The Myth & The Majesty

In preparation for Friday night, I left Saturday open. I assumed that I'd be tired and generally not want to be around large crowds of people following a night of wine and a large chunk of the Wausau populace. I was wrong. Instead, I spent Saturday energized and craving people-time. Sure, there were errands to run, but the biggest problem was that most of my friends were relaxing at home or out of town. Which meant I had unwanted me-time. And that's rare. Today? Much improved. Made it to church with Neubs ... and then since both of us were avoiding going home to clean, we went to lunch and made a few random stops around town. [Wausaunians: if you're up for a random sight, go check out the snow sculpture at the Leigh Yawkey.] Since then, I've thought really hard about the things I intended to get done ... Perhaps I should get to those.

A week of radio silence is rare for me, especially when I'm actually in town. For that -- I don't apologize. I was saving you, my three readers, from utter nonsense this week. It didn't start well. The Admiral announced on Sunday that he had (finally) gotten an offer on his house, and by Monday afternoon the papers had been signed. By the end of February, he will be living in Minneapolis. No longer will my tango partner live in town ... No longer will I have a reliable date for community events ... No longer will the office ring with absurdly loud laughter (well, at least not on our end of the building) ... And for that matter, that's one more of the original Cool Table to go missing. Yeah. It kind of sucks. But life must go on, so now I'm going to pester him into hanging out with me as much as possible for the next few weeks ... And there was plenty going on this week to provide such opportunities. The week ended on a much higher note (okay, I know, it's not ov

I have very little to say this week.

We landed last night a few minutes behind schedule because of a mix-up at the gate. The gatekeeper hadn't been informed that our slightly delayed flight attendant had actually arrived. I felt kind of bad for the guy. There were a lot of irate customers chewing him out for there not being another flight to Newark that night and he was the last remaining person at a United gate. Today has been ... uneventful. After several days of being almost constantly in the presence of others, I spent the day running errands and hanging out in almost complete anonymity. It was wonderful. Now, I find myself sitting at home, watching some "Psych" and getting my sugar fix from Sweetart Hearts. The little Valentine's Day bags are about the perfect quantity. Plus I get to reminisce (to myself) about my days as a mildly boy-crazy elementary school girl and my attempts to get the attention of a kid named Josh around V-Day. (In retrospect, I think it worked.) Yep. V-Day's great if you&#

My trip is wrapping up nicely ... which is something I should probably erase right now since we're not on the way to the airport for another 15 hours or so. But I'm not going to do that. It was foggy and humid from the time we drove in Tuesday until sometime this morning. Today by the time we got all dressed up in our NOMEX and hard hats and headed out to the system, it was absolutely gorgeous. Which means that at 11:00 today, I was standing in the sun in a fire-retardant jumpsuit and steel-toed shoes, the scents of a full chemical plant all around and the sounds of machinery muffled by earplugs. And it was good. I kind of wish I had gotten a picture, actually. Largely because I have a hard time ordering things like fire resistant jumpsuits that fit well. (I'm short, okay?) I can say with all honesty that this is going better than I expected (but then again last week I was pretty pessimistic and didn't feel like leaving town). Plus, well, I've had some fantastic sea

Well! Here I am in the Lone Star State, sweating more than I remember doing in January ever ... which is mildly depressing because I haven't done much in the last three or four hours. It's the humidity. Or that's what I'm blaming, in any case. Seems accurate enough. Anyway. I have very little to say. Not that there's nothing going on or that my week has been boring -- far from it. But I really can't say much about visiting one of our installations because a) I'm probably not supposed to and b) it would bore two of my three readers to tears. (I'm pretty sure the third is mentally damaged.) Instead, I sit in my rather nice hotel room, writing a memo on the visit and thinking about the tango workshop I'm going to on Sunday. Which means I have no focus at all. Perhaps I should go to bed.

Oh, airport. How I missed you, in a screwy backwards kind of way.

Pastor Ryan over here started this and I've been short on something to write all week -- so I decided to take him up on this. First of all, the important one: Google has a fantastic link if you're thinking about Haiti but not sure what to do. The Pioneer Woman has something going on as well -- although the contest portion has closed, there are some great suggestions there. I've been spending far too much time surfing the Internet lately (perhaps finally making up for my months unplugged?). My most-visited sites this week were xkcd , redblog , IMDb , Facebook (argh), Wikipedia (as Moonie points out regularly, it's like "Choose Your Own Adventure" for grownups), B&N (I'm coveting a few books right now), and I think I'll lump all of my blurking into one (those links are mostly in the sidebar). It's a little disturbing that I'm spending as much time as I am on the computer. I've got a crazy weekend ahead, which will start in a little

