email me
bring it
feeling:
running mileage
this month: 160
6/01: 126
listening to a lot lately:
essence by lucinda williams
the essential bob dylan
reading:
the new yorker
recently read:
harry potter and the chamber of secrets by j.k. rowling
rating: 7: While not as exciting as the first, simply due to familiarity with the characters and the weirdness, a quality follow-up nonetheless; interesting how rowling really makes the effort to develop the characters and other story lines for so much of the book, which has the effect of keeping you in suspense about what the suspense is going to concern; still, felt that some of hermione's actions were out of character - but maybe she's just growing up; as for harry, I'm a little less impressed because he's now acting like he knows what he's doing and I liked him better when he was totally clueless. (7/31/01)
read more book reviews
stuff i kinda want:
at amazon
at cdnow
me: heh.
stuff i've written
bar reviews
betty lennox
celeb hair
chris bohjalian interview
cosmetic surgery
diet do's & don'ts
fall makeup
fit & fabulous guinea pigs
foreign service?
gay parents
holiday gifts
letter to christina
missing kids
mother's day book selector
myths about africa
oscar beauty & fashion
sleeping kids
spa chefs
taj mcwilliams
war room workplace
polls
entertainment trivia (5.16.01)
running title poll (7.3.01)
the archive
index
summer '00
sept & oct '00
nov & dec '00
jan & feb '01
march '01
april '01
may '01
june '01
Tuesday, July 31, 2001
11:25 am so, being the big stupid that i am, i told people about the pete yorn show right here on this pita a couple of weeks ago. and then i put off buying tickets until last tuesday. and then all his shows were sold out. so i felt really stupid. but fortunately, holly and catherine went and catherine posts a little review of the show, which makes me feel not so stupid for not going. thanks, catherine. and sorry about the tube-topped barbies. and the lack of beverage service. and the annoyingness of the singer in question. and the over-produced sound. etc. yeah. but hey, it was $10, so.
10:56 am today is harry potter's birthday. I only know this because I'm such a dork that I signed up for emails from the movie's web site. Have you seen the trailer? It's so cool. I really can't wait for the movie to come out this fall. Just finished book 2. See left side bar for review.
I have a problem with people trying to publish dead writers' unpublished works (and when welty's not even cold in her grave!). It's like, if they didn't get them published when they were alive, then maybe they didn't think they were up to par for publication. But I do think it's somewhat different when the writer was an unknown in life, because you can figure that they just didn't know the right people or didn't know if what they were working on was good enough or not.
Monday, July 30, 2001
3:58 pm this article about real authenticity versus people who snottily cling to only those things that are "authentic" (such as american spirit cigarettes, used and tattered but ridiculously expensive clothing, ani difranco [not mentioned in the article but my personal pet peeve in the authentic fan dept.], etc. - things that the consumer thinks are not marketed to the mainstream) is interesting. I, too, have a problem with that, but only in the case that the people are really snotty about their authenticity and insist on their righteousness because of their interest in the item/style/music and bash anyone who doesn't adhere to the authentic lifestyle and/or who shows any interest in mainstream culture. That's annoying. But the guy who wrote this is really bratty about it, almost to the point where he sounds like he's being an 'authentic person' in his adamantly anti-faux-authenticity angle. well, just read it, but it's weird.
only 25 percent of manhattanites are married? That's kind of crazy.
I find it funny that this girl, anna blumenthal, was hired by the new york times to write this article about how she can't find a job. maybe if I complain about not being able to find a new job, the new york times will pay me.
New jersey=wine country? Who knew?
Thursday, July 26, 2001
7:02 pm what is up with this day? the highs and lows are enough to kill me. getting work done? of course not. why is everyone so darn confrontational? is it me? am i being confrontational? maybe. well, yes, i guess that's probably the common denominator, huh? right.
well, hey, if you know anyone who's female and looking for a share in an apartment in park slope for only $775, give me a shout out.
