Return from Slacking

Have we been slacking on the blog? Yes.
Have we been slacking in life as we know it? Only moderately so.
Since we last posted there have been ...
A trip to Saugatuck where we met Jesus in a nice little cafe (pictures to arrive at some point) and
bought a really nice piece of furniture at a really good price.
Tony's return trip to Saugatuck to pick up said piece of furniture (some things just don't fit in the back of
a VW Beetle).
Halloween.
Our third anniversary (the cause of the aforementioned trips).
My 31st birthday. I felt so loved.
A trip to Indianapolis to see the Lord of the Rings exhibition. It was a wonderful geek-out experience
and as a bonus we ran into our friends Jerry and Michelle. They were leaving the Colts game while
we were leaving the museum. Jerry was painted blue and white. the Colts won. He was very happy.
It's always a bit odd to travel 3 hours and run into friends that you never run into at home.
A piece of our siding fell off while we were in Indianapolis (of course, it's been raing and/or snowing
ever since).
The first snow of the season.
I was given authoritah in the lab. I promise not to whack anyone with a baton, though. (Did you know
that just about everyone loves South Park? It's quite amazing!)

What lies ahead ...
Thanksgiving! Actually it'll probably just be me and Tony this year, but we're still going to feast and
use the good china.
I have a week's vacation in early December, may go to Kalamazoo to see the Chihuly exhibit, will go to
Chicago to see the Pompei exhibit.
Hopefulyy less slacking on the blog!

Rat Scabies and the Holy Grail Part II: Out of the Closet

The book had been cleverly stashed in The Really Large Closet. The Really Large Closet is a wonderful place. It has three ascending levels and I can sit quite comfortably on the top one. I considered putting a light up there and some of our big pillows and making it into a little fort. That was before it was filled with comic boxes. Now, it just looks like an only slightly larger than normal closet full of random junk. That's actually what it is (filled with random junk, I mean). I think that that is what drew "Rat Scabies and the Holy Grail" to it. The Holy Grail could be in there and neither Tony nor I would ever find it. Luckily I found the book and there are still no library fines. Woo hoo!

"Rat Scabies and the Holy Grail"

This the true title of a book I checked out of the library and have now lost. This is really disappointing for two reasons.

1. I had really enjoyed the little I had read of this nonfictional account of a punk rocker who decides to find the Holy Grail in France.

2. I enjoy being smug about not having library fines when Tony has to pay out large sums of money.

So, if anyone who attended the Katie Party happens to have seen "Rat Scabies and the Holy Grail" sitting around, please let me know.

While I was wondering where R.S. had gotten to, I went ahead and read "The Historian". While there are no aging punks in this book I really enjoyed it. I thought the concluding section felt a bit off, but overall it was well worth the hardcover price and I'm looking forward to passing it on to my Mom when I see her next weekend.

Katie Party aftermath

Another fine night of eating, drinking, laughing and karaoke-ing.

We can deem the part must have been successful, because it was a topic of much discussion at Amy;s work and lab, and two people have requested that we now throw a party in their names. Perhaps this is a chargeable service - "for the low price of $99.95, Amy an Tony party service will throw a party of your very own."

At 13 people, not a huge party, but within the area of optimal guests/fun/space ratio. Not a ton of leftover food. Lots of mess, but centralized to the kitchen, dining room, and back room (and, sadly, still present in the kitchen).

Although the blog is the place for breakdown of party minutiae, I'll leave that for Amy. 'Cuz I don't feel like it (and I'm at work right now).

Thank you all who came, shame on those who didn't (especially those who said you would but "forgot" or "double booked" or "didn't exactly give a reason, which might mean we don't want to know". You know who you are).

Another Party - for Katie

We're having another party next weekend. My friend Katie requested another pajama party a few months ago. Now, while winter pajamas are cute and fluffy and cuddly, summer pajamas tend to be only cute. Sometimes they are even nonexistant. So, no summer pajama party. However, we're rarely opposed to having a party (it gives us an excuse to clean the house, after all) so next weekend Katie's party will become a reality. We've begun cleaning already and have purchased a new Karaoke Revolution disc in anticipation. We also bought some more Caramel Temptation. if we can't have real pajamas, we can at least drink caramel pajamas!

Burgled!

So I might have next caught up and written a few words about my Father's (adoptive, not genetic) visit, or our weekend fun in Chicago. But instead, I'm compelled to share annoying crappy news.

We've been burgaled. Two nights in a row. Maybe three.

Nothing of tremendous value was taken. Petty Burglary. A weedwacker. A gaspowered lawnmower (which wasn't working anyway). An old bike (which may actually have been quite valuable in an antique/collectible sort of way - the jury is still out on that one). But ti's more the principle that's pissing me off.

It happens once, and oh well, things happen. But it is becoming a pattern. And I'm not sure how immeadiately anything can be done.

I went out to my car Monday morning to find the garage door open. And I was sure I had closed it. The I noted an oddly 'empty' spot in the garage. My mom's handed down 1978 Motebecane Touring bike was gone. This morning the door was open again (and you can be damn sure I closed had it that time) and we were minus one lawnmower. And a weedwacker, which might have been gone before unnoticed.

Our garage door auto opener and lock have been broke for some time. We tried to fix it a few times, but the "oh its easy, all you have to do is this" advice proved insufficient. I will confess to having a couple times in the past absent-mindedly left it open overnight. Obviously I'll be far less likely to do so in the future.

The truely aggravating thing is that there is no immeadiate fix to keep it from happening again. I somehow doubt we can get Lowe's out to install a new opener after I get home at 5:30. Or a locksmith. And I think our previous experiences have shown this is beyond and evening of 'do-it-ourselves". Maybe motion lights are easy to install. I can hope.

The other annoying thing (well, one of) is the dangerous desire to wait in the garage overnight and catch the bastard. Yeah. That's safe.

It's also tempting to play 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em'. Stupid, but tempting. We have a lot of stuff that is broken/valuelss (old broken TVs, etc.) that we'd have to pay for the city to pick up with out garbage. Maybe I could just leave those in the front of the garage and get 'em toted for free. And encourage repeat visits from our freindly neighborhood thieves guild.

The Wife Has Returned

I made it back from California well educated and glad to be home. Monterey was nice and it was great to see Valerie, but it was very hard to be stuck in the same dark room for several hours at a time. I had scary flashback to E-100 the large, usually very dark lecture hall that sucked up many hours of my life between the ages of 20 and 22.

Tony did get a few things done while I was gone. The recycling got taken out, the kitchen is cleaner than I left it and our remaining baby dove is becoming more social. Unfortunately, Bob did some things, too. Urinating on the Welcome mat in the cafe room being the most significant. I'll see what nature's Miracle can do, but it might just be time for a new mat.

Last night was fun! Westayed in Chicago and went clubbing. This involved Tony playing sugar daddy and buying me appropriate clothes before we left the hotel. We tried 3 clubs, but only got into 1 because there was a special event going on at the second and we didn't really want to pay $40 cover for music we didn't care for at the third. Now Tony's napping (we rarely see 3am anymore) and I'm thinking that's a great idea.

When the wife is away...

...the husband falls into a temporary depressed state and accomplishes nothing.

Amy is at a vet conference in California this week. Leaving me with loads of time to get things done in a distractionless environment.

Or not.

Mostly not, so far.

Goodbye: finding words

I still feel like I should say something of my grandfather's passing. But while I feel compelled to say *something*, there is nothing in particular I am compelled to say.

I have yet to experience that moment of purging grief. Where you get out all the raw emotion so you can move past the event. I've had moments of sad quiet and eyes pooled with tears, but not that defining moment where I get it out of my system.

It makes me feel a bit guilty. That I don't have more mourning to exhibit. And I know that I'm being unfair to myself, everyone expresses grief and experiences loss differently, blah, blah, blah. But still I feel like my lack of emotional upheaval somehow devalues his life.

And maybe its just because he didn't die all in one day. He's been on the brink for over a year now. There were several times I had to reallign my mindset to accept the possibility of his passing. I had many moments to come to terms with his passing. None really definite. None conclusive. But enough to adjust to the notion.

In my eyes, in my heart, he didn't die last Friday. He died at some indeterminable point between his 50th wedding anniversary and Friday. Sometime shortly after Father's day, I think. During some gradual but not exactly slow decline, stopped speaking. Stopped eating. Forgot how to swallow. Lost control of his bowels. Technically, he was still alive - but the man I knew had passed on, and it was growing clear he wouldn't be coming back - or at least, not for any extended stay.

And there was a period of time, several months into his battle with cancer, that I expected him to make a recovery. He grew stronger. More able. Walked for short distances on his own. Engaged in conversation. Real conversation. More so at times than he did before the cancer started. Even as his strength slipped, there was still hope.

