holiday?
We made fake chicky cookies and enjoyed drive-thru fare at the park at dusk. Large families barbecued and hid eggs in the grass and trees for their legions of youngsters.

Holidays just aren't what they used to be. I'm thinking they won't truly be fun again until I can get my own kids worked into a sugary froth over them.

Tomorrow is my last day off, and I'll be spending it in an un-sweetened froth at the DMV. Oh, joy and rapture.
3/31/2002 09:14:54 PM  



new
My eyegluttony list, in which I keep track of my media consumption - books, movies, DVDs. Woo.
3/29/2002 10:14:40 PM  



more springiness
I know absolutely, positively for sure that spring has arrived when I can take my evening walks again, and it's not too dark or chilly. The resident pair of mallards returns to the swimming pool, stalked by small cats that have no hope of bagging such a dangerous target. The man with the noisy lawnmower does his thing as early as possible (of course! But how, exactly, does it take so much time to finish such a teeny plot of green?).

Happy spring, everyone! And Easter too, if that's your game :-)
3/29/2002 03:41:05 PM  



running on empty
I've had no caffeine today. Not a sip. Not even a Penguin. I'm trying to pry myself from its jittery grip before school starts back up next week. Being so dependent is annoying, and more difficult out there in BFE. Far, far away from the Land of Anything Remotely Resembling Real Coffee.

Hard core napping was the order of the day.
3/28/2002 06:04:34 PM  



one step forward, two trips back
I conquered another dumb phobia today - the car wash. No, I've never been afraid of the car wash itself. Just driving through it. I couldn't tell you why, exactly.

At least with the oil change phobia, I have the picture of me crashing off the rails and squishing some poor man in the gaping hole in the floor as justification.

I host many phobias, and most of them are related to cars. I'm working through them. Slowly. My mom tells me we were in a fairly serious accident when I was three. Wish I had some recollection of that; maybe then half my nightmares wouldn't involve giant car-tastrophes.

But full of morning Cheerios and lots of sunny-morning resolve (and guilt for hijacking D's nicer/safer-than-mine vehicle half the month), I decided that, since I get a free wash with every fill-up, I should just get it over with.

And the car was so sparkly-clean in the morning sun, I decided to reward my happy self with a browse through Barnes and Noble.

The Starbucks at B&N always provides me much amusement. The outdoor tables are a year-round home for the same groups of black-clad hipsters trying to appear intellectual over their paper cups of latte. "Like, you know, I think, like, Bush is such a ... a ... big weenie!" Well. I guess at least they're trying.

I found a novelization of the life of the young Lincoln for just four bucks, which I can't wait to dig into. Happy to find such a deal, I decided I'd swing over to the magazine section, maybe pick up the latest MSL that I'd been mooning over at Raley's because of the pretty pretty blue egg cups on the cover.

The periodicals area was completely empty, aside from a group of guys browsing the science section. This is next to the froufy-girly (Cosmo) section, in the smack-dab lowest center of which sat the coveted magazine. I suppose it didn't help that one of the browsers leaned jauntily against the rack, magazine in hand, facing directly froufwards. But I found myself suddenly embarrassed to be seen stepping into the shallow end.

Now, I just feel stupid that it mattered.

FYI: they carry the magazine at the little checkout racks.
3/27/2002 11:06:58 AM  



are you looking at my headgear?
More Renwear from Evil Ogi! I've been looking for an affordable and authentic peasantly head covering.

Though, really - shame on me! With my sewing machine and all. For shame.

We're so happy to have folks we know at the Faire with this year! No one in Michigan bought into our (okay, okay - my) little pseudothespian hobby.
3/26/2002 03:15:40 PM  



and the list shtick continues
For no reason whatsoever, I present to you my Big List of Addictions. Some obviously more shameful/self-destructive than others.

* diet cola
* Pocky
* carbohydrates
* my own site stats
* living in yoga pants and tee shirts and slippers
* D-hugs
* Elmo rumbles
* scented candles
* baked tofu
* metafilter (dammit)
* John Cusack
* cheap wine in little bottles
* Brummel and Brown
* reading wish lists
* avoiding potentially uncomfortable situations, no matter the gains at stake
* my Melitta
* the local craft store
* buying things online
* Barnes and Noble. Not online.
* cherry Chapstik (really, really)
3/26/2002 01:15:24 PM  



wired wired
I'm trying to concentrate on Martha making matzo, but I've just had two strong cuppas, so I have to multitask. Or risk exploding.