Tuesday, July 24, 2001
3:39 pmthis very personal essay about a couple's potentially pending divorce is really, really sad. i almost cried.
this analysis of "legally blonde" is so over the top. in trying to convince us that the flick was all about whiteness and the way white people act, the final fade-to-white is given way more attention than the actual substance of the movie, which is totally stupid. my god. i mean, yes, focus on the utter lack of minorities in the movie or on the way that the latino pool boy was drawn in the courtroom or the anti-PC-ness of the entire film, but, come on, don't talk for more than half the piece (and start with this topic of all things when it's the very last second of the movie!!!) about the stupid blindingly white fade-out at the end. some people should not be writers and some people should definitely not be movie critics. yet some people choose to be both despite these facts. amazing.
11:02 am today I'm in mourning for american literature: eudora welty died yesterday at the age of 92. oh.
a new magazine is born: this one is called "mainline lady" and is for dutch female drug addicts. now why didn't I think of that? it's such a large, general target audience clearly in need of a high-quality fashion and lifestyle glossy. but man, it just sounds so depressing.
so I went running in the morning today for the first time in a while. It's good to be out there so early when new york still feels bright and clean and you've got your whole day ahead of you, but it's also just damn hard to get out of bed. Remember when I used to do it all the time? I barely do. It seems like centuries ago. But I think that the morning runners have learned a thing or two in the past year. Like, before, everyone would be running all over the place, running into each other, total chaos. But this morning, everyone was going in the right directions, on the right sides, and in an orderly fashion. It's so nice to see new yorkers getting along, even if all the cabs whizzing by were still maddeningly honking their horns at each other and errant bike riders.
Poor george harrison. between having a brain tumor, a cancerous lung, and throat cancer and being stabbed by a psychotic fan, he's probably feeling tempted to agree with the rumors circulating that he's going down for the count. And he's only 58.
the one thing ("one thing???") I want to know regarding the condit/levy investigation is this: was the disposed watch box at all connected to al gore's invisible lock box? Hmmm. the world may never know.
indonesia gets a female president with the election of VP megawati sukarnoputri. Let's just hope that she's a real woman and doesn't let her conservatism and military connections lead to a loss of liberty for indonesians. [did i really just say that? that was weird.]
This is great: a kind of adjustment program for people who have come back to the U.S. after volunteering in war-torn countries. I can't imagine how difficult it must be to come back here - where people are fussing over so-called "society girls" who run into people with their cars in the hamptons - after that. How weird and stupid it all must seem. god knows i already think it's weird and stupid. [no, you don't get a link to go with this comment -- that's the point, stupids.]
Monday, July 23, 2001
4:24 pm there is no reason a weekend should come to an end. What is the point of toiling, toiling, toiling away in our little cubicles and offices when we could be out with people we love, having fun, doing good in the world, creating things, and just living? Work is just a big scam to keep us down. It was invented by people who are easily amused by things like watching ants build homes out of sand only to have them stepped on and have to start again. does anything ever get done in anyone else's workplace?
Ah, that's right: today is Monday, woe of all roaming and inventive minds.
but don't you feel that sometimes weekends are just too good to deal with on mondays? On Sunday night, all you can think is, "make this last…let Sunday go on and on and on…." But then it's Monday and you're back at the computer, back on the phone, back to checking email, back to people arguing about whether something is "on-brand" or not. I am not on-brand. And for that reason, I think I should be released from the hell hole of work. If only for today.
so it was a gnocchi weekend to some degree (Friday and Sunday nights), and this week is likely to become gnocchi week (someone's on a kick). The mission: to find a good gnocchi provider on the upper east side. Can it be done? We shall see.
Saturday mike and I went to coney island for the siren festival, but never ran into any of the people we knew would be there, nor did we eat a single nathan's hot dog (the lines!) or ride the cyclone. Amazing. still, we somehow landed pretty much upper-center in the crowd, so had great views of all the bands from rainer maria to guided by voices (we bailed before john spencer and his obsessive, repetitive, and obvious "THIS IS BLUES EXPLOSION!" chants filled the air - can you tell I'm not a big fan?). When catherine mentions bob pollard's throwing of the cup of beer into the audience with such fondness, she does not know that it landed right on me and mike (though I managed to dodge most of the beer rain). A fun day of the rock, definitely, and all great bands I'd never even really heard before, though my legs and back were hurting afterwards for sure. later, of course we hit the kings county moonshiners show in williamsburg. Will I never get anyone else to come out to their shows? Probably.
