verbatim

CraigsList Question

Here's a puzzle for my web-savvy friends. (For the record: To many, *I* am the web-savvy friend, but this one's over my head.) Every day I check in at CraigsList for their Boston writing/editing leads; the URL is:

http://boston.craigslist.org/wri/

You know, I'm just looking for interesting editorial gigs. I also check in daily with NYC's parallel site:

http://newyork.craigslist.org/wri/

Because, well, New York has lotsa publishing going on. Then, every once in a while, I explore the "writing/editing" section of the CraigsList portal for other major cities: Austin, San Francisco, Washington, Philadelphia, Portland, etc., as well as other New England states so small they don't get their own city listings. All have the same URL format:

http://chicago.craigslist.org/wri/
http://seattle.craigslist.org/wri/
http://nh.craigslist.org/wri/

You get the idea: It's "location".craigslist.org/wri/ for every locale on the map.

So, here's my question: Is there a way I can minimize my clicking? Can I search for all CraigsList job postings in the writing/editing sector with some magical, universal command? Since editorial work is often freelance and can therefore be done from home, I don't care where it originates. And I'm convinced that my next big cookbook gig is just around the corner—even if that corner is in Raleigh, Sacramento, or Phoenix.

Thursday Potpourri

1. If you need to get rid of occupy your kids for a while, send them here.

2. Truly, I'm so proud to live in Massachusetts; now we will allow out-of-staters marry here, regardless of the laws of their home state. In an odd way, gay marriage is already such a "been there, done that" issue here that now we're thinking of how we can benefit from it economically. I think I'll open up a gay honeymoon B&B and make millions.

3. On the other hand, I am positively despondent over the loss of Manny to LA. They won't "get" him. He will flounder and die, like Nomar. Farewell, Manny! I for one will miss you. (As will Pete, who was wearing his beloved, filthy Manny shirt when the news came in.) And, not for nothing, but we kind of depended on his bat! Damn.

4. Do you have what it takes to win an iPhone and a year's supply of chocolate? Enter here.

Wiki Wednesday

Time to learn something!

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

Last week I got ADT; this week it's A.S.T.:

A.S.T. is the first official recording, an EP/single, released with the duo that would become The Future Sound of London, Garry Cobain and Brian Dougans. Track one has an electric guitar riff/hook with a heavy house beat whilst the two instances of the b-side are much more traditional acid house.

Track listing

   1. A.S.T. (4:18)

          * Written By - B. Duffy , D. Greenford , H. Cornwell , J. Burnel

   2. Esus Flow (3:28)

   3. Esus Flow (Vast Galaxy Remix) (7:02)

Crew

    * Engineer - Yage

    * Executive Producer - Tim Jones

    * Producer - Humanoid

    * Songwriter - Brian Dougans , Garry Cobain

    * Sleeve credits: Written by B.Dog and Cobain.

Recorded at Earthbeat London 1990.

Never heard of it or them. You?

Sox vs. Yankees 4-Evah!

The obsession with the Yankees/Red Sox rivalry has become so extreme that I have a suggestion for Major League Baseball: Baseball should re-align its two leagues. In its current arrangement, we have the National League and American League. In the new alignment, it would be the YankeeSox League and the Every Other Team League.

Read the rest here.

Nancy sent me this link, hoping to "soften the blow" of missing tonight's game at Fenway—which the Sox lost anyhow. (Sour grapes? Who, me?)

Ouch

Tonight was the night that Barbara and Jerry were going to take me, Andy, Pete, Jo, Lily, and Dot to see the Red Sox play the Angels. (Steph's still at camp. Ale already went back to London. Julie was invited but did not* wish to go, so Brooke was all set to come sit for her.) Only problem? When they pulled out the 8 tickets, they couldn't help noticing that they were for, um, last night's game, not tonight's. Can you say "Oops!"? Or perhaps something considerably stronger, which is what we all said.

Barbara called me and said, "I'm going to go kill myself now." I said, "No, that would just make things worse. You need to think of a way to punish yourself that doesn't also punish the rest of us." Instead, we all went over their house for burgers and dogs and watched the first couple of innings on TV. Then Julie got sleepy, so we came home.

File this one under "Oh well."

*Julie is not terribly interested in baseball yet and has no desire to stay up late. She is the kind of kid who says, at 7:45, "Can I go to bed now, or is it still too early?"

Class Notes

I'm not sure if I've ever mentioned this before, but I write the Class of 1984's "Class Notes" column for Wesleyan's quarterly alumni magazine. Over the years, I've witnessed the predictable pattern of marriages and births and divorces (although at this weird point in our lives, some of my classmates are just now having their first babies and at least one is a grandparent already!), along with all kinds of professional news. Since Wesleyan seems to spit out nothing but brilliant, creative super-achievers (with one obvious *exception*), after all these years I'm downright blasé about all the earth-shattering news that shows up in my inbox.

When I arrived at Wes in the fall of 1980, I knew that many famous people had preceded me there—for instance, authors Robert Ludlum and Robin Cook, Grateful Dead lyricist John Perry Barlow, actor William Christopher (Father Mulcahey), Boston Marathon winners Bill Rodgers and Amby Burfoot (the first collegian to win!), and many more. (I didn't yet know Bill Belichick's name; none of us did.)

As I started settling in to college life, I noticed that a lot of famous people apparently sent their kids there too; I met kids whose last names were Kennedy and Cosby and Alda and.... They never said, "No, no relation."

Now that I'm long past graduation, my classmates (and those who were at Wes at the same time I was, even if we didn't graduate together) are the ones in the news: Eric Asimov, Michael Bay, Dana Delany, Daniel Handler (Lemony Snicket), Sebastian Junger, Ayelet Waldman, Joss Whedon, Bradley Whitford, Dar Williams, and so many others I could never list them all. Wikipedia has a lengthy yet incomplete list; look! Judges! CEOs! Winners of Oscars/Emmys/Tonys/Pulitzers! Geniuses and world-savers!

