daniel Schorr, even if he has old-man-screamy voice on occasion and is kind of nuts
I just couldn't hold it in any longer. Norris and Simon are horrible talkers who drag their interviewees down into the sonic netherworld with them — their questions trail off into nothingness and their interviewees kind of tend to talk way the hell down at the unintelligible range with them. This is a shame. I demand they be dosed with caffeine. Otherwise people should quit emailing their stories so they don't make the podcast. They sound like they're jockeying for positions on the Ketchup Advisory Board. Maybe I'm just saying this because of my auditory processing disability.
In other inadequately functioning sense organ news, I finished reading my first large print book. It was unintentional; I put a hold on Robert Baer's "See No Evil" (after watching "Syriana," which was good, but not satisfying or particularly coherent) and apparently the library only carries this book oldie-style. You really feel like you're zipping right through since there aren't more than 200 words per page. Also, large print books are refreshingly free of a dust jacket, making them easy to handle. However, I have to hold the book about as far as my arms will stretch to approximate a text size approaching normal. Someone should work on developing a readable large print font. That sounds silly but I'm serious — at a certain size all the round bits look alike. You know those fifth grade girls with the bubble writing? It's like that. Or maybe that's just because I can see.
MEE-shell Norris
Sarah Fishko
Joanne Silberner
Scott Simon (except when he laughs and then he's loud)
That chick with the thick, plummy Irish-y accent on "On The Media." Blow your nose, you horrible woman. (I don't think she works there any more, but man I hate her voice)
Melissa Block
Lakshmi Singh
Bob Boilen
The worst thing about low-talking is not just that these horrible people let their voices trail off into nothing at the end of a sentence, but that their mumblemouth ways get grafted onto the people they are interviewing! Especially when they are interviewing the naturally quiet, such as museum curators, artists, musicians and librarians, who get a lot more NPR time than most professions. More horrifying, Scott Simon and MEE-shell Norris are about the worst of all, and they're hosts! The only thing Simon does with any volume or distinction is laugh at dumb jokes, often his own. And when I hear Michelle Norris mumble her way through and interview, her voice sliding down as if it were slipping away underwater, I feel like she's playing hide and seek with the listener. I can only crank up the volume so much on my Mac. It is the opposite of soothing. Melissa Block is her voice clone. Joanne Silberner sounds like she needs to blow her nose, too.
I guess they can't all be Liane Hansen. I don't know why she's religated to the Puzzle Patrol with Will Shortz, who has a fine voice himself for announcing.
Other good voices:
Brooke Gladstone
Bob Garfield
Sylvia Poggioli
Jim Zarroli
Don Gonyea
Ann Taylor
Steve Inskeep
Daniel Schorr, even if he has old-man-screamy voice on occasion and is kind of nuts
I just couldn't hold it in any longer. Norris and Simon are horrible talkers who drag their interviewees down into the sonic netherworld with them — their questions trail off into nothingness and their interviewees kind of tend to talk way the hell down at the unintelligible range with them. This is a shame. I demand they be dosed with caffeine. Otherwise people should quit emailing their stories so they don't make the podcast. They sound like they're jockeying for positions on the Ketchup Advisory Board. Maybe I'm just saying this because of my auditory processing disability.
In other inadequately functioning sense organ news, I finished reading my first large print book. It was unintentional; I put a hold on Robert Baer's "See No Evil" (after watching "Syriana," which was good, but not satisfying or particularly coherent) and apparently the library only carries this book oldie-style. You really feel like you're zipping right through since there aren't more than 200 words per page. Also, large print books are refreshingly free of a dust jacket, making them easy to handle. However, I have to hold the book about as far as my arms will stretch to approximate a text size approaching normal. Someone should work on developing a readable large print font. That sounds silly but I'm serious — at a certain size all the round bits look alike. You know those fifth grade girls with the bubble writing? It's like that. Or maybe that's just because I can see.
Saturday, July 01, 2006
R.I.P. Shelby
Shelby was a good dog. He was kind of hyper as a young dog and eccentric as an old dog, but he was good. He wasn't patient unless you count how he'd beg for scraps — or how he'd lie down and rest all day next to you when you were feeling puny. He wasn't smart unless you count that time he dug a whole big bar of dark chocolate out of a bag on the floor and hid it behind dad's computer to snack on when he felt like it (thank goodness I busted him before he managed to eat more than a sliver of it). He was loyal except that if he ever got loose he'd really make a break for it and you had to catch him fast. He always cleaned up if you dropped food you were cooking on the floor unless it was onion or celery or some other vegetable. He was a good dog.
Shelby had a stroke yesterday, and that was pretty much it for him. The vet put him down and Doug and mom were there. He'd been having fits, and apparently he'd had some weird, sad behaviors the weeks and months before he died, so this was something of a blessing, especially with Mom and Dad planning to go out of town today (postponed a little). He didn't die alone, it wasn't painful, he lived a very long life (over 100 in dog years). And now he has gone to the Happy Hunting Grounds.
