Gimme Indie Rock!

Ugh. March is killing me with the dreariness. Snow?! I just want a week of sunshine and 40-50 degree weather. Is that too much to ask?

A metaphorical beam of sunshine in my life is Night Falls over Kortedala, an album by Jens Lekman that is just superb. My latest acquisition in Mission: Listen to Music by More ATP Artists. I'm so pleased that I like this album so much, especially after finding out that I really don't care for Animal Collective. Now it will be easier to figure out which stages I'll absolutely need to stake out for good spots!

When it gets nice out (which I assume the way things are going will be June), I'd like to start letterboxing or geocaching. Treasure Hunt!

The New Kids on the Block are rumored to be getting back together. Hee. There is no way Joey MacIntire can sing Didn't I Blow Your Mind This Time now that he has testosterone.

So, you know you had a good weekend when your voice is almost gone for two days because you talked too freakin' much all weekend. Good times, people, good times.

I've been meaning to post this link for a while but keep forgetting. Now I am remembering! Fantasy Congress! I haven't actually done anything on the site yet, but it looks like fun.

Also, did someone leave a white winter hat at our place a couple of weekends ago?

A pretty damn good way to spend a Sunday:

Wake up, read internets for a bit
Shovel sidewalk, driveway, stairs
Brunch of bacon-wrapped-steak, eggs, toast, coffee
Watch Reno 911: Miami
Shovel out snow around car before it ices over, turns out to be surprisingly less work than anticipated
Hot shower with new Lush products (am now hopelessly addicted to expensive soap products)

Yeah, I'm pretty pleased. Even with all that shoveling and the knowledge that there will be more later.

What a satisfying weekend experience. Friday night had people over for Rock Band, which was freakin' awesome, as usual. Saturday we spent the day shopping for presents, which was full of the hassle you'd expect from shopping a few weeks before Christmas, but it was pretty successful. We ended our shopping trip with a stop at Omaha Steaks. Obtained delicious steaks and set ourselves up with a tasty steak dinner of wilted spinach, steak, and roasted potatoes. Those steaks are totally worth the price.

I actually have recipes for another delicious steak dinner that we had last week, I'll be posting that and some cookie recipes over at jennie_cooks.

Today: errands, cookies and Christmas cartoons at tenillypo's, and now to wind down with the new issue of the Buffy comic.

I have been assigned my first "alumni in admissions" interview for Bates. Hee. I am an adult.

Last night we went to my kung-fu school's Thanksgiving potluck, and it was tons of fun. Yay for socializing. Swung by Redbones to say a brief hello to the folks gathered there, and then made it home just in time for the best part of every Thursday night. That would be Supernatural. Which was super, super good last night.

So, the davis_square community has finally paid off from its huge, insane, annoyance by containing a post this morning about free cupcakes at Lyndell's on Dec. 3. Free delicious cupcakes!

Off to an all day cataloging conference in Worcester this morning. Woo.

You know what feels kind of silly? Making more than one phone call to inquire about stores' stocks of fresh turkeys. I want fresh, not frozen! Un-brined so I can brine it myself! Wait- as I wrote this, I succeeded in finding one! Sweet. Poultry is good.

I am way more excited than I should be, as a sane person, for the season premiere of Supernatural tonight. Also- Gossip Girl mildly caught my interest last night, enough for me to keep it on probation for one more week, but it's still not nearly as charming as I'd hoped it would be. Dirty Sexy Money last night was not as entertaining as the pilot, but it was still much more awesome than I had anticipated this series would be. Also very excited for 30 Rock and the Office tonight! I watch too much tv!

In non-tv news, kung-fu continues to rock, as last night I attempted spinning reverse fan kicks.

I need advice, oh adulty people of the internet!

