*linnea's pita
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bring it
too much information?
you decide.
me: heh.
feeling:
running mileage
this month: 65.5
10/01: 77.2
10/13: the marathon: mission: accomplished
9/01: 169.5
8/01: 181
7/01: 155
6/01: 126
listening to a lot lately:
way to blue by nick drake
essence by lucinda williams
being there by wilco
reading:
sleeping with one eye open, ed. marylin kallet
the corrections by jonathan franzen
harry potter and the goblet of fire by j.k. rowling
recently read:
the handmaid's tale by margaret atwood
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 pumpkin-flavored, mmm mmm
first commercial fave: pick a bagel
runner up: 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
9/11: how you can help
newish: basic elements of ice skating quiz
betty lennox
celeb hair
chris bohjalian interview
cosmetic surgery
diet do's & don'ts
emmylou harris
fall makeup
fit & fabulous guinea pigs
gay parents
holiday gifts
jeffrey nordling
missing kids
mother's day book selector
no ordinary baby synopsis
oscar beauty & fashion
pat benatar
rescue worker jasmin aviles
rescue worker lauren schwartz
sheryl crow
spa chefs
taj mcwilliams
virginia madsen
women in the military
and elsewhere
bar reviews
foreign service?
letter to christina kelly
myths about africa
sleeping kids
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
july '01
august '01
september '01
october '01
current
Friday, November 30, 2001
11:36 a.m. check it out: you can read my pita in spanish! i never knew this possibility existed. i also never knew i could write in spanish. ha.
charles barkley says he wants to come back to the nba and help michael jordan and the wizards. oh pleeeeeeease.
on a much more serious note, i would like to have a moment of silence for the passing of george harrison.
....
Thursday, November 29, 2001
2:44 p.m. so, i've been kind of upset this week about something very stupid: my favorite bathroom stall. see, monday, someone yacked all over the floor and toilet in my stall, and ever since i've felt kind of grossed out by the whole thing and have stayed away from it. still, i'm bummed that some ill idiot with bad aim had to ruin this for me -- it is the stall that's closest to the entrance/exit and has the best lock, meaning that unlike the rest, it isn't too difficult or easy to lock/unlock the damn thing. so, now i'm experimenting with the other stalls, but it's just not the same. anyway, as a result, i have a weird survey for you. i hope you'll entertain me by answering.
12:12 p.m. I’m really bummed that I didn’t see last night’s game between the wizards and the sixers, as it looks to have been a pretty good one, with MJ stepping up and scoring 30 and AI’s final tally being 40. A quality match-up, no doubt, and a bit of a stunner, with the sixers pulling it out 94-87. Who would have thought?
New cell phone technology solves one of my most common problems: trying to come up with the name of a song. apparently you just dial a number and put the phone by the source of the music. The database searches for it and then gives you a text message on your phone containing the name of the song. Still, if it could do the reverse, where I tell it the name of the song and then it tells me how it goes, that would be a lot more helpful. (side note: what the hell is going on in that photo for that article?)
Wow, so ‘who wants to be a millionaire’ is finally taking a dive. Apparently, like 7 million fewer people are watching each episode these days compared to a year ago. I hear that. What ruined it for me I think was partly all those dumb-ass celebrity weeks in which they talk amongst themselves for the answers and partly that the questions just remain ridiculous. Give me some really interesting, difficult, but also trivially rewarding questions, like on jeopardy.
the first american, a CIA agent, was killed in battle in afghanistan this week during that prison uprising, which just sounds awful. Also, it’s got me feeling a little too much like reality is imitating fantasy again. as I mentioned, i just saw ‘spy game’ over the weekend, and in it, brad pitt plays a cia agent who goes into a chinese prison to rescue someone and is caught and held captive, on the verge of death. I don’t want to ruin the rest for you though so I’ll stop there, but the whole prison and attack similarities are eerie.
so my sister got a puppy yesterday, a golden retriever, as she’s decided to help raise dogs for the seeing eye. I don’t know how the hell she’s ever going to be able to give the dog back when it comes time, personally. But yes, I’m a little envious of her puppy love now. So I went and took this quiz to see which breed of dog is most appropriate for my “living conditions,” and it gave me several very satisfactory responses. My favorites are the bedlington terrier, the schnoodle, and the wirehair fox terrier. aren’t they cute? now to win the roommate over to the idea....
