April 2009 Archives

This past weekend my son and I drove around the Long Island Sound, past NYC to visit family in CT. It was a blast. The weather was amazing—near 90° on Sunday… IN APRIL. I heard a rumor on Friday that this weather phenomenon was a possibility, so when packing I threw in the only pair of shorts that Will currently owns… he outgrew all of this others…. laughing and thinking that No way… it won't even hit 80°. Off we were, shorts in tow.

When we woke up yesterday morning… it was already 82°. By noon it was well over 85°. Not only were the shorts in full effect… but the socks were off —as was the shirt. He could not have been a happier boy. By the time we returned home, the temperature had plateaued… 93°. The shorts were a sight—dirt, snot, sweat, left over snacks, grass stained, juice—sticky, stained—in their glory… desperate for a replacement and with only a few hours in the day to go… I ended up cutting off an old pair of pajama bottoms and put the shorts out of their misery.

Today.. it's 65° — we are on our way to buy more shorts.

In honor of the fact that I just signed into facebook—and all of the people that are listed as my friends were on the website at the same time—facebook is now a category. I fear that twitter is closely following.

Something has been lost in the creation of these worldwide networks of people that want others to know what they are doing RIGHT now… no.. NOW…ok.. NOW.

I am not entirely happy about this…

Spring finally arrived over the weekend… Only to go into hiding once again Monday morning. It’s okay though–she will reappear sooner or later.

While at Schmidt’s market on Friday around the dreaded lunchtime deli assault… I was eying my possibilities of breaking through the crowds–child in cart– to even get a number for the line… An impossibility at best. A man–dressed rather spiffy for a Friday… brushed past me, looked back and caught my eye–“Do you even have a number?” he asked… “no…(sigh)”–He then disappeared into the bog of hungry sandwich seekers.. I thought, never-mind–the evening’s chicken sandwiches were going to have to forgo without von-provolone….My mind started racing… how rude of him to point out my inability to crush those in front of me with my giant child in cart! Who does he think he is? And is he barging in front of all of these other people? Is he from the city? The first nice weather weekend in what feels like years and they all come out to the Hamptons to push and shove like locals don’t know what civilization is… How mean of him to….
WAIT–he re-emerged…
“Here” - he leaned out of the crowd and handed me — magic number 14…
The ticker was on 12, no one else in line had numbers… the sea parted… we inched forward and whispered “1/2 pound of provolone, please”… excuse me… thank you.. excuse me… pardon me… I looked around for him…

Huh–who was that guy?

Easter Monday is the day after Easter Sunday and is celebrated as a holiday in some largely Christian cultures, especially Roman Catholic cultures. Easter Monday in the Roman Catholic liturgical calendar is the second day of the octave of Easter Week. In Poland and parts of the United States, Easter Monday is called Dyngus Day.

Formerly, the post-Easter festivities involved a week of secular celebration, but this was reduced to one day in the 19th century. Events include egg rolling competitions and, in predominantly Roman Catholic countries, dousing other people with water which traditionally had been blessed with holy water the day before at Easter Sunday Mass and carried home to bless the house and food.

In the Eastern Orthodox Church and those Eastern Catholic Churches which follow the Byzantine Rite, Easter Monday is known as Bright Monday or Renewal Monday, and is the second day of Bright Week. The services are exactly the same as on Pascha (Easter Sunday), except that the hymns from the Octoechos are in Tone Two. It is customary to have a Crucession (procession headed by a cross) either after Paschal Matins or after the Paschal Divine Liturgy. It is customarily a day for visiting family and friends. [wikipedia]

Many excuses to take another day off… so ON WITH IT…

1. Lovage… [kitchn]
2. Always questioning the masses… [sethgodinsblog]
3. Why would anyone take the time to do this… [seriouseats]
4. !!!!!!!!!! [passiveagressivenotes]
5. Behold the Matzoh Ball..
6. What is this woman thinking? (she sent us her brochure)…
7. This is a really cool kite…
   
8. FLOGOS!
   
9. FlyDubai.. any day now…
10. AND… My oh my… 101 was 20 years ago and people are (still) people, everything counts AND I'm still wearing black.

Almost 10 years ago (yikes!) I worked at a company that was deep out
in the New Hampshire woods… a company that developed ground
penetrating radar equipment and software. I will give you a second to
think about this.

The radar tools were used worldwide for things
like major infrastructure projects, highway repairs, and my favorite –
archeology and hidden treasures. I was titled the “Graphic Presentation
Specialist” and spent a lot of time looking at pictures of digitized
rebar. It was my job to make radar look sexy. I have always had a
slight interest in science, so this was it wasn’t too mundane for me…
most of the time.

My co-workers were all scientists–geologists
mostly… and when I needed approval on the latest product shot I would
have to go on a scouting hunt through the woods to find the individual
in question.. Once found, they were usually dressed head to toe in
protective jump-suits, not as a precaution–just because they wanted
to–testing equipment in the dank woods. Headlamps were also big in this
office… when at their desks, they all seemed to need the extra
light–despite the mind-burning fluorescents in the ceiling.  Gas masks
were also in abundance, although I don’t recall ever seeing or catching
a wiff of any hazerdous chemicals. These were all regular people…
just really smart and into the world underground.

There were some
creepshows– the guys that lurk around unibomberesk. But for the most
part everyone was really friendly and upbeat. They had organized runs
after lunch–big groups of geologists running on the country roads
talking about rocks and rebar. I’m not going to lie–it was amusing…
And, it was a good job. They had awesome beneifts and, because we were
owned by a larger Chinese oligarchy, the 401K was-a-rollin. I probably
would have stayed with the company longer than I did (about 1.5yrs)..
but I began to laugh at the rebar jokes… I began to recognize the
flaws in the digitized software accounts of cracked concrete… I
started to think that the lights weren’t bright enough–can I borrow
your headlamp? It was time to move on… and so I did.

In
2001–after 9-11 and during the clean-up of, I was watching the news.
Still living in New Hampshire — although no where near the woods, I
was of course somber about the course of events when… WAIT – in the
background there… That man… I know him… Hey that’s STEVE from
GSSI–he’s holding a peice of Ground Penetrating Radar equipment!

To date, the company is still going strong, and I will always have fond memories.

This week is all about COLOR!

1. White can stain too… 
2. Balboa coins are the same size and color…[jaunted]
3. Justifying the mood… [ohdeeoh]
4. Tropicana, we totally predicted this…
5. Neon Lights… fading fast… [make]
6. The pink Swarovski Mouse… oohhh shiny [designboom]
7. Avoid those little green nuts…
8. Murdoch gets it…
9. Martha… encourages the color coding system (shocking)…
10. AND… feeling low, add in some PURPLE!