*linnea's pita email me bring it tell me where ya at? too much information? you decide. me: heh. feeling: running mileage this month: 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 lots o' magazines recently read: 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 current

what have i got to say today? Monday, June 17, 2002 4:28 p.m. CAN I BORROW YOUR DOG-EARED COPY OF LIFE? I'D LIKE SOME BEES IN A COFFEE CUP, THANKS so, at long last, the puppy has arrived! if i only had a digital camera, i would show you just how damn lucky i am. (still, this pic is pretty close to what his little head looks like.) a living, breathing, cuddling teddy bear, that's what he is. our little digby. mike and i are totally feeling like these weird parents. and suddenly we're plunged into new york's dog world. it's so "best in show," let me tell you. never the less, he kept us up quite late, with his crying and whining. no, he is not yet adjusted. so. tired. i. am. not. enough. coffee. which leads me to: killer bees making killer coffee. send some my way, please. as for bees, i found this baltimore city paper article on the national spelling bee quite amusing. maybe i just have a horrendous vocabulary (ok, yes), but i'm an editor (or like to call myself one from time to time), and i have never even heard of so many of the words that those 12 year olds are asked to spell ("seguidilla," "ophiolatry," "nephrolithotomy" -- i mean, come on, people). not that that makes a difference because i don't think i could have done "connoisseur" -- the very first word of the competition -- either. but maybe that's just the coffee talking. anyway, it's okay, because i bought "1000 most important words," and i'm going to read some of it every night. or week, anyway. who knew "roue" (accent aigu on the e there) and "salvo" were so damn important? thus the book pays for itself. right now, what i want to know is this: if you were old, ancient even, and living in a nursing home, would they let you smoke? at that point, no one can even tell you that it's bad for you, but you're under someone else's care. i bet the answer is no, but i actually feel like those people are the most justified smokers around. just why the heck not? Friday, June 14, 2002 4:58 p.m. how awful. how awful and heinous and upsetting and just wrong. there really aren't enough words -- bad words -- to describe this video, this stupid advertisement against america by the national movement for the restoration of pakistan sovereignty showing daniel pearl being slaughtered. these people are the worst kind of people i can imagine. i'm only glad that in viewing it, it seemed distant and fake because of its fuzzy quality and weird capsules of images. because i'm so horrified and disgusted and angry as it is that i don't know what i'd be feeling if it looked more real. 3:21 p.m. yes, isn't it just so shocking and amazing that a mcdonald's franchise owner came up with the so-clever idea to sell -- get this -- high-fat, deep-fried doughnuts -- sorry, MCdonuts -- at his mcdonald's in times square? it's really all so brilliantly shocking and out of character, given that mcdonald's is such a diet-conscious establishment. Wednesday, June 12, 2002 3:27 p.m. it's an all-sports entry today, kids. and how could it not be? that's all that most people around me are talking about (sometimes much to my chagrin). first up, a brit in america's take on the anti-football, er, soccer sentiment here, even, or especially, during the world cup. i think tony parsons may be right: "One of the main objections is that, unlike basketball, games are low scoring - if a match doesn't end 97-99 then Americans think it must be dull." but i'm pretty damn sure he's right about this: "Perhaps the greatest unspoken objection to football is that, historically, America has been crap at it." gotta love that english honesty -- at least when it comes to the u.s. i wonder, as he proposes, if it very well is tied to patriotism. is soccer, a foreign-grown, foreign-loved sport, anti-american? he has some interesting things to say. (note: to all you wary of america-bashing, you'd probably prefer not to read this columnist.... or this piece about greedy american tycoons either.) but, just to update you nonbelievers, the u.s. is actually doing well in the world cup, surprising all who care by beating favorite portugal. next game: poland on friday at 7:30 am. also, the nets try to stay alive in the NBA championship -- or just to win a single game vs. the lakers -- tonight at 9. could it be time for the hack-a-shaq? i agree with writer hugo lindgren: why the hell not? they have nothing to lose. love this: "Nets coach Byron Scott needs to