verbatim

TypePada Culpa

StatCounter is down, so I was checking my blog stats at TypePad (my blog host). Their stats aren't very comprehensive, but I did happen to notice a comment that I hadn't seen before. Which was puzzling, because all comments get emailed to me—indeed, that's the only way I know that I've received them. I take pains to reply to all comments—well, maybe not every "Me too," but otherwise just about all of them. Then I looked further and found several more from the last few days that I'd never received! I think I've replied to all of them, but if I missed yours, I apologize. Please email me. I've left a Help Ticket with TypePad to let them know that something's wrong. The problem must be on their end, because I don't have any email spam filters set up; moreover, all comments come from TypePad proper, so it wouldn't make sense that some would get trashed and others not.

Sun Reader

Remember last summer when I bemoaned the dorkiness of wearing sunglasses on top of my reading glasses at the pool? I thought I'd solved the problem—and cheaply, to boot!—when I was rummaging around for regular reading glasses in the $1 section at Target and fished out some +1.50 sunglasses. Alas, I didn't discover until I got home that they were regular sunglasses with a tiny bifocal section of magnifier. They were positively dizzying to look through. Same thing happened at CVS (although this time I had the sense to check before purchasing), so I began to think that I was out of luck. After a couple of days at the pool wearing both pairs of glasses again, though, I decided to look around online. My persistence paid off: The unfortunately named Boomers in the Know has a wide selection of decent-looking reading sunglasses in both the bifocal and regular versions. I got two pairs, and they just arrived. Yippee. Now I can go back to being dorky for all those other reasons, just not for wearing sunglasses on top of reading glasses.

Friday Random iPod Ten

1. Hard to Tell - Old Crow Medicine Show
2. Late in the Evening (live) - Paul Simon
3. Almost Blue - Chet Baker 
4. Why Worry (live) - Mark Knopfler & Emmylou Harris
5. Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes (live) - Paul Simon
6. You Don't Want to Know - Loudon Wainwright III 
7. Still Crazy After All These Years - Paul Simon
8. Laughing River (live) - Greg Brown
9. Memphis in the Meantime - Chris Smither
10. Tickle Toe - Lyle Lovett & His Large Band

An unprecedented Paul Simon hat-trick!

Go Turbanize Yourself!

"Racism is driven by being afraid of the unknown. People that do not wear a turban need to connect with the turban to understand it. Turbanizer.com helps by allowing anyone in the world to visualize themselves in a turban." (via the Presurfer)

?krow ti seod tuB

I am a firm believer in the placebo effect, particularly for children. Kids (well, my kids, anyhow) believe so ardently that I am in control of all situations that I honestly could give them a sugar pill and they'd say—and believe—it worked. Indeed, many's the time that they announce they're already feeling better when they've barely finished chewing their Tylenol tabs. I occasionally use Tylenol almost as a placebo, giving the kids a low dose when they complain that they can't sleep or they don't feel good, in the absence of any real symptoms. Sometimes I think that Robitussin can work as a placebo too, because when my kids are up coughing at night, they fall asleep almost as soon as I give them a spoonful.

Before you excoriate me for any of a number of perceived bad-parenting decisions, let me assure you that (1) I would never depend on a placebo to cure a fever, a bacterial infection, obvious pain, or the like; and (2) I don't suggest to my children that every ailment can be cured by taking a pill. A skinned knee is not going to feel better no matter what you take, and a stomach bug just needs to run its course. But there are many instances when kids just don't feel "right," and there's really no reason why—that's when placebos work their magic.

The other day I heard about a new product coming out called Obecalp (get it?). It's a chewable cherry-flavored pill designed for parents who want to give their kids something to make them feel better, even when there's either nothing really wrong with them or there is something wrong but there's no medicine that can help. At first I pish-toshed the whole idea—the "Invented by a Mommy!" banner being the main culprit there—but then I started thinking that it wasn't so ridiculous after all.

This story in the Times pretty much dismisses the whole thing, but I can definitely imagine parents of young kids giving this a shot. As one doctor said, "“Anybody who has ever been up in the middle of the night with a crying child would be tempted to try something like this. You’re so desperate for anything that could quiet down your poor, miserable kid.”

Pictures of Bacon for Karen

Someone named Andrew (but not my husband Andrew) has made a little online book for someone named Karen (but not—presumably, anyhow—me) called "Pictures of Bacon for Karen." Which means that there is another bacon-loving Andrew/Karen couple on the planet. Know any others?

Karen Gets the Blues

You know we haven't been watching many movies these days, so it pains me to finally get around to a review and have it be a major bummer. But, alas, I can't recommend that you rent "Schultze Gets the Blues" unless you are suffering from severe insomnia. Oy, how I tried to like this movie. It took me five nights to watch the whole thing (only 114 minutes), and I now regret the entire thing. I kept thinking that something was bound to happen, mais non. Schultze retires from his job in a rural German salt mine, discovers Cajun music, takes his accordion to Texas, and dies. The End. I have left nothing out.

Crash!

We're outside with the kids. We notice a helicopter. Then another. A third. We hear sirens in the not-too-distant distance, and emergency vehicles are racing by the house. What's up?

Turns out there was a train crash on the Green Line (trolley-car extension of the Boston subway system), practically in our backyard. We've been watching on TV since then, resisting temptation to wander over and see the accident scene first-hand.

I'm feeling selfishly grateful that everyone we know would have already gotten off the train, since the crash happened just after dropping off at our neighborhood stop. It appears that all the passengers got out OK, and now they're just trying to extricate the driver of one of the trains.

As Andy said, 'Thank God for firemen." Amen to that.