Wednesday, November 28, 2001
2:05 p.m. So I’m caffeine- and clock-free today. Well, coffee-free and watch-free at least, as I am having some non-herbal tea and can see my clock here on my computer. But my watch stopped yesterday morning and so now I’m without one. Which is very unusual for me. Typically I’m the one people are always asking for the time (a role which can be annoying – if you’re so concerned, why don’t you wear a watch?). and as for the coffee hiatus, I don’t know what my problem is but the past two mornings I’ve been kind of grossed out by coffee, like it actually made me feel kind of ill to drink it. weird, right, given my love of the beverage? so today’s a bit of an experiment on two different fronts.
Also, I bought a new tea pot (red and black and very cute) the other day at the lechters close-out sale. I’m definitely mourning their departure from the nyc shopping scene. Where am I going to go for all my kitchen needs? I’m not sure. Everything is so much more upscale. Guess it’ll have to be bed, bath & beyond, a whole 20 blocks away. Sucks.
So glad to see that my yahoo! Horoscope is right on the money:
This has been a strange year for you. You may have gone through a breakup with someone in the last months, or found that certain friends have grown distant over time because your interests have grown apart. You will miss these people, but you have to realize that these sorts of changes are just a normal part of life. Today is a good day to remember all the good things you experienced together - and then let them go without regret. It's time to move on with your life.
right, it’s the latter. Moving on….
I’ve been thinking a lot about vegetarianism these days, and today, as I was editing a piece on going veggie healthfully, I found this piece about john robbins, author of “food revolution,” in my inbox. I’m interested to read what he has to say about our problematic eating here in the states and how he substantiates it all. I also find him intriguing because he’s the son of the robbins in baskins & robbins the ice cream, so you gotta be for real if you’re turning down that mother of a dairy inheritance.
Also from metroactive, an amusing article about how american music is taking over the world, with the MTV Europe and Asia channels being dominating by britney and other bullshit. It’s all very sad, yes, and I agree with her that french rap is hilarious and german punk is killer, but does that mean it’s more quality than the crap j.lo, jay-z, and idiot-bands-who-write- one-letter-of-their-names-backward are putting out there? Probably (can it be worse?), but still, I don’t know. In the end I lean on the side of cultural diversity, but I do have some doubt that that translates to better music, really. The whole world is just getting dumber, I fear. Case in point: latin “crossover” artist enrique eglisias and his new moronic video for “hero.” Oh, jennifer love hewitt, how low you have sunk. This is soooo much worse than “time of your life,” a feat I never thought anyone could pull off.
Unbelievable statistic out of south africa: some 70,000 babies are born every year with HIV. And still we sit back and watch.
Hey, look’s like other people have felt the same way I have about NBC news and the today show since sept. 11th. NBC’s coverage was awful, and I was constantly turning back to ABC, even over CNN, when I wanted real news delivered thoughtfully. (am I a focus group participant or what?)
Tuesday, November 27, 2001
5:35 p.m. things are very still, like the calm before the storm. this always happens when i get bored -- things are bound to get wild and change like mad.
or it could just be that post-thanksgiving, pre-christmas lull that we're all in.
i feel like no one is at work. lots of empty desks for some reason. also, as i walk around, i think it's amazing that this company is holding onto that #1 in basic cable spot, as no one is doing any work. half my department spends most of their time IM'ing people, while all the folks in marketing and art are either chatting to each other about tv shows (esp. buffy and dawson's and felicity) or talking on the phone to their friends about a) their pending (i.e. 2 years from now) wedding or b) how drunk so-and-so got the other night (i swear, this is all these people talk about). ho hum.
