Demo . . . At Midnight

So late last night I started to hear these continuous crashing noises. The crashes were very loud, and very close. You would think a house was being knocked down! Well, lo and behold, a house WAS being knocked down, like 10 feet away from our house. Our neighborhood is very typical of old downtown Albany--streets full of row houses, all inches from each other, if not attached to one another. So Mitch opened the bathroom window shade and told me to come look. The house that sat between our house and Dove Street was being demolished. It was so close to our house, and we had a great view from the bathroom window, so I took some video. I can't believe it's legal to knock down a house so late at night. What's wrong with doing it, oh, I don't know . . . during the day?

Flowers to Cheer Me

Joe sent me a beautiful bouquet of my favorite flowers to cheer me up because I was sad that Kate moved away today.

So . . . last night I hung out with Kate and some of her TU peeps and had some food and some drinks and managed to keep the tears at bay until after she headed home.

You better come back to visit soon, or else! (I know that sounds like a threat, but it's not. Really.)

Read Newjack

Over the summer, I went to the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies national conference in Little Rock, Ark. (Y'all may remember the photos.) Anyway, while I was there, I attended a seminar given by Ted Conover, who talked about his experience writing his most recent book, Newjack. In the early '90s, he was working on a story for the New Yorker about the lives of corrections officers at Sing Sing. The NY Department of Corrections absolutely refused to let Conover visit the training academy (which is here in Albany), or with any of the officers in the prison, so he applied to become an officer himself. When he gets accepted to the academy (like a year or so later), he goes, trains, becomes an officer, and guards Sing Sing for a year. People like this are so inspirational to me. Anyway, needless to say, I bought his book and (eventually) read it, and I suggest you do, too. It's simply fascinating. I liked the book so much that I emailed Mr. Conover and told him so. (I often do this with authors I enjoy, and they always email back, which I think is very cool of them.) I wrote:

Hi Mr. Conover,
I heard you speak at the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies in Little Rock, Ark., last summer, and bought Newjack shortly thereafter. Though it took me a while to get to it, when I started reading, I flew through it. I'm fascinated by prison culture, and I found your book gripping from beginning to end. I just wanted to drop you a line to tell you how much I enjoyed it, and how much I respect what you do as a journalist. Thank you for the opportunity to gain such rare insight into a part of life that few even take the time to consider.

Sincerely,
Kathryn Lurie

He wrote back:

Hi, Kathryn,
Thank you for the kind email. I appreciate it--and glad to know of the connection to the AAN meeting. It will be interesting to see how/whether NYSDOCS changes under the Spitzer administration: I hope he has the guts to challenge that giant, mindless system ...
Best,
Ted Conover

Super Scary Question

Am I even capable of writing anything that isn't ridiculously formulaic anymore?

The Weekend Report

This weekend Gram and I went to see the revival of A Chorus Line on Broadway. It was terrific. I have always known the music from the show, and I knew the story, but I hadn't seen it before. They really did a great job with it.

The rest of the weekend was spent at Gram's, eating, relaxing, chatting, doing (free!) laundry, etc., and yesterday I drove home to Albany.

When I got home, I found a gift on my bed from my brother and his girlfriend. They've been collecting Build-a-Bear stuffed animals, and whenever they bring one home, I always comment on how I'd like to have one because they're so huggable and cute. Yesterday, they got me one! Mitch had texted me to ask me, inexplicably, what my favorite boys' names were. I told him, and he picked one to name my new stuffed cat--Josiah. It's so fricking cute. They dressed him in a tux with fancy shoes. It was a really sweet gift and Josiah couldn't be more huggable. I'll blog a photo soon.

P.S. I am NOT too old to have a stuffed animal.

Kate Cooking

I Joined YouTube

I have joined YouTube so I can actually blog some of the videos I've been taking with my nifty new camera. It's exciting.

As Chet just said, "how very 2003" of me.

Kickboxing = Hard

I took my very first (cardio) kickboxing class last night. The Guilderland YMCA offers many, many more classes than the Albany ones do, so I convinced Heather that it was a brilliant idea to attend a class there, and we went together. It was a great class, even though we were pretty uncoordinated and I was not as good at actually kicking as I had hoped. My knees, which turn in (making me slightly knock-kneed, which makes running, etc., impossible for me), did not help matters. But all in all, it was a positive experience. And the instructor was cute as a button.

I was feeling OK earlier--not nearly as sore as I had imagined I'd be--but now, after a few hours at my desk, whenever I get up and walk around, somewhat inexplicably, my calves burn! I didn't think that I worked out my calves too much during the class--I guess I was wrong. I'm feeling it a bit in my shoulders, too. I'm currently trying to talk myself into going to the gym tonight for a regular workout, but I haven't convinced myself yet. We shall see.

