armlessbear.com

BusyBusy

Last week I had to go to Chicago for work. I spent the night at ScottK’s lovely condo in Chicago. It’s nice to have friends you can just pick up with and talk like no time has passed.
I have to go to Chicago (again) on Friday for work. This time I won’t be going for an overnight — I’ll be driving with co-workers in my car at 6:30 in the morning. The annoying part is that when I’m in Naperville I’m close to Ikea, a premium outlet mall, and a Crate and Barrel Outlet. Oh, the shopping I could do if I had time and didn’t want to rush back to Madison to start my weekend.

On the bright side, I found out today that I may be able to finish my degree by only taking about 11 credits! I could be done by May or maybe August and actually start to think seriously about this graduate school idea I’ve been tossing around for the last year or so. I guess this means I have at least 9 months or so to decide what I want to do with the rest of my life.

♪ Happy Birthday Dear Earth ♪

The earth is 6009 years old. She was born October 23, 4004 BC, at about 6:30 in the evening.

At least, according to Bishop Ussher.

As one other blogger put it, she hasn’t aged well. She looks like she can’t be a day under 4 billion.

Random Musings

Everyone around me seems to be sick, so far I only feel like a truck has run me over, backed up and ran over again. 800mg ibuprofen and no relief! What I want is a hot cocoa with brandy and a nap.

Tomorrow I have to go to Chicago for a work meeting. Glass half full side: I get to hang out with Scott and see his new condo. Glass half empty: I’m probably going to be fighting a cold and then I’ll have to drive all the way back to WI on Thursday night feeling like poo.

This weekend could be jam-packed with non-stop fun and excitement. Saturday afternoon/evening is already taken up with the “Thanksgiving” potluck we’ve been invited to.

Weekend Gone Too Soon

Did you ever have a weekend where you feel like you did more work at home than you did at work all week?

Starting Friday night: breaking down an entire truckload of cardboard boxes for recycling, financial advisor meeting, marathon shopping(6 hrs), grocery shopping, storm window hanging, yard work, laundry, cooking, extensive cleaning before guests come, and massive clean-up after guests left.

What I want to do is crawl into a dark space somewhere and take a nap since I don’t seem to have a weekend where I can be lazy and eschew work in favor of napping and book reading.
Perhaps I can schedule that in for an early weekend in January 2008.

Politics, Politics, Politics, Politics, Politics...

Last night Amy and I went to the Dane County Democrats meeting.
Since I left DC and the Alliance for Science, I was interested in getting more socially and politically active. Absent a Wisconsin Citizens for Science organization, the local Democratic party seemed a good place to start. The meeting was interesting. I saw some really annoying people (there’s a handful in every group) and met some really awesome people too. I don’t know what sort of role I can play in this organization. Running for office is no something I have ever aspired to. Grass-roots politics is great, except I really hate canvassing. I’m happy to chat with canvasses who come to my door and occassionally drop a bit of money for a good cause, but the one time I went door to door I HATED it. I also hated doing phone banks unless I was calling constituents and even that wasn’t very pleasant.

Someone on my block is crazy

And her initials are ALW.

She claims in her blog to hate both Halloween and Christmas.

This, more than cheesy apple pie is blasphemous, and this is why:

Christmas and Halloween are equal opportunity, multi-functional holidays. They can be secular, Christian, Pagan or just purely all-American Commercial holidays. All are excellent excuses to hold multiple gatherings involving friends, family, fermented beverages, and special clothing — although not usually all at the same time. Purists may claim that you ruin the spirit of the holiday by holding parties, but I say in this dark, chilly northern hemisphere we live in we should take any excuse presented to us to gather together and celebrate in whatever forms we deem fit.

Settling in Nicely

Our townhouse in Virginia was cozy (realtor code for tiny). Our dining room table was a small, cluttered, uncomfortable Ikea table that was never really suitable for entertaining. We seldom had more than 2 people over — generally the same 2 people who had accepted our perma-clutter state (even as they mocked us for it).

When we decided to move to Madison we had several requirements for our new house. Non-suburban location, functional kitchen, more space with a better layout, and in a price range we were comfortable with.

Thanks to Amy and Luke we were able to find such a house. And in 6 weeks we’ve managed to actually have settled in quite nicely. There are a few boxes that need some sorting out and the garage is a total bloody disaster, but the main living areas are highly live-able and it’s a very nice feeling. The new dining room table provides, I think, an excellent and comfortable gathering point for meals and activities.

Parenting Equations to Remember

((3 year olds + scissors) – parental supervision)=Preschooler Beauty Parlor

Last night I noticed Adam was most definitely missing hair on the back of his head. I wondered what he could have possibly gotten into at daycare to have them cut out chunks of his hair.

Then I got this e-mail from my friend EK this morning:

“ps – is Adam missing anything? hair, maybe? apparently they were playing beauty parlor with a pair of scissors… L is missing some hair (we found the hair in the play room which clued us in) on the sides, and says that they took turns – she says she cut some from Adam on the back of his head…?”

Book Request

Does anyone have a copy of the book “Lovely Bones” ?

I was flipping through it a few weeks ago and read the first couple chapters while I was waiting. I didn’t want to buy it, but I want to read it. Yes, I know all about this library thing, but I was hoping someone just had to lend. Or maybe you could tell me about it.

Getting Lost

As laugh out loud funny as the Foley situation is (my favorite name for the scandal: MasturGate, Close second: Cocktober Surprise, Third: La Cage aux Foley) I grow weary of it. I may be able to laugh if the Democrats actually retake the House. Yes, I’ve read the IMs (mostly eeeew because he’s 50 and they’re teenagers, but also eeewww because reading someone’s desperate sexual exchanges is creepily voyeristic.)

Anyway, last night was the premiere of Lost and I watched it.
For 45 minutes I was engrossed in something weird and vaguely creepy and I enjoyed it immensely. Then scared the poor Spike when I went “aaaaaaarrrrgh!” at the end when they finished with the next week on Lost previews. I am now doomed to another 8 months of waiting impatiently for the next episode and reading websites trying to figure out exactly what JJ and Damon are doing. And who is the new woman, Juliette? She looks sooooo familiar. I must IMDB her now. Aaaaaaah… she was Dr. Weaver’s girlfriend from ER. OK, she’s been in other stuff, but that is definitely where I remember her from.

Silly Link

Just silliness…

New Glarus Bottle of Sparkling Cider in our Fridge....

Hello!

Someone yesterday left us a lovely bottle of sparkling cider in the fridge….
Would just like to know who left it since I don’t remember anyone except for SaraZ bringing a bottle of Syrah.
We don’t want to appear ungracious for not thanking the person/people who brought it.
Thanks to everyone for coming to yesterday’s party. I hope it will be the first of many parties held in our new house and I hope to see all of you again. For those of you who couldn’t make it, I hope to see you soon too.