Recipe for a Successful Field Trip

Ingredients:

65 Kindergartners
3 teachers
approx. 35 overzealous moms and dads
2 schoolbuses
1 New England Aquarium
1 3D IMAX movie, "Dolphins and Whales"

Combine all ingredients and mix thoroughly. Sprinkle liberally with sunshine and snacks. Enjoy immediately.

A Memorable Memorial Day Weekend

What a nice weekend this was! We don't succumb to that grownup version of peer pressure that exhorts everyone to make big plans for the long holiday weekend, although we did toss around the idea of heading up to New Hampshire. But the kids were excited about the opening of our neighborhood pool, an old friend was in town, Steph was invited to a party Friday evening, we had a couple of things needing to get done at home ... so we ended up deciding to just stay put. (I won't say that the price of gas was a main factor, but it definitely made it onto the pro/con list.).

We (read: Andy and I, not the kids) decided that the weather was still a little too cool on Saturday for swimming, so we went to the Museum of Science for the first time in over a year. It's always a great take for all of us; we never tire of certain exhibits.

Yesterday we did go to the pool, and it was glorious. The kids were in heaven—me too as I sat in the shade and read (I'm so far loving this month's book group pick, The Post-Birthday World by Lionel Shriver). Later our friend stopped in with his two boys; we all played a little home-run derby in the backyard while catching up.

This morning was another beautiful spring day, sunny and breezy. First we got Steph a new bike. She was really in between needing the biggest kids' bike (24" wheels) and the smallest adult bike (26" wheels), so we got her the larger one and put the seat way down. She'll need to learn how to use the gears. Julie is almost riding without training wheels; once she gets the hang of it, I guess I'll need to get a bike so we can go on big family bike-rides together! No idea how we'll transport 5 bikes anywhere, but I guess we'll figure that one out. Later we all went back to the pool for more fun in the sun. Andy and Pete left early and went with Richard and Josh to an indoor rock-climbing gym owned by one of our neighbors. Then, afterward, we were invited for the obligatory Memorial Day cookout at Janet, Richard, and Josh's house. A lovely evening, as always.

Help Wanted: Punctuation Master

The TEAL guys are having a contest for the best found and fixed typo. Unfortunately, the typos I come across are almost invariably encased in glass. Here's one I spotted at the Gap recently:


OK, so not all that terrible, but what's with the commas, guys? It should just say, "...designer Phillip Lim."

Then I saw this flyer posted outside one of our favorite watering holes:

Oy, Harley, disable your apostrophe key, wouldja? Trust me on this one. We'll deal with the other issues later.  But save one of those apostrophes for the Museum of Science, where I spotted this atrocity yesterday:


Unforgivable!

A Great Read, Despite the Subject Matter

I don't recall exactly why I passed over The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides when it first came out, but I suspect the subject matter turned me off. Well, after reading Middlesex (my rave review is here), I just couldn't wait for the chance to read something else by him—anything. A novel about a family of five teenage daughters who all kill themselves? Fine, I'll take it. Naomi lent me her copy, but I didn't get to it until a couple of weeks ago. Middlesex is a better novel, but this is one is well worth reading.

I just can't say enough about Eugenides' writing. He might very well be my favorite writer these days, and I sure hope he's working on something new now. This story is told by one of the neighborhood boys, many years after the suicides, and Eugenides manages to recreate all those adolescent emotions without making it sound like a YA novel. He even gets away with inserting a great deal of black humor into the story, somehow making it feel OK to "joke around at a time like this." His use of language is just gorgeous, and he writes with great warmth and tenderness and understanding of human nature. Honestly, I would read his exercise journal if he kept one—he's that good.

I've just added the film version to my Netflix queue; James Woods and Kathleen Turner play the parents, with Kirsten Dunst as the wild daughter, Lux. It's Sofia Coppola's directorial debut, and it received high praise from all the usual suspects (Roger Ebert, A. O. Scott, etc.). Stay tuned.

Honey, We're Having Steak Tonight!

Last November I stunned the blogosphere by announcing that my occasional links to books and CDs on Amazon would henceforth be attached to an actual account whereby I'd earn money if anyone bought the darn things. Well, not a heck of a lot happened after that, and I kind of forgot about it. Then a few spammy-looking emails starting showing up, asking for my social security number. Ha! Like I just fell off the turnip truck! Come to find out that I'd actually earned a few pennies, and Amazon was trying to make good on its agreement to pay me. I finally figured it out, and today I received a gift card in the amount of—drumroll, please!—$15.05! In only six months, I made, um, nearly ⅓ of my annual fee to TypePad for hosting my blog. So, even my modest dream of having Amazon pay for my blogging habit was a bit too ambitious, but still.

The interesting thing is that only a few people bought items I actually linked to; it turns out that anything purchased on an Amazon visit that starts with one of my links is credited to my account. In fact, one person bought a single big-budget item that accounts for the majority of that $15.05. Thank you, mystery inadvertent benefactor!

Friday Random iPod Ten

1. The River In Reverse - Elvis Costello & Allen Toussaint
2. Shower the People (live) - James Taylor
3. Pontiac - Lyle Lovett
4. Broken Fingers - Sam Baker
5. Personal Jesus - Johnny Cash
6. I Hung My Head - Sting
7. Are You Tired of Me, My Darling - Nanci Griffith 
8. I'm Gonna Jump and Shout - Paul Rishell  
9. Fish and Whistle - John Prine
10. That Teenage Feeling - Neko Case

Commencement

Last night when I got into the car, I heard the tail end of a story on NPR: "...at Wesleyan commencement this weekend." Huh? Turns out that Barack Obama is going to give the commencement speech at my alma mater in place of Teddy Kennedy:

"Ted and I talked about me filling in for him at Wesleyan University earlier this week. Considering what he's done for me and for our country, there's nothing I wouldn't do for him. So I'm looking forward to standing in his place on Sunday even though I know I won't be able to fill his shoes," Senator Obama said.

