Coming Out of Left Field

Catie Curtis helps prove that "It Gets Better"

2010-10-09T20:34:00.000-04:00

Usually I don't post YouTube videos here, but I'm making an exception for this. One of my favorite musicians, Catie Curtis, and her wife Liz have just made their own "It Gets Better" video":

As someone who didn't grow up with any gay role models (they were pretty scarce in Western Pennsylvania), and is now happily married (at least as far as Massachusetts is concerned), I can also attest that things definitely do get better -- though they obviously have a ways to go. Hence, Catie's video and the other videos at YouTube's
"It Gets Better" channel.

Shopping advice

2010-03-03T21:24:00.000-05:00

The other day was Purim dress-up day at preschool. One of the kids came in this great astronaut outfit, and I complimented him on it and said I wished I had one too. The following dialogue ensued:

Child: My safta (Hebrew for grandma) bought this ... but you have to go to a mall near you.
Me: A mall near me?
Child: Yes, a mall near you, and you have to go to all the stores.
Me: All the stores? Even the ones that sell chocolate?
Child: Yes, all the stores. And you have to get up very early and drive there. And if no stores have it, you have to go to a store not near you.
Me: How early do I have to get up? 2 a.m.?
Child: 0 a.m.!
Me: Wow, 0 a.m.? I'll have to bring some food with me, because I might get really hungry waiting for the mall to open.
Child: Yes, you have to bring breakfast and lunch and dinner with you.
Me: You know, maybe I should call the stores first and see if they have it. So then if they didn't have it, I wouldn't have to get up at 0 a.m. and go to the mall.
Child: That's a good idea!

I later told the child's mother, who appreciated the story as much as I did!

Some holiday humor

2009-10-04T20:48:00.001-04:00

With Jewish holidays in full gear, it seemed like a good time to pass on a list of food "definitions" that's been circulating in e-mail. Enjoy!

~snip~

Latkes
A pancake-like structure not to be confused with anything a first class health restaurant would put out.. In a latka, the oil remains inside the pancake. It is made with potatoes, onions, eggs and matzo meal. Latkas can be eaten with apple sauce but COULD also be used to comb your hair, shine your shoes or lubricate your automobile. There is a rumor that in the time of the Maccabees, they lit a latka by mistake and it burned for eight months. What is certain is that you will have heart burn for the same amount of time It tastes GOOD, but will stop your heart if the grease gets cold..

Matzoh
The Israeli's punishment for escaping slavery. It consists of a simple mix of flour and water - no eggs or flavor at all. When made especially well, it could actually taste like a cardboard box recycled from the Tel Aviv city dump. Its redeeming value is that it does fill you up and stays with you for a long time. Sometimes for too long and it is recommended that you eat lots of prunes with it. If the prunes do not work, try castor oil....or even gun powder as a last resort before a surgeon has to mine it out..

Kasha Varnishkes
One of the little-known "delicacies" which is even more difficult to pronounce than to cook.. It has nothing to do with varnish, but is basically a mixture of buckwheat and bow-tie noodles (not macaroni). Why a bow-tie? Many sages discussed this in the Old Testament and agreed that an ancient Jewish mother decided, 'Son, you can't come to the table without a tie' or, G-d forbid, put an elbow on my table?' If Mamma said "bow ties', you better believe that's what the family used, even if they had to invent them on the spot.

Blintzes
Not to be confused with the German war machine's: 'blintzkreig'. Can you imagine the Jerusalem Post in '39 with huge headlines announcing: 'Germans drop tons of cheese and blueberry blintzes on Poland - shortage of sour cream expected.' Basically this is the Jewish answer to Crepe Suzette. They are actually offered on the menu at the local International House of Pancakes, but no one there knows what the hell they are. In ignorant bliss, they often serve them frozen from the blintz factory. No modern American woman will take time to make them if she can find a grocery store selling frozen ones. (Assuming she can find someone in that store that knows where they are stored.)

Kishka
You know from Scottish Haggis? Well, this ain't it. Remember what I say if you should go to the highlands. You do not want to eat Haggis....no matter how much Scotch you've downed. In the old days they would take an intestine and stuff it. Today we use parchment paper or plastic (made in China ). And what do you stuff it with? Carrots, celery, onions, flour and spices. But the skill is not to cook it alone but to add it to the cholent (see below) and let it simmer for 24 hours until there is no chance whatsoever that there is any nutritional value left. The gravy can be purchased in bulk at all southern Bisquitville drive-thrus.

Kreplach
It sounds worse than it tastes. There is a Rabbinical debate on its origins. One Rabbi claims it began when a fortune cookie fell into the chicken soup. Another claims it started in an Italian restaurant, and the owner yelled at the chef, 'Dis apasta testes lika krep!'. Either way it can be soft, hard, or soggy and the amount of meat inside depends on whether it is your mother or your mother-in-law who cooked it. Tastes best if made in a Manhatten deli where they serve the soup by the barrel load.

Cholent
This combination of noxious gases had been the secret weapon of Jews for centuries. The unique combination of beans, barley, potatoes, and bones or meat is meant to stick to your ribs and anything else it comes into contact with. Precusor of the invention of Superglue. At a fancy Mexican restaurant (kosher of course) I once heard this comment from a youngster who had just had his first taste of Mexican fried beans: 'What, they serve leftover cholent here too? A Jewish American Princess once came up with something original for guests (her first and probably last cooking attempt at the age of 25): she made cholent burgers for Sunday night supper. The guests never came back. The dogs ate the burgers....but later threw up and had to be taken by ambulance to the pet emergency room.

Gefilte Fish
A few years ago, an Israeli politician had problems with the filter in his fish pond and a few of his fish got rather stuck and mangled. His son (5 years old at the time) looked at them and asked 'Is that why we call it 'Ge-filtered Fish'?' Originally, it was a carp stuffed with a minced fish and vegetable mixture.. Today it usually comprises of small fish balls eaten with horse radish (pronounced, 'chrain' to rhyme with 'insane', which you have to be to inflict it on your innards) is judged on its relative strength in bringing tears to your eyes at 100 paces.The VERY NAME OF THIS DISH FRIGHTENS FULLY GROWN AND SOPHISTICATED GENTILES and they actually run when it is merely mentioned.

Bagels
How can we finish without the quintessential Jewish defense weapon, the bagel? Like most foods, there are legends surrounding the bagel although I don't know any other than it was first discovered when unsugared donuts accidentally petrified. There have been persistent rumors that the inventors of the bagel were the Norwegians who couldn't get anyone to buy smoked lox. Think about it: Can you picture yourself eating smoked salmon or trout on white bread? Rye ? A cracker? Naaa! The Israeli Defense Forces research lab looked for something hard and almost indigestible which could take the spread of cream cheese and which doesn't take up too much room in desert-maneuvers-ration kits. And why the hole? The truth is that many philosophers believe the hole is the essence and the dough is only there to indicate where the hole is placed. It remains an eternal existential discussion topic. Meanwhile the Gentiles discovered they like them and are now getting as fat as the Jews eating at McDonalds.

~snip~

Mitzvah moments -- and a Sox game!

2009-08-04T21:08:00.003-04:00

Received: My wife got a pair of Red Sox tickets as an end-of-year class gift -- and shared them with me!

Given: Helped sort and deliver food for Family Table; donated school supplies to Housing Inc.'s annual backpack drive.

Planned: Hope to raise funds for the 2009 Jimmy Fund Walk (virtually, since we plan to be at Family Table the actual day of the walk).

As for the Sox game, it was fun, particularly the five-run inning where the Sox rapped out hit after hit. The only lowlight: leaving the game 6-3, spending an hour getting back to where we'd parked the car, and turning on the radio to find the A's had just tied the game, 7-7, on the way to a 9-8 loss.

Redefining identity ...

2009-07-09T14:20:00.002-04:00

... or, thanks to the kids at summer camp, having it redefined for me:

Me (at lunchtime, to a child): Look, you have Chinese noodles for lunch. Hey, I'm Chinese, and those are Chinese noodles, so I can eat them.

Girl #1: No, you can't! You're not Chinese!

Me (puzzled): Um ... why?

Girl #1: Because you live with [soxfanwife]!

Girl #2: Yeah, and you don't speak Chinese! I speak Chinese! Ni hao!

This leads to a number of girls taking turns saying "Ni hao!" (hello in Mandarin) to each other. A boy had his own objection to my self-definition:

Boy #1: Chinese is a store, and you're not a store!

Soxfanwife (to Girl #1): Well, if we're not Chinese, what are we?

Girl #1 (shrugs): I don't know.

Soxfanwife: Maybe we're Jewish.

Girl #2: Yeah! You're Jewish! And I'm Jewish too! (leading to "I'm Jewish!" "I'm Jewish too!" all around the room)

Have I mentioned that my wife's class always has the funniest kids ever?

Mitzvah moments

2009-07-05T20:43:00.002-04:00

The first entry in a continuing series, now that I'm officially Jewish:

Received: Friends helped out in various ways with our recent chuppah ceremony; other friends made a donation to the preschool in our honor.

Given: Donated a bunch of used books to More Than Words, and bought some more.

Planned: The wife and I will volunteer at Family Table's upcoming distribution day.

The Guinea Pig Dialogues, part 18 of an ongoing series)

2009-04-22T21:27:00.002-04:00

An approximation of an actual "conversation" that happened the other day, just after I opened the dishwasher:

Haver the guinea pig: Squeak.
Me: No, sweetie, I'm just doing the dishes.
Haver: Squeak squeak.
Me: Haver ...
Haver: Squeak squeak squeak.
Me: Haver, there's no lettuce in here.
Haver: Squeak squeak squeak!
Me: Haver, this is the dishwasher. This has always been the dishwater. It is *not* the small white lettuce box.
Haver: SQUEAK SQUEAK SQUEAK! Squeeaalllllll!
Me: Honey, could you please get him some lettuce?

It's debatable who's sillier -- the guinea pig, for assuming the dishwasher is a lettuce box, and me, for trying to convince him otherwise.

Not coming to a bookstore near you

2009-01-02T16:05:00.006-05:00

My wife and I were joking this morning that I could write a memoir based on my experiences converting to Judaism. Since the first requirement of any bestseller is a snappy title, we spent a little time brainstorming. (OK, I did the brainstorming while my wife just laughed and shook her head at me.)

"My Year of Reading Jewishly," an nod to A.J. Jacobs' "The Year of Living Biblically," was deemed accurate but too boring to keep someone's attention. "From Fiddler to ____" was ruled out since I couldn't find anything funny to fill in the blank. And my personal favorite, "Soy Vey! My Jewish Journey," was ditched when I realized that, thanks to my early preferences for hot dogs and Kraft macaroni, I'd eaten far less Chinese food growing up than many Jews had. When it comes down to it, "a basically Americanized woman gradually turns Jewish over three decades" just doesn't seem the kind of proposal that'll attract publishers and lots of royalties.

Oh well. Looks like I'll keep writing here for free. :)

I have a life ...

2008-12-19T17:23:00.006-05:00

... at least, according to this meme from Facebook, which states that if you've seen over 85 films, you have no life. The below list has 239 films; x's denote the ones I've seen.