"I hear your risotto is tremendous." "It is tremendous, sir." - The V.U.P. and the maitre d' in "Ocean's 13" Occasionally I get bored with my usual menu, and for good reason. Left to my own devices, I'll make one or two things and eat leftovers for two weeks. It's a hazard of living alone. This week, however, is a Test Kitchen week. Every once in awhile I gather up some of the recipes I've considered possible for group meals and try them on myself. Last night was an appetizer night; tonight, a feast of epic proportions. The non-Test-Kitchen part was chicken (marinated overnight in wine) grilled on many first-edition George Foreman Grill (a hand-me-down from my mother and one of the things I use most often) with vegetables, topped off with fresh basil. Tasty. The scary part? I finally attempted risotto. Let me tell you -- it wasn't nearly as difficult as expected. Although it did almost take longer than my attention span could last

This weekend wasn't exactly conversation-inspiring, but it was fantastic all the same. Relaxing. And I should be writing a few movie reviews now that I've been to three since New Year's. (It's a little ridiculous.) I must have been putting up with rather low water pressure for much longer than I realized -- not just because this wasn't a "sudden occurrence" kind of problem, but because the first time I turned on a faucet after last week's debacle I thought I might break something. From Thursday to Friday I went from no running water to could-kill-a-person water pressure. It was an impressive shift. Laundry takes a considerably shorter time, and it seems my dishes get cleaner in the dishwasher, too. Really. How long was this going on and how did I not notice?! In other news, it's official: 20°F with a windchill of 11°F actually does feel warm. This is not a terribly exciting week. I'm fully aware of that. I feel a bit like I should have all sort

Maybe it was the sunshine that had me fooled. In any case, I stepped outside today and thought, "Hey! It's kind of nice out today!" Actual temperature: 11°F. Feels like 1°F with wind and humidity. Something about that is just plain wrong. After a tumultuous first week, it's possible that this morning's confusion exemplifies 2010: the year of skewed perspectives. I'm a little nervous about how this will play out for the remaining 51 weeks.

Katie. I'm so sorry.

In a strange twist of ... something, I woke up this morning to a rather significant problem. I don't know why, but for whatever reason, there's no water to my house at the moment. Or at least no water pressure (although I'm not sure it matters if the net result is the same). Every rental has its quirks, and my particular rental has ancient plumbing. I think the only reason I'm not completely freaking out about this -- why I'm just annoyed instead of in tears -- is that I've accepted the quirk. There are ways around things. Already I've dealt with broken pipes, strange leaks, and my particular favorite -- an unsealed upstairs shower that leaked into my bathroom ceiling. That was pleasant. Of course, it's a bit more complicated when there's no water to ANY part of the house. Even if I had a housemate, going upstairs would do me no good. Instead, strange and different contingency plans have to come into effect. I got to ask the Admiral for

For those relatives that read this on Facebook and are curious: my parents are almost back to Minneapolis. They spent a night in Vancouver (where the airline actually took really good care of them -- they should be well-fed and well-rested by now) after their flight from Beijing got delayed (by snow) by about ... eight hours? They should be back in the area in a couple of hours. Apparently it's been an adventure trying to get home, just as it was a debacle trying to leave. That's really all I have at the moment. My own day hasn't been terribly interesting. I'm okay with that.

Tell me, dear readers -- is it outrageously cold where you are? Because I'm freezing my poor toes off. It could be worse, by all accounts. My parents are stuck in Beijing thanks to the snow there ... Actually, they may have left by now, as their flight arrival time has held steady for a few hours now. Either they're in flight or it's been cancelled altogether and they're stuck waiting for the next one. They're lacking in phone or internet access so I don't actually know. And the half-information I can get from the airline and airport websites is only so helpful. This post wasn't initially going to be about the weather, but there you have it. No, this post was going to be about resolutions. (Hmm. Ironic.) You see, I made no resolutions this year. Not that there are no areas in need of improvement in my life -- quite the contrary. I made no resolutions because it's too easy for me to blow them off. Instead, a couple months ago I took an

This was a fantastic weekend. That's all there is to it. Certainly doesn't make it any easier to face Monday morning.

If you can't make your mind up We'll never get started... ("Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps," originally by Doris Day) After a ridiculously productive week, the thought of making a New Year's resolution seems completely absurd. I mean that sincerely. After a weekend of cooking almost nonstop back in SoDak (which was strange, considering there were only two of us), I seemed to have momentum going for me. On Monday I put food together for the whole week; on Tuesday I fed nine people (and actually cleaned up after them, which is impressive if only because of my absolute hatred of washing dishes); on Wednesday I did three loads of laundry and knitted a scarf. Last night was fantastic; it started with a beer release, moved on to a fundraiser and the turn of the decade (and a tango to Cake, which was unexpected and awesome), and ended with friends at a bar at 3AM. Today, I woke up feeling fantastic and vowed to enjoy my Friday not at work. After banana pancakes, Cribbage, and