Wednesday, May 25, 2005

What a year

I have been a blogger for one year. I began this blog last May during my trip to San Francisco to visit Corissa. I was inspired to blog by Bryan and his friends who all seemed to maintain their own Web forum for expressing their thoughts, frustrations, daily activities and senses of humor. I wanted in. So, I started my ramblings, and it has been pretty enjoyable. There are days when something happens and I think, "I have to blog about this." Maybe I do, maybe I'm too lazy and the moment passes. I did think that I would have used the medium to vent more about the world and all of the injustices and tragedies about which we are forced to listen during the evening news. But I like updating any cyber passerby about my life and my thoughts about the happenings of this crazy world we all inhabit.

My thoughts for today:
Why must the toilet overflow in the morning when I've overslept and need to get to work to give the library volunteers their tasks for the day?

Where has the sun gone?

Why have I never seen The Graduate before? I watched 1/2 of this movie last night and I love it. I am completely enthralled with Hoffman and Bancroft and I think that Mike Nichols is a genius. I also love the music and had no idea that Paul Simon wrote some of Simon/Garfunkle's most famous songs for this movie.

Why is it so difficult to write a short policy for the library? I am struggling with the language of the no-food-in-the-library policy and I'm sure that the reason has to do with acceptance. I know that everyone around here is going to have something to say about this simple, little policy and I don't want to hear it. So, to delay the receipt of a whole lot of $.02, I'm procrastinating mightily.

Happy birthday to Bryan's Aunt Sue - one of the kindest, most gracious people I've met - and to Tova, rock on with your bad self.

And to Brain, I told the story of your twisted ankle at lunch and everyone was satisfyingly horrified. I might have left you languishing in the puddle a bit longer than you actually did, but it does make for a dramatic telling. I hope you're having a nice, relaxing day and that the colors of your ankle do not rival the blue/green section of the Crayola crayon box.

It has been a hectic, amazing year filled with more joy and laughter than I ever could have anticipated. There has also been sadness and anger, but at this point I prefer to dwell on the wonderful weddings, parties and happy hours spent with friends,rather than on the loss of people gone too soon; on the great friendships forged through the 'revolution', rather than the frustration and bitterness brought on by an inane administration; on the welcoming of new babies, rather than a goodbye to an old Celt; and on the development and wonder of my favorite love story. I eagerly point my head forward to this next year and all of the beauty and life to experience.

Monday, May 23, 2005

Sweet, sweet happenin's

The weekend started on Thursday night, with lots o' tacos and television at Kate's. I watched yet another episode of the truly stellar OC. Really, quality work from everyone involved - I nearly wept when the spoiled blond shot the brother of the character who looks like a big Haley Joel Osmet. Great show (how does this show survive and "Sports Night" and that Jay Mohr show get cancelled?). It is a true testament to how much I like Kate (and tacos) that I have sat through 3 whole episodes of this show. And we watched the season finale of ER, which is a show that I really do love and have loved since I was a freshman in college. Noah Wyle left the show with very little fanfare and only a small amount of cheese. I kept waiting for the ambulance to drop on him as he walked away from the front doors, but that would ruin the planned 'guest star' episodes of next season. I'll miss seeing him on the show, and am curious to see who joins the cast and what new story lines pop up next season. And, if Wyle, like Sherry Stringfield, can't find work, he can always go back. And if ER ends, he can move to Seattle and work on 'Grey's Anatomy'.

Anyway, we spent a birthday-tastic weekend celebrating with first my mom at her house with pizza, cake and games, and then Dan M. at a local bar with catered food, beer, cake and a Red Sox game on the big screen. We also managed to watch 2 more movies, Notorious and Dr. Strangelove. I enjoyed and was taken in by the suspense of the Hitchcock film and I was highly entertained and frightened by the Kubrick film. I was particularly struck by the thought that we haven't come very far in our thinking when it comes to fear of "other" and the dangerous belief that Americans are always right.

I also finally found the heart to enter my back yard and bag up the large piles of leaves taunting me there. Said leaves were heavy, dense, wet and starting to decompose, so, all in all, a fun chore. I also bought a pair of grass shears to cut away a weird grass-like bush thing growing in a few places in both the front and back yards (aren't I a whiz with the garden lingo?!) I did manage to hack one of them down, but unfortunately my little grass shears split up the middle and were as useless as an udder on a bull. My body is groaning at me today for bending and lifting and weeding, and my resolve is stronger than ever not to commit random acts of gardening.

Happy birthday Mama mia! Remember, it's not the age of the birthday suit, it's how you wear it.