( ) Rocky Horror Picture Show
( ) Grease
(x) Pirates of the Caribbean
( ) Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest
(x) Boondock Saints
( ) Fight Club
( ) Starsky and Hutch
( ) Neverending Story
(x) Blazing Saddles
(x) Airplane

Total: 3

(x) The Princess Bride
( ) AnchorMan
( ) Napoleon Dynamite
( ) Labyrinth
( ) Saw
( ) Saw II
( ) White Noise
( ) White Oleander
( ) Anger Management
( ) 50 First Dates
(x) The Princess Diaries
( ) The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement

Total so far: 5

( ) Scream
( ) Scream 2
( ) Scream 3
( ) Scary Movie
( ) Scary Movie 2
( ) Scary Movie 3
( ) Scary Movie 4
( ) American Pie
( ) American Pie 2
( ) American Wedding
( ) American Pie Band Camp

Total so far: 5

(x) Harry Potter 1
(x) Harry Potter 2
(x) Harry Potter 3
(x) Harry Potter 4
( ) Resident Evil 1
( ) Resident Evil 2
( ) The Wedding Singer
( ) Little Black Book
( ) The Village
( ) Lilo & Stitch

Total so far: 9

(x) Finding Nemo
( ) Finding Neverland
( ) Signs
( ) The Grinch
( ) Texas Chainsaw Massacre
( ) Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning
( ) White Chicks
( ) Butterfly Effect
(x) 13 Going on 30
( ) I, Robot
(x) Robots

Total so far: 12

( ) Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
( ) Universal Soldier
(x) Lemony Snicket: A Series Of Unfortunate Events
( ) Along Came Polly
( ) Deep Impact
( ) KingPin
( ) Never Been Kissed
( ) Meet The Parents
( ) Meet the Fockers
( ) Eight Crazy Nights
( ) Joe Dirt
( ) KING KONG

Total so far: 13

( ) A Cinderella Story
(x) The Terminal
( ) The Lizzie McGuire Movie
( ) Passport to Paris
( ) Dumb & Dumber
( ) Dumber & Dumberer
( ) Final Destination
( ) Final Destination 2
( ) Final Destination 3
( ) Halloween
( ) The Ring
( ) The Ring 2
( ) Surviving X-MAS
( ) Flubber

Total so far: 14

( ) Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle
( ) Practical Magic
(x) Chicago
( ) Ghost Ship
( ) From Hell
( ) Hellboy
( ) Secret Window
( ) I Am Sam
( ) The Whole Nine Yards
( ) The Whole Ten Yards

Total so far: 15

( ) The Day After Tomorrow
( ) Child's Play
( ) Seed of Chucky
( ) Bride of Chucky
( ) Ten Things I Hate About You
( ) Just Married
( ) Gothika
( ) Nightmare on Elm Street
( ) Sixteen Candles
( ) Remember the Titans
( ) Coach Carter
( ) The Grudge
( ) The Grudge 2
(x) The Mask
( ) Son Of The Mask

Total so far: 16

( ) Bad Boys
( ) Bad Boys 2
( ) Joy Ride
( ) Lucky Number Slevin
( ) Ocean's Eleven
( ) Ocean's Twelve
( ) Bourne Identity
( ) Bourne Supremecy
( ) Bourne Ultimatum
(x) Lone Star
( ) Bedazzled
( ) Predator I
( ) Predator II
( ) The Fog
(x) Ice Age
( ) Ice Age 2: The Meltdown
( ) Curious George

Total so far: 18

( ) Independence Day
( ) Cujo
(x) A Bronx Tale
( ) Darkness Falls
( ) Christine
(x) ET
( ) Children of the Corn
( ) My Bosses Daughter
( ) Maid in Manhattan
( ) War of the Worlds
(x) Rush Hour
(x) Rush Hour 2

Total so far: 22

( ) Best Bet
( ) How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
( ) She's All That
( ) Calendar Girls
( ) Sideways
(x) Mars Attacks
( ) Event Horizon
(x) Ever After
(x) Wizard of Oz
(x) Forrest Gump
(x) Big Trouble in Little China
(x) The Terminator
( ) The Terminator 2
( ) The Terminator 3

Total so far: 28

( ) X-Men
( ) X-2
( ) X-3
(x) Spider-Man
( ) Spider-Man 2
( ) Sky High
( ) Jeepers Creepers
( ) Jeepers Creepers 2
(x) Catch Me If You Can
(x) The Little Mermaid
(x) Freaky Friday
( ) Reign of Fire
( ) The Skulls
( ) Cruel Intentions
( ) Cruel Intentions 2
( ) The Hot Chick
(x) Shrek
(x) Shrek 2

Total so far: 34

( ) Swimfan
(x) Miracle on 34th street
( ) Old School
( ) The Notebook
( ) K-Pax
( ) Krippendorf's Tribe
( ) A Walk to Remember
( ) Ice Castles
( ) Boogeyman
( ) The 40-year-old Virgin

Total so far: 35

(x) Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring
(x) Lord of the Rings The Two Towers
(x) Lord of the Rings Return Of the King
(x) Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
(x) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
(x) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Total so far: 41

( ) Baseketball
( ) Hostel
( ) Waiting for Guffman
( ) House of 1000 Corpses
( ) Devils Rejects
( ) Elf
(x) Highlander
( ) Mothman Prophecies
( ) American History X
( ) Three

Total so Far: 42

( ) The Jacket
( ) Kung Fu Hustle
(x) Shaolin Soccer
( ) Night Watch
(x) Monsters Inc.
(x) Titanic
(x) Monty Python and the Holy Grail
( ) Shaun Of the Dead
( ) Willard

Total so far: 46

( ) High Tension
( ) Club Dread
( ) Hulk
( ) Dawn Of the Dead
( ) Hook
( ) Chronicles Of Narnia The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
( ) 28 days later
( ) Orgazmo
( ) Phantasm
( ) Waterworld

Total so far: 46

( ) Kill Bill vol 1
( ) Kill Bill vol 2
( ) Mortal Kombat
( ) Wolf Creek
( ) Kingdom of Heaven
( ) the Hills Have Eyes
( ) I Spit on Your Grave aka the Day of the Woman
( ) The Last House on the Left
( ) Re-Animator
(x) Army of Darkness

Total so far: 47

(x) Star Wars Ep. I The Phantom Menace
( ) Star Wars Ep. II Attack of the Clones
( ) Star Wars Ep. III Revenge of the Sith
(x) Star Wars Ep. IV A New Hope
(x) Star Wars Ep. V The Empire Strikes Back
(x) Star Wars Ep. VI Return of the Jedi
( ) Ewoks Caravan Of Courage
( ) Ewoks The Battle For Endor

Total so far: 51

(x) The Matrix
( ) The Matrix Reloaded
( ) The Matrix Revolutions
( ) Animatrix
(x) Evil Dead
( ) Evil Dead 2
( ) Team America: World Police
( ) Red Dragon
(x) Silence of the Lambs
( ) Hannibal

Final total: 54

I don't know who came up with this list, but if s/he had included classics, musicals and sports films, I would've gone over 85 faster than you can say "Strike three, yer out!"

Theo, Theo, wherefore art thou Theo?

2008-12-14T15:58:00.004-05:00

C.C. Sabathia goes to ... the Yankees.

A.J. Burnett goes to ... the Yankees.

Meanwhile, the Sox have ... a new logo and new road jerseys. OK, and a few other players, mostly from the Rule 5 draft.

Not that I want Theo to suddenly start imitating Steinbrenner Jr., and he certainly shouldn't make a move just to make one. I'd just like to have an excuse to post about the Sox between now and spring training.

Milk, marriage and the movies

2008-11-30T17:21:00.003-05:00

The wife and I went to see "Milk" last with a couple of friends. Afterwards, we all wished that it had come out in theatres before the election, instead of three weeks after, or even that the "No on 8" campaign had drawn more of a parallel between their efforts and those of Harvey Milk's 30 years ago. I also wish there was someone with his passion and his ability to organize and inspire support ... the history of gay rights might be different.

As for the movie itself, Gus Van Sant did an incredible job capturing the essence of Milk's story while still presenting him as a flawed human being, not a saint. And while all of the cast did well, Sean Penn was simply phenomenal as Milk. Later on we went back to our friends' house and watched the 1984 documentary "The Times of Harvey Milk", and were amazed by how close Penn came to the original. We were also struck by how far we've come, on the one hand (no more police raids on gay bars) and how much some things have stayed the same.

More from the "kids say the darndest things" department ...

2008-11-28T16:08:00.002-05:00

... overheard at my new job at preschool:

Teacher, to toddler: What would you name the turkey [a paper one, hanging on the wall]?
The toddler says his name.
Teacher, to another toddler: And what would you name the turkey?
This toddler also says his name.
Teacher, to a third toddler: And what about you? What would you name the turkey?
Toddler (without hesitation): Duck!

Me, reading a book: See, the giraffe is building something out of blocks. Maybe a skycraper.
Toddler: Or a rocket ship.
Me: Yes, it could be a rocket ship.
Toddler: [something indistinct]
Me: I'm sorry, what did you say?
Toddler: Pluto's not a planet.
Me (stunned speechless for a moment): You're right, Pluto's not a planet.
Toddler: But the Earth is.

Teacher (reading a book): And on the third day, God made trees grow out of the earth.
Three-year-old: I don't live on the Earth -- I live on another street.
Another three-year-old: I live in Lexington!

And my favorite one ...

Me, to two four-year-olds: Someday, you'll be taller than I am.
Four-year-olds (looking at each other): Naaaahhhhh!
Soxfanwife (who is barely two inches shorter than I am): Well, do you think you'll be taller than me?
One four-year-old: Of course, you're a small grown-up!
Me (after we stop cracking up): But by the time you're my age, I bet you'll be taller than me.
The same four-year-old: Yeah, and you'll be 100!

My apologies to Harold Kushner

2008-09-17T21:15:00.002-04:00

Dear Rabbi Kushner,

I owe you an apology.

I am in the process of converting to Judaism, and as part of my class I'm reading various books on the religion. My wife has been doing the reading too, being the wonderful and supportive partner that she is.

I should backtrack a bit -- earlier today, we noticed that a flying bug (we don't know what kind) had somehow gotten into the house. I tried to whack it with a magazine but missed it, and it flew away. Later on we spotted it near the stairs, but it again escaped.

We shrugged, went downstairs and had dinner and dessert, took care of the guinea pig we're petsitting, and then came back upstairs to do some work on the laptop (me) and some reading for class (my wife). So my wife happened to be looking at one of your books when the flying bug appeared again, right in front of her on the bed. Instinct took over, and she immediately killed the bug ... with your book. Specifically, your book "To Life."

Hopefully you will see the irony and humor in this. But I thought I'd say sorry, just in case.

Sincerely,

soxfan

A message from Paul Newman

2008-06-21T14:05:00.003-04:00

Usually I don't tell other people about my dreams (let alone blog about them), since a) I tend not to remember them and b) even if I do, they're typical run-of-the-mill ones in which I find out I have a big test I didn't study for, or I'm at the office and the systems aren't working, etc.

A dream I had the other day, though, featured not work or school anxiety but a woman named Jeannette, the daughter of Paul Newman, who had written a memoir about her and her father. It was an inspirational-type memoir along the lines of "Tuesdays with Morrie," and had its genesis in an argument she'd had with her boyfriend Kevin, after which she'd realized that her life was a mess. So Jeannette turned to her father for solace and direction. The result was a slim hardcover book with Paul Newman on the cover, hand extended toward the reader. And above Newman's picture was the title of the book, which summed up Newman's advice to his daughter and to us:

Just Add Salt.

After I woke up and stopped laughing, I did a little research. The only book on Amazon with that title is a mystery that has nothing to do with Paul Newman, and since he doesn't have a daughter named Jeannette I can't ask her. So Paul, your message came through loud and clear. If only I knew what it meant!

Our little visitor

2008-05-16T11:40:00.001-04:00

Our little visitor
Originally uploaded by bostonian71

We recently took care of the guinea pig at my wife's preschool for a couple of weeks. By the end of his stay, he had learned two things:

-- Lettuce comes from plastic bags, which make a distinctive noise when they're opened.
-- If he started squealing at the sound of a plastic bag -- any plastic bag -- being opened, eventually one of us would cave him and give him some lettuce. Yes, he trained us well.

The guinea pig also had the entertaining habit of jumping up onto the top of his cardboard "house", then jumping off and running inside, only run back out a moment later. I once watched him do this five times in a row.

Sadly, he is back at school, and things are a little less amusing around the house. On the plus side, we have our dining room table back; if it weren't for the fact we have no place else to put a guinea pig, I suspect we would have one of our own by now.

An education newbie

2008-03-07T22:05:00.004-05:00

The other day I got to go to a professional training day hosted by my wife's school. A couple of months ago I started working one afternoon a week, so I had credentials of a sort. Still, though, I felt a bit of a fraud among all these teachers with so much more experience and education. So I fully intended to lay low.

All I can say is, someone Upstairs has a sense of humor.

My wife's director kicks off the training with some announcements about scheduling, presenters, and other routine stuff. The last one, though, is different. "Now you know, at these things we always give out prizes. This wand," she says, waving one she was holding, "will make you an empress for the day, and confers the right to cut in line at the bathroom!"

With that, she asks everyone to stand up. "OK, if you've been in the field for five years or less, please sit down." As people retake their seats, she keeps upping the number until three people are left. The winner is a woman who's been teaching for forty years, and the director steps down from the stage to give her the prize.

"I want to give this to someone who's a new teacher," the woman says, as the director approached.

"Don't worry," the director replies, as she hands over the wand. "We're taking care of that next."

Taking care of that next, I thought. Wait, that means ... uh-oh.

"Would everyone who's been teaching for four years or less, please stand up."

About ten or fifteen people, including me, stand up.

"Three years or less ... two years or less ... new this year ..."

Three or four people are still standing.

"Six months or less ..."

Now it's down to me and one other woman. Maybe she just got hired six weeks ago ...

"Two months or less."

The other woman sits.

Oh, my God.

I crack up. The other teachers crack up. The director, as she hands me my wand, is trying not to crack up. And my wife, who was out of the room at the time, cracks up when she hears the story and sees my wand, a pale green sparkly wand with Tinkerbell's face on it that I have to carry around for the rest of the day.

I'd like to say that the wand now occupies a place of honor on the mantel. As it turns out, though, the daughter of whoever bought the wands thinks that they belong to her, so I will send mine back to school with my wife. Just as well -- pale green isn't really my color.

Gee, thanks for the ego boost, kid

2008-02-26T09:39:00.002-05:00

The other day my sister-in-law called and said her 9-year-old son wanted to talk to me about video games. Since my knowledge of video games is way less than his, I was a little puzzled but took the phone anyway.

