I get LOST in your eyes

LOST is starting again.
And I love the pop-up video style recap of last season.

I liked Pop Up Video a lot.
I also liked Liquid Television a lot.

I have very fond memories of watching Liquid Television, eating microwave popcorn and drinking cherry coke. ah, memories.....

What the......?

John Schneider should not be in anything but the

Dukes of Hazzard.

Particularly not a movie with Amanda Bynes.

I am not a Leo Lover

I have always really thought that I didn't like Leonardo DiCaprio.

Today I was told that in reality, I just want to not like him. Through much discussion, Homes and I came to the conclusion that I indeed do like some of what he does.
I liked Blood Diamond a lot. I liked Catch Me If You Can, I liked What's Eating Gilbert Grape.

So essentially, I want to think I hate him. But I guess I don't. But only begrudgingly.

Boston

So we went to Boston for the long weekend. It was a nice, relaxing time. Also, if you like history, it was really interesting. However, I don't. So, we did a lot of historical sightseeing. And nothing says tourist like following a red line in the middle of the road all over the place. But in all seriousness, it was fun. Cold, but fun.

Of importance was the food. Boston has some really great food. We stayed right on the cusp of Chinatown, so our first meal was Vietnamese. Yes, I am aware Vietnamese is not at all Chinese. But, the restaurant was right there. And it had soup and I was congested.

Pho Pasteur

Of course, there was seafood. We tend to be drawn to the water for our holidays, and seafood always plays a part.

Lobster at Legal Seafood

We had some good pasta in the North End at Limoncello Ristorante (I forgot to take a picture, but trust me, it was good)...

And last, but by no means least......Cupcakes from LuLu's Bakery
A Boston Cream Pie Cupcake, and hands down, the best tiramisu I have had, in this tiny little delicious cupcake!

Back Home

We're home from Boston. I was quite sick while there, but feeling exponentially better now thanks to NyQuil and very large doses of Vitamin C. I've got lots to talk about, but not tonight.

I will say this. We have been home for about 2 hours now, and I still feel like I am moving. It dawned on me that I have taken 4 different forms of transportation today (subway, bus, airplane, car) and I have been in motion for the greater part of the day. For anyone who battles motion sickness as I do, you can understand this to be a bigger deal than it seems. I will say, no vomit was involved, but there was one close call.

Anyway, more to come on our trip later..................

sickness and vacation

Finally, I am done with work at both jobs for a nice long weekend away. I am free from work from Thursday through Monday. I need the rest.

In addition, this virus/cold thing wont go away. Saturday, I felt much better. Today, I feel worse than I ever had. I need it to go away. Again, like I said, I need the rest. and some serious Nyquil.

Boston tomorrow. The weather is supposed to be decent. Hopefully things will be good. I am looking forward to it.

But until then, the mandatory freak out that comes with preparing for travel.

Saturday

Ah, Saturday.....

Saturday is not a day of rest for me. This particular Saturday includes:

1. Working at church for 5 hours, plus brought work home to work on "as I have time"

2. Clean the house beyond belief so that we can stop continuing the cycle of viral germs that we have been perpetuating all week long.

3. Laundry, laundry laundry

4. Meal planning and grocery shopping. By meal planning on Saturday and then shopping, it really helps me stick to my budget (as well as my dietary needs...) (this makes me sound sickly, really it just keeps me from eating a lot of junk I don't need)

5. Meal prep for the week. This saves time during the week when I come home from work and need to get dinner ready.

6. Today, I am also going to start preparing for our trip, since we are leaving for Boston on Thursday. So in my nerdy ways, I will get a list together of things I will need to bring, things we want to see, etc. And yes, they will go in a spreadsheet more likely than not.

7. Reading. TV blows right now, and even when it is good it isn't good on Saturday, so I get a lot of reading done.

Then on Sunday, I do nothing. Except tomorrow, we have to run to the mall, my mom's, and then to a friends for dinner.

I need this weekend away to come soon.