But after the celebrating (as much as he was able to do so) his 50th wedding anniversary, his health deteriorated rapidly. He had looked bad then, and I was told it was a 'good day' for him. I chose to say goodbye then - hoping it might not actually be the final goodbye, but accepting that it probably was. I wanted to say goodbye when he was able to say it back - and I wasn't sure he'd be able to do that again.

And it was a good goodbye. I asked for a big hug, and he squeezed me tighter than i thought he should have been able, in his frail state. And that show of strength gave me one last fleeting hope that maybe we one have another goodbye.

I wish I could say that had been our final moment. Sadly it wasn't. I called the house on Father's day - hoping maybe my father had called there and left a phone number recently (long, irrelevent story). I figured, as long as I was on the phone, I should take the opportunity to wish my grandfather happy father's day. Great idea, yet really not a very good idea. Even when fully cognisant, Grandpa didn't hear very well. My last moments with him involved me trying, wiht no success, to explain that I was wishing him "Happy Fathers Day", not "something bothers me" and certainly not "you are bothering me". My last moments were spent asking him to give the phone back to grandma, leaving him wondering why I had called to say that he bothered me.

I can take some small comfort in being sure he didn't retain that memory for very long. I kind of hope I don't either.

Saying Goodbye

Tony's grandfather passed away last Friday. While this was expected, it was still very sad. He had struggled with brain cancer for 14 months and did pretty well for most of that time. On Monday night we made the trip up to Michigan so that we could say goodbye on Tuesday. It was a wonderful funeral, with lots of fond memories and a good amount of laughter. Grandpa Hayden never minded being the butt of jokes (although it's debatable how much of any given joke he heard) as long as there was laughter. I'll miss his big heart and his open expressions of joy and wonder at what his grandchildren accomplished in the world. I don't think that I'll miss hearing the details of bumper styling for the 1936 truck he was restoring, but you never really know. He welcomed me into the family from the first time he met me and I never felt like anything besides a grandkid who had stumbled into the fold a little later in life than most of the others.

Ooh, My Aura's Showing

We went to a psychic fair last weekend. It was my fault - I have a friend who has a friend who sees auras. She told me that mine was interesting, but never told me any more. I have great fun with these sorts of things, so I was intrigued and frustrated that she went back to Australia without ever explaining. I wanted to know what color my aura is. Aura reading was on the flyer for this psychic fair, so I decided that this was my chance to define "interesting".

I got home from work and dragged a less interested Tony to the bead store. I happily paid my $10 and was escorted into a dimly lit back room. The aura reader was a heavy-set black man wearing a nice black t-shirt and olive green slacks. His name was Bill. He did have an ankh pendant on, so there was some element of the mystical there. We introduced ourselves and the first thing that he mentioned was that he saw the seven dwarves and they looked very excited and cheerful. I wasn't expecting Disney references, but who am I to say that personal symbolism shouldn't encompass pop culture? I did tell him that I am a vet, so a good number of animal references came up. Lots of different kinds of dogs, which is apparently unusual, and he asked me if I'd ever worked with exotic pets (weekly), specifically monkeys (I like prosimians, but for most people that's splitting hairs) and snakes (one to twice a year) and cranes (on this one I've got nothin'). Supposedly it's bad luck to share the interpretation, but if you ask me personally I'll explain what it all meant.

What did I learn? I worked with animals in a past life when I was a man (he seemed to think that the man part would bother me, but who cares I'm a woman this time around). No matter where my life goes I need to learn about politics. And, underneath all of the creatures frolicking, my aura is white with yellow at my crown and blue at my throat. It was fun! I might do it again some time, but I think that I'll do a past-life regression next just to get to know this man that I was :)

Oh, Tony had a reading, too. His spirits were not quite as cooperative, but they did suggest that he eat more garlic.

Side of the Angels?

As a general rule, I don't want to talk about my job here. There are lots of reasons for my ambivalence, but I think that it might be good to talk about yesterday because it's weighing on my mind (I know, I know, ego blog) and because, frankly, just about everybody involved lost.

Long story short. Yesterday we were confronted with a truly tragic animal hoarding situation. Animal hoarding is the pathologic version of the crazy cat lady. Probably most crazy cat ladies would be diagnosed with whatever the correct psychological term is for this condition. Most of the time all of these pets (and there can be hundreds) are kept in a house/apartment/trailer. Sometimes the hoarder is able to lead an otherwise normal life, sometimes it's obvious that there's a problem. You've probably all seen these stories in the newspaper or on Animal Planet. The owner always has a sense of being the savior to these animals.

Right, so what was so bad about yesterday? Yesterday's hoarder was escaping from an abusive husband with her twenty-something cats in her car. She was also trying to get the cats vaccinated so that they could stay somewhere outside of her car while she was, presumably, getting her life together. Most of these cats and kittens were sick. Animal Control and the Humane Society were both looking for her and her carload of cats. In the end, she lost almost all of the cats (she was allowed to keep a few, healthy cats), a lot of hope and probably won't get the emotional and psychological help she needs. Did we do the right thing? Yes. Was she wrong to keep these cats with her in the car? Without a doubt. Will the cats be better off now? Those that survive (and I include the ones she was able to keep) yes. Will she make it to living a safe and healthy life? Possibly. I don't know the statistics, but I seem to recall that hoarders tend to hoard again even with treatment and I can't imagine she'll get any soon. Call me overly grim, but I worry that she might kill herself. She had herself, her car and these cats. Oh, and she was trying to do the right thing and lost out anyway.

Doing the right thing is incredibly bitter sometimes.

West Virginia Wedding

This July 4th holiday weekend Amy and I drove out to West Virginia for her cousin's wedding. It was a long-ass drive, but would have certainly felt longer (to me) if i had to drive more than a couple hours of it (the unwritten rule, which much of Amy's family seems determined to believe is some sort of cover story for...something, is that whomever's family is the cause/destination of the trip, that person gets transportation and agenda-making duty/priveledge).

We had a great time. The wedding was short and sweet, reception was quite nice - the 'second reception' with dancing/etc was cancelled in favor of a get together at families house - which was a load of fun. It's the first me I've got a good chance to really relax and get to know a lot that side of Amy's family. They are a hoot. They remind me very much of my own family, just a decade older and more settled.

The following day we spent a little time at John and Jamie's (parents of Erin, the bride, Amy's cousin) camper on the (Ohio?) river, went out on the jet ski, which was a lot of fun, and just hung out some more and said our good-byes. At least three times over. It's hard to actually *leave* when there's that much family. Just liike an event wiht my family. ).

And, as a special treat for the upcoming week, I forgot to pack my medication for the trip. My happy, emotionally stabilizing, keep me from unneccesarily spiralling into a shallow but unavoidable pit off frustration and helplessness medication. It usually takes a couple missed days for me to notice, and that effect doesn't generally hit untill the 3nd-5th day. Day 3, and haven't gotten fidgety yet. We'll keep you posted in any 'mundane adventures' result.

Death of a comic shop.

This past Saturday, June 26, 2005, All Star Comics and Games of Mishawaka, Indiana, closed it’s doors from the last time.

All Star has become a fixture in our life in South Bend. Comic geeks that we are, the selection of a local comic shop was one of the early agenda items when Amy moved here. At the time, it was All Star Comics and Cards, owned by John – and older (than us, by maybe a generation) baseball enthusiast and run with help from Darrin and Brian (comic and game enthusiasts much closer to our own age). Brian and Darrin have shown us excellent customer service from day one. They managed to learn our names before we got theirs. This was not a singular occurrence. I brought a friend in (to corrupt him by introducing him to the world of Mage Knight products). Darrin and Brian greeted him by name on his second visit. When we had been visiting weekly for only a few months, they, started setting aside books for us that they figured we would want. These were books that we never asked for, never mentioned, and often didn’t even know about. And their instincts were almost always right on target.

About three and a half years ago, John decided that, because of some health concerns it was time to retire. Faced with the choice of entering the ‘real world’ or taking their slacker comic-shop-guy employment to the next level, Darrin and Brian took over the reigns. In early January, 2002, All Star Comics and Games opened under new management in a new (better) location.

Over the past three plus years, our relationship has outstripped retailer/customer. We’ve become friends. Our weekly trips to the comic shop have turned more often into hour long visits (ended usually by one of our desires to put food in our belly). We are really going to miss seeing the guys on a weekly basis.

Sadly, with a mediocre economy, rising product pricing, a game market that bottomed out and no doubt numerous other unknown or unacknowledged causes, business has been struggling for the last year or so. And the guys have had to accept that the time has come to move onto other ventures.

We took some time Saturday night to help them box up what was left of the store (another shop is buying up the remaining stock) and say so long to a good run. We hung out a while, talking about the past, present, and future of the comic industry, the gaming industry, and the industry of our lives.