And *me*! Well, someone has to be a suburban stay-home mom, right? I figure I help make all my classmates look even more impressive.

Sweet Tweet

Yesterday I mentioned on Twitter how pleased I was that Whole Foods has a waste bin next to their corn, so I (or my kids) can shuck the corn there and get silk and husks all over their floor instead of mine. (Corn sells by the ear not by weight, so shucking doesn't affect the price.) Well, apparently I won a $25 gift card for writing the Whole Foods Tweet of the Day! I didn't even know they did that. So let's see, that'll buy 50 ears of fresh native corn....

Sun, Sand, and Sea

Here are some belated beach photos from our week at the Cape:

 
 
 
 

(It finally dawned on me that if I wear my sunglasses, no one ever needs to know that I close my eyes in 90% of all photos. Except that now you do know, since I just told you....)

Letters to and from Camp

During rest hour after lunch on the first full day of camp, the counselors give the kids a postcard and make them write home before they can do anything else. Steph's arrived yesterday; the first sentence is "Camp is great, like last year." That's all I needed to read! Here's hoping they've had more of a break from the rain than Weather.com is letting on....

Here's the letter Julie wrote to Steph this morning:

She tells us how much she misses Steph about 50 times a day. Pete? Not so much. He's enjoying being Alpha Kid in Steph's absence.

McCain is OLD—Despite What They Show on the TV News

Here are two instances in which our so-called liberal media (Ha! Puh-leeeeese!) have worn their McCain hearts on those blue blazer sleeves:

First:

McCain, looking just awful on camera, made yet another major gaffe about national security policy, on CBS. So what did Katie Couric do? She aired the interview with McCain, aired the question that led to the gaffe, and then inserted an "answer" to the question that wasn't the real gaffe-filled answer—it was something McCain said in a total other part of the interview.

Don't believe me? Watch the video.

Second:

....Fox ran video of a strangely youthful and vigorous-looking McCain at a campaign rally to accompany a story about McCain's current campaign schedule. However, the video also prominently features a sign reading "www.mccain2000.com," which at one point is even waved in front of McCain's face. "Fox is actually using eight-year-old video to discuss today's activities," [MSNBC's Dan] Abrams marveled.

Really! Go see the video here. MSNBC to the rescue.

(via J-Walk)

Caption Contest

What's the baby saying? Let us know in the Comments. No prizes, just fun.

End of a Productive Work Week

I'm proclaiming TGIF in a big way today, as I just returned from the UPS Store, where I sent off the second cookbook manuscript to the author—a little earlier than anticipated, even! I've been really cranking on this all week, and I'm finally done. Of course, in the meantime, the first manuscript has come back from the author, so now I have quite a bit of work ahead of me to get it ready to go back to the publisher (and then the same thing in a few weeks with the second one). But for the first time since school let out, I feel confident that I'm going to meet my deadlines. Go me!

In other work news, next Wednesday will be my last mind-meld session with Andy's outgoing bookkeeper; after that I'm on my own. Yes, I can always call or email her with questions, but I'm hoping I don't have to bother her too often. I'm still feeling very much in over my head, but at least I know a little more than when I started.

I have earned myself a relaxing weekend, beginning with a cocktail right now. Barkeep?

Friday iPod Random* Ten

1. Candy - Martin Sexton
2. Good and Evil - David Byrne 
3. The Flood - Eilen Jewell  
4. Lie to Me - David Byrne 
5. National Steel - Kathleen Edwards
6. Jump Jim Crow - Michelle Shocked
7. You Don't Know Me - Ray Charles & Diana Krall 
8. Already Gone (Flatfoot Blues) - Chris Smither
9. Fever - Ray Charles & Natalie Cole
10. End of the Party - English Beat

*Random? My ass. Out of more than 4500 songs in my iTunes library, the first ten to come up on shuffle include two from David Byrne's under-appreciated Brazilian CD, "Rei Mo Mo," and two more from Ray Charles' over-appreciated CD of duets, "Genius Loves Company"? Shyeah.

Thursday Two-Fer

Who said it, Bush or Batman? (via the Nag)

WANT: This uber-nerdy clock.

Great Vacation Read

Remember when I finally read Middlesex, after putting it aside as something I probably wouldn't like, and absolutely adored it? Same thing just happened with The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. I can't recall exactly why I passed on it repeatedly over the years (it was published in 2003), nor can I remember who it was who finally insisted I give it a try, but I brought it on vacation last week and fell in love with it.

I don't usually do sci-fi, but I have always been intrigued by the idea of time travel—well, who hasn't? I remember the first time I saw "The Terminator" and couldn't stop with the "what if" mental games. And I do enjoy love stories, as long as they're not sappy. This book is a perfect fit for me: It's a really beautiful love story involving a time-traveler and a non-time-traveler.

None of the following offers any kind of spoiler; you know right off the bat from the title that you're going to be reading about a time-traveling man and his non-time-traveling wife. Clare first meets Henry when she's 6 and he's 36—he has time-traveled from the future and found himself in a field with a little girl. He knows that this is Clare, who will grow up to be his wife, but she of course has no idea who he is. He continues to visit her from their shared future until she's 18, after which point he doesn't come back for 2 years. (He can't control his time traveling; it just happens.) Then, when she's 20, she sees him in the library where he works. He's only 28, so he's never met her before—all his visits to her as a child and teenager happen later, when he's older!—whereas she of course recognizes him, although he looks younger than she's ever seen him. I find this stuff fascinating, thought-provoking, and way cool.

Sometimes Henry goes back to visit himself as a child; very infrequently he travels to his own future. He can't change the past in any meaningful way, but he sometimes manages to break the rules a little. As you can imagine, there are plenty of holes in the logic, but I was willing to overlook them. In fact, I had no trouble at all setting aside my realistic expectations for the plot; somehow the idea of Henry as a "Chrono-Displaced Person" seemed believable enough for me.

The story is told by both Henry and Clare. A heading for each section tells us the date, how old Henry and Clare are, and who's narrating. I think the author did a masterful job of creating these two very believable, likable characters and adding a truly bizarre twist to their lives.

