I probably seem a little weather obsessed…but when you live in a region where the elements can so easily kill you (extreme heat/humidity alternating with freezing cold, tornadoes, blizzards, etc.) or at least make you exceedingly uncomfortable, it’s something that comes to mind frequently. So I’ve mentioned that we’ve been having another unusually mild winter, which, lack of sledding snow aside, was pretty much ok by me. Just a few days ago records were breaking left and right with temps reaching a springish mid-50s. But oh how quickly things change here. It is freaking freezing out! Literally, of course. 12 degrees Fahrenheit with a harsh, biting wind. Which I just experienced a little too closely. I set out to meet a friend for lunch but didn’t know whether I’d make it. Initially I decided against the skyway because:

a: it’s crammed with people (smartly seeking protection from the elements);
b: the route winds and bends and loops around in a most annoying manner.

Walking down the Nicollet Mall is far more straightforward. But I wasn’t prepared for how, umm, bracing it would be. I’d neglected to grab my hat…an item that has gone unneeded since last winter. At least I remembered my scarf. But walking against the wind it felt like my forehead was being smacked repeatedly…by a slab of cold steel. A headache instantly blossomed and I felt increasingly queasy as I forged ahead. Eventually I reached my first destination, but was scurrying, then all out sprinting at the home stretch. Was able to warm up in the lobby of the library a bit before we continued on to our lunch spot, but it took a while for my appetite to catch up with me. It was a little better when we set out in a different direction, with the wind at our backs. And once settled in at the restaurant both the company and the food were excellent. It’d been some time since I’d been to Pizza Luce. They’ve done a little remodeling, which is looking good. But they’ve also rudely discontinued their weekend brunch. No more vegan breakfast delights, like the banana-pecan waffle. Or vegandaise. Oh the vegandaise. Will have to make it myself one of these days. It’s not for everyone (like J, who thinks it’s gross), but the little man and I sure liked it. Especially the bed of crispy hasbrowns. On top of which was seated a tower of salty savoriness. The base was an english muffin. Followed by a mock sausage patty. Then a chunk of tofu (which some of us dubbed the tofu nipple). All sprinkled over with fresh spinach and tomato chunks, then doused with a vegan hollandaise sauce. Sigh. Guess I’m a little food obsessed too. Oh well.

Describes me well, but also my recent submission to the lovely Lalaland. Took that photo late the other night…when I was in insomniac queen mode. It’s of my Pontiki. Which came to me as a holiday gift from one of the grrrls. It happens to be Japan’s answer to Mr. Potato Head. And despite (or maybe because of) Pontiki’s diminuitive stature, I find it to be a much more appealing option. Except that the little man has already lost two of Pontiki’s little leglike attachments. Oops. In other news, I’ve long been lamenting the lack of snow this winter. So last night I took the monkey to the Children’s Museum, to play in the snow exhibit. Sort of sad, really. In the dead of Minnesota winter we were playing indoors, with *fake* snow. But still. A good time was had by all. And lo and behold, there was snow outdoors this morning when we woke up. J blames me. But really, there isn’t *that* much of it. Certainly not enough for sledding anyhow.

Every now and then the BBC helps break up my day…often while I’m eating lunch at my desk (sad, I know). But they’ve got a decent Buffy site. As well as many programs and news articles of interest. Just the other day J pointed out a dramatisation done by BBC Radio…of the trilogy we recently read, ” His Dark Materials“. Haven’t had a chance to listen to the first installment yet, but I should like to soon. Another thing just sent to me…an article about “the French entrepreneur behind Mecca Cola, a new soft drink designed to cash in on anti-American sentiment around the world”. But unlike the Coca-Cola juggernaut, Mecca donates a good portion of its profits. 10% to charities operating in the Palestinian territories and 10% to European NGOs.
“When asked how the company ensures that the money it provides to Palestinians does not get channelled into terrorist activities Mr Mathlouthi says the aid is never given directly as cash.
‘We give help by providing clothes and goods, or by paying the costs of the construction of schools there,’ he said.
‘If we give money we give it to Unicef,’ the United Nations Children’s Fund, he added.
The other 10% is passed on to NGOs based in Europe who are working to promote peace around the world, he said.”
Too bad Mecca itself is another caffeinated cola product. Personally I plan to break my coffee habit. Again. Some day.

The emissaries from my office who were sent to this year’s Macworld have just returned. Haven’t gotten a chance yet to get their reactions to the big announcements. I’m most intrigued by Apple’s new browser, Safari. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to play with it yet, as it’s only available for Jaguar and I’m stuck with OS 9.2. But I’ve heard much ado about it from others. Folks are discussing it all over the place. The good news, it’s a bajillion times faster than IE for Mac, and Chimera too. But, naturally, it’s a bit buggy. But enthusiastic developers are already embracing it. And reporting bugs back to Apple, as well as coming up with fixes and workarounds of their own. The day of the announcement Daniel even hacked together a little tool to move Chimera bookmarks into Safari. And I’m sure there will be much more to come.

