Holy Freshman, Batman!

Amie (my awesome college roommate and BFF) sent me all these old pics from my first couple of years in college. This is during my first year (and first month?) at LHU. Look how young and innocent I was! Hahahahaaa.

For some reason I wore my clothes, like, 2 sizes too big at that time. Hm.

Lyric of the Day

"We'll collect the moments one by one--I guess that's how the future's done."

--"Mushaboom," by Feist

Tuesday Night

We went out to celebrate last night, and got caught in the rain like three different times. We had dinner and drinks at a couple of different places on Lark and stayed out far too late for a school night. But it was a lot of fun and totally worth my exhaustion today. But I can tell you--I will be in bed by 10 tonight. :-)

Standing under an awning waiting for the downpour to pass.

As of Today. . .

I am Metroland's new Managing Editor.

Wheeeeeee!

Holy Crap!

New Hair

This is a few weeks late, but I finally got my roots done. I love the way Christine (my hair girl) does color. I wish she could be my personal colorist. Maybe someday when I'm rich and famous and have money to burn. Of course my roots are already growing out again ... Damnit!

Whoa!

A kid from Owego got selected for the new Fox show On the Lot, the movie-making reality show with Steven Spielberg and Mark Burnett. That's pretty cool!

Watch his movie! It's great.

Yay for upstate!

Mitch Gets His Wisdom Teeth Out

On Friday Mitch got his wisdom teeth out. I remembered what a horrifying experience it was for me, and I told him to be prepared for a not-so-pleasant time. When the nurse called me in to keep him company in recovery, Mitch was chatting up a storm, telling me about the doctor and about the IV and that he was sure this wasn't the room in which he actually had the oral surgery. He was so cute, all slack-jawed and drugged. I took this photo just as he was saying, "I don't know why everyone was making such a big deal out of this. I feel fiiiiiiiiiiiine!"

They're Just So Pretty

. . . . I had to post another photo of some of the zillions of tulips that are in full bloom here in Albany.

The Fab Four

A photo circa 1998 or so with my three best gals at Lock Haven University, where I went to school for the first two years of my college career, before transferring to UAlbany. From left to right, that's Amie, Meghan, me and Beef--we did practically everything together. This was taken during one of our many "let's just drive and see where we end up" kind of trips. Fun times!

Weekend Wrap-Up

(I'll start from Thursday since I haven't blogged in a while.)

On Thursday we went to the opening of a new club called Ballinger's downtown. It's a very large, well-decorated club with various floors and a huge outdoor patio, which will be great for the summer. Unfortunately, the building it's in--and the location of the building--has not proven to have much success in terms of attracting a crowd. It's perched on the corner of a street on a steep hill, and there's very little (if any) foot traffic there. We'll see how it goes. The opening was fun, though--we had some drinks and wandered and mingled. Then we went to Justin's for some late-night grub.

Here's a photo of some corner seating at Ballinger's.

Friday was dining-guide production day, which is always a merry ride to hell on wheels. Once that was done, I went to the gym and then home to relax for a little while before going to hang out with Nate and his brother Trevor, who was in town from Buffalo to hang for the weekend. Mike joined us later, and we went to the Fountain for a yummy midnight snack.

Saturday was spent sleeping for the most part--then a nice long walk in Washington Park with coffee because the weather was beeeautiful. Saturday night mimicked Friday a bit in that it resulted, ultimately, in me, Nate, Trevor and Mike eating pizza again. This time it was at DeJohn's, and the ceiling began raining on us before we left. (We learned that the dishwasher on the second floor was the cause of the downpour.)

On Sunday, we left the house at around 12:30 on a mission to find lunch. A stroke of genius pointed us in the direction of Cohoes to get some "real Texas barbecue." Unfortunately, it turned out that the BBQ joint was closed on Sundays, as is everything else in Cohoes, we came to realize. We finally ended up at Bob's Diner in Watervliet and we ate a very average but satisfying lunch. Later, we took a motorcycle ride up to the mall and walked around a bit, contemplating dinner, which we had at Moe's. It was my first time eating at Moe's, and it actually was pretty good. The rest of the night was spent relaxing and watching the tube.