Grizzly Man

Yesterday, I watched Grizzly Man. On the recommendation of Home Slice. And purely for entertainment value.


GRIZZLY MAN
Renowned nonfiction director Werner Herzog chronicles the tragic and untimely death of outdoorsman Timothy Treadwell, who devoted his life to studying grizzly bears living in the Alaskan wilderness -- only to have one of them maul him to death. Pieced together mainly from Treadwell's own video footage, this fascinating documentary goes deep into the wilderness of one man's mind to uncover how he spent his final days.


I have to say, I was really disturbed by this guy. And I couldn't help but laugh at him as well at times . His behavior was so bizarre, really that of a psychotic break. And for the life of me, I couldn't see exactly what it is that he felt he was doing to protect these bears.

And, I have to admit, I suspect that Will Farrell emulated this man when he played his character in Elf, because they were almost identical, down to the tone of voice and mannerisms. Anyway...


Please, readers, weigh in on your thoughts. I am interested to know what you think if you know of this story or have seen this film.

Yucatecan Chicken & Vegetables

I made this beautiful Yucetecan Chicken and Vegetables from the mexican cookbook.

It was really fantastic.

Don't let the door hit you on the way out...

So Long NP.

My work nemesis announced today that she will be no longer working with us as of the end of next week. way to give professional notice. Anyway, no bother to me.

Never have I worked with anyone that got under my skin as badly as this woman did. And I have had a lot of jobs.

One of the major reasons that she annoys me so insanely bad is that she constantly gives this fake "who, me? what?" face and actually says those words when you are trying to speak to her.

For example, I will be sitting at my desk engaged in a conversation with someone. You can clearly see that she is eavesdropping on our conversation because she is frozen in time over there, and say she snickers at something humorous that was said. When the other party tries to engage her in the conversation, she will give a look of surprise and actually say "who me? I wasn't paying attention, what were you saying?" . Give me break with the pretentious faux-surprise.

Whatever, no sense in me getting all riled up, she is leaving.

Smooth sailing from here.

Now if only the Bonzer will put Home Slice next to me, then my work life will be complete.

chicken marsala

hmmm, lets see, what else.......

Whatever sickness we were feeling this weekend is now in full swing. I have been going to work, my husband has been told by the doctor that he needs to stay home from work. Apparently it is viral. whatever it is, it is exhausting and it wears you down.

All kinds of craziness at lunch today. Big dog' s turtleneck friend did the guy head nod and made him move from his assigned seat to another spot, and he was clearly uncomfortable with the move. He was actually sitting with the birth mark.

Speaking of the birth mark, it was discovered that he has the greatest voice, the sweet dulcet tones of the birth mark......

Lipstick quit after just 6 months, and after our boss made the announcement, she gave a full blown speech which no one clearly cared about except NP, who stood there with a giant grin on her face like she was in on the secret...too bad most of us knew already. And the job lipstick took? she got it because she literally was the only one who applied. She is a nurse. And this is a job for an analyst. Not to mention, she is mildly computer illiterate. I give her 3 months.

I want to call in sick, but this week I am swamped, and next week we leave for Boston on Thursday. Looks like I have to tough it out for a while.

This is the book I am reading right now:

Escape

by Carolyn Jessop (Author), Laura Palmer (Author)

flicks

Movie to see (really pretty good):

Talk To Me
Oscar nominee Don Cheadle stars as real-life radio trailblazer Ralph "Petey" Greene, a high-school dropout and charismatic ex-con who leveraged a prison disc jockey gig into a stint at a Washington, D.C., radio station, a television show and an invitation to the White House. Chiwetel Ejiofor, Martin Sheen, Cedric the Entertainer and Taraji P. Henson also star in this compelling biopic from director Kasi Lemmons.