Thursday, July 19, 2001
5:52 pm this makes me sad: she doesn't even use her pita. hrrumph. my way of re-explaining how i ended up with this page title when it's not even a real nickname of mine, just one that kerry thought up randomly because i used to call her ker-dog. the only people who call me linbird now are people who are making fun of this poor pita's name. (also sad.) i suppose i could have also used my last name, which is more often the source of nicknames. but, oh well.
5:29 pm I want to know why I've had a headache the past three days, always commencing at 4:30 pm and ending sometime mid-after-work-run. It sucks. And today's is much worse than the previous days'. One cannot be expected to work through these things. Thus a pita update begins.
word about pete yorn via his web site's email list: "Pete Yorn's 7/29 show at Mercury Lounge in NYC has been moved to the Bowery Ballroom. Additional tickets for this show will be onsale today at 3pm ET through Ticketweb. This show is 18 & over. All 7/29 Mercury Lounge tickets will be honored." Good to know. I've already convinced mike to come with me; now working on holly. She even listened to the album. I think she said it was "pretty good." I'm not yet convinced she's coming.
just to show you how un-tuned in I am to stupid-ass "big brother" this summer, I didn't even hear about the knife incident until now. While that's pretty shitty for the woman who got the knife to her throat, I do kind of feel like cbs allowed this to happen for publicity/scandal reasons. Call me a sad cynic.
oh, good: the taliban has now banned chess. What?
Tuesday, July 17, 2001
12:25 pm I want to know: what the hell is going on at the vp's house that his electric bill is $186,000? Is he running a small corporation, equipped with a few hundred always-on computers, cell phones, tvs, and washing machines, out of his house? My god. No wonder he says we needn't conserve - compared to his electric bill, ours of a couple hundred or less is nothing, so why bother trying to save?
I don't know about this whole incompetency plea regarding the KKK clansman allegedly involved in the birmingham bombing. While I do feel for the mentally ill, only 2 out of the four doctors said he was actually too incompetent due to dementia to stand trial. Don't we need at least another opinion, if only to get a majority, before a ruling? It just doesn't seem like enough. plus, what is his lawyer talking about, "witch hunt"? is there really any question as to whether or not he did it? I don't think so.
Pro-lifers need to get their act together. Are they for life or not? Because if they were, there wouldn't be a question about the use of stem cells - cells that would normally be thrown out -- to save living people's lives. The writer of the article has some good points: "But even if you grant ['pro-lifers'] their philosophical framework, their stem-cell argument is on shakier ground than their abortion argument. After all, an embryo-or a fetus-that resides in a womb will, if left to its own devices, become an adult human being, thus lending at least some credence to the claim that it was a person all along. An embryo in a petri dish, if left to its own devices, will never become anything other than an embryo in a petri dish. (In that sense, using a condom is closer to murder than embryonic stem-cell research is. A sperm and egg, if left to their own devices, and not separated by an artificial latex wall, would become a full-fledged person, whereas a frozen embryo would not.)" wish I had said that.
Monday, July 16, 2001
4:56 pm so, this weekend i've been in boston hanging out with nancy, my best friend from high school. i'm still there, due to leave her place at 5 in order to catch my flight at 6:30. i was all excited that i got this great flight deal (just $89 round trip) from orbitz, but then i saw the plane that i was to fly on and got a little less excited. yes, it was quite small and very much at the mercy of the windy skies. we were chucked all over the place. but fortunately it's only a 40 minute flight. but i'm sure mike is very happy he didn't come with me if only for that reason.
anyway, we've just been hanging out, talking, eating, watching "sex and the city" (on video and tv), stuff like that. i got to run on the charles a couple of times, reminding me of the fun summer of '99 i spent in cambridge. it's been beautiful here. today i got to relish not going to work and instead went to see the insipid but funny enough "legally blonde." best moment: when the very naturally stupid-looking luke Wilson (remember that episode of "the x-files" in which scully thought the sheriff was really hot but mulder painted him as buck-toothed and idiotic? he was the sheriff. Also, Anthony in “bottlerocket”) was listening to reese witherspoon say something and then he looked at her in this really dumb forced acted kind of way, paused, and then said, “well….” Guess you had to be there.
rebecca schuman complains about mean bloggers on ironminds today. i understand what she's saying completely, as I too have been bashed here and there, but the funny thing is that the entry that she's talking about isn't even really mean. much worse could have been said.