How exciting!

I graduated in 1984. Teddy Jr. was supposed to graduate in '83, but he had taken a year off from school (to campaign for his dad, as I recall), so he graduated with my class. Teddy Sr. received an honorary degree that day. He was going to give the commencement speech this year because it's Teddy Jr.'s 25th reunion weekend (he understandably feels more a part of the class of '83 than '84) and because his step-daughter will be graduating.

My commencement speaker was David McCullough—here's a photo of him with Teddy Sr. et al.

Friday Fiver

Throw your love around

1. Last laugh?
Looking at these mugshots.

2. What do you love?
True spring weather, which we don't get a lot of around here: sunshine, mild temperatures, light breeze. Like right now!

3. Gold or silver?
Gold.

4. Whom do you hold hands with?
Mostly Julie and sometimes Andy. Steph doesn't like to hold hands; Pete wriggles away, but I suspect he secretly likes it.

5. Friday fill-in: There's no time to ____.
There's no time to get anything done anymore. Wah!

Friday Fill-Ins

1. On my laziest day I like to snuggle with my MacBook Pro.
2. Recycling paper (mail, school announcements, etc.) that I'm done with makes me feel like I'm being productive.
3. I love little hors d'oeuvres and big red wines.
4. This summer I want to get to the beach more often.
5. Karine made me start my blog.
6. Red prosciutto and orange cantaloupe. Yum.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to eating lamb chops, tomorrow my plans include possibly going to New Hampshire, and Sunday, I want to relax!

Racism, Still Thriving

I just watched a truly spine-tingling interview with some life-long Democrats in West Virginia explaining why they could never vote for Obama. Most of them beat around the bush, saying things like, "I just—I just don't agree. That's—I'll just leave it at that. I just don't agree that he should be president of the United States." But one comes right out and says, "I don’t feel like—put the black man there—no prejudice or nothing but I just don’t have—I just think he should not be there." I've never spent time in any of the overtly racist regions of our nation, and I have to admit I never imagined it was still that prevalent and blatant. Holy crap.

Meanwhile, yesterday's Zogby poll has Obama beating McCain 47% to 37% or Hillary beating McCain 41% to 40%.

Boo!

Last night Andy went to a private screening of "Jack in the Box," the indie horror movie that was filmed entirely in his dungeon-like basement at work last year. I would have gone, but I'm too much of a wuss I had to stay home with the kids.

He said it was really cool to look up at the big screen and see his familiar basement and all the actors whom he'd gotten used to seeing every day for a long while. For him, that made it not so scary. Here's the plot summary:

Jack in the Box was written and directed by Frank Kerr, and tells the story of a group of aspiring actors locked in a room and forced to play a deadly game of musical chairs. The film’s tension escalates over 89 minutes, as characters are slowly taken out by an unseen villain, and the game is whittled down to one remaining “winner.”

You can watch the trailer here.

Hang in There, Teddy

When I first heard that Ted Kennedy had had a "stroke-like seizure," I felt as though I'd been punched in the stomach. It was just one oomph shy of the feeling I might have had if the news had been about someone I knew personally. Since word came out that he in fact has a malignant brain tumor, I have more than once had to check with CNN.com to make sure he hadn't died—people are already talking in grim "obit terms."

Even before this happened, I'd been wondering whether this would be his last term in the Senate (it's up in 2012, when he'll be 80), but I certainly never expected that he wouldn't get to finish it out. From what I've been reading about his condition, it seems really unlikely. I find myself experiencing a mixture of dread and panic about his vacated seat. I have every reason to believe that Massachusetts will come through with a good, solid liberal replacement, but who can possibly begin to fill those huge shoes?

Yes, I'm a life-long Massachusetts resident; yes, I'm a liberal Democrat. But regardless of all this, I have just always felt an immense admiration for this "last lion of the Senate" (uttered by none other than John McCain, and I believe he meant it with all his heart). Surely no other senator has done as much as Ted Kennedy both for his constituency here in Massachusetts and for the millions across the country who've benefited from his unflagging commitment to help the poor, the oppressed, and the disenfranchised over the last four decades.

I've always been willing to cut Ted Kennedy an enormous amount of slack for all he's been through. Any other man who lost two brothers to assassination, another brother to war, a sister to a plane crash, another sister to a lobotomy, and a number of other relatives to bizarre accidents would, quite understandably, want to withdraw completely from public life. But not Ted Kennedy. He just kept at it, doing what he and his family always believed they were meant to do: The Right Thing.

Wednesday Link Dump

1. The reason I didn't get much done this morning is that I was too busy peeling these colorful screen-sheets with my mouse.

2. I discovered the Anti-Label record, um, label a few months ago (via that last issue of No Depression—damned if I know how I'm going to find out anything about music from here on out) and was delighted with the free downloadable music sampler (the link is in the left sidebar of the blog). I started subscribing and was almost instantly rewarded when Tom Waits decided to interview himself there. Excerpt:

Q: What is a gentleman?
A: A man who can play the accordion, but doesn’t.

3. Remember when I found a bunch of cool, old John Prine videos on YouTube? Well, ol' JP himself must have had the same idea, because now they're all collected here—plus a few I'd never seen before.

4. I'd be willing to personally buy a truckload of LifeStraws for some village in Burma (or China or anywhere for that matter), wouldn't you?

5. Wanna go green—but wait, maybe more like celery-green than all-out grass-green? Try the daily tips at the Ideal Bite:

We know that you would just love to "do the right thing" for yourself and the planet if it were convenient, fun, inexpensive, and made you feel good.

Every little bit (bite?) helps, right?