the only real thing of interest is our department's solidified hatred of one art dept. girl in particular. she's really annoying, though it's kind of hard to explain without it seeming stupid or catty. it's just that she doesn't pick up her feet when she walks and she walks by our area like 20 times a day -- so you always know when she's coming. not only that but she's constantly searching our space for food or books or magazines to make off with. i swear, she's consistenly the first person to arrive on the scene when someone puts out some cookies or candies -- and she doesn't even work in our department. but whenever we hear her approaching, everyone in our area gets these screwed-up looks on their faces, which she never seems to notice.
things around the city have been getting a little tense these days as well, it seems. i mean with people pushing on the subway and then other people spewing rather random and cruel remarks in response, and all before noon mind you, i just don't know what to make of it all. one guy on the subway this morning even muttered, "i got a knife for ya..." while the above-mentioned interaction was happening. my god.
and i try to seek solace in a yoga class, only to have to walk out a half hour in when the instructor is such an incredible idiot, rambling and not even really instructing. of course, i also had to file a complaint card at the crunch counter....
yet, there are little things that pick me up: the ethicist, amish quilt stamps, and autumn-colored gerber daisies (though they are $2 a stem!). yes, they're little, but they're vital.
hoochie mama!
oh, right, and seinfeld reruns.
Monday, November 26, 2001
3:36 p.m. Okay, just because I want to get it out of the way and not be lame, the rest of the vacation rundown:
third stop: quebec city, quebec, canada
date: oct. 31- nov. 3
quebec city was gorgeous – so quaint and picturesque and romantic and friendly. We stayed 3 nights, ate lots of yummy food, took a million pictures, saw 3 waterfalls, bought 1 painting and lots of gifts.
fourth stop: halifax, nova scotia, canada
date: nov. 3 – nov. 4
we drove directly from quebec to halifax, which took an entire day. Once there, we realized we “grossly misplanned,” and that we couldn’t do day trips from this rather dismal city. So after a seafood feast, we took off the next morning, and arrived in peggy’s cove, home of one of the most famous lighthouses in the world, before 9 am. Then we traveled along the eastern coast, stopping here and there in little harbor towns, eating at cute little cafes and getting ideas for where else to go on our trip. we wound up in yarmouth that night and had some truly acadian rappie pie and scallops, too.
fifth stop: yarmouth to antigonish, nova scotia, canada
date: nov. 4 – nov. 5
we stayed at a comfort inn or something, very basic, but fine. Then we headed out and on up the western coast. We stopped here and there but generally there was a lot less to see than the day before. Still, at church point, we stopped to (duh) check out the church, a huge wooden one made by acadians that looked stone. While we were smooching in the parking lot, a woman drove up and asked us if we wanted to see the inside of the church, and were we on our honeymoon? Yes, and no, and she took us in and gave us this little tour. It was very cool, very beautiful and the woman relayed some history and cultural info to us. (the acadians are the ancestors of the cajuns in new orleans. They were booted out of canada when the british took over from the french and the acadians wouldn’t pledge allegiance to the union jack. So they hopped on boats and took off down the st. lawrence and all the way down to louisiana. Some returned some years later.) we moved on and just drove and drove, finally ending up in this lovely, somehow vacant victorian inn in antigonish (AHN-tee-gun-ish, not ahn-TEE-gun-ish, as I’d expected). That night, we had another amazing meal and chatted up our waiter/host about hiking in cape breton and exploring prince edward island (where the fictional “anne of green gables” supposedly took place). As it turned out, he was this expert hiker or something and had hiked all over, so he gave us this excellent agenda and tons of valuable info. Or, so we figured it would have been, if we’d been able to hike….
