The Myth & The Majesty

Three weeks ago, I sent a text off to the Machine. "Want to go watch the eclipse with me?" His answer was immediate and straightforward: "Yes." Being me, this wasn't the first time I'd thought about it. I'd been half-planning for months what I might do for The Day, based on where I thought I might be living at that point. As far as I could tell, I'd be close to the path of totality no matter what -- the question was more about how much free time I might have. As it turned out, I didn't have to worry about the time. Even better, as Monday neared, my crowd grew. First was the Machine. Then, Ashli realized she was starting work here on the 22nd. Finally, I met Mikah Meyer , a record-setting traveler who happened to be in the area with no firm eclipse plans as of nine days ago. The team now assembled, we started debating our options. Rapid City happened to lie two to three hours from the path of totality, with many options for where you ...

July was a month of people. Actually, it was so much more than that, but trying to narrow it down to a few events has proven fruitless. Bear with me. There are a lot of things to summarize. It started with a trip to Minneapolis. Some sightseeing, food and beverages while visiting the Admiral, then a big family wedding... Wedding survivors! And then Mia Sorella and Jay turned up. They had a month of in-between-ness and turned up in Rapid. Which among other things meant a lot of cat pictures. And some enjoyment of Rapid City's downtown. And all of the food. Then Shorty joined us for some Pokemon. There was boating, biking, and hiking to be had as well. The sand mines by Deerfield.   The Strato Bowl from a new angle. Then, just for fun, I had a mess of other friends turn up. All on the same weekend, too. The weird part about this is that I don't have any pictures of you, Ashli. What happ...

We had a little extra excitement around here on the fourth. It's been dry. Hot, windy, no rain -- the grass is already hitting a crackly stage that makes a girl nervous. This is the kind of summer I remember from college. The kind that sparks forest fires seemingly out of spite, without aid from lightning, humans, or even just a hot engine. So you can imagine what happens when Independence Day rolls around and thousands of flaming sticks take flight. We had finished supper already when someone rang the doorbell. Or more importantly, when it rang seven times in a row. I can safely say that when you hear the words, "There's a fire out back!" it doesn't take long to find shoes and a door. Note: I'm standing in our backyard while taking this. Before the fire trucks could get here, the entire neighborhood showed up. Garden hoses were unrolled and buckets were found. People clambered over the fence to start spraying down the edges, taking buckets t...

I was four years old when I started growing out my hair. For the next two decades, it was nearly miraculous if I was willing to let anyone near it with a pair of scissors. Sure, it got trimmed on a regular basis, and here and there the trims were maybe four full inches, but the bottom line was that I had long hair. I was obsessive about it, downright vain, and that was just the way it was. It was alternately a crutch or a point of pride ... but more completely, it was part of my identity. One of the more fun Google Image searches I've made today. And for a very, very long time, I looked ... very much the same. Other things changed (glasses to contacts, crooked teeth to braces to straight teeth, eventually hitting 5'3" and staying there) but my hair? Not so much. It wasn't until I graduated college and moved to Wisconsin that I even considered anything else. I don't know whether it was boredom, a new location, or the suddenness of feeling...

Okay. There's a story I have never told here. One of my most amusing stories, too, for that matter. It has always seemed more fit for parties than a family-friendly blog ... and to be honest, it is more fit for parties than a family-friendly blog. However, as it is one of my best stories, most of my family members have heard it, and it contains no actual foul language ... plus I'm reasonably sure I have no young, impressionable readers ... and besides that, it could serve as a warning tale if I do ... I've decided to tell it here. With any luck, I can write it very closely to how I normally tell it. I apologize in advance for any run-on sentences. So here we go. This is Grocery Store Guy. * While living in Wausau, I had a habit of going to Barnes & Noble after work on Fridays. It was my wind-down time and quite crucial to my happiness. This particular Friday -- a random one in March two years ago, not long after England (where I was proposed to by a drunken Eng...

It was Tuesday, January 9th, 2007, when I first sat in that room. I was surrounded by middle-aged men whose importance I would only know months later, and I was probably not quite nervous enough. The truth was that the day had gone pretty well so far and my confidence was oddly buoyed. It seems only fitting that 1360 days later, I found myself in that room again, this time chatting with a career counselor for a placement agency as my time there came to an end. Yesterday held the third round of layoffs for our company in the last year and a half. This time my department didn't escape unscathed. More specifically, I didn't escape unscathed. As of about 24 hours ago, I joined the ranks of The Unemployed. As I kept telling people, I wasn't doing well -- but I had been worse. It wasn't the worst day of my life and somehow that made it much easier to deal. Howver, it hasn't really sunk in yet despite the "action item" list in my head. I need to call ...

