Cancun

Ok, people, the damn photos are up - stop nagging me. I have to run to yoga now, but will try to write a bit about it tonight if I'm not too pooped.

Escaping the cold

There is a huge snowstorm coming in tomorrow night and I will be in Cancun!!!!

Work and yoga and volunteering have kept me insanely busy this week, so I've had no time to post the updates I wanted. Hopefully when I get back I will have lots of sunny pictures to share.

Starting Work

I had a great first day at work today. The morning was pretty routine, with HR orientation, a picture for the directory (below), and a bit of safety and IT training, but it picked up from there. My work has a buddy system, and I was matched up with a very friendly woman about my age who took me out to lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. We managed to chat for more than an hour and mostly keep work out of it. After lunch she brought me by my office, where I discovered Cyndi had sent me some beautiful tulips for my first day. (Thank you!!) Then we went around for the requisite introductions. She is pretty chatty and outgoing, so that took almost 2 and a half hours, which left a bit of time to start organizing my office and to briefly meet with my boss.

Now I'm chilling for a bit before heading to yoga. I found a studio that I love. It's not as convenient as the gym by work (which is one block away), but I think I have a better chance of going regularly if I'm enjoying myself. I'm actually actively looking forward to going to tonight. Except for the walk through the 20 degree (w/ windchill, 3 degree) weather.

Best. Boyfriend. Ever.

and his taste is improving.

I walked over four miles today, even though it was rainy and in the 30s: go me. I was on a geocaching trip to the Musem of Science's Solar System. Models of the planets are scattered throughout the Boston area in a 1 to 400 million scale model. To get credit, you have to take a picture of yourself at a minimum of three planets. I used a Brain happy meal toy that dad gave as a stand in, since I was by myself. My first attempt, last weekend when I went to the MoS with Bill, was thwarted when by my failure to put the memory card in my camera. Today I made it to Saturn, in the main branch of the Cambridge Public Library (very castley), and to Mars, in the Cambridgeside Galleria before running out of time before my 6pm orientation at Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic.

RFB&D is an organization that records textbooks for people who can't read them. Interestingly, they're headquartered in Princeton and their biggest recording center is here in Cambridge, because of the large number of scientifically trained people in the area who are able to read textbooks in their fields. It is conveniently on the same block as my work, so I hope to volunteer there regularly once I get trained and they accept my demo tape.

On my way home, I stopped to see Guerilla: The Taking of Patty Hearst. I wasn't very familiar with the story, so I found it fascinating. What a mess.

Experiments with hair dye

Deciding that it would be a good idea to get rid of my 2-inch roots before starting work next week, I grabbed a box of dark brown and went to work. Now most of my hair is a beautiful chocolate brown and the ends in the front - you know, the part that frames my face - are BLACK.

Goodbye Dragon Inn

After dinner tonight, I went over to the Brattle to catch Goodbye Dragon Inn. I tend to like my films a bit more arty and unusual than average, but I was nowhere close to being able to handle this. It was shot after excruciatingly long shot of nothing happening. Each scene was an excercise in endurance. Ugh.

Update: I forgot to add that there was approximately 60 seconds of dialogue in the movie, about 30 half-way through and about 30 ten minutes from the end.

What I'm Eating

I have become increasingly obsessed with interested in food blogs. Though I admit that there is no way I could really do one justice, they have inspired me to cook a few new things and to try new restaurants, which has made me want to start archiving meals I have enjoyed.

So, with that goal, I have started What I'm Eating. If you're curious about what I'm eating, and where, or how I made it, go there. It's also linked under the "Me" menu on the right.

Date Night

Last night we had a great time. We strolled through a snow-covered Boston Common, and down Commonwealth Ave. The trees that line the street were still lit for the holidays* and were quite pretty.

We warmed up over seafood stew and the largest, tastiest veggie platter I've ever seen at the East Coast Grill, followed by warm chocolate pecan pie with caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream from next-door Christina's that made my eyes roll back in my head.

Then we killed a bit of time in ultra-hip, dripping-with-irony kitsch stores for a bit before going to the show at Improv Boston. It was only 9:15 when we got out, so we walked over to the Kendall** for The Life Aquatic.

Finally, we had a couple of scotch and sodas during the Simpsons*** to close out the night. Good times.

* Maybe they're like that year round?
** With a bit of a disoriented detour
*** Thanks dad and Cyndi!

Yay for organization! or, We are lazy bastards

We are unjustifiably excited to have a new spice/utensil rack for the kitchen. Because now our stuff is right there! And you don't even have to reach up to the cupboard! Or into the dishwasher! Because they can just dry on the rack once they've been washed! Yay! Exclamation points galore!

I would like to thank Economy Hardware for making this possible. I should also thank Grace, for providing the utensils, and Bill's sister Terri, for some fantastic Indian spices.

Our new rack:

Errands

No more New Jersey, looks-like-it-was-made-in-my-cousin's-garage driver's license for me. I went to the Registry for Motor Vehichles and in two weeks I'll have a MA license, complete with a hat-hair, psychotic chipmunk picture of me on it.*

It is really annoying when the register clerk at the grocery store gets all judgmental about the price you pay for your produce. "You really want all these tomatoes? You know they're $3.99 a pound, don't you? We do sell other tomatoes, you know." Yes, I know, but they were crappy, and I can't help all the natural disasters and bad weather driving up the price of tomatoes. I need my tomatoes, damn it!

*I don't know what they did to the photo, but it's also elongated somehow and I have a minor conehead thing happening.

Secret Santa

Did somebody get me a subscription to Games magazine and not tell me? One showed up at my apartment unexpectedly.