Reasons this was good:
I heart Don Cheadle
Chiwetel Ejiofor is great in this, and hot in the special features (it's the accent)
The story is real
This is the 60s

Movie not to see (really pretty disappointing):

The Ten
An all-star cast that includes Paul Rudd, Winona Ryder, Jessica Alba, Oliver Platt, Liev Schreiber, Famke Janssen, Rob Corddry, Adam Brody, Ken Marino and Gretchen Mol, among others, takes part in this amusing collection of 10 irreverent tales inspired by the Ten Commandments. Nothing is sacred in this comedy anthology written by Ken Marino and director David Wain, formerly of the comedy troupe the State.


Reasons this was bad:
Though many fabulous actors, not the best showing
Liev Schreiber didn't have enough face time
Just too disjointed

mmmm...meaty

Yeah, today was a weird day. Please take note of the bizarre happenings of today:

1. When describing the new air freshener I recently got for my car, I said it sometimes smells like laundry, and sometimes it smells yellow.

2. When outside brushing snow off my car, i thought it smelled like worms. no worms, only snow.

3. For the last 2 days, i have been in a two day training that was held in my building but on a different floor. A floor that the PUTS's work on. And in a room that has one wall that is all windows. I was facing said windows, and Sam, Stewie, Kinda Hot, and The Basketball Goon all walked by, and the goon was so boggled that i had invaded their space that he stared me down while walking the entire length of the wall of windows.

4. Lunch was in full blown swing today, with the caf being extremely busy and full, and yet all the assigned seats were in the right spots.

5. Home Slice made the discovery that the Big Dog was hired in the somewhat recent past, as exhibited by his name being displayed on a rolling electronic marquis in the marketing area.

Dinner is turkey meatloaf and roasted cauliflower. not at all picture worthy.

a letter to meg cabot

Dear Ms Cabot:

Please stop writing all of those annoying Princess books that make you millions of dollars while little pre-teen girls enjoy reading.

Stop writing them, and write more Heather Wells mysteries. Though I am glad you ended the series the way you did, you really should not have ended it. At all.

Why, you ask?

Because it makes me unhappy.

Sincerely,

A faithful reader of your contemporary adult fiction

time to get ill

the weekend was mostly ruined by sickness. still sick, still weak, and by no circumstances can i miss work the next two days (big all day training both days) so alas, i am stuck inside nursing this cold or whatever it is.

Argentina

Our next door neighbors are really great. A little overbearing at times, but genuinely caring and wonderful people. They will be named Argentina from here on out.

So the other night, we are sitting watching tv and it is 10:00 pm. And our phone rings, and it is Mrs. Argentina. Now, we cant exactly pretend like we aren't here as they can see that we are in the living room - they are right next door.

So my husband answers, and Mrs. Argentina tells him to come over, she has cooked him something. And to bring a towel because it is hot.

He walks back in our door (that surprisingly didn't get locked.....) and is carrying a GIANT stock pot, full of delicious sauerkraut and sausage.

Apparently, he told son of Argentina when he was over there doing something last week that he liked it. He must have smelled it cooking or something.

This was an extremely generous offer. and it tasted really really good, like my Babcia makes.

But the thing that was really funny to me was that it was steaming hot at 10 o'clock at night.

you want more, you get more

Home Slice, Home Slice, Home Slice, Home Slice, Home Slice, Home Slice, Home Slice, Home Slice, Home Slice, Home Slice, Home Slice, Home Slice, Home Slice, Home Slice, Home Slice, Home Slice, Home Slice, Home Slice, Home Slice, Home Slice, Home Slice, Home Slice, Home Slice, Home Slice, Home Slice, Home Slice, Home Slice, Home Slice, Home Slice, Home Slice.

There you go, now stop your complaining.

I'll get you my pretty.....

Hi there Wizard of Oz style winds!

Day one of driving the new tiny clown car (that I do like very much), and the winds are so crazy there are things flying around like in Oz and I am afraid I am going go get tossed around like a little toy car. But alas, I was fine.

I got my mom at the airport today as well, she is home from visiting my grandma in England. I miss her already, and we were just there in June. And, she just turned 96. My grandma, not my mom.

