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September 8th, 2006

10:04 pm - First gear Balancing work, Veronica Mars addiction, reading recommended books, and checking out all the fuss on quilting. Maybe I can quilt myself a best-selling book about reading other books and watching Veronica Mars. Am making use of my Online Sci Fi/Fantasy/Horror Crit membership, submitted something for crit and got all excellent crits back. Yeah--see, that didn't hurt. It was like putting a band aid on, but the ripping off--really, not painful at all. Reading: Ten Second Staircase and Magic for Beginners Oh baked: Oatmeal banana basil cookies Current Mood: hopeful

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August 29th, 2006

07:49 pm - Reading...baking...procrastinating Ok, I am so procrastinating on writing. but there are reasons. Ok, excuses. Ok, slightly manufactured lameness to avoid working on the interminable first chapter. So, taking a quilting class... Making some cards... Reading...Piers Anthony, the first four Xanth books (A Spell for Chameleon, The Source of Magic, Castle Roogna)...Ten Second Staricase, by Christopher Fowler, and Magic for Beginners. Also baking...the garden is drowning drowning drowing in basil--cinnamon basil, thai basil, Italian basil. So I pulled the Morning Glories: An Herbal Cookbook off the shelf and made Cinnamon Basil Banana oatmeal cookies. And a blackberry basil tart. Yum. Current Mood: contemplative

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July 29th, 2006

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July 24th, 2006

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July 1st, 2006

09:49 pm - Supergirl? Did I not say no cape? Your results: You are Supergirl Supergirl 70% Robin 67% Wonder Woman 65% Spider-Man 60% Catwoman 60% Green Lantern 50% Batman 35% Hulk 35% Iron Man 30% Superman 20% The Flash 20% Lean, muscular and feminine. Honest and a defender of the innocent. Click here to take the "Which Superhero are you?" quiz...