"My friend and I have been planning this video game all week and I want to know how to make it," he said.

"Uh ..." I said.

"It has eighteen levels, and a monster made out of fire that you can only kill if you get this water pump and shoot its arms off --"

"Er, that's nice ..."

"And I looked at this site about video games but it didn't really explain things so can you tell me how to make a game?"

I hated to disillusion him, but I had no choice. "Well, to be honest, at this point you probably know more about making video games than I do."

"Oh." A pause. "That's really sad!"

Fortunately he then proceeded to tell me about the cool fantasy book series he was reading, so all was apparently forgiven.

Adoption update

2008-01-06T22:36:00.000-05:00

It took us forever, but we finally got our act together a couple of weeks ago and submitted our autobiography and a slew of other documents to our adoption agency. Naturally I then got an e-mail from someone there saying there was one more form that needs to be done (which got added to the packet after we'd had our initial meeting with them). I was planning to e-mail our social worker about it, but she beat us to the punch and called tonight to say that she can go over it with us ...

... when she comes next Thursday ...

... for the home study visit.

Freakout. Starts. NOW.

Watching Game 1 of the World Series right now ...

2007-10-24T23:13:00.000-04:00

... and it's Red Sox 13, Rockies 1. In the sixth.

Life is good.

A day well spent

2007-10-18T21:02:00.000-04:00

A recent and rare day off my day job:

6 a.m. The wife and I get up, shower, get dressed and have breakfast.

7:55 a.m. We pack up lunches and the laptop, get into my wife's car and head to her preschool. The plan is for me to spend a little time meeting the kids in her class before I head off to the library to do some work.

8:00 - 10:15 a.m. Wind up staying for all of choice time, during which I hear the story of Jonah and the whale according to a couple of boys ("A storm's coming, and Jonah's afraid ... then the whale ate Jonah for lunch!") I also play a game where two girls hold up little plastic animals, and I give them names, beginning with Fred but quickly going to silly names like Jehosophat.

10:15 a.m. - noon. Finally go to the library so I can check e-mail and do freelance work.

Noon - 12:30 p.m. Have a quick lunch with the wife.

12:30 - 2:00 p.m. Move into one of the empty classrooms and do some work there. Am invited by one of the kids to join them for nap, but tell him there isn't a mat for me.

2:00 p.m. After nap, the same kid pokes his head in and says, "Want to play?"

2:01 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. I play happily with the small group of afternoon kids until they're all picked up.

Final output for the day: a little bit of work and a lot of much-needed fun. Just what the doctor ordered.

A quiz for intelligent people

2007-08-15T18:42:00.000-04:00

Got this test today via e-mail forward:

~snip~

This is a test for Intelligent People. I have determined that you qualify.

The following short quiz consists of 4 questions and will tell you if you are qualified to be a professional. Scroll down for each answer. The questions are NOT that difficult. But don't scroll down UNTIL you have answered the question!

1. How do you put a giraffe into a refrigerator?

The correct answer is: Open the refrigerator, put in the giraffe, and close the door. This question tested whether you tend to do simple things In an overly complicated way.

2. How do you put an elephant into a refrigerator?

Did you say, Open the refrigerator, Put in the elephant, And close the Refrigerator? Wrong Answer.

Correct Answer: Open the refrigerator, take out the giraffe, Put in the elephant and close the door. This tested your ability to think through the repercussions of your previous actions.

3. The Lion King is hosting an animal conference. All the animals attend....except one. Which animal does not attend?

Correct Answer: The Elephant. The elephant is in the refrigerator. You just put him in there.

This tested your memory.

Okay, even if you did not answer the first three questions correctly, You still have one more chance to show your true abilities.

4. There is a river you must cross but it is used by crocodiles, and you do not have a boat. How do you manage?

Correct Answer: You jump into the river and swim across. Have you not been listening? All the crocodiles are attending the animal conference. This tested whether you learn quickly from your mistakes.

According to Anderson Consulting Worldwide, around 90% of the professionals they tested got all questions wrong, but many preschoolers got several correct answers. AndersonConsulting says this conclusively disproves the theory that most professionals have the brains of a four-year-old.

~snip~

I got two out of four questions right, and only because I started catching on to their approach after the second question. Does that mean I have the brains of a two-year-old?

Fireworks on the Fourth

2007-07-07T21:37:00.000-04:00

Boston's July 4th fireworks are famous, and my mother-in-law thought it might be fun to watch them from the Museum of Science roof. So she made reservations for her, my father-in-law, the wife and me, and the two sets of relatives who would be visiting from out of town.

As could be expected with any such event, things did not go exactly as planned. The weather was the first sign; the closer it got to the Fourth, the more talk of rain there was. It took a while to get food, umbrellas, blankets, and 12 people assembled and into vehicles. By the time all was organized, we were running a wee bit late, so we rushed off on what we thought would be the most direct route to the parking garage.

Except that, it being the Fourth, Memorial Drive was closed. This resulted in much fumbling and grumbling as an alternate route was pieced together, one turn at a time. But finally we arrived, located the garage and found a spot, then went to the museum ... though not without some standing around waiting for the other half of our group to show up outside the garage. Naturally, when we gave up and walked to the museum anyway, everyone else was there waiting for us.

At 5:30 p.m., we were allowed to go up the ramp of the museum's garage up onto the roof. We found a spot, spread our blankets and cushions, and put together some sandwiches. The museum brochure had said there'd be music and activities, but they unfortunately were geared towards people 12 and under, so there wasn't much to do besides huddle under the umbrellas, eat, talk and wait. Every so often the wife and I got up to stretch our legs and dispel some of the chill.

A couple of hours later, one of our nephews started to look pale and peaky. He hadn't been feeling well when his family arrived at the in-laws', it was getting nippy, and the rain showed no signs of letting up. So (to our unspoken relief) we made a strategic retreat back to the in-laws' house, got into our car, and drove back home. When the fireworks started (five hours after we arrived on the roof), we watched them from our snug, warm bed, and agreed that we had the best view.

Romney, Mormons and special underwear

2007-06-29T00:04:00.000-04:00

Even though I've been paying attention to the presidential campaign, and know a little bit about Mormons, until the other day I hadn't been aware of a particular issue. One of the people also staying at our B&B, however, enlightened the wife and me over breakfast. We'd been talking politics, and I said that I was worried about Mitt Romney getting the Republican nomination.

"What the South is going to have trouble with," said our fellow vacationer, "is his special underwear."

His special what?

"Yeah, special underwear," he said. "All observant Mormons have to wear it under their clothes ... it goes up to here" -- he indicated his chest, "and it covers pretty much the whole body."

There followed some jokes about Googling "Romney's underwear" and the "boxers, briefs, or Mormon underwear?" question Romney would face if he ever went on MTV.

"The South will be fine with a lot of things," our informer concluded, "but when it comes to special underwear, they'll be like, 'That's just too weird."

Afterwards, I did a Google search, and found Mormon Underwear, which has a lot of info but few pictures, and blog post on AndrewSullivan.com that has one pic.

It's pretty safe to say that no other presidential candidate will be asked about this!

Same-sex marriage ban defeated, 45 to 151

2007-06-14T13:34:00.000-04:00

The Mass. legislators did the right thing just now, killing the proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. This means the amendment will not be on the ballot in November 2008, and also means that opponents of marriage equality have to wait until 2012 for another chance at a "popular" vote ... assuming that they try this route again. Hopefully saner heads will prevail, and we can spend our time and money on more worthwhile things.

Two words for anyone who still doesn't understand ...

2007-06-14T09:42:00.001-04:00

... why having "the people" vote on marriage equality scares the hell out of me: Sanjaya Malakar.

Adventures in air travel

2007-06-06T20:30:00.000-04:00

The wife and I found it surprisingly tricky to get back home from South Carolina Sunday night. Our first sign of things to come was when our ride got lost on the way to the airport in Charlotte; the couple giving us a lift missed the exit, so we lost some time doubling back. (I knew we were in trouble when the husband swore in English.)

Then our 3:55 p.m. flight was delayed until 4:15 p.m. When we asked the desk clerk if we would make our connection, she told us, "You're going to have to go straight to the gate ... you can't go to the bathroom or anything." Hmmmm, not promising.

Shortly thereafter, the desk clerk announced that she was looking for volunteers to give up their seats. My wife had a brilliant idea -- if we were going to miss our connection anyway, why not profit by it? So we came up to the counter to get our vouchers, thinking it would be a quick process.

Two hours later, we and another volunteer were still standing there, waiting to get rebooked and receive our vouchers. It wasn't the poor desk clerk's fault, as the computers went on the fritz. So the poor woman had to call and call and call for tech support, as well as deal with late flights, unhelpful supervisors and impatient customers. At one point, she nearly lost a passenger too; an elderly woman booked on the 5:30 p.m. to Philadelphia had gotten on the 3:55 p.m. flight, and only realized her mistake when the flight attendant made an announcement.

Finally, the computers were back, and the printer (freshly loaded with paper) spat out our boarding passes for the 5:30 Philly flight.

Five minutes later, the desk clerk got on the mike again, and announced that the 5:30 flight had been cancelled. The elderly woman who'd gotten on the wrong plane earlier came up behind us. "Do you want to hear someone scream really loudly?" she asked.

The wife and I, fortunately, had long since decided that the whole affair was hilarious, so this latest development just made us crack up. Since the three of us were still waiting for our vouchers, the desk clerk rebooked us herself instead of sending us all the way back to the ticket counter. Around 7:00 p.m., we finally left the airport with our vouchers, a hotel voucher for the nearby Holiday Inn, and reservations for the next morning.

Monday's flight, naturally, went absolutely fine, though the taxi back from Logan was extremely poky. At least we have a couple of round-trip vouchers for all our trouble. Sometime in the next year, when we have time and aren't feeling quite so poor, we'll take advantage of them ... and we won't go through Charlotte!

Bits and pieces from the wedding weekend

2007-06-06T20:19:00.000-04:00

-- The wife and I were picked up at the airport by a friend of my parents. Later on she told me that even though she hadn't seen me since high school, she had no problem recognizing me. "You look exactly the same," she said.

Just as I was thinking that she looked the same too, she added,"But you're too young to have white hair!"

-- The wedding was outside in a very nice little estate. Well, it was meant to be outside; the morning after we arrived, it rained for the first time in a month, and didn't clear up for good until we left. The New England weather jinx strikes again.

-- One-year-olds are very entertaining, even if a certain brother regards them as alien life-forms.

-- Most surprising thing, hands-down: seeing lots of Chinese and Taiwanese people my parents' age doing the electric slide.

Proof that my boss's boss does not read my blog

2007-05-16T20:47:00.000-04:00

The other day at work, a co-worker was talking to one of the higher-ups about the Red Sox. Mark Loretta's name came up, and my co-worker asked out loud, "Where did he end up going? Back to San Diego?"

Without thinking, I answered, "Nope, Houston."

My boss's boss looked at me, surprised. "Wow ... I had no idea you were into sports. That's really impressive."

Impressive? It'd never occurred to me. But maybe people expect short Asian women with glasses to watch the Calculus Channel instead of NESN. Guess I better start wearing my Red Sox sweatshirt to work more often -- while carrying around a copy of The Sporting News or one of our baseball books.

Getting out from under

2007-05-08T16:43:00.000-04:00

It's been a week, and I'm just now feeling able to breathe again ... literally. Right after our move, which took us until very late last Sunday, we both started getting major allergy symptoms, thanks to the pollen as well as to the dust from all our stuff. Then towards the end of the week I got hit by a nasty cold and spent the weekend in bed. I even took yesterday off, which not only gave me one more day to recover but allowed me to watch Ellen DeGeneres, who was doing the show from her bed after hurting her back. Hope she was as comfy as I was!

D-Day approaching

2007-04-26T10:25:00.001-04:00

Today is Thursday.

The movers come Saturday.

Must. Stop. Hyperventilating.

Technorati: personal

Adventures in Passover cooking

2007-04-05T17:37:00.000-04:00

This year the wife and I are trying to be good for Passover. Starting on this past Sunday, we've given up leavened food. Technically we're supposed to do this until next Monday, but since the family seder was a day early, we're cutting ourselves a little slack. (Yes, the family had its seder before the official start of Passover. We also had a Thanksgiving dinner Saturday night, but that's another story.)

So far we've had some very interesting meals. Tuesday morning is a relatively late work day for us, so we decided to make pancakes for breakfast. The recipe I use calls for one cup of flour, so I did the dry mixture with one cup of matzoh meal. After putting together the wet mixture, I poured it into the bowl, and the dry mixture immediately sucked up all of the liquid. With, I swear, a slurping noise.

"Huh," I thought, and added some more milk.

SLURP! That liquid vanished too. Since we were low on milk, we decided to go with it anyway. I tried ladling the mixture onto the skillet, but my wife pointed out that ladles don't work all that well with solids, so we used a spoon and our fingers instead. The result was somewhat lumpy and strangely textured, but still tasty, thank heaven. Later on my wife was looking up something and found that 1 cup of flour equals 1/4 a cup of matzoh meal, which explained a lot.