In memory of All Star, in vain hopes of maybe sparking someone’s interest in the comic book art form and storytelling medium, and inspired a bit by my good friend Curt’s movie reviews at http://curtflix.blogspot.com, I will be starting a second blog, devoted to comic reviews, both of individual books and the medium as a whole. Hopefully I will post to it with more regularity than I do here.

Please visit it (my first post should be up before July 1 hits) at www.comicbookreview.blogspot.com. And if you see a review that interests you, support your local comic shop. Before the go the way of Drive-In Theaters and Soda Fountains.

Gross Anatomy, Medieval Knights, Exploding Chocolate and Baby Doves

We went into Chicago this weekend. So much to share, I'm going with the simple tick off the list method of presentation:

1. Gross Anatomy
Since we were goign to be in Chicago anyway, I suggested we leave early and take in the BodyWorlds exhibit at the Museum of Scince and Industry. BodyWorlds is truely fascinating. If you live near Chicago or Cleveland, I'd highly suggest seeing it... as long as your level of intellectual curiosity outweighs your gross-out factor.

In short, this exhibit of the human body consists of a number of specimens that have been perfectyl preserved through "plastination". So ou get to be witness to a number of real human cadavers, posed in normal, everyday poses, stripped of skin and cross section of muscle, bone,organ, etc. cut away. Some exhibits where whole, some in pieces, some consisted of everything striped away but the arteries (truely amazing).

See some glimpes of the exhibit and get more info at: http://www.msichicago.org/bodyworlds/index.html or http://www.bodyworlds.com/en/pages/home.asp

2. Chocolate (exploding)
Of course no trip to DT Chicago is complete wiht a very expensive visit to Vosges Haut Chocolat - www.vosgeschocolate.com

Vosges produced exotic, wonderously unique chocolate (at exotic, wonderously perilous prices). It turns out that, said Chocolates, when left in a very hot car on a hot summer day, melt just like ordinary chocolates might. except for the green olive oil chocolates, which exploded.

3. Medieval Knights
The impetus of our trip was to see Medieval Knights, for which we had free tickets (Christmas Gift from Mom). It was worth goign to see, but certainly not something to repeat wihtout younglings.Riding stunts and mediocre fight choreography andhammy acting. And decent food messily ate without silverware.

4. A great Ikea
Our hotel was within sight of an Ikea and, having never been to an Ikea, we explored. Fun place, lots of creative, idea provoking, cheap stylish stuff that would likely fall apart in three years. Good thing there isn't one closer, or we'd spend way too much money before learning our lesson.

5. Daddy-o
Drove the extra hour to make a surprise visit to Amy's dad for father's day. Went out for Ice cream (he already had eaten lunch... we could have gotten there in time to take him to lunch, had it not been for the wonderous black hole of Ikea).

6. Coo-Currr-ou
I could have as easily started as ended wiht this. Before leaving Saturday moring on this trip, we discovered that November and February, our Doves, had hatched a baby dove (or at least a breathing pile of sticky feathers). We had decided to name it (appropriately) "June". Upon our return, we found The-Dove- that-would-be-June had a sibling, and since we can't name them both June, we'll likely go with Amy's suggestion of Saturday and Sunday.

Hopefully next weekend won't be as exciting, because the weekend following we have to drive 7 hours to west Virginia for a wedding, so we'll need the break.

My grandparents just turned 50.

That's jointly, not individually. Meaning their 50th wedding anniversary.

We headed up to my parents house for their big celebration weekend before last (yeah, i'm slow blogging it up - sue me). Wanted to head up Friday night, but I had a freelance job that I needeed to wrap up before I left, and by the time I did... I just didn't feel like starting off on a 3 hour drive at quarter to nine pm.


Even though the party didn't start until 2:00, it was important to me that we get their early and help out. My mother was stuck doing the bulk of the work, dispite having three siblings. Some of this is because the party was at her house, and she lives closest to their parents so she ends up shouldering these types of things just out of proximity. Part of it is because some of her siblings prioritize things differently that do we (work-trumps-all, a behavior handed down from grandpa's obsessive genepool and by his example of the 50's macho work ethic- which I think was instilled largely by his parents having grown up during the depression, but this could be a whole other blog).

The party was a huge success. I'm sure at least 80 people showed up. It was great seeing many relatives (and, well, not so great seeing some others, but I suppose that is the way with extended family).

I'm told that Grandpa was doing better than he has recently, which is a bit sad. He has been battling brain cancer, and it is becoming apparent that, dispite his initial string recovery, he's not winning the battle. He barely had the strength to walk into the house, and often times seemed unaware of what was going on around him (which I suppose, really, isn't all that unlike him) and who was talking to him (rarely did he have the strength to put more than two words together in response). The whole event was just too overwhelming for him.

Also exiting and new for the day - uncle Keith (one of the offspring of the couple of honor referred to above) with his new wife. This is a story in itself, which someday I may come back to. For now, I will sum up and let your imaginations wander with this: Nearly no one was told about the wedding beforehand (by Keith). No one knew that, in the past year, he traveled to the Phillipeans to meet his new wife four times. His new wife, Shirley, is younger than his youngest son, Keith, 48, has about 30 years on her. And she speaks english...more or less. There was a much more dramatic way of presenting this information, but I'm tired of typing this and sharing this particular anticdote.

Anyway, after the party was over, we lit up a bonfire and had a bit too much to drink with mom and rex, their neighbors, and Aunt Cindy and Uncle Jeff (who traveled all the way from Korea to be here - OK, partially to start house hunting and what-not. Their moving back timeline has accellerated; Cindy is now in the country for good, Jeff will be wrapping things up over the next couple months).

And there's almost as much news about last weekend...which will probably make its way on here either wihtin the next hour, or a week from now.

Adventures in Tanning

Tony and I got free certificates to our local tanning franchise. Tony would like to be tan while I have come to embrace my pallor. My ancestry is primarily German with a spicing of English and Irish from Mom's family so I do not come by dark skin naturally. Even when I spent large chunks of time outside in the pool or on horseback or running around as a wild child I never really got dark, just a plesant golden color after the burns peeled away. My brother tans beautifully, though. Anyway, the though of exposing myself to UV rays in a can has never appealed. However, this was free. How could I take advantage of the freeness while maintaining my ability to be snotty about tanning? Magic Tan, of course. Magic Tan is the spray on, sugar -based (DSA, I think?) product that our local chain offers.

So, one Wednesday I made my way to one of the franchises near our house. Sadly, this particular branch did not have Magic Tan available. No problem, there's another close by. It was raining, however, and if you get wet from rain, showers or sweat within the first 5 to 7 hours after your spray you rinse part of it away and get blotchy. No Magic Tan for me that day. I went back a couple of weeks later on a beautiful, sunny Saturday after getting my hair cut. After watching the informational video I rubbed on my accelerator lotion, put on my shower cap and stepped into the booth. The spray only lasts for 8 seconds, but I managed to choose the wrong time to get my breath, so got a bit of spray in my nose. I got through the other 3 sprays without mishap (of course, I wasn't facing the spray). I stepped out of the booth, patted off the excess spray and returned home to not do any chores for the next 5 hours.

It worked pretty well. I had quite dramatic tan lines and only a moderate amount of splotchiness which was the fault of my poor standing still technique. Also my fault was the tan line across my forehead. The video told me to put the shower cap along my hairline, but I went into surgeon mode and pulled it down. I'm almost back to my normal paleness, but I may do it again. Tony likes the tan lines.

Speaking of Tony, he chose the UV-in-a-can option. The first time he went, he was pretty careful about his exposure because he does tend to burn. I noticed maybe a little tan, but mostly he had a lot more freckles. The second time he went he actually did have a tan line on his leg. He chose the superfancy expensive option the second time and stayed in beyond the recommended time. He had to sign a waver to do this. He didn 't burn, though. Hopefully he'll share more about his experience in the can.

Haiku 2

This was for us both,
but lately I haven't found
time or want to blg.

I've had things to say;
mundane adventures to share
sans motivation.

New friends have returned.
One sings once more, the other
funks up our e-mail.

-tp

I Choose Haiku

Ahem ...

Patiently Colfax
And Bob wait for the screen to
tear. Free them outside.

The doves sit watching
In case the kitties should choose
To eat the two eggs.

Meanwhile Tony cooks
Cuban chicken for dinner
Fridays are good days.

What would you like to read about?

OK friends, strangers and loyal readers. We haven't got much lined up that's as exciting as going to Korea, so we will be reverting to the previous level of mundanity. My question to you is this: Would you like to hear about anything besides what streams through our conscious minds? Let me know if you'd like more scar stories, more about the weather, more about the pets. I can probably provide some bad poetry if you're interested. I reserve the right to not blog about work. I'm just curious about your thoughts.

By the way, it's sunny, the cats are fine, the birds are sitting on an egg and I had a nice chunk scratched out of my right ringfinger tip yesterday that should scar fantastically.

