Yesterday I skipped out on the scheduled flickr photowalk because the little man’s been sick, and it was raining (some others, far more intrepid than I, made it out there). But by afternoon we were feeling a little antsy. I managed to take the lad to the last childish selection in the M-SPIFF (excellent animated shorts). And then for a bit playtime, about an hour, at the Children’s Museum. We wound up having a lovely day but today, not so much. The little man woke up with a wretched cough and I slept poorly due to a severely sore throat and am now feeling quite sick. The little man was understandably crabby (and likely feeding off my own crankiness). Still got him to the bus stop on time, though, and pushed myself to work out with my personal trainer. And then, instead of heading back home to collapse into bed I swung by my office, though it was my day off, for a staff meeting. I’m afraid I was in zombie-girl mode for its duration.
Saturday was another story. I was thrilled to be in attendance when my lovely friend Monica, who I’ve known for nearly 20 years now, married the wonderful Wuy. It was a beautiful day, despite the crappy rainy weather. The ceremony had me giggling and crying at the same time. So many of us had a powerful connection to this couple and it just feels right that they should be together. I wasn’t alone in that sentiment. Most (if not all) of the wedding party had flown in with them from the Bay Area. Friends had driven from Indiana and Madison and who knows where else. One uncle had even flown in from Amsterdam that very morning. And Deedee had also come home for the wedding - Brooklyn represent! I wound up dancing the night away with her, and the amazing Emily - those girls can really bust a move! Sometimes I’d get so distracted watching them that I’d forget to dance. Doh.
Bonus: I feel like ass, but some good news just made me feel a little better. The Swedish/Lebanese film I missed last week, Zozo, is going to be shown again Friday night, as part of the Best of the Fest recap. Hopefully I’ll have recuperated by then.
Plus: Speaking of next weekend, it’s going to be another busy one. Our neighborhood’s Cinco de Mayo Fiesta will be going on Friday and Saturday. I’m hoping to lure our former favorite neighbors back to the ‘hood for the big parade. And Sunday will see the Heart of the Beast May Day celebration. I rarely miss that.
And: Today is the actual May Day, of course, and this year it’s a special one…a “Day Without Immigrants” actions are taking place all over the country. Locally there’s going to be a rally at Powderhorn Park, between 3pm-8pm. I’d planned to take the little man to it, but now I think I’m too freaking sick to go. Sometimes I do need to slow down, especially when my body forces the issue.
Wow. I am absolutely loving this…and I’ve spent a good chunk of the day playing around with WordPress, figuring out what goes where and how to tweak this and that. One thing, though. Categories. Whoa. I created two dozen of ‘em, ones that seemed to line up with the sort of topics I write about. But when I started to go through and actually categorize my posts, well, each one is such a hodge-podge. I can easily cover half a dozen different categories in one short post. I’d considered using categories just with the new posts (I’m certainly not going back through to categorize all 1200+ posts). But now I might just skip it altogether, as it would be too confusing and/or time-consuming. Guess that’s why I call this weapons of mass distraction.
In music news, having a functional turntable again is a great thing, but sort of freaking me out. Earlier the husband was playing some music in the computer room, as he usually does. I automatically assumed they were ogg files, on his ‘puter, and asked him who it was…because the band sounded eerily familiar. He wasn’t sure. I told him to just look already (meaning at his music player, XMMS). He turned around and gestured to the turntable. Turns out it was one of my old records, from junior high. Revenge, by the punk band TSOL. I still know all the words.
Also bringing me back to that era…tomorrow one of my best friends from high school is getting married (she is my opposite in many ways, a ridiculously organized over-achiever, but she is also vegan). But the wedding invitation was nowhere to be found. Since we moved our bedroom into the former computer room and vice versa there are even more papers strewn about. Thankfully I just relocated the invitation. I’d remembered where the big event was going down, but not when. Now we know. Phew. Anyhow, I am so excited for Monica and Wuy. They are such an awesome couple. But hello? All vegan wedding reception! That’s the icing on the cake. The vegan cake.