I'll miss that little booger.
Friday, June 30, 2006
I flew in a B-17
One of the coolest things anyone can fly in is not a JetBlue flight, though I hear you get your own TV, but a B-17 bomber. Known as "The Flying Fortress," this is the Boeing machine that made the company and, hence, the Northwest.
Lee, a commercial pilot himself, was freaking out with excitement. This is one of five things he wants to do before he dies, and it's always great to knock something off that list. We had to drive up to Mt. Vernon in a loaner van — way the heck north in Skagit County — before being flown to the Tacoma Narrows Airport.
We were flying with a B-24 (flown by a young Swedish woman, one of five B-24 pilots who still fly B-24s) and there were two old B-24-flying vets on that flight. Tears!
But we had a special vet on our flight, too.
Lee is getting Lois's signature on his $500 goatskin real bomber jacket, where he has autographs of famous aviators. Lois was a WASP back in the day, and was a test pilot for bombers. Jackie Cochran was her boss and she's met Chuck Yeager, but she's pretty great, too.
The flight was pretty incredible.
Clear skies, lots of sun, warm air. Much nicer than the weather most of our boys had to endure when they were bombing ball bearing factories. We never flew high enough to need to use oxygen masks, for one thing. And let me tell you, the landing? I have never been on a smoother landing. Never will. The bumps I felt I thought were the landing gears deploying, and I had to ask Lee if we were on the ground (can't see out the itty bitty windows). His response? "They don't let just anyone fly this thing." No doubt.
I'm a little disappointed in Lee here, because the shot I envisioned was wider, horizontal and took the scope of the hatch from the two massive guns on either side (with faux 50 caliber ammo belts). That would have been a lot better, said the one who does not make a living from taking pictures. I didn't want the glamour shot.
Anyway, I can't imagine having to aim the Norton device behind me — a sight so accurate it was removed from the planes between missions and locked away and was the first thing destroyed when the plane was shot down — while the guns were blazing. It must have been crazy loud during combat. The bombadier's hatch was pretty roomy, but you have to crunch down to get in it. The rest of the plane, especially the bomb bay, was tight (the catwalk had a big metal V coming down to hold it up; it was the width of my hips plus a millimeter). Lois was the only passenger who got to sit on a seat (in the radio room, which had two walls full of radio transmission equipment) and the rest of us were on little mats strapped in on the floor, leaning against a little mat on the wall.
Being in the B-17 gave me a better appreciation for some of the stories I've written. I even wrote one story about three men who were officers in WWII who ran missions on bombers, were shot down, survived that, evaded the Nazis for as long as possible, got caught, were hauled off to the Stalag, survived that, survived being transferred between Nurenburg and Mooseburg in the dead of winter with very little warm clothes and less food ... I just got a little taste of what it was like to be part of that story. And no one was shooting at me, and I wasn't in the freaky ball turret (which sometimes got stuck and, if you were in it when that happened and the landing gear was shot out, you were pretty much dead), so all the better.
But before I disrupt any sentimentality over the warbird, I have to say, I ran my eyes over it and took in all the rivets. They were probably all put in there by women, real-life Rosie the Riviters. It was probably tested and delivered across country by WASPs. It is a living reminder of a time when everyone contributed to the war effort, when people held scrap metal drives to help churn these planes out, when everyone did what they could to serve the effort. It was a little depressing; I could head to Target, drop $50 on crap and only when the radio came on realized, oh, yeah, there's a war on. And I'm one of the tuned in people. But then, dropping $50 on crap is considered an act of patriotism by certain officials, which is also massively depressing. During WWII, the American people didn't know the outcome would be that we would split the atom and become the world power, turning Europe on its ear. They had no idea they'd change the world. Crazy. So the B-17 is also an expression of naivete, it's the half-galumphing, half-astonishingly graceful act of an adolescent who is cocksure but totally clueless at the same time.
Maybe I'm reading too much into the B-17. And that being said:
Doesn't this look like the head of a big anime robot?
Lee, a commercial pilot himself, was freaking out with excitement. This is one of five things he wants to do before he dies, and it's always great to knock something off that list. We had to drive up to Mt. Vernon in a loaner van — way the heck north in Skagit County — before being flown to the Tacoma Narrows Airport.
We were flying with a B-24 (flown by a young Swedish woman, one of five B-24 pilots who still fly B-24s) and there were two old B-24-flying vets on that flight. Tears!
But we had a special vet on our flight, too.
Lee is getting Lois's signature on his $500 goatskin real bomber jacket, where he has autographs of famous aviators. Lois was a WASP back in the day, and was a test pilot for bombers. Jackie Cochran was her boss and she's met Chuck Yeager, but she's pretty great, too.
The flight was pretty incredible.
Clear skies, lots of sun, warm air. Much nicer than the weather most of our boys had to endure when they were bombing ball bearing factories. We never flew high enough to need to use oxygen masks, for one thing. And let me tell you, the landing? I have never been on a smoother landing. Never will. The bumps I felt I thought were the landing gears deploying, and I had to ask Lee if we were on the ground (can't see out the itty bitty windows). His response? "They don't let just anyone fly this thing." No doubt.