It's good to have family

Last night Tony's grandparents and cousin stopped by on their way to North Dakota via several other states. It was so good to see them. It was even better to wake up to people in the house. I've never shared the early mornings of my day off with anyone (unless Tony is sick) because I like staying in bed until eight if at all posssible. It was really nice. I picked up some donuts and muffins, made coffee and chatted with Grandma and Simon until Grandpa woke up. It was nice hearing Grandpa settling in to sleep last night. We were all a little worried when there was a crash followed by Grandpa's voice, "Did I break it?" Fortunately Grandpa didn't break himself. He's a lot more fragile than I'm used to thinking of him being. It was just good to see all of them. Their next family related stop is with Seth and Amanda in Missouri. Simon's doing the driving and their taking it nice and slow. I'm looking forward to hearing their stories and seeing their pictures at their 50th anniversary party in June.

Belated final day in Korea

I realized after reading Megan's blog about her trip to Portugal with Guy, Alana and Steve that we neglected to describe our last day in Korea. In a way, we tied up loose ends. There were a few places that we wanted to revisit and we had hopes of seeing a play, Nanta, that is Stomp with cooking. We had evening plans for dinner, drinks and nam-ba with the Cootes, but the day was all ours. So, we boarded the trusty subway and headed for the city. Our first stop was the toy market in Dongdaemun. Tony has a great need to buy Gundam figures and it seemed to be the place to look. We wandered alleys, getting half-lost and enjoying the mysterious twists, turns and smells. Eventually we did find the appropriate shop and Tony purchased toys to his heart's content. We then made our happy way to Namdaemun (the market we had failed to find earlier in the week).

There are some mall type structures in Namdaemun. We avoided these and somehow found ourselves in the costume jewelry and housewares market. The housewares market extends underground. it's an overwhelming place for two reasons: 1. The overwhelming amount of stuff. Especially fragile stuff that a misplaced elbow could send crashing to floor and 2. The overwhelming amount of humanity squeezed into the little tiny aisles. You have no choice but to be jostled and no option but to jostle back if you want to escape. Also, it was very very warm. Not my favorite experience, but it was a good experience to have. I may be less likely to panic in dressing rooms at clothing stores now. Tony was disappointed in Namdaemun because he was on a quest for amethysts. There were amethysts in Itaewan (which we did buy) and in Insadong, but he wanted to pick up one for a friend. Sadly, Namdemun had lots of jade and lots of fake whatever-gem-you-want, but no amethysts. Tony was starting to feel a bit unwell, so we decided to head to Nanta.

We had 2 options to get to Nanta: the friendly subway or a cab. We chose the cab, being very careful to select the silver /grey one (these start charging at 1600 wan) as opposed to the black one (these are high status cabs and start charging at 4000 wan). We wandered through a cobblestoned neighborhood and got to the nanta theatre, ready to buy our 25000 wan seats. Except that all of the seat were sold out with the exception of the 50000 and 60000 wan seats. So we changed our plan. We went a big bookstore near the palace and then returned home. Tony was visibly unwell at this point, so Nanta did us a favor by being too expensive. Tony slept for a couple of hours and was refreshed for the evening of merriment. The plan was to keep us up extra late so that we'd sleep on the plane.

Refreshed and feeling healthy again, the six of us walked a few blocks and down a level to a charming little French restaurant. Yes, I know, heresy to eat non-Korean food on our last night. However, most of the Cootes have lived in Seoul for 18 months and Yugi has lived there her whole life. They like a break from Korean food. It was excellent. The company and conversation were too. Afterwards we wandered to a local bar for drinks and bar food. Sometimes it takes lubrication to sing in semipublic. We had a wonderful pineapple drink and lots of yummy Korean versions of beernuts and bar food. Then it was time to sing. We sang a lot. We probably sang quite loudly, but we had our own little room so no-one else had to hear us. We sang enthusiastically. We sang until my throat hurt. Did we sing well? Occasionally. Did it matter? Not really. We retired happy and sleepy except for those who chose to go to what I like to call the "naked all night sauna". You can get naked haircuts there, too. Tony declined the invitation. I wasn't allowed. Sadly, we did not get to say goodbye to Jeff and Ian the next morning.

Snow

Gaah! It's snowing again!! I'm going back to bed for the rest of the weekend. With a book full of photos of tropical places.

Jetlag

We did arrive home safely and we're almost readjusted to our own time. Tony did not sleep well on the plane back. I slept OK for plane sleep (Dramamine knocks me pretty flat). My very kind parents picked us up from O'Hare and drove us their house. Tony went to bed. I woke him up about 3 hours later for dinner. We both stayed awake until about 10:30 before giving up completely. I made it out of bed twelve and a half hours later. Tony woke up about 4:00am, puttered around for a bit and went back to sleep until noon. We were planning on driving back home around the time that we finished breakfast. Good thing we came back on Saturday. On Sunday night we stayed up until about ten. Tony woke up at 3:00 am. I woke up at 3:30 and got up at 4:00, fed the critters, had coffee and ate breakfast. I was bored by about 5:15, so I went back to bed until the alarm went off at 6:45. I can't speak for Tony, but I was cranky all day long, those poor people I work with. Tony was in bed when I got home at 7:30 last night. He was pretty much awake from 10:00 until 5:00 this morning. He was so happy when the alarm went off this morning exclaiming, "I slept!". Then he hit snooze for a while. I also benefitted from the snoozing. At this moment we are both awake, Tony has gone for a run and there is hope that our regular sleeping patterns will return.

Korea - Day 6 Preparations for Home

It's after 2am. Our throats are numb from nam-ba (Korean karaoke, where you pay by the hour for a private room and sing your heart out with friends and family). Jeff and Ian have gone across the road for sauna. We have to leave for the airport at 8:15 so we'll see you all on the other side of the International Date Line. Don't expect coherent posts for a few days :)

Korea - Day 5 Celebrities for No Good Reason

Since we'd spent Wednesday exploring Korea's current political reality, we decided to look into its past yesterday. After a semi-lazy morning we once again boarded the subway for Gyeongbokgung Palace. On the way there I gave up my seat to an older woman. I was immediately surrounded by a cheerful crowd of middle aged Korean women. They were going en masse to meet friends at Han mountain for the day. At the end there would be twenty of them visiting together. They were very sweet and Tony and I were watched with a great deal of approval until they disembarked. So far we haven't run into any angry people on the subway. I fact, everyone either ignores us or is very happy to see us. Then again, we give up our seats to older people if they let us.

Gyeongbokgung is actually a palace complex. It was originally built in 1395 as the government center for the Joseon dynasty. The Joseons were in control here until 1910. I think that's an amazingly good run, but when I see dates that start with 13s and 14s I tend to expect buildings to be moldering away. I suspect it's an American thing. The current buildings aren't actually 610 years old, though. Most of them were destroyed when the Japanese invaded Korea in 1592 and then rebuilt in 1868.

History out of the way, the complex is just beautiful. The biggest impact for me was turning off a busy, loud Seoul street and looking through the first gate (Gwanghwamun) at the beautiful, two story building backed by mountains that I assumed was the palace. The contrast was breathtaking. It wasn't the palace, just the second gate (Heungryemun), but it was still lovely. We enjoyed roaming the grounds and gardens, occasionally being accosted by happy school children. The National Folk Museum is on the same grounds, so we learned a bit about the prehistory and early history of Korea. We also stopped at one of the Kimchi Information Systems to learn more about kimchi. The Kimchi Information Systems are quite impressive, standing computer kiosks which speak three different languages and tell all anyone needs to know about kimchi. We had a snack of Korean sweets, but were humgry enough to leave the complex at this point.

On our way out not only were we greeted by the school children, but a few were surreptitiously taking pictures of us with their camera phones. Pint-sized paparazzi. I wonder if their parents are upset that they were more impressed by the wandering Americans than their national history. Some of the braver kids actually asked our permission to take pictures. On the way out the first gate, three boys asked if they could take my picture. I said OK and asked if they wanted to stand with me. Instantly the rest of their class appeared, cameras in hand. A few cameras were passed back and forth and I think that one of the boys traded out with his friends. As overwhelming as it was, they were very polite about it and swarmed off again pretty quickly. The high-school aged students were mostly too cool to be impressed by us. A group of three girls did make a point of calling Tony pencil boy. He realized, after hearing one of them call me beaupipul that were actually saying handsome boy. I like pencil boy. After all, he draws and has a pencil with him at all times. Very insightful Korean girls.

I was a bit kimchied out, or at least my digestive tract was feeling that way, so we looked for more westernized food. We found Mr. Pizza. Mr. Pizza claims to be "Made for women," but Tony joined me anyway. Sweet potato pizza is wonderful! Basically it's a stuffed-crust pizza topped with potato, mushrooms (Tony picked these out), bacon, corn, onion, crumbled tortilla chips and cheddar cheese. Instead of being stuffed with cheese, the crust is stuffed with sweet potato. Yummy good! Apparently this is very popular in Korea as well, so I didn't feel too bad for whining about no more kimchi.