Knap! Knaetter! Knak!*

The other part of my MomCentral "assignment" (for which I will receive an Amazon gift card, just so's you know) was to review the new Rice Krispies website, Childhood is Calling. It's a well-designed, colorful, quick-loading site filled with resources aimed at encouraging us to just enjoy our kids while they're kids—and let them have fun too!

Specifically, the folks at Kellogg's have partnered with the nonprofit Playing for Keeps to launch Operation Spark, whose goal is to remind parents of the importance of play in our kids' development. I try to make a conscious effort not to overschedule my kids, but even so, we occasionally have days filled with rushing around from here to there, from school to activities, from practices to lessons, from appointments to errands. It never hurts to be reminded that some good, old-fashioned family play time can be just the ticket to "regroup" after a long, hectic day that saw everyone flying off in different directions. We've occasionally done something as simple as a game of Uno, which takes all of 15 minutes but serves as a point of connection for the whole family.

In addition, the site has links to cute little games that kids (mostly the younger set) can play on their own or with a parent or friend. And of course no Rice Krispies site would be complete without recipes for many variations on Rice Krispies Treats. All in all, this is a very appealing website that offers solid parenting support without being sappy about it.

*You probably won't be too surprised to find out that my favorite part of the website was learning how they say "Snap! Crackle! Pop!" in other countries:

• Sweden: Piff! Paff! Puff!
• Germany: Knisper! Knasper! Knusper!
• Mexico: Pim! Pum! Pam!
• Finland: Poks! Riks! Raks!
• (French-speaking) Canada: Cric! Crac! Croc!
• Holland: Pif! Paf! Pof!
• South Africa: Knap! Knaetter! Knak!

In a Slump?

Over the years, I have on many occasions fielded questions about my productivity, ranging from "Do you somehow have access to more than 24 hours in a day?" to "Have you figured out a way to bypass the space-time continuum?" to "What, are you an alien?" I don't know how to explain it, but I've always been an extremely efficient person. I have always been able to squeeze more into a week than most people I know—reading more books and magazines, watching more movies, cooking and baking more food, and so on, all without sacrificing sleep, family time, or the usual "daily grind" of house-keeping, bill-paying, errand-running, and all that. Plus freelance work! And volunteering at school! And that "blog" thing? How does she do it?

Well, right about now, I'm kind of wondering the same thing myself. I don't know what's going on, but lately I can't seem to keep up. I haven't taken on any new responsibilities—indeed, I've given up on the gym entirely, I haven't had a huge work load for most of the last few months, I can't even remember the last time I did a sudoku puzzle—yet I'm still feeling as though I'm falling behind in everything. The next New Yorker on my pile is from November 12 (yes, I still insist on reading them in order), I've watched fewer Netflix DVDs in the last 6 months than I used to watch in any given 6 weeks up till then, and the 25-pound bag of flour I bought at Costco back when I was baking bread as fast as we could eat it is still unopened.

I sure hope this is just a weird phase I'm going through. I've always taken it for granted that I could just accomplish a lot more than anyone I knew. It wasn't as though I was competing with people, it's just the way it was. I realize that as I age, I won't be able to do quite as much as before, but I didn't think I'd have already peaked by now. And with the kids in school for more hours every day than ever before, I'd have thought I'd be even more productive lately. Mais non. I hope to be reporting soon that I'm back in the saddle. In the meantime, bear with me if it takes me more than than the usual few hours to reply to your comments or emails!

Want/Don't Want

Nancy suggests I get this to help me with my directional disability:

I don't care how convenient it might be for a picnic, no way am I buying wine in juiceboxes:

Two Thumbs Up

Last night we finally got to see "Iron Man," and I'm so glad we didn't wait too long and miss seeing it on the big screen. (I realize that many people have those enormous flat-screen TVs in their homes, but we don't, so if we miss the theatrical release of a movie and end up having to wait a year for the DVD rental, we end up watching it on a regular old 29" TV—not so great for movies with lots of special effects and such.)

I was probably the only person in the cineplex who knew nothing about "Iron Man" going into it, other than that it was an action movie starring Robert Downey—and getting great reviews. I didn't know anything about the plot and hadn't even seen a trailer, which is the way I like it. Well, I loved this movie. It was exciting, fun, and way cool. I have always loved Robert Downey, and I think he's just terrific in this.

Pete is dying to see this movie, but we've decided he's not old enough yet. If it were just the comic-book violence (of which there is plenty), I'd let him. But I think the PG-13 rating stems from more than a couple of scenes involving torture and terrorism and mass murder, all perpetrated by real humans, not fantasy superheroes. Indeed, even as Iron Man, Downey's character is not a superhero, he's just a brilliant engineer who can create machinery beyond what anyone else can even imagine—with computers and other gadgetry that puts 007 to shame.

Like action? Enjoy supercool special effects? Get a kick out of clever repartee? Love Robert Downey? Think Gwyneth Paltrow is cute as a button? Want to see Jeff Bridges as a bald, bearded bad guy? Go see "Iron Man."

They're Not That Grrrrreat!

The folks at MomCentral have asked me to review a new breakfast cereal from Kellogg's.* It appears that Tony the Tiger has taken a good look at his nutrition profile and made some changes. The result: Frosted Flakes Gold. Whereas regular old Frosted Flakes is made entirely from milled corn, the new Gold version contains 10g of whole-grain corn and wheat per serving. The Gold cereal also contains honey, so it looks more golden-colored than the whitish sugar-dusted regular version (although both cereals contain sugar and the ubiquitous high-fructose corn syrup). The total sugar count for the Gold is 10g per serving, compared to 11g in the regular cereal. Most of the other nutritional info is also comparable—the Gold has just slightly more fat (0.5g versus 0g), sodium (190mg versus 140mg), and protein (2g versus 1g) per serving; both cereals have 110 calories per serving.

