Twitter / atb20

Friday, July 28, 2006

...


Follow Your Dream
Originally uploaded by AliceinW.

not feeling very talkative this week... so i thought i'd share someone else's photograph. kinda says it all...

Saturday, July 22, 2006

she's here!

baby b has joined the ranks of the eating, breathing, pooping, tooting, burping humans. weighing in at 6 lbs. 9 oz. and i-don't-know-how-many-inches-because-it-was-3am-and-i-was-half-asleep-when-i-got-the-call, she's a lucky little camper. she's already being doted on by two loving parents and four teary-eyed (if a little sleepy) grandparents. i'm sure that they're more than making up for my absence. unfortunately, modern technology didn't work in my favor, so i've yet to see the little lady, but i've been standing sentry by my laptop just in case.

Friday, July 21, 2006

she's coming...

my niece is coming! my niece is coming! unfortunately, i'm a continent away, so i'm going to have to enjoy the festivities via isight. my brother got his new macbook just in time, so while i won't be able to hold her for another month, i will be able to watch my brother get used to holding his first child and see my parents ogle over their first grandchild thanks to the internet. it should be quite an experience.

**

while it pales in comparison, i also had my first job interview of the season yesterday. i'm still trying to figure out how i feel about it. i think it went well, and since my dad made the introductions, i think i had a leg up on the competition. my concerns are really about myself, my capabilities, and what i want to see happen in the next few years of my life. it's a position that would require jumping back into the corporate world with full force. it would make use of my social work skills, but would require an additional skill set i haven't quite mastered: sales skills. the upshot is that i would work my way toward a very handsome salary over the next few years. the downshot (does that exist?) is that i will have to work my butt off for it and try to get in touch with my inner salesperson (without losing my soul). that also means that the wee milmoosks might have to wait a little longer than expected to greet the world. hmm.. much to mull... fortunately, i've been offered the opportunity to be a wallflower for a few hours to see just how soul-sucking the job might be. seems like a smart place to start.

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

sheltered

i imagine people going about their daily lives... working, buying food, taking care of their families, when suddenly every semblance of normalcy is ripped apart by the sounds of missles striking buildings not too far away. homes, restaurants, schools, office buildings quickly become indistiguishable piles of dusty rubble.

my sympathies do not lie with israel or hezbollah or lebanon, but the people of all faiths and ethnicities who get caught in the crossfire. i have a hard time understanding the level of hate that must permeate the region in order for the kidnapping of two soldiers to lead to the deaths of 224 people -- and that is only the latest count. i cannot fathom the level of anger a person must feel to put a whole country in danger just to make a point. what i do understand is that hate breeds hate and anger breeds anger, and violence just begets more violence. it's hard to see how this will end without shattering the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, and it's devastating to see what could have been the tenuous beginning of peace fall apart literally overnight.

Friday, July 14, 2006

work schmerk

i don't know why, but this last month of work seems like it's going to last an eternity. it's so hard to be almost out the door... i feel like i should be more excited, but given that i don't know exactly what's going to come next, it's hard to be. it seems that i might have the option to continue working for one of my bosses on a part-time basis which wouldn't be bad. i'd still have some benefits (though i will actually have to pay something for them), and i'd have some clue as to where the money will come from for our west coast trip next month. and i will get a chance to take it easy for a while till i fill the slot for the other part time job. on the other hand, i don't know what i'd do for that other part time job. i could look for something in social work, or i could try something totally new... there's a definite lure to the whole "making real money" thing, but the part time job could actually make social work a little more financially appealing (though still pretty far from "real money") since i'll be getting paychecks from the other job, too. ahh... so many decisions. i guess i should just be glad i have options. i'll keep you posted if any decisions are actually made.

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

recipe for a happy marriage...

... or strawberry risotto.

last night mil and i decided to celebrate our anniversary on the cheap with a romantic homemade meal. we even went so far as to sit at the dining table instead of the coffee table as we usually do. of course, that doesn't mean that we didn't watch hell's kitchen while we consumed our romantic dinner... an addiction's an addiction, you know.

anyway, the one somewhat fancy meal i know how to cook is strawberry risotto. it's a recipe ms. cartoonsite introduced us to a few years back when we were looking for an exciting summer meal that didn't require leaving the confines of our air conditioned apartment. i was surprised that red meat mil was even willing to try such a fanciful dish, but like most things, after trying it he was hooked. here's my somewhat mangled interpretation of that recipe:

