g spot inc

a place i'll go over and over again and never get tired of...

2009-05-07T19:37:00.002-05:00

i still don't know what it is about paris, but every time i'm there i just kind of melt into the surrounds and enjoy each moment of everything combined with nothing in particular. it's a beautiful place, with spaces grand and gorgeous and people from every corner of the globe... it's a little chaotic, but it happens slowly, a gentle coarsely-woven chaos.

this past weekend was my fifth visit:

more pics

ok, this post practically wrote itself...

2009-05-07T19:03:00.003-05:00

while grazing on my lunch today i was poking around my usual websites for news. i came across an article on boston.com about a toddler in missouri who had been missing for two days and had just been found in the woods, 3 miles from home. 'ah, poor kid' i thought to myself as i clicked on the link expecting to read about the nearly-devastated parents and the tearful reunion with the munchkin-at-large...

'Joshua had slipped out of his family's mobile home' (ok, first red flag= home with wheels) 'near Arcadia in rural southeast Missouri' (is that a banjo i hear?) 'around 11:30 a.m. Monday, while his father slept and his mother talked on the phone.' (uhm, clearly mom and dad were too busy 'at work' to notice their only child had grown bored with putting pennies in the toaster and taken off)

'Terry Schulte, the boy's grandmother, told KSDK-TV that Joshua told her he was on his way to visit her. She lives about five miles from his home' (of course, every 3 year old i know calls their grandma and announces they're about to hop in the car and drive the 5 miles over for a visit)

'The Missouri State Highway Patrol brought in planes. The state Water Patrol brought in divers and sonar. Dozens of dogs, horses, ATVs and even donkeys...' (yes, even donkeys. missing child? better send in the child recovery ass brigade)

good god, could this get any better?

dad, your thoughts? 'I'm going to put him up for the Grizzy Adams Award, send him bear-hunting with a stick' (of course you are)

ok, maybe the doctor who evaluated him has some insight on the situation? 'The boy has been asking for milk and hot dogs since his rescue'

of course he has, missing the comforts of his double-wide parenting-free home, no doubt. i couldn't make this up if i wanted to. unreal.

new mbta advertising campaign?

2009-04-28T12:14:00.002-05:00

if this doesn't make you want to ditch your usual ride and hop on the redline for the next worktrek, i'm not sure what will...

we don't have much time...

2009-04-26T14:16:00.002-05:00

two cases of swine flu have been reported in the boston area.

the first was yesterday at castle island:

and i narrowly avoided a pork-infused brush with death when i almost stepped in some today at shaw's in hyde park:

is this really the best you could come up with?

2009-04-15T12:02:00.002-05:00

thank god someone took the time to set the record 'straight' ;)

next stop?

2009-04-07T15:31:00.002-05:00

massachusetts? check.
connecticut? check.
iowa? sure, why not? check.
vermont? really, it was just a matter of time- check.

watch out texas, we're coming for you next!

some sensibility in the middle

2009-04-03T18:53:00.002-05:00

wow, if iowa can do it, then there must be some hope for the rest of the nay-saying-states. mighty impressed, especially considering this was a state that had a DOMA-type law on the books since 1998. they must be sipping some cornwine (of whatever it is that's on tap in des moines) out west tonight ;)

i did laugh a little when i got to this part in the article:

“We are blessed to live in Iowa,” she added.

let's not get carried away here, people ;)

hope y'all have a good weekend.

g

a little rude, a little gross, and a whole lot funny...

2009-04-02T07:59:00.000-05:00

wtf blanket

2009-04-01T20:05:00.000-05:00

mbta simulator...

2009-03-27T09:26:00.003-05:00

apparently the MBTA has some fancy new hey-hey-look-at-me-i'm-driving-a-bus simulator.

yeah that's nice, but what i want to know is can it simulate all of my favorite scenes from the 'this could only happen on public transportation' series?

can it simulate the distractingly unsanitary click-click of someone cutting their nails on the t?

flashdanceworkoutmomma?

how about the man who threw up into his own pants? is there a button for that one?

i'm going to mail her a check for $91.58 and then claim it on my next tax refund as a charitable donation

2009-03-26T11:21:00.002-05:00

read all about it here

i do (?)

2009-03-26T08:54:00.002-05:00

there was a tiny little article on boston.com this morning about our neighbors to the north (new hampshire) voting on gay marriage today.

while california may have put gay marriage on a string and then yanked it back, at least it's still alive and well in two states, MA and CT. i was excited when i saw earlier this week that vermont was wrestling with upping their trailblazing civil union legislation a big pink notch to full marriage. and then today's news snippit re: NH... how great would it be if new england (and possibly *all* of it) managed to show the rest of the country how to be forward-thinking? (we won't wait on rhode island, since everyone knows it's just connecticuts's unsightly spare appendage, no one likes to aknowledge it exists... but i've seen it).

well, i was feeling all content until i got to this line of the article-ette, which then pissed me off:

'Opponents argue same-sex marriage is morally wrong and would cheapen marriage.'

i couldn't care less about the morality stuff. that arguement really is looking a little lame these days and just sounds like a lot of born-again-noise from someone with a stripped down chevy 'flowerbox' up on blocks in their front yard.

but same-sex marriage would cheapen marriage? cheapen it? oh you know, you're right. we would't want to tarnish all those most sacred of breeder matrimonial customs- drive through vow exchanges in vegas, garter tosses (because that's sanitary), plastic fountains gurgling pink champagne, mashing cake into the face of your partner (ok, i like that part), and the ever klassy reception line dancing. so much to cherish. so much on the line. i can see why they've got their republican-issued falwell-blessed knickers in a queerbunch.

not a shockah...

2009-03-25T08:45:00.005-05:00

i must confess, surprised i wasn't when i reached for the soy milk this morning and noticed the US economy is featured as this month's carton-side missing person:

i would put a call in to crimestoppers with a tip on a recent sighting (US economy, last seen drinking mouthwash and clipping coupons at the JFK t station), but all i had left for the AIG bonus fund were my rollover minutes, now rendering me incommunicado.

it does all kinda makes sense: last week i had to issue an amber alert for the other half of my 401k. maybe if we leave a little plate of TARP by the front door she'll find her way back home...

seriously, what a mess. i love how the republicans continue their praisethelordgaysarebad spendnotchickensquawk when it was all their 'let's-fight-two-wars-with-no-money-down-no-payments-for-a-year' economic strip-mining that landed us in this financialshitstorm. everything else? healthcare? education? haphazard lending? let's just pretend this is a 1984 caldor's and put it all on layaway.

while it is terrifying for a million different reasons, there is one potential good thing that can come out of all of this. i wholeheartedly believe this country needed a reality check on the topic of unconscious consumption. and perhaps given the dramatic turn of events (namely the fact the economy is running around with no pants on) people will actually examine their daily lives and start paying attention to some of the unsustainable wastefulness that has led to double-wide SUV's full of diabetic americans on their way to a bigboxstripmall for another 25lb bag of frozen mozzarella cheese sticks. not that i have anything against fried cheese. i believe 'moderation' is the word i'm looking for.

while j.mo and i already live pretty responsibly, the current climate got us thinking there was more we could do- we swapped our expensive cable tv and internet for slower & cheaper options, cutting our monthly bill in half. not exactly a big sacrifice, but still financially helpful in leaner times.

larger in scale and savings, we're also selling our car. paying almost $600 a month for a car payment, insurance, and gas when more often than not, the only driving we do is to the grocery store just doesn't seem all that smaht anymore. we both love our car, especially j.mo-carboy. but i think there is a difference between loving the *idea* of having a car and actually needing one. we ride the T to work and usually take the T for non-work-related happenings too. once it's sold, we'll be zipcar-ing for the one or two trips a week that require wheels. otherwise it's all about the MBTA. better for the budget, better for the environment. it just makes sense. it will be an adjustment, but i think it will work just fine.

so i'm hoping that with this post i might get back to regular blogging. i miss it. and while facebook is fun, fast, and friend-ful, it's not nearly the same as a good ol' fashioned blog post. i've been neglectful of blogging duties and wonder if anyone even bothers to check for updates anymore?

portland, oregon

2009-02-22T22:22:00.002-05:00

china re-visited...

2009-02-22T22:17:00.003-05:00

fauxturkey recap

2008-11-30T09:56:00.002-05:00

hope everyone had a gluttonheavy t-day. there were six of us gathered round for an extended stay in the starchzone, but of course we cooked enough food for double that. it really is the best holiday. and it has been so lovely to get those extra few days off from the regular routine. nothing overly exciting to report from the rest of the long weekend- as if thursday's pile of food wasn't enough, we managed to go out for pizza, japanese and indian take-away from our neighborhood chickpea-pusher. wandered around the city, caffeinated, got lost in a bookstore, went to the movies (would highly recommend seeing slumdog millionaire- great film!). my mac died (went to hard drive heaven), venturing into the apple store on black friday wasn't exactly what i had planned, but it wasn't too painful thanks to a healthy dose of recessionaryrestraint on the part of the consuming masses. and even though the warranty was expired, they fixed it for free.

a few pics-

'straight from the bog' really, which marketing genius thought this was gonna work? personally, i would have opted for 'what UTI?'

where bread is reincarnated as j.mo's famous stuffing:

blimps making sure margarine, the festive gravyboat (yes, we own a gravyboat *and* it has a name), doesn't act up:

the first victims of the diabetic coma that eventually hit us all:

at the feeding trough:

trough shot II:

working the kitchenmojo:

a few others:

it won't be safe for much longer...