Bellies full and happy, we wandered back down to Insadong (I love Insadong) and shopped. I almost bought a $20.00 ink stone, but Tony caught that the price was in yen, not wan, before I did. I did buy lots of lovely things (they take credit cards in Insadong) and Tony got to haggle a little. Satisfied, we returned to our friend the subway orange line for our hour trip home. The subway was busier on the way back, so our celebrity status left us. Once again, we were just oddly complected bodies taking up valuable standing or sitting space just like all the normally complected bodies. Yugi was making diner, so we stopped and bought a cake as a contribution. It was supposed to be a chocolate cream cake. It was a blueberry cream cake. It was still yummy. Yugi's Chopche and seafood pancakes were great. I might be brave enough to try oysters at home. I definately like squid. Anyung hiseo.

Korea - Day 4 - Tony vs. The North Korean Army

We almost missed out tour of the Demilitarized Zone (AKA DMZ, Pan Mun Jom, Joint Security Area, JSA). We had ben instructed (or so we thought) to meet our tour guids in a hotel lobby. Rather, what apparently was said was "in the B-1 room". We even saw a tour guide looking person and Amy went to ask if her group was going to the demilitarized zone. Amy came back to me and said, "nope, she said they were not. They are going to Pan Mun Jon." Which struck me as odd, because that's kind of like saying "we are not going to the District of Columbia, we are going to Washington DC."
Thankfully, my nervousness grew enough for me to go back, find the tour guide (just barely) and we got it straightened out.

The drive was about an hour by bus, during which we picked up more history on the Korean War than either of us had learned in school (or after having lived in Korea).

There are very strict rules for visiting the DMZ. One must be dressed properly. No Nothing low cut, revealing, or sloppy. No blue jeans (they are considered a symbol of America, and are thus offensive, to the North Koreans). Out passports were checked twice. In some parts of the tour, no personal articles were allowed except camera (no video) and binoculars - and even those were only allowed to be used in designated areas. Through the more sensitive part - the actual boundary of the separation, where meetings between the two nations take place, and North Korea is literaly a stones throw away, we were instructed to remain as a group, two single file lines, and to not under any circumstance smile, wave, make eye contact with or gesture in any way towards the North Korean gaurds.

Of course we saw no North Korean gaurds. And the differences between South Korean and North Korean gaurds was not emphasized. So the whole tour group was rather stiff while our Army presenter, Fernandez, was cracking jokes.

We were brought right to the center og the DMZ, the building in which the the countrys (and US, and other involved countries) met. There were South Korean guards standing at intimidating TeakWonDo ready pose inside and outside the building. The line of demarkation ran though the building - it was slipt in half. After an explaination of the layout, we were invited to step into North Korea. And wouldn't you know it, I was first in line. We were also allowed to take pictures (surprisingly) within this building. And with the guards. Here is Amy, 2 feet inside North Korea, standing slightly nervously next to a South Korean Gaurd (who is stradling the boundry).


Next we were taken back out of the building, and, facing North Korea, given a rundown of the surrounding buildings. Three buildings straddling the boarder (painted light teal) were designated as South Korean/UN buildings. Three (much more stylishly in silver blocks) were North Korean. One of the NK buildings was designated the rec room, though there was not a opiece of work out equipment inside. From this room, dubbed by the US and SK guards as "the Monkey Room", NK gaurds occasionally loked out the windows, shouted obscenities and made rude and threatening gestures when they knew a group was gathered in the spot we were currently in. We were again allowed (!!) to take pictures from within the small area we were standing, and asked if we had any questions first.

And then I became "that guy". I casually pointed to the silver building to the right and asked, "that was the monkey house, right?" Fernadez responded, very difinitively, "yes sir, and PLEASE DO NOT POINT." I pretty much kept my head down and held my hands together for the rest of the tour. Here is a picture of the Monkey room (forground) and a North Korean watch post, in which a North Korean guard was watching, rifle at the ready no doubt, even as I pointed in its direction and took this shot.



We were then taken to an observation point in which we were surrounded by North Korea on three sides. From here we could see (among other things) "Propaganda Village". so named by the SK's because, during the war, they had loud speakers constantly tempting anyone South Korea's nearby "Freedom Village" (no propaganda in the naming conventions in South Korea, nosiree) to come over to wonderful, welcomong North Korea, far superior to the South. Freedom Vilage is still a functioning village, pop. about 200, all of whom live there rent and tax free (as incentive to live so ridiculously close the the border. Propaganda village is unihabited, but boasts a much taller, larger flag the Freedom Vilage (the North has a thing for making sure they appear bigger and stronger than the south in every way).


Fllowing the tour, we returned to Seoul and treked up to the Seoul Tower (think Seattle Space Needle) to reach the highest point in the city. Sadly, it is closed for repairs for the next 7 months. We did get some shot of the city scape from the hill, though. This is, perhaps, 1/8 of the view. It extends like this in every direction.


And finally, todays wacky english bastardization... better than home made, its handmade.

Day 3 - Peanut Buttered Roast Squid

On Tuesday we had the first of our exciting adventures somewhat outside of Seoul. Cindy drove us south to the Korean Folk Village. The KFV was interesting. I was looking forward to seeing some open, green space, but the paths were all well swept earth. In fact, we were able to observe the sweeping process. The sweeper was not willing to pose for photos. While exploring and learning about the past of Korea we made a few discoveries.

1. Korean children travel in large, color coded packs and have a cry remarkably like, "Hello, hello, hello, hi, how are you, hello, hi." Occasionally this is punctuated with a cheerful, "F**k you," as they practice new words.

2. These same children are very bold about crossing rivers on stepping stones, but far more timid about crossing on narrow wooden bridges. If an adult American crosses the narrow wooden bridge the children will fall back in awe and applaud. This actually only happens if the adult American is female.


3. Mushroom pancakes are actually omelets and are very good.

4. Sausage soup contains tasty bits that are best left unidentified just in case they are entrails.

5. Wicker brides were an important part of a Korean man's life and as such could not be passed on to future generations.

6. The best unexpected flavor ever is peanut buttered roast squid. It is crisp and sweet and buttery and chewy and comes out of a cool little machine and you can choose body meat or leg meat and ... They eat it at the movies here instead of popcorn. Seriously. It really is good.

Sadly, our afternoon did not fare nearly so well. We planned on heading to Namdaemun market, but our directions lead us instead to Dogdaemun market. Not so big a deal. We were also short on cash so were hoping to find a money exchange or one of the many ATMs that took American cards (so we were told). We had neglected to bring our passports, so the money exchange didn't happen. We tried 2 ATMs in Dogdaemun and both of us were informed by both of them that our cards no longer worked. Frustrated and huffy, we walked through the wholesale toy market to calm down before heading home. The wholesale toy market was cool. Tony especially liked the Bricks (pirated legos).

On the way home we messed up one subway transfer, but caught it before we were carried too far out of our way. We also tried 2 more ATMs with no results. This was getting to be a problem as we needed 57000 wan each for today's trip to Panmujong. Cash. Not $57 American (the rough equivalent). Ian came to our rescue and Cindy played banker for us as well. As long as we don't go too crazy we should be fine. Just be warned if you're ever in Korea: American debit cards work in the ATM machines, with plain old American ATM cards you're SOL.

We came home to a magnificent pasta dinner courtesy of Cindy. This morning we had to get up and on the subway early to catch our tour. More on that tomorrow.

Korea - Day 2 - Shop smart. Shop EMart.

Took a trip with aunt Cindy to the grocery store in the morning. Yes, we came halfway around the world to partake in Grocery shopping. Honestly. We both enjoy experiencing the differences culture through the everyday experiences of that culture.

But first we went to a small, local (not 50 feet from the apartment), proper market to get some fish and veggies. Not much different from what a fish and produce market set up in a parking garage might be here. A wide variety of fish. And eel, squid, skatefish and other unusual varieties.

When I lived here 20 years ago, the idea of a supermarket was pretty... foreign. You bought your food at the street markets or from the small (like 7-11 size small) local grocers. Now, supermarkets, department stores, and supercenters ala Walmart (and, FYI, they have a Walmart here) are everywhere. One of the more prominent stores, EMart, was our destination.

The EMart was four stories. Each floor carried different items. Houswares on 1. Clothes on 2. Health and beauty on 3. And Grocery on 4. Or something like that. We skipped past 1 and 2.