Recipe: Fruit Salad

Bill and I decided to have fruit salad this morning, so we headed out to buy fruit. Of course it had snowed all night and was still coming down. Our usual stroll was covered in several inches of frozen powder and slush. Suprisingly I wasn't cold and actually kind of enjoyed the walk. It's amazing how much less you hate snow when you don't have a car and do have a landlord to shovel it for you.

We picked up our fruit and stopped at the local bakery to get bread for dinner as well. It reminded me of being in Paris where we would assemble a meal from several different specialty shops instead of getting everything at one big grocery store. Hopefully we will go back someday.

Here is the delicious recipe. Mom made it for us when she was visiting, just trowing together whatever we happened to have on hand. It was so good that we've made it several times since.

2 bananas, sliced
1 honeycrisp apple, diced
1/3 bunch grapes, halved
3/4 c. plain yogurt or kefir
1 tbsp. maple syrup
1/2 c. pecans, chopped

That's it. Just toss it all together in a bowl and you've got instant yumminess. The creamy, sweet, crunchy combo from the yogurt, syrup, and pecans is marvelous.

I'm-a workin' girl agin

After considering a couple of offers, I have accepted a position!!! My start date is Jan 17, so I'll be at work a week, then off for a week in Cancun.

My hands are covered in newsprint

My stepmom is right: putting away xmas decorations? So not the fun of putting them up.

Flickr

If you have eyes, you may have noticed that there are now a bunch of pictures on the left side of my blog. They are hosted by a very cool service, Flickr, which allows you to comment on each photo the way you would a blog entry. There are a bunch of other cool features, but they aren't really of interest to anyone except other users.

Click on any pic to see a larger version or to comment.

I hope it's warmer where you are

Snow in front of a nearby church

We're Ba-ack

What I did for my Christmas vacation:

1. Spent much fun time with Bill's family and our college friends.
2. Was involved in a crazy drama-laden car crash.*
3. Snowboarded until I was ridiculously sore (i.e. for a few hours).
4. Relaxed in a swimming-pool-sized hot tub.
5. Got a job offer while walking through the Las Vegas airport.
6. Ate free tapas.
7. Got hit by a bus.*
8. Snarfed aproximately 763 lbs. of chocolate, but no cookies. Where were all the cookies this year?

*No one was hurt.

The car saga:

Bill was driving Grace and I past Fairfield at about 1:30am on our way back from Sacramento, where we had hung out with his roommates from school. As he describes it, a car, the only other one on the road, came racing up behind us going what appeared to be well over a hundred miles an hour. Since we were in one of the middle lanes, and there were no other cars on the road, Bill’s fist thought was that the other car was trying to ram us on purpose. He tapped the brake to say, “Hey, dude, there’s someone else out here, too.” The car veered around us to our right, lost control, and swerved back, sideswiping the front of the passenger side. The impact spun us around and we came to a stop perpendicular to the road in the fast lane. We were able to make it to the right-hand shoulder before any other cars came by.

The other car had wound up off the road to the left, and no one was getting out, so Bill went over to see if anyone was hurt. A disoriented, wobbly, obviously chemically-altered guy staggered out. He looked very sketchy and for a few moments Bill wasn’t sure if he would wind up shot. The guy was unresponsive to questions, so Bill came back to check on us and call the cops.

On the other side of the road, the guy starts unloading his luggage from the trunk. He comes over and asks Bill if he can use his phone. Um, no? Bill says he’ll call if the guy will tell him the number. I guess that wasn’t to his liking because he changed the subject asking for a ride, apparently thought the better of that, too, said, “Don’t call the cops,” took off with his bag, and hopped the fence. Did I mention that his car had no plates? Yeah, stolen rental car.

Despite the hit-and-runner’s advice, the cops were called, and they told us to take the next exit to the AM/PM. Although there was very little cosmetic damage to the car, the alignment was shot, and Bill had a tough time just driving it straight, so we knew we would have to get it towed. While we were waiting for the cops at the gas station, we went into the store to grab some coffee. Grace sees a guy she thinks is the other driver, but doesn’t mention it because she figures no one could possibly be so stupid as to steal a car, smash into the only other car on a four lane freeway, ask to borrow a phone and get a ride, run away, and then go for a snack at the nearest AM/PM, but she was wrong.

Anyway, the cops come, and by this time the guy’s gone. They take our statement and start searching the area. He is found in the Motel 6 next door, in bed with a couple. We’re a little fuzzy on the details here. Some of us remember the cops saying that he was naked and some of us remember them saying the couple was naked. Either way it was pretty weird. Who opens their hotel door in the middle of the night to someone banging on it and asking to be let in? While you’re naked? Or he is? What??

Bill ID’s the dude and at some point a tow truck is called. (Thank god for AAA.) Of course it’s a regular tow truck with seating for three in the cab, including the driver, so either one of us stays, we wait two hours for the neared quad cab to arrive, or we squish. We pick door number three, with me on Bill’s lap. We’re headed to Oakland airport to the rental car company, but that means that if we take the freeway, we stop at the scales, and get in trouble for our overstuffed truck. So we have to take the back streets, with me sideways and leaning over on Bill’s lap, at 5:00 am. Not a fun time for my back.

There was a bunch of paperwork at the rental car agency, but we got through it and Grace’s husband was wonderful enough to come pick up our tired butts. Thank you, Jason.

We’re still waiting to hear who is going to end up footing the bill for this mess, but we weren’t hurt, and worst case scenario, we get stuck with it, it won’t break our bank, so at this point we’re just feeling lucky that there wasn’t a semi bearing down on us when we were stopped in the middle of the freeway.