I suck at networking. I should get better at it, or at least feel like a networking event isn't a horrible event to be slogged through. Last night I had a "welcome back party" to attend for the Boston Law Librarians group, and I start events like this feeling so uncomfortable. Once I have a few people to talk to, it's not too bad, but the process of honing in on a group and joining in is so daunting. Part of the issue is that about 80-90% of the people in this law librarian group are 1)at least 20 years older than me, and 2)most of them have known each other for a really long time, and 3)we are all librarians, so I don't think I'm the only one who feels uncomfortable getting chatty-chatty with complete strangers (which is probably why the people who know each other stick to their small groups of known entities).

There are usually a few other young 'uns hanging about, but we usually stick close to our respective bosses. Which I don't mind doing when my boss is there, since he knows a lot of people in the group and it eases me into conversations. But last night I was winging it on my own, and I imagine that'll happen more often as I become more adulty.

The weird thing is that I really don't identify as "shy," and I think I'm pretty strongly extroverted, but I clam up and can't think of a thing to say as a good opening line. Or my opening line is fine, but convo doesn't sustain after that.

So, any tips? How do you deal with this "networking" thing?

Happy Rosh Hashanah to those of you celebrating it! My work is awesome and is closed today.

Today I have: Jogged, gotten the oil changed in the car, been informed that our front tires suck and we need new ones, lifted some weights, returned library books/picked up book club book from library, ordered new car tires to replace said sucky ones, and not resisted temptation at Costco totally purchased season of Supernatureal... but it was such a good deal!. Now I am going to sit down and read! What a great day.

Good grief. Who needs a beer?

It smells like bacon in my building, and right now there is nothing I want more than a BLT. While I could walk down the street and get one, I'm being a good doobie and eating my homemade cooking light chili. No bacon for me.

So, another thing that I kinda want is to maybe go to King Richard's Fair. I've never been to a ren fair (fayre?) before, and it sounds rather amusing. Would anyone else be interested in the nerd fest?

I used to enjoy doing my taxes because I was poor enough and paying back enough student loans to get a sizable sum back. Now we are in just the right tax bracket to get screwed. Not even screwed by the feds, who will give us a tiny morsel back, but screwed by Taxachusetts, who just spent god knows how much public fundage today chasing through the city of Boston removing the menace of Aqua Teen Hunger Force advertising. Da Moon Rulez #1!

Bah. Massachusetts just dimmed my love of paperwork and filling in boxes on worksheets, those bastards.

I am a big sucker and finally gave $25 to the Bates Fund. But their plaintive appeals for us to help make Bates better than Bowdoin and Colby in alumni giving wore me down.

Off to my old firm for a training in a bit, which will be weird. Also good, as I will taunt them all with all the free ice cream I now get and the fact that I don't ever have to work Saturdays again.

To ease your bored minds, I give you: Nosheteria, a fantastic food blog (via Metafilter).

So I had a pleasant physical at the doctor yesterday. Pleasant because I found I weigh less than I thought I did, though I've gained 6 pounds in the past year and a half... but I've been lifting many more weights, so that's all muscle, right? Yes, yes, pure muscle. *note to self: no replenishing the cupcake supply now that it has disappeared into your belly*

So, how are you?

Hey kids, cosmicserpent has some wedding pics up on his LJ, and komos has one up, if you're interested in seeing a record of the shindig.

As a side note, Drew has managed to turn Sam's Pizza, a Lewiston, Maine chain of mediocre pizza and sub restuarants into the most hilarious thing I've ever heard. Even funnier than taking out the trash.

So yesterday I spent my day in a seminar at Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, where I was comforted by the knowledge that I already knew pretty much everything there is to know about doing legal research in MA. Tonight, there will be dinner, cleaning our place, and packing. I'm planning on taking a few hours off tomorrow morning before heading into work to finish packing/getting the bunnies set up for their sitters/getting keys to people who need 'em. But things are pretty much set, and soon we will be on our way to England for our canal cruise!! And pasties! I am obsessed with pasties.