Well. You're going to get a blow-by-blow because there's just no other way to describe the last few days. It started on Wednesday. The second day of rain with more projected, we got an email warning us that flood procedures were being reviewed and may be put into effect. You see, my workplace happens to lie in a floodplain. It's protected by berms between us and the river (and between us and some of the higher ground on other sides) but given where the river was expected to crest, it could very well turn said berms into a bowl instead and flood our buildings. Anyway, this warning came on Wednesday. On Thursday, E-Train and the Admiral happened to appear for a couple days of weddings. That afternoon, we were informed that we should turn up for work on Friday ready to move chemicals uphill and fill sandbags. When I left work, that was where things stood. I had just settled in to have dinner with the boys and Neubs when my phone buzzed at me with a message. It was fr...

Yesterday was a truly fabulous day. Actually, the whole weekend thus far has been fantastic. I took Friday off because, well, I wanted to, I had things to get done at home, I have some vacation time I have to use or I'll lose it, and last week had been slow enough that I could stay home without guilt. Did you get all that? Good. Anyway, I stayed home on Friday. By virtue of being a day longer, my weekend was automatically 50% more awesome. Managed to laze around, clean up my house (more or less), get a hair cut, and enjoy the weather. All in all good use of a Friday, I think. The Admiral turned up and we went out for dinner, then grabbed a couple drinks with other friends. Yay for Friday. Yesterday there were no set plans until 7PM. The two of us and Neubs ended up grabbing breakfast at what may very well be the best little diner in Wisconsin. (Seriously, I love the place and I need to go there more often. It's clean, it's inexpensive, the staff is awesome, the fo...

"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...

Twelve Things On My Living Room Walls 1. A painted puzzle collage ... thing. 2. Photos I took of cathedrals in Russia, the onion domes colorized and the remainder of the pictures black-and-whited. 3. Prints of illustrations from one of the first editions of Pride & Prejudice. 4. A family photo from the continental divide in Yellowstone. 5. A shot of me in London with the Tower Bridge in the background. 6. A wine grape varietal table. 7. We-were-here shots with Tanya and Anya in St. Petersburg. 8. A picture with my sister and the Spoonbridge in Minneapolis. 9. My favorite shot of Mt. Moran in the Tetons. 10. A silver and clear clock. 11. A signed print of "xkcd Loves the Discovery Channel." 12. A small red shelf with a monkey candleholder on it. Well, I chased everybody out after some lasagna and a few games of Cribbage, and now I'm technically doing dishes. Okay, so my dishwasher is doing dishes. I'm waiting for it to finish. 2009 is nearing its end and as such, t...

How to describe today? Today marked the beginning of a really, really screwy Christmas weekend. Not bad. Not great, either, and certainly not what was planned -- but not bad. As many of you are well aware, there's a large storm descending upon the Midwest right now as we speak. I was quite excited to get out of Wausau when I did because I managed to avoid some of it and get home unscathed. A second stroke of luck -- Shorty made it back without issue after a late shift at work. He got back Monday, really early in the morning. However. Isn't there always a however? My parents are headed to Beijing Sunday morning to meet up with Mia Sorella for a week of fun and games and quality family time. Which was going to require them to drive up Saturday night and hang out in Minneapolis. Until this storm came around. There's enough concern over the possibility of the interstate closing between here and central Minnesota that they actually left this morning. For the next three days, the...

Yesterday was the trip. I shall remember it well ... It started with 140 solid miles of fog, clearing up in time to see the last of Wisconsin, continued with some quality time at IKEA, ended with the Body exhibit at The Mall and 185 miles of dark (I recommend the exhibit to all, but the drive only to those who don't mind driving at night). There was some additional shopping in there, but more importantly, the purpose. Yes, the Pioneer Woman herself was at The Mall yesterday. Brave woman -- I'm pretty sure the total signature line was no less than six hours long. (I wouldn't kid about something like that.) I'm not sure how many hundreds of people that was, but the crowd was huge. I ended up in line with two other people there alone -- a woman buying books for her sisters (and, after waiting for a couple hours for the signing to start, bought one for herself) and the other a gentleman from Kentucky getting books signed for his daughters (and, after waiting fore a couple o...

