Happy Halloween Part 2

A few pics of the pup, all dressed up and ready for trick-or-treaters.
We just found out tonight that it is a tradition in STL that the kids tell a joke in exchange for candy. So cute. My favorite joke of the night came from a neighbor's little daughter, who was dressed in a full body bunny costume.

Q: What's invisible and smells like carrots?
A: Bunny farts.

Happy Halloween!

Aesop Rock and John Darnielle from the Mountain Goats get all Zombi-fied! How seasonally appropriate!

box of rocks

I just spent an entire day reorganizing a spreadsheet of data so I could more easily analyze it. Only to realize that I'd done it the looooooong and wroooong way, and i just accidentally recreated it in about 45 minutes, while trying to do something else.
WHY?! why am i so dense?

Oh, Excel. I hate you and you wily ways.

On the upside, while working in my local coffee shop I observed/overheard the following:

-3 middle-aged hippies recounting that one time when their friend who had never touched drugs went to Mexico and took peyote.
-a Teach for America fellow getting a pep talk from an administrator
-3 high school kids with a guitar and a pack of menthols

and......AND!
-a transvestite in a red, floor length, fake fur cape with a matching red & white fur crown!

acclimating

This past weekend I was down at SLU's research station, and it was fallish looking, but warm enough for a tank top.



Now it's in the 40s outside and I'm all chilly. Apparently it's 67 in our house right now, but I'll tell you what--it feels like its 40 degrees inside as well. In the wintertime we try to keep our thermostat set to around 58 degrees. In Maine, the thermostat battles began in early Sept., but it has been unseasonably warm in STL this fall, so I haven't had to think about the thermostat yet. That is, until right now.

Why do you care, you might ask? Because I'm taking the higher ground and instead of cranking the heat, I just donned some wool. And I'm making tea. And putting on warm socks. Give me some credit for doing my part against this whole global warming bit.

at the university library

2 frat boys
2 white hats
2 laptops
2 cell phones
2 large binders
1 box Crayola crayons (64 ct.)

open letter

Dear Fellow Commuters,

Why are you so cranky today? Is it the wind? Did we all sleep too little last night (Thursday is the new Friday!)? What is it about me, and my small turquoise moped that is bothering you so much?

Mr. School Bus Driver your vehicle is so very large, and mine so very small. Why are you honking at me?! Don't you work with children? Chill out.

Lady in blue Cavalier-- our vehicles are nearly the same color. Can't you cut me some slack? Let me over into your lane so the people behind me can turn.

MetroBus 70 Driver, what's with the bus drivers today? It's cute, this game of cat and mouse we're playing. But honestly, can't we come to an agreement? I don't want to suck your fumes. You don't want to putz behind me. Let me get a little bit ahead and it will all be ok.

-Me

office visit

I brought Moxie to school this afternoon and she is a HIT. She was wiggly and cuddly without getting all freaky-hyper or going into ankle-biter mode.
She's all worn out and sleeping in the carrier at my feet, door open.

She did pee on someone, but that was the first person that held her after:
-a car ride
-in a strange carrier
-then carried in the carrier
-through busy traffic
-past a bus
-past a semi
-past a loading ramp on the back of a truck being lifted back up
-past a dolly of rattling water bottles
-onto a strange sidewalk where i kept coaxing her to pee (she didn't)
-into a building where jackhammers are being used in the basement
-into a stairwell that echoes
-with a bunch of girls in it
-who proceeded to squeal
-the squealing echoed....

Then someone wanted to hold her.
I'd have peed too.

taking time to stop

Instead of scooting off the moment I finished volunteering at MoBot today, I actually wandered around for a bit and took in the green.

excuse

This is why i can't get any work done lately. How can i work with this going on next to me?@

on a recent trip to REI

Me: [staring at wall of dog accessories]
Salesman: Hi! Is there something I can help you find?
Me: [turning toward him] Yeah, i'm looking for one of those dog water bottles --
Salesman: [looking immediately uncomfortable] Oh, uh....no. no we don't have those.
Me: Really? Its like a water bottle with a bowl attached?
Salesman: [turning away and staring at the wall]. No, sorry, nothing like that.

As he backed way around the corner I happened to look down and noticed that my shirt had popped a button and shifted sideways so that my boob (clad in bra!) was peeking through the gap.

calling fall

Lately my weekdays are so busy I end up eating an inordinate amount of potstickers and Boca burgers. Finally the weekend comes and we have the time to make brunch and sit around drinking too much coffee. Today our friend Amanda came over, OJ in hand, for omelets and mimosas. Despite my post of last week regarding the arrival of fall, its been hot as blazes around here, and I have been dreaming of crisp days and cool nights. It seemed like a good time to break out the fall recipes.

We had 6 small plums that needed to be used. We could have eaten them plain, but really, when is it not a good idea to batter something and deep fry it instead?! Behold, the Plum Fritters. Rolled in a little cinnamon and sugar, they were just delicious.


They turned out so splendidly that it inspired me to cook something fallish for dinner as well.

The recipe for this pork came from the Cook's Illustrated Best Recipes cookbook that our friends Katherine and Alex gave to us. They are great cooks and great friends and I think of them every time I cook something from that book. They live up in Maine, a place where fall is real.

my name is... my name is...

Once and a while its good to take a brake from Firefox. I get all giddy about how it will remember my passwords and i can put del.icio.us in my toolbar, and also i can open multiple tabs, which for some reason i can't do on my laptop's Safari. But then, today, i sat down at our desktop computer for a change, our trusty old G4, only to realize that i cannot access anything beyond my email because i can't remeber any of my user names or passwords. Library at school? Bank account? Credit card? Blogger account? nada.... oops. I had Firefox remember them all to save me three seconds of time, which effectively wiped them from MY memory and now I can't live without Firefox. I'm catching on to their game....
For the rest of the weekend i'm only going to use Safari to try to dredge my login information from the deep recesses of my brain.

And, just for kicks, here's a puppy video, b/c I just can't get enough....

cuteness update

Things are crazy, with school work and new puppy distractions!
I only have time for a few quick pics.
Here's Moxie, isn't she the cutest thing that you ever have seen?!
My hubby is pretty cute too, and together they are an explosion of cuteness.