This is why I can't live in the Pacific Northwest. My kingdom for some sunlight! We'll be lucky if the sun peeks out for 5 minutes this coming weekend. You know, Atlanta or somplace down south is starting to sound pretty good right about now.... Although they have scary poinsionous spiders... Because it's so gloomy here in Beantown, I give you

( A Jaunty Tune )

Yay, I just bought 2 tickets to Sleater-Kinney in June!! I believe I've seen them on every tour since Dig Me Out. Heck, I've even gone to New York to see them (still wishing I could actually remember that show). I'm trying to decide if I want to be totally extravagant and buy Spoon tickets (they play June 7), but I just got new shoes last night and bought 2 albums on iTunes yesterday, so I think my discretionary spending should go on hold. I still need wedding shoes, though I may just say screw it and wear black shoes under my dress. No one will really notice anyway. I saw a great pair of gold sandals at DSW, but they were Steve Madden shoes, and hence, a bit too rich for my blood.

The bunnies totally need this.

This morning my slightly OCD habit of checking the shower while my glasses are on for creepy-crawlies paid off- there was a nasty little critter sitting in there. I just hate the idea that there could be bugs in the shower with me that I could only fuzzily see because of my blindness. *shudder*

Today's song is Belly's "Stay." So pretty.

I have found myself slouching in my seat far too often at work lately, so I've stuck a little note on my computer that says "sit up straight!" I hope it works, as I'm too short to afford crappy posture.

So my class last night was awesome. It involved a sweet but slightly crazy Eygptian guy. He played a few of his cds (as in, cds of him singing). I'd never heard O Sol Mio sung in Japanese by and Eygptian, but now I have. It didn't actually involve us cooking, we just sort of stood around watching him, but it was fun. He made: rutabega stew, sauteed okra, fava bean salad, red lentil soup, and a dessert whose name escapes me. I felt bad for the vegetarians in the group, as he cooked some meat for the stew and kept stirring everything with the meat spoon. He also dumped chicken broth into one version of the stew and mixed up which was which, such that the vegetarians had a few unfortunate mouthfuls before realizing his mistake. I met a girl who's also getting married on June 4th, we chatted for a while. All in all, very fun, and I'll definitely take another class. I think to actually get to cook I'll have to try the Culinary Institute in Porter Square, but sitting and watching is nice, too.

Oh my god, people. Escalators: Walk Left, Stand Right.

What is so hard to understand about that?!

We got our itinerary for our cruise the other day. It's going to be so cool! *squee* They'll even do some grocery shopping for us and load stuff onto the boat before we get there. We could have a boat full of pasties if we want!! Mmm...pasites. I have a problem.

I've been having the weirdest food cravings lately, for thing that I never eat. Yesterday I wanted tator tots like nobody's business. Alas, I was foiled, and only had oven fries. I also really want sloppy joes, for no good reason whatsoever. It's probably because we don't eat much red meat or fat; I have a rule that we can only eat red meat once a week (and I try to weasel out of that whenever I can, much to c_m_i's dismay).

So I was attacked by the Old Guy again on Tuesday. He was complaining about the stove (which, by the way, is immaculate right now, so I know he hasn't seen inside our place since Feb. Why won't he leave us alone?!

Pardon me while I completely geek out for a moment: I've been appointed to the Law Librarian Recruitment Committee for the American Association of Law Librarians. I feel like such a grown-up now. This is sweet, as I've been interested in "career development" and "professional growth" lately. I'd love to know how people find the time to do stuff, though. Ideally, I'd like to be able to throw myself into some professional activitites and network or whatever it is that adulty librarians do. I'd like to have some personal growth stuff to do, like taking classes and volunteering to help homeless people (though I'm still a little burnt by the homeless people, maybe they'll be nicer to me when I don't get paid to help them). But I also really need just plain socializing time to hang out with people. All that, working 35 hours a week, hitting the gym after work to stay in some semblance of shape, and cooking dinner at home to be healthy. There is no time! I'm also back on my law school kick, though that will absolutely have to wait until a time when I work somewhere that will pay for my tuition.