Here's Mike having a grand time washing all the bird crap off his car on Sunday. :-)

In conclusion, a very good weekend was had by all.

Urban Jungle

This is how kids on my block play basketball. The bottom of the milk crate is not cut out; hence the ladder standing nearby.

Tip-Toe. . .

It's tulip season here in Albany. (For those of you who don't live here, the tulip is Albany's city flower.) They are beautiful, and everywhere. We may as well be in Amsterdam.

Recommendation of the Day

The new Feist album is very yummy. Go get it.

Frickin' Wednesday

I am just exhausted. Simply exhausted.

Please, someone, bestow upon me the will and energy to go the gym tonight.

Love in the Form of Flowers

I got home last night and found these beautiful flowers which Mitch bought me and left for me in the kitchen, with the sweetest note ever. Kathy commented that in the realm of karma, the balance is off in regards to how many flowers I've received in the span of just a couple of weeks. It's true, but I love it! I love flowers and I love it when people think to send them to me. Thanks, Mitch! Love you.

Virginia Tech Tragedy

Pulled this from the CNN 360 Blog a little while ago. It really resonated with me and put the tragedy into very real perspective. It's a difficult, but short, read. . .


Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Volunteer contributes what he can: Body bags

It was a tearful, lonely drive for Brian Horne.

The Christiansburg, Virginia, resident was called to the Virginia Tech campus Monday morning as a member of the local volunteer fire and rescue squad. Horne did not see the carnage; he was stationed at a command post on campus.

But as authorities began to comprehend the scope of the disaster, Horne volunteered to take care of a sober task. His family owns a funeral home about 10 miles from the campus, and Horne drove back to collect 36 body bags.

"We knew then there were at least 30 dead and possibly more," Horne told CNN in a brief interview outside the funeral home, where a giant American flag flies at half staff in honor of the victims.

Horne said he has responded to many tragic events in the past, but nothing anywhere comparable to the scope of the campus massacre. "It is difficult to comprehend, but at that moment I knew I could assist with what we needed to do," he said.

Horne would not speak on camera out of respect for the victims. He also said he did not want to overstate his role in the rescue operation, saying many friends had it much worse. He recounted their stories of helping collect and count the bodies, even as the victims' phones and PDAs rang and vibrated.

-- By John King, CNN Chief National Correspondent

Catching Up

Sooo I've been busy and therefore I haven't blogged too much in the past week or so. Here's what's been going on. . . .

Friday night I went to see the Five Alpha Beatdown/Brent Gorton/the Orange reunion show at Valentine's. The show was excellent. 5ABD covered "Under Pressure" and it was SO awesome! It was good to see a whole lot of old friends out and about, too. (I kept on hearing from each of them: "Yeah, I never really get out anymore." It's funny that people who don't "get out anymore" always seem to go out on the same nights and to the same places as each other. Hehe.)

Saturday and Sunday I was home in the Southern Tier/NEPA to see my family and, of course, to do laundry. On Sunday we had a nice big lunch that half of us considered Easter dinner and half of us considered a nice big lunch on Sunday. Gotta love blended families.

Monday night I took my Little Sister to see Meet the Robinsons in 3D--it was so much fun! Here's Diamonique looking very fashionable in her glasses.

. . . and I got some really terrific news over the last few days, and to celebrate, Amie sent me a beautiful bouquet of pink carnations. Thanks, Ame!!

New Word!

I learned a new word this week! Ready?

It's . . . . (Drumroll, please!) . . . . . heteroflexible. You read that right--heteroflexible.

According to UrbanDictionary.com, the definition of this word is "a person who identifies themselves as primarily heterosexual but can find the same sex sexually appealing."

I think we used to call this "experimental." Ah, how times have changed.

