My pitas page

bluefly.com
and before i forget, i must sing the praises of this website once more. found a great dress at a serious discount suitable for upcoming weddings i must (must!)attend. ordered it, it arrives a scant 4 days later, and it looks fab. so go check them out for all your fab dress needs!

serendipity 3
tonight is quite the night-before-vacation. am going here with a., and then going to see "blue crush" which she and i have been looking forward to since we saw the preview many, many moons ago. and it's not even that hot out today, so maybe the world is getting back to normal.

cascina
here for dinner last night. good food, but the waiters need a teensy bit more training in how to be nice to people i think.

dublin, ireland
in about three days, i will be here, enjoying weather that of late has featured high temperatures of 65 degrees. i can't wait--i've had enough of this hard-core nyc summer. of course, being in ireland will mean no trips to long beach, as happened this weekend with h. and a. and j., and my did we have fun. it's always better to be sweating on a beach when one is half-nekkid than to sweat in the city fully clothed. there was also soft-serve ice cream on the way back to the train, which is a perennial favorite. and we are oh so tan, gentle reader. so tan indeed. a perfect saturday.

nytimes likes "blue crush"
i am going to see this next week, pre-ireland. i really can't wait. i think it is going to rock.

barney's warehouse sale
went to this this morning for the first time ever while killing time pre-dentist appointment. it was kind of lame--just a medium-sized room full of clothes that you can see why no one wanted to buy them. i did try on two pairs of knee-high boots, because fall is coming and i "need" them, but they didn't do it for me. (there was a medium-length blue suede jacket there that was to die for...but at a SALE price of $600 it just seemed wrong to think about buying it.) i guess this was just one more example of the times when it's ok just to have a picture of something in your head rather than go and experience the real thing.

not long now....
i am counting the hours and minutes til i get to lay on this beach this weekend. you have no idea.

thong song
one of my biggest "pet peeves" (if i can say that with a straight face) is when women wear underpants that are visible in one way or another with the pants/skirt/whatever they are also wearing. and apparently it bugs someone at the "ny daily news," too, because here is a whole big article about it. now this is a true act of public service by the news media. i can only hope these offending ladies take it to heart.

oh my gosh
i had no idea this is what slane castle looks like. (attendance at slane 2002 concert on 8/24 takes on a whole new meaning of "so cool!")

learning the hard way
cbgb last night: truly a disaster. the website said the mooney suzuki show began at 6, but the confirmation i got from ticketweb said it started at 8:30. so what is a girl to do other than assume it starts at 8:30 and maybe the 6:00 time they gave is when the doors open or something? so c. and i go to get the tickets at 9 before meeting n., and the mooney suzuki had JUST FINISHED their set! at 9:00 p.m.! so we found n., broke the bad news, and hung out at a sangria & tapas place on the bowery called sala. beware all-ages shows at cbgb's, gentle reader. check the start time before you go.

where my parents are this week
my dad called me from the beach this morning, just to say hi and tell me he and mom were on the beach. i think that might be considered child abuse in some quarters.

stop the madness
well, not really madness. i've just decided that running a marathon this fall is not going to happen for me. i missed too many long runs this summer due to weird sicknesses, and i dont want to try to push myself and just end up pulling a muscle or something equally hurtful. so i will have guaranteed marathon entry for nyc next fall which is quite exciting, as will running friend a.w. who needs to sit out this year's marathon as well due to hurt foot. til then, i perfect my 25 mile-a-week lifestyle: a worthy goal in and of itself.

possession by a.s. byatt
this is what i have chosen to read to/in ireland. partly because i like byatt's writing, and partly because i want to read the book before seeing the movie (which i really want to see). i'll keep you posted.