2008-11-23T18:16:00.002-05:00

i think today the window of semi-safe pre-holiday shopping has just about closed. i ventured over to our neighborhood targhetto this evening, partially for caffeine (stahbies may not have invaded the hood yet, but they are hiding out inside target... so now you can conveniently get amped up on soy chai as you fill your cart full of gallon-sized-double-pump-my-hands-be-ashy-lotion and 40lbs of kitty litter), and partially to get some xmas fixins, knowing full well that soon it will be an all out combat zone. that tinseltweak was already in the air, but not quite upped to 5-candy- cane-chaos-status just yet.

on my list of things to acquire, j.mo needed a new 'round the house hoodie- his current one has nearly detachable sleeves (as in falling apart at the seams), so it was time. i was wandering around in the clothing section, looking for an appropriately priced fabrique en cambodia vêtement. sniff, sniff... wow- sure does smell like liquor up in here. and then i rounded the corner and stumbled upon 3 very inebriated amigos from the far side of the rio grande, heatedly debating which sweatpants to buy as they removed their own pantalones and tried them on right there in the middle of the store. couldn't have been a couple of olympic divers, nope. it had to be a trio of pot-bellied muchachos looking for some elastic waistband action... for a moment i thought i had been transported back to 2001 when said target did not yet exist and in its place was the most god-awful kmart on the planet. this once-upon-a-kmart was definitely the last respite of implosion-oriented-bottle-friendly-urban-humanity. a couple of drunk guys trying on sweatpants in the middle of the men's section wouldn't have even raised an eyebrow from the fully armed security force stationed at the exitfrisk.

'tis the season for happy shopping- it only gets better from here on out.

a clinton (or two) in an obama white house- this election really is the gift that keeps on giving...

2008-11-22T19:31:00.002-05:00

it's the meatfairy!

2008-11-21T09:53:00.001-05:00

from boston.com:

FRAMINGHAM - The evidence: a 5-pound shoulder cut, a scrap cut, covered in gristle, a 10-pound roast, and a slice of liver.

The crime scene: the town green.

For five weeks, butcher-quality cuts of red meat - it appears to be beef - have been appearing regularly beneath a tree in the historic Town Centre Common, and the caper has perplexed just about everybody in town. Police and town health officials are investigating. Residents are bewildered, even worried.

"I hear the meat might be poisonous," said Taryn Fusco, who has spied the meat on recent walks through the park with her Shih Tzu-Yorkie-mix. "I feel unsafe bringing my dog to the park."

Authorities have inspected the meat and sent samples to the state public health lab in Boston to determine whether it's been tampered with. They are pursuing every lead they can find, though those have been in short supply.

"It's our mission to get to the bottom of why these pieces of meat are being left," said Lieutenant Paul Shastany of the Framingham Police Department. "Why? Who? And what is it? What kind of meat?"

The mystery began in early October, when dog walkers began finding slabs of raw meat, seemingly carefully arranged at the base of a large evergreen.

reveille

2008-11-02T08:45:00.002-05:00

as anyone who still checks in will attest, i've been a wickid slackah with blogging. i was thinking that once school was over (which was done more than 5 months now!) i would get back to regular posts, updates, pics, commentary- all the things i used to enjoy. but it's just not happening. maybe i'm still recovering from years of the wear'n'tear routine of full time work + school at night and this is some sort of writing PTSD. it used to be that blogger was my best bet for wasting time online. but now i can easily lose an hour poking around on facebook. we'll see, maybe i'll get to back to it. maybe not. upwards and onwards for now.

so daylight savings time ended last night. ahhhh, an extra hour of sleep. or not- perhaps instead the dog will get up at his 'usual time' which is now conveniently one hour earlier than normal. i was hopeful that if we ignored him he would go back to bed. normally it works, but not today. it was 6.45am and we were up and prepping for a frosty early morning walk. blimpie, our resident mensa material cat and all around dog disser, was curled up on the bed- one eye scathingly watching him pace back and forth, undoubtedly saying to herself: 'ugh, of course this cretin's circadian circuitry doesn't know the difference between daylight savings time and the cat poop he occasionally tries to fish out of my litter box.'

speaking of circadian short circuits... i'm beginning to think i may have a diagnosable case of some sort of syndrome. i've always had a healthy appetite for sleep. but it's been way worse than usual the past few days thanks to my trip to israel tossing everything into a tailspin as far as the eating/sleeping/exercising routine goes. if this keeps up, i may need to ask santa for an espresso machine and shade grown coffee plantation for xmas.

how excited are we all for tuesday? somehow, someway, we've managed to be lost in the Bush for 8 years. while i do appreciate the elevation of status french fries received when they were re-branded freedom fries, that is the single solitary one and only accomplishment of the bush administration that merits applause in my book. i have high expectations for tuesday and may be irreversibly disenfranchised if something with a '-D' fails to land at the white house. so much so that come thanksgiving we'll be munching our tofurky north of the border if need be.

on a quasi-related political topic, i've been catching up on the scandal with massachusetts state senator dianne wilkerson and find it all very sad. she defied some serious odds to get where she was (woman, single mom, african american etc), only to find herself at a rather classy boston restaurant, stuffing a wad of bribedollars into her bra:

oopsies.

and again:

but wait, there's more:

and to think she didn't think she needed to pay any attention to the resounding call for her resignation?

moving right along....

so my trip to israel was definitely an experience. it was jam-packed with mostly work stuff, but i did get to trek around and see some of the essentials. i didn't really know what to expect- and in a lot of ways, i think i'm still kinda mulling over what i saw and what it was like. it's the first place i've been that has proven really hard to describe in any kind of succinct way. from the moment you arrive, politics and religion are front and center. guns, fences, walls, and barbed wire seem to be everywhere. but equally present were normal people, living normal lives... especially in tel aviv. i guess it's probably best to let the pics do the talking:

jerusalem, near the old city:

guess we're not going that way:

the wailing (western) wall:

tel aviv:

our armed guide:

akko:

masada- kind of looks like something out of 6 feet under, huh?

me floating in the dead sea:

and covering up in dead sea mud:

here are the rest of the pics...

a sneak preview...

2008-10-24T15:27:00.002-05:00

israel has been amazing... a few pics for now, and plenty more when i get back next week...

cape-tober

2008-10-13T09:19:00.003-05:00

j.mo and i just got home from a lovely couple of days on the cape with mags & jon. the weather was beyond gorgeous- i could nearly be sold on this being the best time of the year. as usual for our cape trips, it was all about food, the fireplace, beach, reading, and just hanging out.

and check out our fierce guard dog, keeping us safe from the surf:

the rest of the pics are here

of course i was long asleep by the time this aired...

2008-09-28T13:10:00.001-05:00

while the entire country watched on...

2008-09-04T11:20:00.001-05:00

one of the minipalin's (i forget her name, but assume it's something like twig or thumper) decided it was time to 'groom' her infant baby brother.

national television.

amazing.

hey!market

2008-08-30T14:01:00.002-05:00

confession: i've been a vegetarian for 14 years, the past 8 of which have been spent living in boston. and i have never, not once, done any fruit&veggie shopping at haymarket. for the non-boston-sorts, haymarket is an old school, open-air, weekend produce market that's open year-round. i had wandered through once or twice before, but never really took the time to go shopping.

continuing our recent theme of city re-discovery, we grabbed a couple of shopping bags and hopped on the T earlier today to finally visit the market and do some shopping.

it was packed, but awesome- not only were the bargain prices enough to make you want to take up arms the next time you're poking around the priced-up pallid produce piles at the neighborhood supermarket, but the experience of being amongst the crowd, buying uberfreshyums from the hard-working crew was fabulous- i'd much rather leave my $ there. we parted with a whopping $18 and look at what we got:

unbelievable. and we're completely lame for not doing this sooner. i think a weekend trip to haymarket will now be a permanent feature. gotta go, time to get me some strawberries :P

let us join hands and pray for an iceberg.

2008-08-29T19:57:00.003-05:00

unreal. palin? who?

today was a little busy at work so i didn't have any spare time to check out the hubbub surrounding mccain's choice of vice presidential running mate. with pizza and ore ida happily sizzling away at 425 degrees for 20mins, i had just enough time to kill online with a quick read of reaction to mccain's selection for minime08. and am i glad that i refrained from passing bluestate judgment without all my facts.

boston.com had these bits in their coverage of her nomination:

___________________________________________

"Some of life's greatest opportunities come unexpectedly," said Palin, describing herself as "just your average hockey mom in Alaska."

She told the crowd of her career in public office, starting as a mayor, then a state ethics commission, and now governor.

"As governor I've stood up to the old politics as usual," she said, citing her record in office, including passing ethics reform and returning oil revenues to Alaska taxpayers.

"It's safer in politics to avoid risk," she said about her career, though she could have easily been talking about her own selection. "A ship in harbor is safe, but that's not why a ship is built."
_________________________________________

hold
stop
wait a minute.

that last line- why did that stop me in my tracks? where have i heard it before? ships, safety, why it's built? hmmmmmm....

no fucking way! while i was finishing up grad school and working at the travelgulag, i used to roll my eyes every time i walked past this gem of fresh squeezed corpricana 'art' hung between the photocopier and big-banged, denim-on-denim, twelve year associate with the personality of one of those shaky raisin-sized chihuahuas:

oh yeah, that's just what we need- a vice presidential hopeful that spouts off a b-grade mass produced motivational corporate-ism as if she was the bigbrained inventor that brought us the not available in stores salad shooter. you were just asked to run as a vice presidential candidate (!) and all you have to offer up is something i could have pulled out of a stale grouptravelfortunecookie? you have to be kidding me? i wonder if anyone else in the blog/media world is going to point this out?

she may be america's 'hottest governor'

but she sure ins't our brightest, most articulate bulb. well done, mccain- clearly you've got it going on. how in the world will obama ever manage to compete with the sheer genius that is the mccain-palin senility-hockeymom superteam?? hopefully the hms republicana will run into one of the last globally-warmed breakaway icebergs before they all disappear. november 4th can't get here fast enough- big money, no whammies.

i would have never imagined...

2008-08-24T19:05:00.003-05:00

the infinitely once unimportant now indispensable moments that lead to a few days like the ones past. the house is clean and tidy, even franklin had a bath today. the sunshine perfect- not too blazing yellow, not too sinking gold. j.mo's sound asleep on the couch while the last of summer basil cooks away in tonight's dinner.

these hours passed in not the normal blurred and hurried rush. just right, just perfect. summer is winding down and it all fits right.

island hopping in the harbor...