think WWJD: What would Jeff (Van Gundy) do?" Tuesday, June 4, 2002 1:54 p.m. so, it's been a while. well, i can explain. first, i got really, really busy with work. that sucked. then, i left for paris. and that rocked. just returned to work today, actually quite renewed and refreshed (lots of cafe lounging with beers and coffees will do that to you, i suppose) but also not at all interested in putting up with bullshit. from now on, damn it, i'm accepting a french way of life: that is, life matters, work doesn't so much. we'll see how far this carries me in life, no? so, yes, paris, a great, great city. super-clean subways are undervalued here. we need to work on that. as well as: 1. eating too damn much: a croissant and coffee are perfect for breakfast, as is a salad for lunch. why do we need everything to be monstrous and over-filling? that, my friends, not the stupid red wine, is the key to french slimness (though i must say, albeit not many, i did see some obese folks there, they're not totally unheard of. though, who knows, maybe they were all sweedish or something but i couldn't tell). 2. working too damn much: see above. also, the french appreciate long, relaxing lunches avec biere, bien sur, not working on weekends, and keeping short, if early-starting, work days. here here. 3. waste not, want not: the french are into conserving stuff, whether it's space, fossil fuels, electricity, water or whatever. the most popular car in paris is the smartcar, a teeny tiny daimler chrysler auto, that could just about fit in my hand. it's perfect for city living and, especially, parking, though i hear that it hasn't yet been approved for u.s. sales because it's not so safe (imagine getting hit by an suv in one of those things -- you'd be smush). also, they are into having auto-off lights (they come on as soon as you enter the room, but switch off when they stop detecting movement). 4. soccer=great: i have no idea why this sport hasn't really caught on so much here, at least as far as fandom, but sources say it could have to do with it's place in the economic hierarchy (it's not a working class sport here, but firmly middle class, for whatever reason) or, more simply, the extreme competition for attention given the other major-league sports already dominating our time and money. anyway, uh, go world cup. 5. coffee is a serious pursuit: forget grabbing a shitty ass cup of acidic yuck or a grande froo-froo mochacino for the subway ride. coffee, a.k.a. cafe, is an important matter in paris. you should drink it strong, or go home. a tiny espresso will do. but don't think because it's small that you can down it and bolt. rather, coffee is meant for enjoying, savoring, sitting, or at least hanging out. you sit down and order a cup. and then sit some more. on your way to work? order at the counter and hang out for 10 minutes (who cares if you're late, anyway?!) or you'll be considered rude or at least a freak. I appreciate that in a people, though, I have to say, my teeth returned to the states a bit stained. Alas. 6. Just plain attitude: everyone likes to say that the french are so rude, but actually, new yorkers HAVE to take the cake on that one. Paris was a spongy, tasty morsel of peace and beauty compared to new york city and the idiots i have to deal with on a regular basis. Here, people run into you, yell at you, swear at you, generally like to cause a commotion in public places, beep a lot, crowd into you, and generally get in your face, mostly without even acknowledging that any of this is rude. This stuff just doesn’t happen, really, in france, at least from what I saw. Sure, people honk once in a while when caught in traffic, but not beyond reason. There may be some crowding at museums, but I really believe it’s all the tourists anyway. The french seem to believe in maintaining their own space. If someone runs into you, it’s clearly a real accident, and they typically say “pardon” or apologize or both. Again, it’s the whole reasonable thing. Any time I heard people yelling/shouting/being obnoxious, they were, sadly, usually american. Which tells you something about why everyone says the french hate us. 7-10. there are a bunch of other things I could say here: but I don’t have the time to think and write about them right now. One thing I will say is: wilco in a tiny venue in paris’s red light district rocked out. And tweedy was hilarious, telling the annoying american-college-chicks-abroad in the front row to be quiet and entertaining mike’s dylan antics. What good sports, the whole band, as well as preston school of industry (even though they’re set was too short).

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