24 hour party people
also saw this movie this weekend, and it was fan-tastic. it's not going to change the world, win any awards, or make you question your life as you know it, but it is FUN. i was but a tyke when this all took place (well, the first five years anyway) so i have no idea if the movie is "true" to the spirit of the time, or whatever, but it sure felt like it. lots of energy, lots of great music, and you really cannot believe that all of it really happened (to some extent). and steve coogan, by no means a dreamboat, may just be my new git-brit crush. he's a comedian after all, and who doesn't like a darkly funny boy?

signs
while in agawam this weekend visiting the family, c. and i went to see this. and this reviewer hits the proverbial nail on the head: being a scaredy-cat, i was quite scared during this movie. quite scared. and it's lovely to look at. but then the last bit, the end, the moment you REALLY want m. night to mess with your head...he doesn't at all. it's disappointing.

little pie company
stopping here after work so c. and i can arrive in agawam bearing a gift for the family. fingers crossed key lime is still available...

awwww
love dogs, but can't really deal with owning one? this site is great for imagining you have one of these cuties...and it's no commitment just to look.

d.c. mayoral scandal
why can this city not get a guy in office who stays good and honest throughout his tenure? former white knight mayor williams is now being accused of forgeries and fraud related to his petitions to be allowed to run for mayor again. a shining example for our nation's youth, right?

"endpapers"
last night reminded me that i am not really a theater-going person. went to see "endpapers," which was ok, but really the reviewer who wrote this piece got it right in the last paragraph--melodrama and corniness abounded. i wanted to like it, being about publishing and so on, but right away there is a line dissing book publicists and it all went downhill from there. plus it was over two hours long, and really, i just got kinda bored and sleepy toward the end. in short: not recommended. (for this i missed the season finale of "the mole"! annoying.)

need a good book?
it's amazing what one comes across when looking for a good book to read on vacation. this person apparently will recommend books to you if you pay for it! i really want to call this person and shoot down all of their suggestions one by one. yes it's mean, but i bet it's also quite satisfying. (so anyway, i am looking for a good fiction book to read on vacation in ireland. any suggestions? a hint as to my taste: i thought "kavalier and clay" was fan-tastic, and "atonement" was so overrated. e-mail me, if you like. or let me wander around barnes & noble on my own this weekend.)

ok!
seeing the mooney suzuki 8/13 at cbgb. never been here before, so i look forward to my first time at punk rock's u.s. home.

destination tv
the new obsession in the house are the monday night "mystery!" presentations on pbs that pit a fictionalized arthur conan doyle (in real life, the creator of sherlock holmes) against murder and mayhem in victorian suburban london. they're so great--and i am aware of how uncool i am saying that.

tonight, culture
am going to see this play about publishing with a couple of friends from work. because why just work in publishing when you can also go see a play about publishing after a day of work!

slane castle concert 2002
why this trip to ireland is going to rock: am going to historic slane castle to see this line up, including dear stereophonics and the doves. a full day of brit-like music! outdoors! in ireland! we get to take a bus! whee!

tanger outlet
i love this outlet center, perched at the eastern end of the long island expressway. saturday shopping here netted me quite a lot of stuff for very little money, including kick-ass "going out" jeans at j. crew and new nikes for running my little self all over the planet.

jones beach. area 2.
saw this friday night, sort of--boy did it rain, and lightning, and thunder! we got about 8 david bowie songs before he had to stop due to weather and that made it all worthwhile. there is nothing quite like standing in the rain, soaked to the bone, listening to the thin white duke sing "heroes." he's so sexy, talented, what-have-you. crossing fingers he tours on his own sometime soon.

kgb bar
i'd never been to this hipster lit establishment before last night, and i like it. it has a nice vibe--the red walls, the red curtains, the black and white photos of communist leaders. i thought we were only staying for a teensy bit, just enough to start off the author reading, but then we kind of got stuck staying for the whole thing, and two gin-and-tonics later it really wasn't such a bad situation to be in.

plastic food
yet another reason not to eat french fries and potato chips. yuck!

stranded whales!
oh no!