2008-08-23T17:06:00.004-05:00

ok, i've been made a believer. if today was any indication of what the rest of them are like, the islands of boston harbor could quickly become one of my favorite things about living in b-town. on a whim, j.mo and i headed out this morning to spectacle island, 20mins on the T and a quick 20 minute ferry ride from downtown. today was beyond perfect as far as summer days go- plenty of sunshine, not too hot, a lovely breeze. i packed us a picnic lunch before we left the house and we had the best day trekking around and enjoying the gorgeous scenery. in the city, the waterfront was a eurotrashclusterfuck, all climbing over one another in a non-deodorant haze to get on zee trolley to zee boston trail... but once we got to the island and hiked away from the dock it was fabulously quiet.

a few pics...

ps- here's the rest of the pics...

friday afternoon sandcastles

2008-08-16T10:31:00.004-05:00

yesterday i left work early and headed up to salisbury beach to spend the afternoon with my sister, her hubby, and my nephews. the weather was perfect and the kids were a blast- having my toes in the sand and a beer in my hand at 1pm on a workday is something i need to do more often ;)

a few pics:

cody & uncle g

a little gritty

jacob & cody working on our masterpiece:

the money shot:

(soggy) stuff

2008-08-12T20:52:00.002-05:00

1) i don't normally mind the rain. but getting rained on three times in one day? i had to towel off after walking the dog this morning. i got properly re-soaked on the walk from harvard sq across the bridge to work. and then i ducked out mid-dinner-prep to get some wine and half way to the neighborhood liquorama it started to rain. again.

2) ollie williams is defintely one of the best characters on the family guy:

3) a new music discovery. thanks to my owen station on pandora i now know of this guy, kyle andrews:

so friggin good.

4) j.mo and i are going to hawaii for xmas & new years. sand, sun, & beer. i'm all set.

5) hot olympic divers.

that is all. carry on.

lunchtime tina turner sighting...

2008-08-08T11:43:00.001-05:00

think we can sell her on ebay with the jesus toast?

in an effort to offset rising oil costs

2008-08-07T18:59:00.003-05:00

certain airlines have begun taking alternative fuel sources more seriously. while it's still going to be a while before the first soybean-powered A380 sputters its tofutastic way to heathrow, one technology that's already gaining ground is the use of LPP (little people power):

why waste valuable fuel on those lengthy ground maneuvers when you could harness up some LPP and have a jetfuelfree taxi service?

the cost of oil- $135/barrel. the cost of LPP- $50/barrel.

you do the math.

(ps- special prize for the first person who spots the rosie o'donnell mini-me lookalike)

it's back...

2008-08-03T13:39:00.002-05:00

i had to buy a new insert thing for my sneakers since the batteries were dead in the last one. 7 miles today and home just before the downpour. hopefully i'll be back up to half-marathons by the fall.

i-heart-dot (mostly)

2008-08-02T18:56:00.003-05:00

sometimes i don't quite know why, but i really do love dorchester. after growing up in the boonies, living in australia for 3 years, trekking all over the world, and wandering from apartment to apartment in a few other parts of boston & surrounds (somerville, hyde park, bridgewater, hull), it's the place we settled on when it was time to buy and stay put for a while.

for reasons i've yet to understand, i completely forgive (and often enjoy) so many of the local quirks that you might be tempted to label 'shortcomings.' it's a transitional part of the city- not the greenest, prettiest, most manicured. 93 runs through parts of it, many houses have the requisite couch on the front porch year round, everyone drags a tv to the curb on trash night, it rivals paris in sidewalk dog poo, cars get broken into, houses get broken into, the media loves to remind us every time someone is shot or stabbed it probably happened in dorchester. it's a regular thing to see/smell drugs. music is often loud. as in 'just turn off the TV since we can't hear it anyways' loud. sometimes the ghettophone is ringing hot, as the 'ladies' of neighborhood yell to each other from their front porches.

but it's also truly diverse. in dot there's at least one of everyone. all kinds of people, from all kinds of places, speaking all kinds of languages. and no one bothers john and i as our street's token gays. hard working, kind people are in the majority- the best kind of neighbors you could ask for. and that's just the start of the good stuff- we've got a beach or two, UMass is around the corner. it's a quick trek to work thanks to the neighborhood t stop. a few years ago, we could actually *afford* to buy a place in a city that was pretty unforgiving as far as home prices went.

and it's a good thing it has got these redeeming qualities because of run-in's like this-
friday afternoon after work i walked out the front door to take frankahs on his afternoon walk. all was well, we were happily moseying along until we ran into the yellow police tape, blocked off streets, and the scene that was this law enforcement extravaganza:

fire trucks, police cars, ambulances, several blocks crawling with SWAT guys, and of course a small army of curious onlookers. it was hard to tell if it was a hostage situation or another methlab discovery (there have been several). either way, i didn't want to stick around to find out, so we trotted home at a brisker than usual pace. turns out this is what happened (from the Boston Police News Website)

Armed Suspect Barricades Self after Robbery

Yesterday, August 1, 2008 around 3:49PM, officers from District C-11 (Dorchester) responded to 1365 Dorchester Ave./Maxim Pharmacy for an armed robbery.

While numerous units were en route to the store, a detective unit observed an unknown white male running frantically from the direction of the armed robbery. The officer observed this individual run behind a store and then come back out having removed a t-shirt that he was wearing before he ran behind the store. At about this same time, officers received a matching description of the individual that had just run behind the store and it matched that of the suspect that just robbed the pharmacy. Officers also learned that the suspect had passed a note indicating that he was armed with a handgun, and had stolen several bottles of the prescription drug, oxycontin.

Officers, based on the above information, officers followed the suspect but lost sight of him as he turned onto Bay St. from Auckland Street. As officers attempted to determine where the suspect had fled, a concerned citizen flagged down officers and pointed them in the direction that the suspect had last been seen, running down Savin Hill Ave. toward the MBTA station. As officers continued to go in the direction that the suspect had last been seen running, officers were once again flagged down by another concerned citizen who told officers that he had just observed a person fitting a description of the suspect run into the front entrance of 15 Saxton Street.

Officers attempted to gain access to the 15 Saxton St. and discovered that the door, which is usually unlocked, according to the owner, was locked. Officers, now believing that a possibly armed suspect may be barricaded inside, set up a perimeter around the house and awaited the arrival of the Boston Police SWAT team and hostage negotiators. Officers again were approached by another witness, concerned citizen while clearing nearby residences of occupants that a male matching the suspect had been seen inside 11 Saxton Street.

After attempting to negotiate and getting no response from 15 Saxton St., the SWAT gained entrance and found no suspect. The process was repeated at 11 Saxton St. where the suspect was located hiding on a second floor apartment closet hiding in a plastic container covered with clothes.

The suspect, Gerald T. Comerford, 20, of Whitman was arrested and charged with Armed Robbery, Unlawful Possession of a Firearm, Unlawful Possession of Class B, and Breaking and Entering in the Day Time, Resisting Arrest, and Trespassing. During a subsequent search of the apartment, officers found several containers of oxycontin that had been stolen by the suspect, as well as the shirt worn by the suspect during the robbery. The note passed by the suspect to the store clerk indicating that he had a gun was also recovered from the store.

The suspect will be arraigned at Dorchester District Court on the above charges on Monday, August 4, 2008.

i love that he was hiding in a plastic container. so all is well that ends well, right? i can smile and say 'see, it's not soooo bad here.'

well yeah- except that when i came home i had to reassemble the brick wall j.mo and i painstakingly put together a few months back. we've been having an ongoing issue with the neighborhood kids sitting/climbing on the wall and knocking it all to pieces. and crushing plants in the meantime. no amount of asking them not to seems to have worked. i know it has gotta be hard sometimes to grow up in the city and not have a lots of places to hang out/play, so i'm more than sympathetic, but c'mon- show a little respect. i was sweeping inside when i heard the upstairs neighbor leave the house and ask the kids sitting on the wall to clean up before they left (empty soda cans, empty chip bags etc). when i went outside to water the plants they all started to take off (we've had words before), leaving all of their crap behind. i completely snapped. for the next 5 mins i turned into some kind of crazy cat food eating old man yelling at the kids.

'hey you shits, get back here and clean up!!'

two of them came back, and my most detested nemesis took off (when he came back later, the neighbor grabbed him by the t-shirt and bitched him out for a good 10mins for being a disrespectful little pig). with two of them standing there with their mouths hanging open i asked them what their problem was, why they insisted on making a mess in front of our house all the time? no good answer. i told them to clean up and piss off.

they opted for pissing off without the cleaning up part. so, now in a complete rage, i picked up every piece of trash i could find, loading up my arms- most of it wasn't even from them. i walked right past them as they headed to their home across the street- when i got to their front stairs, the two of them lagging behind me i simply said 'since you didn't want to clean up, i thought i would help you out' and tossed it all on to their front porch. the best part was the sound of all the empty bottles and cans hitting the stairs. second best part- watching their mom standing in the doorway completely confused.

despite the neighborhood fugitives and pain in the ass kids, i-do-indeed-heart-dot.

nearing completion....

2008-07-27T07:57:00.002-05:00

i'm pleased to report that j.mo's momma's deck is nearing completion. just a few last things to take care of (lattice etc) before we can stain it and call it a day. considering we're 100% amateurs in the deck-building arena, i think we've done pretty well. i'm thrilled no one has been seriously injured. and now that we're all BFF's, the staff of our local lowes will be joining us for thanksgiving this year. a win-win for everyone.

the happy workers, feeling fresh at the end of the day:

everyone's favorite job-site supervisor:

last weekend i had the urge to shave all my hair off. for years and years i had super short hair. then, a little more than a year ago i started to let it grow out. and while it was good fun to buy 'product' and have hair that 'did things,' i kinda missed my fuzzhead. so i thought it over and busted out the clippahs yesterday. justin may have brought sexy back, but i'm bringing velcro back-

would you prefer an aisle or window seat?