Yesterday I heard the most beautiful radio transition ever: Mogwai into Built to Spill. Which made my day, it was just breathtaking how well the two songs worked together. It also comforts me to know that the kids these days are still actually listening to music I would be playing on my hypothetical radio show (I'm reading the WMFO email list now, and I promise, promise, promise that when they have sign ups for the summer I'm going to get on that train).

Thank god for Patriot's Day, this weekend came and smacked me upside the head. Having this day off is so nice.

Friday night and all day Saturday I volunteered for Beer Summit. Come inside the cut for ( ranty time )

So that was Beer Summit. I'm done pulling the Iron Man for that, though. I'll be happy to volunteer for a session or two (especially at Oktoberfest, since that involves tips), but I'm not sacrificing a weekend to it anymore.

Yesterday I had a lovely brunch with tenillypo, mrs_muffin, and aquarianna6.

Today I'm going to do groceries, clean the apartment, try to hire a maid, and hang out with the bunnies. Man, that "hire a maid" part sounds so bourgeois.

So, out at dinner last night (India Castle! I *heart* Indian food so much) with incandes_flower, tenillypo, aquarianna6, ms_ntropy and others, we got on the topic of baby names. Someone suggested Frankenstein for a boy's name, and it's still making me collapse into a helpless puddle of giggles. Should we have a son, I think we are compelled to give him that as a middle name. Hee. Frankenstein.

I have been pranked several times here at work this morning, and each time have fallen for it hard.

Our lease is signed!! I am still downright giddy, that was such a huge load lifted off my shoulders.

Watched the new Americanized "The Office" (with Steve Carrell) last night; it was absolutely hilarious.

So I think I'm going to take a cooking class at Cambridge Adult Ed. There's "The Complete Indian Dinner" on May 1 for $75, "Eygptian Cuisine" on May 9 (after work) for $58, or "Gastrowine Tour of France" on April 8 for $41.There are, of course, many more offerings, but I want something with a tiny time-committment and a low price tag. Anyone interested in joining me for some learnin'?

I'm also thinking that a good use of my gym time would be to re-learn French, and need to plan an excursion to the BPL for some language tapes. Or maybe iTunes has something I can put on my iPod...

Edit: I have decided that it will be the Eyptian class. I'm gonna register now (though it looks like their secure registration isn't so secure, so I wouldn't recommend putting your card information through the site).

So, we thought we'd be able to have folks over tomorrow night, but we still haven't set a meeting to sign the lease, so we are still unable to have people over for fear that any noise will bring down the wrath of the Old Guy. This totally sucks. I don't want to bug the younger guy again, since he told me he would call this week when he had some time, but I just want the saga to be over.

The good side of things is that I am rocking reference hard core today. I am a case-finding machine.

We got some St. Patrick's Day beers early last night at the Burren. It wasn't as terribly crowded as it ususally is, and that was good.

I am making Siracha bread. The dough kneading was very satisfying. One of my fondest childhood memories is of my dad baking breads on snow days. It's kind of funny just how much I love cooking- it must be the act of creating something with my hands. Since I can't really do many cute human things with these clumsy little hands, this is the best I can do.

So we think things went ok with the Old Guy last night, but we won't be 100% sure until we get a lease signed. He rambled for a while about his life, our cleanliness, and the rabbits. Apparantly back in the old country, he had a stable, which was overrun by bunnies. Hee. A stable full of bunnies. That must be the cutest thing in the entire world.

So, a brief run-down of how our weekend ( transpired. )

Oh. My. God.

I just arrived at work, to see that I have 7 phone messages. Every single one is from the Old Guy Upstairs, left at various times between noon and 8:00 yesterday, asking us to go upstairs to talk to him. Seven! My message clearly says my name, my job title, and my place of employment; after hearing that seven times, he still didn't get that he was calling my work? Not to mention that he lives UPSTAIRS, after a few tries, he couldn't just go downstairs and knock on the door??? Good grief. I'm guessing tonight is going to be an unpleasant night.