bertelsmann chief ousted
very interesting. a couple of years ago he proclaimed to all assembled employes at the "state of bertelsmann address" that he would die for the company. i am not making this up. wonder how he feels about that now.

all the king's men
recently finished reading "john henry days" by colson whitehead, which was ok but not nearly as good as his first novel, "the intuitionist." am now starting in on this classic by robert penn warren very slowly since it is on the Top 100 books list for the 20th century. and i certainly want to get the most out of it.

twelfth night
this is my all-time favorite shakespeare play, and i am very, very excited to wait in line for hours this weekend to get free tickets to see it in the park. yay new york city, where summer means culture for nothin'.

ah, american u.
a funny news bit about a student who video-d a tipper gore speech at my alma mater and was then charged with intellectual property theft by school officials. um, what? how is that intellectual property theft? the kid sounds annoying, but pretty harmless.

stood up
yes, that would be me and c. last night, waiting outside bowery ballroom for our ticket connection to show. and he never did. if you're ever tempted to buy tix from a guy named greg off of craig's list, think twice. that is all i am saying.

suddenly:
she is going to see the vines tonight at bowery ballroom. what fun!

plans for wtc site
they are all so dreadfully office-building heavy. it's a shame because the collective "we" really should be dreaming bigger and grander for that area. i do sympathize with the guy who held the lease for all the office and retail space that was formerly there, but there has got to be a way to balance recreating that space with creating a proper memorial/public use area. downtown development boosters are always saying they want to attract more people downtown for good, but more office space simply brings more office workers, not residents or consumers.

chris isaak at jones beach
this was the big event of the weekend, which also consisted of seeing "road to perdition" (tom hanks was actually ok, paul newman was terrific) and checking out the bastille day festivities on 60th street (mmm...pate). this show was very fun: chris isaak seems like such a nice boy, and how could you not like a man with the confidence to wear a hot pink suit. natalie merchant opened, and she was lovely and hippie-y, though a bit past her prime. and getting to jones beach is so easy by public transport--i am definitely going to make a beach-related trip out there soon.

subway singer
sometimes, they sneak up on you. today stepped into the nice cool train. doors closed, silence. and then--a shortish, plumpish man near the door begins to sing. but it's not really a song--it's a made-up song/scat about matchmakers and new york city. he keeps singing over and over again how you can meet the matchmaker on your coffee break and take a test and you'll meet girls, but it's not rhyming, not really that melodic, kind of like he's making it up as he goes along. thought maybe he was someone's low-budget idea of advertising, but google doesn't show any websites for a matchmaker named liz on park avenue. i wonder what stop he was going to get off on--he was still riding the train when we departed at 28th street. it was odd, but a nice new york way to start a lovely thursday.

the common cold
my four-day weekend was spent sick. sick! very depressing. but at least i was sick on long island in the sunshine rather than indoors in nyc, right? :) i am hoping it clears up by tomorrow...because i am certainly not sacrificing yet another week of running to some dopey congestion!

gooooal
yeah, i still dig soccer. and soon i will be able to wear this to show the world it is so! (obviously not in this heat, but later in the year.)

mansfield park
there is so much i could write about right now, but time is precious. so instead, here's what i watched last night on "starz" while battling summer cold brought on by arctic-like air conditioning at work. it was quite good, and the bonus was seeing Sick Boy from "trainspotting" in period garb. and i think the actress playing the lead is the most lovely girl ever. don't you think?

the marathon
well, i didn't get in by the lottery system. so the last hope left is that friend a.w. (who DID get in--yay a.w.!) can pull some strings with a pro runner she knows. cross your fingers--otherwise mark your calendars to stand by the road on nov. 3 and cheer on a.w., who deserves this sort of glory.

run the planet
great site for those of you going on vacation, who also want to run while away but don't know where to go. here, runners around the world give you their favorite courses in their home cities. you can also try to hook up with running buddies in foreign lands, get tips on things to do while in town, etc.