2008-07-16T15:48:00.002-05:00

and have you considered optional MANPADS protection for you upcoming flight?

from cnn.com:

Passenger plane flies with laser-system that repels missiles

(CNN) -- The first passenger plane equipped with a system to repel shoulder-fired missiles successfully completed its flight, a British defense and aerospace company announced Wednesday.

The system aims to protect against fire from missile launchers like these, which were used to fire at an Israeli plane.

1 of 2 The "JetEye" infrared missile-defense system was tested on an American Airlines flight that took off July 11, according to a statement from BAE Systems.

The plane flew from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport to Los Angeles International Airport in California, the company said.

The JetEye system works by detecting the heat-seeking missiles and then firing a laser, which diverts the missile.

American Airlines refused to make the system mandatory on all trips, but agreed to cooperate with the tests.

The flight represents the final phase of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Counter-Man-Portable Air Defense System (MANPADS) program, designed to test the suitability of missile-protection equipment for commercial aircraft.

you have to be kidding?? of all the potential acronyms out there, homeland security settled on MANPADS. MANPADS? ugh.

reason #957 i-heart-super88

2008-07-13T09:04:00.000-05:00

in the produce section, somewhere between plums and nectarines:

a day for goodbye

2008-07-08T19:11:00.003-05:00

i am blessed to be a witness
some have flown away
and can't be with us here today
like the hills of my home
some have crumbled and now are gone
gather around for today won't come again
i am blessed to be a witness

-ben harper

a few pics

hanging with the animals

2008-07-06T08:47:00.001-05:00

how much do i miss these guys???????

saying goodbye

2008-07-04T10:07:00.002-05:00

yesterday morning the phone rang and it was the news i had been both expecting and dreading for a while now. one of my favorite persons and closest friends passed away. i'm going to miss my grandma more than i can explain, but i know everything is how it should be now.

i love this pic of the three of us:

and this one too:

Thich Nhat Hanh says-

Let us meditate on the birth of a cloud. The cloud was water in an ocean, lake, river and heat from the sun gave it birth – the moment of continuation. Rain is a continuation of the cloud. When I drink tea, it’s very pleasant to be aware I am drinking cloud.

It is impossible for a cloud to die. It can become water, snow – it cannot become nothing. It is also impossible for us to die. Speech, action and thought continue in the future. When we pronounce a word that is compassionate, good and beautiful that is our continuation. The person who dies still continues- They continue in us and around us.

Rain is a continuation of the cloud.

I'm feeling a little sad and quiet, but I'm happy it's raining today.

what the world needs now...

2008-06-28T08:33:00.002-05:00

is a little extra g.coleman in our lives. i've decided to start my day with a iced soy coleman latte:

i better get that patented, otherwise it will be the next overpriced thing to show up on the stahbies menu. i can see the mini-vans double parked across america, with soccer moms lined up, frothing at the mouth for their skinny colemans, half-caff colemans, extra hot double cupped colemans... endless possibilities.

enjoy

deckathon08, part II (alternate title: another sore sunday)

2008-06-22T08:03:00.002-05:00

just a quick progress report- yesterday was a perfect summer day to be outside banging on some wood ;) the day finished injury-free and we left with the 20 fingers we came with.

slowly but surely

and how impressed are we all with those custom-cut angled pieces?

j.mo swinging his tool

it's getting hot in here

today's the day...

2008-06-18T08:21:00.002-05:00

it was 2 years ago today that j.mo and i tied the knot at our fabulous surprise wedding a la dirtydot bbq.

happy anniversary mistah... i sho do love you :)(:

working wood

2008-06-14T17:58:00.003-05:00

i gotta say, for a couple of amateurs, j.mo and i are pretty handy around the house. well, in this case, we're handy around his momma's house. last weekend we pulled apart a section of wickid old fencing and replaced all of the boards ourselves. while john was busy demolishing the old fence, i was in the garage on assembly duty with all the bits and pieces that eventually became a table saw. (you know i quadruple checked that shit- the visions of switching this testosterone fueled wood chomping contraption on and watching j.mo take a flying saw blade to the head at 4,000,000 rpm's was something i was hoping to avoid).

with the fence (plus swivel gate, i might add) under our construction belts, it was on to the deck. jmo's momma's deck could give you a splinter if you looked at it the wrong way, let alone set foot on it with bare feet. gray, rotted, splitting old wood... after a measuring session, we had lowes deliver a truckload of new wood and did a little demolition work on the old stuff... today we really stepped up the pace, both with tearing the old crap up and getting started with newdeck08. no major injuries to report- j.mo did get hit in the side with a large piece of wood that rocketed off the saw and his leg did get scraped, but there were no emergency airlifts to the ER. i got a splinter and in true gurlscout style, managed to suck the poison out.

before we get started, everyone's tetanus shots are up to date-? we got a whole lotta rusted nails up in there:

check out the g.diddy supastah safety goggles:

the deck re-build is simply not enough, gotta add another set of stairs too:

g+saw

j+saw

pretty impressed with ourselves we are ;) oh yeah- i got out of the shower a few mins ago and j.mo was like 'what's that red splotch all across the top of your ass?' uh, yeah, that would be my sexy sunburn a la plumber's crack:

amazing how becks and i look the same from behind, huh?

here are all the pics from today's adventure in carpentry. hope y'all are having a good weekend...

i pledge allegiance...

2008-05-31T20:34:00.002-05:00

i just got back to boston after a few quick days in DC for an international education conference. originally i had thought i was going to be job hunting right now, so that was the main reason for trekking off to DC. when i landed the HBS job a few weeks ago everything was already booked and paid for, so i was able to relax and enjoy the change of scenery without the pressure of landing a new job.

it was a wonderful few days- picture perfect weather, good friends, good food- friday was pretty much a free day and my flight back to boston wasn't until 8p, so i had the whole afternoon to wander around-

a few photos:

union station:

metro:

sexy orange carpeting in the metro:

world war II memorial:

washington monument:

the candidates:

on the hill:

freedom, defiled:

(all the rest of the pics are here)

summerstart

2008-05-26T17:11:00.001-05:00

puppylove

2008-05-26T17:03:00.002-05:00

where i've been

2008-05-24T18:16:00.002-05:00

wow- the past few weeks have been anything but the usual. let's see if i can attempt a re-cap with any semblance of order:

so my brief stint as america's next top intern at harvard's international office was the prefect segue to a shiny new job. luckily, while i was at hio i made a few invaluable connections and exactly as dionne warwick predicted (for the bahgain price of $3.99/minute) the planets aligned and out popped a bona fide solid career opportunity that seems to have been custom-designed pour moi. i have to say the interview process was rather full-on. i had to take 3 sick days from my soon-to-be-no-longer-job in travelparadise and met with 11 different people, all individually(!) but it was well worth the effort- starting june 9th i'll be the manager of immersion programs at harvard business school, working on existing short term study abroad programs as well as helping to research and develop new programs. i could not be more excited. i'm thrilled to have landed a job 'in the field' and so closely tied to both what i went to school for and what i'm interested in. it's also quite the novelty to work somewhere with actual stability and a professional, supportive environment. i suppose somewhere way down inside i will miss my current nuts-o VP that sees no issue with dropping the f-bomb during our usual weekly meeting.

so that's the big news on the jobfront. j.mo and i headed out today to the wrentham outlets to get me a whole new wardrobe- i've had the luxury of sneakers, jeans, and polo shirts for the last 8+ years of work. it's all shirt & tie and hookah shoes from here on out. that $600 gov-mint stimulus couldn't have come at a better time. i wonder if i can write it off as a charitable donation to the banana republic?

may 18th it was all about this:

and this:

it's kind of a curious feeling to no longer be a student. no more trekking off to class, hours of forced reading, no papers, no friggin groupwork. yeah- i don't think i'll be running back to school anytime soon!

the butter queen was kind enough to think of j.mo and i when she scored some excellent red sox tickets. we had a fabulous time a few nights ago at fenway-

after this lovely long weekend i'm off to washington dc for an international education conference- since i scored the HBS job, i don't have to worry about job hunting anymore, so i can just kick back and enjoy dc ;) when i get back to boston i've got one week left at work and then it's up, up, and away. may 2008 has been an incredible month. grad school was a wonderful experience and seems to have already paid off- but i must admit i'm thrilled at the idea of being able to spend more time at home and with friends and family now that it's back to a normal schedule.

so that's where i've been. hope you're all enjoying the long weekend.

-g

a ton of bricks (literally)

2008-05-11T07:13:00.002-05:00

ok, i'm mostly going to ignore the fact that it has been over a month since my last post. in 50 words or less, here's where i've been: internship ended, graduation next week, 3rd round of interviews for what could possibly be the perfect job (more on all that later), exercising and running resumed. basically, it's been a thrill and a half to have a normal schedule again and i've been rediscovering all the things i used to enjoy. with this post i hope to be back on the blogginwagon.

there's nothing j.mo and i like more than a project- something around the house, maybe pet-related, an outdoor do-it-choself adventure. living in a relatively small space and lacking a bottomless budget, there aren't all that many projects left for us to do. but we did say last year that we wanted to do something with the front of the house. and for various reasons never got around to it. well last week we got together with the neighbors and decided it was time to get to work on adding a little gayspray to what was a rather sorry bit of front yard.

cue the visuals...

here's what we have been living with: litter-strewn clumps of grass peppered with 'dog treats'(of the non-Franklin variety, of course)- the whole lot inevitably turning brown and dying a crunchy death during the summer months.

not so sexy, huh?

bust out the gloves- you know you live in the hood when there's at least a pound of automotive glass shards in the front yard from the last time a car was broken into.

attack the 'lawn' and tear up all of the grass-

and here come the bricks- literally a ton of them. they're 22lbs each and we carted well over 100 of them home with multiple trips to our local home depot. bricks, oh my bricks. each lifted off of the shelf, loaded on to the trolley, loaded into the car, taken out of the car, stacked into position. and i wonder why i feel like i was hit by a truck this morning.

so 5 trips to home depot, all those bricks, 15 bags of mulch, and a whole bunch of plants and a lot of moaning and groaning later-

before:

after:

well worth the train wreck aching body this morning. hope everyone is having a good weekend- happy mother's day to the mums...

all cho'ed up...