Leftovers for dinner, yoga for exercise, and magazine and book reading planned tonight.

Economy

in an effort to be more financially conscious and environmentally friendly - we bought a new car. a commuter car, one that gets 27 mpg in the city and 37 mpg on the highway. not brand new, but one year old. which is completely an unknown for me, because a car is usually a purchase only made when I have no other choice. But in reality, it is better all around. The other car was 8 years old, a V6 engine, and a gas guzzler. This is a much better investment.

Plus, i am happy to be driving a manual again. And, I love that it is a hatchback. My very first car was a 4 door hatchback, and I loved it. It makes me happy.

Mexican Greens & Beans with Chorizo

as previously discussed - delicious

snow

I bought new snow shoes this year. and now there is no snow.

Weather for Rochester, NY
Sun 47°F 47°F
Mon 55°F 46°F
Tue 63°F 45°F
Wed 46°F 29°F

It's just not right.

Lentil Couscous Salad

So it was supposed to be Lentil Rice Salad with Chipotle Dressing, but I thought I had rice and didn't, so I used couscous instead. It was delicious, but the dressing burned my lips because they are so chapped and it was somewhat hot, but good hot. I liked it. A keeper.

And all those things I planned on doing today.... I didn't. I fell asleep reading and napped for like 3 hours. Luxurious.

saving money

Saving money is a pretty great thing. We booked our trip to Boston last night. We used priceline.com, and we actually really did save a lot of money. By flying out of Buffalo, we saved $200 and it was a 1 hour direct flight, unlike the flight out of Rochester that connects in NY and takes about 3-4 hours. And, we named our own price on a hotel, and saved about $100 bucks there, and we got the hotel that we wanted.

No, I am not getting paid to say these things. but I am a frequent priceline user.

It's Sunday - Amazing Race day. And I plan to do a lot of reading. And perhaps bring my filing cabinet down to the dining room from the spare bedroom. Our dining room has basically become an office. It's used for paying bills, doing school work, and general computing. Luckily, we have a kitchen table.

friday

it is Friday, and i am really glad to be home and done with the week. And Friday night tends to be date night. except most of the time I don't want to go out. so tonight, like a lot of nights - take out.

so here is the funny part. we live in lock down. cars get locked in the driveway and inside the garage. doors locked when out in the yard. doors locked when one of us is out and the other is home still.

IT DRIVES ME FREAKING CRAZY

Now, i completely agree with locked doors when you aren't home. and even if you have settled in for the night. But this whole locking thing all the time no matter what makes me nutty. I grew up leaving the front door wide open and only the screen door closed while we all went to the grocery store. And I think one of the reasons it makes me so nutty is when a certain person who insists on the door being locked all the time is out, and comes back home, say with take out for instance, this person will automatically try to open the door, as if it wasn't locked.

Seriously. will try to open the door that just got locked. as if it never got locked. so annoying. and yet predictable and endearing.

anyway, tonight, staying in, eating udon soup and watching Factory Girl tonight. and maybe 20/20.

see this movie

so here is the part where i talk about the large amount of movies i watch, and tell you what i think.

you have to see this movie. it is really really smart and very funny and really great. see it.

In The Land Of Women
Leaving the pain of a high-profile breakup behind in New York, Carter Webb (Adam Brody) heads to the Detroit home of his ailing, quirky grandmother (Olympia Dukakis) with plans to nurse her back to health. But he doesn't count on the help of a family of women living across the street, who help him heal by drawing him into their lovely world. Meg Ryan, Makenzie Vega and Kristen Stewart co-star in Jon Kasdan's feature-film debut.

the players

I really need to preface this post by saying this: absolutely none of this is done with malice. It is purely because we don't know these people, and in order to be an effective people watcher and keep track, people need nicknames.

So, with that being said, here is a list of the players in the lunchtime show that is the highlight of my hamster-wheel corporate cube farm day.