I'm a little disappointed in Lee here, because the shot I envisioned was wider, horizontal and took the scope of the hatch from the two massive guns on either side (with faux 50 caliber ammo belts). That would have been a lot better, said the one who does not make a living from taking pictures. I didn't want the glamour shot.
Anyway, I can't imagine having to aim the Norton device behind me — a sight so accurate it was removed from the planes between missions and locked away and was the first thing destroyed when the plane was shot down — while the guns were blazing. It must have been crazy loud during combat. The bombadier's hatch was pretty roomy, but you have to crunch down to get in it. The rest of the plane, especially the bomb bay, was tight (the catwalk had a big metal V coming down to hold it up; it was the width of my hips plus a millimeter). Lois was the only passenger who got to sit on a seat (in the radio room, which had two walls full of radio transmission equipment) and the rest of us were on little mats strapped in on the floor, leaning against a little mat on the wall.
Being in the B-17 gave me a better appreciation for some of the stories I've written. I even wrote one story about three men who were officers in WWII who ran missions on bombers, were shot down, survived that, evaded the Nazis for as long as possible, got caught, were hauled off to the Stalag, survived that, survived being transferred between Nurenburg and Mooseburg in the dead of winter with very little warm clothes and less food ... I just got a little taste of what it was like to be part of that story. And no one was shooting at me, and I wasn't in the freaky ball turret (which sometimes got stuck and, if you were in it when that happened and the landing gear was shot out, you were pretty much dead), so all the better.
But before I disrupt any sentimentality over the warbird, I have to say, I ran my eyes over it and took in all the rivets. They were probably all put in there by women, real-life Rosie the Riviters. It was probably tested and delivered across country by WASPs. It is a living reminder of a time when everyone contributed to the war effort, when people held scrap metal drives to help churn these planes out, when everyone did what they could to serve the effort. It was a little depressing; I could head to Target, drop $50 on crap and only when the radio came on realized, oh, yeah, there's a war on. And I'm one of the tuned in people. But then, dropping $50 on crap is considered an act of patriotism by certain officials, which is also massively depressing. During WWII, the American people didn't know the outcome would be that we would split the atom and become the world power, turning Europe on its ear. They had no idea they'd change the world. Crazy. So the B-17 is also an expression of naivete, it's the half-galumphing, half-astonishingly graceful act of an adolescent who is cocksure but totally clueless at the same time.
Maybe I'm reading too much into the B-17. And that being said:
Doesn't this look like the head of a big anime robot?
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
I've got a new habit
Salad.
But not just any salad. Salad with Marie's Bleu Cheese Vinaigrette salad dressing (sorry, it's a flash site so I can't link directly to it). It must have some sort of crack additive the way I'm craving it. I ate a big salad last night and thirty minutes later got another craving and ate more salad. Today I had another salad and since I'm out of greens am worried I'm unprepared.
It's hard finding this dressing, too! People must be buying it up or something.
At any rate, it's creamy, it's tangy, it's a little sweet — it's the ultimate salad dressing. Get it and all you need is a bag of lettuce. Forget the vegetables with flavor, you will want a pure hit of Bleu Cheese Vinaigrette. I'm thinking about slurping the stuff up straight from the bottle. My yearning for this stuff is stronger than for doughnuts, even Boston Cream, and that's pretty powerful if you know me.
Well, if Pee-Wee can marry a fruit salad, I don't see why I can't marry a salad dressing. It's only the next logical step in the way this country is going if some commentators are to be believed. And heaven knows I'd rather marry salad dressing than one of them!
But not just any salad. Salad with Marie's Bleu Cheese Vinaigrette salad dressing (sorry, it's a flash site so I can't link directly to it). It must have some sort of crack additive the way I'm craving it. I ate a big salad last night and thirty minutes later got another craving and ate more salad. Today I had another salad and since I'm out of greens am worried I'm unprepared.
It's hard finding this dressing, too! People must be buying it up or something.
At any rate, it's creamy, it's tangy, it's a little sweet — it's the ultimate salad dressing. Get it and all you need is a bag of lettuce. Forget the vegetables with flavor, you will want a pure hit of Bleu Cheese Vinaigrette. I'm thinking about slurping the stuff up straight from the bottle. My yearning for this stuff is stronger than for doughnuts, even Boston Cream, and that's pretty powerful if you know me.
Well, if Pee-Wee can marry a fruit salad, I don't see why I can't marry a salad dressing. It's only the next logical step in the way this country is going if some commentators are to be believed. And heaven knows I'd rather marry salad dressing than one of them!
Sunday, June 25, 2006
Laissez les bon temps rouler
Well, there's a relatively new homeless guy in my neighborhood I've been telling stories on and maybe it's time to blog about him.
