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

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...

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?

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...

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?

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

next stop?

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

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...

wtf blanket

mbta simulator...

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

read all about it here

i do (?)

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...

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

china re-visited...

fauxturkey recap

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...

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...