2008-04-06T09:29:00.002-05:00

recipe for a perfect evening

first start with a lovely early spring day...

the add
1 hot hubby
2 gorgeous friends
a generous round of nibbles
mix in
1 bottle moet
4 martinis
1 lg pesto, tomato, artichoke, asiago pizza
1 vegan chocolate cake

and then wander off across the common for some quality time with miss cho.

a guaranteed no-fail good time :)

it's a big fat gay easter

2008-03-21T18:12:00.003-05:00

i'm not quite sure why it has taken me 30 years to notice just how gay the whole easter thing is...

first the opening ceremony- a mandatory glitterspray from chocopridebunny:

precious pastel-dyed eggs:

shiny foil wrapped eggs:

an edible egg orgy:

minilesbians, hunting and gathering:

baskets full of supergreen plastic easter grass:

armies of tiny cross-eyed peeps, straight from the i-just-swallowed-a-glowstick-rave:

creepy bunnies:

creepier republican bunnies:

big-haired lady rabbits:

a never before seen pic from the bunnyfarm, where unemployed bunnies pass the long months of the uneaster season:

and perhaps the biggest sign of easter's bleechblondstonewallroots- the sacred ceremonial easter ham, all glazed up in a chemical pink glory and topped with rings of fruitynutritious pineapple, plucked from the very hat of carmen miranda:

have yourselves a merry little gay easter ;)

and now a public service announcement...

2008-03-09T10:34:00.003-05:00

10 years ago if someone had told me that by the time i was 30 i would be having chunks of myself cut away because of too much time in the sun i would have laughed and said 'yeah right.' that only happens to the tanning bed peeps and the florida nanas with leather handbag complexions. when i lived in australia i was *always* in the sun- yardwork, reading, lunch, napping, jogging- toujours au soleil, rarely with spf on... ah the myth of a 'healthy tan.' if you're white, you're not supposed to turn brown- it's just not in our dna.

sadly, i'm starting to feel like a 30 year old block of swiss cheese. on friday i had two more suspicious spots (and their surrounds) removed, leaving me with 17 stitches and a whole lot of uncomfortable.

i've certainly gotten better about being out in the sun- given my own situation and what my mum went through two summers ago with merkel cell carcinoma, i got it, loud and clear- the sun is nothing to mess around with. now a hat goes on if i'm going to be out in the sun for a while, as well as a slathering of SPF and an incessant badgering of anyone around me to make sure they are also adequately protected.

luckily, of the 6 biopsies and 3 excisions i've had, so far everything has been either completely benign or caught so early it didn't have time to develop into anything more serious. and for anyone who is still not convinced they need to cover up/hose down in SPF pre-sun, a pic from friday:

if that's still not enough for you, these few pics should definitely do it. honestly, though, don't click here unless you're ok with pretty gross stuff. i hesitated to put these pics online (hence a link instead of just posting them) because they even gross me out. but j.mo made a good point- it would be silly to go through this and not share the experience with everyone around me just in case anyone needs convincing of what can happen from too much time in the sun.

hamptonio tortuga

2008-03-09T09:06:00.001-05:00

a certain favorite seasonal resident decided it was time to un-hiberbate himself and dug his way out of his wintersleepsession and was eagerly awaiting an airlift out of j.mo's mum's basement yesterday when we checked on him:

welcome home, hampton. oh how i missed the sound of salad munching in the corner :)

mmmhmmm

2008-03-08T11:26:00.001-05:00

a few signs it's time for a new job:

2008-03-02T20:23:00.002-05:00

yes folks, these things actually do hang from the ceiling above my head, hand-tied and painstakingly hung by our favorite central american facilities specialist, no doubt...

one example

i might be able to focus if it weren't for the dustbunnycoatedsuspendedoverheaddistraction every 4 feet

and one of my favorite

followed in shortstep with

'drink your koolaid'

and

'tom cruise is my baby daddy'

'tis the season

2008-02-24T19:43:00.004-05:00

if memory serves, it was around this time one year ago that i sat down to blog about my post-hollywood-related-stress -disorder which inevitably bubbles to the surface when the oscarmoths circle round the self-important westbeverlybarebulb hanging from c.theron's left tata.

i'm a pretty simple guy, more or less predictable when it comes to all things consumable: beer, lighter than dark... wine- australian. music, independent... and movies, subtitled. i really don't do hollywood for the most part- mutli-million $ films that induce acid reflux in the first 15mins. more often than not, i'm gonna pass.

and then come the oscars, when hollywood eats a giant hollywood sandwich smothered in hollywood with a side of hollywood. all set to the tune of this redcarpetedcrotchetycrustmuffin:

it's the one time of year when the department of homeland security swoops in to raise the crispy-corpses-of-terror-o-meter from it's usual moderatedawnofthe deadmolestationprobable to elevatedburntsiennafleshtone/should have taken her out of the oven days ago-

you can imagine my deep dismay when joan rivers' oven stuffah roaster timer finally popped this year, and she's nowhere to be found on network tv.

insert sigh of relief (here). now if i could just get gwen stefani's turkeytimer to pop too- then we'd be livin lahge with both of my arch nemeses sent off to the giant perdue sanctuary in the sky...

snowstorm parking, dorchester style...

2008-02-23T17:32:00.002-05:00

pretty typical after a storm:

definitely worthy of a special mention for best snow-related parking improv with a random household object:

big game corpricana

2008-02-22T19:13:00.002-05:00

i really wasn't kidding in my last post when i mentioned there was a stuffed and mounted water buffalo bust in our conference room at work:

and a matching gazelle at the other end:

my buddhist/vegetarian/generally peace-lovin' self shudders a little once-upon-a-grassland-sigh every time i set foot into the room. i usually console myself with the faux rationalization that the the water buffalo is a rare tofudebeast and the gazelle a rather furry soybean by product... and if i look closely, turn my head to the side and squint with one eye i can see the little vermin-munching birds hopping about on their motionless heads. hours of entertainment in the usual mind-numbingly lifeless meetings. the idea of the owner hunting these poor things down and then shooting them and dragging their poor deflated shells back to boston doesn't do much for office morale, either. but the meerkats in HR haven't emerged from their burrow long enough for me to me mention that to them- it's hard enough to get my t pass from them every month. i fully expect to see the next mutually-decided-upon-was-been associate to appear stuffed and mounted as well. but that's something for the suggestion box in the kitchen, subject of my next 'yes i really work in a place like this' blog post.

if i had a tail, i'd be spinning in circles chasing it. (alternate title: i'll be camped out at the mailbox if anyone needs me)

2008-02-17T18:49:00.002-05:00

in high school i ran into kristin hersh's music a la throwing muses and have been a fan ever since. without going gush-y, muses were fab. kristin's career as a solo artist has been unreal and her new band 50footwave gives whole new meaning to rocking out while de-dog hairing the entire house. she's *always* working on something new, music, touring, writing, photos...

last time froggie and i saw her in person we walked all the way home from cambridge to dorchester after the show because, well, it was just that kind of we-need-to-walk-home-type-bliss.

her blog and cashmusic.org bring it all front and center. if you send her an email, she writes back. it's kinda like i half expect to bump into her at the office copy machine tomorrow morning. (although i'd feel woefully unwell if she had to sit under the giant stuffed water buffalo in the 1st floor conference room- no one should ever have to sit there)

well, it all got upped a sabado gigante sized notch when this was posted. for a small bit of $ you get to pick any 10 kh or muses songs and she will record shiny new live versions just for you (along with a hello), sign the cd and mail it off. i'm sure it will be quite the scene when i'm wrapped around the mailman's leg on delivery day.

i don't sell anything- i'm pretty crap at sales in general and know it's best to steer clear. but if you don't know about kristin or what's she's up to, have a look/listen. the soundtrack to my days would be a sad brick of long expired astronaut ice cream without kristin in the mix. thanks k-

we need more lemon pledge

2008-02-16T19:53:00.000-05:00

wintergarden

2008-02-16T08:39:00.001-05:00

puppylove...

2008-02-16T08:13:00.001-05:00

2008-02-10T09:25:00.000-05:00

fancy a cup of tea?

2008-02-03T09:37:00.000-05:00

yesterday i was at super88 poking around the piles of small pig-shaped new year's cakes, conveniently prepared and ready to eat chicken feet snack-packs, and every edible green you can imagine when i stumbled into aisle 9's tea-topia. the tea section is the only part of super88 that can rival the typical supermarket's requisite sugary breakfast cereal aisle in both overwhelming paralytical variety and mind-erasing packaging complexity. we're almost out of ginger tea, so i was wading around my own private jasmine-scented ginko-infused teaparty trying to decide which of the 1.2million varieties was gonna work when i found this:

potent man tea. watchoself- i've had my potent man tea this morning... i wonder- tea to increase male potency? or tea made from virile he-essence? i got so distracted by the packaging and then fumbling around to take a quick photo i completely forgot why i was there and it wasn't until i was loading the car with groceries that i realized i'd forgotten to buy tea.

happy superbowling...