If you've read my blog for any length of time, you can probably guess that I don't buy sugary cereal for my kids (so the only way they've ever tasted regular Frosted Flakes is at someone else's house), preferring Honey Bunches of Oats (6g), Crispix (3g), and the like. More importantly, I no longer buy any products that contains that evil high-fructose corn syrup.

So, what did the kids think of the cereal? Steph didn't like it at all—she had the regular Frosted Flakes at camp and prefers that, so it must be the honey taste she didn't care for. Julie pronounced it "too sweet"—again, likely a reflection of the honey flavor, because she doesn't seem to mind other sugary-sweet things. Pete didn't care for it dry, but he liked it well enough with milk. (The girls don't drink plain milk, so they ate theirs dry.)

On the one hand, I applaud Kellogg's for putting their first tentative foot on the nutritional bandwagon by using whole grains, but on the other, I do wish they'd give up on the high-fructose corn syrup completely and reduce their use of sugar. Kids will happily eat less sugar without even missing it. Really.

*Full disclosure: I received a free box of cereal to try and will receive an Amazon gift card in exchange for providing this review.

Fenway, Up Close and Personal

Barbara and Jerry treated Andy, Pete, and Steph to a guided tour of Fenway Park last Tuesday. They weren't allowed on the field, of course, or even the dugout (I kind of thought they'd let them in there), but they did get to climb up on the Green Monster. It was a great day:

(Oh, don't worry about me and Julie; we had just as much fun. First we went to the optician to get her glasses tightened and then we ate Fritos while playing Clue Jr. They were so jealous when they got home.)

I love John Updike's description of Fenway (from The New Yorker back in 1960):

Fenway Park, in Boston, is a lyric little bandbox of a ballpark. Everything is painted green and seems in curiously sharp focus, like the inside of an old-fashioned peeping-type Easter egg. It was built in 1912 and rebuilt in 1934, and offers, as do most Boston artifacts, a compromise between Man's Euclidean determinations and Nature's beguiling irregularities. Its right field is one of the deepest in the American League, while its left field is the shortest; the high left-field wall, three hundred and fifteen feet from home plate along the foul line, virtually thrusts its surface at right-handed hitters. On the afternoon of Wednesday, September 28th, as I took a seat behind third base, a uniformed groundkeeper was treading the top of this wall, picking batting-practice home runs out of the screen, like a mushroom gatherer seen in Wordsworthian perspective on the verge of a cliff.

Meanwhile, Pete was supposed to go to the Sox game last night, but Jerry was still getting over a nasty bug, so they gave away the tickets. And just as well, because after a 1½-hour delay, they called the game on account of rain. That would have been such a disappointment. And the rescheduled game is tonight at 8:30, which is really kind of a late start for a kid, plus Barbara and Jerry had already planned to have company over. So, they'll take him in 3 weeks instead, and we'll hope for sunshine.

Today, on "Lost"

Remember in The Accidental Tourist how the entire Leary family was more than a little directionally challenged? If they had to go to, say, the post office and the hardware store, they'd go to the post office, go back home, and then go to the hardware store—they didn't know how to get from the post office to the hardware store without coming home first and starting out again. Well, that's me. I pretty much know only one way to get anywhere. I've gotten much better over the years, and I can usually find my way around my own turf, but once I've ventured beyond my familiar zone, forget it.

When I have to drive into town, I carefully review my route and make sure I understand it before I leave the house. The truth is that I've never really felt confident driving around Boston—I never lived or worked there, so I never had the opportunity to really learn how the various neighborhoods fit together. For those of you who've never been to Boston, it is not an easy city to navigate. It was certainly not built according to any nice, neat plan of blocks like Manhattan. There's a dearth of helpful signs, since Bostonians generally feel that if you don't know where you're going, you shouldn't be here, thank you very much. On top of that are the ubiquitous but unpredictable one-way streets and the constant rerouting due to road construction.

So, what happens if there's a detour, or I make a wrong turn, or I want to go elsewhere after I'm done with whatever I went there for? Color me lost. Like this morning. I was driving to Charlestown to Andy's office. In the 21+ years that I have known Andy, I have driven to his office approximately eight bazillion times. The vast majority of the time, I come and go with no trouble. But every now and then, I end up calling him to say, "Um, Andy? I'm in Chelsea!" or "Help, I'm in front of Hamersley's Bistro!" Today a big truck wouldn't let me get over to the left in time to get on 28 from Storrow, so I suddenly found myself on Beacon Hill. I couldn't reach Andy, so I just kept driving and driving, looking for somewhere to pull over. Finally I did and asked a woman for directions. Her plan had me driving all over the freaking world to get to Charlestown, but luckily Andy called me back just as I was about to start following her directions. I described as best I could where I was, and he said simply, "Take your next right and you should be able to get back on Storrow." Bingo! I was at his office in no time. But I could never, ever have figured that out on my own.

My iPhone has a nice little navigation system courtesy of Google maps, but it isn't something you can easily do while driving—or at least I couldn't do it while wending my way through rush-hour traffic downtown. Andy's new car has a built-in GPS that talks to you the whole time, saying things like, "Take a right in 100 feet." Maybe that should be a priority on my next car.