D. subscribes to Wired. I picked it up and immediately gravitated to the fun "fetish" stuff:

* baby thermometers go hi-tech (silly, I couldn't find this anywhere on the Philips site)
* lomo undies? (no direct link, see under "shop")
* rechargeable mod mood glow (go to the vessel site and find "Candela" under Products)
3/26/2002 09:31:54 AM  



it's spring, and a young girl's thoughts turn to...
...food, apparently.

I've been invited to potluck brunch on Thursday, and I'm planning our Easter picnic for Sunday (please hold out, weather!). Some useful links to ponder:

Brunch foods:
* at my permanent food first stop, allrecipes
* yum (coffee in a muffin? woo!)
* go Hawaiian
* some kosher breads (and lots of Passover recipes on the site, too)

Though I'll probably just try my hand at mini-quiches from my favorite little easy cookbook. Mushroom and zucchini, anyone?

Picnic foods:
* from Living Room magazine (I want a subscription, dammit!)
* and tips from allrecipes; though they don't include this bread, which sounds delicious
* romantic recipes for two (not to mention a list of romantic finger foods)
* picnicking across America! A whole series of picnic places and recipes
* a menu for vegetarians
* have a Korean, Mediterranean picnic
* picnic in a wrap, perhaps?
3/25/2002 02:16:07 PM  



time to make the doughnuts
There's something so fundamentally wrong with the alarm clock ringing at 4:30 am on a Saturday. And me not throwing it across the room when it does.
3/23/2002 05:25:50 AM  



in season
for the Friday Five

1. What is your favorite time of year? Spring!

2. What is it about your favorite season that, well, makes it your favorite season? Fresh green, flowers, buds, return of the robins, days getting even longer, the sun after months of rain, nice pleasant temperatures (especially for alfresco evenings at all the cool restaurants in Old Sac and Old Folsom)...

3. What is your least favorite time of year? Why? Winter. Depressing. Icky. Blah.

4. Do you do anything to celebrate or recognize the changing of seasons? Easter is kind of our "spring celebration;" last year we had a riverside picnic and I hope that'll be a tradition now. I think of Christmas as kind of a solstice celebration, too.

5. What's your favorite thing to do outside? Hiking, which I don't do enough anymore since leaving the Upper Peninsula, sad.
3/22/2002 06:11:45 PM  



short trip
The day couldn't have been more perfect than it was yesterday for our drive to the coast. Sunny and mild, westward traffic not horrible.

Our hotel, located in north Pacifica, was disappointing even for a cheap-ish place. But at least we had an ocean "view" (though I still don't want to give too much consideration to how the two small round holes came to be in our window pane). We strolled down to the fishing pier, and had some fun watching the waves and foam and the crazy diehard surfers, the tiny chill in the air not enough to keep us away. Unlike the last time we visited Pacifica, we came prepared in the proper layers of clothing.

After a little rest, it was off to a yummy Italian dinner. Our first virtual-to-IRL meeting, what fun!

Afterwards, we drove up to the local bowl so that I could yet again get my butt whooped by D. at the billiards tables. No tables open, so I got a good whooping at air hockey instead.

Today was all about rain. We head out in search of breakfast, hoping that the rain would subside in time to explore more picturesque coastline. But no letup was in sight, so we headed north for our first trip over the Golden Gate Bridge, around the Bay, and back to Sacramento. A trip which offered charms of its own, emerald hills and marshlands.

And not a single picture.

[shrug]

But look for the next installment soon: "In Which We Get Brave, and Venture into the City."
3/22/2002 04:02:00 PM  



and another
While I was away (didja miss me?), another Mirror Project photo was posted.
3/22/2002 03:05:24 PM  



mwah-hah-hah
MICHAEL MOORE: ... I really didn't realize the librarians were, you know, such a dangerous group.

BUZZFLASH: Subversive.

MICHAEL MOORE: They are subversive. You think they're just sitting there at the desk, all quiet and everything. They're like plotting the revolution, man. I wouldn't mess with them. You know, they've had their budgets cut. They're paid nothing. Books are falling apart. The libraries are just like the ass end of everything, right?

Via Rogue Librarian.

3/20/2002 08:52:57 PM  



cripes
The earth moves, the day before we arrive. Makes an earthquake virgin like me pretty nervous, I'll tell you what. Give me a good 'ol Midwestern cyclone any day. Thanks, Jish.
3/20/2002 01:47:53 PM  



whee
D. may be taking Thursday and Friday off, and we may take an impromptu mini-trip overnite to the coast. Santa Cruz? Monterey? Do we even want to go to the coast if it's still coldish?
3/19/2002 05:20:00 PM  



lazyman's update
Netflix: it's a very good thing.