30 for 30 days

2008-01-27T17:58:00.000-05:00

so i've decided to opt for the no-risk free trial and attempt this whole 'being 30' thing for the next month. i know, i know- can you really trust the crap they're peddling on a 3am infomerical? if it doesn't work out, i was promised i can just send everything back (except the free knives- wickid keepahs), get my money back and return to being a happy twenty-something year old. i'll be sure to let everyone know how this works out so stay tuned.

my bday weekend could not have been more fun... the butter queen volunteered her family's place on the cape and eight of us (plus frankahs) trekked down yesterday for an overnight round of eating (a killer risotto and huge brunch), drinking (i think more than 8 bottles of wine and a case of beer disappeared), fireplace loungetime, and wandering around the frozen beaches of wellfleet. such a good time (and surprisingly, today's hangover was pretty mild)- the cape in the winter really is beautiful. the only drama happened yesterday, when for about 20mins franklin managed to go m.i.a. we had him on the beach and decided he was smart enough to go off the leash and not wander into traffic/drown. except he did happen to just trot off into the dunes and disappear. thank god/buddha/oprah we had the scottish dog whisperer with us and kenny managed to wrangle him back into the corral- he found him near a playground, sniffing in circles and completely unaware anything was wrong/anyone was mental over their nearly-failed attempt at being parents.

so yeah- other than the now-you-see-him-now-you-don't-franklin-at-large-fiasco and outrunning a snowstorm today to get home in one piece, we all had the best time. my stomach still hurts from all the laughing and the ungodlygastronomicstretchsession it just endured. thanks so much guys- a brilliant 30th!

and for all the rest of the pics

ps- mad props to j.mo for the tix to see the red sox v. the yankees!!!

pint-sized ladyluvs

2008-01-20T15:34:00.000-05:00

hi y'all-

first post of the new year and it's only appropriate that it starts with a fresh from the plantation, fried riblets, niblets and giblets down home southern "hi y'all." i just got home from a lovely long weekend in south carolina spent with lys, soldiertom, and the two cutest minipolskas to ever escape the motherland.

sydney(left) & morgan (right)

morgan and sydney wasted no time in making it clear you are *nobody* if you don't have a purple (or possibly pink) princess wand:

mo'gan

syd demonstrating how a grilled cheese pairs nicely with the hypnotizing glow of my new favorite show

uncle g assuming the position:

no rope? no worries. we can play tug of war with your sister.

!! you must be over 18 to continue past this point !!

the homewrecking scandal that was the last man between my legs:

winston could very well be the second-most adorable cat evuh... i can't mess with queenblimper's title as resident heavyweightbeautycat, but he is a very close runner-up.

some infectious giggles, with a side of rugburn

and by far one of the best moments of the weekend- this will never not make me laugh

so

much

fun

already

missing

all

of

them

hope '08 is off to a good start for everyone :)(:

merry merry

2007-12-25T13:35:00.000-05:00

it's hard to believe that xmas07 has landed and 2008 (along with turning 30) is just around the corner. i'm finally starting to relax a little after a grueling couple of weeks leading up to xmas. classes are over. over as in never again! and i can once again enjoy something resembling a normal routine. at least until my harvard internship starts in a few weeks- but right now i'm not gonna think about that- i'm still basking in the postholidaybrunchglow that has officially upped my waist size another festive yuletide inch:

on that note, the couch is calling me... here's a link to the rest of the pics. hope santa was good to everyone this morning :)(:

a few more pics from paris...

2007-11-03T20:20:00.000-05:00

in addition to all the digital pics we took, i blew the dust off of my camera, stocked up on film, and did some old school picture takin- the picture quality/color is a little funny when they put them on cd, but some of the pics came out pretty good :)

pics from paris

2007-10-27T07:51:00.000-05:00

finally got around to getting some pictures online!

enjoy :)

because what can't we have? yup, nice things...

2007-10-18T06:05:00.000-05:00

like functioning public transport...

j.mo and i are leaving for paris tonight for a quick 4 day trip/sanity break/honey-i-shrunk-the-vacation...

PARIS, France (CNN) -- France's public transportation network came to a halt Thursday as public sector workers staged a series of strikes in what is seen as the first big test for President Nicolas Sarkozy's government.

i get the feeling we're gonna be doing a lot of walking the next few days...

;)

mind cho bidness

2007-10-12T19:44:00.000-05:00

so despite the sore throat and the work craziness that was 4 people with mexican passports stranded in vienna since they didn't realise they needed visas to go to albania (if you're mexican and are going to albania you might want to check that whole visa thing *before* you get on a plane for tirana), all day long i was looking forward to coming home and taking one very excited puppy named franklin for nice long walk... luckily the rain let up and it was happystrollin' for everyone.

at the end of our walk we returned home to find our patch of mostly dead front yard overrun with all the neighborhood kids. most of them are ok enough- but there are two in particular that should have been flushed long ago when they were still of flushable dimensions. we debated planting a couple of land mines in the front yard over the summer. but while undeniably effective, we were a little concerned about property resale value post-detonation. so we passed on the land mines.

so yeah- kids. everywhere. there's one girl- about 8 years old, scraggly red hair, and incessanlty screaming as if she's been hog-tied to the roof of a minivan and driven through an automatic carwash. she's the same girl that most intelligently decided to try and climb the chainlink fence between our house and the neighbors this summer and ended up getting her denim shorts stuck on the fence straddling the top if it. i remember being at the dining room table that day doing schoolwork and hearing a whimpering sound. and there she was, stuck on the fence, using her treestump mental prowess to try and figure out a way out to detach her crotch from our fence. priceless was our neighbor, who hearing the same whimpering, stuck her head out the window and said 'mira chica, you better get off that fence before you hurt your punta...'

anyways- she was there today screaming away. along with the obnoxious shithead little boy that insists of being a hyper-moron every chance he gets. like last week when he turned on the queeny gay voice and told me he liked my 'pretty shoes.'

while some of the kids were petting franklin and asking questions like 'how old is he?' 'what kind of dog is he?' etc... that little dick asks me 'so do you live here?' yes i do. 'do you live alone?' no. 'do you have a roommate?' no. 'do you have a girlfriend?' NO. I DON'T HAVE A GIRLFRIEND. I HAVE A HUSBAND. he sure did clear out mighty quick.

:)(: happy friday. go sox!

mr franklin

2007-10-08T10:32:00.000-05:00

what a complete sweetheart franklin turned out to be-

snoozepup:

this part is definitely still a work in progress:

and then we had a dog...

2007-10-06T21:53:00.000-05:00

so j.mo and i drove out to an animal shelter in the great beyond that is western mass today to meet a few dogs we saw online. and by 4pm we were eating yet another round of auntie annie's greasebombpretzels off the side of the highway with franklin, the supercute beagle in the back seat. (a side note- after the trip to baltimore, the multiple trips to CT the past few weeks, and today's trek to fetch franklin we've stopped at the same rest stop on the masspike more times than i care to count at this point. and each time an egg-shaped he-princess in powderblue pretzel garb named michael is there to serve up disgustingly good fauxbutter infused twisted dough with way too much salt. mmm good eats.)

back to the dog.

here's franklin, all pooped from his big adventure today including car ride, cat-encounter, neighborhood walk and cootie-be-gone bath:

baby's first bath:

prepare yourselves for a whole lot of 'proud parent' posts :)

my best friend's wedding

2007-09-30T18:27:00.000-05:00

hola chicas'n'chicos-

this weekend my best friend annie got married down in CT... she's been the buttah on my wholegrain toast for 15 years now- mira..! that's a whole lot of viewings of national lampoons xmas vacation, feedings of ungodly proportions, and mucho vino. i've even seen her facedown in a bomb crater in normandy and of course there was that wickid bizzah time i ended up with one of her leftover boyfriends ;) oooh- that's a whole 'nuther blogpost right there.

anyways- back to the point. the entire wedding was picture-perfect from start to finish. it was beautiful weather, a lovely ceremony and of course the reception was kick-ass. it was so wonderful to be there for her big day and to catch up with her family too- she's got the kind of flawless fam that instantly sucks you in and spits you out an honorary member... i hold the coveted title of 'favorite nephew.' ;) in addition to all of that, she was kind enough to invite my parents too- and i have to say it was most heartwarming to see them enjoying themselves all night long. i was momentarily horrified when they got up and actually started dancing- but there were no calamities, fractured hips or ambulance rides outta there, so it was all good in the hood. and there were also a few random friends i hadn't seen in ages- lots of gaps to fill in and a good time all around.

some pics:

here's annie and jack- he's a definite keepah... it also doesn't hurt that he's a nyc firefighter and the boys of the firehouse were well-represented saturday night :P

cake-age:

the parental units:

and now the pole-dancing spectacle that was annie's mum, big g and some random chick...

and i absolutely love this one:

a public service announcement and a little fuzzy eyecandy

2007-09-14T19:45:00.001-05:00

i recently went to target and bought a giant plastic tub for all of my school stuff from previous semesters. i was getting tired of the piles everywhere- on the table, in the spare room, on the bedroom floor... nothing like tripping over a little linguistic anthropology or stubbing a toe on immigration law when reaching for the snooze button at o'dark hundred when the alarm does its thing.

so yeah- a plastic tub. endless amusement when i took the lid off and discovered this no-baby-storage-warning:

only in america do you need to put a label on a plastic storage bin to remind the wickid smaht average consumer that despite its tempting convenience, tupperware with a tightly sealing lid is probably not your first choice when tucking junior into bed. it's paper *not plastic* people!

on a completely unrelated note... i'd like to say thanks to the hot construction worker across the street who decided to ditch the t-shirt and help keep my workdayclock movin' most of the afternoon today. too bad the windows to my office are filthy and my cell phone's camera can only do so much... you'll just have to take my word on it- mighty fine indeed.

ok- the sox are up 4 to 1 in the 4th inning and the brownie sundaes are almost ready...

have a good weekend-

g

baltisox roadtrip 07

2007-09-12T20:02:00.000-05:00

so last weekend j.mo, j2 and myself packed up senor pablo with hummus, chips, nuttah buttahs, diet pepsi and clean undies

and joined the red sox convoy headed south to baltimore to catch saturday night's game.

friday night we stopped in ct to dine with the parentals and enjoy a little late summer campfirebliss as well...

firesafetyjohnny keeping his distance from the inferno

big g in the middle of his fireside touch-hole monologue (yes, you had to be there. no i can't explain) with jon coping fabulously well with the residents of the schwartz family compound)

saturday morning we set sail:

baltimore's a little rough around the edges, but the inner harbor is nice...

that odd maryland state flag

thanks to mistah shatner's kungfu priceline price slashing, we had a lovely hotel room with a decent view of the harbor:

and despite the fact the sox had their asses handed to them, camden yards was a great park- there were so many red sox fans there it nearly could have passed for a home game:

ahhhh- nothing says scenic americana quite like the glorious smokestacks of the jersey turnpike. i wish i still had the two pages of papisbigbook that managed to get stuck to the front license plate of the car. no joke- we stopped to pee and get spray-on buttered auntie annie's pretzels and there were two pages of the bible in spanish stuck to our license plate. how very jersey!

shhhhhh! pollo consado

definitely a good weekend- to be repeated next year... biggah and bettah!

say it ain't so...