The first time I met the new guy, I was walking to the library to return some books and, of course, that route runs right past the Pierce County Alliance. Being a social services co-op, it's something of a magnet for the downtrodden, with their lumberjack plaid (men), acid wash (women) and dirty ponytails (both sexes), but even so this man stood out for his out-and-out goofy expression, with eyes sheltered beneath a veritable gable of a forehead. And his head, with a large chunk of it either shaved or permanently hair-free over his left ear from some sort of brain injury or operation.
As I was walking by, the new guy greeted me with a cheerful, "You're tall for a white girl!" He seemed to want to continue the conversation, even though we were walking in opposite directions, but eventually realized I was not stopping and said, "Well, I see you have to go ..." from a half block away.
At the time, I did not realize he was a new addition to the neighborhood, but I started seeing him often. At the bus stop, by the deli, the guy was around, often talking to himself or anyone who wandered within fifty feet.
It was about a week ago when my new neighbor took things to a level worth blogging about. It was a peaceful evening when I heard a booming, gravelly voice screaming, "I will arrest you, mother------! You are under arrest! That is right, this is the police and mother------, you are under arrest!" You would seriously not believe the volume and range of this voice. The rumbly, non-vocal-chord projected part of his voice would give most speed metal screamers a reason to give up. This was a devil voice. And I look out the window and it is my new neighbor screaming at the air! I had no idea he had that in him!
Well, the screaming was startling but when I realized it was him I settled down right away. He's got some sort of Broca's injury at the very least, but man, I wondered where he learned to talk so authoritatively of being under arrest.
So today I went to the local grocery store to get a roasted chicken (it was 85 degrees (in the PNW I call that "sunny with a chance of motorcycles"), I'm not sure why I got a wild hare for chicken) and there he was hanging out at that corner. Wearing a T-shirt, a jacket and a tie with two strings of shiny beads (silver and purple) under the tie. As he greeted me I said, "Happy Mardi Gras."
He didn't get it. I am probably kind of a jerk for saying it.
Also: After I finished writing this I heard him yelling again. Maybe he's not as cheerful in the heat.
The first time I met the new guy, I was walking to the library to return some books and, of course, that route runs right past the Pierce County Alliance. Being a social services co-op, it's something of a magnet for the downtrodden, with their lumberjack plaid (men), acid wash (women) and dirty ponytails (both sexes), but even so this man stood out for his out-and-out goofy expression, with eyes sheltered beneath a veritable gable of a forehead. And his head, with a large chunk of it either shaved or permanently hair-free over his left ear from some sort of brain injury or operation.
As I was walking by, the new guy greeted me with a cheerful, "You're tall for a white girl!" He seemed to want to continue the conversation, even though we were walking in opposite directions, but eventually realized I was not stopping and said, "Well, I see you have to go ..." from a half block away.
At the time, I did not realize he was a new addition to the neighborhood, but I started seeing him often. At the bus stop, by the deli, the guy was around, often talking to himself or anyone who wandered within fifty feet.
It was about a week ago when my new neighbor took things to a level worth blogging about. It was a peaceful evening when I heard a booming, gravelly voice screaming, "I will arrest you, mother------! You are under arrest! That is right, this is the police and mother------, you are under arrest!" You would seriously not believe the volume and range of this voice. The rumbly, non-vocal-chord projected part of his voice would give most speed metal screamers a reason to give up. This was a devil voice. And I look out the window and it is my new neighbor screaming at the air! I had no idea he had that in him!
Well, the screaming was startling but when I realized it was him I settled down right away. He's got some sort of Broca's injury at the very least, but man, I wondered where he learned to talk so authoritatively of being under arrest.
So today I went to the local grocery store to get a roasted chicken (it was 85 degrees (in the PNW I call that "sunny with a chance of motorcycles"), I'm not sure why I got a wild hare for chicken) and there he was hanging out at that corner. Wearing a T-shirt, a jacket and a tie with two strings of shiny beads (silver and purple) under the tie. As he greeted me I said, "Happy Mardi Gras."
He didn't get it. I am probably kind of a jerk for saying it.
Also: After I finished writing this I heard him yelling again. Maybe he's not as cheerful in the heat.
Saturday, June 24, 2006
When a blog is not enough
While talking with dad on the phone about the post I did contrasting "Pride and Prejudice" with "Brokeback Mountain," dad discovered my Blogger profile was the number one result for callie white (though not "callie white"). Well, if people are reading and linking you're sure doing it quietly.
At any rate, one of the sites I stumbled across is a sit that seeks to create a network that uses a web crawler to pick out people's names, titles and companies and complile them into a database. I am the number one result for "Callie White" on that site though also the only one. It cites 206 sources for deciding I'm worthy of an independent profile, most of them Gateway stories. They are a fairly random sample, but if you are interested here are some gleanings of non-Tacoma Narrows Bridge weekly updates.