The other incident (so far) involved some noodles that were supposed to be part of last night's dinner. It had probably less to do with the fact that these were Passover noodles and more to do with my multi-tasking: boiling water for the noodles, steaming the broccoli, and broiling lamb chops. It probably also has to do with there being, at least for these noodles, a really thin line between al dente and mush -- a line I realized I'd crossed when I tried to strain the noodles.

Fortunately the wife was highly entertained by this, pointing out that the pasta looked a lot like farina or grits. We had some with the lamb and broccoli (giggling all the while); my wife added some cheese and an egg to the rest and fried it for our breakfast this morning. An odd combo, but a good one as it turned out.

Maybe tonight we'll have just matzoh and cheese. I shouldn't be able to mess that one up!

Technorati: personal

Dice-K rocks!

2007-04-05T17:34:00.000-04:00

Seven innings, one run, and ten strikeouts from Daisuke Matsuzaka in his regular-season debut ... pretty good, even if it was against the Royals instead of the cream of the American League. I would've been even more psyched had I remembered to activate him before the game started. Arrrgh. Maybe next time.

Technorati: sports, baseball, Boston Red Sox

Less blogging, better pitching

2007-04-02T18:00:00.000-04:00

Dear Curt,

As entertaining as your new blog is, shouldn't you rest your fingers a bit more in between starts? May I suggest no more than five questions answered in any one post, and no posts at all on a day you start?

The only exception to this would be today and tomorrow, when you can post all you want. After today's four-inning, five-run, 89-pitch effort, you have a lot of explaining to do.

Sincerely,

Red Sox Nation

Technorati: sports, baseball, Boston Red Sox

Amazing "Oliver", not so amazing Oliver

2007-03-13T17:46:00.000-04:00

Went to see the ART's production of "Oliver Twist" the other day. Knowing the theater's avant-guard rep (and also knowing this was a new adaptation, not the musical), I was a little apprehensive. But it was a very good show -- swiftly paced and, overall, wonderfully acted. The Dodger in particular was very good ... it wasn't until afterwards that the wife and I realized we'd seen him in quite a different role in "Kissing Jessica Stein".

There were only two minuses. The music wasn't very memorable -- it was authentic and served a narrative purpose, so it naturally wasn't something you go out of the theater humming. (If anything, you can't help humming the music from "Oliver!") And the actor who played Oliver was too old for the part (at least 16) and far too meek. As our niece and nephew pointed out, he spent all his time either crying or saying, "Yes, sir." The one time he was supposed to stand up and defend himself, he ended up doing this very slow, one-handed push that wouldn't have knocked over my grandmother, let alone a sturdy boy. I know this wasn't supposed to be a feel-good musical, but would it have hurt to give Oliver even a little pluck?

One for the "kids say the darndest things" department

2007-03-05T17:04:00.000-05:00

This happened to my wife, not me, but it's too funny not to share:

The other day, one of the classrooms at my wife's school was celebrating "Fenway Park Day." A number of the children were wearing Red Sox apparel, and one little boy was sporting a shirt from spring training, which prompted the following conversation:

Wife: "I want to go to spring training."
Boy: "You can't."
Wife (a little taken aback): "Why not?"
Boy: "You have to be 4!"

Pause, while my wife tries very, very hard not to crack up.

Wife: "Oh. Well, when I'm 4, can I go with you?"
Boy (exasperated at how silly the teacher is being): "No! You have to go with a grown-up!"

Usually when my wife asks kids how old they think she is, the guesses start at 12 and up, so this was definitely a first.

Technorati: funny

It's a done deal!

2007-02-28T20:25:00.000-05:00

We had the closing on our house yesterday afternoon, which despite all the signing and handing over of really big checks was a good experience. The sellers showed up, which was a surprise, and turned out to be a really nice couple (interracial, like us, but straight). The sellers' attorney was nice too, even pulling out pictures of his new grandson to show everyone.

The bank was a little on the slow side, which made things exciting for a while. Our lawyer got the paperwork late (stupid of the lender to wait until the morning of closing to say, "Oh, I can't get in touch with one of your employers"), and then hit traffic on his way in from the Cape. But everything's signed and registered, and we're officially homeowners. Yay!

Technorati: personal

A close call

2007-02-21T02:13:00.000-05:00

My brother's main hobby is photography, and he often takes photos of the company's softball games. Last week, he e-mailed me to say that the team would be playing its first playoff game during our visit, and asked if we wanted to attend. Since we like cheering for a team (and the pizza afterwards sounded appealing), we said sure.

Today, just as we were waking up, my brother called from work. The first thing he said was that it was pretty overcast outside, which made him wonder if the game was going to happen. "I should know by 3," he said.

"That's fine," I said.

"Also," he said, "the woman who sent out the e-mail isn't feeling well, and another woman is sick, and you need at least three women to play, so they might be looking for volunteers."

After a panic-stricken pause, I informed my brother that I haven't played very much softball, but that I was pretty sure that I sucked. He reminded me that the team wasn't of the highest caliber anyway, having finished the regular season with a record of 1 and 13 (the one win coming after the opposing team failed to show up). He also said that we couldn't be any worse than he was when he'd subbed.

The wife found the prospect of one or both of us playing hilarious. "Well," she said, "you're taller than me."

"I don't think two inches is going to make that much of a difference," I said.

Fortunately, we didn't have to put that to the test, though it was a near thing, as one woman showed up right at game time. So instead we got to be spectators. The team put up a fight but lost (the other team just hit and fielded better). They seemed to have a good time anyway, and so did we.

My brother got some good shots, though he said he would've found it very amusing if we'd had to play. It's just as well -- he already has enough ways to torture his big sister, he doesn't need another one.

Technorati: personal

Vacation getting off to a nice start

2007-02-19T21:43:00.000-05:00

Today, our first full non-jet-lagged day in California, was a good one for several reasons.

-- the chocolate chip/pistachio pancakes we made for breakfast
-- a nice walk down Castro Street, where we browsed for books and had tea and croissants in a local cafe
-- another walk on a bike/pedestrian path right near where my brother lives
-- anticipating the gourmet meal of rack of lamb, green beans, carrots and rice my brother's making right now (plus ice cream for dessert)
-- and last but not least, good news from our mortgage broker: our mortgage commitment letter is finally in!

Now we can *really* relax and enjoy the rest of the week away. Woo-hoo!

Technorati: personal

Proof that God has a funny sense of humor ...

2007-02-11T21:31:00.000-05:00

... or that I have a lousy sense of timing, or both, can be found in our schedule a couple of weeks from now:

February 17: we leave for a week in California, to visit my little brother.
February 25, morning: we come back on the red-eye.
February 25, evening: we go to RSLS's and The Girl's new place for a night of food, Oscar competition and poking fun at fashion.
February 27: we close on our soon-to-be house.

Our reaction to all this can be summed up in one word: Ack!

Technorati: personal

Inspector came and went ...

2007-01-25T21:42:00.000-05:00

... and recommended some fixes, but found no major problems. Right now, the plan is to sign the P&S on Saturday and hand over a sizable check, then to give them a much bigger check a month later. In the meantime, we'll keep packing boxes and cramming them into every square inch of space we have, which even right now is not that much.

Technorati: personal

Are you a true dedicated Red Sox fan? (quiz)

2007-01-15T12:47:00.000-05:00

Just found this via DrMomentum's "How Massachusetts Are You?" post, and confirmed that I get to keep my username:

100% TRUE Red Sox Fan, PLAY ON!

Yeah you are a true and dedicated Red Sox fan, ya wicked sweet ma--hole! Kick those Yanks back to New Yawk where they belong! Go Red Sox! Yankees suck, Yankees suck!!

Are You a True Dedicated RED SOX Fan?
Quizzes for MySpace

The wife took the quiz too, and also scored 100%, which she says is much higher than she would've scored five years ago, before she met me. She's also more into the Patriots, too. She was talking about the Pats with a grandparent at her school the other day, who asked, "Are you married?", and then said, "Oh, that's why you have to watch so much of it ..." Which happens to be right, even if the grandmother got one of the details wrong. :)

Technorati: sports, baseball, Boston Red Sox, quiz

Holy &#*!

2007-01-14T13:36:00.001-05:00

Just heard from our agent that the sellers counteroffered with a figure only $5,000 than our offer, which was still less than our top figure.

We accepted.

There’s a lot to do yet before this is a done deal, and a lot to do afterwards, but for now just let me say this:

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Technorati: personal

Saw 13 houses today ...

2007-01-13T22:25:00.000-05:00

... and made an offer on one that stood head and shoulders above the rest. It’s been on the market a while, so they may jump at it, but since they’re having an open house tomorrow, they may just come back at us with a counteroffer. At least this time we’ll have the first offer on the table.

Technorati: personal

Equality quote of the day

2007-01-03T18:17:00.000-05:00

"We are still waiting to hear of the first heterosexual couple whose marriage has been damaged by the more than 8,500 same-sex marriages performed here since 2004."
-- From today's Boston Globe editorial (A shameful reversal of rights)

I'm waiting too...

Technorati: GLBT, LGBT, marriage equality, Massachusetts

A fun "Night at the Museum"

2007-01-01T20:35:00.000-05:00

The wife and I took advantage of the holiday to catch this movie, and had a good time. It's not a classic by any stretch of the imagination, but it was diverting enough, with good performances by Ben Stiller, Dick Van Dyke, Robin Williams, and Mickey Rooney. And hey, who *wouldn’t* want to hang out in a museum where the exhibits come alive at night?

Time for a break ...

2006-12-21T21:02:00.000-05:00

... from Project Baby and Project House. Partly because it's the holidays, and partly because we were 0 for 2 in both categories this week.

First we lost a mini-bidding war over the house we'd liked. We knew we liked the house, and also knew that the listing agent was having another open house this past Sunday. After considering the pros and cons, we decided to concentrate on "getting our ducks in a row" (as our agent, RSLS's brother-in-law, put it) rather than rushing to make an offer before the open house. Then things got a little exciting:

Monday - we learned another party had made an offer. We set up an appointment to meet with our agent the next morning.

Tuesday morning - our agent took us through all the paperwork, prepared our offer, and answered a million questions.

Tuesday afternoon - our agent called, and said the seller had made a counteroffer to us and to the other prospective buyer. Per our earlier discussion, he was going to go ahead and split the difference between our first offer and the counter. The agent said not to expect to hear anything until the next day.

Tuesday night - our agent called again, and said the other prospective buyer had made another offer that was $3,000 more than the seller's counteroffer -- and was only $1,000 less than the current listing price.

Then Wednesday morning we went in for a pregnancy test, which came back negative. Yep, that's two things we won't be getting for Xmas. At least we'll start house-hunting again after the New Year, when there are more open houses. As for Project Baby, we'll take a longer break from that and do some other things that need be to taken care of ... and maybe do some traveling too. After the year we've had, we deserve it!

Technorati: personal

A heartwarming holiday story

2006-12-15T22:09:00.000-05:00

Came across this fun link while working today (see, it's not all car crashes and political mudslinging):

Runaway Reindeer

It's very cute, though I still think the Somerville Gates are funnier.

Technorati: fun

Sox pulling out all the stops

2006-12-05T22:30:00.000-05:00

Just checked for an update on the winter meetings, not expecting much, and found the Sox had reached preliminary agreements with two talented and high-priced players, outfielder J.D. Drew and shortstop Julio Lugo. If true, this means the Sox payroll will be even higher next year (especially with Drew's five-year, $70 million contract). It'd also mean that Trot Nixon and Alex Gonzalez won't be returning, which is understandable but sad, particularly in Trot's case. I guess even Ray Bourque ended his career somewhere else.

Update, 12/15: Matsuzaka - signed. Drew -- signed. Lugo -- signed. Guess Terry Francona knows what he's getting for Xmas.

Technorati: sports, baseball, Boston Red Sox

I have to learn to read headlines

2006-11-30T20:14:00.000-05:00

Just now I was checking Yahoo! Sports for any news on Daisuke Matsuzaka, and got very excited when I saw a link saying the Sox had signed a Japanese pitcher. I immediately clicked into the story and started reading while calling out to the wife, "They signed him! A two-year contract!"

Then I read a little more and realized the contract was not for Matsuzaka (which I should've noticed right away since he's a righty and the headline referred to a lefty), but a relief pitcher named Hideki Okajima. Which is still good news, since the Sox need bullpen help and Okajima is a good setup guy. But it wasn't quite what I was hoping for. Back on the D-Mat watch ...

Technorati: sports, baseball, Boston Red Sox

My mind is as sharp as a whatchamacallit

2006-11-21T18:16:00.001-05:00

The other day, the wife and I were at the drugstore picking up a few things when I recognized someone waiting at the pharmacy counter. He saw me at the same time, and we both said, "Hey!"

Immediately after that, I thought, "Oh, shit."

I knew his face. I knew that we'd both worked at the same place several years earlier. I even remembered scraps of a conversation we'd had once at a party concerning a drum set that he was thinking about getting.