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

AAN Conference in DC

The weekend before last, I again attended the AAN East conference in DC; I caught up with some old friends, attended all the seminars, learned a whole lot and reviewed what I already knew, and so on and so on. But I also did a couple more notable things--I went and toured the International Spy Museum, which was wonderful and fascinating, and I could have spent all day in there, but we were able to spend the morning there before we needed to get back to the hotel for the afternoon seminars. Also, I had some superb meals while I was there. Really, every night we had fabulous food. But the staff and I went to eat at a restaurant called Tenpenh on Pennsylvania Avenue on our last night there, and it was so delicious--the meal was probably on my Top 10 list of favorite meals ever. I had the five-spice chili tea rubbed beef tenderloin with a kimchee-noodle cake and Korean chili Hollandaise sauce. And that was just the entree! I'm getting hungry just thinking about it. Here, for your viewing enjoyment, is a pic of our pre-dinner cocktails.

. . . and here's dessert--spicy peanut and hot fudge sundae with flourless chocolate cake, ice cream and peanut butter cream. Mmmmm.

Valentine's Day Snowstorm

I know it's a little late to be blogging about this, but this is what the Valentine's Day snowstorm did to my poor car:

It's Important to Note. . .

That I have a bat stuck in my window at the moment (yes, the type with wings, not the type used in a baseball game).

The Perfect Bag

As many of my readers (read: friends and family) know, I have been on a continuous, extensive, far-reaching search for what I would consider the Perfect Bag for years and years. I have bought a bag or two here and there, but I have yet to find the Perfect One. Far from it, in fact. As I was pondering this dilemma yesterday, I reasoned that I should probably put together a list of things I want (and don’t want) out of a handbag. So here’s what I’ve come up with so far. . .

The Color
Colors I like in a bag: black, silver, pale pink. Colors I don’t like in a bag: Green, yellow, violet, blue. . . . Yeah, basically, anything else. NO BROWN. I can handle a print as long as it’s not a brandname—those Louis Vuitton and Coach bags are completely and utterly obnoxious.

The Texture/Material
I love leather, but it’s so heavy! Soft, smooth leather is ideal since it’s so light. I’m not anti-fabric, though, and I dig vinyl now and then. So I’m keeping an open mind about the material. But I would prefer to stay away from nylon. I don’t mind some hardware on the bag, but full-on chain straps and whatnot are a no-no.

The Look
The most important thing is that the bag must look classy, sleek, elegant and neat—and it MUST be appropriate for evening as well as day, kind of like this:

The Body
I want a slim bag with a rectangle/square-ish shape. A framed body is ideal—that way there’s shape and structure to the bag. However, I’m not married to the idea of a framed bag. The ugly green bag I’ve been toting around lately is not structured, and it fits everything perfectly. But it’s a bit chaotic in there. Though a framed bag tends to be heavier, I feel like my stuff is safer in it because it doesn’t get so jostled while I walk or toss the bag on my bed, etc.

The Size
Big enough to carry around my essentials: my wallet (luckily I found the perfect wallet a few years ago at Anne Taylor, and I will cry when it finally dies), my small digital camera, my phone, my keys, and basic makeup pieces (mascara, lipgloss, powder), and most of the time, my iPod (which I don’t carry when I’m going out on the town)—but small enough that I feel comfortable carrying it out at a bar, kind of like this:The Strap
The strap might be the most important part of the bag, in my opinion. For the strap, I prefer a single strap as opposed to a double, and it must be the perfect length for me to easily sling it over my shoulder, but also, for it to rest neatly under my arm, like this:

The Closure
I would love for my bag to be able to be zipped close. I don’t like snaps, magnets, buttons, ties, flaps, latches, etc. THERE MUST BE NO FRINGE OF ANY KIND—that means no zipper fringe too.

The Weight
Very simply: lighter = better.

So. Now that my bag requirements are written out for the world to see, if anyone knows where to find this “perfect” bag, please, for Pete’s sake, let me know. I’d be very grateful.