An education story about censorship in two local high school newspaper: http://tinyurl.com/fdey6
People hate tolls, and although I didn't need a public meeting to tell me that, I was a little surprised with the level of heckling (even one of the anti-toll people got heckled): http://tinyurl.com/k8tss
Sometimes as a reporter, especially if you work in a small community, it is easy to get annoyed when land use issues drag on for an interminable amount of time. Obviously these issues are massively important to local property owners, but as a non-night owl when meetings go on for more than two hours I get a little testy and stories pop out that read like this: http://tinyurl.com/hkc7p
This was an award winner (for humorous article) that needs some editing, in retrospect, to keep the humor tighter: http://tinyurl.com/kecdm
Here's a cool artist and her story did a nice life-art symmetry thing: http://tinyurl.com/fztjx
The lede is good on this one, even if it's a generic local-girl-makes-good (and, to be fair, judging by how nice her parents' house was, they had the resources to make sure she could do good in her chosen field): http://tinyurl.com/zx4gb
WWII vets are my bread and butter. This story is complicated by having three equal narratives — and fascinating ones — but not only did the structure come out pretty well, I think it's pretty exciting and moving: http://tinyurl.com/h3vka
Here's a daredevil for you. This lady is a hoot, and this is my only feature to run on the Sports pages to date: http://tinyurl.com/zenus
This old column is on the display case of a local deli, which is an ego boost to me but also, considering the topic maybe depressing?: http://tinyurl.com/jatqt
This column takes on a *very* controversial topic and takes a really hard stance (just kidding!): http://tinyurl.com/ecbdv
This column really could have used some editing because I sound like a complete idiot in the beginning, making no sense, but at the end it finally comes together: http://tinyurl.com/hffgz (I was writing 120 inches a week in stories and doing more in briefs, which leaves the neurons frazzled)
This column is about going to a church sale with Janice, who I just love. A lot more than this column, but I think the details of the weird stuff people donate to yard sales have anthropological value: http://tinyurl.com/gmuwd
Here's a column where I fess up to past weaselishness: http://tinyurl.com/oruhf
This is the column that begat the controversy that caused me no end of pain and suffering. Well, it's basically ended now, and I have emerged with a head held high and a sterling reputation. What divine providence that it is preserved for all eternity here: http://tinyurl.com/p2787
Here are some stories informed by my time in high school volunteering for the Academy of Natural Sciences: http://tinyurl.com/zpmxg and http://tinyurl.com/gznqu and this column http://tinyurl.com/mzn3f
I just love Phyllis Beckley. She and her husband Jim are just amazing people: http://tinyurl.com/mvudh
When I wrote this there were no business stories about WiFi in the press to speak of. I was just obsessed with it since I'd gotten my 12" Powerbook with Airport and miffed at how few places there were I could nip into to get on the web, and apparently that's all it takes to be a journalism visionary: http://tinyurl.com/hetmv
This is the story from spending a day salmon fishing with old salts. Mr. Jerkovich died a couple of days before the story ran, which gives it a little poignancy: http://tinyurl.com/ff874
Here are some seniors talking about the good old days, but with a news angle: http://tinyurl.com/hm6dn
That ought to be enough to hold the most ravenous Monument reader who hasn't already seen these articles.
At any rate, one of the sites I stumbled across is a sit that seeks to create a network that uses a web crawler to pick out people's names, titles and companies and complile them into a database. I am the number one result for "Callie White" on that site though also the only one. It cites 206 sources for deciding I'm worthy of an independent profile, most of them Gateway stories. They are a fairly random sample, but if you are interested here are some gleanings of non-Tacoma Narrows Bridge weekly updates.
An education story about censorship in two local high school newspaper: http://tinyurl.com/fdey6
People hate tolls, and although I didn't need a public meeting to tell me that, I was a little surprised with the level of heckling (even one of the anti-toll people got heckled): http://tinyurl.com/k8tss
Sometimes as a reporter, especially if you work in a small community, it is easy to get annoyed when land use issues drag on for an interminable amount of time. Obviously these issues are massively important to local property owners, but as a non-night owl when meetings go on for more than two hours I get a little testy and stories pop out that read like this: http://tinyurl.com/hkc7p
This was an award winner (for humorous article) that needs some editing, in retrospect, to keep the humor tighter: http://tinyurl.com/kecdm
Here's a cool artist and her story did a nice life-art symmetry thing: http://tinyurl.com/fztjx
The lede is good on this one, even if it's a generic local-girl-makes-good (and, to be fair, judging by how nice her parents' house was, they had the resources to make sure she could do good in her chosen field): http://tinyurl.com/zx4gb
WWII vets are my bread and butter. This story is complicated by having three equal narratives — and fascinating ones — but not only did the structure come out pretty well, I think it's pretty exciting and moving: http://tinyurl.com/h3vka
Here's a daredevil for you. This lady is a hoot, and this is my only feature to run on the Sports pages to date: http://tinyurl.com/zenus