If you start this book and feel confused, keep at it. It will soon make sense to you and you will be rewarded by a wonderful story. Really.

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 disambiguation page:

ADT is a three-letter acronym that may refer to:

• Abstract data type, a computer programming term
• Algebraic data type, a term from functional programming
• Asynchronous data transfer, a method of transferring data
• Automatic double tracking, an audio recording technology invented for The Beatles
• American Discovery Trail, a coast-to-coast hiking trail across the mid-tier of the United States.
• Average Daily Traffic, to show the volume of traffic on a road in transportation planning
• Average downtime, a simple quantification of a system's reliability
• Apple Disk Transfer, software for exchanging floppy disk images between Apple II computers and host computers over serial links
• ADT Security Services, a division of Tyco International, formerly American District Telegraph
• ADT College, a City Technology College in London
• Autodesk Architectural Desktop, CAD software from Autodesk
• Admission, Discharge, and Transfer, a message type used in Health Level 7 formatted communication
• Adult diphtheria and tetanus vaccination
• Atlantic Daylight Time
• Active Denial Technology

I'd heard of only the security company.

Nyah, Nyah, Vermont

I live in the forty-seventh most obese state. Out of fifty. Feeling pretty good about that. Only Colorado, Connecticut, and Hawaii scored thinner than Massachusetts. Not feeling any more of an urge to visit Mississippi than I ever have, which is, um, zero.

Go GameStop!

You know how it always seems that as soon as you learn a new word (or discover a new author, or hear a new song, or whatever), you run into it again almost immediately later that week? I had a similar experience recently with a store.

Until I caved and bought Pete his Nintendo DS in April, I was pretty oblivious to the whole gaming world, including where one would go to buy games. I bought the DS at Best Buy, along with a game I knew Pete would like. I told him that as part of his birthday gift, he could go back with me to choose one more game, which he did. Then, when we finally got around to having his birthday party, some of his friends' moms asked me for gift ideas. I mentioned a few things, including a gift card to Best Buy or the like, so he could buy more games. Sure enough, he got a gift card, but it was to a place called GameStop. Huh? I'd never heard of it. Or had I? Snap! I had indeed. A few days earlier I had gotten an email from Mom Central, asking me if I'd be willing to shop at a GameStop store and post the review on my blog. I had deleted it, because I figured there wasn't a GameStop near me, or else I'd have heard about it. Duh.

Turns out there are GameStop stores all over the place, but of course I'd never noticed them—partly because I avoid malls like the plague and partly because gaming wasn't even on my radar until recently. So shortly after Pete's party, I took him and his gift card to the GameStop at the Arsenal Mall, where he found the game he wanted. They seem to have every game for every system imaginable, and what's more, they buy back used games and resell them at a pretty good mark-down. Frequent flyers can get a discount card that entitles them to an additional 10% off of used games—which are all guaranteed to work. Since game cartridges are nearly indestructible (or, at the very least, easily recognized if they've been damaged), it seems to me that the only drawback to buying a used game is if it's, for instance, a Pokemon game where you can trade away some of your Pokemons to other players via wifi. (For the record, I don't let Pete use the wifi feature on his DS. Yet.) Otherwise it seems like an ideal way for an avid gamer to get his gaming fix without breaking the bank.

So today I took the gift card I got from Mom Central back to GameStop along with the name of another game Pete had in mind. The guy who rang up my purchase, Don, was very knowledgeable and helpful, managing somehow not to roll his eyes at my dumb questions. He explained the discount system but didn't try to put any pressure on me to join up. Color me a happy customer!

Rainy Days at Camp

Last night we had a huge thunderstorm just before midnight; all I could think of was that it was going to be a rainy first day of camp, which is just a bummer all around. But the morning dawned sunny and hot. I dropped Pete and Julie at day camp and came back home to finish packing up Steph for sleepaway camp. We drove up, waited in line, registered, waited in line, passed the lice check (my heart was in my throat waiting for that—can you even imagine?!), and then got back in the car to drive down the hill to Steph's cabin. As soon as we got all her stuff into the cabin, the heavens opened up. It was pouring. We got her all set up and said our goodbyes, then trudged back up the hill in the downpour to the car. The first half of the ride home was just about as intense a rain as I've ever been in on the highway. It was blinding and very scary. Then, all of a sudden, it stopped. We got home to discover that it never rained here all day. Just under an hour north and such a huge weather difference! But poor Steph, here's what she's in for over the next week:

News IQ

I scored a 91% (11 out of 12) on this Pew Research Center quiz on world events. I got only one wrong but, to be fair, I pretty much took a wild guess on two other questions, and there was another one that I wouldn't have gotten right if there hadn't been a multiple choice.

Better Than a Library

Janet sent me the link to this story:

SAN FRANCISCO, California (AP) -- A measure seeking to commemorate President Bush's years in office by slapping his name on a San Francisco sewage plant has qualified for the November ballot.

The measure certified Thursday would rename the Oceanside Water Pollution Control Plant the George W. Bush Sewage Plant.

Supporters say the idea is to commemorate the mess they claim Bush has left behind by actions such as the war in Iraq.

As she says, it's almost worth moving out there and establishing residency just to get a chance to vote on it!

Obama Walks into a Bar...

You've probably seen the news stories recently about how late-night comedians are having trouble finding ways to poke fun at Obama. (No? Check out this piece from the Times last week.) The gist is that there's really nothing about him that screams "Make fun of me!" He's intelligent, articulate, committed to his family life, etc. By the same token, no one wants to do anything that could be considered racist. So I particularly enjoyed this bit from Andy Borowitz, "Obama Releases List of Approved Jokes About Himself":

Saying he is "sympathetic to late night comedians' struggle to find jokes to make about me," Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill) today issued a list of official campaign-approved Barack Obama jokes.

The five jokes, which Sen. Obama said he is making available to all comedians free of charge, are as follows:

Barack Obama and a kangaroo pull up to a gas station. The gas station attendant takes one look at the kangaroo and says, "You know, we don't get many kangaroos here." Barack Obama replies, "At these prices, I'm not surprised. That's why we need to reduce our dependence on foreign oil."