Did I remember his first name? Of course not.

What compounded the problem is that there's someone at my work now whose first name starts with the same initial, and whose last name is exactly the same as X's. Also, a blogging acquaintance has the same last name, and the same first and middle initials as another former co-worker. So every time I tried to remember X's name, I kept getting stuck on those two other combinations that I knew for sure were wrong.

I chose the cowardly route and didn't refer to X by name, but made sure to ask about the drum set so he would realize that, yes, I did really know who he was. Later on, I did a little searching and found his name so that I know it for the next time I run into him. Maybe by then, he'll have done a little searching of his own and found my correct first name. ;)

Technorati: personal

Sox notes

2006-11-17T17:44:00.000-05:00

I have a slight headache and it's been a long week (and month and year), so this won't be too coherent, but here goes:

-- It might take me a while to learn how to spell Daisuke Matsuzaka without looking it up. But if he turns out to be an ace for the Sox, it'd be worth it. He sounds like the real deal, even if his vaunted "gyroball" is just a really good slider or curve.

-- Alex Cora just signed a $4 million, 2-year contract with the Sox. That's an awful lot for a guy who hit .238. Personally, I would've taken some of that money and thrown it Mark Loretta's way. As much as I like Dustin Pedroia (aka "Little Guy" in our household), he's not quite ready, and Loretta had a pretty good year at second.

-- I'm sad to see Foulke go, especially since the bullpen was shaky at times last year, and while he is no longer a closer, he can still be good. At least Timlin will be back, along with Wake, who can pitch anywhere, anytime.

-- There's a chance the Sox's replacement for Trot Nixon, an oft-injured outfielder, might be J.D. Drew, another oft-injured outfielder who would be a lot more expensive. I don't know what numbers Theo's crunching for this one -- probably the same ones Dan Duquette used to sign Kevin Mitchell and Jose Canseco.

Technorati: sports, baseball, Boston Red Sox

A good week for democracy

2006-11-09T20:46:00.000-05:00

It's been a very exciting few days ... the Democrats took back control of Congress, Deval Patrick won the Mass. governor's race in a landslide, and the state legislature effectively killed the anti-marriage equality ballot measure. It's all enough to restore my faith in democracy.

I'm particularly thrilled about the ballot measure, as too much time and money has been wasted on something that would take away people's rights. I know some antigay activists will now complain that the will of the people wasn't heard. Which seems funny to me, because as far as I know the will of the people shouldn't rely on fraudulent signature-collecting methods and out-of-state protestors. But what do I know? I just live here.

Technorati: politics

Fantasy math

2006-10-30T21:17:00.000-05:00

This is how fantasy math works:

Set up an equation A + B + C = D, in which A equals one amount, B equals another, C equals the amount of mortgage we can comfortably afford, and D equals the price of a given house.

Take the left side of this equation. Replace A with the sum of X and Y. Define X to be 2/5 of A. Make Y an undefined variable -- it can be as much as 1/4 of A or as little as 0.

You should now have X + Y + B + C on the left side of the equation. Magically, even though the sum of X and Y is less than A, certain fantasy mathematicians -- those responsible for defining A, and subsequently replacing it with two other variables -- still think X + Y + B + C adds up to D.

Since we can't afford fantasy, we'll probably need to work up another equation for another house. At least this time we'll have all the variables in place first.

Technorati: personal

Life is getting even more complicated

2006-10-25T19:59:00.000-04:00

Recently, with housing prices coming down, we've started to look into getting our own place. While we haven't minded renting, we don't have a heck of a lot of space (and our piles of unpacked belongings are not completely to blame). And once Project Baby is successful, through one route or another, we'll need even more room.

So even though we're feeling a little stressed as it is, we've begun the house-hunting thing. It has helped immensely that the wife's parents have done a lot of the initial looking. (One of their top priorities: finding us a house that's near their house.) Last Sunday we went and looked at the outside of the places they liked best, and got to set foot inside two of them. The first just felt wrong (I kept pulling my elbows in, because everything felt too narrow), and the second was fine except for being right near noisy, congested Route 9, which would not make my wife's commute a fun one.

Then on Tuesday we went to one other place -- which was very cute on the outside -- and took a little tour inside. And fell in love. And are now trying to figure out how much to offer, and how we can afford it, and what contingencies to put in, and a million other things. And reassuring ourselves that even if we don't get this house, there will be some other house out there that will be affordable and in a good location and won't require a year's worth of work before we can move in.

Between this and Project Baby, I'm feeling very grown-up all of a sudden. Oy.

Technorati: personal

Damn

2006-10-21T13:43:00.000-04:00

Found out today that our latest Project Baby attempt was not successful.

It would've been nice to get some nice news after the extremely long week we had, but it was not to be. Time for another go-around on the same roller-coaster ... and time to schedule an appointment with the social worker, to discuss adoption agencies in case our next attempt has the same result.

Damn.

Technorati: personal

Life is what happens ...

2006-10-08T20:09:00.000-04:00

... while all your plans go out the window!

OK, I'm exaggerating a bit. But it's true that this holiday weekend hasn't gone quite how we thought. Our plan for these last couple of days went as follows:

-- Go to the clinic Friday morning for an ultrasound.
-- Go to work.
-- Call in to get messages, and find that we're not quite ready for another Project Baby attempt, and that we shouldn't come back until Tuesday.
-- Drive up to Ogunquit Friday night for a relaxed weekend being pampered at our favorite B&B.

Here's what really happened:

Friday
-- Went to clinic.
-- Went to work.
-- Called in, and found out we're wanted back at the clinic before 10 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
-- Swore (under my breath, since I'm at work).
-- Called the B&B to let the owner know that we won't be coming in unil Saturday.
-- Went back home Friday and do the trigger shot.

Saturday
-- Got up early and drove to clinic.
-- Did first attempt.
-- Drove to Ogunquit.
-- Ate wonderful late brunch prepared by the B&B owner, who also says he'll make us an early breakfast the next morning. (isn't he sweet?)
-- Took nap.
-- Took short walk on beach.
-- Ate early dinner, and chilled out in our room, watching TV and checking e-mail.
-- Set alarm for 6:45 a.m., and went to sleep.

Sunday
-- Woke up and noticed the time was 7:17 a.m.
-- Swore loudly.
-- Threw on clothes and ate a quick but scrumptious breakfast (fresh fruit, scrambled eggs with mushrooms and cheese, potatoes).
-- Drove down to Boston, arriving only a few minutes late for the appointment.
-- Did second attempt.
-- Went to our house and lay down for a nap.
-- Grabbed lunch and headed back north.

After that, things got a little easier. This afternoon we took a longer walk from Footbridge Beach to the main part of town. On the way, we saw something I never expected to see on the beach -- two horses with their riders. They were walking right next to the water instead of galloping, although as they reached the end and turned around they started trotting.

An ice cream sundae and some shopping later, we were ready to head home, so we caught the trolley back to the B&B. Unfortunately we didn't think to check our cell phone messages, so it wasn't until later that we learned our buddies Rogue Slayer and The Girl were in town too and could've met us for dinner. Shoot. Maybe we can make it up by helping them pack for their new place!

Technorati: personal

R&R in western Mass.

2006-09-26T21:27:00.000-04:00

Hello, little newt
Originally uploaded by bostonian71.

The wife and I took a much needed break last weekend at Stump Sprouts, in western Mass. While we weren't quite as pampered as we were in Ogunquit (we'll take care of that Columbus Day weekend), it was nice to hang out with our dance buddies.

A bunch of us took a hike on Saturday afternoon. Usually it's a smallish hike -- 45 min. up to the top, half an hour on the way down -- but this time we got a little lost, which added an extra hour. We did get to see an orange newt that one of the hikers spotted. She said she almost missed it, because it was the exact color of some of the leaves. I took a couple of pictures, which unfortunately came out kind of fuzzy.

The usual Saturday-night dance featured at these get-togethers didn't last very long, since many of the participants, us included, were exhausted from the hike. We did have enough energy the next day to do a little Rosh Hashanah service, complete with tashlich walk and a mini-celebration afterwards with challah, grape juice, and apples with honey. Not a bad way to start the New Year!

Technorati: personal

Red Sox 3, White Sox 2

2006-09-05T22:26:00.000-04:00

Tavarez on the mound
Originally uploaded by bostonian71.

When my wife and I learned that Julian Tavarez was starting last night's game, we groaned. Since we hadn't been to Fenway in a while, we knew we'd enjoy being there, but we were convinced the game itself would be a blowout for the other side.

The last thing we expected was six -- count them, six -- shutout innings against a very dangerous lineup. Yes, he tired in the seventh, but as my wife pointed out afterwards, there's no shame in giving up a homer to Jim Thome. And he's certainly earned another chance to start, as well as a hell of a lot more respect from Sox fans. In a game that featured the return of Tek, Trot, and Manny, that might've been the best thing of all.

Technorati: sports, baseball, Boston Red Sox

Going to a game!

2006-09-03T21:48:00.000-04:00

The wife and I thought we had the holiday weekend all planned out: drive up to NH after work, spend Saturday and Sunday with family, and come back to Boston Monday.

Friday, just as I was getting ready to leave, my boss called me into her office. "Want Red Sox tickets for tomorrow?" she asked. My initial response of joy ("Yay! Tickets!") immediately turned into dismay, and I regretfully turned her down. The next day, as my wife and I struggled with the issues of a not-so-modern house (showers that don't stay hot, faucets that keep losing their handles, etc.), I couldn't help thinking, "I turned down the Sox for this?"

Despite that, we spent a nice Saturday afternoon hanging out with relatives, including some cousins we hadn't seen in a while, and the weather was better than expected, allowing us to do some kayaking. Sunday we woke up to a gray, rainy day, and decided to leave a day early. That paid off in more ways than one; not only did we have less traffic to deal with, but it meant we were home when a friend of ours called and offered us two tickets for tomorrow's Red Sox-White Sox game, between third base and home plate. Even though we need to be up early Tuesday, we jumped at the chance. I figure if Opportunity's going to knock on our door not once but twice, we better let her in!

Technorati: sports, baseball, Boston Red Sox

"Radical" relationship

2006-08-29T19:54:00.000-04:00

Stumbled across a video today that combines a couple of my favorite things: a Catie Curtis tune, and the dynamic duo of Xena and Gabrielle:

Xena Radical Music Video

Hat tip for this one goes out to Catie Curtis herself, who made the video a featured link on her website. The quote from Catie says, "This is an unauthorized video but I think it's hilarious!", and she's absolutely right.

Technorati: fun

A tale of two trips

2006-08-23T20:39:00.000-04:00

The wife and I went to NH twice in the past few weeks, and apart from location, they were very different trips:

Trip #1
We drove up on a Friday night with Rogue Slayer and The Girl. Because we all worked that day, we got off to a late start, but music and conversation helped keep us awake. My wife and I have gotten hooked on SciFi's Who Wants to be a Superhero?, had decided that the four of us would make a good team:

RSLS: Super Geek, techie extraordinaire who would invent all our special gadgets
The Girl: Speed Demon, faster than a speeding bullet in vehicles of all types
My wife: The Negotiator, fluent in all languages, master of disguises, and strong enough to pick up two quarreling kids and separate them
Me: The Webslinger, who can teleport from one location to another via anchor tags, "comment" out people to make them invisible, etc.

RSLS and The Girl approved of their new personas, though we all agreed that the latter could just as easily have been Super Shopper. On Saturday, The Girl demonstrated the abilities of that alternate persona when she and my wife went off to the outlet stores for an hour while RSLS and I stayed at home and read. They came back with bags of bargains, picked us up for lunch, and then went back to the outlet stores for yet more shopping. Finally, though, even Super Shopper reached the limits of her stamina, and we headed home.

Sunday was much more low-key. We walked down to the Saco River, waded or swam in, and sat on a log in the middle, watching the kayakers pass us by. Quite peaceful, in stark contrast to the traffic jam that confronted us that night on our way back to Boston. The kayakers were pretty fast compared to that. At least the company was fun, which always is the case with RSLS and The Girl road trips.

Trip #2

I caught a nasty cold right as this trip started (I began feeling the effects Saturday, as we drove up), so I didn't get to do very much on this trip. Sunday we did get to go to a Jewish adult education class with the in-laws, during which a rabbi discussed the importance of making your days count. Unfortunately, because of the cold, I didn't get much of a chance to do that -- Monday I slept, and Tuesday the wife and I stayed home instead of going to a local production of "Urinetown". (In that case, though, it was apparently time well-spent; the in-laws went to the show, and told us we didn't miss much.)

Despite the cold, I felt very well taken care of, with some nice meals that I could enjoy even without my sense of smell. My wife's father even offered me some cold medicine from their cabinet. After we realized that it was 11 years past its expiration date, my wife took me to CVS so we could get some DayQuil and NyQuil instead. Even with the drugs and lots of sleep, even now I'm a bit fuzzy-headed. Forget being a superhero, I'll settle for feeling human again. Too bad there isn't an HTML tag for that.