Bonus: Guess who else is sporting a new look? Waferbaby is dubbing it version 3.5, and I’m liking the blue.
Plus: Sunday will see another Minneapolis flickr photowalk (rain or shine, I guess). To mark the occasion Chuck has posted some fun video from our last one.
And: Turns out Andrew Bird is still recording in Minneapolis. Too bad I’m not out and about more, I might get a chance to spot him somewhere around town. But who knows? He’s so eccentric…and likely reclusive. If he does go out at all I could see him donning some strange disguise.
Almost since its inception, this blog has been behind the times. For the last 4+ years it has been a static thing, with the same design, and each entry handcoded in pico. I joked that my site was retro. But not now. No, now it has all the bells and whistles. Searchable archives! RSS feeds! Comments! Permalinks! Comments with Permalinks! Pardon my enthusiasm, but it’s been a long time coming. Welcome me to the future (better late than never). Thank you, dear husband, for your help (again, better late than never).
Though I’m no stranger to blogging software. Initially we were going to use blosxom for this site, but the husband went with WordPress. And I’ve contributed to two collaborative blogs, one that uses blogger, another that uses Movable Type. And hey, I even have a livejournal account, mostly so that I can post comments to others’ ljs (but also so I could post to a writing group). So it’s about time. Now massdistraction can be a living, breathing entity.
But not one without growing pains, of course. I could have set up WordPress myself, but I needed assistance importing all of the old content (over 1200 posts, apparently). The husband wrote an import script in perl, that took into account all sorts of quirks of my old code, but it couldn’t handle everything. I’m sure we’ll be working out the kinks for a little while. Let me know if you see anything…funky.
The husband is almost never awake when the little man and I get up. This is a good thing, for him, because the man is a night owl. But this morning he’d taken it too far. He’d pulled an all-nighter, for work. A call to a client in Finland started at midnight, and was still going when I left the house around 8am. He loves his job, and I love that he has this job, but this is going to throw his schedule even more out of whack. Like, on the weekends, by the time he wakes up the little man and I already have half a day under our belts. I did suggest he try to stay up all day today and then go to bed when I do tonight, but the outlook is not good. At least if he sleeps all day then he should be awake this evening, when it will be time to flip the switch on this site. For real this time. We’re ready to go. This will be the last entry I’ll be posting in pico. How weird.
Bonus: I’m excited about the Square Lake Solstice Festival, featuring a film score and headlining set by Low, and a local animation and film festival. Cool. Looks like some co-worker friends might join me. There’s even talk of camping overnight. I have never camped before in all my life. They’ve promised they won’t let me die in the woods.
Plus: I meant to post this before the Geek Prom. A friend was skeptical about the event, and cited this Peter Bagge comic, the Nerd-ification of America, as an example. I’ll agree that it is easier (and more profitable) to be a nerd now than when I was growing up. Thoughts?
And: When I was going through my archives last night, to ensure they were looking good in the new format (launching later today, I swear!) I came across a link I’d forgotten about…to the Secret Society of Vegans. You know, if someone were to buy me one of those aprons I sure wouldn’t complain. And my birthday is right around the corner. I’m just sayin’.
And another thing: Slashdot reports that the Sci-Fi channel is planning, get this, a Battlestar Galactica prequel, called Caprica. It will be set 50 years before the current series, when “Humankind’s Twelve Colonies are at peace and on the verge of a technological breakthrough: the first Cylon.” Hmmmm. I don’t know what to think. I need to digest this news.
And we’re back. Not that we went anywhere. But I haven’t been posting because it would have been me kvetching and I kvetch enough as it is. Then I realized what the problem was. It’s something strange. I think I’ve become addicted to working out. Last week the boys were sick and my allergies were out of control so I didn’t make it to the gym. Not even once. And it was driving me crazy. I was feeling particularly sluggish (like a slug, a slug that’s been kicked around on the sidewalk, but not completely squashed) and out of sorts all week. By the weekend I was, for the most part, trapped in a lethargic daze. But it’s a fresh new week and I kicked it off with my personal trainer kicking my ass for an hour. And I loved every minute of it. I came home with a spring in my step, feeling ready to take on the world. Yes, this enthusiasm is annoying even to me. But don’t worry, the euphoria was short-lived. I accomplished precious little the rest of the day. And after school the little man and I spent too much time butting heads. If the boy is going to outright lie to me about something, he could at least try to be more convincing. I’m just saying. Ok, this could be classified as kvetching but the outlook is good for me to be getting high on endorphins this week…and that seems to be what I’m needing. More exercising = less bitching.