The selection is wonderful. My only disappointment so far has been lack of Tapeheads. Phooey. They've got all the PBS New York series, which are apparently wildly popular, so there's a bit of a wait for those. The pricing is more than fair; we'll be choosing the Lite option, which is $13.95/month and allows two movies out at once. The turn-over time is fantastic - once they've received a return from you (in easy pre-paid self-sealing envelopes), the next movie in your queue is in your mailbox within two or three days. The website setup is impeccable, with lots of movie categories and search options, a nice rating and recommendation system, and a quick and easy queueing system.

My only real complaint is that I haven't been able to easily find a Customer Feedback form so I can tell them just how damned wonderful I think they are.
3/19/2002 05:11:49 PM  



retro reflectives
My first two Mirror Project submissions.
3/19/2002 06:32:23 AM  



modern utopia?
So Steven posted a link to the Twin Oaks Community in Virginia today. I'm sure their communal lifestyle wouldn't agree with me, being far too used to a huge degree of privacy. But it's fun to think about, and my mind can't help wandering back to the idea. The most appealing aspect is being able to work with the hands all day, learning different crafts (cheesemaking, weaving, animal husbandry, gardening). And you needn't choose just one job - you can move around as much as you like. They run hammock, book indexing, soy food, and herb businesses to raise money for the few things they can't produce. The place is as eco-friendly as they can make it; the group of 100 members shares a small fleet of 15 cars, many of the buildings are now completely off the grid thanks to solar panels, and they're big into recycling and conservation in general.

The biggest downside, aside from lack of privacy, is the small monthly stipend each member gets. While they're provided with all the food, shelter, and medical care they need, they only receive $60 in spending money per month. Wonder how many people, really, could train their black consumer hearts to deal with that?
3/18/2002 01:24:02 PM  



sunshine day, my ...
The sun is shining, and the wee little birdies are singing merrily in the trees. My hands are chafed and swollen. By the time I've finished all twenty cases, my shoulders will be stinging, and my wrists will be toast. And I've only finished six cases of books.

Today I'm tackling one of the rotten parts of my job, that makes me feel like singing Cartman's slave song - textbooks. Don't ask me why I'm here on my month off. Let's just say it's the result of yet another in a long series of gross miscommunications (or, in my head, "what the hell is so difficult about sending me an email when something major goes down?").

I dropped D. off at work, and drove his vehicle out here. Because I'm at least a thousand times less afraid of driving it than mine. Turns out, however, that Early Morning D. is scarier than the threat of breaking down at an intersection (no calls or letters. I'm kidding. Mostly.).

I really should stop procrastinating and get back to it. I could go on and on here, dreading and avoiding the inevitable. Maybe I should make myself shut the computer down. And I'm not allowed on 'til I'm back home.

Whenever that is.
3/18/2002 11:12:09 AM  



bibliorific!
I want to attend the Festival of Books at UCLA next month...
3/17/2002 11:05:17 AM  



bling it on
Bits of bedside conversation carried on by myself last week:

"ARRRRRGGGH!!! Get in there, you little piece of ... Why can't you just bend the way I want you to?!? What have I ever done to you? Huh? HUH?"

<profoundly shallow content>

You see, I have these earrings. These little thin gold hoops, that, about annually, I crave to wear. Harmless enough. Or so you'd think.

They don't have hinged clasp closures, or lever backs, or straight posts with separate backs. No. These are essentially tiny gold tubes, with a surgical steel wire clamped into one end. It's your mission to - without looking, of course, because it's all happening behind your earlobe - maneuver the wire into .5 mm hole, and somehow get it to stay there.

Well, I did it, as I've done (seldom) in the past. My ears were flame red, not to mention my temper, but the damned things are in my ears. By jiminy. And there they'll stay, for at least a week, to justify the self-torture.

</profoundly shallow content>

3/16/2002 06:36:49 PM  



beware the derides of March
Yet another example (though hardly the most vitriolic offender, by any means) fueling a gradually increasing distaste for my once-favorite community weblog. Granted, the number of not-great links is on the rise. But. It seems half its members are full to bursting of puffed-up old guard mentality, waiting with daggers of superiority complex disguised as "propriety" for any unwitting scrub to stumble in and screw up, so they can duke it out to the death over the offender's dead body. I'd personally be terrified to post a link. But then I've always been a scaredy-cat.