Technorati: personal

Ugh

2006-08-18T16:51:00.000-04:00

Most of the TVs at work are tuned into the Sox-Yankees game, which the Sox are losing by a score of 11 to 3. The only good thing you can say about it is that Rudy Seanez, by doing the bulk of the relief pitching, is saving the rest of the bullpen arms. Of course, if somebody else was pitching, the damn game would be over by now.

Yuck. I think I'll keep my TV on CNN. For once, it's less depressing.

Technorati: sports, baseball, Boston Red Sox

Baseball quote of the day

2006-08-11T13:11:00.000-04:00

"I had a pitching coach in the minors who would ask me what I had for breakfast. I'm thinking, huh? I've got second and third with one out and you want to know whether I had pancakes or waffles?

Reliever Todd Jones, in a Sporting News story about conversations on the pitcher's mound. His story is a little less absurd than the Bull Durham version, but not by much.

Technorati: sports, baseball

Fun with felines

2006-08-02T20:33:00.000-04:00

In between work and medical stuff, the wife and I have managed to have a little social time. The other weekend we carpooled with some friends to a birthday party, which not only gave us the pleasure of their company, but (briefly) that of their cats. I happened to have our digital camera, so I seized the chance to get a couple of cute shots:

Two of the cats being all affectionate.

Since we were going to be away for a while, our friends gave the cats something to while away the time until their return.

The wife and I both have brothers who are extremely allergic to cats, so for now we'll have to rely on friends for our feline fix.

Technorati: photos, Flickr, cats

Spin, spin, spin

2006-07-20T14:42:00.000-04:00

At work we joke that our content management system is powered by hamsters. Site running slow? Blame the hamsters. You get errors when you try to view a page? Blame the hamsters. It takes you ten minutes to publish one lousy update? Yep, blame the hamsters. But usually things sort themselves out, as soon as the hamsters get some food or take a nap.

Sometimes, though, the hamsters really muck things up. This was the case today, when all of a sudden the thing I was working on (to use a technical term) went all kablooie. Anyone who looked on our development server would just see one big error where content is supposed to be -- content that was unviewable, unverifiable and therefore unpublishable.

Right now the tech people are working hard to fix this. In the meantime, maybe we should elect someone to talk to the hamsters and find out what their demands are. More food, bigger cages and better bedding are a small price to pay for systems that actually work.

Technorati: work

ConCon vote on marriage equality delayed

2006-07-12T17:52:00.000-04:00

According to MassEquality.org, legislators have recessed until November 9. This is good news for supporters of same-sex marriage -- as MassEquality points out in its e-mail, "With each day, we have a new opportunity to tell more people the story of marriage equality and of the more than 8,000 loving, committed same-sex couples who have married since May 2004."

And to those who prattle on about the will of the people being ignored (like Kris Mineau, head of the so-called Massachusetts Family Institute), the will of *this* person is that you stop wasting time and money that could be used to actually help families instead of hurting them. Judging by the comments of other folks both gay and straight, I'm not the only one who feels that way.

Technorati: GLBT, LGBT, marriage equality, Massachusetts

Poor Pedro

2006-06-29T19:37:00.000-04:00

The wife and I were excited to watch Pedro Martinez's return to Fenway last night. He got a very nice welcome from the fans, but a less kind reception from Boston hitters, who knocked him out of the game after eight runs in just three innings. I'm happy that the Sox won yet again (by another huge score, 10-2 this time), but I really wished that it'd been a closer game. I hate to see anyone flop as badly as Pedro did, and it was sad to see him in the dugout hanging his head after he'd been taken out. Hopefully the next time the Sox and Mets meet up, he'll do better ... but that we end up beating him anyway. Pity only goes so far, after all.

Technorati: sports, baseball, Boston Red Sox

Maine amusements

2006-06-27T22:30:00.000-04:00

The wife and I are in the middle of the most relaxing vacation we have ever taken, thanks mostly to the innkeeper at our wonderful B&B. I am reluctant to reveal where exactly we're staying, since I want to ensure that we'll be able to come back whenever we want to, and if I give away certain info, such as the name of the place, the innkeeper's phone will start ringing off the hook. Yes, I'm selfish.

But I will say that we have been absolutely pampered with yummy breakfasts and all sorts of treats, including Ghiradelli chocolate chip cookies (yum). We're also lucky enough to be very close to the beach, which has meant we've gotten some very nice walks in. Today we even took advantage of the sun's emergence, riding the trolley to Perkins Cove and walking all the way back. A few more of those, and I may even have a tan when we get back to Boston -- along with a few extra pounds from all the food!

Technorati: personal

Silly quote of the day

2006-06-20T19:40:00.000-04:00

"I'm going to fight to the death for Fluff ...It's ridiculous that with all the things going on in the state and in the world, we're having this conversation."
Massachusetts state rep. Kathi-Anne Reinstein, who says she will file a bill designating Fluffernutter the official state sandwich.

The last time I checked, it takes two to tango, so Reinstein's bill doesn't exactly help get people's priorities back in order. Don't you guys in the House have a minimum wage to raise?

Technorati: Massachusetts, Boston

My gay agenda

2006-06-18T21:45:00.000-04:00

With the Family Protection Amendment and Boston Pride being in the news recently, I've been hearing a lot about the "homosexual agenda". Being a homosexual, I thought it might be educational to mention, just as an example, what was on my agenda today:

1) Take my wife's parents out to brunch for Father's Day.
2) Help my brother-in-law load a 27-inch TV into the back of his car.
3) Drive back to my wife's parents' house while carrying the brother-in-law's somewhat anxious parakeet* in its cage, so it can be watched while the brother-in-law and his family are out of town.
4) Unload bird, cage stand and TV at wife's parents' house.
5) Go shopping for sandal/sneakers for wife and me, for upcoming trip to Ogunquit, ME.
6) Come home and take nap.
7) Do two loads of laundry.
8) Check e-mails, do a bit of freelance work.
9) Watch Red Sox-Braves game on ESPN.

Nothing terribly radical, I guess, unless you happen to be a Yankees fan.

*Edit: I mistyped yesterday and said the brother-in-law's bird was a parrot instead of a parakeet. Apparently being so close and personal to a featured creature somewhat warped my perspective.

Technorati: personal

Say sayonara to Santorum

2006-06-16T22:37:00.000-04:00

Got this the other day in an e-mail from HRC:

Boot the bigot (Flash game)

It won't be that easy to get rid of the staunch antigay conservative, but you can pledge to support fair-minded candidates in November. With any luck, this fall's elections will boot this bigot for real.

Technorati: GLBT, LGBT

Reunion road trip, part II

2006-06-08T17:11:00.000-04:00

Last weekend the wife and I drove to NY for her other college reunion, at Sarah Lawrence. It was a good trip, though it started inauspiciously. Friday was one of those "rain, rain, please go the hell away" days, which made for unpleasant driving. By the time we arrived on campus, we just wanted to dump our stuff, get dry, and take a nap.

After picking up our keys and donning the ponchos handed out at registration, we drove over to the dorms. We had a little bit of difficulty with the gatekeeper, who at first wanted to stop us from going through the gate. But we assured him (just as we had a few minutes earlier on our way back to the car) that we were just unloading our stuff, and that we would then turn around and go back to the parking lot. Not being sure where exactly our building was, we consulted the signs (which were vague), and the wife asked a passerby whether such-and-such dorm was Building A. "Oh, yeah, that's it," he replied. It took a few minutes to find our room, and at first my wife couldn't get the door open. I then tried the key and got in immediately.

We quickly dragged all our belongings into the room, planning to immediately return to the car. Then we hit a snag: the door wouldn't lock. The wife and I took turns twisting and turning (and swearing loudly), with no success. We also realized that we had only a single bed even though we'd registered for a double, and the wife reported that the bathtub had apparently not been cleaned in some time.

Crossing our fingers that no one would steal our stuff while we were out, we got back in the car, drove back past the grumpy gatekeeper, parked, and walked back to registration. The staff, told of our concerns, promptly called Facilities and asked them to send over a locksmith and a double bed. We were told that the locksmith would meet us back at the room, so we trudged back there and waited. After several minutes, the wife called again, and was told that the locksmith had already been to the room and verified that the lock was fine. We told them that the lock was definitely not fine, and asked the locksmith to come back. Meanwhile, we agreed to leave our things unpacked, in case the college decided to move us somewhere else.

The wife realized that we'd forgotten to bring our cooler in, so I trudged back out to the car while the wife waited for the locksmith. On the way, I ran into a nice woman from registration, who assured us that they'd get everything straightened out. I also crossed paths with the locksmith, who said there hadn't been anyone at the room when he came the first time. I assured him that there was someone there now, and told him the lock was still busted.

As I came back from the car, cooler in hand, the gatekeeper told me the locksmith had come and gone, and still hadn't seen anyone at the room. With a smirk, he added, "Time to go home!" I managed not to snap at him -- the last thing I needed was trouble with campus security -- and slogged on through the muck. Tired and soaked, I finally got back to the room, only to have the wife tell me: "Um, honey ... I think I'm going to go check out the building next door. Why don't you wait here?"

When she came back, she confirmed the truth: our dorm was actually one building over. When we'd come back from registration the last time, she'd noticed the name on the side door was different from the name of our dorm, and the locksmith's failure to show up made her even more suspicious. We moved the stuff to the right room (which had a nice double bed and clean bathroom as well as a functioning lock), called Facilities to apologize, and collapsed into hysterical laughter.

The rest of the weekend was much more fun. Although the wife said she probably wouldn't know anyone, she still managed to run into two connections Friday night, including the aunt of one of the kids in her class. We would've chatted more, but we were so tired that we went straight to bed after dinner. (It's also a measure of how tired we were that we ate the fish, the only entree choice, with barely a murmur of complaint.) Saturday we went to a brunch and a cool panel about digital filmmaking. Of the three films, we both enjoyed "Wonder Pets", a preschool show on Nick Jr., and the snippet from "Searching for G", a documentary about the existence (or not) of the G-spot. The third film, "Facechasers," was very stylishly made but didn't make much sense. "Typical Sarah Lawrence," my wife told me later -- very intense and dark and arty.

After the panel, we had a much-needed nap, then dressed up for dinner and dancing at the U.N. We had a lot of fun on the dance floor, especially doing foxtrot and swing, and also got a Red Sox fix from a fellow fan, who looked up some scores on his Blackberry. We were thankful that the brunch on Sunday was a little later, as we got to sleep in a little bit before eating, packing up and heading back to Boston.

Overall, a fun if tiring experience. I'd definitely like to go back in five years. By then, I should have the energy for it!

Technorati: personal

Reunion road trip

2006-05-31T22:51:00.000-04:00

Last weekend the wife and I went down to Bryn Mawr with Rogue Slayer and The Girl, for the wife's and RSLS's 20th college reunion. RSLS has a reunion wrapup on her blog and Flickr photoset, so I'll just add a few things:

-- The wife and I very much enjoyed rolling out of bed around 10 each morning. This was only slightly diminished by our feeling guilty that we were two to three hours behind everyone else, though they reassured us they didn't mind.

-- We also enjoyed playing with the cute kitties, particularly Fiona, who parked herself outside our bedroom door in the wee hours of the morning, waiting for one of us to come out and pay her some attention.

-- Of all the Saturday activities, I think I enjoyed the afternoon picnic the best. Next time we'll forgo the lectures and just have a party on the green. RSLS is already making a playlist!

-- The verdict for "The Da Vinci Code": RSLS liked it, we found it entertaining but over-the-top, and The Girl thought it was confusing (not having read the book). We all agreed that Tom Hanks was miscast, despite the best attempts of the costume and makeup department. Even if he'd sounded like a Harvard professor, I think I still would've been distracted by what RSLS called his "academic mullet".

-- Many, many thanks to RSLS and the Girl for driving and organizing the whole shebang, and to her Biggest Sister for letting us crash at her house. It all made for a memorable Memorial Day weekend.

Technorati: personal

Red Sox quote of the day

2006-05-21T13:33:00.000-04:00

"I guess he hasn't looked at my career numbers."
--Sox pitcher Josh Beckett, speaking of manager Terry Francona's willingness to let Beckett swing away in last night's 8-4 win against the Philadelphia Phillies. Francona's trust in Beckett paid off; the pitcher, who came into the game with a career batting average of .147, collected two hits, one of them a homer.

Technorati: sports, baseball, Boston Red Sox

Baseball quote of the day

2006-05-15T21:40:00.000-04:00

"A lot of people were saying , 'Yeah, yeah, we tied it, we tied it!' And then they said, 'Oh, no, what did you do? We could have gone home!'"
-- Wade Boggs, referring his part in prolonging a 33-inning game between the Pawtucket Red Sox and the Rochester Red Wings in 1981. Rochester had gone up 2-1 in the 21st, but Boggs hit a single to tie the game.