sixth stop: cape breton to pictou, nova scotia, canada
date: nov. 6
when we woke up the next morning it was pouring, so we thought we’d just drive out to cape breton and see how things panned out. Well, it continued to pour all day, so we just drove through the park, which was gorgeous – mountains right on the coast, huge trees, huge rocks, huge waves. So beautiful. Since we couldn’t really go hiking in the rain, I figured we’d hang around the cliffs and look for whales. But that didn’t last very long in the weather either and we never saw one. The driving was a little scary – very narrow, windy, slippery roads on high, high cliffs often covered in fog looking down into the surf while it poured – so it wasn’t my most laid-back day of the trip, as you might imagine. As night approached, we decided to high tail it out of there and hope for better weather the next day when we’d venture out to p.e.i. but….
seventh stop: pictou, nova scotia, canada to bar harbor, maine
date: nov. 7
we slept in some hotel comparable to a comfort in just minutes from the p.e.i. ferry, but when we woke up, it was just more rain. When we checked out, the woman at the counter warned us against going to prince edward, as a “perfect storm” type storm (i.e. when three storms happen to meet in one spot) was on its way. Yeah. So we got in the car and headed to maine. So much for seeing anne of green gables. We drove through new brunswick and headed for the border, where it took excruciatingly long to exchange our money and get our taxes paid back – and all for so little, as it turned out. Plus, we missed the covered bridge that we’d taken that route just to see. Finally, we drove to the actual border crossing. Up ahead, a little honda was merrily driving away, seemingly having not aroused a single suspicion. So I drove up, not worried at all, though aware that, in times like these, all measures should be taken against suspicious individuals, especially at the suspect canadian border. Well, as it turned out, mike and I were apparently rather suspicious, because the nice, grandfatherly guard was very curt and cold and gruff with me, asking questions like ‘where are you coming from?!’ (‘uh, canada?’), ‘why were you here?’ (‘just vacationing’ – of course that warranted a strange look, right – who goes on vacation to canada?), ‘where are you from?’, ‘what do you got in your car?’ ‘are you american citizens? BOTH of you???’ that one was funny, because at that point he almost stuck his head right in the car window to look past me at mike. I think mike was the really suspicious character, not little old me. You see, at this point, mike had some serious facial hair going and was wearing a john deere hat with an american flag pin poked through the white part of it rather askew. Anyway, the guard ended up looking through our bags in the trunk, even going so far as to open mike’s guitar case (mike: ‘oh, come on, how cliché! Looking for pot in the guitar case!’). yeah, at that moment, I couldn’t tell if he thought we were a couple of crazy drug-carrying hippies or taliban-types in disguise. But we apparently passed whatever test he was conducting and seemingly reluctantly let us drive away. Soon after we stopped in this little tiny town of like moosehead or something and had a great lunch, complete with pumpkin pie a la mode. We finally arrived in bar harbor that night and crashed at a real comfort inn.
eighth stop: boston, mass.
date: nov. 8 - 9
The next morning we discovered the best roadside breakfast place (pumpkin muffins, amazing coffee, oatmeal, all for like $1.50) and, after driving around in circles for a bit, started off down the coast of maine. Now, don’t get me wrong, the maine coast is beautiful, but after having seen nova scotia, it just didn’t measure up. I can’t really explain it here, but, I swear it’s true. I think it just has to do with how every single stretch of land and every town on the nova scotian eastern coast is gorgeous while maine is rather developed and strip-mall like in many spots. Anyway, we got to boston a lot quicker than expected and were invited to crash at my friend nancy’s. we hung out with her for a while and then headed to cambridge for the spiral stairs show. The show was good, I like his stuff, very random in the lyrics. Still, it was weird because there were two opening bands and each of them had a lot more people in the audience than the main show, which didn’t start til 12 so that could explain part of it, but still. We got up close and personal. It was like seeing him in a frat house basement, which kind of rocked. The next day we went running on the charles and then flitted around boston until nancy got off of work. Then we left for cape cod.
ninth stop: cape cod, mass.
date: nov. 9 – 11
kerry, scott, omar, james, and marco joined mike, nancy, and me at nancy’s place on the cape. We basically just hung out, ate, drank, played celebrity and trivial pursuit, and watched tv and the movie shrek. We walked to the beach for a bit and played around, but mostly it was an indoor weekend. Our vacation came to an end when we drove back to new york Sunday morning.