Friday Random iPod Ten

1. Cowboy Peyton Place - Doug Sahm 
2. Enjoy Yourself (It's Later Than You Think) - The Specials   
3. Lost Cause - Beck
4. I Will Survive - Cake
5. Help Me Make It Through This Funky Day - Greg Brown
6. Fishin' Blues - The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band featuring Taj Mahal & Vassar Clements
7. Ice Cream Man (live) - Martin Sexton
8. Broken Promise Land - Elvis Costello & Allen Toussaint
9. Hard Times (live) - Emmylou Harris
10. Jumpin' Jack Flash - The Rolling Stones

Friday Fill-Ins

1. There is absolutely NO way you can get me to try sashimi!
2. The pile of new swimsuits from Lands' End reminds me that summer is almost here!
3. I cannot live without my MacBook Pro.
4. Growing herbs in pots and making duck confit are two things I'd like to try.
5. When life hands you lemons, make limoncello.
6. Going to the beach is my favorite childhood memory.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to relaxing at home, tomorrow my plans include finally seeing "Iron Man," and Sunday, I want to help make bag lunches for Mitzvah Day!

Was That You I Saw at the Gym Yesterday? No.

Today I did something I should have done 7 months ago: I canceled my gym membership. Why? I haven't set foot in the place since the first week of September! At first it was because my shoulder was bothering me, and the back-to-school thing was hectic, and I took on some more work, and then, and then, and then.... I kept thinking that the guilt of seeing the $70 deducted from my VISA every month would force me to go eventually. It didn't—I had the guilt, mind you, but it just wasn't strong enough to get me off my butt.

I don't even know where my sneakers are.

Wiki Wednesday

Time to learn something!

1. Go to Wikipedia.
2. Click on "Random article" in the left-hand sidebar box.
3. Post it!

I got a good one today:

The 25th Critics' Circle Awards, given by the London Film Critics Circle on 9 February 2005, honored the best in film for 2004.

Winners

International

• Best Actor:
  • Jamie Foxx - Ray
• Best Actress:
  • Imelda Staunton - Vera Drake
• Best Director:
  • Martin Scorsese - The Aviator
• Best Foreign Language Film:
  • Diarios de motocicleta (The Motorcycles Diaries), USA/Germany/UK/Argentina/Chile/Peru/France
• Best Picture:
  • Sideways
• Best Screenwriter:
  • Charlie Kaufman - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

British

• Best Actor:
  • Daniel Craig - Enduring Love
• Best Actress (tie):
  • Kate Winslet - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
  • Eva Birthistle - Ae Fond Kiss...
• Best Director:
  • Mike Leigh - Vera Drake
• Best Picture:
  • Vera Drake
• Best Newcomer:
  • Nathalie Press - My Summer of Love
• Best Screenwriter:
  • Mike Leigh - Vera Drake
• Best Supporting Actor:
  • Philip Davis - Vera Drake
• Best Supporting Actress:
  • Romola Garai - Inside I'm Dancing

I'd almost forgotten about "Vera Drake." What a wonderful movie that was. I'm glad it got the kudos it deserved in the UK. If you haven't seen it yet, push it to the top of your queue. Really.

When in Doubt

Below are 7 partial questions. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to copy and paste them into the Comments section, filling in the blanks with anything you want. I'll do my best to answer as honestly as I can. (via Naomi)

1. What do you think of ________?

2. When did you last ________?

3. ________ or ________? Why?

4. What did you ________?

5. What’s your favorite ________?

6. How would you ________?

7. Whom would you most like to ________?

How the World Sees Bush

This comes from an ad for a Mexican newspaper called Milenio. (via J-Walk)

And the Vice Presidential Nomination Goes to...

The Hill asked all 97 senators who are not running for president the same question: “If you were asked, would you accept an offer to be the VP nominee?” Here are a few of my favorite answers:

Sen. Bob Bennett (R-Utah)
“Of course. Big house, big car, not much to do. Why not?”

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.)
“Does that include any sports picks or anything like that? … I would certainly consider it.”

Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho)
“I would say ‘No, Hillary.’ ”

Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.)
“No. I don’t like going to funerals.”

Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.)
“I plan to stick with my current job until I get the hang of it.”

Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.)
“I’d say, ‘Please read the Constitution.’ I wasn’t born in America; I can’t be VP.”

Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.)
“The chances of that are so remote that I’m more likely to be hit by an asteroid.”

Sure, I've Used the Google

Here's the latest batch of quirky Google search strings that led some of you here to Verbatim:

pms 370 - sort of an olive green:

babysitting slogans - Hmm, how about, "I'll watch your kids as if they were my own! Which of course they couldn't be, since I'm only 15!" or "OMG! Your kids can watch TV while I text with my BFF!"

lets eat chalk! - OK, you go first and let me know how it goes. But first, put an apostrophe in let's, if you don't mind.

stomach bug morning only throw up - I don't know how to break this to you, but, um, that might not be a stomach bug....

whom am i kidding - Not me, that's for sure! "Whom am I kidding?" is indeed grammatically correct (whom is the direct object of kidding), but it sounds awfully fancy-pants, so I can't recommend you actually say it out loud.

correct grammar who shall i say is calling? - By George, I think she's got it! Take out the shall I say part, and you're left with "Who is calling?" (not "Whom is calling?"). Or, think of it this way: "Who shall I say is calling?" is the same as "I shall say who is calling?" You wouldn't say "I shall say whom is calling?" just as you wouldn't say "I shall say him is calling"—both are object pronouns and you need a subject for is calling.

wainwright iii vincent black shadow - I think you must mean "1952 Vincent Black Lightning," a gorgeous song by Richard Thompson that has been covered by a number of artists, but not Loudon Wainwright III, as far as I know.

Make Way for Goslings!

Here's a surefire way to stop my whining about having to go back to the Rugged Bear today to return all the stuff the kids rejected yesterday:

If you look closely, you can just make out Hammond Pond behind the parking lot. Guess they took a field trip today!