2007-09-03T16:32:00.000-05:00

i'm so not ready for the week to start tomorrow... wonder what the chances are of canceling tuesday due to lack of interest?

after sleeping in i went jogging, hoping i might be able to out-run the remnants of the previous two days. but at the 5-mile mark i more or less gave up and instead sat in the shade, watching the world go by at castle island.

about two weeks ago my grandma got sick and ended up in a nursing home after a brief stay at the hospital. things started to settle down a bit and she began adjusting to her new home and eagerly started exercising, eating well, etc all with the motivation of getting better enough to move back to her apartment. so after we went and visited her and saw how high her spirits were and how determined she was to get back to her own home and her routine, i was feeling pretty optimistic that things would work out the way she wanted.

until she got sick again (this time with pneumonia) and wound up back in the hospital. j.mo and i went to see her on saturday and sunday- i'm so grateful that we got to spend some time together, because it's becoming quite clear that she won't be here much longer. on saturday it was so hard not to cry when she said she wanted to see grandpa and her sisters and that she was just ready to go.

for her sake i do hope things peacefully wind-down and she drifts off in the middle of a real good dream. we were there yesterday as she was moved back to the nursing home and made all her wishes known re: just being kept comfortable with no heroic measures or return trips to the hospital. she looked so small and tired in that big bed, but certainly didn't let on if she was feeling less than stellar.

since i was little i've always been close to my grandma- we've spent a lot of time together. she's always made it a point to know what i'm up to, where i'm going, and how i'm doing. even when i was away in australia, she never failed to send at least a letter every month... and we talked on the phone nearly as often so she could fill me in on all the important stuff like what was happening on ER. i've always loved her no-nonsense approach to everything, these days becoming her last chapter included. she's lived on her own for a long time and did everything exactly the way she wanted. when she met john the first time she understood it all and never asked a single question- he was instantly added to her big 'ol list of grandkids.

so i guess i've just been a little sad today. remembering the things i love about her so much and not being able to imagine what must be on her mind right now. i'm going to miss her, both as my grandma and as one of my closest friends. i hope the rest of her time here is as good to her as she has been to all of us.

new ben on tuesday makes me happy...

2007-08-26T13:21:00.000-05:00

huffin'n'puffin

2007-08-26T12:22:00.000-05:00

this weekend i registered, so there's no turning back now- saturday, october 13th i'll be running a half-marathon in hartford.

i won't be collecting $ for charity, but i will be accepting donations for my ride home:

a post in honor of my favorite latvian spy

2007-08-25T13:52:00.000-05:00

i knew if i searched around long enough i'd find proof that special agent natasha did indeed wait in the breadline:

now what do you have to say about that? i know all your secrets ;)

c'est fini

2007-08-20T23:19:00.000-05:00

finally, i can put the summer semester to bed.... i just finished my 15 page case study for immigration law. good thing you're not trying to haul these bags across the border!

needless to say, tomorrow is a sick day for me, because it's nearing 1am and i'm still awake. that *never* happens on a work night unless it's some kind of school-related torture.

speaking of work, i've been wanting to do a post about this since last week- first the visual (what i see when i look out one of my two windows at work):

then the email my boss sent:
_____________________________________________
From: H, Linda
Sent: Friday, August 17, 2007 8:44 AM
To: F, Stephen; M, Richard
Cc: L, Linda
Subject: Vestibule

Something needs to be done with the vestibule between Gary's office and mine. I've told you about all the drug dealing that have been going on there. Yesterday, early afternoon a very drunk man walks up and urinates on the window in Gary's office while he's sitting at his desk. After that he passed out in the vestibule and Gary had to get Mario to remove him. With the coming rain today our department will smell like one of the walkways in the Downtown Crossing station.

We really need some help back here.

Linda

mmmmmhmmmm- sitting at my desk on thursday last week, minding my own business when a drunk guy decides to pee on my window. at the very least it could have been some young college beef to drool over... oh no, instead i got a sun-dried andy rooney that just downed a gallon of cheaperthancheapnailpolishremovervodka.

bet you don't get that in the burbs, now do ya?

survey says...?

2007-08-12T18:13:00.000-05:00

summerschool is almost done and i'm starting to enjoy this thing called 'free time' again :)

so i thought it was time to shake my blog's case of that-not-so-fresh feeling and update it's tired look- maybe this will encourage me to get back to posting on a more regular basis... so vote on the new digs (survey over on the right)- if everyone's happy it stays.

hope everyone had a good weekend!

-g

ps- in case you're curious... we took that pic in koh samui, thailand...

the opening clip for our group project in immigration law

2007-08-05T17:47:00.000-05:00

minisox and a half-marathon

2007-07-28T20:07:00.001-05:00

j.mo and i joined his sis and brother-in-law (and approximately 300 south shore moomoosuburbanmommas and their pot-bellied bigboyhusbands) for an afternoon of little league. it was so much fun to watch william- god he's getting to be so grown up:

after that it was a few hours of immigration law while it poured outside. as soon as the sun came back out around 6.30p i headed out for my first ever 13mile run. i definitely think i'll be ready for the half marathon this fall.

i was a little behind (ok- a bit more than a little behind... 38 miles to be exact!) in our challenge with the good dr- starting to catch up:

tomorrow am we're off to CT to see the fam. i'm sure there will be pics at some point. in the meantime, time to replace those 1400 calories i just ran off :P

hope y'all are having a good weekend.

-g

yay for pics

2007-07-24T20:43:00.000-05:00

bigthanks to the butter queen for posting pics from the road race :)

go see it

2007-07-22T11:01:00.000-05:00

and after you've seen it let me know when you're ready to buy your tickets to france- we may not be coming home when we land there in october...

i-heart-stewie

2007-07-21T09:56:00.000-05:00

this is perhaps my favorite family guy moment....

all sorts of excitement...

2007-07-20T18:27:00.000-05:00

this is my very first blog post from my supaflash new 'puter, thanks to my rather generous and thoughtful papi. my old laptop had just about lived out the last of its days, with my most recent paper writing experience featuring me needing to plug in a spare keyboard since none of the punctuation or symbols would work... it's going to take a little while to get used to all things mac, but i'm already in love.

yesterday i ran my first roadrace evuh- 5 miles, 42mins13secs... i came in 361st out of a bit more than 1000 peeps, so i was happy :) mags was there as our official cheerleader, so hopefully i'll have some pics soon. we're already talking about a half marathon this fall. stay tuned! in the meantime, last weekend j.mo and i went to see a sox game on saturday night. we had awesome seats and the weather could not have been more perfect....

how adorable is my green monstah?

alrighty- it's friday night and it's time to turn off the computer, stuff myself full of leftovers and then crash on the couch, pinned under the weight of my own gut until i pass out (probably before 10p). i'm so ready for retirement.

have a good weekend...
g

send new legs

2007-07-07T15:46:00.000-05:00

cheerleaders, please

2007-07-05T20:01:00.000-05:00

so my mistah came up with the idea of taking our new nanos and fancy sneaks and turning jogging into a new form of torture... j.mo, myself and our good friend j2 (aka the good dr) have a little competition going. the challenge is to see who can run the most miles in 60 days- and i need all of the encouragement i can get. because tonight i feel like i'm 80 years old from the the knees down thanks to yesterday's 12 mile run.

i'll post updates often, so get those pompoms up in the air ;)

fire it up...

2007-07-05T19:31:00.000-05:00

the only thing that can top the community togethaness of trash night in dorchester is the 4th of ju-ly. it doesn't matter if you're vietnamese, cape verdian, b-grade irish from southie or something in between- fireworks in the hood (and a whole shitload of them at that) seem to be a universal.

this was pretty much it, from 8p until whatever time i finally managed to pass out:

not off in the distance, blocks away or over the harbor- more like bouncing off the windows and melting the siding. for hours. we couldn't help but laugh as we were inventing dialogue for the tv show we couldn't hear over the curbsidepyrotechnicdin. when i woke up this morning i had to count my fingers to make sure i hadn't lost any in last night's shananagans. just another reason i-heart-dot.

lady t

2007-06-29T18:28:00.000-05:00

let's face it, no one offers up a close encounter with humanity's more colorful quite like the T. they really should work that angle in their advertising. 'ride the T & see some messed up shit'

this 'little' gem happend to be dancing up and down the aisle of the redline train i was on wednesday after class, stopping every so often to thrust and gyrate in a way that made me reach for my purell hand sanitizer just in case an unfortunate lurch in the T led to an unexpected lap dance. she was decked out in a 4sizestoosmallflashdancenumbah gone way wrong circa '82, complete with giant potbelly featuring a large horizontal scar. i'm sure she would have also had on matching legwarmers if they made them in size elephantankle.

you can understand why i wasn't bold enough to attempt a frontal photo. no need to take a chance on catching this one's attention.

