Month: March 2013

Randomly Tuesday afternoon

So this post can seem vaguely work-related (since…um…I’m at work) here’s a lovely picture of where my new office will be in May. Enjoy with me my view through the window of one of the oldest dorms still standing on the campus.

Now for stuff:

  • I don’t really want to live in Montreal. It’s too cold and the politics are too complicated. That said, if I had a place in Habitat, I might consider it.
  • Speaking of Canada, is it sad that I listen to so much Canadian radio that Sleep Country Canada is the first place I would go to look for a new bed?
  • Also speaking of Canada (I do that a lot), you probably have Can-con regulations to thank for the fact that anyone still remembers (or plays) songs like this. But I love anyplace where people actually call in and request Martha and the Muffins.
  • What is Frank Lloyd Wright’s relationship to Anne Baxter and Lincoln Logs? Read this and know the truth.
  • The perils of historic preservation.
  • Related to nothing above: I made a really good meatloaf Sunday night.

Now for more random photos:

Got to attend a presentation by the author of one of my favorite books last week. That was fun.

I’ve been a librarian for over three years but this was the first actual book display I’d ever helped with. My second-in-command (pictured above) gets most of the credit, though.

And now I’m off to a two-hour meeting that will no doubt be every bit as exciting as this post was…

Randomly Tuesday: LA, origins of the species, etc.

More random stuff for a Thursday afternoon:

  • My new snack obsession. I find myself shopping a lot at Trader Joe’s now that there’s one in my neighborhood, even for things like produce and meat. It’s amazing how much more pleasant shopping at TJ’s is when you don’t have to do it at one in San Francisco.
  • Hear hear to the assertion that contrary to popular belief, LA is “one of the most urban cities in the world” and also to the recognition that LA is in fact a very densely populated place.
  • Speaking of LA…
  • Despite the fact that I’ve just never gotten that whole “bear” thing (the gay one), one thing I very much believe is that the whole scene was largely inspired by this show. Anyhow, I may have to own the DVDs now that they’re available.
  • Did I mention that this was really cool?

At some point soon, I’ll expand on my exciting weekend in Tennessee, summer vacation plans, and more. But that time is not today.

Videolog: Falling In and Out

Mi-Sex
Falling In and Out (1981)

It apparently took this record three years to make it from New Zealand to the US, where it was released in 1984. Frankly, they could have left the outfits at home. The song may not exactly have stood the test of time either, but it beats some of its competition from the era.

Tax Day

Seems I’m getting an astonishingly large tax refund this year. That means (a) I’m going to take a hell of a vacation later this year, and (b) I really need to adjust my withholding. Part of it, of course, is that I’m in the first year of a refi so I payed a lot of mortgage interest. After all those years of self-employment and always having to pay more at the end of the year, though, this is quite the refreshing change of pace. In fact, having some financial stability in general is pretty refreshing.

Now to spoil this good mood by starting on Mom and Dad’s taxes…

Good medicine

Tuesday night on the couch:

  • My doctor is very happy that there’s currently about eighteen percent less of me than there was six months ago. Blood pressure 103/68. Heart rate 63. All blood looking good too. I’m surprisingly healthy. But I had to laugh when he asked how my stress level had been for the past six months. Which is much better than crying…
  • Were I (a) Jewish and (b) in Toronto, this would have been my seder choice. Actually, I probably would’ve done it despite my lack of religion.
  • Good read. Not quite as good as I’d hoped but still very good.
  • Next week I’ll be in DC doing a conference presentation inside the National Archives. That’s not nearly as glamorous as it sounds but at least I get to visit an old friend. And maybe even some snow–or so says The Weather Channel.
  • Still haven’t decided where to live. Suggestions welcome. It’s a call I really need to make pretty soon.

Cold things

The coldest March in recent memory continues and for about the fifth time in the past three weeks, I have no heat. That means that instead of using my holiday for good, I get to spend yet another day waiting for the plumber to come out and not fix it correctly. This annoys me. I may just spend the weekend at my other house.

The Weather Channel is no longer predicting snow showers in DC next week. I’m pretty much OK with that.

I’m bored with this theme now and am going to bed.

Your limited gubmint

It seems that whole Republican “limited government” philosophy only applies when starting or ending a marriage is not involved.

I will not allow the state to decide how a portion of my income will be spent nor to regulate my business, but I’m happy as a clam to allow the state to tell me whom I may choose to marry and how long we must stay together.

Uh huh…