I Told You

. . . Teens are evil.

The Unfortunate Corruption of Language

A terrifying side effect of text messaging:

Teens Use IM-Lingo in Essays

Oh the Fun

I happen to keep a record of some hysterical things that are said in my office. Amusing things are said every day (I happen to work with some funny--if painfully sardonic--people), but every now and then a particularly funny line comes out of someone's mouth. Here are the last few that made my Quotes List.

July 5, 2006
“What is this, White Boy Day?”
--David King (staff writer), in response to Ken Lay kicking the bucket and Rush Limbaugh being cleared of illegal Viagra ownership

July 14, 2006
“If Metroland were a musical, this would be the time of the day where the song comes in, “You’re Never Late With a Boss Like That.” (walking in 20 minutes late for a meeting)
--Shawn Stone (arts editor)

July 26, 2006
“Five-year-olds are so stupid.”
--Chet Hardin (news editor)

Aug. 16, 2006
“I’m the fashion editor. I don’t have a lot to do with fashion, but I’m responsible for bringing the style.”
--David King

Sept. 3, 2006
“I’m glad Howard Glassman exists because he makes me feel like an optimist.”
--Shawn Stone

Nov. 29, 2006
“Who the fuck brought the biscotti?”
--Chet Hardin

Jan. 10, 2007
“Beauty and the Geek is multi-layered.”
--Chet Hardin, in defense of his watching the show.

Jan. 23, 2007
“It’s like Lunchables, only hipper.”
--David King, describing his Norwegian Jake’s LunchBoxers

Jan. 30, 2007
“This is the kind of room where if we had a talking stick, we’d beat each other with it.”
--Shawn Stone

Jan. 30, 2007
“Women that tall, I have no problem hitting.”
--David King, making threats about what he’ll do to the Times Union’s (and my best gal) Kate Perry if she steals his story

Despicable Creatures of Evil and Doom

This past Saturday I was in the city for the day--I had some stuff to take care of in the early afternoon, and then I met up with Joe and we went to have sushi for dinner in the village. After dinner, we had a few drinks at a couple different places on Bleecker Street. It was a lovely day, and at around 11 PM, we went to Penn Station to part ways--Joe back to Long Island; me to Morristown, NJ, to stay with my gram for the rest of the weekend.

I missed my 11:11 train for silly reasons I won't get into, so after Joe caught his train, I sat in Penn for an hour doing a NY Press crossword, waiting for the next train.

About a half-hour into my wait, in what seemed like a blink of an eye, hordes of the most vile, destructive, contemptible creatures flooded what had been a moderately empty Penn Station. I'm talking hundreds (maybe even a thousand or two) of the worst lifeform imaginable: teenagers. They were such wretched, unthinkable beings--puking and spitting and drunk and high and crying and screaming into their cell phones and yelling at each other from across the train station. It took about 30 seconds of this nonsense for my nerves to fry.

Not wanting to be run down when trying to get to my train, I kept a close eye on the board, and when the gate was announced, I was among the first to get to the platform and board, even though those little disciples of Satan did their best to plow people over to get to the train. Seats were being taken at lightning speed, so when I spied a woman my age sitting in a two-seater, I asked, "Do you mind?" And she responded, "Are you kidding? I'd rather have you sit here than one of these hooligans," as she gestured at the teens falling over each other to grab seats. Our seats faced the empty space at the front of the train car that's available for people with wheelchairs and whatnot. That space--and every other available space on the train, including the walkways--was filled to the brim with teenagers. Cussing, shouting, know-it-all, drunk, dehydrated, horny, obnoxious, evil teenagers. And to make matters worse, since there were so many of them, it took about 10 to 15 minutes at each stop to let everyone off who needed to get off. What is usually a 45- to 50-minute train ride ended up being more than 2 hours long!