The above quote was found while looking for info on yesterday's Pawsox game, which my wife, some friends and I had been hoping to see. Unfortunately, no one told the schedule-makers that forty days and nights of rain had already been planned.

Technorati: sports, baseball

What a week!

2006-05-15T21:11:00.000-04:00

For the past several days, I've been alternately stretched to the max at work and spoiled rotten outside of it. The former I haven't liked very much, except that it makes it much easier to pay the bills. The latter has been quite enjoyable, with several wonderful birthday gifts and treats from my sweetie. For the house she got a combination DVD/VCR player, and for me a David Ortiz jersey and a Patriots jigsaw puzzle. My wife really knows me. :) I also got some nice presents from my friends and family. My brother even suppressed his worst instincts (as he admitted later) and sent me a book about the Red Sox instead of the third and fourth "Alien" movies. With all this pampering, maybe I should have birthdays more often.

Speaking of birthdays and the Red Sox, many happy returns of the day to Josh Beckett, who turns 26 today. Right now the Sox are on course to give him a win. Hopefully he won't be getting a blister as well.

Technorati: personal

Sox 7, Yankees 4

2006-05-01T22:29:00.000-04:00

First off, a big welcome back to Doug Mirabelli, who has been sorely missed. Maybe Josh Bard was comfortable with Wakefield (and Wake with him), but Bard was definitely not comfortable with the knuckleball. As for Mirabelli, he did an amazing job tonight. He essentially jumped off the plane and was immediately in the thick of things, blocking balls and even throwing out a baserunner.

The game itself was a little nerve-wracking but satisfying, with nifty defense on both sides, and a nice rally by the Sox in the bottom of the eighth (helped immensely by Papi's three-run homer). Then Papelbon did his Sidd Finch imitation, and it was a wrap.

Oh, and Johnny Damon went 0 for 4. If it hadn't been for the boos, you wouldn't have even known he was there.

Technorati: sports, baseball, Boston Red Sox

Unfair fares

2006-04-28T22:16:00.000-04:00

I'm starting to wonder if the "T" in MBTA stands for tolls instead of transportation:

T announces proposed fare increases

The T's official site has a bit of official blather about "'flat-fare-by-mode' systems," "value-pricing" vs. "distance-pricing," etc. etc. What it boils down to, though, is always the same thing: we're in debt, it's not our fault, and you're going to pay up.

Technorati: Massachusetts

The West Wing: "Transition"

2006-04-26T21:12:00.000-04:00

Another excellent episode, with a nearly-perfect blend of political and the personal:

-- Santos is briefed on the situation in Kazakhstan, and expresses his unease and dismay with the Bartlet's administration's strategy.
-- An overworked, Blackberry-addicted Josh tries to convince Sam Seaborn to return to the White House. Meanwhile, Donna gets an offer of her own from Helen Santos.
-- Donna and Josh try to figure out if a relationship between them can work.

Even with the season and the show winding down, these characters are still full of surprises (exhibit A: the "good cop, bad cop" approach to foreign policy) as well as some good one-liners, particularly in the scenes between Josh and Sam. And I admit it: as a Josh/Donna shipper, I cheered at their last scene together. While it's hard to believe Josh could have a life outside the White House, it's nice that he's trying to get one.

I've said it elsewhere, but I'll say it here too: it's a shame that we won't get to see the Santos administration in action. Especially since, if next week's preview isn't misleading, Santos will make a very interesting (if improbable) choice for his VP.

Cross-posted to TV Help Web

Technorati: television, The West Wing

Security, of a sort

2006-04-21T17:53:00.000-04:00

Over the last few months I've been doing fill-in work here and there at a certain company in Boston. It doesn't pay as much as my last job, but it's really interesting, the people are nice, and between one thing or another I've been there quite a bit. So when I was asked today if I could start coming in two days a week, the answer was a no-brainer.

Aside from not getting benefits, this is actually an ideal job, at least right now. Certainly the wife and I would find it much harder to try the baby thing if we both worked out of the house full-time. And with freelance work, laundry, driving lessons, etc. I don't think I'll have any trouble finding stuff to do on the other three days.

Technorati: job-hunting

The Mourner's Kaddish

2006-04-20T20:50:00.000-04:00

Technically speaking this isn't the right day for Kaddish, but since today is also a date that also reminds me of loss, I've decided it's OK:

Yit-gadal v'yit-kadash sh'mey raba, b'alma di v'ra hirutey, vyam-lih mal-hutey b'ha-yey-hon uv'yomey-hon uv'ha-yey d'hol beyt yisrael ba-agala u-vizman kariv, v'imru amen.

Y'hey sh'mey raba m'varah l'alam ul'almey alma-ya.

Yit-barah v'yish-tabah v'yit-pa-ar v'yit-romam v'yit-na-sey v'yit-hadar v'yit-aleh v'yit-halal sh'mey d'kud-sha, b'rih hu, leyla min kol bir-hata v'shi-rata tush-b'hata v'ne-hemata da-amiran b'alma, v imru amen.

Y'hey sh'lama raba min sh'ma-ya, v'ha-yim aleynu v'al kol yisrael, vimru amen.

Oseh shalom bim-romav, hu ya-aseh shalom aleynu v'al kol yisrael, v'imru amen.

Technorati: personal

I can think of a lot of great things about marriage ...

2006-04-18T16:11:00.000-04:00

... but apparently an anti-gay marriage group in Colorado is having some trouble:

Screenshot from Coloradans for Marriage

Hat tip to brian_igo on Easily Addictive for the link and amykhar on EA for the screenshot.

Technorati: GLBT, LGBT, marriage equality

Weekend reading

2006-04-18T15:32:00.000-04:00

Thanks to Rogue Slayer and her wife The Girl, we had the pleasure of going down to Providence last Saturday for a book reading by one of the wife's and RSLS's fellow Bryn Mawtyrs. Anastasia Ashman and her co-editor, Jennifer Eaton Gokmen, have published an anthology titled Tales from the Expat Harem: Foreign Women in Modern Turkey. The book came out just last month in an U.S. edition, but has already had three in Turkey, and is winning all sorts of acclaim. (If the essay that Anastasia and Jennifer read was any indication, the praise is well-deserved.)

The wife and I picked up one copy for us and another as a birthday present, and afterwards all four of us met Anastasia and Jennifer at Starbucks for an all-too-brief chat before they caught the train. The plan had been to grab some dinner in Providence, but on the spur of the moment we decided to drive to Provincetown instead. The wife and I agreed afterwards that it was the first spontaneous trip either of us had made in a while, and it rocked! After a yummy (and huge!) meal, we walked a bit and tried to do some shopping. RSLS and The Girl found some cool shades, but none of us had luck with sweatshirts, as most of the stores were closed (it being the off-season), and the ones that were open just had overpriced leftovers from last season. Still, it was a great road trip, and the company couldn't be beat. Hopefully RSLS will post her take and some pictures on her blog soon.

Technorati: personal

The West Wing: "Requiem"

2006-04-18T14:26:00.000-04:00

If there's anything good about West Wing ending this year, it's this: the show's going out on top.

This episode was stellar all-around -- excellent writing, excellent acting, and just the right mix of drama and humor. Even Leo's death was the occasion of (to quote some of the characters) celebration; I especially loved the scene in which Bartlet, CJ, Josh, and the rest trade stories about him. (I still cried at the opening sequence, though some of that may have to do with Mother's Day coming up.)

I was also impressed that instead of letting Santos coast into office (which, with so few episodes left, would be understandable), they're presenting him with thorny problems right off the bat. Too bad we won't get to see him govern, unless one of the other channels pick up the show or do a spinoff. "The West Wing: The Next Generation", anyone?

Other notes:

-- That was an odd look on Stockard Channing's face when Bartlet started telling stories at the reception. Was she ticked to be pulled away from "Out of Practice"?
-- Nice subplot with Josh-Donna and C.J.-Danny failing to hook up. Though I find it hard to believe Donna wouldn't take one look at the situation and instantly guess what was going on.
-- As for Josh, what's the matter with you? I don't care if Sam Seaborn's available, make Donna the deputy already!
-- One episode down, three to go. *sigh*

Technorati: television, The West Wing

Roster-tweaking

2006-04-14T13:27:00.000-04:00

I knew I said I wasn't going to make any drastic changes to my fantasy baseball roster just yet. But that was before I looked at my team and realized the following:

-- I have four guys whose only position is first base.
-- I have only one catcher and one shortstop.
-- I have only two guys who can play second, and neither is tearing up the league at the moment.

So in the interest of balance, I made the following adds/drops:

Drop: T. Helton (1B), J. Cantu (2B, 3B), Mi. Cabrera (3B, OF), M. Texiera (1B)
Add: I. Rodriguez (C), F. Lopez (2B, SS), V. Wells (OF), J. Beckett (SP)

Except for adding Beckett, the pitchers stay the same ... for now, that is.

Technorati: sports, baseball, fantasy baseball

Red Sox 5, Blue Jays 3

2006-04-12T14:20:00.000-04:00

Took advantage of an off-day to catch yesterday's home opener on NESN. It was a good game, though a little too exciting at some points, thanks to Beckett's lack of control in the first (three walks, ugh) and some defensive gaffes. Nixon dove for a ball only to have it go over his head -- injuring himself in the process; later Nixon's replacement, Wily Mo Pena, jumped for a ball but had it bounce off his glove into the stands.

Still, the Sox won with some timely hitting, and Beckett (once he settled down) and Papelbon were pretty solid. Papi got another homer, which ties him with Bronson Arroyo. Yes, Arroyo. Is it too late to get him back and teach him to play outfield?

Technorati: sports, baseball, Boston Red Sox

The West Wing: "Election Day" (Part II)

2006-04-12T13:42:00.000-04:00

If you haven't yet seen this episode, skip this post unless you want to see major spoilers. Otherwise, read on.

First off -- yay!!! Go Santos! I hoped the election would end up going his way, particularly when the episode cut a couple of times to the room of his supporters (in stark contrast to Vinick and his three staffers), but the episode managed to keep us in suspense until the last possible moment. And good for Vinick that he didn't opt for a protracted legal battle. Overall, both Alan Alda and Jimmy Smits have done very nice work this season. I wouldn't mind seeing either actor -- or, better yet, both of them -- in another show. West Wing spinoff, anyone?

As for the Leo storyline, it was heartbreaking, and will be even more so with his funeral in next week's episode. There will probably be some blatant pulling of heartstrings, but for once I won't care. After all his years of stellar work, John Spencer's certainly earned himself a great send-off.

Technorati: television, The West Wing

Red Sox quote of the day

2006-04-08T21:24:00.000-04:00

"Obviously, they were expecting a shutout, but, sorry, my bad."

Pitcher David Wells, who was booed after giving up a two-run double during his rehab start for Pawtucket Friday night. He gave up seven runs over five innings of work, which was still better than Orioles pitcher Daniel Cabrera (seven runs over 1 1/3 innings, in Friday's loss to the Sox) or the Rangers' R.A. Dickey (six homers in a loss to Detroit).

Technorati: sports, baseball, Boston Red Sox

Taxing Tuesday

2006-04-04T16:32:00.000-04:00

The wife and I spent the morning today at H&R Block getting our taxes done. It really shouldn't have been tiring, since all we needed to do was sit, answer a few questions, and write a couple of checks. But it was stressful and time-consuming, especially with the computers running slow and the married-in-state vs. single-federally stuff to figure out. It'll probably take even longer next year, since I'm going to start tracking expenses for my freelance work, which will mean saving receipts and estimating percentage of office vs. personal use and other not-so-fun things. But after seeing just how much difference my self-employment tax made, I'll gladly trade a little pain now for less pain later.

Technorati: taxes

The West Wing: "Election Day" (Part 1)

2006-04-03T12:45:00.000-04:00

This one could've been called "The Waiting Game", since that's all most of the characters can do. Wait and, er, figure out ways to pass the time. ;) I hope that in the case of one couple it was more than campaign sex. Now I wish I'd seen the episode that flash-forwarded to the opening of Bartlet's presidential library, though knowing how smart the writers are they probably didn't give anything away about that particular plot.

As for this episode, it was pretty good. Its job was to keep us in suspense, and it did. I was a little surprised that we didn't see more of the candidates, especially Vinick, since he was out and about in California. I also would've liked to have seen more of Bartlet doing some campaigning on Santos' behalf -- not just this episode, but earlier in the season. But with the Central Asia conflict and the nuclear power plant to deal with, he's been busy, and there's a slight chance that he's upset over Bingo Bob not getting the nomination. (OK, make that a very slight chance.)

Other notes:
-- Yay, Charlie's back! I was wondering where he'd been.
-- No follow-up on Toby's situation. I guess we're to assume the DA didn't follow through on his threat.
-- Now Leo's really gone. :(

Technorati: television, The West Wing

It's baseball time again ...