Thursday, July 12, 2001
2:34 pm sometimes I think I'm the only one in this world who loves miracle whip. Life can be tough at those times.
chunk light tuna is really gross. No wonder it's cheaper than solid white.
this case of a man who was convicted of failure to pay child support and ordered not to procreate until he could afford the 9 children he already has by 4 women is kind of cool. I do agree that it goes against the basic right to procreate, but I don't think that that should be someone's basic right - unlimited and unimpeded - anyway. There are way too many unfit parents out there as it is who can't afford or properly and safely raise their children. Why not put limitations on that? Being a parent is a huge task that carries much responsibility and weight. if you can't drive a car without a license or you can't drink beer under the age of 21, why shouldn't you have to meet some kind of requirement to bring a life into this world? even one, like be able to put a roof over their head or know that ketchup is not a vegetable or sign a paper that says you won't abuse them.
Wednesday, July 11, 2001
2:43 pm okay, I've done some more research, and my final word on the cheese matter is coming from this article: Granted, no one needs to drink milk, but people in Western countries are hard pressed to meet their nutrient needs without it. For example, milk supplies up to 75% of an adult's calcium intake. Of course, you can take several calcium pills each day instead of drinking milk, but this goes against all dietary recommendations to turn first to food and only to supplements as a last resort. Milk also contains other factors that enhance calcium absorption and help prevent osteoporosis, such as vitamin D. Most people fall short of optimal when it comes to calcium and would benefit from two to three servings of fat-free milk products every day. in other words, okay, full-fat cheese is probably not the best thing for me, but it's not necessary or good to swear cheese off completely. I just have to look for a good low-fat cheese product.
and as for the slander some people have been committing with regard to nuts, that's a lot of baloney because they're actually good for you, preventing heart disease and lowering cholesterol. and yes, there is such a thing as good fat, dammit. okay, enough about my dietary habits.
finally, someone explains that we don't necessarily have the right as individuals to own guns. it, apparently, is more of a collective state right. But I don't think I'm as optimistic (or naďve) as some anti-gun folks out there: "Others argue that the personal right to a gun is nevertheless a right whose time has come and that it's just a matter of the courts catching up to public opinion." come on -- aside from many urban and some suburban dwellers (most of them yankees), the rest of the country holds tight to their weapons. Do you know how many people live in rural areas and drive pick-up trucks and arm themselves at all moments of the day and hunt for varmints and critters? Very many.
yes! Jurassic park meets human evolution! I knew it would happen sooner or later! females shall rule the world! Mwa-ha-ha.... i mean, hey, neat science experiment.
Tuesday, July 10, 2001
1:20 pm like we didn't know he was going to turn out to be the bad apple in the backstreet boy bunch. The stupid goatee gave it away.
very annoyed with amazon right now. I placed two different orders in the past two weeks and neither has arrived yet. WTF? Grr. I'm tempted to call them and bitch and even rescind my get real girl doll order. but that would be a little hasty.
see: political terrorism at home and abroad is really not as big a threat as one might think. Good to know. Don't think, though, that I'll be planning to drill for oil in columbia any time soon, just to be on the safe side.
Monday, July 9, 2001
10:15 am see?! I told you! Mutant pets are on the rise because of this cloning garbage. And yes, that is exactly what we need in this country: identical obese people. like a friggin mcdonald's land bunch of multiples. That's exactly what the aliens want: fattened clones. Does anyone else see the x-files episode here, in our reality? My god. I really don't think scientists watch enough television these days.
one of my dreams would be to make this site respectable and profitable, like this. just need to devise a plan. And get that respectability thing down, too, I suppose.
this story about this boxer who died after being knocked out in the ring and then going into a coma is really sad. He was only 26 and had kids. Man, boxers are crazy. Even if you get what you want most, like Ali, you're still pretty guaranteed to end up really fucked up. The human head is really not meant to take that kind of abuse. But my question is this: when someone dies because of a fight like that, who is held responsible? I mean, it should be the other fighter, right? Is that manslaughter? From the sounds of it, though, the other guy, a friend of his, isn't being blamed at all.
why do female pro tennis players still wear skirts? Yes, I do agree, it is all about the sex appeal. Bullshit, man. but it doesn't really seem to make sense to me anyway. Navritalova is not going to develop any sex appeal today, and yet she still wears a skirt. Venus and serena could wear whatever they want to and still get their sponsorships, I think. Actually, wearing shorts in their signature bright colors and tight-fitting fabrics would probably set them apart even more. And, no, shorts are not going to hide their bods more than skirts, so what's the deal? Is it just tradition and the effort to differentiate between the genders just a little more? Maybe.