Started this new year sick sick sick. I’m finally on the mend. Despite the fact that I’ve been sleeping less and working more than usual, which is a bit backwards. Last night was my bad, though. Had been waiting with bated breath for the all-new Buffy episode. Only to find that it was being pre-empted by a freaking basketball game. What the huh? So instead of taping it and toddling off to bed, as I should have, I managed to stay up and watch it. In its entirety and glory (UPN glitches and low-production values aside). And then was too keyed up afterwards to get to sleep right away. Finally drifted off after two. And woke up just after six. Bah. But that wasn’t necessarily my point. I’m back. And I’ve got more in the works. Soon. Very soon. I swear.

Didn’t spend as much time with the comfy chair as I would have liked. Instead I puttered around the house, trying to take care of the little things. Made a little dinner. Handed the phone bill over to J. Safely stowed the overdue library books in my bag (now I just have to make the trek down to the library). Noticed that the trash hadn’t actually been picked up (delayed with the holiday and all) and managed to get some more out there before the truck rumbled on down our street this morning. Got our clothes laid out for the morning (so I could sleepwalk through getting ready this morning, which I did). Recharged my camera batteries. After the little man went to bed (earlyish, because he was a bit cranky) I fully intended to pack our lunches, then fall asleep reading “The Hobbit“. But wound up staying up too late instead. Playing around with my camera, experimenting with low light. The results can be seen here.

I used to possess the ability to multi-task. I swear. More effectively than I do now, at least. These days I frequently find myself creating lengthy to do lists. Then promptly losing the lists. Or remembering things I need to do at inconvenient times and/or in inconvenient places. Just as I arrived to the office this morning I was hit by a wave of clarity. I instantly realized I’d neglected to grab my overdue library books (the library is near my office). And that I had managed to roll the garbage bin to the curb, which is amazing in and of itself, but had forgotten entirely about the pile of junk. In the backyard. Behind the fence gate. That I really really want to disappear. And I’m sure that I’ll realize a thing or two that I neglected to take care of at work today, just as I’m curling up in the comfy chair at home. Oh well. I’m off. In more ways than one.

Just grabbed the photos off my camera from New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. Should have taken more…but I’ve been a little lethargic. Still recovering from the stomach flu. Feeling a little dizzy (more so than usual) and tired. Had been skipping the coffee, which did and didn’t help matters, I’m sure. So yesterday we lounged a bit before heading over to the little man’s Dad’s house (try saying that five times fast), where we were treated to brunch. Yummy waffles (that I was able to keep down) and fruit and stuff. The little man was overjoyed to see the grapes. Every five seconds I had to remind him to slow down…and chew the ones already in his mouth before stuffing more in. Then rather than socializing he scampered over to his toys. He has a fixation with the duplo set over there. In particular with the doors/windows of the duplo set. This fixation hasn’t diminished over time, and I have yet to figure it out. Hopefully he’ll remember it when he’s a little older…and be able to tell us what was up with that. Only time will tell. No resolutions to speak of, btw. Beyond getting a new, or at least functioning, oven some time soon in this new year. I realize I should be thinking of the big picture…but right now I’m busy with living the day to day. Any ideas I come up with are grandiose and unrealistic anyhow. So today I’m impressed that I managed to get us cleaned up, clothed, fed and to school and work with lunches packed (it’s our first day back in our usual routine, post-holiday break). I can’t take all the credit though. J was helpful this morning and the little man fairly cooperative. But I’m definitely looking forward to being reunited with my jammies and comfy chair this evening. And the little man, of course. Soon. Very soon.

We had a lovely fairly low-key evening with friends, though with an unexpected highlight or two. First of all, we were visiting early on with a dear old friend of mine. She’s finishing up law school on the other side of the country, so we rarely see her. It’s been a full year since the last visit…it was New Year’s Eve 2001. How odd. Anyhow, she was lucky enough to experience/witness the little man’s full range of emotions. We were hanging out in the kitchen, finishing up the bbq tofu and such. The timer went off and I tried to open the oven door. We’ve been having trouble with it lately. I beckoned to J, who has been able to use much more brute strength than I could ever muster. So much so, in fact, that the oven door popped right off. So my lucky friend was given the arduous task of restraining the little man, for safety’s sake, while we tried to remedy the situation. J somehow managed to wrestle it back into place, but by that time the monkey was a sad little mess. And to make matters worse, my friend unknowingly sat down on his dining room chair, which sent him into new heights of hysteria. It took me a while to figure out what the problem was, but eventually he began clearly wailing “my chair!” and soon after I managed to calm him down somewhat. And when more friends showed up with Dance Dance Revolution the little man’s mood did a quick 180. We set the game to one player so the little man was able to bop around on the unused sensor pad, dancing right alongside whoever was taking a turn. And that was often person of his choosing. He was in heaven. And getting downright bossy, telling certain people to “come back, your turn” while emphatically pointing at the pad. It was all good. But he wore himself out in a hurry. The rest of us just barely managed to stay awake until midnight, but we did it. Yeah.