babies!
this weekend promises to be way fun. friday: day off from work but will write press kits out on lovely sundeck of apartment building. it is also the day one finds out if they got picked in the lottery to run the nyc marathon, so that could either make the day really good or kind of put a damper on things. friday night: dancing at pyramid, and with gay pride weekend here i can only imagine it will be excellent. saturday: long run in park followed by first trip ever to bronx zoo to see baby animals. there will be much cooing and ooh-ing and ah-ing. sunday: world cup soccer finals between germany and brazil. go germany! good weather is promised throughout these three days, which makes me optimistic that all of the above will actually happen. what are you up to this weekend?

u.s. loses to germany
despite my dislike of the pro-u.s. espn announcer, and my own hope that germany would play some really great soccer, i was sad to see the u.s. lose. they're a pretty good team--maybe next world cup they'll go even further. got to watch the second half of the game at work--yay laid-back publishing industry! and tomorrow is turkey v. senegal, which will be able to catch a teensy bit of before heading off to central park race in the morning.

got credit?
so i am finally taking control of my financial life. (oprah, can you hear me?) not that it was in bad shape, there were just some loose ends. this week i have not only rolled over two old 401(k)'s from previous jobs into an ira, but i have also gotten my credit report from two of the major agencies and cleaned up anything weird in there. who knew hollywood video in d.c. was trying to get money from me for a lost video (which, i'd like to point out, i do not even remember renting)? but soon they shall be paid and i will have an even better credit rating than before. forgive my nerdiness, but it's quite exciting to be so organized.

work vs. life
so last week i got a promotion. which is good, because it's always nice when people think (or say they think) you are doing a good job. however, it's also one of these things that gives me pause, like "what else will you give me to work on even though i already have lots and lots to do and don't know what else i COULD work on if i tried"? like a carrot that ends up being a stick or something. will watch and wait.

the importance of being earnest
finally got to the movies last night to check this out. i quite liked it, having never seen the play and not really knowing what the story was about. such clever writing, grand costuming (i want to wear hats and bustle skirts!), and reese witherspoon is so sweet you could eat her with a spoon--but not in an annoying way, just an appropriate way.

and now, the hives
ok, so: thursday night went to bowery ballroom to catch night #2 of the hives, with mooney suzuki opening. let me say this: they rock. both bands rock. if you were not there, you missed out, i hate to say it. the only other band that comes close in terms of the sheer amount of ENERGY out on stage is the strokes, and they're not that close. both bands: they have Stage Presence. they have Personae. they have Matching Outfits. and most importantly: they Strut. am in love with hives lead singer pelle who regularly told the audience "you LOVE the hives! you LOVE your rock band!" too goddam funny. i wish i had gone to both nights--the link above is for a piece about the wednesday night show penned by none other than rockin grandpa kurt loder. (minor celeb sightings thursday night: the guy from the e street band with long hair, the guy who writes for "spin" that's always interviwed for "behind the music", and mtv's suchin pak.) oh and if anyone wants hives stickers, i have about a billion because we stood right next to the guy who was throwing them out by the handful into the audience. so just lemme know.

zoolander
finally got to see this and technically didn't have to pay for it--it was shown on the bus on the way to massachusetts this weekend. if you're ever in the mood for a mindless movie that still makes you laugh in some parts, this is it.

dublin
sure, there's probably better things to do with one's money than take two vacations in one summer, but why fight the urge to see the world? will be touching down in dublin in late august for a week. looking forward to meeting some folks about whom i have only heard stories. crazy stories.

stand up new york
went here last night for a taping for a new show coming from comedy central called "premium blend." the space itself was not great for last night's sultry weather--very cramped and hot, c. and i literally wedged into a corner against two walls. plus on my other side this fat guy kept advancing mroe and more into "my" space, which was so gross. he was wearing those wrestling pants from the 80s...and a fanny pack. enough said. but some of the comics were really good. you could tell they alternated the good ones with bad ones, but three or four of the guys up there have some good stuff going on. something noticed: none of the girl comics were funny. why is that? is it like that in general? i don't think it is, because i love ms. garafalo, but perhaps she is the only exception to this odd rule.