Maybe the answer, for me personally, at least, is to pay attention to front-page posts only, and forget about the comments beneath. Save myself some time and grief.
3/15/2002 06:03:07 PM  



animalia
for the Friday Five
1. What's your favorite animal? I don't know. I love them all. I'm particularly fond of cows and goats (rural Midwesterner much?).

2. What pets have you had in your lifetime? Three parakeets, dozens of fish, two hamsters and their litter, four rats, two anoles, and now our three cats.

3. Is there any specific pet that you've wanted but never had? Why? A dog. At this point, the breed hardly matters, I just want one. I've always wanted one. To walk with me in the evenings and play ball with at the park. I'm certain the cats would not agree with me.

4. Are you allergic to any animals? Cats, ironically enough. But as the years go on, I'm less and less affected. I hardly sneeze at all. But when I get scratched, oy, the welt it raises...

5. Do you have any 'pet' pet peeves (your pets or others')? Dog owners irresponsible about picking up after. Ranks down there with cat puke.

3/15/2002 03:51:56 PM  



waste not (a wednesday post)
Tonight I'm finally trying Meatloaf Experiment #1. If it's indeed as delicious as I believe it will be after days of research, I'll post the recipe.

I walked across the street to Rite Aid to grab some milk for the mashed potatoes and peppercorn gravy (another little experiment). To get there, I have to pass Orchard Super Hardware. The sidewalk is alive with a riot of spring blooms, on vines, in tubs and pots and crates. The sun and flowery smell changed my mood entirely. Not that I was in a foul one to begin with (I'm at home, with time to concoct a Real Dinner, how could I be?). I guess spring really hit me.

So I'm standing at the sink, enjoying the cool little breezes puffing through my kitchen window (a true luxury) and the springy smell wafting from the fresh beans I'm snapping. But all those wonderful bean ends - all that life, really - just washed away down the disposal, made me feel a bit ashamed. I need a yard, with a garden, and room to compost for it.

It's hard enough on my conscience that we haven't been able to recycle anything but paper since we got here. I blame spending my formative years at a progressive environmental specialty school for my guilt. Where Woodsy and Smokey are hailed as gods, a small natural history museum is in-house and a dedicated nature center (built atop an old landfill) is right up the street, and environmental issues are a strongly-emphasized part of the daily curriculum. There I built birdhouses for the Journal-Sentinel Sports Show contest, and made plaster casts of animal tracks, and learned how to make paper from recycled scraps. And our kooky music teacher made up songs like this one (Don't ask me how I've remembered the lyrics after twenty years. I have an almost horrifying ability for such things):

Yummy, yummy, yummy
It's awfully sunny
I can eat all that I want
I can eat all that I want
My leaves need the sun
To make food for all of me
And they can only do it
With sunshine energy!

Milwaukee has an excellent public school system. Sometimes wish I were working there.
3/13/2002 03:52:27 PM  



kudos
There are dozens of reasons Mena scored the SXSW 2002 Best Weblog award (even if she doesn't agree!). If you're not already familiar with her blog, you should go discover those reasons now.
3/12/2002 11:09:23 AM  



speedy delivery!
Just put away our first Safeway home delivery order. Some thoughts:

Pros:
* Friendly driver, obviously a professional, not just some greasy shmo they picked up off the street and paid minimum wage.
* Most of what we ordered was included. The substitutions made were okay.
* The produce the shopper chose looks fresh and tasty.
* Prices were normal. Normal for Safeway, which have never impressed me much, but honestly, it's easier to comparison-shop when you've got a list of prices in black-and-white right in front of you. Ultimately you can spend less.
* First-time customers get a neat Safeway truck box, with coffee beans, biscotti, some Safeway propaganda, and a magnetized shopping list pad (we love those here, yes we do).

Cons:
* The frozen stuff seemed a little warm.
* They didn't have carrot bunches (?) or Pringles (???).
* Kind of weird having someone carry groceries into your home. I felt like I should rightfully have been eighty and said things like "Put that right on the table, there, sonny. Would you like a cookie?"
* You will eventually screw something up when you choose items without the aid of pictures or descriptions that use whole words. For instance, I got liquid coffee creamer (yes, I use the white stuff, sue me) instead of powdered (I don't go through it quickly, and I like the longer shelf-life).
* I can see how your product choices could be limited by your tolerance for embarassment. The delivery person reviews omissions from your list with you: (disclaimer: the following is an example only, sprung from the author's warped, paranoid, and hyperimaginative mind, and is not based on anything remotely resembling real events) "Well, let's see, now... They didn't have the 10 oz. Chedd-r Cheez Slices, so they substituted the 16 oz... No snow pea pods available... Oh, and they were out of the 60-Count Mega Plus Silky Glide Plastic Applicator Tampons." Of course your neighbor and his troupe of freakish skateboard buds would come traipsing out the door at that exact moment, laughing hyenaically as they rolled off into the parking lot.