This old column is on the display case of a local deli, which is an ego boost to me but also, considering the topic maybe depressing?: http://tinyurl.com/jatqt
This column takes on a *very* controversial topic and takes a really hard stance (just kidding!): http://tinyurl.com/ecbdv
This column really could have used some editing because I sound like a complete idiot in the beginning, making no sense, but at the end it finally comes together: http://tinyurl.com/hffgz (I was writing 120 inches a week in stories and doing more in briefs, which leaves the neurons frazzled)
This column is about going to a church sale with Janice, who I just love. A lot more than this column, but I think the details of the weird stuff people donate to yard sales have anthropological value: http://tinyurl.com/gmuwd
Here's a column where I fess up to past weaselishness: http://tinyurl.com/oruhf
This is the column that begat the controversy that caused me no end of pain and suffering. Well, it's basically ended now, and I have emerged with a head held high and a sterling reputation. What divine providence that it is preserved for all eternity here: http://tinyurl.com/p2787
Here are some stories informed by my time in high school volunteering for the Academy of Natural Sciences: http://tinyurl.com/zpmxg and http://tinyurl.com/gznqu and this column http://tinyurl.com/mzn3f
I just love Phyllis Beckley. She and her husband Jim are just amazing people: http://tinyurl.com/mvudh
When I wrote this there were no business stories about WiFi in the press to speak of. I was just obsessed with it since I'd gotten my 12" Powerbook with Airport and miffed at how few places there were I could nip into to get on the web, and apparently that's all it takes to be a journalism visionary: http://tinyurl.com/hetmv
This is the story from spending a day salmon fishing with old salts. Mr. Jerkovich died a couple of days before the story ran, which gives it a little poignancy: http://tinyurl.com/ff874
Here are some seniors talking about the good old days, but with a news angle: http://tinyurl.com/hm6dn
That ought to be enough to hold the most ravenous Monument reader who hasn't already seen these articles.
Friday, June 16, 2006
The race update
Oof. Like that was necessary. Not exactly the brightest moment one has during a race.
I came in 1,821 (out of a lot) with an overall time of 1:21:08, setting a pace of 10:54 per mile.
And I may be losing a toenail due to the race. Well, the shoes, really.
Good times.
It has come to my attention that Michelle's picture is up, and she is less than proud of it (she was my training partner). Also see Mike Leonard, ad director of the Gateway, and Denise, my Tuff-E-Nuff instructor. My friend Lindley was snapped at the start of the race, which is so much less fun to see than those of us snapped at the end. As a result, I look so much happier than my compatriots to be finishing the race. And man, was I ever glad to be done.
I came in 1,821 (out of a lot) with an overall time of 1:21:08, setting a pace of 10:54 per mile.
And I may be losing a toenail due to the race. Well, the shoes, really.
Good times.
It has come to my attention that Michelle's picture is up, and she is less than proud of it (she was my training partner). Also see Mike Leonard, ad director of the Gateway, and Denise, my Tuff-E-Nuff instructor. My friend Lindley was snapped at the start of the race, which is so much less fun to see than those of us snapped at the end. As a result, I look so much happier than my compatriots to be finishing the race. And man, was I ever glad to be done.
Sunday, June 11, 2006
Because apparently running IS addictive
I've been checking out this site, which primarily is a compendium of PNW events. I'm thinking about doing more 10ks and 12ks — 5s seem to be over really quick. And there are a lot of triathlons and duathlons going on right now as well as marathons and half-marathons (which are a little further than I really care to go).
There's a 10k in Tacoma called the "Bank to Bay," but it's a day after a Fort Lewis muddy 5K with a lot of obstacles, which sounds fun too. Then, of course, there are a couple of "Bun Runs" which are sponsored by nudist camps and, apparently, clothing optional. Yes, I'm sure it seems like streaking on the surface, but in reality, I'm sure even the most die-hard naturists have to give comfort its due, if you know what I mean.
I also found a pace calculator, which let me know I ran the S2N in less than 11 minutes a mile. Not a lot less, but it was an ego boost just the same.
There's a 10k in Tacoma called the "Bank to Bay," but it's a day after a Fort Lewis muddy 5K with a lot of obstacles, which sounds fun too. Then, of course, there are a couple of "Bun Runs" which are sponsored by nudist camps and, apparently, clothing optional. Yes, I'm sure it seems like streaking on the surface, but in reality, I'm sure even the most die-hard naturists have to give comfort its due, if you know what I mean.
I also found a pace calculator, which let me know I ran the S2N in less than 11 minutes a mile. Not a lot less, but it was an ego boost just the same.
Saturday, June 10, 2006
The race goes to the swift
I heard the red wave time was the clock minus 15 minutes, which gives me a time of about 81 minutes for 7.5 miles. That's not too bad considering all the hills.
Even though I never have to run again there is a part of me that now wants to run Five Mile Drive every Saturday. That part is definitely not located in my feet.
Even though I never have to run again there is a part of me that now wants to run Five Mile Drive every Saturday. That part is definitely not located in my feet.