A traveling salesman knocks on the door of a farmhouse, and much to his surprise, Barack Obama answers the door. The salesman says, "I was expecting the farmer's daughter." Barack Obama replies, "She's not here. The farm was foreclosed on because of subprime loans that are making a mockery of the American Dream."

A horse walks into a bar. The bartender says, "Why the long face?" Barack Obama replies, "His jockey just lost his health insurance, which should be the right of all Americans."

Q: What's black and white and red all over?
Barack Obama: The New Yorker magazine, which should be embarrassed after publishing such a tasteless and offensive cover, which I reject and denounce.

A Christian, a Jew and Barack Obama are in a rowboat in the middle of the ocean. Barack Obama says, "This joke isn't going to work because there's no Muslim in this boat."

Oh, and while we're having so much fun, here's a great photo of Obama doing the bumper-car thing with his daughter:

Home, Sweet Home

I know I've said it countless times before, but: As much as I love going away, I love coming home even more. I missed my cats. I was eager to go through the mail. I'm yearning for my own bed. Etc.

So we got home, unloaded the car, unpacked everything, and then ... I started packing everything up again for Steph to take with her to sleepaway camp on Monday! Yikes! Pete and Julie start day camp the same day. Which means I can finally get back to work. I don't know who I thought I was kidding by taking my manuscript with me to the Cape, but it goes without saying that I never once even glanced at it. This coming week is already half-shot, work-wise: Monday we take Steph up to camp, Tuesday morning I have to go with Julie to her first activity session (On the second day of camp? Are you kidding me?), and then either Wednesday or Thursday, I have to head into Charlestown for my penultimate mind-meld session with Andy's outgoing bookkeeper. But after that I should be able to dig in.

Custom GPS Devices

Yesterday over at Twitter, BadBanana suggested this:

To which I replied:

That got me thinking. Here's what a GPS created by my father-in-law would sound like:

"And then you want to go a couple of miles and there's a left in there ... you don't want to go all the way to the end...."

And a GPS designed by me, specifically for trips into Charlestown:

"Now, remember that turn you always miss? It's coming up. Get all the way over to the left. The left! Now! Oh man, you are such a loser. OK, now you'll have to get all the way to the right because you're going to have to get off the highway and turn around. Oh, you want to go through scenic Chelsea again? Honestly, I don't know how you got your license...."

Can you think of any others?

Friday iPod Random Ten

1. The Dimming of the Day (live) - Bonnie Raitt
2. Winsome Smile (live) - Chris Smither
3. The Sharpest Thorn - Elvis Costello & Allen Toussaint
4. Lua - Bright Eyes
5. Radio King (live) - Jeff Tweedy
6. Cowboy Peyton Place - Doug Sahm
7. CC Rider - Old Crow Medicine Show
8. Adam Raised a Cain (live) - Bruce Springsteen
9. From a Whisper to a Scream - Elvis Costello& Glenn Tilbrook
10. I Want a Little Sugar in My Bowl - Allison Moorer 

It's No Longer All Good

The other day on Twitter, I posed this question:

I got a bunch of good replies, my favorite being "I'm going with zero and it's not just because my wife's ex-husband says it constantly. OK, it is just because of that."

I can almost recall the first time I heard someone say "It's all good," and it already sounded overused. Same with "at the end of the day," which has lost all meaning—people seem to use in place of "um" these days. What other similar phrases can you think of? I'm not talking about expressions that are just annoying (we've already done that here, I think), but rather those that seemed to outlive their novelty almost instantly. Do you think that "X is the new Y" falls into this category? When I hear that one, half the time I can't figure out what point the person is trying to make anyhow.

Day Off from the Beach

We have been incredibly lucky with the weather during our vacation! Every day has been spectacular—sunny, breezy, and dry. So much so that today, which once again dawned bright and gorgeous, Steph and Pete announced that they wanted to take a break from going to the beach. Huh? But it's a beach day! Andy and I found ourselves in the unusual position of trying to force them to get excited about yet another day of playing in the sand and swimming in the ocean. (Julie would live at the beach if we let her.) Instead we decided to hop the ferry to Martha's Vineyard for a mini-excursion. We didn't plan on staying there any longer than it would take to disembark, pick up some lunch, and get right back on the boat, and that worked out fine. When we came back, we went over to Mom and Dad's condo for a dip in the pool before taking the kids out to an overpriced mediocre restaurant for dinner.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that Mom and Dad watched the kids last night so that Andy and I could go out to dinner alone. That certainly helps make it feel more like a vacation to me.

Wiki Wednesday

Time to learn something!

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

Here's what I got:

Santa Maria Formosa is a church in Venice, northern Italy. It was erected in 1492 under the design by Renaissance architect Mauro Codussi. It lies on the site of a former church dating from the 7th century, which, according to tradition, was one of the eight founded by San Magno, bishop of Oderzo. The name "formosa" relates to an alleged appearance of the Holy Virgin disguised as a fashionable woman.

The plan is on the Latin cross, with a nave and two aisles. The two façades were commissioned in 1542, the Renaissance-style one facing the channel, and 1604, the Baroque one facing the nearby square.

The artworks in the interior include the St. Barbara polyptych by Palma the Elder, one of his most celebrated works. The Conception Chapel houses a triptych of Madonna of Misericordia by Bartolomeo Vivarini (1473), while in the Oratory is the Madonna with Child and St. Dominic by Giambattista Tiepolo (18th century). There is also a Last Supper by Leandro Bassano.

The dome of the church was destroyed in an earthquake in 1688, but was rebuilt.

I've been to Venice but don't recall whether I saw this church.

Another Winner from Russo

You know that bumper sticker that says "A bad day of golfing [or fishing] is better than a good day at work"? That's how I feel about Richard Russo. Wait, that didn't come out right. What I mean to say is that everything he writes, even if it's not his best stuff, is better than pretty much anything anyone else writes. He may not have another Empire Falls* in him (after all, does anyone win the Pulitzer twice?), but I will continue to read every book he writes—and I dare say I will never be disappointed.