Same Great Food, Same Lousy Service

Remember last May when we had dinner at 51 Lincoln with Barbara and Jerry, and the food was outstanding but the service ... well, not so much? Same thing just happened again tonight. It was surprisingly busy for a Monday night, but even that couldn't excuse the service. We waited far too long to order, to receive each course, and—always worst of all—to pay and get out of there. We didn't even have time for Andy to order the freshly baked cookies for dessert, because we'd been there over 2 hours already and had to get home to put the kids to bed.

All I ask is for a waiter to stop by the table and say, "Your entrees will be out in just a moment; I apologize for the delay" or "Here are your dessert menus; I promise I'll be back in a minute to take your order." But he just ignored us, as if somehow we might forget how long we'd been waiting if he didn't show his face. He also totally blew it on the vodka front. In case you're not familiar with the history of my vodka preferences, go read this and then come back. OK, ready? So I order my Absolut Citron and the waiter says they have only Svedka Citron. I say "No, that won't do," and he rolls his eyes at me without actually rolling his eyes and says snippily, "They're exactly the same." WRONG! They are so very much not the same that I drink far too much of one and yet can't even bear a tiny sip of the other, even when I don't know that's what's in my glass.

In this case, I'm afraid, two strikes and they're out. Next May we will seek out somewhere else to splurge on delicious food—served with a smile.

Not So Fair and Balanced, As It Turns Out

You've got to watch this really funny, spot-on impression of Hillary. I mean it—regardless of whether or not you support her.

Who/what is younger than John McCain? For starters, Pat Buchanan, the state of Alaska, both of Barack Obama's parents, the polio vaccine, McDonald's, and Mount Rushmore. More here.

And, when Obama wins ... then what? Keep hitting Refresh.

They Like Me! They Really Like Me!

Hey, I forgot to tell you about something exciting that happened this past week: I got a call from the editor who gave me that cookbook proofreading job over the winter, and she asked me to copyedit two—count 'em, two!—cookbooks coming up from the same author. One is a revision of an existing book (about pickling), and the other is a new book (about jams, jellies, and preserves). I'm just thrilled—I do so much prefer copyediting to proofreading, although of course I'll take whatever I can get when it comes to cookbooks. The schedule is going to be a bear and will take me right through the summer, but I don't care. (Ask me again during our vacation week in July....)

Another Mother's Day, Another Pasta Salad

Mother's Day started off in the usual way, with Andy telling me to stay in bed so he and the kids could prepare a breakfast tray for me. They came in with all my favorite Sunday morning things—tea, toast, Times, MacBookPro—plus lots of hugs and kisses and cards and drawings. Then they all left me alone! Bliss.

Later was the annual Mother's Day party, but without Grandma for the first time. It was of course obvious that she wasn't there, but no one got weepy, and it didn't feel as though there was such a gaping hole when I wasn't thinking about her.

I tried out a new pasta salad recipe from Pam Anderson. It was a wee bit too lemony for me, so I think next time I will leave out the grated lemon peel. It also wasn't the most colorful dish there; I think a few halved cherry tomatoes or roasted red pepper strips would do the trick.

Pasta Salad with Asparagus, Mushrooms, Artichoke Hearts, and Parmesan

2 Tbsp salt
1 lb. bite-size pasta (I used the new mini-penne from Barilla. So cute!)
1 lb. asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1" pieces
8 oz. mushrooms, sliced
1 14-oz. can artichoke hearts, drained; artichokes rinsed and cut into bite-size pieces
½ cup shaved or grated Parmesan cheese
3 large scallions, thinly sliced
3 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
2 tsp finely grated lemon zest
creamy vinaigrette (recipe follows)

Bring 1 gallon of water to a boil. Add salt and pasta and cook until just tender, adding the asparagus for the last 1 minute of cooking. Drain in a colander, then spread the pasta and asparagus out in a shallow baking pan, and let cool to room temperature.

Transfer pasta, asparagus, and remaining ingredients, except dressing, to a large bowl; do not mix. (At this point, you can cover and refrigerate it for up to 2 hours.) When ready to serve, add dressing, toss to coat, and let stand for 15 minutes before serving.

Creamy Vinaigrette

¼ cup fresh lemon juice
2 Tbsp mayonnaise
1 large garlic clove, minced
⅔ cup olive oil

Put lemon juice and mayonnaise in in a Pyrex measuring cup. With a small whisk, stir in garlic, a big pinch of salt, and a couple grinds of pepper. Slowly whisk in oil in a slow, steady stream to make an emulsified vinaigrette. (Vinaigrette can be made and refrigerated 1 day in advance.)

Friday Random iPod Ten - on Saturday

Whoops, I knew I forgot to do something yesterday!

1. Busted - George Jones*
2. Wish We Were Back in Missouri - Emmylou Harris
3. Hold Me Back (Frankie & Johnny) - Michelle Shocked
4. The River in Reverse - Elvis Costello & Allen Toussaint
5. Here Am I, Oh Lord, Send Me - Alvin Youngblood Hart 
6. Harry's Wall - Loudon Wainwright III
7. You Can't Resist It - Lyle Lovett 
8. 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover - Paul Simon
9. Willin' - Little Feat & Ry Cooder
10. Canned Goods - Greg Brown

*This one wasn't really random; it just happened to be the last song I purchased. I heard it on BootLiquor and immediately had to click over to Amazon and download the single. Wow. Ol' George almost out-Rays Ray here, and I love the sound of that Cajun fiddle.

You, Our Listeners—And That Editor

This week I happened upon a way to unite two of the more obsessive parts of my persona: the Relentless Copyeditor and the NPR Junkie. Via Twitter, I "met" Ken George, who is the New Media Guy at WBUR, my local NPR affiliate. He recently started a blog called The ConverStation, which is meant to be a public forum about how public radio can connect with listeners through "Web 2.0 and other things." He put out a call for anyone who might be interested in getting involved and taking home a really high salary and lots of extravagant perks. Oh wait, I got that wrong. He wanted to know if anyone would be willing to help out for nothing more than the satisfaction of a job well done and an occasional WBUR mug or T-shirt from the station's closet o' swag.