argentina out
after france got drubbed yesterday, antoher really good team falls by the wayside in the world cup. shocking! but makes one hunger for more games--so glad the first round is over and we can get on to bigger and better and more intense competitions.

area: two
this is so cool--for minimal manual labor, c. and i are going to see this show for free at jones beach. lucky boy was chosen from many entrants to be a member of the AP magazine "street crew," which means one hands out promotional materials for an hour or so before the show, then gets to go inside and see moby, bowie, and more rock the house, y'all. i get to be plus-one-girl. whee! i love david bowie. love him!

would-be terrorist bomber arrested
this kind of freaks me out. perhaps i am just REALLY naive, but i think i'd rather not know about this sort of arrest/plot thing. i do not want to know that somewhere out there--possibly right down the street--someone is plotting to kill me even though they might quite like me if we were ever to meet socially. it kind of makes one want to sit inside under their covers and whimper.

relaxing...finally
this weekend was so darn relaxing i dont know where to start. basically--saturday in cutchogue, ny, on the ocean, followed by a trek back to greenlawn, long island, to the ancestral boy homestead. hung around, went to a small party of weirdos to see the "fight". sunday--drive to this little hamlet of cute b&bs and waterfront dining to consume expensive seafodd-based lunch and margaritas. soccer on the lawn back in, uh, green-lawn, and a drive back into nyc that night that wasn't as bad as one might have feared. got to work on the suntan a bit and just have fun. and got to do laundry and grocery shopping too so it was very productive.

glorious weekend
the end of today cannot come fast enough, especially since i am stuck going to an author event tonight (friday night--it's heresy). but tomorrow morning me, and c., and likely n., tumble into the car to spend the weekend on long island, and at least saturday itself in the north-fork hamlet of cutchogue. the town isn't quite as quaint as these old-school photos would imply, but it's relaxing, and a really good place to mess around outside and eat seafood.

the house of mirth
i've never read anything by edith wharton, but i needed a new book to start, this one was in the house, plus it would allow me to cross off one more book from the list of top 100 novels of the 20th century. so i am almost done and i have quite enjoyed it. wharton does a good job (as far as i can tell) of lampooing the rich in nyc at the turn of the century, while simultaneously making fun of the less fortunate and their hangups (but not in a mean way). the action centers on miss lily bart, nine-and-twenty-years-old, who just messes up left and right when it comes to fulfilling her long-held goal of marrying rich. tres amusant all around.

white wedding
more evidence that the white stripes may have been married to each other....but maybe not. for me, the best part of this piece is the revelation that jack used to be in goober & the peas, a funny punk-country band whose cd libgrrl and i used to play at wvau on those early-early sunday radio shows heard by exactly three people if you include she and i and amy. i still have said nicked disc in my collection at home. (how's philly, s.o.?)

football fever
those of you who know me well know that it is no small thing that i am slowly becoming obsessed with the world cup in particular, and soccer in general. i've been watching the games as much as i can before work in the morning, and am contemplating joining boy tomorrow morning in seeing the first u.s. match at 4:45 a.m. it's just such a great, graceful, intense sport to watch! and if i may be shallow for a moment here ladies, THESE are the sport-based boys we should be lusting after, not baseball or basketball or football guys. they are the fittest human beings i've ever seen.

world cup opens
and france loses right out of the gate. they have time to make up for it before they're totally eliminated, but this is an auspicious start. tonight you might find me at 2:30 a.m. at an irish pub on the east side watching live the ireland/cameroon match. i am trying to get out of here in a coupla hours (summer hours, baby) to take a nap...