In other news, I did get out of the house over the weekend. Friday afternoon we went out to procure some more Dr. Seuss books, and to stop by the St. Paul Art Crawl. My friend Matt was displaying some of his fabulous photos at the Rossmor Building. That was neat. Saturday I didn’t make it out until 7pm, but hey, at least I got out. First I took the little man to our co-op, to see the adorable Isa Chandra Moskowitz. She’d driven all the way here from Brooklyn just to make us some vegan cupcakes. And by “us” I mean vegan-friendly folks in the Twin Cities, including half a dozen peeps I hadn’t seen in years.
I rushed the little man home afterwards so I could change into my Geek Prom get-up. Sadly I still got there too late for the Geek Prom Queen judging. I could have been a contender! But that’s just as well. Turns out there are actual duties that go along with the title. Anyhow, the event was interesting, but would have been more enjoyable if I’d rounded up a posse of nerdlings to join me. At least I did find Chuck and Lorika (the Science Museum is a very big place). And I saw Lumpy for the first time in years (he’s on the prom committee), but flying solo for this event was a little on the sad side. Oh well.
It’s not all doom and gloom around here. The little man is on the mend, though the husband and I are feeling pretty crappy. Speaking of the husband…he’s been on a Kill Rock Stars kick. I approve, especially as it means there will be more new music in the house that we *both* like. He is a creature of habit and used his tried and true method. He ordered several compilations, without consulting me, and after listening to them he ordered full lengths from the bands he liked best. Silly man. I could have told him Stereo Total is seriously awesome. He also bought some Bangs‘ CDs and a few from Comet Gain. It’s going to take me some time to listen to it all.
Speaking of time, and the lack thereof…with all the chaos in my life, I haven’t gotten around to reading The Penultimate Peril (book 12 in Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events). And I hadn’t even realized that I hadn’t. So that’s being bumped to the top of the To Do list, along with watching Dil Se. Nothing like a little Bollywood to get me in a better mood.
Earlier I was looking through my archives and came across a dead link…to a blogger whose writing I used to enjoy but had lost track of. Well, Allison Woo is still around, thankfully, with a photoblog called Oh, Cameras are Macho! and a purty-looking weblog. Update: Received word from Allison. That is her photoblog, but it’s actually her significant other whose blog I linked to. I could have, you know, clicked on the information link before posting. Doh!
Bonus: This harrowing tale of a heroic rescue made my morning.
Plus: Word of the day, says me, is Ichthyoallyeinotoxism. That’s a mouthful. But not a thing that will be in my mouth. See, once again it shows that vegan food is safer stuff.
And: This morning the little man announced “I am gargling germs!” Later on he followed that up with “sometimes fake gargling is the way to go.” I’ll keep that in mind.
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Sick kid duty has me ready to pass out. Well, that plus the sleepy-making Zyrtec. And why am I taking that again? My eyes are still burning. The only effect it seems to be having is making me want to swan dive my way into a coma. And the little man. Oh dear. He’s been taking Singulair since Monday (which always brings to mind Cingular, making me think of cell phones that double as drug dispensers) and I just picked up his Zyrtec today. But is he actually feeling any better? That would be a big fat no. And the kid took a three hour nap this afternoon. He only naps when he feels crappy, so that was alarming. At least he woke up all giggly rather than screamy. But I’m ready to return to our regularly scheduled programming.
Thankfully the husband just returned home with takeout from Everest on Grand. I love their domain name (and their food).