Wednesday, May 18, 2005

Inventories

Taking stock of things every once in a while is a good way to catch up on life: what's missing, what's going well or not, who's doing what (and to whom), etc.

Missing from my life is the will to do yardwork. I now own a home and with that home came a decent-sized yard. We neglected the raking last fall and have to catch up so that the grass we do have stays greenish all summer. We did rake the front yard and we made some very nice piles of leaves in the backyard - this weekend I have to will myself to put those masses of dead leafage into biodegradable bags and deposit them into the great compost pile in the sky (which is on Dudley St, if you're wondering). I also have to purchase some gardening tools that will allow me to trim bushes and trees in the backyard. Whoopie.

Most things are going well - we have finally set a date. Ready? Friday, April 28, 2006 in Gloucester, Mass. We have the reception site and the caterer and most likely a church or j.p. whichever we decide to use. A 'Save the date' card is in the works and will probably go out next week. This wedding planning thing's not so hard.

Work is lovely. My activities today prompted this entry as I was conducting an inventory of the collection here. An inventory consists of printing a list of every single item in the library and then methodically going through the shelves to determine whether an item is, or is not, on the shelf as it should be. It is slow, somewhat painstaking work but, once done, will mean more knowledge and control over what we do and don't own. This is pretty vital to a lending library so I felt productive getting most of this done today. Course, it is also a frustrating task because many books that are "on the shelf" are actually not and I have no way to track down who has them or where they are. They have become a part of someone else's collection and will probably never return. Sigh.

I have watched more movies in the last 2 weeks than should be allowed, but I am enjoying almost every minute. I hated the very esoteric, artsy 'Blow Up' by director Antonioni, and those 2 hours were agonizing, but otherwise I loved 'It Happened One Night' ("Do you love my daughter?...Yes, but don't hold that against me, I'm a little nutty myself"); 'The Searchers' ("Shut your mouth or I'll shut it for you"); 'A Night at the Opera' (too many damn funny one-liners to pick just one); 'Gone with the Wind' ("I don't know nothin' 'bout birthin' no babies"); and ' Lawrence of Arabia', which we are working our way through, not that we don't like it, it's just a long-ass movie.

As for who's doing what (and to whom): our new 2nd floor roommie moves in next week, which is good for the mortgage-paying; lots of people are celebrating birthdays in the next week; and the mbelftboh continues to fire and hire employees at the speed of light.

Happy 2nd birthday to Warren Carey! "Want to go to a restaurant? Okay."

Thursday, May 12, 2005

Are you scared yet?

Cheers to:

-the pilot and student pilot who came within 3 miles of the center of Washington, D.C. in their single-engine Cessna before special military helicopters were able to get them out of there. Thank you for showing the American public that we are on a retardedly heightened terror alert in D.C. and yet our "Homeland Security" Department couldn't stop this little gaff. Oh, and last month they saw a blip on the radar that they thought was a foreign aircraft and they evacuated the White House. Turns out it was some nice, puffy clouds moving by. Good work.

-George Voinovich, republican senator from Ohio who is taking a stand against president Dipwad Bush's choice for U.N. ambassador, John Bolton. Voinovich who "wanted to review allegations against Bolton, portrayed the nominee as “arrogant” and “bullying.” The senator said that while he would vote against the nomination in committee, he supported sending it to the full Senate for a vote."
Also, in a rare case of real humility and level-headedness, Voinovich declared "“That being said, Mr. Chairman, I am not so arrogant to think that I should impose my judgment and perspective of the U.S. position in the world community on the rest of my colleagues,” he told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “We owe it to the president to give Mr. Bolton an up or down vote on the floor.”" For the full story, go to this article.

-the MBELftBoH, which finally cut most of its deadwood employees yesterday, but NOT before giving them another month, on the payroll to find another job. Now they can get down to the business of running the place with only 20 employees. Amazing what $50 million dollars worth of seed money can get you.

-to director Billy Wilder and writer George Axelrod, who made a film out of the play, "The Seven Year Itch" and who made sure to stay as true to the original as the conservative, oppressive rating board would allow in the 1950s. We watched this movie last night, and though it still isn't one of my favorites, it did certainly attempt to bring to light the odd social condition of sending the wife off to the country for the summer so the hubbies could 'play'.

Jeers to:

-anyone writing about all the goofy celebrity stuff in the news lately - monitoring every freakin' step these people take is so crappy. Course, I have to stop here or I will be jeering myself. We may not be as pretty, but we all live interesting lives, let's write about those more often.