I just finished his latest, Bridge of Sighs, and I loved it. Russo treads familiar ground; this time we're in upstate New York, in a town where everyone used to work for the tannery—until the tannery went bust (amid growing revelations that it had polluted the town's river and afflicted generations of its inhabitants with cancer). Now people are cobbling together an existence as best they can, because it would never occur to them to leave and strike out elsewhere.

Most of the story is told by Louis Charles Lynch, who is saddled with the unfortunate nickname Lucy (from Lou C.); as an elderly man, he is looking back on his life as he writes his own memoir. When we first meet Lucy, his dad, AKA Big Lou, and his mom, Tessa, are barely scraping by as a milkman and a bookkeeper. When the new A&P comes to town, the milk route dries up, and the idealistic, giant-hearted Big Lou impetuously buys a failing convenience store, much against the wishes and good judgment of the ever-practical Tessa. Lucy takes after his dad in every way. He trusts everyone, assumes everything will turn out OK in the end, and can't imagine why anyone would want to leave town.

Two other narrators take turns filling us in: Lucy's best friend, Bobby Marconi (the only one who does ever leave town), and Lucy's girlfriend and eventual wife, Sarah Berg. Yes, of course it's a perfect love triangle. Secrets are kept and revealed, honor and trust are tested, the nature of truth is explored—you know, all the usual Russo stuff.

Russo's writing is as engaging and assured as ever. His characters are real to us almost from the start—the kind of people we continue to think about long after we've finished the book. It's not Empire Falls, but it's as good as—or better than—most novels I read in a year.

*Please don't tell me you haven't read Empire Falls yet. If you must tell me this, please also tell me that you're about to go to the library or bookstore to get it. It's wonderful.

More Good Guys, and Local Too!

Being given products to review is a good thing in and of itself, but it's even better when the product turns out to be both a good product and one that I might not have known about otherwise. Such is the case with the Preserve toothbrushes I received from Recycline. The entire Preserve line of products are made from recycled plastic (BPA-free, of course) and are also recyclable. For instance, the toothbrush handle is made from recycled Stonyfield Farm yogurt cups! How great is that?! Speaking of the handle, it has an unusual shape: angled 45° at the head, which is meant to facilitate access to those back teeth. It took some getting used to, but I think I like it. And the bristles are soft, which is what my hygienist recommends. You know how you're supposed to replace your toothbrush every three months? Well, when you're done with your Preserve brush, you just print out a postage-paid mailing label here and send it back to be recycled yet again, this time into plastic lumber for park benches, picnic tables, and decks! I love this.

Preserve toothbrushes are only $2.04 at Target, and if you go here, you can print out a coupon worth $1 toward the purchase of two. Such a deal, eh?

Oh, and Preserve also makes other personal care items, like razors, as well as some fun and funky kitchen goodies, like cutting boards and colanders—many of which I'd been admiring at Whole Foods long before I knew about the whole Recycline vision. And in doing some poking around on their web site, I just learned that they're located in nearby Waltham, MA, so I can feel good about helping out my local economy on top of everything else.

Batter Up!

Yesterday before dinner we went to Arnie Allen Diamond to catch a few innings of a Cape Cod Baseball League game between the Falmouth Commodores and the Chatham A's. The CCBL is one of the most prestigious college-level summer leagues in the country, and thus it has been the springboard for many current major leaguers. On the Red Sox* alone, Jason Varitek, Jacoby Ellsbury, Kevin Youkilis, Mike Lowell, David Aardsma, Javier Lopez, and Kevin Cash all came up from Cape Cod.

It was exciting to be so close to a game with adults (well, college kids, but these guys are big) playing—normally we're either right by the bench with Pete's Little League team or up in the stands for the Red Sox. Admission is free and it was a beautiful day, so it was very crowded. Lots of fun for all—except Julie, who is not interested in baseball. Yet.

*Speaking of which, they're back in first place as of last night!

I Remember Rubylith

Although I am not an artist of any kind, I am pretty familiar with how graphic artists ply their trade. Back in the '80s, being an editor in a publishing company meant working closely with the book designers, so we editorial types had to understand their lingo and equipment just as much as they had to know what our arcane system of editing marks meant. Indeed, I recall being required (well, strongly encouraged) to take a "Principles of Book Design" course when I expressed interest in editorial production. By the early '90s, the designers were mostly using software (Quark was a revelation back then), but we all still had the old tools and supplies lying around for when we needed to (or just wanted to) kick it old school.

I can't describe the nostalgic joy I had when I came across The Museum of Forgotten Art Supplies. Of the 104 items on display, I am familiar with most of them—man, it feels like yesterday that I used a waxer (#19)—and I actually own more than a few:

1. Proportion Wheel
3. Haberule Type Gauge
21. Xacto Professional Kit
22. Pantone Thing
32. Drafting Brush
34. Scale-o-Graph
51. Loupe
64. Burnisher (I have the white one on the far right.)
70. Non-Repro Blue Pencil
81. Stainless Steel T-Square

After vacation, I fully intend to go through my storage boxes at home and see if I can find something else worthy of submitting to the collection. (via Neatorama)

Immutable Laws of the Beach

People who always sit near me at the beach—specifically, upwind of me on a breezy day:

1. The cigarette smokers. They are easy to identify because they are usually not American: The men are wearing Speedos and the women are wearing tiny bikinis regardless of their body shape. I'm sorry, but it's true.

2. The guy who smokes a cigar while barking at someone nonstop on his cellphone.

3. The people who set up their whole freaking living room under a giant tent but neglect to anchor the tent securely into the sand. One strong gust and the whole thing comes flying over, threatening to impale each member of my family with its pointed stakes.

4. The teenage girls who spray each other with that horrible new aerosol sun lotion.* I can see the cloud of mist just before it settles in my lungs.