St. Patrick's Day

I spent St. Patrick's Day sipping brews with Kate and Nate. Here are my awesomely goofy friends hanging at DeJohn's.

All I Can Do. . .

The waiting game is kiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiilling me.

:-(

Weekend in the Snow

This weekend we had another snowstorm. About a foot to a foot and a half fell between Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. We had another snow emergency, so I spent a good portion of yesterday digging out my car again. But then afterward I took Asa to the park, where he proceeded to be incredibly cute. I took some photos to demonstrate (if you can't tell, in the first one he's airborne). Click on 'em to make them bigger:

He's just so adorable.

Lending Library

I wrote a scenery piece about a knitting group that meets at Slow Jed's Mudhouse in Averill Park (a suburb of Albany). They meet on the second floor of the coffeehouse, in the lending library. Such a sweet, cozy little spot. Here are the rules of the lending library:

Spellings and Such

I grew up in a very small town in Northeast Pennsylvania called Susquehanna. A whole lot of people have had a whole lot of trouble spelling the name of the town in my experience (of course, no one who's actually from the town has any problem). However, I learned today, the spelling of the town used to be much more complicated. According to Wikipedia (and they know EVERYthing), the spelling used to be Sasquesahanough (that's how it was spelled on the 1612 John Smith map).

So really, when you think about it, we got it pretty easy.

McEntire Hall Circa 1998-1999

An old college friend of mine, JP, posted this picture on his MySpace page. It was taken in his dorm room in McEntire Hall at Lock Haven University. Hysterical!

Just Call Me Unazukin

On a more fun/positive note, my friend Michael called me his unazukin the other day. I thought that was sweet.

They All Leave

Well. Another of my very closest friends is moving away. It's strange that leaving the area has been such a trend with the people I've become the most attached to.

Each time this happens, it just breaks my heart.

First it was Jan. He moved away to go to grad school in Louisiana, and he's still there, teaching at LSU.

Next it was Travis. He got into grad school at Cornell, which was very convenient, since that's the area where his little girl, Isobel, lives. So he moved, then moved back for a little while when he was working for the Senate, but he recently bought a house out west (in Montour Falls, to be exact) and so he lives there fulltime now.

Next was Kristie. She decided to marry an army guy, and therefore, now lives in Texas of all places.

Among my other friends who have moved away from here: Rebeccah (to Vermont), Brian (to North Carolina), Cecilli (to Seattle).

And, of course, there's Aaron, who moved to Florida this past fall.

Now, another one of my favorite people ever (and I must thank Travis, because not only would I not know her if it hadn't been for him, but we wouldn't be so wonderfully close either--our friendship was cemented when he was away in Afghanistan)--Kate--is leaving.
The story, for those of you who are interested, is that Kate's from Rochester, and she's been looking to move back there over recent months/years to be closer to her family. She got a job offer for a publicity postion from the University of Rochester, and she took it. She starts her new gig in early April.

Now, I know that these people aren't leaving me--I'm much more rational than that. But that doesn't make it suck any less. And no matter what, when so many people leave, you can't help but feel a little left behind--even if this is where you want to be.

Funniest Headline of the Day

Swiss Accidentally Invade Liechtenstein

FYI

Someone in the office is playing some really out-there, new-agey music and it's kind of freaking me out.

Anniversary

14 years.

One-Word Free Association

Stole this from the blog of a boyfriend of a friend.

1. Yourself: Katie
2. Your boyfriend/girlfriend (spouse): city
3. Your hair: long
4. Your mother: worrier
5. Your father: geekery
6. Your favorite item: laptop
7. Your dream last night: none
8. Your favorite drink: tea
9. Your dream car: flies
10. The room you are in: editorial
11. Your ex: Florida
12. Your fear: dying
13. What you want to be in 10 years? accomplished
14. Who did you hang out with last night? Nate
15. What you’re not? bored
16. Muffins: yummy
17. One of your wish list items: elliptical
18. Time: precious
19. The last thing you did: walked
20. What you are wearing: black
21. Your favorite weather: balmy
22. Your favorite book: many
23. The last thing you ate: coffee
24. Your life: fantastic
25. Your mood: calm
26. Your best friend: many
27. What are you thinking about right now? meeting
28. Your car: silver
29. What are you doing at the moment? working
30. Your summer: easy
31. Your relationship status: boyfriend
32. What is on your TV? nothing
33. What is the weather like? chilly
34. When is the last time you laughed? evening