At one point, the woman sitting next to me said, "This is the longest train ride in history." I agreed, and said that I didn't know why it was taking so long. She looked at me and said, "Because we are in hell."

Update: There had been a sold-out performance of O.A.R. at MSG that night, and apparently every teenager in New Jersey had to go see it. Vile creatures.

Pan's Labyrinth

Go see it. Seriously.

This movie is one of the most magical, imaginative, disturbing, riveting, beautiful and heartbreaking movies I've seen.

Should have been nominated for Best Picture, but nevertheless, I'm hoping it will win Best Foreign Language Film.

Lazy Saturday

Today, I . . .

- slept till 11, then got up, slowly
- did 4 loads of laundry
- watched about 8 or 9 episodes of Grey's Anatomy. In a row.
- had cereal, rice and eggs, 4 cups of tea, and ice cream (at separate times)
- talked to my mom, dad, gram, and Kate. and Joe, twice.


Today, I did not . . .

- shower
- go grocery shopping
- do any work
- put make up on
- paint my toenails
- change out of my pajamas
- see anyone besides my roommate(s)
- study
- go to the gym
- leave my house (except to take the dog out once)
- mop, dust, scrub, wipe or sweep anything
- organize my closet
- pay any bills


As you can imagine, today was pretty great.

New Year's Eve, and New Year's Eve . . . Eve

In the two days leading up to the ushering in of the new year, Nate threw a couple of great parties at his house. And, of course, we were there to help celebrate.

Frank and Joe on Dec. 30--New Year's Eve Eve and the day before Frank's birthday.

Nate and his dad Nick during a game we were playing on New Year's Eve. Of course, I forget which game it was.

This is Joe hitting a wall. Cody was nice enough to keep him company on the couch.

Me and Joe.

Tuesday Afternoon in Photos

Here's our news editor, Chet, editing this week's feature, written by the lovely and talented Nicole Klaas. I'm quite certain this burrowing behavior is indicative of what a well . . . written . . . piece . . . it is. . . . . . . . .

. . . hm.

Holiday Lounging

Mitch and Kathy hang out by the fire.

My brothers and I busy doing nothing at Dad's place.

Meet Tiffany

My first and only piece of jewelry from Tiffany's, one of my Christmas presents from Joe. It's so pretty and shiny! I love it.

And To All a Good Night

Back from celebrating the holiday with friends and family in the lovely Southern Tier. Pictures, details and more are soon to come, but for now, I'm completely beat. So Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and the like. . . I'm going to bed.

It's Kate's Birthday Again!

Happy birthday, Kate!

Welcome to 27.

It's a very prestigious club, you know.

I'm Sick

Head cold, sore throat, cough and headache.

Today, that's me in a nutshell.

Is There Any Cure . . .

. . . for procrastination? I have some very serious things that need to get done and though I did more today than I have in the last few days, I'm still not being nearly as efficient and productive as I need to be.

Seriously, if anyone has any suggestions, please, please help a girl out.

Cuteness Overload

The other day, my esteemed colleagues and I spent far too much time looking and giggling at cuter-than-cute pictures of animals. Here are a couple of examples. . . pandas and kittens and marmosets, oh my!

Three of My Favorite Museums

1. the Tate Modern (London)
2. the Louvre (Paris)
3. MoMA (New York)

Friday Night

Joe came up for the weekend, and we went with Heather to check out the new John DeJohn bar, Legends, on Friday night. He did a great job with the place. It's pretty laid-back, with 1,001 TVs (but it's a sports bar so it's OK), and we had a lot of fun.

Yep, he's special.

Headline of the Day

"Mom: Vodka in Baby's Bottle 'Honest Mistake'"
(courtesy CNN)

Here's the story.

Three of My Favorite Places

1. The Spectrum
2. The Bookhouse
3. Zabar's


What's your favorite place?

Too Cute

A few weekends ago we went home and stayed with Ben and Colleen and the puppies again. The puppies are growing like weeds, of course. This pic was too cute to not blog.