The $9.95 delivery fee is only prohibitive if you don't order a ton of stuff at once. Or if you enjoy spending your Saturdays playing dodgecart with Cranky Sue and her Ten Unwashed Hyper Rugrats.
3/11/2002 05:43:15 PM  



not so far
Pictures of yesterday's walk in Roseville in the visiblog.
3/10/2002 05:19:57 PM  



walking for a cause
Go, pledge Dawn for MS.

When I was in junior high and high school, I did all the walks/bikes/etc. I could find. I was so much less the theoretical humanitarian back then. The habit left me when I started college, with its two-job, breaking point schedules. Maybe now, though, I should get back off my lazy, internet-addicted butt and chip in something besides my pitiful cash injections. New late entry 2002 resolution.
3/10/2002 01:22:25 PM  



home is where the ? is
for the Friday Five

1. What makes you homesick? Sometimes looking at photos, or thinking about some of the irreplaceable places. I miss my sister more than those things, though.

2. Where is "home" for you? Is it where you are living now, or somewhere else (ie: Mom & Dad's house, particular state/city) That's an awfully complicated question. I was born in Cudahy, Wisconsin, moved to Milwaukee when I was five, to Escanaba, Michigan when I was eleven, to Marquette, Michigan when I was seventeen, to metro Detroit when I was twenty-four, and finally to Sacramento two years ago. They all seem a little like home. I suppose I miss Marquette as a place the most. It's a perfect little city, surrounded by forest and lakes and mountains. I had the worst and best times of my life there.

3. What makes it home for you? People? Things? Both. People (and cats) moreso. But there are a few "comfort items" that I need to have (the couch, for instance). I also get insanely attached to landmarks.

4. Where is the furthest you've been from home, miles-wise? Not impressively far - 673, from metro Detroit to Atlantic City. A close second is 577, from here to Las Vegas.

5. What are your plans for this weekend? Again, the phrase "road trip" hangs in the air. We shall see.
3/8/2002 02:33:51 PM  



soggy
In the forty seconds it took to get from my car to the porch, I was completely drenched.

Of course, now I get to sport the poodle look the remainder of the day. Curly Hair + Humidity = Bichon Frise.

But who cares. I'm done, more or less, for the remainder of March. I only had two students at my workshops, but they were little dynamos, and so our book is nearly finished. I figure I may need to put in three more hours at most.

Now I'm going to grab some leftovers and park my butt on the couch for a little taped viewing session.
3/7/2002 01:26:14 PM  



reflections
Japanese Americans revisit memories of WWII internment.
3/7/2002 06:12:54 AM  



too bad they couldn't work Bruce Willis in again...
EW asks "How should 'Friends' end?"
3/6/2002 01:37:36 PM  



this could work
While I was sitting in that pesky 10-minute-wait left turn lane that gets me finally home, I saw one of the sparkly-new Safeway delivery trucks!

I think it was a sign.
3/6/2002 01:20:37 PM  



gearing up
Never made it to the Faire last year. No, not even the little one two blocks away!

So I decided to make/pick up a few items in the off-season. Cheaper, generally, and it'll hopefully motivate me to get my bum roll out there this year.

Maidens and wenches, may I highly recommend the seamstress Evil Ogi? No, no - don't let her name scare you off! She did a wonderful custom underskirt just for me, and she's so nice, to boot! And quick as anything. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I love those Canadians!

I've offered to look for bits for D's costume, to which he has one stock reply: "Arrrrrgh! I'm a pirate!"

I don't quite know what that makes me, then. Pirate's concubine?
3/5/2002 04:34:54 PM  



sigh
I surely am going to miss everyone. Take lots of pictures!
3/5/2002 10:04:43 AM  



if you can't have webvan, I guess this is the next best thing
I figured this month is as good as any to take advantage of the free trial at Netflix. If they're fairly speedy (and why not? they're only about a two hours drive away), and tend to serve up most of what I want (seems like it so far), I can't see any reason I wouldn't subscribe to the Lite program (two movies out at a time for just $13.95/mo.). I'd like to watch more DVDs, but Blockbuster annoys me. I mean instant gratification is nice and all. But at our BB, that's pretty much just theory.
3/5/2002 08:25:10 AM  



parodeed
Oh, this is too wickedly funny... (pilfered from MeFi).