I am seriously starting to freak out about our landlord situation. I'm really worried that they're going to say we have to move in May, and we just don't have the financial flexibility to handle all the expenses of moving right now. Not to mention that glances at Craigslist reveal that the apartment market in the area is getting more expensive again, and there's nothing around Davis for under $1300/1350 a month. It's also the not knowing that's killing me, I really need the guy to call and let us know one way or the other very soon (I called on Tuesday, and he said he needed to talk to Old Guy about it, and would call back "in a few days"). It's all the more frustrating because I'm guessing the big problem is the bunnies, and we were so honest and up-front about them before moving in. In fact, we even had the realtor double check just to be absolutely sure they knew about the bunnies and didn't mind, because we wanted to avoid something like this happening. Not to mention that Old Guy has probably been sneaking into our apartment while we're not there, which is totally illegal and downright rude. And for the love of all that's holy, some food splatters on the stove do not mean that the stove is broken! Poor tenillypo had to listen to his insane ramblings about us this weekend when she went to feed the buns, and he was complaining that we had broken the stove. wtf? He was also angry that we had left our rent check for March a few days early and didn't tell him we were leaving town for a couple of days. *primal scream* There. I feel a little better getting that out of my system. Here's hoping we find out soon.

UPDATE
The younger landlord called, said it's a no-go. I blubbered and cried and cajoled, and he said he'd call his dad and talk to him and call me back. It's not looking good, folks. I doubt that all the tears in world can warm the old guy's cold, cold heart.

I am taking care of lots of business. Set up a haircut appointment for Sat., doctor appointments for the yearly check-up things, and am hounding the woman at the Hilton (who hasn't returned several phone calls I've made) about blocking off rooms. I blame Paris Hilton!

A question for you all: I need to make a dentist appointment, but have no idea how to find one. I've been told that my insurance will be good almost everywhere (Guardian). Anyone have a recommendation for me? Ideally, I'd like someone who's either in the Financial District/Downtown Crossing area or the Davis/Porter Square area.

Ah, I love enforcing. Zipcar levied a hefty late fee for Sat. night's rental, which I swear was returned exactly on time. Also, at 1 in the morning on a Saturday, no one was waiting around for it. While they didn't refund my money, they did give me the equivalent in driving credits, which saves me money next time I need a car. Also finally received my Thrifty gift certificates from their late-opening fiasco. I have about $75 in free driving coming my way. Which reminds me- ms_ntropy, did you do some enforcement on Enterprise yet?

Monday Drew made a gigantic heart out of various peanut butter cup varities for me. I seriously need to stick them in the freezer, I have a problem.

Hassles are all taken care of, work is going well, things are good. Last night I built the bunnies a castle (ok, I bought the pieces for making the castle, and just fit slots into holes). They are completely freaked out by it. It's also a little too small for Her Royal Gren-ness, and she moves the entire thing when she tries to hop in it.

Huh. This is a fantastic find- apparently, Somerville/Medford residents can audit classes at Tufts for $100. Here's the linky. I just may have to look into that... then maybe I'd feel more comfortable shoving my way into the radio station.

In other news, last night's "I Love the 90s" pre-empted our newfound addiction to Trivial Pursuit, but it was so worth it.

Urf. Woke up this morning and felt all dizzy and stuff, so I took my time getting in to work. I'm still kinda lightheaded. I just had a bagel and a pear, and have been guzzling down water, so maybe that'll help.

I'm all wooobly.

Grendel decided I had been home too long this morning, and started digging around in her litter, managing to distribute a huge pile of dirty litter onto her cage floor. Bad bunny!