At first glance, it wasn't that different. Lighting felt a little...whiter. Ailes weren't as tall. Little things. Had a good time looking at all the peculiar products and packaging. Even more intriguing was noticing the ratios of what was available. For example, Canned Vegitables. Cindy was happily surprised to find canned vegetables other than corn. This was the first time they had canned peas and baked beans. A quarter of an aisle of dried squid. Two aisles of rice. And a 2 foot by 2 foot selection of canned vegetables.

Just like home, they have free samples on the ends of aisles. Just like home, most are handed out by quiet, pleasent older women. And then there's the meat and store prepared foods section. They bring the old school open outdoor market feeling indoors - shooting, I assume, "I've got some really good beef over here" and "Kimchee. I'm makin' Kimchee. Come get your Kimchee", loud enough to be heard throught most of the store. And theres several of them, all in the same corner. All trying to out-carnival-barker one another.

Oh, and I don't recommend acorn gelatin. Can't really say it's bad, because it's mostly flavorless. Jello (fine, gelatin) should have some flavor. Without it, it's kinda gross.

Curious foods purchased, sampled and, for your vicarious pleasure, reviewed:

Emotion Chocolates: Standard individually wrapped milk chocolate wafers. With pop rocks mixed in. Brilliant.

Milkus: "New feeling of soda beverage," says the tagline. There were a few varieties of Milkus in the soda aisle. All looked a bit like really watered down milk. Bought the one that, from it's package coloring, suggested it was citrus flavor. I was right. Tasted like the remenants of an ice cream float made with Squirt, but still fizzy and crisp. Pretty good.

Little pink box of cookies with chocolate centers. Predictable. No big.

Sansachus: Sweet, rose flavored wine. "Sansa is a fruit bearing, broad leafed, plant belonging to the rose species. Red and a pleasant scent. Good for treating weak stomachs, backaches, and cut (sic)" Very cheap. Very good. Will be bringing some home.

Sweet Dew Tea: A green tea with an aromatic, sweet finish. Even
I liked it.

A note on the later two. They are considered "Well Being" or as the Koreans pronounce, "well bing". This is the trendy health kick buzz word floating around Korea right now. Pretty much every Korean food ends up being considered well bing, and foreign foods (ei, western culture foods) seem suspiciously to lack this very important status.

Returned to Iteawon in the afternoon. Traveled down the allyway to where I used to live. Things have really changed. There are bulidings where streets used to be and streets where building used to be. What were once quiet streets lined with residences have become cluttered streets lines with mom and pop greasy spoons (chopsticks), cleaners, and the like. Dissapointing.
Our apartment complex was the tall, cream colored buliding in the background, right of center.


Made a few small gift purchases, picked up my pimpin' purple housecoat, and returned home.

And just for kicks, I've started taking pictures of fun, mangled english. Enjoy.

Korea - Day 1 Kimchee and Crowds

Sundays are busy days in Seoul. Most Koreans work 6 days a week and so Sundays are the day to relax. For us it was time to explore with Cindy, Jeff, Ian and Yugi and learn the subway system. We started with a walk through the neighborhood to the subway staton. Everything that is needed can be reached easily by walking, including Steve's vet. (Steve is Ian and Yugi's little terrier cross. He's a cutie!) We enjoyed kimchee mondu, which is basically a kimchee (spicy cabbage) potsticker.

The subway system here is very similar to the Tube in London. It's a little unnerving seeing the signs in a different alphabet, but there are Roman characters beneath so I've no need to panic. We were very fortunate and were able to find seats on both trains to Insadong. Insadong is an artisan/art market street. Ian used to work near it. On the way from the subway station to Insadong we stopped in the park where Korean independence from Japan was declared. Yugi, a lifelong resident of Seoul, had never been there before - "too many old people". I loved Insadong. It was full of pottery and beautifully carved ink stones and brushes. Plus, it has The Old Tea Shop. In the travel guides The Old Tea Shop is said to be home to free flying birds, a chameleon and a resident monkey. Only the finches were present when we stopped in, but they were very beautiful to see and hear. I had five senses tea, a bright pink, chilled concoction that did have elements of sweet, salty, sour and bitter. I must still be sleepy because I can't remember the fifth. Tony had cinnamon punch, which he quite enjoyed. None of us had bird poop in our tea which we all quite enjoyed.

Cindy and Jeff took a bus home and Ian, Yugi, Tony and I grabbed a cab to Itaewon. Itaewon is close to the U.S. military base, so it's "America Town". Tony lived close to Itaewon when he was ten. Things have changed since Tony was ten. At one point he asked Ian, "So, how much farther to Itaewon?" Ian replied, "We've been there for the past two blocks." One thing that has only chaged slightly is the bookstore that Tony visited as a kid. We found it in a new building a few yards from where it had originally been. With Yugi's help, Tony not only confirmed that it was the same bookstore, but that he remembered the owner, Mr. Chu. I took a picture of Tony and Mr. Chu and we got to meet Mr. Chu's daughter, Michelle, who teaches piano lessons. I think it turned Tony's day around to know that something hadn't changed (not much anyway).

We stopped for a snack at Gecko's Garden in Itaewon. While there we ran into Ian's friend William. William is from Ireland and he also teaches English. Interestingly, all of the expatriate English teachers we have met so far are men and all of them are dating (or in Ian's case married to) Korean women. We decided to take the bus home after a good time hanging out with William and his girlfriend.

The subway may be slow, but it is much simpler than the bus system. To start with, it stops where it is supposed to. Both Ian and Yugi asked the busdriver if he stopped at Sunae station. He said yes both times and then drove well past Sunae. So, we had to catch a cab to get the rest of the way home. We did make it home eventually and had a nice dinner at a Japanese restaurant in the neighborhood. Jet lag hasn't been too bad for us. Tony crashed at about eleven, but he was up this morning at four. I was up at five. According to Cindy and Ian, this is very normal. It was odd that I slept through until seven-thirty yesterday.

Ian and Jeff have already left for work. Cindy and Yugi don't work until this afternoon. Today Yugi is going to give us insider tips on where to go and we'll probably explore the neighborhood and maybe some other markets. Hopefully we'll go on a tour of the demilitarized zone tomorrow.

Korea - Day 1/2

We have arrived.

It is Sunday morning here, and we are about to venture out on our first mini-adventure in Seoul - a trip to Insa-Dong (arts/crafts area) and Iteawon (sort of an Americanized version of Korea in Korea - it's near the army base, and where I lived so many years ago.

The flight was smooth and not as trudgerous as we'd expect for its length. We arrived last night at 8-ish local time, talked some and slept like fat babies.

More later.

Anticipation

Just a few more days until we leave for Korea! This time next week we will be there! It's going to be great just to get out of South Bend for a while, but even better to leave the entire continent behind! I dragged our spring clothes out of the basement and we've dusted the cobwebs off of our suitcases. Our flight leaves from O'Hare on Friday afternoon. The plan is to have my car packed and ready to go on Wednesday night. That way we can leave as soon as I'm done with work on Thursday. We'll stay Thursday night at my parents' in Illinois and be off on Friday. Soooooo exciting!! I can't wait to go to the tea room with the chameleon and monkey and birds. Real bibimbop! Cherry blossoms! Hopefully no snow!

Pudding Pops and Brussel Sprouts: a Cullinary Review

Of late I've been bemoaning the abscence of Pudding Pops. Ah Pudding Pops, those creamy frozen treats from our youth and the reference point of every bad Cosby impression. I find it dissapointing that such a unique, brand backed product would shrivel up an dissapear from the market. Everytime we went to the store, every grocery store, I'd search up and down the frozen food aisle. But to no availe. Not even a no-name brand knock-off.

Until last week.

What glorious sight should i see in my grocers freezer but the familiar "Jello Pudding Pops" logo. Now produced not under their own power, but co-branded under the "Popsicle" brand. Popsicle(TM) is one of those brandless brands. They make all those frozen ice-creamy things sold by ice cream trucks. Items that you probably think of as being beholden to no one brand. Like Fudgesicle(TM) and Cremesicle(TM).

Sadly, whether it be me or the recipe, I find the new pudding pops less satisfactory. The shape has changed. Once a flat wedge with rounded top, it is now cyclindrical in shape. i prefered the former. It allowed these wonderful sheets of ice to develop around the pop - sliding off as you licked. Loved that.

They also seem to be softer, not as initially sturdy (though maybe this is a difference in freezer settings).

And finally, the consistance is a little chalky. Especially on the vanilla. The chocolate is creamier, but Amy notes it tastes pretty much like a fudgsicle (which isn't really a bad thing, in my book ).

Onthe topic of more helathy, but still not entirely satisfying food, I made brussel sprouts for Easter Dinner. This was, surprisingly, the first stime either Amy or myself have had brussel sprouts. What we learned from this cullinary expedition into the unknown is that, regardless what the recipe may say, brussel sprouts do not cook well by sauteing. Flavor: not bad. Texture: not even resembling cooked. Next time, I'm a-broilin'

But the roasted pear and walnut salad, carrot and apricot julliene, and cherry pecan stuffed pork loin were mighty tasty indeed.