Bonus: Zophia asks…”do you know any place or group that would want a donation of like a billion old Bust and ready made magazines?” Well, gentle readers, any ideas?
Plus: As you may have noticed, that redesign iniative of mine sort of stalled out. I need the husband’s help with the heavy-duty backend business. But he ran into some CSS frustrations and such and just sort of threw his hands in the air and gave up for a bit. But now we’re working on it, together-like, so hopefully it will happen soon. For real this time.
Yesterday the final package arrived, rendering my costume for the Geek Prom complete. Or so I thought. I’ve been shopping and selling on Ebay for five years now. In that time I’ve had a few strange experiences, but nothing like this. Upon closer inspection it turns out that the boots I ordered, well, the seller somehow sent me two left boots. What am I supposed to do with that? Sadly she is in the UK and there’s no way I can get the right boot(s) by Saturday. So instead she’s asked me to send these lefties back for a full refund. Bloody hassle. And I’d built the outfit around the boots. So now what?
In other news of the annoying…the poor little man is still not feeling well. So I took him to the doc yesterday. She asked me if I thought he had a sinus infection. How should I know? I’m not the doctor. We’ve been lucky in that he’s been relatively healthy since he was a toddler (a spate of ear infections led to tubes, and he’s been fine since) and he’s never had a sinus infection. It’s hard to say whether his seasonal allergies are just particularly severe this year, or if he has a cold or something else exacerbating the problem. Either way, the poor kid is crrrraaannnkkkky. Especially right before bed, when we try to get him to take some children’s sudafed. The way he’s been howling and fighting us over it it must sound, to the outside world, like we’re torturing the poor boy. But I just want him to feel better and get some sleep.
Last night some co-worker friends joined me for the MN Rollergirls season championship. It was an exciting bout. So much drama. Players defecting from the Garda Belts to the Atomic Bombshells (and vice versa, I think), spills and thrills and some all out fights. In the end the Rockits were victorious. Good times, good times.
Back at the ranch some not-so-good times were to be had. The ittle man is illin’ - and not just with allergies. I was up half the night with the poor kid. He was seriously feverish and at one point he even threw up (the boy usually isn’t a puker, unlike his mama). He lost more than his cookies too. In all the madness one of his loose front teeth came out and it really was lost. I’ve looked in all the likely places, but I don’t think it will be turning up. Good thing he doesn’t believe in the Tooth Fairy. He also doesn’t believe in the Easter Bunny, and we’re not Christian, but I did throw together a little Spring goodie basket for him this morning. The poor boy deserves it, and it contains more stickers and such than candy. So there.
Bonus: I didn’t take many photos last night, but another local yokel did. Max Sparber has some great shots in this photoset.
Plus: Just discovered the kickass SuperVegan site (via the herbivore blog). Sweet.
And: This article in the NY Times about vegan firefighters makes me happy. Some of their recipes can be found here.
It’s been YEEEEEEEEARS since I’ve been able to listen to my vinyl collection (mostly old school hardcore punk and post-punk stuff). But now, it’s amazing, we have a functioning turntable in the house! It’s like magic. I think it’s time to bust out some old Samiam.
In less magical news, the hills are alive…and they are trying to kill us. I feel like I make this post annually. Spring is a beautiful time of year, of this there is no doubt. We all love it when the weather warms up and the trees and plants start sprouting their greenery. But the pollen, it burns. And oh, the poor little man, his allergies are totally out of control. Worse than ever before. In the last 24 hours I’ve given him Claritin, Sudafed and Ibuprofen but none of it seems to be helping much. His eyes are still red and watery and his nose is running like a faucet. I feel like I should move the boy into a bubble for a couple of weeks, until the pollen settles down. And I’m feeling guilty because my symptoms aren’t as severe as his. I’ve got Zyrtec leftover from hay fever season, and it helps, but I’d forgotten what it does to me. It’s all about the dry mouth and drowsiness. Two days in a row now I haven’t been able to get myself out of bed until after 9am (which is supa late for me). But at least I can breathe through my nose. Exciting stuff, I know. Sigh.