We're back. Survived the blizzard that's currently raging outside- let me tell ya, it should not take 4 hours to get from Freeport, Maine to Somerville, MA. Had a good time up at my dad's, read most of The Red Tent, saw Spanglish, wherein Adam Sandler again proves that he really can act, and lazed about.

Now- mostly unpacked, tired, and going to be kicking back with some wine and some brainless tv. I am so not looking forward to getting up early tomorrow to drive the car back to the rental place in Harvard Square.

Man. I got my hopes up that we'd get out early, but it's past noon and I haven't heard any indication of that, so I guess I'm here until 4. Such high hopes. I'll just have to rush on home to change, then head out for drinkies. Sigh.

Well, I hope you all have lovely holiday-type weekends, and travel safe. We'll be heading up to the wilds of L-town tomorrow morning, possibly with a pit-stop in Freeport, depending on how the traffic and the crowds are. Note to self: charge iPod and get AAA batteries for iPod radio thingy.

I am such a wuss. I really would love to get back into doing radio. Tufts is right up the street from me, so convenient, and hey, I've even been trained there once upon a time. I'm just so very intimidated by the fact that it's been a few years since I've even been all that in touch with what the indie kids these days are listening to, and by the fact that I assume everyone else who does college radio is cooler than I am... though having said that, I have to remember certain stellar characters from Times Past who were definitely not so much with the cooler... *ahem* Neighborhood Psycho *ahem* I need to get off my ass and just suck up some courage to get back in the game. I can be cool... right?

What a productive night. I gave Drew his Christmas present, dyed my hair, and baked cookies. Nigella cookies. I think that my use of Splenda and fake butter might have tweaked them a little, but they are still The Tasty. Now I need to forget about them until Friday. Am also feeling much better now than I was last night.

Had a wedding-related stress freak-out tonight. I feel like a jerk. And I am sad.

It's that time... when the weather turns cold... and I switch jackets. Then I realize at the T that I left my subway pass and gym card in the pocket of the other jacket.

In other news, last night I took care of presents for dad, mom, and technically took care of Drew's grandparents and uncle (technically because he now has the money I wanted to spend on them and will combine that with his money for a super-gift). Now I just need to take care of spacedthekeys (who, incidentally, is really hard to shop for), Drew's parents, and Yankee Swap. And I'll be baking cookies and breads for folks to whom I will be giving the gift of food.

I am the Savings Queen! I just lowered our bill with RCN by about $60. Sweet.

Hrm. It's been a while, hasn't it? Thanksgiving was nice, went down to Maryland to see Drew's fam. There was pie. Pie is good. Spent time this weekend hanging about, eating and drinking with folks, and visiting The Tomb.

Now I have a question for any of you who may be handy (or who may have handy dads- tenillypo, I'm looking at you). I've gone and warped the bottom shelf of a cabinet pretty badly. I'm trying to figure out if there's a way to salvage it without having to replace it, but am not coming up with much. Any hints? My bright idea is that since I warped it by putting wet glasses on it, then if I get it all wet and put a big, heavy, flat thing on it, then it'll warp back into being straight, but that kind of sounds like it could spell disaster. Help?

Last night I gave our landlord the pumpkin pie I made on Sunday. He looked skeptical at first and asked if I made it myself; when I said "yes," he had a huge smile. Made me feel all warm & fuzzy to have made someone so happy with so little. I think maybe he's crochety because he's lonely.

So much to do tonight! Then we are off at 7AM. I'm glad we're doing Thanksgiving south this year, as that means we do Christmas north. I haven't seen snow on Christmas in 2 years.

Thanks to komos for keeping me company after work, that was so much better than staying late at work =)

My focus group was actually kind of fun, and I really did get paid money, the exact amount that was promised. Sweet. Very sweet.

We're crazy. We're considering getting another bunny... but little bunny faces are just so cute!

So I'm just gonna kill some time. There's no where around here at which I feel like spending time, though I'd love to head up to Davis and kill time there, I'd not have time to get back to MGH in time for Opinion Giving. It's dark outside. I'm so not used to being at work when it's dark. Oooh, I bet I can listen to internet radio now!