5. The teenage boys who vigorously shake out their sandy towels.

*I can't get out of the habit of calling it sun lotion, although I suppose that's an improvement over suntan lotion. I know I should say sunscreen or sunblock, but old habits die hard. I also can't retrain myself to not think that a tan looks healthy.

Belated Friday Fill-Ins

1. Oh, I can't wait until I have a fried clam platter at McMenamy's.

2. Vanilla milk is the first thing I see when I open my refrigerator.

3. I never leave home without my iPhone.

4. If I were a condiment, I would be ketchup because everyone would love me.

5. Abuse of handicapped-only parking spots is really high up on my list of pet peeves.

6. The last thing I thought of before I went to bed was "I hope tomorrow is a beach day!" (Psst: It is!)

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m last night I was looking forward to Andy arriving to join us here at the Cape, tomorrow today my plans include hitting the beach, and Sunday, I want to go out to dinner with Andy while my parents babysit!

Friday iPod Random Ten

1. The Dimming of the Day - Bonnie Raitt
2. Frankie and Johnny - Doc Watson
3. Sugar Magnolia (live) - Grateful Dead
4. The Harder They Come - Jimmy Cliff
5. Spanish Pipedream (live) - John Prine
6. I Am Bewildered - Dave Alvin
7. Keys to the Car - Birdie Busch
8. Time Is a Lion - Joe Henry
9. Can't Shake These Blues - Chris Smither
10. Guns of Navarone (live) - The Specials

Two Work-Related Notes

Last night we all took Andy's bookkeeper out for dinner to celebrate her impending retirement. We chose a location easily accessible for the entire group, the Capital Grille in Burlington. I'd been to the one in Chestnut Hill, so I knew what to expect from the menu, but I was unprepared for the dining room itself. It's huge and beautiful, and you don't get that instant "men's club" feeling that there are cigars and brandy snifters just out of view. It had just the right mix of "special feeling" for such an occasion. I had an extraordinarily good steak, the Porcini-Rubbed Delmonico with 8-Year Aged Balsamic. OMG, WTF, ETC. I'm still very much at sea with all the bookkeeping stuff I need to learn, but I was glad we could give her a memorable send-off.

When I got home, I found an email from the author of these two cookbooks I'm editing. She'd received the first manuscript and—drumroll, please—was pleased with my work! Phew! I was concerned because she's known to be very persnickety. Now I feel much more confident as I plow ahead into the second manuscript. I'm still nervous about making the deadlines, but at least I know I'm on the right track.

Go Teddy!

WASHINGTON — Senator Edward M. Kennedy made an extraordinary return to the Senate on Wednesday to deliver Democrats a decisive victory on a signature health care issue despite his own treatment for brain cancer.

Mr. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, flown in virtual secrecy to Washington, stirred the normally staid chamber to a rousing ovation and moved many colleagues to tears when he made a surprise appearance in the Senate in the late afternoon to break a Republican filibuster on a Medicare bill.

Looking steady but flushed in his first visit to the Capitol since his cancer was discovered in late May, Mr. Kennedy was quickly surrounded by senators who could barely keep from overwhelming him despite cautions to keep their distance because his treatments have weakened his immune system.

Democrats were overjoyed and Republicans stood, smiled and applauded as well, though some looked uneasy as it dawned on them that once again Mr. Kennedy was about to hand them a stinging defeat on health care policy. The defeat was sealed once Mr. Kennedy delivered a clear “aye” in his familiar but recently absent baritone accompanied by twin thumbs-up.

Wiki Wednesday

Time to learn something!

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

Here's what the Wiki 8-Ball turned up today:

Mitsuko Shiga (四賀光子, Shiga Mitsuko, 21 April 1885 – 23 March 1956) was the pen-name of a Japanese tanka poet active in Taisho and Showa period Japan. Her real name was Ota Mitsu.

Mitsuko was born in Nagano city, Nagano prefecture. After graduating from Nagano Normal School, she worked for two years as a teacher, during which time she met the poet Ota Mizuho, and began to compose tanka verses herself. She entered the Tokyo Women's Higher Normal School (present-day Ochanomizu University) in 1906 and married Ota Mizuho when she graduated.

While teaching at a girls school in Tokyo, she assisted her husband in his literary magazine, Choon, by contributing tanka verses and helping in its overall administration. On Ota's death in 1955, she took over responsibility for the magazine with her son, Ota Seikyu. From 1957 to 1965, she was also a selector of the verses submitted for the New Year's Poetry Reading at the Imperial Palace.

She published numerous anthologies of her poetry during her lifetime, including Fuji no Mi ("Wisteria Beans"), Asa Tsuki ("Morning Moon"), Asa Ginu ("Linen Silk"), and Kamakura Zakki ("Kamakura Miscellany"). She also published some instructional guides to the writing of poetry, including Waka dokuhon ("A Guide to Waka Verse"), Dento to Gendai Waka ("Tradition and Modern Waka").

Mitsuko and her husband Ota Mizuho began to live in Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture from 1934, calling their retreat "Yo-yo Sanso". What began as a quiet getaway became their permanent home from 1939. Mitsuko continued to live there after her husband's death, and died in 1976. Her grave is at the temple of Tokei-ji in Kamakura, which also has a large stone monument inscribed with one of her verses.

Never heard of her. You?

Strawberry Season!

I know everyone's probably fed up with me and my weird food dislikes (mustard? coffee? egg salad?), but here's another for you, albeit a mild one: I don't really like strawberries. I mean, I don't hate them (they're not cilantro, for heaven's sake!), but they're just never my first choice. If they're in a fruit salad, I will eat them, but I certainly don't seek them out.

Steph, on the other hand, adores strawberries. I mean, this is a kid whose lunchbox often contains a strawberry yogurt, a strawberry cereal bar, and a container of fresh strawberries. All of which blends nicely with her strawberry shampoo and conditioner, body wash, toothpaste, and lip balm.