Let me tell you a story. Some time back -- I estimate between 18 and 24 months ago, although I'm not totally sure -- I took Sophie in for an oil change. As usual, I kicked back in the customer waiting area with my mp3 player and a book, paying very little attention to the things going on around me. I glanced up as someone else walked in -- and caught sight of the television over my head, tuned in to some cable news station. The host was talking via webcam to someone I didn't recognize, and here and there still photos flashed up -- photos of cattle staring at the camera, photos of kids doing random things, and occasionally photos of men in chaps. The chaps. The chaps were what ultimately made me take out my ear buds. It turned out that the woman's name was Ree, and she ran a website that was quickly growing in popularity. I caught that last part as they went to commercial and the segment ended, and I quickly jotted down on a piece of paper the only reference I caught -- ...

I have a Halloween tradition that started with the girls' house on Utah. We sat down and watched "Phantom of the Opera," drank wine, and handed out candy instead of going out, either bar-hopping or party-hopping. And it was a fantastic night. Since then, I've done the same thing every Halloween. Today's marathon will be kicked off by the Phantom. Yay. Then, "Boondock Saints." The sequel was released yesterday -- limited release, nowhere near here -- but I think a viewing of the original is in order to commemorate the sequel. [If I'm really lucky, it'll end up in Minneapolis or Chicago sometime in the next month or two...] Then, an actual Halloween movie ... And a reminder of a good friend. Unavoidable with this one. Finally, with a deep breath ... Tomorrow: chick flicks so I can recover.

Aside from the fact that there's still a small lurking chance I'll end up in China at the end of November. And aside from the fact that I actually want to go to China, partially because it'll be an adventure and partially because I can't convince my brain I've done enough traveling this year (which is a lie) and partially because that means my first-ever project will be starting up ... And aside from my wandering sentences. Aside from all that, I'm starting to get really excited about the things coming up for the remainder of this year. And starting to hope that said start-up will get just a little delayed. I know it's not good business practice to hope for such things, but, well ... There's just so darn much going on. I don't want to miss it all. Take, for instance, this woman . She just released a cookbook ... like, yesterday ... and in her ensuing book tour, she'll actually be in Minneapolis. Minneapolis! It's right there. I could actual...

Coolest. Thing. Ever.

What a crazy weekend this is turning into ... It started with a Rubik's Cube birthday party. You wear one item of each of the six Rubik's Cube colors (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and white) and then you trade items until you're wearing all one color. The pictures that resulted are priceless. Then yesterday morning nine of us went kayaking. It was my first time out, and I have to say -- I think I might be hooked. I've already started looking for a used kayak (because, well, new ones are expensive) ... and a roof rack, because I drive a little car. I was surprised. I thought I'd probably enjoy it, but ten minutes in and I never wanted to get out of the water. I think it was a maneuverability thing, coupled with a control thing (shockingly) ... So much fun. Anyway! That's what's spurred another list. This one is One New Preference And Eleven Other Preferences I've (Re)Discovered This Weekend 1. Kayaking over canoeing. 2. Mowing the yard over shoveling...

I'm already tired. Today started just a little bit earlier so I could shovel the sidewalk. We've gotten a few inches of snow now ... It's gonna be a white Christmas. Tomorrow night, The Brit is throwing a housewarming shindig after the holiday parade downtown. I have no idea how late I'll be up, but I imagine it'll be hard to leave early. Not sure I'll totally want to, either. Saturday E-Train and his wife (weird sentence) will be in town in the early afternoon because the company Christmas party is Saturday night. I'll have the morning to take care of any last-minute details for that evening or the next day. And on Sunday, Mia Sorella is graduating. I'll get up dark and early on Sunday so I can be in the Cities in time. On top of that, Matt's there for a couple of weeks of training, so hopefully I'll catch him Sunday afternoon. Assuming I do, I probably won't drive back to Wausau till Monday morning. That makes this a very full weekend. And ...

I'm going to break from the family history for a bit since I'm now at home by myself, listening to Christmas music in the quiet of my apartment and thinking about how the weekend has gone. So! The blow-by-blow. My parents and sibs showed up on Wednesday after a brief detour at the very end of their trek. Turns out Mother Dearest had two sets of the turn-by-turn directions I sent her, and only one had the ever-important correction about the highway they just finished. Naturally, Mia Sorella was navigating from the uncorrected set. Anyway! They got here and unloaded the Exploder, and after a brief tour and some general chat, we hit Hereford & Hops for dinner. H&H is one of my favorite restaurants in town. They're a steakhouse/brewery, and both their steak and their brew are top-notch -- and moderately inexpensive. Having kicked off the weekend in good form, we headed back to the house and had dessert -- blackberry and cream cheese pie from Norske Nook in Osseo, WI. A-...

This may be one of my favorite group photos yet. (Roughly two-thirds of the original Cool Table.)