now, back to the present:
there's so much craziness going on today. first of all, another palestinian suicide bomber, who is now on the list of martyrs and, no doubt, according to his relatives (who will all get pardons at the gates of hell), in heaven with 72 virgins at his beck and call, fails to kill but instead only maims two israeli guards. my god. i cannot imagine living with such fear at all times.
some more teenaged crazies plot to blow up their school. Saddest part: “The Boston Globe today quoted Eric McKeehan's mother, Susan St. Hilaire, as saying her son was not guilty. Ms. St. Hilaire, 52, said her son had been in rebellion since the sudden death of his father in September and had started wearing dark clothes and a Mohawk hairstyle and piercing various parts of his body.” It’s a very weird world we live in when parents no longer get alarmed by these very obvious manifestations of psychological issues.
first human embryos created through cloning. that’s great, and bush is an idiot for thinking otherwise.
some kind of crazy taliban-army prison uprising leaves the u.s. bombing the place, killing hundreds, and one american dead. Did you see spy game yet? It’s decent, but, my point is that that is the reality I feel we’re living in. crazy all around.
why must it take democrats to stand up for women? are there no female republicans? Oh, right, there are, but why they are is the better question.
also about women in afghanistan is this article about how feminists there are calling on the u.s. to stop the bombing – not because they’re pro-taliban by a long shot, but rather because women and children make up some 70 percent of the population and are the ones actually suffering from the bombs. Of course, though, of course. how wrong is that?
did you know that “Just five weeks ago, 280 abortion clinics nationwide received powder-filled letters” and that “Three weeks later, clinics again received another 200 anthrax threats delivered by FedEx”? probably not, despite the national anthrax-paranoia and the hyper press surrounding it. Apparently, the government has found itself in the sticky position of having to investigate these threats to abortion clinics despite its own stance against abortion. An irony which I find superb.
from mr. Beller’s neighborhood, a cute story about pets being rescued after sept. 11th. I’m glad to finally hear what all happened with that, even if there’s no story related about a pet’s owner who died, which is so sad and leaves me really wondering.
I dig that this 300-pound biker guy, nicknamed “fudgie,” is trying to get ohio legislation passed that would ban biker discrimination.
Tuesday, November 20, 2001
5:12 p.m. so, this is what 25 is like? who knew?
by the way, in case you doubted, bob dylan rocked out so hard last night. awesome, awesome show. unbelievable.
Monday, November 19, 2001
10:40 a.m. i'm trying really hard not to be negatively impacted by others' stress and/or bratty attitudes today. so far i'm winning out, but if this keeps up, it might be a losing battle.
today we're taking a school trip to stamford, ct for some focus group action. that should be interesting. i love picking people's brains about entertainment and stuff like that.
so, it was quite a jam-packed weekend, and the excitement continues. after seeing harry potter (good stuff, not really anything unexpected, but quality nonetheless), mike and i went to see stephen malkmus at the roxy (yes, the roxy). it was okay, i guess. the sound was kind of bad, as was the set-up, and the people kind of sucked and annoyed me. malkmus's attitude kind of turns me off as well. i actually think i liked the irving plaza show of last spring better, but mike feels the opposite, so.
saturday we saw another movie: shallow hal. i was not that impressed, and personally found the jokes that people were loudly guffawing at in the theater to not be so funny. in a nutshell, i thought it was a somewhat interesting premise with some potential, but a comedic actress gwyneth is not. and i actually felt that jack black's uniqueness and charm were kind of lost in the movie, especially when they had him repeating some goofy antics of his over and over. like, once is funny and weird, but twice and three times is just annoying and no longer funny or cute. ya know? plus, it felt weird when the movie would play up the humor of gwyneth's character's obesity (as it did all the way to the end), while it was trying to teach a lesson about not judging people by their size.