Friday, July 6, 2001
5:10 pm yesterday I did some research on cheese, for which, I must admit, I have a bit of an obsession. I was trying to determine if, like some people say, it is actually bad for me, or if it's okay, just as long as you eat it in moderation. I got mixed results, unfortunately, because really I just wanted one single, solitary proclamation. While the PETA "Cheese, which is basically spoiled milk pressed into blocks, is bad for you and causes zits, cruds up your throat with phlegm, and can make you gassy" psychos have their own reasons for hating the tasty substance from heaven, still others have reasons for defending and even advocating its consumption, such as this "maitre fromager" (who knew there was such a title?) and the national dairy council. Of course, they're all a little biased. and then there was this article, from a non-profit, health educational and treatment facility in alabama, which scared the shit out of me. setting aside the simple high-salt and high-fat warnings, this one went for the throat: "Changes which occur in cheese during the fermenting and "ripening" process include the production of a toxic alkaloid called roquefortine (as in Roquefort dressing), a neurotoxin which can cause mice to have convulsive seizures…. Several toxic and nontoxic amines are produced during the fermentation of milk, tyramine being among them, the amine causing migraine headaches…. The putrefactive process through which milk goes to produce cheese reduces the vitamin content. Cheese is almost completely devoid of water soluble vitamins. Losses of both vitamins and minerals occur with the loss of whey…. The possibility of production of nitrosamine, one of the most powerful cancer producing agents known, is particularly disturbing. Both the nervous system and the gastrointestinal tract are irritated by certain of these substances, causing the individual to be irritable and cranky." but I don't know - I'm still very skeptical since after looking around the site some more, I found a rather suspicious statement: running can be considered a "violent" sport that may cause "excessive menstrual bleeding." Plus, the suggested cheese-substitute recipes were stupid - basically, just replacing cheese with nuts? I am left unsure of cheese now, but not convinced that I must abandon it at all costs.
so, yay, I signed up for a marathon! It's the greater hartford race and it's a few weeks before nyc and very scenic and fun. Screw those damn road runners club people. who are they to exclude me? I'll get in automatically next year anyway. Stupids.
I just bought this doll, get real girl gabi, complete with her soccer adventure equipment, for my niece. She's gonna love it! not only is she actually a soccer player named gabrielle just like the doll, but this is the perfect solution to my refusal to buy her any more barbies. See? She's barbie-like but cooler in that she plays a sport and has jointed limbs and comes with lots of goodies. Of course, she's a bit more expensive than barbie, but hey, ya gotta pay for revolution, right? Or something. I think I'm gonna get this one, Nakia the basketball player, for myself. How cool.
Have you ever been to the belly delly deli on broadway between 49th and 50th? Have you tried their ice coffee? I truly believe that it is among the best in the city. Just so you know.
NOW elected a new set of officers: new prez kim gandy says she wants to "[send] george bush to texas." Okay. I'm all for that.
Thursday, July 5, 2001
11:24 am I'm goofy-happy today, but I'm also very tired, puffy-eyed and groggy. But, ah, today is a funny day and I will enjoy it. still, while I just want to go lay down in the park, I also have this craving to be really productive. Doesn't make sense, huh? Well, sometimes work makes me happy. Not recently, but I remember loving it back in college. You know, sitting at my desk, typing, typing, typing pages upon pages of research, results, and analyses. Yes, I'm a big dork. But it was my work and I loved it. maybe I need to go back to school. Or maybe I just need to aim for this goofy-happy feeling everyday, regardless of what I have to do at work.
