*linnea's pita email me bring it tell me where ya at? too much information? you decide. me: heh. feeling: running mileage this month: 63.5 7/02: 127.5 6/02: 100 5/02: 75 4/02: 109.2 3/02: 110 2/02: 95.5 1/02: 57.75 12/01: 101 11/01: 65.5 10/01: 77.2 10/13/01: 26.2: the hartford marathon; mission: accomplished 9/01: 169.5 8/01: 181 7/01: 155 6/01: 126 listening to a lot lately: wilco reading: negotiating with the dead by margaret atwood the competitive runner's handbook by bob and shelly-lynn glover recently read: prozac nation by elizabeth wurtzel blake's therapy by ariel dorfman love works like this and welcome to my country, both by lauren slater book reviews: where i arbitrarily rate, rave, and rant about books i've recently read, including the one above stuff i kinda want: at amazon at cdnow coffee corner my feelings about coffees from around the city current fave: my own runners up: the bellydeli pick a bagel europa (specifically their cinnanut) decent: the coffee pot (at 49 & 9) oren’s so-so: new world tahl bagels (86 between 1&2) au bon pain dean & deluca crap: starbucks (regular – I go there only for “specialty” drinks) timothy’s pax (and they’re mean) stuff i've written for lifetime cosmetic surgery destination weddings diet do's & don'ts nine new ideas for new year's spa chefs newish: title IX and elsewhere bar reviews foreign service? myths about africa sleeping kids war room workplace polls entertainment trivia (5.16.01) running title poll (7.3.01) the archive index 2000 summer sept/oct nov/ dec 2001 jan/feb march april may june july august september october november december 2002 january february march april may june current

what have i got to say today? Monday, July 29, 2002 4:57 p.m. ON EUPHEMISMS I would think four wives getting killed at fort bragg would reflect a problem already, not just a “growing problem.” yesterday on CNN, the newscaster was talking about the pope’s visit to canada and what he said in his speech. she reported that he said that catholics shouldn’t lose faith and get distracted by priests who had been “caught up in the sex abuse scandal,” as if it were some kind of looked-down-upon trend or habit that people were accidentally falling victim to, like belly-button piercing or office gossip-mongering…. Too bad I’m not 100 pounds overweight or maybe I could participate in this lawsuit against fast food restaurants, too. I agree that fast food restaurants are more or less health criminals, but no one’s making you eat there, and besides, unlike the nicotine found in cigarettes, research shows that food is not addictive so what’s the excuse? You can always stay home and concoct your own 50-fat-gram-hamburger piled high with bacon and slathered with mayo – and I don’t think you’ll be suing the folks who provided the beef, bacon or mayonaise. Can you sue a company because you’re ignorant and/or in denial? “Barber told MSNBC TV that he didn’t realize fried food was bad for him until his doctor told him so three years ago.” But fast food restaurants do, after all, publish their nutritional content and, come on, it’s not too hard to understand. Maybe the problem here is that america just became too pc: people started calling this dude “waist line-challenged” instead of just “fat,” and began respecting his freedom of food choice instead of telling him to stop stuffing his face with junk food. This, I realize, all sounds very pissy, but I’m not – I’m actually giggling over here. Non-euphemistically: mike and I had quite a moment this morning when I was chucking our garbage down the disposal hatch. The door to the “garbage room,” if you will, is bouncy and quick to close, and as I turned to leave the door literally hit my ass on the way out sending me bouncing into the hallway. Oh, ha ha. Wednesday, July 17, 2002 12:04 p.m. MUSICALLY RECLINED for a little while there i was going to a lot of shows and standing around in packed venues waiting agonizingly long for bad opening bands to make way for the goodies. i have to say that i kind of soured on it. in addition to not liking bad music, i have minimal tolerance for standing around and staring at the backs of heads after, say, 9:35 pm. at that point, my body starts to rebel: my eyelids twitch, my legs itch, my feet shuffle, my eyes blink shut then open, shut then open as i struggle to stay interested and, yes, i'm a baby, awake. admittedly, i'm typically not a good late-night music patron (ok, or movie patron, but that's a different conversation). but, several things can keep me attentive and, even, excited: 1) caffeine. a coke has been known to save the night several times. 2) early start times. the later it gets, the more likely i am to be impatient and/or collapse in a puddle of drooling fatigue. 3) seats. give me a chair and i'm set; that's really the key here. that way, i can relax and i don't have to deal with the crowds. example: jay farrar, seated at the iron horse (excellent) vs. jay farrar, standing at irving (a little less excellent). 4) being outdoors. fresh air makes you feel less crowded and claustrophobic. plus, both darkness and heat are known to be snooze-inducers. example: i lasted through the entire -- what? -- 6-hour-long siren festival (ok, except john spencer, but that's a personal preference thing). 