and now tonight, mike & i are going to see dylan at the garden. he's claiming we have terrible seats but i'm psyched to be going anyway. this will be my third time seeing dylan, and being that my first time, i was standing up close, probably like row 5, at woodstock '94 (i'm actually in the video of the weekend...), surrounded by crazy people covered in mud, singing along, everyone trying to make a totally commercial effort into something so much more in the spirit of the original woodstock, and then smoking for the first time, it's never gonna be that way again and i'll probably never get to be that close again. but anything is still great.
and then tomorrow is my birthday. the big 2-5, a quarter century, closer to 30 than to high school. the cool thing is, though, that while 25 may still sound young to some, i think it sounds a lot less young that 24, for some reason. and being that people are always commenting on how young i am, it's a welcome change. plus, i feel like 25 is a real go-getter number, a number that can really impact change, make a difference, take the year by its horns, all that good stuff.
Friday, November 16, 2001
3:43 p.m. so, can you believe it? a coworker actually gave me two free tickets to see harry potter tonight! isn't that wild? can't wait.
and i don't care what the naysayers are saying. first of all, i don't think they really got the books. i keep hearing people say, "the story's not original," "why isn't it original?" "it's all so used," "nothing's original." but all this hubbub about how the stories are sooooo unoriginal is really stupid. of course she's using ideas from ancient mythology, history, pop culture and more. and pointing out that this is true so late in the game, as if you're the only one to notice this, makes you look pretty dumb, i think. also, no one considers shakespeare or bob dylan any less brilliant for claiming old material and making it theirs, do they? all these reviews seem to be trying to critique the book while critiquing the movie, which is so lame. yes, compare and contrast, but don't attack j.k. rowling's work because she didn't write the screenplay and a movie review is no place for a book critique.
Thursday, November 15, 2001
5:57 p.m. i'm willing to bet that most of you think that horoscopes are all fluff and completely made up, words pulled from the air like needles from a decaying christmas tree, barely thought about, placed on the page with hardly a thought to the delicate weaving of words and sentences, the idioms and implications, images and caveats.
you, of course, would be misled.
this, you see, is all by way of formulating an excuse for why i haven't updated in a couple of days, particularly why i have not filled you in with regard to the remaining 10 days in my Vacation of a Lifetime which i'm sure you're so eager to hear about. instead of writing about my travels and tribulations, i'm editing 4,000 word horoscope specials predicting your fabulous and unfortunate fortunes in the new year. are you grateful? no. will you ever read them? maybe. how tired i am, it's as though i've channeled the visions myself. oh fortune teller fatigue, i feel you today.
this excessive display of drama is clearly job-induced. maybe i can get worker's compensation? another vacation? aha.
Tuesday, November 13, 2001
6:57 p.m. So, the recap commences.
First stop: amherst, mass.
date: oct. 27-29
after an early rise and some coffee at mike’s parents', we headed to the town of my alma mater. (en route we stopped in the funny town of stamford, ct. where we were looked at like freaks, if only briefly. must have been the hats?) Now, let’s get this right: yes, I hated amherst 75% of the time I was there. My unhappiness, though, had nothing to do with the coolness of the 5-college area, the very liberal curriculum, the super accessible professors, or even the beautiful campus. Rather, it had everything to do with the lame people and their complete lack of diversity and, for the most part, human decency. As a result, I have never gone back for anything other than small-town goodness. This time around was no different, and it was so nice to soak it all up. The bed and breakfast that I’d randomly picked despite it lacking a web site complete with pictures turned out to be perfect – so cool, so country, just gorgeous and cozy, somehow both secluded and centrally located. We hit the funky record shops and college bookstores, had amazing food at the famous judy’s (go popovers and apple butter) and the tasty nancy jane’s, wandered around campus, met with my senior thesis advisor and chatted about local health care, regurgitating facts back to professors, folk music and more. We even got to talk with some funny amherst students who were so, so amherst, i could only look at them like animals in a zoo, thinking, "that was me??? nah...." Then we went to see jay farrar at the iron horse in northampton, and it was really, really nice and intimate, seats right up front and all. When we left Monday morning, we were actually a little sad to push on, just because it had been such a great weekend, but alas, we were off to two whole weeks of canadian fun.