I checked out the blog and got excited about the content but wasn't sure how I could contribute. Then I spotted a typo. And another. And another! Fast forward to Ken asking if I'd mind editing all the blog posts—and possibly posting something on occasion. Yes, yes, yes! Armed with my new WordPress username and password, I went in and cleaned up errant hyphens and typos in every post that's gone up so far. I was positively giddy, fantasizing about having the skeleton key to every blog so I could do my own version of the Typo Hunt Across America—but all across the blogosphere instead! I'm just delighted to be involved.

Friday's Feast

Appetizer: When someone smiles at you, do you smile back?

Always.

Soup: Describe the flooring in your home.  Do you have carpet, hardwood, vinyl, a mix?

Ceramic tile in the kitchen, something old and icky and unidentifiable in the bathrooms, hardwood (beautiful parquet) throughout the downstairs, carpeting in all the bedrooms.

Salad: Write a sentence with only 5 words, but all of the words have to start with the first letter of your first name.

Karen keeps kissing kindergarten kid.

Main Course: Do you know anyone whose life has been touched by adoption?

Yes, Andy and his sister were both adopted, and I have quite a few friends who have adopted children.

Dessert: Name 2 blue things.

My jeans and my T-shirt.

Friday Fill-Ins

1. The bread I made had an extra secret ingredient; it was vital wheat gluten!
2. I see a "Sale Pending" sign on the house next door   through my window.
3. Right now, I need to go pick up Julie from school .
4. Straight to bed  is where I went Thursday night; it was still not enough sleep .
5. Why does a tiny fricking paper cut  hurt so much?
6. All I can think of is the city budget override vote next week.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to seeing Jen , tomorrow my plans include two (probably rained-out) kids' sporting events, and Sunday, I want to be surrounded by family for Mother's Day !

Worth It or Not?

Today on Twitter, Fritinancy presented these two lists:

• Things I don't spend money on: facials, manicures, massages, housecleaner, DVDs, travel, coffee shops. Just don't see the point.
• Things I splurge on: haircut/color, shoes, clothes, live theater, dance. Did I mention shoes?

So, not surprisingly, that got me thinking. I'm quite frugal by nature. I clip coupons, I shop sales, I reuse, I do without. But I don't deprive myself. Specifically:

• I have had only a few facials, manicures, and massages in my life—and most of those were from gift certificates. I do get a few pedicures each year, though, and am more than happy to shell out the cash to have someone scrape all the horrible calluses off my feet and massage my calves and paint my toenails a purty color.
• I most certainly do have a housecleaner, and with a family of 5, I can think of a lot of things I'd be willing to do without before that. I still do all the laundry, but I no longer clean the kitchen floor or the toilets, vacuum, dust, or wipe down the range.
• As I mentioned yesterday, I rent but do not purchase DVDs, unless they're for the kids and will thus end up "buying" me some peace and quiet.
• Andy and I used to travel a lot before we had kids. Now? Not so much. I hope someday we will get to show the kids some of the world.
• Hate coffee, as you well know.
• I go to a nice salon to have my hair cut and colored—not the nicest salon on Newbury Street, mind you, but a nice-enough place here in town. After all those years of the long graying ponytail, I now love getting my hair bobbed and dyed.
• I used to be a bit of an Imelda Marcos in terms of shoes. At one point I had more pairs of black shoes than Andy had pairs of shoes period. (Famously, Andy once asked me why I needed to pack more pairs of shoes than days of our impending vacation. Silly, silly boy.) But not anymore. I can't stand the pencil-sharpener effect anymore and will buy only comfy shoes. Fortunately, these days one can find cute shoes that are also comfy, but I don't buy as many pairs as I used to—nor do I spend a fortune on any one pair. I can't even remember the last time I bought a pair of shoes.
  
• I've never been much of a clothes horse. 99% of my clothing comes from Lands' End, L.L. Bean, Eddie Bauer, and J. Jill. Jeans and a T-shirt is pretty much my official uniform.
• Live theater and dance? Nope. Don't mind going to theater, but don't seek it out—and frankly can't justify the expense. No interest in dance.

In addition:

• I will spend a lot on certain skin-care products if I can't find an equivalent knock-off. I buy some things from Origins and others from CVS. I'm happy to pay less if I like it, but it doesn't bother me to spend a little extra on the good stuff when necessary.
• I buy nearly all my meat at Whole Foods (and a small amount at Trader Joe's). I trust Whole Foods to do the research I want done but don't have the time, energy, or resources to do in order to make good choices in terms of ethical treatment of animals and healthy food for my family. I am more than willing to pay more for this service and for this food. Likewise, I will pay more for organic berries, grapes, peppers, and other produce that doesn't get peeled and is covered with pesticides that just don't wash off. We also just plain love cooking and eating and drinking around here, so I will happily spend extra for gourmet items, unusual ingredients, cookbooks and cooking magazines,  fancy kitchen gadgets, wine, and so on.
• In the goes-without-saying category: Books, books, and more books. Can't live without books, must be surrounded by books.  And music.

And you, my pretties, what do you spend on? What don't you spend on?

Thursday Link Dump

Here's "A Typical Conversation with My Mother" (or your mother, or anyone's mother—or, probably, me sometime in the not-so-distant future).

I dig (get it? get it?) these rolling planters! It would be so easy to move your plants according to the sun and time of day. Maybe that's what I need to get my dream of a small herb and veggie garden going. I wonder if I'd save enough on produce to justify the steep pricetag, though.

Last time I made this recipe, I think I forgot Step #2.

'Nuff Said