The race, it is run
I did it! 7.5 miles! I'm not sure of my time — it's going to be posted later on the website so I'll check back in. As I was coming around the final bend I heard a guy say "red wave's at 1:20:00," but the clock at the finish said 1:36:10, but the clock didn't necessarily start with the red wave, so, again, who knows. I'm pretty sure me and Michelle beat our previous times, though, at 95 and 90 minutes, respectively.
Here's what it's like to run the S2N:
Pre-race: Michelle: "I hope we beat him. He's got one leg." Callie: "Man, we'd better beat her. She's like 300 pounds." Michelle: "What happened to her leg?" Callie: "That's a varicose vein." Michelle: "You mean like a spider vein? (pause) We better beat her." Announcer: "And running on his 50th anniversary! Eric somebody! His time last year was 1:15:34!" Michelle: "What?" Callie: "We are going to have to let a lot of stuff go." Michelle: "That's crazy."
The Roman Centurion, representing Roman Meal Bread, one of the sponsors, is a guy from the Tuesday/Thursday Tuff-E-Nuff class. Why is he not running? He is a better runner than I am for sure.
Mile 1: The red wave is all scrunched up like crazy. We are going downhill. I am able to pass people. I pass you, Santa-looking man! I pass you, large-bottomed women! I pass you, gimpy runner! Going downhill is fantastic! Hey! Is that Lindley ahead of me? Maybe I can catch up ... no ... okay, see you at the finish, Lindley.
Mile 2: We are starting to break up a little. Here is "The First Hill." The most optimistic of the red wavers have to walk. I start sucking air. My second wind has yet to kick in. Ah, sweet zoo parking lot, you are flat. Ah, sweet downhill again. Oh, man here is the next hill. It is not too steep.
Mile 3: We are still going uphill! Every bend in the road, obscuring the view! It only obscures more uphill! Sweet Lord make it stop! I am racewalking and walking and jogging and Michelle is ahead of me, all energetic and young! Ah, it has stopped. It is kind of flat. Now I am running again.
Mile 4: Michelle has deigned to let me run in front of her. It is up and down and up and down and hey, more water! Racers are messy people who just throw the cups down. OMG we can litter! I am getting a cup! Running and drinking is hard! But here is a condoned act of littering! I just littered in the park, OMG OMG! And people say I cannot cut loose.
Mile 5: This is getting so much easier. Where has Michelle gone? She must be ahead of me. Must. Run. A. Little. Faster. Man, my hips are starting to hurt. I'm glad I took some Advil this morning.
Mile 6: My blister on my middle right toe is starting to hurt. Where is Michelle? Did she have an asthma attack and I don't know about it and now she's in the hospital? Is she ahead of me or behind me? She must be behind me.
Mile 7: This is weird. No Michelle. Well, if I'm in front, I must be haler and hardier than I thought. Man, that spot where my shorts rub against my thighs hurts. I can't believe I'm going to get a blister on my legs. That is horrible. When is this thing over with? Man, what course are we running? I've never been this way before. Another uphill? Oh man. Yay! Downhill! Oh no! I'm a little out of control! Uphill again! Okay, walk this one a bit. You can walk the rest of the way. It's no shame. Must. Run. Can run flat part. Run flat. Jettison extra weight. Lose articles, pronouns, big words.
Finish: Run! RUN RUN RUN IN!!! RUN IT!!! RRRRUUUUUUNNNN!!!!!!! Everything hurts but it's almost over! RUN, CALLIE RUN!!
Michelle made it in two minutes later. She had to tie her shoe, she said. Man, ain't no shame in the walking game. Or having double bunny ear knots. We get a free orange. It is Sunkist yet one of the best oranges I've ever eaten. I get two loaves of Roman Meal bread from a guy looking the other way. I don't need or want two loaves of bread, much less a kind that only has a single gram of fiber per slice. Overheard by Michelle: man: "we got a free loaf of bread and an orange for only $25!" We still wonder if S2N gives its money to a worthy cause. I think because we wonder it must not, unless you count the continued existence of the race, and that's cool when I think about it.
I'm going to get a burger now.
Here's what it's like to run the S2N:
Pre-race: Michelle: "I hope we beat him. He's got one leg." Callie: "Man, we'd better beat her. She's like 300 pounds." Michelle: "What happened to her leg?" Callie: "That's a varicose vein." Michelle: "You mean like a spider vein? (pause) We better beat her." Announcer: "And running on his 50th anniversary! Eric somebody! His time last year was 1:15:34!" Michelle: "What?" Callie: "We are going to have to let a lot of stuff go." Michelle: "That's crazy."
The Roman Centurion, representing Roman Meal Bread, one of the sponsors, is a guy from the Tuesday/Thursday Tuff-E-Nuff class. Why is he not running? He is a better runner than I am for sure.
Mile 1: The red wave is all scrunched up like crazy. We are going downhill. I am able to pass people. I pass you, Santa-looking man! I pass you, large-bottomed women! I pass you, gimpy runner! Going downhill is fantastic! Hey! Is that Lindley ahead of me? Maybe I can catch up ... no ... okay, see you at the finish, Lindley.