(i think the guy on the left says it all.)

leg transplant, please

2007-06-24T12:25:00.000-05:00

so i left the house this morning hoping to top my 7-mile longest distance for running... i tried the other day, but couldn't bring myself to do another lap past sullivan's snack shack where 300lb americana grazes on soft-serve and fries. there's a reason i don't bring my wallet with me when i run ;) today i thought maybe, just maybe i could hit ten miles without falling apart somewhere between here and castle island.

well, champagne flavored gatorade for everyone :) 10 miles it was.

sanity day

2007-06-21T18:22:00.001-05:00

so after 10 straight days of work, or school, or on extra special days both work and school i finally started to crack yesterday. so i decided to treat myself to a mental health day before things got ugly and for the first time in forevuh did basically whatever i wanted. well, i did still get up in the am with j.mo and made a pot of coffee and as soon as i had a pulse cleaned the house. thank you caffeine. and after that was done i wrote a paper. again, thank you caffeine. so i got a lot done in addition to it being a day of whatever. after lunch i had a lovely walk in the sunshine on my way to the T so i could hit up the o.b.g.y.m and then feeling extra motivated when i was done with the gym i went for a seven mile run.

we've both been little running machines since we bought these:

and these:

i've run 23.8 miles in the past 11 days. according to the little man that lives inside my nano i'm on track to hit my goal of 60 mile in 4 weeks. here i am crawling across the finish line after my seven mile leg-punishing trek today:

i think before the weekend is over i might be able to do a ten mile run- we'll see what happens. i say that now, but i probably won't be able to walk to the train in the morning. whatever- it's been good motivation and there's something very zen about running. and running. and running some more. so as long as i have this crap job and crazy schedule with school i've got to try and stick with it.

it's amazing what a difference a day makes.

tickled pink (alternate title: signs of life)

2007-06-14T15:45:00.000-05:00

tomorrow would have marked two entire months since my last post... i wonder if anyone even checks in for updates anymore?!?

i'm on vacation from work right now (which means waking up at o'dark hundred every morning to answer my bottomless emails and shovel around passengers as if i care) so i can take 3 summer courses to make up for time lost last summer- immigration law (handy, though noitceably unthrilling), intercultural management (pretty good overall) and another on racism. the racism course was the last one i picked for this summer, and admittedly, it was ultimately chosen because it required the least number of days off from work. i would have never imagined it would turn into the experience it was. everything i thought i knew about the topic got spattered around the microwave like a certain ex-roomate's penchant for annihilating sticks of margarine in the name of baking. every once in a while you run into someone that's a true teacher- someone inspired and passionate... someone that teaches from lived experience and doesn't insist on an all you can eat buffet of half-cooked wordymumbojumbotheorypie. i feel incredibly grateful for all of this and have had so much to think about and question. at the risk of taking us all down hallmark boulevard, i'll stop crapping on and just say it was a moving experience on every level imaginable... one that is gonna be with me for the long-haul.

speaking of long-hauls... j.mo and i are about to celebrate our one year wedding anniversary on monday. it sounds kinda funny to say it's our first wedding anniversary since we've been together for seven years now, but it will soon indeed be one year ago that we were sticking two plastic grooms in a cake and getting all teary-eyed.

and what a lovely way to celebrate:

'A proposed constitutional ban on same-sex marriage was swiftly defeated today by a joint session of the Legislature by a vote of 45 to 151, eliminating any chance of getting it on the ballot in November 2008. The measure needed at least 50 votes to advance.... "We’re proud of our state today, and we applaud the legislature for showing that Massachusetts is strongly behind fairness," said Lee Swislow, executive director Advocates & Defenders. "The vote today was the triumph of time, experience, and understanding over fear and prejudice."

I too am proud of my state today. After a difficult and uncomfortable week of questioning so much about what I thought I knew about racism, identity and living in the US... And seriously wondering what (if any) impact I can have after all this time and energy spent learning about intercultural relations, I'm feeling a little bit better that maybe things can change. That maybe we really will have a chance to be parents and raise kids in a place that respects our family.

As I heard all week long-

learn, unlearn, relearn

one down, one to go

2007-04-15T18:30:00.000-05:00

someday i'll blog again. promise.

i finished a 24 page paper for one class on saturday. and have another one of the same proportions due soon.

may 7th is a-comin'

a fabulous little getaway...

2007-03-19T12:21:00.000-05:00

j.mo and i just got back from a couple of days of sunshine, sleeping in late and tons of good food. we flew down to florida to for some much needed R&R on the cheap. my good friend mojo's parents recently bought a place right on the water and my oh my, it sure was lovely...

here are a few of my pics:

me&mojo

mojo's friend claudia was also there- she's a professional photographer and her pics are amazing!

hope all is well-

biglove,
g

5 weeks since i last touched my e-gspot...?

2007-02-25T19:29:00.000-05:00

wow- has it really been five weeks since the last time i posted anything?

i'm afraid so.

but tonight the stuffed shells are already in the oven baking away and school stuff is more or less done for the week... and the oscars are on. so the window of bloggingpossibility has briefly opened and like a doomed shuttle landing, i'm going for it. now i know you're probably scratching your head in bewilderment... the oscars are a required highholygayholiday, man-sandwiched between cher's never ending farewell tour and thursday's eyebrow waxing. but somehow, someway i missed out on that fruitysprinkle doublehelix twist with a kiss... and the gayhollywoodgene skipped right on over me. i don't know my helen hunts from my diane keatons. come to think of it, i'm damn lucky i'm not sitting here in a flannel bathrobe listening to k.d lang while my s/he motormomma cooks me up some dead cow.

so yeah-- the oscars are one of many annual phenomena that send me to bed early. once they wheel out joan rivers and top her up on anti-freeze i'm nowhere to be found:

she is looking a bit extra crisp this year, wouldn't you agree?

so what's happened the past few weeks? nothing too noteworthy. work is working me over. i just started a research project for school that lasts for two semesters and ends with a 60 page paper a la thesis in disguise. and i also turned 29 a few weeks ago. a couple of random pics from that night's pahty:

i'm now on a mission to matchmake william with my friend ny's daughter...

blimpers is still lahge and in charge in case anyone was concerened:

and this weekend i was more american than i have ever been- i went TV shopping. the TV j.mo and i had was a good ol' fashioned 19 inches of no-name kmart brand that my sister gave me when i graduated college (the first time). so for the past 8 years i've carted around this old tele:

but this weekend we went all out and got this (don't mind the gypsy home furnishings on wheels... we're going to west elm on friday to take care of that situation...)

42 inches of plasma goodness. next you know i'll be driving a hummer and tossing big mac wrappers out the window...

hope all is well with everyone.

biglove,
g

the cheese flavored gods are smiling down on me today....

2007-01-20T19:56:00.000-05:00

j.mo and i happened to notice a sign at the much dreaded big e's vermont building a few months ago professing aged cheddar was lactose free. we were both so desperate to get the hell outta there we didn't pause to investigate.

well what do you know....?- from the cheesemasters themselves:

Cabot Products and your Diet
Can those with lactose intolerance (ie me) enjoy Cabot cheeses?All Cabot cheeses contain zero (0) grams of lactose. (0 grams bitches!) Eating any aged cheese should not affect those with lactose intolerance (i'm getting moist), regardless of how much is eaten (!), because lactose - the major carbohydrate of cheese - totally disappears within 3 to 4 weeks after the cheese is made.

this is major news folks. i-heart-cheese.

i can totally relate to john's twin sister when she was a little kid, dancing around the kitchen with a slice of american cheese, doing the ancient cheesedance and topping her pasta with an entire can of so much 'stinky cheese' that the sauce disappeared. me too! but unfortunately anything with lactose started making me disgustingly ill around the time i started college (j.mo too). so i've been coping with soy cheese for 10 years now. in light of this recent groundbreaking news the block of sharp vermont cheddar i bought at the supermarket today doesn't stand a chance.

if i don't make it to morning, i guess this is my last blogpost. at least i went out with a cheeseblissbang :)

mira! three weeks without a new post...

2007-01-20T11:08:00.000-05:00

howdy...

somehow three weeks have passed since the last time i posted anything here. that means i've got three weeks-worth of randomness to ramble on about. lucky you.

so this is month number 2 of the new job and the dust is finally starting to settle. my last job was very comfie- it didn't pay all that great, but there were lots of opportunities to travel and it was insanely quiet most of the year. so there was ample time to do homework, take 2 hour gym breaks and i rarely had to stay late... my new job is the complete polar opposite- from the moment i arrive in the am until i finally give up at the end of the day it's a whirlwind of triage, training, and general airline-related craziness. but anytime i start to question my decision all i have to do is remind myself that it was a raise of sabado gigante proportions and it's a profitable company that isn't about to go under/be bought out/have the electricity cut off for non payment. so i guess fair is fair.

this past week we had a quarterly corporate meeting- since there are about 180 employees, there's no space big enough for all of us to get together in our own building. so we all headed over to a swank-y function room at one of the nearby buildings in the financial district. seeing the early am sun coming up over the city was gorgeous:

i had a choke-hold on my stahbies the rest of the morning. not exactly riveting stuff whe you're knee-deep in fresh squeezed corpricana in the early am.

having the past month off from school has been bliss. i've been able to enjoy the holidays and real weekends again and not be exhasuted 24-7. but that's all about to end again on monday- it's back.....

one of this semester's classes will be lovely: international education exchange. the other, however, isn't going to do much to raise the pulse: dimensions and methods of cultural exploration 1. yup, that's right- this is part 1. next fall will be part 2. i'm already yawning. oh well- not much you can do about required courses.

this coming week kristin hersh has a new cd coming out and i couldn't be more excited- she's been my favorite for quite some time now and never fails to disappoint. froggie, this is for you:

so that's about all i suppose... my parents are on their way up to boston to spend the day and celebrate my birthday. it's not actually until next weekend, but they like to do things early ;) i'm still not entirely sure how i feel about turning 29. 3-0 is getting close. real close.

hope everyone is having a good weekend. i'll try to drop by more often.

biglove,
g