last full day
tuesday was designated (by me, and reluctantly by c) as shopping day, and where better to go than the Largest Mall on the Iberian Peninsula, the Centro Columbo. it was a little confusing to find one's way around at first, and so many of the stores were international chains that it was kind of depressing. BUT, the mall has a fully equipped arcade and go-cart track and amusement park on the top floor. granted, most of the games were broken, but c and i must have played a basketball hoop-shooting game for a good hour without tiring of it. we are easily amused. when we tired of the mall, we headed back downtown into the chiado neighborhood (i will so miss getting to say "chiado" on a regular basis) and finished shopping around there, about ready to collapse when we wrapped up. and we couldn't help it--back to "the chicken king" for the last dinner out!

the coast
monday brought warmish weather (mid-60s) and sunshine, so today was daytrip #2, to the coastal towns of estoril and cascais (say: cahsh-KISE). train dropped us right in front of the grand castle-like home of monaco's royal family, and at the end of the grand park that leads up to...the casino. yes, estoril used to be known as quite the gaming town, and even though it was still before noon, c. and i thought we may as well see what sort of people went to the casino before noon on a monday in portugal. you'll not believe it: the casino was NOT OPEN. who ever heard of a casino not open 24 hours a day? so we walked around the very quite main square of estoril, saw the hotel where part of the movie "her majesty's secret service" was filmed, and foun the beach walk to cascais, two towns away along the coast. it was probably a two mile walk, with nice views of the ocean and about 4 huge tankers of indeterminate purpose. cascais was tourist central--one could just about hear the senior citizens tour buses loading and unloading every half hour. but it was charmingly laid out, and the little harbor was still picturesque with it's colorful fishing boats and grand architectural homes. lunch again outside, more "ola!" consumer, and back to the train for time at the pool. tonight, we wandered about for dinner because our first choice place was closed, but we ended up in this little portugese place that was a bit off the beaten track. not in the tourist books, and fine by me. more brasiliara after dinner...

sintra
on sunday, our first day trip on the amazingly inexpensive train system of portugal. we headed out to sintra, a charming town only about a half hour from lisbon but full of lush forests and home to two castles. c and i sucked up our new york snobbery and hopped on a tourism bus that takes you from one sight to another (the castles--surprise, surprise--are on huge hills) and managed to loathe every american on it, aside from ourselves of course. i felt bad, though, for the senile old lady being dragged around by her texan relations. give the woman a break! any hoo: we got tickets for both castles, but could not figure out how to get to the ancient moorish one, not being abole to read the poorly marked portugese maps. so we headed up to pena palace, the wildly colorful place you'll see if you click on the link above. it was so fun--more pretending to be a sentry on guard and the like. there was even a moat, though there was sadly no water in it. then back down to the village on the bus, which the driver kept at a good 900 miles an hour through the narrow streets, and lunch at an outdoor rooftop cafe. train back to town, pool, dinner (you know the drill). but tonight: dinner was at "the chicken king" where the specialty is rotisserie chicken and fries. it was simply the best chicken i have EVER had. and so cheap, as most things were in portugal.

ola!
one of the best things about portugal was the discovery of the best ice cream confection ever thought up. the "ola!" brand of ice cream is sold just about everywhere, but the "magnum branco" is da bomb. it's like a dove bar, but with white chocolate coating instead of the traditional milk or dark chocolate coating. i don't know why this hasn't been thought of here, but perhaps it's just as well. i had one almost every day while away and my pants are kinda sad about that.

torre de belem
saturday: the belem section of lisbon is the oldest part of the city, and on a gloriously sunny day c and i hopped onto a trolley/tram thingy and rode through many turny twisty neighborhoods and up hills to start a belem adventure. we saw a rather sad excuse for a botanical garden, walked down a huge hill past a military housing area, and ended up down on the banks of the tagus ruiver, looking at a HUGE discovery monument before walking down the river further to this medeival tower. climbing the stairs inside is quite scary, but i managed to get most of the way up inside and imagine myself a defender of the city, on the lookout for enemy boats. until i remembered that i would make a lousy soldier, whereupon the tower was left behind and we popped back on a tram to town. more time at the pool, more watching of world cup soccer preview shows, and out to dinner. after dinner, a tradition was born of heading to a cafe in the chiado neighborhood, brasiliara, and me downing a cafe and chris a super bock beer while watching the world go by.