2006-04-03T12:04:00.000-04:00

... which means it's also fantasy baseball time. Here's my post-draft roster for my EA league team:

Hitters
C: J. Varitek
1B: A. Pujols
2B: C. Utley
3B: D. Wright
SS: M. Tejada
OF: C. Crawford
OF: B. Abreu
OF: H. Matsui
Util: M. Texeria

Pitchers
Starters: C. Carpenter, R. Oswalt, C. Zambrano, R. Harden, D. Willis
Relievers: Fr. Rodriguez, B. Ryan

Bench
Mi. Cabrera, C. Delgado, T. Helton, M. Ensberg, J. Cantu

Unlike in previous years, when I'd immediately start adding and dropping players, I'm going to stand pat for a little while. The lineup and starting rotation are both pretty good, and with only four teams in the league I don't think I need to worry about finding replacements if someone gets injured or hits a slump.

Technorati: sports, baseball, fantasy baseball

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, part 2

2006-03-31T16:56:00.000-05:00

Another source of anger and frustration lately: the financial coordinator at the fertility clinic my wife and I have been going to. We first saw her very briefly on our first visit, and all I remember (thanks to the shock and sheer overwhelmment of the starting the whole process) is her asking us a few questions and informing us that since we were a same-sex couple, we'd have to pay for six cycles before insurance would cover anything. Note that this is before any of the wife's test results came back from the lab, or before we even knew what the doctor would have us doing. Also note that unlike with straight married couples, HMOs can and often do assume that same-sex couples can't possibly have tried already, and force them to pay for said cycles before they say, "Oh, yeah, I guess you do have fertility issues."

Fast-forward two and a half months. We've been through one cycle already, with the accompanying ultrasounds and blood work. One of the wife's test results also seems to indicate we may qualify for some coverage, an impression supported by the fact that we were only charged the co-pay for ultrasounds during the first cycle. But then we show up one day during the next cycle, and are told that we owe a lot of money for that day's ultrasound, even though as far as we know a) it's a diagnostic test and b) it's required by the doctors. Naturally the financial coordinator is not there that day, so the desk clerk eventually lets the wife sign a form saying she understood she may have to pay later.

Several days of phone tag later, we finally see the financial coordinator, who blithely informs us that, yes, we still need to pay everything ourselves, and she explained everything to us the first time we saw her. We tell her we didn't understand what a cycle meant, and had no reason to since the doctor hadn't even decided what we'd be doing yet. She says, "Oh, the nurse manager should have explained that to you." The nurse manager? Did I miss the "financial coordinator" part of her job description? And if I did, then what are they paying you for?

The wife pointed out, justifiably, that it would be much easier if they just had a sheet listing the prices for everything. The financial coordinator didn't really have a response to that, which may make sense. I know that if we'd known beforehand how much things would set us back, we might've picked a clinic that was easier to get to.

Oh well. For now, the wife and I will grit our teeth and pay up. If this ends up working, it'll be worth it. And if it doesn't, we'll adopt. And daydream about fixing the situation. The current idea: setting up a foundation to help same-sex couples and single women who need help paying for fertility treatments and adoption fees.

Technorati: personal

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

2006-03-30T17:29:00.000-05:00

Back when I was telecommuting, I used to have a little gadget that would generate passcodes for logging into the network. The gadget (or "fob") was picked up three months ago, along with the rest of the telecommuting setup, when my contract was terminated. Even if I could've kept it, it wouldn't have made sense to -- what was I going to use it for? -- and I probably would've lost it anyway.

I haven't thought about fobs since, until today. I was just coming back from grabbing some lunch, and found a package leaning against the front door. When I took it inside and opened it, I found a small padded envelope containing another fob, and a print-out of an e-mail to my old work address that started with, "This message is to notify you about the replacement of your blah blah blah ..." and gave me instructions on how to activate the new fob.

I immediately called the service desk, and got someone who was as perplexed about this as I was. She advised me to return the fob to tech services with a note, which I just wrote and printed out, ready to drop in the mail tomorrow. I'm also tempted to write an angry letter to the person who forwarded me the fob in the first place -- my former supervisor, who of all people should know damn well I don't need access to the company network.

But I won't. I'm glad I'm out of there, if only because I don't want to work for anyone who's that clueless.

Technorati: personal

The West Wing: "Welcome to Wherever You Are"

2006-03-29T22:48:00.000-05:00

Not a great episode, but good enough. The hand-held camera and Robert Altman-style overlapping of dialogue made the campaign chaos harder to follow (which was probably intentional, if frustrating). Jon Bon Jovi was very entertaining in his cameo, and looked like he was having fun. The bit with Toby wasn't as interesting. I felt like it could've been resolved earlier this season, but instead it was held back just so the attorney could threaten to ruin the election with a trumped-up indictment.

No White House stuff this week -- hopefully next time, because I miss it.

Technorati: television, The West Wing

Not a good week for Boston sports

2006-03-25T22:24:00.000-05:00

Monday: Theo Epstein, taking a page from Sox teams of yore, trades Bronson Arroyo to the Reds for Wily Mo Pena. Who needs pitching and defense when you can slug your way to victory?

Wednesday: Kicker Adam Vinatieri signs a multi-year contract with the Indianapolis Colts, a big blow to the Pats. Wonder if Doug Flutie is still available.

Saturday: Before the hockey season started, Bruins GM Mike O'Connell said the team would content for the Cup this year. In the unlikely event this happens, it'll be without O'Connell, who got the axe today.

It's almost enough to make me pay attention to the Celtics.

Technorati: Boston, sports

The West Wing: "Two Weeks Out"

2006-03-21T19:18:00.000-05:00

Finally, Vinick looks like a credible candidate again -- if not to the Republican base, at least to me. Though I do want Santos to kick butt, it's much better for the show to have some suspense. Speaking of suspense, the briefcase plot could've used a little. I know the writers probably intended it as a does-he-or-doesn't-he turning point for Vinick, but since you actually see him in California before he formally makes his decision, it wasn't much of a surprise. Still, there was some nice work from both Smits and Alda, particularly the latter.

Other comments:

-- Good for Toby to be helping out. It wasn't his fault Vinick wised up.
-- Where was Donna? Did Josh just leave her (and us) hanging after she indicated she was open to a relationship?
-- Any accusations of left-wing bias will only be stoked by the character of Jane Braun, who walks and talks like a stereotypical "values" conservative. If she were any less subtle, she'd have to switch over to "Commander in Chief."

Technorati: television, The West Wing

Wrong-headed Romney is at it again

2006-03-16T10:02:00.000-05:00

This time he's trying to get legislation passed that would exempt religious organizations like Catholic Charities from anti-discrimination law. The specifics, via MassEquality:

~snip~

Dear xxxx,

Governor Romney is at it again, bashing some Massachusetts families in an attempt to align himself with far right opponents of marriage equality and further his own Presidential ambitions. The Governor recently announced his plans to create a loophole in Massachusetts' anti-discrimination laws so that Catholic Charities can discriminate against same-sex couples.

In just a few weeks, opponents of marriage equality will attempt to strip rights away from same-sex couples and their families by advancing an anti-marriage ballot initiative. We need to send the Governor a message that discrimination in any form, be it in adoption or marriage, has no place in Massachusetts.

Catholic Charities' decision to abandon their adoption program rather than place orphans with gay or lesbian parents only underscores the true motives of extremist opponents of equality. They will stop at nothing in their campaign against gay people and their families, even if it means denying needy children a loving home.

Since Governor Romney no longer easily accepts emails from constituents, we are asking you to draft a letter online which we'll hand deliver to his office. We need you to voice your opinion. We will take care of the rest. Tell the Governor that discrimination has no place in Massachusetts.

Thank you,

Matt McTighe
Political Director

~snip~

Please sign the petition and let Romney know that discrimination has no place in either his presidential campaign or our state laws.

Technorati: GLBT rights, adoption, petition

The West Wing: "The Cold"

2006-03-13T21:20:00.000-05:00

First of all: WW is back! Yay!!!! *jumps up and down in celebration*

Now that we've gotten that out of the way -- I was excited to see this episode, but also worried. Even though only a week had passed in West Wing's universe, it's been nearly two months since Duck and Cover aired. So the writers and producers could've taken the easy way out and made this a catch-up episode. But either they knew better or just wanted to pack as much drama as they could in WW's final weeks, because a lot of things have developed very quickly.

It was good to see more of the goings-on in Vinick's camp; even though I think he'll still lose, the staff shake-up and refocusing on "values" will make for an interesting race. One really felt for Vinick, particularly in the last shot of him standing alone in the street, as his former campaign manager is driven away. And as a Democrat, I did find myself cheering the uptick in Santos' poll numbers, and then cheering some more when Josh and Donna looked as if they might (finally!) start something.

The crisis in Central Asia, even apart from the obvious parallels to Iraq, is rather scary. Martin Sheen has always done an excellent job at conveying just how much the presidency weighs on Bartlet, and this was no exception. It's probably unrealistic to hope that the conflict gets resolved quickly (a la "Commander in Chief" or our commander-in-chief), but I'd hate for the series to end with that hanging over its characters.

Other comments:

-- The swirling cinematography was back, but not in every scene (thank heaven).
-- The Kate/Will relationship is cute. I could've done without the lost bra incident, though.
-- Did anyone else yell at Josh, "The key! Grab the key, dammit!"?
-- I hope the last few episodes have at least one scene with Josh, Louise and Sam Seaborn -- three characters extremely sharp of mind and quick of wit. Bet the writers would have fun with that one.

Technorati: television, The West Wing

I'd like to thank the Academy ...

2006-03-09T17:03:00.000-05:00

... for giving the wife and me an excuse to have a fun time at the home of Rogue Slayer and her wife the other night. I'm not sure how long RSLS and The Girl have been throwing these shindigs, but they have the recipe for a fabulous party down cold:

-- yummy Chinese food from Jade Garden in Arlington
-- TVs placed strategically in the rooms with the most traffic, so that no one has to miss a speech, skit or red-carpet moment
-- Tivo, so that we could pause for bathroom breaks or seconds on food, and fast-forward through moments that we did want to miss
-- competition ballots (in handy spreadsheet form)
-- a good mix of guests (including a really cute baby we had a hard time tearing ourselves away from)

As for the ceremony itself, consensus seemed to be that Jon Stewart did a decent job as host, some of the presenters (especially Ben Stiller in green, and Will Ferrell and Steve Carell in bad makeup) were hoots, and some of the costumes were laughable. One of the best quotes of the night came from a fellow guests, when Charlize Theron appeared in a green dress that had a big bulby thingy on her left shoulder: "OMG, she's got a growth!"

We didn't do as well with our Oscar picks this year, but since we had seen hardly any of the nominated movies, neither of us were too surprised. Maybe by 2010 we'll have seen all the Best Picture nominees from this year.

Update: reading some Oscar-related posts on You Can Quote Me minded me of another thing i loved -- Lily Tomlin's and Meryl Streep's hilarious homage to Robert Altman.

Technorati: movies, Oscars

Coming Out of Left Field

Catie Curtis helps prove that "It Gets Better"

Shopping advice

Some holiday humor

Mitzvah moments -- and a Sox game!

Redefining identity ...

Mitzvah moments

More stories from preschool

The Guinea Pig Dialogues, part 18 of an ongoing series)

Not coming to a bookstore near you

I have a life ...

Theo, Theo, wherefore art thou Theo?

Milk, marriage and the movies

More from the "kids say the darndest things" department ...

My apologies to Harold Kushner

A message from Paul Newman

Our little visitor

An education newbie

Gee, thanks for the ego boost, kid

Adoption update

Watching Game 1 of the World Series right now ...

A day well spent

A quiz for intelligent people

Fireworks on the Fourth

Romney, Mormons and special underwear

Same-sex marriage ban defeated, 45 to 151

Two words for anyone who still doesn't understand ...

Adventures in air travel

Bits and pieces from the wedding weekend

Proof that my boss's boss does not read my blog

Getting out from under

D-Day approaching

Adventures in Passover cooking

Dice-K rocks!

Less blogging, better pitching

Amazing "Oliver", not so amazing Oliver

One for the "kids say the darndest things" department

It's a done deal!

A close call

Vacation getting off to a nice start

Proof that God has a funny sense of humor ...

Inspector came and went ...

Are you a true dedicated Red Sox fan? (quiz)

Holy &#*!

Saw 13 houses today ...

Equality quote of the day

A fun "Night at the Museum"

Time for a break ...

A heartwarming holiday story

Sox pulling out all the stops

I have to learn to read headlines

My mind is as sharp as a whatchamacallit

Sox notes

A good week for democracy

Fantasy math

Life is getting even more complicated

Damn

Life is what happens ...

R&R in western Mass.

Red Sox 3, White Sox 2

Going to a game!

"Radical" relationship

A tale of two trips

Ugh

Baseball quote of the day

Fun with felines

Spin, spin, spin

ConCon vote on marriage equality delayed

Poor Pedro

Maine amusements

Silly quote of the day

My gay agenda

Say sayonara to Santorum

Reunion road trip, part II

Reunion road trip

Red Sox quote of the day

Baseball quote of the day

What a week!

Sox 7, Yankees 4

Unfair fares