"did she say anything"

"you never say hi to me anymore"

13 weeks

AL/man hands

artie lang

asian michael jackson

b as in buffalo

bad neck tan

balding part

basketball goon

battery acid

bed head

big bird/christmas tree/the simple one

big dog

big dogs friend

birthmark/bm

black eyeliner/kabuki theater

botox

brussels griffon

bucky

bug jar

burl ives

capri pants

chicken legs

chicklets/baked beans

christmas sweater

clint howard

collagen lips

crazy's friend

dikembe mutombo

doctor's daughter/blossom

drag king

first day afro

first day carol

flip flops

frenemy

frenemy's roommate

ginger/ging

Ginsburg/gins

girl puts

give my regards to Broadway

hair hurricane

hair tornado

hair toucher's boyfriend

Hair storm

homecoming king

I brought my sister

I'd like to thank the academy

it's pat

jay z/salad maker

johnny cash

kinda hot outsource

kinda hot puts

lacey & scott

lip liner

little man

marketing nemesis

milk boy

moby

monster truck

my friend red face

my pediatrician

no expression

no expression jr

not quite any hairstyle

np

oliva newton john/lets get physical

one arm saunter

one chug chump

orientation tim

outsource

pajama pants

pay my cell phone bill

perfectly coiffed maintenance man

pplbm

purple shirt/curly hair

red face

rocky horror picture show

russian ice skater

sanjaya malakar

senator lahey

short sleeves

solar eclipse

stevie nicks

stewie/stewdle

suspenders

swagger

sweater vest

tall drink/doppelganger

the amazing race

the biddies

the giant

the glasses

the hair toucher

the hoarder

the jockey

the most miserable woman in the world

the nuns

the reader

the role model

the salami

the thumper

the untouchable

the village people

three blind mice

token gay & his harem

work crush/mountain man/yodeler

the high school lunchroom

The cafeteria in the company I work for has a definite vibe of a high school lunchroom. Everyone has their groups, and everyone has their seats. I am not excluded from this by any means.

When someone throws a cog in the cafeteria wheel, it throws everyone off. And being a not so silent observer, it is great entertainment.

Today, an unknown group of people who work in the building enjoyed lunch with some outside visitors. And they sat at one of the large prominent round tables, usually occupied by a large group of former Future Business Leaders of America club members. You know the kind, those that took accounting in college and were part of a service fraternity that allowed both girl sand boys and was established solely for the purpose of nerds being able to feel like they belong. And to party.

So the “frorority” got moved to a table usually occupied by the “People Under the Stairs". The boys who work in IT and have never grown out of Dungeons & Dragons. They got moved to the back of the room.

People were moving tables and switching seats and getting generally thrown off. Others got all out of sorts and couldn't find a seat.

It was a whirlwind of chaos, and disruption of the normal order was great amusement for my and home slice's viewing pleasure.

Mexican Everyday

My lovely husband got me the Mexican Everyday cookbook from Rick Bayless for christmas. So far, I have made the greens & beans with chorizo sausage and the chicken a la veracruzana. Both are insanely fabulous.

The greens & beans took me all of 10 minutes to make, and it was so so so so fabulous. It was really very rich, with absolutely nothing rich in it (other than the sausage I guess). Smoky and really filling. Almost too filling. Kind of spicy, but not out of control. Though, if you haven't done it already, don't just bite into a chipotle pepper if you cant tolerate hot. it was a tiny bit spicy (said with running nose....)

The chicken was also really very great. It was salty and the right amount of spicy without melting your face off. And the roasted tomatoes from a can make it good. Since this is a crock pot recipe, it made it a thousand times better.

Both get the vote in my house and will be made many more times.

The Year of the Blog

I heard a lot of people say that 2007 was the year of the blog. While that may be true, I think 2008 is the year of my blog, and basically, that is all that matters. So here it is. This is where I will attempt to blog. About the things that drive me crazy, the things that make me happy, the things happening in my life, and since I like to cook, it will also include some of the things I make and a review of how they turn out. Happy reading to anyone who notices.