5) great, up-beat music. the jayhawks, the old 97s, the jicks, built to spill: all great, happy, fun shows (even when they're playing mellow or sad songs) at which i was a full participant. willie nelson: not so much so. 6) food. it helps, mostly because i think it helps me focus on something else and it keeps me energized. so, friday's yo la tengo show rocked out for all of these reasons. before the show, i downed an iced coffee (1). we got to the beauteous prospect park bandshell venue (4) around 8, and the band promptly took the stage (2). our friends then somehow got invited into the VIP area by acting like they belonged there, thereby snagging us a table and seats (3) right next to the stage! the music was great, as the 3-person band bopped (5) around the stage (ok, the lead singer really was the only one bopping) and i bopped either in my seat or standing up next to the stage (a choice!). once the crowd got very into "stockholm syndrome," which is just a great song, there was no stopping them. then, a friend brought a bunch of bags of tasty chips and salsa (6) back to the table, along with beers and water. all in all, an excellent show experience. yay for the kings county moonshiners who i haven't seen perform in way too long: they finally have a web site (though it's somehow incapable of scrolling at this juncture). hopefully i'll be able to get my lazy ass out of the upper east side to check them out friday at pete's candy store in wburg at 10:30 o'clock, as they so enjoy saying and i like repeating. Tuesday, July 16, 2002 5:17 p.m. i just love western massachusetts, especially amherst and northampton. they're such little independent, thinking patriots out there. i love it. Monday, July 15, 2002 4:36 p.m. MONDAY MONDAY, BAH-DA, BAH-DA-DA-DA um, meat-eating fish that can live for 3 days out of water and even walk on their fins? and they've been reproducing ridiculously in a maryland pond for two years after two of them were released there by their owner? this is so a sci-fi movie in the making. maybe i should get to work on the screenplay now before they make their way to new york and take over the town. though it also totally reminds me of that book "geek love" and that fish-boy arturo.... also, zimbabwe update: american journalist andrew meldrum, a 50-year-old native of Ohio who has lived in Zimbabwe for 22 years, is being booted out of the country after being found not guilty of publishing a false story. i envied his job before hearing about the whole sit-in-a-cold-jail-cell-with-no-shoes-or-socks-on thing. Friday, July 12, 2002 3:06 p.m. NEWSFLASH: NEW YORKERS ARE SO FRIENDLY WHEN THEY WANT TO BE.... so, we all know that i bitch a lot about new yorkers and how they act and react to me and each other and whatever. enter digby, the dog, my own little new yorker PR person in disguise. i swear, every time i walk the dog, i meet at least one nice new yorker. suddenly, new yorkers couldn't be nicer; it's almost like i just woke up to realize i live in a small town where everybody knows your name, or, OK, your dog's name. people now chat me up at every opportunity, which usually means i'm talking to someone throughout the walk. it's his face -- he's the cutest thing, and i'm not just saying that because i'm his "mom." that's what everyone tells me, you see, when they stop to talk. some of them have dogs, and their dog is just interested in sniffing digby's butt, so they oblige, but most of them don't have dogs and they can't stand that they don't have a dog so they coming rushing up to me begging to pet and play with my dog. they bombard me with questions -- what kind of dog? boy or girl? how old? will he get big? can i pet him? -- then can't help but coo: he's the cutest thing! he's so soft! he's a fluffball! wheaten puppies are the best! some guy last night told me that he had to get going or his fiancee would get jealous of my dog. i live right near a half-way house for delinquents (or something), and digby totally charmed the socks off these two young, er, inmates there as we walked by the entrance. i mean, who knows why these kids are there, but after a few minutes of petting him, they were talking baby talk to him, ya know? it's all about the dog. he's really a little transformer. it's great. Wednesday, July 10, 2002 7:27 p.m. THEN, ONE MONTH LATER.... well, almost one month later anyway. god, time really does fly. i just thought, whatever, i won't update this week...and here we are. so, a bunch of things are taking up my time these days. okay, really, two things: puppy care and running. the pup is great. people say he's getting big but it's hard for me to tell since i see him everyday. i do think though that he gets cuter everyday, which is surprising because i think generally dogs just get uglier as they get older (and maybe people, too? nah, not most, i don't think). but he's not doing great today, because he's sick. i had to take him to the vet and then he hung out sleeping by my side all day while i tapped away on the laptop (though now i'm being told that my work from home day might not count as work. and that's bullshit because if i had to use this as a personal day, i should have at least gotten some beach time or something out of this except for work). but otherwise he's great. we're great pals. it's funny how he's such my little buddy already. i don't know if it's just the fact that i feed him or what, but he follows me and he watches me very closely, like i'm his mom, no kidding. and we're totally linked: he actually prefers running over walking! i swear. we both get very bored with walking, but he was so psyched to run with me, even just for a little bit at a time, yesterday. he's really the best. then, as for the running thing, marathon training round 2 has commenced. the nyc marathon is now 17 weeks away. i'm an idiot and already hurt my toe, though, and then, i think as a result, pulled something in my other shin (i think i was overcompensating for the toe -- never a good idea) which just sucks so, today i guess is going to be a day off. that's ok for this week because i still get two days off. but starting next week things go hard core -- 6 days of running, +30 miles each week. it'll be fun, though, hopefully, as long as i get to sleep more than this dog is allowing these days. i wish i could work from home everyday: there some half-nekkid guy hanging out the window of the building right across the stress. he's only in his boxers and he's leaning out smoking a cigarette, holding the thing out the window even when he steps back into the room. he's doesn't look very old but he's got a huge beer belly. speaking of beer bellies, have you read the overweight and obesity study statistics on the new york times web site? it's all too eye-opening.

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