You know that I'm all about eating local, but the strawberry season here in New England is woefully short. We buy as many freshly picked local strawberries as we can, but most of the year is spent waiting for summer produce. And, much as I try to emulate my hero Barbara Kingsolver, I can't get through the winter on just rhubarb and preserves. So we buy non-local produce, and plenty of it. And that means that for most of the year, our strawberries come from California. What must it be like to live in California, where you can get the full spectrum of fresh, local produce year-round? I can't imagine.

Strawberries are on the "dirty dozen" list of fruits that retain pesticides no matter how much you wash them, so I buy only organic. If I can't find organic strawberries, I buy something else entirely. The brand most often available at my local Whole Foods and Trader Joe's stores is Driscoll's from Watsonville, CA, and usually they offer both organic (green label) and conventional (yellow label).

I wish I liked strawberries more, because they're always featured in those articles that rave about getting the most bang for your bite in terms of antioxidants. You can read all about the wonders of antioxidant-rich strawberries here. And, if your kids are nearby, take them over to Strawberryville, where they can play games and learn about healthy eating. There are tons of kid-friendly recipes there too. I wish the site would let you know what you're clicking on before you click on it, but it's pretty easy to navigate once you get started. You'll want to nix the volume though. Trust me on this one.

(By the way, I'm sure I don't need to tell you that I didn't shoot that gorgeous photo above—it's from the California Strawberry Commission, and I'm receiving an Amazon gift card from Mom Central for blogging about California strawberries. Since I seem to be doing more of things than I used to, let me set a few things straight: I don't agree to review every product offered to me, and I would never in a bazillion years post anything but my true opinions here on my blog. If I don't like or support a product, I might decline to blog about it, but my posted reviews—be they positive or negative—are always 100% honest. And I will always let you know when I'm being compensated for a review.)

I Got Yer Stimulus Right Here

My economic stimulus check came today! And you know what I'm going to do with it? Put it in savings, just to piss off Dubya. Yup, all $86.05 of it. You just watch me.

(idea via Tonya)

Losing It

Wow, I really feel like a chicken with my head cut off these days. In general I'm a true efficiency expert and a genius at multitasking, but lately I feel as though I'm barely holding it all together.

Work is taking up an unusually large chunk of my time for two reasons:
(1) I've been going into town once a week to work with Andy's bookkeeper, trying to soak up as much as I possibly can before she retires at the end of the month and I take over. I'm catching on, little by little, but it's an enormous undertaking. Normally I'd be spending a little time every day familiarizing myself with everything, but I just so happen to be swamped with editorial work, which is a rarity, since I've never had this much freelance stuff going on at once. So, speaking of which:
(2) Those two cookbook manuscripts are turning out to be a huge amount of work, and they're on overlapping, accelerated schedules. I truly love the work, but for the first time ever, I'm starting to worry a little about meeting my deadlines. I did manage to send off the first of the two manuscripts last week, and I'm working on the second one, but there's a lot to do. I keep reminding myself that in another couple of weeks, the kids will all be in camp and I'll be able to work full-time for 3½ weeks. I think I'll be able to make up any lost time then, but I hate to leave it all till then.

In the meantime, Andy was off last week, and I didn't want to miss out on all the fun family stuff, so I did trade off some work time for beach et al. Tomorrow night Andy and I were planning to take Steph to the Sox, but I'm going to send Pete in my place so I can get a few hours' more work done ... because next week is our vacation at the Cape! We haven't gone in two years, and although I will definitely have to do some work down there, I surely don't intend to miss out on all the relaxation and enjoyment.

So at some point this week, in between having the kids underfoot full-time, I have to find time to pack up the whole family for a week away. And, as if that weren't enough, I also have to get Steph ready for sleepaway camp, because we get home on a Saturday and she leaves the following Monday! There's plenty of shopping, washing, labeling, and packing to be done between now and then.

Everything is falling by the wayside. I've done precious little cooking or baking these last few weeks, the house is a pigsty, and I've neglected to do all the little things like returning the overdue library books and making my annual doctors' appointments.

And you, my wonderful and loyal blog readers, I've neglected you as well! I still haven't missed a day of blogging, but I've felt pretty sheepish about some of my lame posts recently. I maintain an ever-growing list of ideas for things I hope to post about "one of these days," so I hope you will bear with me and stick around until I'm over this hump in the road and back to normal. Whatever that is....

Wisdom Beyond Her Years

Today at Polly's Pancake Parlor, Julie announced (in between bites of pancakes and bacon), "Everything is always the same here. And that's a good thing."

Bear Right

It's only 8:55, but we've decided we're all too tired to go watch the fireworks—indeed, Pete and Julie are already sound asleep! Apparently everyone's exhausted from all the excitement this afternoon, when a black bear crossed the road right in front of the car as Andy drove the kids home from swimming at the lake! He said the bear stopped and looked at them, even approached the car briefly, and then continued on. They watched him for a good 5 minutes or so before he lumbered out of view. Me? I was back at the house working on my manuscript. Damn.

In other news, I wrote an entire post about Jesse Helms but then deleted it—I don't need those kind of crazies stalking me. But I've had Loudon Wainwright's song "Jesse Don't Like It " in my head all day:

If Jesse don't like it, then it's probably not art
Jesse knows what's good, ol' Jesse is smart
And if you don't like that, don't feel sad
'Cause the art that you like is probably bad....

And I know about art, but I've got to take a hike
If I like something that Jesse don't like.
If Jesse don't like it, it don't stay;
Get it out of the museum, get it out of there today....

If Jesse thinks it's dirty, it don't get any funds
They use that taxpayer's money on tobacco and guns.
Your freedom of expression is being denied;
But if you're not sure what you like, then just let Jesse decide

As Corny As Kansas in August*

I know these annual July 4 posts all sound the same, but that's the beauty of family traditions. As usual, we are up in the White Mountains with Andy's parents. This morning Andy and I took the kids canoeing at Echo Lake. I wish I could show you a photo, but I was afraid to bring my camera lest it get wet. At Echo Lake I always feel as though I'm in a Winslow Homer painting, or on an L. L. Bean catalog cover. (You can see a 1905 photo here.) It was as idyllic as I can imagine any setting: a pristine lake nestled among the mountains on a sunny, breezy day. I thought about what a romantic outing it would have been—if Andy and I had even been in the same boat, that is. Sigh.