5 c. chicken or veggie broth
1 small yellow onion chopped
2 T olive oil
1 c. arborio rice
1 c. + chopped strawberries
3/4 marsala wine
3/4 c. grated fresh parmesan (plus more to garnish)
1 T. butter
salt and pepper to taste

heat the broth in a saucepan to boiling, then keep at a simmer for the duration. you can make the broth with veggie or chicken stock, too. in a deep frying pan, heat the olive oil and add the chopped onions over medium heat. stir them for a few minutes until they start to turn golden. add the rice and the strawberries. stir for a couple of minutes and make sure that the rice is coated in the oil. add the marsala wine and salt and pepper. cook till the wine evaporates. start adding the vegetable broth 1/2 c. at a time (i use a big ladle to do this). you want the broth to slowly absorb into the rice, creating a creamy texture. wait till the liquid is gone before adding the next 1/2 c. of broth. continue doing this for 25 - 30 minutes until the rice is the texture you like. once it is creamy and soft enough, remove the pan from the heat. stir in the butter and the parmesan. serves 4. (or two if you eat it like mil and i do.)

just to show how romantic (and cheap) we really are, my gift to mil was the book that inspired this very, very sick game. as you can imagine, the book is also very, very sick. just the kind of thing my baby loves.

Monday, July 10, 2006

II

2 years ago today, mil and i waded into the waters of wedded bliss...


mil thought it would be a great anniversary treat to get a tattoo of the roman numeral II for our second anniversary. i wasn't quite game. not because i've got anything against tattoos, but because i've gotten used to my body as it is... ink-free. while mil's managed to get 5 tattoos in his relatively short lifetime, i've only gotten up the guts to get a measly navel ring. i wasn't sure that at 29, i was ready to do something that most people start at a much younger, more impetuous age. that and i really wasn't sure how i would break it to my parents. i still get sarcastic comments on the navel ring every now and again, and i've had that for eight years. no doubt my father would pummel me with an endless barrage of questions. ("so, why did you think it'd be smart to get a tattoo? how old are you? you realize that thing is never going go away?") even as i play with the idea after passing a particularly dingy-looking ink shop, i start thinking about where i'd want such a tattoo. on my wrist? no, too obvious. on the back of my shoulder? nah, mil likes 'em where he can see 'em. on my ankle? no, too common. i blamed my indecision on the location, but in truth, it was the idea of it that wrankled me. i'm just not the type.. whatever that is. at least that's what i thought until i saw how hot wood looks with her new tattoo. she's my age, and she pulled off a colorful number while her young daughter played with blocks in the lobby. maybe if i have a kid, i can be that cool, too. not bloody likely though.

Friday, July 07, 2006

e-nostalgia

this morning i took some time to clean out my old address book from the computer i have passed on to the woman who's replacing me. it's amazing the emotions that are recalled as you look at the names of people you haven't spoken to or thought about in years. the addresses had been collecting since my senior year in college when i first got my palm pilot. since then the information has been downloaded onto various computers where it accumulated more names and addresses since forgotton. anyone remember "kick ass ben"? he was there... an old fling from college? he was there. woody allen somehow made it into my palm with what is sure to be a long since discarded phone number. i remember seeing his name in my first boss's rolodex, sure that i'd have occasion to call him for some lofty business purpose, i filed it into outlook which eventually ended up on my personal palm device. funny how his and jack lemmon's were the only phone numbers that survived that job. i don't even have my boss's number anymore. another nostalgic item was the phone number i once received for an old, elementary school friend i'd lost touch with. i'd left a message for her once several years ago and never heard back from her. i haven't tried again, though i've googled her several times in hopes of finding some less personal means of communication.

Sunday, July 02, 2006

wanderin'


Village Remix
Originally uploaded by dualpupil.

this weekend an old friend came into town. mil and i used her visit as an excuse to try to get free tickets to shakespeare in the park. at 8am saturday, well before the city streets became thick with traffic, we were seated at the foot of an acorn-encrusted hill just north of the delacorte theatre with a couple of cups of coffee and a pack of pop-tarts. the five hour wait proved profitable, and we left with three tickets to the scottish play starring a tasty and talented liev schreiber. we spent the duration in between chomping big nicks burgers and wandering the village. we found some scrumptious ceviches and stopped in at my favorite pet store for a visit to the birdies in the back. the weather was perfect -- warm with a bit of breeze. during the show, it was hard to imagine a better setting for burnham wood than the trees perched on the edge of turtle pond. afterward, we saved up just enough energy to meet mj for a drink before crashing to bed. all-in-all it was the kind of day that reminds you why you're willing to pay such exhorbitant rent...