Mile 2: We are starting to break up a little. Here is "The First Hill." The most optimistic of the red wavers have to walk. I start sucking air. My second wind has yet to kick in. Ah, sweet zoo parking lot, you are flat. Ah, sweet downhill again. Oh, man here is the next hill. It is not too steep.
Mile 3: We are still going uphill! Every bend in the road, obscuring the view! It only obscures more uphill! Sweet Lord make it stop! I am racewalking and walking and jogging and Michelle is ahead of me, all energetic and young! Ah, it has stopped. It is kind of flat. Now I am running again.
Mile 4: Michelle has deigned to let me run in front of her. It is up and down and up and down and hey, more water! Racers are messy people who just throw the cups down. OMG we can litter! I am getting a cup! Running and drinking is hard! But here is a condoned act of littering! I just littered in the park, OMG OMG! And people say I cannot cut loose.
Mile 5: This is getting so much easier. Where has Michelle gone? She must be ahead of me. Must. Run. A. Little. Faster. Man, my hips are starting to hurt. I'm glad I took some Advil this morning.
Mile 6: My blister on my middle right toe is starting to hurt. Where is Michelle? Did she have an asthma attack and I don't know about it and now she's in the hospital? Is she ahead of me or behind me? She must be behind me.
Mile 7: This is weird. No Michelle. Well, if I'm in front, I must be haler and hardier than I thought. Man, that spot where my shorts rub against my thighs hurts. I can't believe I'm going to get a blister on my legs. That is horrible. When is this thing over with? Man, what course are we running? I've never been this way before. Another uphill? Oh man. Yay! Downhill! Oh no! I'm a little out of control! Uphill again! Okay, walk this one a bit. You can walk the rest of the way. It's no shame. Must. Run. Can run flat part. Run flat. Jettison extra weight. Lose articles, pronouns, big words.
Finish: Run! RUN RUN RUN IN!!! RUN IT!!! RRRRUUUUUUNNNN!!!!!!! Everything hurts but it's almost over! RUN, CALLIE RUN!!
Michelle made it in two minutes later. She had to tie her shoe, she said. Man, ain't no shame in the walking game. Or having double bunny ear knots. We get a free orange. It is Sunkist yet one of the best oranges I've ever eaten. I get two loaves of Roman Meal bread from a guy looking the other way. I don't need or want two loaves of bread, much less a kind that only has a single gram of fiber per slice. Overheard by Michelle: man: "we got a free loaf of bread and an orange for only $25!" We still wonder if S2N gives its money to a worthy cause. I think because we wonder it must not, unless you count the continued existence of the race, and that's cool when I think about it.
I'm going to get a burger now.
Friday, June 09, 2006
Tomorrow's the day
7.5 miles. I am so excited.
I am washing my race clothes in preparation tonight and am taking it easy. I had to run to the store for some laundry detergent — I apparently lost a whole new bottle, which I didn't think was possible — but other than that I'm conserving energy. Ate a big bowl of pho, which may not have been smart, and two pieces of bread and jam since I'm all out of Milano cookies, which is also dubious. Also I'm charging my iPod shuffle for tomorrow. I cannot recommend the shuffle enough. It's light and doesn't skip at all and the battery goes on forever and ever. Plus they're on bigtime sale right now at the Apple Store. If you exercise, totally buy one.
I also found a product that is called "liquid bandage" which I'm going to put over the place where I had blisters. I kinda got them to the point where they came off right before the race. Which really isn't cool because now it's tender skin that's exposed instead of the tough stuff that was there. Still, my feet aren't really ready for sandals or anything. They're still pretty gnarly.
Once I run this race I'll barely ever run again and, if so, pretty much only on flat surfaces. I cannot wait to kickbox again.
Also, I did not go ahead and try to create a race costume as a faux superhero. It isn't that I'm too shy; I'm too lazy.
I am washing my race clothes in preparation tonight and am taking it easy. I had to run to the store for some laundry detergent — I apparently lost a whole new bottle, which I didn't think was possible — but other than that I'm conserving energy. Ate a big bowl of pho, which may not have been smart, and two pieces of bread and jam since I'm all out of Milano cookies, which is also dubious. Also I'm charging my iPod shuffle for tomorrow. I cannot recommend the shuffle enough. It's light and doesn't skip at all and the battery goes on forever and ever. Plus they're on bigtime sale right now at the Apple Store. If you exercise, totally buy one.
I also found a product that is called "liquid bandage" which I'm going to put over the place where I had blisters. I kinda got them to the point where they came off right before the race. Which really isn't cool because now it's tender skin that's exposed instead of the tough stuff that was there. Still, my feet aren't really ready for sandals or anything. They're still pretty gnarly.
Once I run this race I'll barely ever run again and, if so, pretty much only on flat surfaces. I cannot wait to kickbox again.
Also, I did not go ahead and try to create a race costume as a faux superhero. It isn't that I'm too shy; I'm too lazy.
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