-on the theme of jeering celebrity-worshippers, I'm sure that all networks do this, but I happen to watch ABC more often than any other, so I will pick on that particular network. Seen the commercial for "Nick and Jessica, Singing For Freedom" or some such drivel? What the ef? And to echo Bryan's disgust, last week the trailer for the new ABC show "Grey's Anatomy" was "Doctors don't just make house calls, they make BOOTY calls". How pathetic. It's a decent show, fast-paced and with likeable characters, but this network has done a lovely job making it seem like a dumb melodrama about doctors having sex all the time.

-and, finally, the biggest jeer:
This man is our president: Thanks to the blogger who created this entry.

Tuesday, May 10, 2005

The drumming

I'm at work where a whole lot of African drumming has just concluded. One of the areas upon which we focus at PS is West Africa and today is the last day of a seminar series, so 3 African drummers performed while teachers danced around the library. This was followed by trays heaped with authentic West African fare. Amazing.

Since I last wrote, I've eaten out twice, celebrated Mother's Day with too much food and no Scrabble playing, had my brake lights fixed and my oil changed, and watched Saved and The Manchurian Candidate, both movies about brainwashing (one military in nature and the other jesus-y in nature) and both excellent.

Happy Birthday Kati and happy 70 degrees to all!

Saturday, May 07, 2005

Working on a Saturday

is no fun. But, it's quiet and I can make the good coffee and actually get a cup and I can blog uninterrupted.

Bryan and I went to our first Sox game of the season last night, courtesy of Colleen (thanks!) Despite a chilly night, we enjoyed watching a comfortable win as the Sox pulled out to an early lead that was never really challenged. It was the first time we got to see Clement pitch live and Bryan got to hurl insults at Neal, who came in in the 9th, loaded the bases, gave up a hit and finally closed the game, to our relief and happiness. Dingers! We also got our picture taken for the FanFoto gallery, see that picture here, in Gallery 55, though it's not that great a pic and it's hard to see the larger image cause they put the word "Proof" over it - probably a good racket. Who wouldn't want a picture to prove they actually got tickets to a game this year?!

Happy Mother's Day to whom this applies. I sure am thankful to have one of the finest available.

Thursday, May 05, 2005

Cinco de whato?

I looked up Cinco de Mayo and found that it is the day in 1862 when 4000 Mexican soldiers fought and defeated the French and a "traitorous" Mexican army (about 8000 strong) thereby keeping the French out of Mexico and possibly the US should they have been feeling empire-hungry.*
That's why we drink Corona and margaritas and eat guacamole on May 5th?
Ok.
Thanks, Mexico.

Anyway, I just enjoy writing 05/05/05. Wheee.

Today is the day that the new library shelving arrived and was mostly installed. My library is starting to look quite official and it is a gratifying sight. They finish the installation tomorrow and I can finally unpack the borrowed book carts and shelve the collection in its rightful place. A librarian's dream (and you thought it had something to do with taking down her bun, throwing off the glasses and crawling across the table toward a hot 25-year old).

*If you give a rat's ass and want to learn more about this paltry reason for a 'holiday', visit this site for more info.

Tuesday, May 03, 2005

Silent no longer

I'm not sure if Sheri reads my blog, so due to the fact that pretty much all I thought about last week was her surprise party, it was tough to write. See, Bryan, I do think about and write about things other than work :P

The party was a smash hit. Somehow, we managed to slightly surprise her. She knew that something was up - due to the fact that everyone was acting kind of weird (what a group of bad liars I was working with) and that her husband lied to her last week about a phone call to his cell phone that he claimed was from his father. Unfortunately, I sound nothing like Tom's dad and she suspected my hand in a bday surprise. Fortunately, she just thought that the surprise would involve a girls' night dinner on Saturday. Nope. There was a keg and balloons and lots of cheese doodles - the proper recipe for a rockin' party, eh? We even pulled together some nice, embarrassing stories of Sher and I concocted a small trivia game to see how well everyone knew the birthday girl. As entertaining as the evening was, I am glad that there are no other big bdays/anniversaries/events which could require a surprise in the near future.

I have, however, received 2 other invitations to surprise parties in the next month. Must be something in the air. I guess that's what happens as one's friends hit ages ending in zero.

In other news:
I'm quite sick of hearing about the "runaway bride" - a 600-person wedding and a fiance who not only made a promise to marry this woman, but a promise to god to carry it out no matter what? I might run away, too.

I heart books on CD.

Guacamole is tasty. I'm going to eat some tonight.

My brother is going to Vegas tomorrow - let's hope he doesn't gamble away the mortgage money.