second stop: montreal, quebec, canada
date: oct. 29-31
so it takes a lot less longer to get to canada than I’d expected. Moreover, crossing the border is a joke (at least on the way there…as I’d come to differentiate). After passing through miles upon miles, er, kilometers upon kilometers (you can go 110!!! well, in km) of farmland (all the silos actually had the owner’s name written on them – isn’t that neat?), we arrived in the heart of montreal and found our (in my opinion) joke of a b&b (I’d prefer to call it a hostel complete with an english muffin) before dark. The bizarro host couple formerly of nyc just left me feeling uncomfortable to be there generally (plus, shared baths??? that's annoying). Still, the place was situated in a prime location – right in the coolest restaurant and night life neighborhood – and we really enjoyed the city nevertheless. The next morning we hopped on a bus tour and our driver jean (like "john" but "jean") was full of dead-pan-delivered jokes, including a number of cracks about police officers and police horses at dunkin’ donuts. We saw the notre dame basilica, we saw the olympic stadium, we saw the molson stadium, we saw st. anthony's, we saw mcgill (very cool campus). Then we checked out the old city on our own and found a great creperie, where I was able to turn a rather skeptical mike on to the wonders of la crepe and even overhear a conversation between a french woman and our french-canadian waiter so I could kind of make out the difference between their accents. Kind of. My interpretation: the french just talk like they have sticks up their asses, lips firmly pursed, jaws clenched, whereas the french-canadians have a much more americanized accent, mouths hanging open and leaving words kinds of open-ended, so I can actually kind of understand them sometimes. But barely, and just certain words. Montreal was a fun town with lots of nice people and culture, cute little autumn-y parks, great food, cool little pubs and restaurants and shops. Still, we weren’t really looking for shopping and bar and club hopping on this trip, so we were okay to leave after just two nights.
more tomorrow....
Monday, November 12, 2001
6:56 p.m. so i'm back. this declaration is both sad and thrilled, because damn was that VACATION good, but DAMN was that vacation good. does this make sense to anyone else? probably not, but in a nutshell, now that i have a blissful smile on my face, in a way, it's kind of hard to be too annoyed at anything, even work which made my away-bliss come to an end. you see, there is home-bliss as well.
so, i want to give a full and detailed run-down of mike's and my adventures, but i want to leave my office more. so, this is all you get today:
the government taps psychics for help in the war against terrorism. how open-minded of them. i didn't know anything about that whole stargate thing of gathering psychics to undermine the efforts of the russians during the cold war -- how hollywood-ish. great stuff.
amusing recent searches
"anti-oregano"
"ari fleischer sexy"
"sammy hagar and cheese"
blogs of interest
amplified to rock
angela
betsy
brooklyn kid
caterina
catherine
chris
deletia
erasing
girl boy
jejune
kempa
laura holder
le blogeur
leanne
loobylu
ljc
lmg
metafilter
obscure store
perceptions
ribbit
smartertimes
unknown news
wisdom
news
cnn
feminist news
gotham gazette
media news
media nugget
new york times
reuters
washington post
zim independent
zim standard
words
american politics
andrew sullivan
atlantic monthly
bust
chicklit
feminista
freezerbox
in these times
ironminds
lingua franca
mcsweeney's
mother jones
ms.
nation
new republic
new york mag
new yorker
onion
outside
paper
pigdog
pop candy
pop matters
reason
salon
shiny gun
slate
stretcher
sweet fancy moses
music
all music
beatles lyrics machine
cbgb
city search music
hothouse flowers
irving plaza
jersey beat
jersey radio
knitting factory
launch
aimee mann
new york radio
nick drake
no depression
old 97s
100 most intense records
perfect sound forever
pitchfork media
roadburn
rock critics
sonicnet
son volt
tori amos
WFUV
wilco
lucinda williams
running
central park
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