Then it was time for the "big" parade down Main Street of Franconia, with all the neighboring towns' fire trucks and local floats from the various town clubs and organizations, and everyone throwing candy to the kids. Now Andy's back at the lake swimming with the kids, and I need to get some work done. Really. Tonight there will be fireworks right here in town for the first time ever, so we might try to catch that.

*This line from "A Wonderful Guy" is particularly apropos because last night we re-watched the DVD from Steph's fifth-grade production of "South Pacific." It's a great show—I always forget how many memorable songs come from it.

Friday Fill-Ins

1. Holidays in the summer are when we head up to the White Mountains.

2. Bone-in rib-eyes are my favorite things to grill.

3. My thoughts are usually all over the place at once.

4. Trying to relax without freaking out about not getting any work done is what I'm most looking forward to this weekend!

5. My favorite book so far this summer is Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo.

6. Getting a chance to go back to sleep is the best way to begin a day.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to dinner at the Dairy Bar, tomorrow my plans include the parade, and Sunday, I want to eat breakfast at Polly's Pancake Parlor.

Friday iPod Random Ten

1. Single Girl, Married Girl - Levon Helm
2. Can't Get Used To Losing You - English Beat
3. Are You Tired Of Me Darling - Nanci Griffith
4. The Scaffolder's Wife - Mark Knopfler
5. Sadie - Doc & Merle Watson
6. Messed Around (live) - Squeeze
7. Diamond In The Rough - Shawn Colvin
8. Memories Of East Texas - Michelle Shocked   
9. South Texas Girl - Lyle Lovett & His Large Band
10. Ring Of Fire - Elvis Costello  

Good Harbor, Part Deux

One of the crosses I must bear in this life is to always forget to bring something important to the beach. Like my book on Tuesday? Or the towels last summer? Today I remembered book and towels but forgot camera! D'oh! And don't start telling me to make a list. I am the queen of lists. I was making lists before you knew the word list. But when it comes to following my lists, I always manage to outsmart myself. I see the word book, I pick up my book, and I march toward the beach bag. But halfway to the bag, I get distracted. I see my teacup with one last lukewarm swallow at the bottom, I notice that Julie doesn't have a ponytail yet, I remind myself to grab a handful of napkins. And the book? Gets left on the table. But today I did manage to put my book in the bag. I knew that all the important stuff was still in the bag from Tuesday, so I didn't stop to recall that I'd taken the camera out in order to upload the photos—and then left it next to the computer. So don't tell me about lists.

Meanwhile, someone please 'splain me this one: How come on Tuesday the water was cold but swimmable and the tide was way out by 2pm, but on Thursday the water was positively icy and the tide was still pretty high at 2pm? Same beach, same week. But the sun was out all day and we heard not one rumble of thunder all day, so that's a good thing. And we saw a crazy stunt plane doing scary dives and twirls over Route 128 on the way home. It was around Woburn Danvers at about 4pm—anyone know what that was all about?

No Swimming Today

Poor Julie, all she wanted to do today was go to the pool for a swim. It started off as a bright sunny day, but every time we'd head out to the car—or even arrive at the pool—there would be a rumble of thunder and they'd close the pool for 30 minutes. One of those rumbles turned into yet another brief but intense storm—complete with hail!—the likes of which we hadn't seen since, um, how about every single flipping day for the last month?! Honestly, I can't recall ever having this many short, violent thunderstorms all in a row. We've had leaks in our house in places we've never seen water.

Early in the day, we lost what would turn out to be the only solidly sunny hour when Julie refused to put on one of Pete's swim shirts to cover her sunburnt shoulders from yesterday. She cried, oh how she cried! I said she could wear a regular T-shirt, but she didn't want to do that either. Back and forth we argued. I reminded her that Pete always wears a swim shirt and that plenty of other kids, girls included, like them. But she would be not be swayed. Then Pete came home from a playdate and within seconds he'd convinced her to wear one of his swim shirts. Miracle Big Brother! Then it started to rain again. Sigh.

Wiki Wednesday

Time to learn something!

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

Just yesterday as we were driving home from Gloucester, I asked Andy the exact location of Peabody, MA (I'd thought it was north of where it is actually is); today this came up:

Peabody is a surname, and may refer to:

• Amelia Peabody, a fictional character in a series of Victorian mystery novels by Elizabeth Peters
• Elizabeth Peabody (1804–1894), a United States educator
• Endicott Peabody (1920–1997), a United States politician, Governor of Massachusetts
• Francis Greenwood Peabody (1847-1936), minister and Harvard professor [1]
• Francis Stuyvesant Peabody (1858—1922), businessman, founder of Peabody Energy as Peabody Coal in 1883
• George Peabody (1795–1869), a U.S. entrepreneur, London-based banker and philanthropist who founded the Peabody Institute, Museums, and Trust
• George Foster Peabody (1852–1938), a Southern U.S. banker and philanthropist for whom the Peabody Award is named
• Helena Peabody , an L Word Season 3, 4 character
• James Hamilton Peabody, a former governor of the U.S. state of Colorado
• Michael Douglas Peabody (born 1974), author and attorney
• Professor Peabody (Jocelyn Mabel Peabody), major female character in the Dan Dare comic series
• Sophia Peabody (1809–1871), a United States painter and illustrator.
• Terry Peabody, American-Australian businessman

The town was named after George, sixth on the above list. But what about Mr. Peabody?

Wednesday Two-Fer

1. This is a lovely little commercial (for a state lottery, of all things). I briefly fretted about whether the birds minded, but one look at the little penguin flapping its wings, and I decided they loved it. (via Tonya)

2. From MusicFansDirect comes a free, legal download of John Prine doing "Speed of the Sound of Loneliness" at the Warner Theatre in Washington, DC, last summer. Right at the end, as the applause is starting, he says, "For Nanci Griffith."