Hrmph. Am slightly grumpy, but this could be due to the extremely long schmooze fest lunch meeting today. Also due to schmooze fest, I've had nary a moment to myself all day. Free food is all fine and good, but now I'm sleepy.

I'm doing this focus group thing tonight, which also means I won't get home until 10, but it promises money. Though c_m_i has warned me that I probably won't get the $75 they advertised, which is the entire reason I'm doing the thing in the first place.

In a truly brilliant moment, I ran into my old boss' twin sister at the meeting (who I also knew from libe school), called her by the wrong name, then ran into my old boss herself. Also saw 2 other people from my legal research class there, which was kinda neat. Sheesh. We law librarians suck people in to the profession, but it really is the best kind of librianship out there. Seriouslah.

Am actually considering staying later at work tonight to kill some time before I head off to make my potential easy money... but if anyone in the financial district/gov. center/mgh area wants to grab a beer between 5:30 and 6:30 lemme know... though I'm a bit of a zombie at the moment, so I can't promise entertaining hijincks.

Well, the nagging headache I'd had since Black Tuesday has finally subsided. And hey, at least we know the Daily Show will have 4 more years of material. But seriously, I'm feeling less tumultuous and more resolved to get off my lazy ass and start working for change. This is a good thing.

For those in the Davis Square area- the place that just opened, Sauce, is quite good. Tasty wine.

Well, I'd been putting off saying anything about it because I'm still a little nervous about the sucking up of funds that this'll do (but that's what the extra Dec. paycheck is for!), but I can't contain myself any longer. We're going to this. *swoon* Slint-y goodness.

I voted. Yay! People were walking out of the polling place with big grins, that was nice to see. Since it was at a school, there were little ones running amock outside, and one girl was singing "vote for Bush." Made me remember that back in 3rd or 4th grade, when Bush Sr. won, for some reason all of us kids were really excited about that. Of course, had I the right to vote in 8th grade, I would have voted for Perot. Kids are kind of dumb.

My Craigslist karma has come full-circle, I knew that helping out that grad student would pay off. Next week I'll be making $75 just to sit around and give my opinion on the internets internet.

Last night UPS learned a lesson in hell hath no fury like a woman who doesn't get her 9 pound box of hay. So, once a month I order hay from the loverly folks at Oxbow, and write "leave on porch" in the shipping instructions, because UPS has some rule about not leaving packages for apartments (never mind that entire area of metro-Boston is apartments, so maybe they should have more than one run of deliveries after 5:00 if they want to stick to that rule). Usually, this is no problem, and my hay gets deposited on the porch. Once in a while a driver neglects to read the instructions, or just outright ignores them, and I don't my hay. When this happens after I've had the worst day of work ever, well, let's just say that the poor guy came back to our house and gave me the damn package last night. My heart goes out to the guy, but seriously, I don't write "leave on the porch" for shits & giggles, I write it because I want the package left on the porch.

In other news, I just exchanged some ILL emails with a librarian who was sitting 3 rows behind the infamous Bartman at last year's Cubs game.

Work is doing such a nice thing to celebrate the Sox, there's pizza, hot dogs, ice cream, tickets they're giving away.... I entered for the tickets, but am abstaining from the fat bombs of food, as last night Drew & I celebrated our anniversary a little early with a meal at Gargoyle's in Davis. It was super tasty, but I'm getting way too used to my own cooking, so anything cooked with more than a tablespoon of olive oil (or, god forbid, real butter and not Benecol) makes my tummy feel squidgy later. Mmmm, fancy-pants dinner.

For those of you who don't read read Drew's journal, here's a picture of our bunnies celebrating Sox pride:bunnies!

Hmmm, what else.... I talked Hollywood Express down to $20 from the $100 late fee. Fear my powers of persuasion!