digression
my vacation reading was "empire falls" by richard russo, which i quite enjoyed. it's one of those books where not a lot happens until the end, and then a bunch of stuff comes out at once, and you are left wanting to know more. i swear he set the story in the town i lived in in new hampshire, despite it taking place quite emphatically in maine.

castelo de soa jorge
day #2: overcast, chilly. perfect day to climb up hte biggest freaking hill you have ever seen to look at an old castle. i am, of course, just joshing you. we started with a metro ride to the rossio, and breakfast in a cafe. then, began the trek uphill, made much more interesting becuase we didn't really know which way to go. so we just found a hill and started going up it. it turned out to be the wrong hill, but from the top we could see how to get to the right hill...in all, amazing views of the city and the river from this castle. then we climbed down into the alfama district, which is the postcard-y section of lisbon with small colorful rowhouses. very picturesque, and we had our first tram ride experience up another hill and down again to see an old church. the sun came out for a few minutes, and it was encouraging. after romping about outside, back to the hotel to hit the pool. then, dinner at a hipster doofus pizza joint called casanova down by the tagus river. the time out lisbon book got this one right: the thin-crust pizza was so good, and everyone was quite patient with us given that we did not speak portugese, but rather a mix of good spanish (chris) and baby-spanish and english (me).

Air Portugal
the first day of vacation was dominated by the flight, the need to sleep, and so much walking that i think c and i both got in way more than the recommended 10,000 steps per day. arriving at the airport, we were a bit disheartened: weeds overgrowing all around, a tram ride from the plane to the 1970s era airport terminal, and a cab ride through crumbling neighborhoods to arrive at the sheraton...where we were told it would be about 4 hours before we could get into our room. it's about 8 am when we hear this. so we set out and walk, knowing nothing about the city, where we were, where cool things to look at might be, and for many, mant blocks things don't really look up. it's like cuba, i'd wager, where everything looks like once it was gleaming but now it needs a paint job and a huge infusion of capital. i was so tired i couldn't even tell you where we walked, really. at one point we got on the subway and went down to the waterfront, where we saw the first of four people peeing in public that we would glimpse during our trip. we found the main public square (the rossio), the much prettier neighborhoods, and basically sat down for a while. went back to the sheraton, demanded a room at 11:30, and upon entering said room we collapsed asleep til about 4 pm. then had a very discouraging lunch-type-meal at a cafe up the block, fearing that if everything we had to eat for the next week was as fried, well, we'd better update those life insurance policies. and then that night we went to a portugese (shocker) restaurant called paris that the time out book said was good and popular...we were the only ones there at 8:30 p.m. heading to bed that night, we feared this vacation would be a bit of a disaster.

west wing
i'll miss the finale tomorrow night, but somehow i think that i won't mind that much, seeing as i will be on my way to a full week of relaxation.

runner's high
fact or fiction? i think it's a bit of fiction--of course you will feel good if you work out hard because, you know, it feels good to use your body to the max. not to mention how GREAT you feel when you're done! interestingly, no one has studied the runner's low, which is my newly-coined name for the part of the run where you hate running and you never want to do it again. perhaps that is due to some sort of chemical as well...but maybe scientists only want to know how people get happy, not sad. i guess i can understand that. i'd love to know the reason myself.

this time i have the kielbasa
heading to warsaw on june 2 to see black rebel motorcycle club. woo hoo, despite the commute there and back! kids, i am so darn tired. vacation is in two days. much serious life-evaluating will be done in foreign climes. will miss you til i return!