I think the key to my happiness today is knowing that there are so many great and fun people around me. sometimes I get in a funk, thinking that the people I know are just too mellow and inactive, but then I go through times when everyone seems to incredibly brilliant and entertaining. Yesterday's revelry has left me feeling the latter loud and clear - and giddy. Okay, who's moody? I'm such a spaz, man.
reading kerouac's "on the road" has gotten me feeling very antsy to go and travel and play. How fun to just be out roaming around and meeting people and talking and having such crazy moments. I really wish i had a car in new york.
Tuesday, July 3, 2001
10:56 am hey, new feature (to the left), just because i'm curious: take the running title poll everyday -- or at least every time i get around to changing the title of the page. i just wonder if people recognize the references i make up there. so vote. often. whatever.
10:24 am okay, how snooty is daily candy? It's really, really gross. If I hear one more reference to the hamptons, I'm going to unsubscribe to the email and delete the bookmark. Sure they post some charitable ideas, but ugh, can't stand the snobbery. Mostly just because they try to sound like they're joking but they're not.
have you seen "primetime glick"? Cracks my shit up. Seinfeld looked genuinely vicious as he practically drooled with the excitement of tearing this guy to comedic shreds. Ah, martin short is one smart guy. And I think jiminy glick's look is amazing. I was just contemplating the whole belt-bulge choice this weekend while at the museum of natural history with my parents. Yes, as a tourist magnet, there are plenty of obese belt-bulgers walking about. You know, people who consciously make the decision to wear a belt that merely cinches the waist and, by causing the fat to be forced above and below the belt, only emphasizes the person's obesity - and inability to actually fit in the pants they are wearing. I often wonder why it is that large people opt to wear such tight-fitting clothes. I mean, why not go for comfort and big, flowy clothes? that's what i'd do.
woo hoo! Half day today. and how perfect is this weather? I would be so happy if it just stayed this way always. Who needs hot? Not me.
also very exciting today: i got to make a smoothie with my brand-new hamilton-beach blender this morning: vanilla non-fat yogurt, strawberries, raspberries, and cran-peach-mango juice. Now that's summer to me.
Monday, July 2, 2001
11:39 am wow. it's july.
hmm. Maybe I shouldn't go to ghana any time soon…. I guess where there's not political strife, there's always mother nature.
of course I don't think she should be put to death, but I really don't think andrea yates, the woman who drowned her 5 children in the bathtub, should simply be put on probation for several years, as was another woman who killed two of her children. Probation??? Anyone able to do such a thing, regardless of their reasons, really needs some serious counseling and psychiatric help. clearly there was a mental break. Why does this country refuse to acknowledge and treat mental illness? It's really, truly amazing how easily people can ignore it. makes me want to get back on that psychology career path I was following in college.
what I want to know is, while dick cheney is resting from having a pacemaker installed, who is running the country?
I find the whole transformation of the german state very interesting and wonder how a people does come to grapple with such a horrendous history. What is it like to have a guilty conscience as a country? It's probably the closest thing to a country actually learning a lesson from its past and refusing to let history repeat itself - at least at home and at least yet (knock on wood). But do the young get to forget all that history as the old die? I think so. I think it's difficult to inherit the sins of your dead grandfathers, and after all, it's so easy to shirk the blame for something you never did. As americans, we'll probably never know what it's like to feel guilty as a nation, because, hey, we never do anything wrong, like invade and claim others' lands as ours, enslave people, kill hordes of people, use unreasonably cruel weapons of war -- you know, all those standard atrocities that other people commit.
amusing recent searches
"women in bug infested movies"
daily click
child survival site
clear landmines
hunger site
kids aids site
rainforest site
of interest
angela
betsy
brooklyn kid
catherine
chris
deletia
erasing
girl boy
jejune
kempa
leanne
loobylu
ljc
lmg
lonestar
media nugget
metafilter
obscure store
ribbit
rule 4080
smartertimes
unknown news
wisdom
news
feminist news
media news
new york times
reuters
washington post
zim independent
zim standard
music
beatles lyrics machine
cbgb
city search music
hothouse flowers
irving plaza
jersey radio
knitting factory
launch
aimee mann
new york radio
no depression
old 97s
100 most intense records
pennsy radio
sonicnet
sun volt
tori amos
WFUV
lucinda williams
pete yorn
running
kicksports
marathon guide
new york road runners
road runner sports
run-down
runners world
running network
running with dr. sheehan
run stop shop
women's running