Spring?

I saw a robin last week.

Two crocuses have popped up in our backyard.

It's spitting snow.

I'm so confused, but hopeful.

Perfunctory

Perfunctory was the favorite word of my high school chemistry teacher. If you have memories of the word being joyfully called out in regards to a series of test results, then you probably attended Batavia High School. Sadly, my voice never had the timbre to utter it with the proper mocking joy. I'd forgotten about perfunctory until this evening. Tony decided that since we have a membership to Netflix we can happily experiment with movies we'd never have payed to see in the theater. We've had Daredevil hanging around for about 6 weeks. This afternoon we decided that it was time to watch it. We had pizza. We were feeling lazy. Some days anything looks good compared to doing the dishes. My first thought was, "All style, no substance." Granted this was because one of the first bits of voiceover was, "My other senses developed a sort of radar sense." My writing is clumsy at times, but nobody pays me. Plus it was primarily hearing that took over and wouldn't that technically be sonar? I know, comic book physics doesn't equal real world physics. Anyway, as Tony was looking up mediocre in the thesaurus perfunctory popped into my head. It is the perfect adjective in this situation (in hindsight it may have also been appropriate to high school chemistry).

Perfunctory - 1. performed merely as a routine duty: hasty and superficial 2. lacking interest or enthusiasm; apathetic.

Thank you Webster's.

Death and Taxes

I learned (or maybe that's relearned) a good lesson this week: the wisdom of Neil Gaiman is not for everyone.

Once a month the clinic has a staff meeting. We rotate through giving inspirational quotes known as "Thought of the Day". Wednesday was my turn. Now I don't find myself inspired by tales of misplaced cheese (though I did read it for a previous meeting - swearing the entire time) or even fish being flung through the air. These type of "inspirations" usually leave me wondering what someone is trying to sell me or turn me into. That being the case, I reached for my own favorite bit of inspiration and appropriated it from The Sandman. Specifically the story arc "Brief Lives" and the comic summarized as, "The dogs of art, The people who remember Atlantis, concerning mammoths and falling walls, truth or consequences and other places, when I dream i sometimes remember how to fly, ancestral voices prophesying, bored, she makes litttle frogs, who controls transportation?" Anyhow, for those of you who don't know the reference, we meet 15000 year-old Bernie Capax who gets squished by a wall and brags to Death, "I mean I got what, fifteen-thousand years. That's pretty good, isn't it? I lived a pretty long time." Death responds, "You lived what anybody gets, Bernie. You got a lifetime. No more. No less." I squished around a bit for brevity, but I love that, "You get whay anybody gets ... a lifetime. No more. No less." It sends shivers up my spine and my inner voice always adds on something like, "... to bring joy or pain, peace or sorrow," or, "... so make it shine." Unfortunately, I must not have conveyed it well because there was just silence after I finished. Lesson for me: Even in a place where death happens regularly, don't bring it to the meeting table.

On a brighter note our taxes are done! Such a relief. Now all we have to do is not spend our entire refund in Korea. I think we'll be safe on that count.

Bring joy and make it shine :)

Snow

One of the greatest feelings in the world is sneaking a snowball into the freezer and pelting your unsuspecting spouse.

Really.

I recommend this to anyone who has become heartily sick of the snow that continues to fall. I especially recommend this to anyone who finds herself daydreaming about catching innocent, unsuspecting aquaintances with a snowball to the face or back. Yeah, that would be me. Apologies in advance if you cross my path in the next few days. I really want to hit someone with a snowball.

It's all in good fun, like when Colfax bites the laundry I'm folding. I just want to play in this overwhelming abundance of whiteness we've been gifted with.

I won't mind too much if you throw a snowball back at me.

I'm off to make angels now.

We've got Seoul.

The tickets are purchased. So it's official.

April 8th we leave for a week's vacation in Seoul, Korea.

This will be the first time Amy has been to Asia, my second (I lived in Seoul when I was 10 and my step-father was stationed on Yongsan Army base).

It's going to be interesting seeing how much things have changed in 20 years - my understanding is that it has become very westernized. We shall see.

Why Korea? Why now? It's all made possible by convenience of family. I've got family living there (my uncle is an engineer for an auto manufacturer that will remain nameless because, frankly, I forget exactly what he does. But whatever it is he does, it must be important, because they kept shipping him over there for weeks at a time for business trips. Finally, they just bit the bullet and moved.) So since they are there already, we get to wack a bunch of moles with one mallet. Amy gets a new continent knocked off her world travel list, I get to see Korea again, we ge to visit family, and all without having to pay for a place to stay. And with my good fortune on expedia.com, our trip will cost less than if we had, say, flown to Disneyland for a weeks stay.

And now Amy can get off my case about being blog delinquent.

-tp

Like a Lion

A huge, white lion with a roar strong enough to measure in miles per hour, with a mane of frost and a tail of ice, March has entered in. It's reminding us that sunshine does not mean spring and that longer days do not mean a thaw. In fact, we could be up to our knees in snow until Beltane, or at least April Fools Day.

Sadly, I came home at lunch to a frantic pair of doves. February and November are usually rather mellow, even if they don't want to interact with us. They were both bouncing around the cage, eyeing everything in the room and giving warning/distress calls. Oddly enough, they settled when I opened the cage and pulled out the nest bowl. Inside was a partially pipped egg with a dead chick. They've laid many eggs before and none have ever come close to hatching so I just leave them in the cage until they lose interest. I actually thought that they had a pleasant alternative lifestyle. I guess I'm happy that they're fertile, in case we want baby doves someday. I wish that we could have found out with a live hatchling. Both doves seem fine tonight. They are cuddled up, waiting to be covered for the evening.

Four to six more inches of snow are expected by morning. The winds haven't died down yet. I hope that this lion turns into a lamb in a few weeks. I think I might give the doves another try with the next set of eggs and see if life will emerge.

The Sober Review

It's somewhat difficult to follow drunken Tony.

It really was a great party! Megan and Guy were the first guests to arrive. Guy set up and maintained the fire and Megan helped Tony find the recipe for Sunday breakfast. And Guy had this hat. Very few people can wear a fried egg, bacon and mushy peas on their heads without looking foolish. Thanks to Megan, Guy did a beautiful job. You can see this for yourself at toaster.albeterlli.com:85/weblog/ (I haven't figured out how to do links yet, but it's worth the typing). Jessica and Anthony arrived from Kentucky next. This set up the dynamic of veterinarians and their non-vet partners quite nicely. Megan is in a lab animal residency/PhD program and Jessica will be finishing her PhD and starting a pathology residency this fall. Guy also has a Masters. Lots of education floating around the room.

I don't remember the order of everyone else's arrival (sorry), but at 7:30 the party was officially kicked off by throwing a wooden dragon head in the fire. We figure that about 20 people made it to the party including Carrie and James from Chicago, Bridgitt from Lansing, Jen from Lima, David, Karen, Brooke, Katie, Ann and Bill from RAH, Brian, Darrin, Jessica, Ken, Chris, Corrie, Greg (if I'm forgetting anyone please forgive me). A lot of people for our little house.

There was a lot of food, too. I made mushroom stuffed mushrooms, black forest icebox cookies, miscellaneous premade treats and Aztec Elixer Haute Chocolate from Vosges. Tony made tortilla chips, coconut-crab treats and blueberyy/raspberry pecan french toast for breakfast on Sunday. Jessica brought lovely brownies. Chris brought a tex/mex dip. Ann brought Key Lime pie and Bill made spicy chex mix. Guy brought a trunk load of wood to feed our fire. Mmmmm, wood.

There were also a lot of drinks. We'd stocked up on some basics (mmmmmm, Caramel Temptation), but may other lovely beverages were brought along. Anthony made everyone B-52s, Tony made his signature Pink Squirrels. Katie created a lovely treat that she called a Caramel Pajama (I don't remember what 's in it now except for the Caramel Temptation - mmmm),

Surprisingly, not many games were played. A large part of the evening was spent chatting. To be fair, Darrin and Brian did beat Brooke and Katie at eucher with our scary palying cards. I guess that you could call "guess what stage of drunkeness Tony's at " a game, too. He happily announced about 11:30 that he was almost at Stage 6 ("When I talk about my sex life"). Shortly after that people started leaving. Hmmm ... As the evening continued we did break out the PS2 for some rousing rounds of Karaoke Revolution. Most of the remaining guests sang at least once. Carrie is the reigning champion of "One Week". David wins for best performance and Guy without a doubt was the most enthusiastic. I will always enjoy the memory of Guy and Tony singing "You're The One that I Want". There was much laughter until the remaining 8 of us (Guy, Megan, Carrie, James, Anthony, Jessica, Tony and me) straggled our way to bed at 3:30.