Did Mr. Belvedere really last five seasons? How did that happen?
3/4/2002 06:40:59 AM  



back to the scene of the crime
Technically, I don't work this month. But the entire yearbook is due the beginning of April, so ...

... I work this month. Not for pay, mind you.

All this week (well, Monday-Thursday), I'm doing a four-hour "workshop" with the kids in the mornings. So tomorrow, it's 5:30 am as usual for me. Yippee!

I can make it through four hours, right?
3/3/2002 10:41:12 PM  



who's with me?
Grrr. So frustrating. The biggest alumni directory is nice and all, but you've got to dish out $40/year to contact anyone, post photos/urls, or even write to the message boards. There are people I wouldn't mind contacting. But.

Maybe a bunch of us should open a "Gold Account" as a group, and have one central "Account Administrator" be the go-between for contacts. Beat the system and all.

Hrrm. Wonder if I could get sued for even joking about it? Doesn't take much these days.
3/3/2002 04:20:00 PM  



prophecies and peeves
Saw "The Mothman Prophecies" today. Compelling stuff, beautiful cinematography, sky-high creep-out factor. I even found Gere more than tolerable.

Of course now I'll spend the next couple of days trawling the web-bottom for bits about the correlating "real-life incidents" in Point Pleasant, WV, 1966-67.

Granted, part of me feels the movie-going experience almost religious. You enter the dim cathedral (on time), find your pew, sit down, shut up, and give your attention to the giant altar. But didn't the establishment take the analogy a bit too far when they added a collection plate? Before our movie began, two nervous teenagers attempted to beg money for some or other charity over the pre-show music from a rather indifferent crowd. "Would anyone like to donate?" And they carried the plate from pew to pew, the forces of church-like guilt on their side.

Really, I just wanted a movie. Maybe some popcorn. I'd be a thousand times more likely to drop my dollar in a canister at the snack bar. I'm perversely stubborn when it comes to aggressive panhandlers.

Afterwards, we dropped in at Target, where I scored yet another piece of assemble-it-yourself furniture. It doesn't matter how many times I swear up and down that I'll never buy another heavy box of laminated plywood with badly-written instructions. At least this piece was easy and well-planned. Fortunate, because the instructions were the most appalling I've ever encountered:

Place bottom board toleft [sic] side panel, fasten it with 2 srews [sic], make sure slotted edge of (G) is in back of unit facing up.

Have some people to help, insert metal dowel into holes on the edge of each door panel and, then put dowels (which already attached on bottom side of door panel) into holes on each side of bottom board, have another person to hold doors.

At least I could laugh at that. The dozen stickers they used to identify each piece, which turned out to be semi-permanent, and had to be scraped and Goo-Gone'd for half an hour - not so amusing.
3/2/2002 11:47:53 PM  



tripping
for the friday five

1. What's your favorite vacation spot? Right now, I'm pining for a trip to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Upper Michigan. Of course it would have to wait until June, because the whole place'll be frozen in until then.

2. Where do you consider to be the biggest hell-hole on earth? Houghton, Michigan. They've got a good tech school. But you'd damn well better like being locked inside it, because it gets more snow than most cities in the continental US. Thanks to being situated on a small finger of land that juts into the giant icy cauldron of Lake Superior. Northern Nevada ranks a very close second. Because it repulses me.

3. What would be your dream vacation? Oh, it wouldn't take much to make me exceedingly happy, as I've never been out of the northern US/southern Canada. The Keys, Hawaii, Egypt, Italy, Paris, Mexico... I guess the true best would be a looonnng cruise hitting as many places as possible. Cruise ships are a source of endless fascination. Love those "Get out there" teevee spots.

4. If you could go on a road-trip with anyone, who would it be and why? My sister. We get along particularly well, and are both easily amused. We've survived countless eight-hour drives between Michigan peninsulas without wanting to strangle each other. Pretty much more than I can say for anyone else I know.

5. What are your plans for this weekend? Nothing definite. You'll be the first (or at least the third) to know if that changes.
3/1/2002 10:15:00 AM  



book bites
Just look what you can get at amazon.uk!

So you certainly needn't resort to this.
3/1/2002 12:18:11 AM