I woke up at 9:30 to the happy voices of Tony, Jess, Megan and Anthony. Tony got breakfast started and we enjoyed the special french toast and bacon (the house still smells a little bacony). Sadly, the snow and promised winter mix meant that everyone had to leave early. Jessica and Anthony stayed alittle later to chat, but Kentucky is a long way away. Thus eneded the magnificent Pajama Party of 2005. Those of you who couldn't make it did miss out, but we'll invite you next year.

Guy left his hat behind. I mailed it to him yesterday.
James, I hope that the final went well.

Pajama Party!

For all those how missed it - you missed out!

Those of you who came but are already gone - thanks! but you missed out!

The remaining partiers (at 2:22 AM) are staying the night, and we've been karaoke-ing for...about two hours. This is the joy/curse of being the last dozen or so at the party... when the crowd things, we sp;cethings up with wacky fun.

We have leanred that Guy likes to sing, and we like bearing witness to Guy singing, but not necessarily for the fine quality of his musical stylings. (luv you, guy, but stick to our day job). At least he gets all the words right (which i seem incapble of).

Photots will follow tomorrow (if I get around to it) sharing all the pictorial fun i had the drunnken snese tio capture (which, sadly, isn't enough.)

No apologies forpoor typing, as I'm drunk..

Oh, and maybe later I'll blog about why I've been so abssent from the blog this last week plus. I'd planned on blogin the events of the approaching party, but the last week has kicked my ass. (i really needed a good PJ party.)

-tony

Two More Days

Technically, a few hours less, but the Pajama (and sweats and scrubs) Party is almost here! WooHoo!!! Tomorrow night we're going to the Addies, the local celebration of advertising excellence. So, Friday night we get to be dressy and formal and on Saturday it's all about being comfortable. I've never been to the Addies before. I'm very excited about this whole process of being respectable and presentable and supportive in public. I suspect that this means no talking about scars or prescrotal urethrostomies. I wonder if axolotls are appropriate conversation?

Axolotls are these really amazing little Mexican salamanders. They are actually only from one particular lake in Mexico. They are neotenic so they never actually leave the water and retain these beautifully feathery gills. They seem to be appearing in my journals more frequently. There is a breeding colony at Indiana University. How cool is that? One place on the planet that breeds in captivity critters that are only from one very specific place on the planet! And they're really, really cute little critters. One of my mentors in vet school had one and he was just adorable. Axolotls should be appropriate conversation anywhere.

Somewhere, Mom is thinking that she really should not have bothered with the etiquette classes when I was in junior high.

Axolotls, pajamas, friends - life is good.

Jammies!

Tony was going to do this, but he's slacking on blog duty ...

This weekend is our annual pajama party! We love pajamas, many of our bestest friends live far away and sleep over anyhow, so we decided to open the house and couches to all of our friends near and far. However, they have to wear pajamas. The house is still messy, but we have purchased snacks and "adult beverages". Tony has a brand new set of pajamas and I'm just waiting for mine to arrive (not that the footies in the picture aren't cute and comfy). Even better, we are going to be joined by many of our out-of-town friends: Megan and Guy, Jess and her sweetie Anthony, Carrie and James and the lovely duo of Bridgitt and Jen who have chosen to leave their husbands behind. Hopefully the in town people will all choose to be part of the fun!

OK Tony, time to quit slacking.

Scars

After I finished cyberwhining last night I kept thinking about scars and took a scar inventory. Strictly physical scars, mind you. I don't have a problem with people who choose to reduce or fade their scars, but I think that the folks at Abreva may be cheating people out of some fond memories. So, chronologically (as best as I can remember): 1. I have a smallpox vaccine scar on my left shoulder. When I was a child I spent 2 hours a day at the pool in the summer. The scar would not tan, so I would have a bright starburst area against my skin. I thought that this was pretty cool. 2. I got my ears pierced when I was in the first grade. One day while I was wearing very thick, heart-shaped studs my friend Jeff gave me a hug. The back of the right stud got caught in his sweater and the stud lodged in the hole in my ear. Mom got it out while I was sleeping, but only my left ear was pierced until the seventh grade. My right earlobe still has a very faint, heart -shaped scar. I thought that this was rather cool, too (and still do). 3. When I was 10 or 11 I decided that my cat, Beauty, needed a bath. She handled the bathing part very well, but did not care for the blowdrying. I have a scar roughly the shape of a grain of rice on my right breast that is the result of this adventure. This was not at all cool at the time, but it's my scar and it doesn't bug Tony. 4. At about the same age I wanted to play with my friend Lynn's kitten (not my excellent college friend Lynn, a different Lynn). Lynn's German Shepherd had other ideas and so there is a very tiny scar above my upper lip. That one just hurt and scared me.
I actually have several other scars, from moles removed, various youthful tree-climbing scrapes, Dad's goose, the seagull, a guinea pig and a pair of plastic ice skates, but there really are too many to go into detail about. My point is that I wouldn't feel like myself without most of my scars. Actaully, I wonder what other scars I'll pick up as life draws a map on my skin. I don't have any on my belly, but maybe a caesarian section will change that. My feet are relatively unscathed, but I like to walk around barefoot. I'm OK with scars, internal and external. At least the wounds have healed. By the way, yesterdays scratches are already starting to close.

Ouch!

Small(ish) creatures have sharp nails. When I left for work this morning i had 3 scratches that were about 90% healed. By 12:30 I was bleeding from my right index knuckle, my left thumb region and my left index finger. Even nice macaws have sharp toenails. The bandages made it until 2:00 and then by around 3:30 I had several more scratches across the back of my left hand. Cute, bald, energetic ferrets that do not want their blood drawn also have sharp nails. Sadly, I never did get blood from the ferret and University of Tennesee probably won't want mine. Happily, I could whine and get lots of sympathy except that Tony knows it's really no big deal. He's right. I'm perversely proud of the scar I have from Dad's goose and ashamed that my only Wildlife ward scar is from a seagull. Macaw scar, now that sounds respectable!

Peanut Gallery: Commence

Though there are fewer than half a dozen people who currently know about this blog (soon to change), Comment posting is now available to all. Mock away.

Post-Holiday Feast

This weekend we trekked to Ann Arbor for our annual (post) holiday get-together with friends Megan and Guy. Because I am lazy, I cross-reference you to Megan's blog -- http://toaster.albertelli.com:85/weblog/ -- for an explaination of our happy tradition. Her blog also contains the wonderfully absurd breakfast hat. Worth a peak for your daily allowance of giggles.

At this year's weekend feast, we learned the following things:

1. Tasty ribs + tasty baked beans + tasty coleslaw + tasty orange and chocolate soufle + tasty red wine by Tony's standards, thought not anyone else's + more tasty ribs = worst morning breath ever.

2. Sushi is not for Tony. More specifically, Sushi most generally requires seaweed, which is not for Tony. Sushi makers also seem overly fond of cucumbers and avacado, which doesn't help.

3. The Internet is for Porn. (This is (I believe the title of) a song from the musical production (the name of which I believe is) "Avenue Q". Hilarious at first, this song bores right into your skull and remains hilarious, though annoyingly so.

4. Forget steamy temptresses - the real threat for a man to leave the bed of his wife is a down-filled couch.

5. Guy likes burning stuff. (In this case, not the food, but the 10 DVDs we came home with).

6. Guy won the weekend. (As he observed upon noting that he won every game we played - 3 rounds of Blokus, 1 round of Rumis, (both of which I highly recommend), and 1 round of One False Step for Mankind (which I recommend if you possess a long gaming attention span).

-Tony

Fuzzy Visions

Uh, Hi. It's Amy this time. As per our title, things are still rather mundane, but today I chose to wear my contacts. Why on earth is this worth sharing? First of all, to quote Tony, "Egolicious". Really though, just to share an odd observation. When I wear my contacts (which are the correct prescription) everything just seems slightly fuzzier than when I wear my glasses (not the correct prescription on the left side). My ophthalmologist has mentioned that this is normal, but it still seems odd to me. Perhaps I do not really look more attractive in my contacts but rather the collective mild fuzziness of all contact lens wearers simply smooths out any imperfections. Glasses being far too obvious an imperfection to be smoothed by a mild fuzziness. Who knows, perhaps I get buzzed or drunk more easily when i wear contacts. Why wouldn't a visual fuzziness predispose to an intellectual fuzziness? Tony doesn't wear contacts so he can't (ahem) clarify things for me. I'll have to experiment at the pajama party next month.

It's EGO-RIFIC!

Seems everyone these days is bathing in the self-importance that is "the blog". We figured, why not us? We have trivial minutia filling in the cracks of our otherwise inconsequential lives. Why not share them with a very narrow population segment, the members of which may or may not know and care for us.

So here we go. Share and enjoy.

-Tony