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June 25th, 2006

08:28 pm - Writer's Weekend: June 22-25 Writers' Weekend is done--I admit, I went with some trepidation this year, I think because I knew I didn't want to be remotivated. I've been having a hard time editing my manuscript, and going through what I guess every writer goes through: do I really want to be rejected over and over? Is this really worth it? What am I really getting out of this? Back in middle and high school, I wrote and wrote and wrote--I filled reams of notebooks from Costco (then PriceClub). College, writing trickled off a little, despite (or perhaps because) of my focus on journalism and creative writing classes. Thursday was good, though a little rough once the actual conference registration started--I took the whole day off, and went to the airport to pick up Elizabeth Bear. She was a very fun lady--approachable and friendly.I took her out to the Sheraton, where she met up with Anne Groell (editor at Bantam/Spectra, a division of Random House)--I drove them over to Seattle Center, where they met up with Janna Silverstein. It was a gorgeous day to go across 520--the water was calm, the sky was dotted with clouds, there were beautiful herons dotting the arboretum waters and lily pads. I went over to the Sheraton, and helped Karen out with general set up stuff--putting together registration badges, setting up gift baskets.Folks started to trickle in to get their stuff--there were some snafus involved with the editor/agent appointments (lots of people cancelled, wanted to reschedule, leaving huge gaps), so many of them had to be rescheduled. But once we got over that, things rolled along. Another gal, Wendy, came in and helped us out as well--I drove us over to Bellevue Square for a late lunch/early dinner. Friday Friday morning, we started out with a workshop critique. Folks in similar genres sat down and critiqued each others' work--for our workshop (fantasy), we were fortunate enough to have the fabulous Claire Eddy come and critique our work. I'm doing better dealing with these--a recurring theme over the conference was that editors do their job, but you have to balance the feedback they give with what you feel they are contributing to your work. So I can listen to feedback now, and distance myself a little bit better from the critique. Take what I feel is valid, and leave behind that which I don't. Claire had good feedback for me--feedback no one else had given me, but after reading my five pages again, I agreed with. Things like this are hard to learn. I manned registration during lunch, with Corey, who has weathered four other Writers' Weekends. Corey is fanstastic--she can deal with irate or unhappy people with amazing calm. After lunch, I went to the Point of View (POV) panel--this panel reinforced another lesson: not all editors think alike. I am often chided in my writing for changing POV--it's easier for me to identify the places where I'm doing that in a wrong way these days, but I always felt like once you understood the rules, you could break them, and editors this time around reinforced that belief. Past times, there have been editors that have been adamant about the rules--and perhaps not terribly diplomatic about their enforcement of them. We had another collaborative effort/workshop as well. When people picked up their badges, they also had to pick out a totem animal. Then all the people with the same totem animal had to get together and write a creation myth of 100 words or less. I picked a monkey. So, the next thing I had to figure out was how to get together with the other monkeys. When I went home Thursday night, I printed out flyers with "Monkey's meet in the lobby at 11:35am" and then one for the lobby--I taped them all up all over the meeting room floor Friday morning. The signs worked--we all met and in about 10 minutes, we had our creation myth. If I'm remembering correctly, most of the creation came from one other member of our team, Jay Lake, and myself. At one PM, I pitched to an editor, and they asked for the first three chapters. I kind of stumbled over my words--this is hard for me too,t he pitching, I tried a tactic I'd read from an agen't site--just a note, it didn't work too hot when You have five minutes to pitch. So, mental revamp for later during the weekend. Writing Effective Dialogue: this is another thing I need to work on. Summarization of how to make mine better: does it advance the story? Claire Eddy made the following brilliant statement (and I don't mean that in a sarcastic or facetious manner): open your manuscript to any page. Now, close your eyes, an dpick any sentence. Does it make you want to read the next sentence? The problem with my dialogue--which I find hilarious--is that it's too real. No one wants to read the boring day-to-day filler---and in my initial draft, I do have that. At 3pm I met with an agent. Karen had set up an opportunity for an agent to critique your work, and then meet with the agent to discuss.This was extremely valuable--I can't say enough how valuable. It's hard to get individual feedback from agents or editors--at least in a situation where you can sit and chat face to face. This particular agent was absolutely wonderful--approachable and friendly, and just genuinely enthusiastic to the people that approached her. This is a big deal in this world--the few editors, especially, I've approached at prior conferences have been less than friendly. I got great feedback and some additional hope for the future--that is, if I can figure out how to reqrite the beginning of my novel. Again. Group pitch sessions with Claire Eddy were also going on in the same room as my agent appointment, so after I was done, I sidled over to the pitch table and just listened. Amazing what you can learn just sitting quietly. I wasn't going to stay for the "Disguising your Character" session, which was in the same room, but Karen had come in, and asked if I was, and since I didn't have any other session to go to at that time, I decided to stay. I was so glad I did-- for some reason, I translated this as costuming, rather than disguise, which is totally different. This class was absolutely fascinating, largely due t the fact that the instructor didn't mind making a point (she went in disguised, and had a friend lead the class until she was ready to reveal herself. She talked about close disguise, intimate disguise, and distance disguise, how long it takes to prep a really good disguise and what it takes to pull it off.Someone asked a really good question: "what if you were being pursued, you went into Kmart, you had an uninterrupted hour and $40--what would you buy?" This was probably one of the best visual illustrations I have ever been present for. A group of us trundled off to Azteca for dinner--moderately medicore Mexican food. Then we trundled back--the next panel I went ot was on Promotion and Marketing from the Author's Perspective. The speaker's on this were Yasmine Galenorn and JennaKay Francis--they had different perspectives: Yasmine's experience is in print, while JennaKay's is in e-publishing. They emphasized the basics at first: don't expect your publisher to help you out, for example. They went beyond though, with a handout, some suggestions for other resources and ways to promote. If I ever get published, I'd like to be prepared. How to Interest and Editor in Your Story--this was a good panel as well. Jay Lake was playing the part of both Elizabeth Bear and Claire Eddy--I was pretty tired at this point, so it occurred to me that Jay was now, vicariously "Claire Bear". I hadn't realized when we were doing the creation myth stuff that Jay was a published author. We decided he should come out with a line of soft plush toy animals pre-teen girls could wear as backpacks. Later that evening, I'd be flipping through my Locus and see that the end magazine interview was with Jay. The panel folks went over the basics, but the theme was the same as through the rest of the conference: it all comes down to good writing. There is no secret handshake (wouldn't that make it easy?). At this point, I was pretty exhausted, so I went home. End Friday. Yeay Sleep. Saturday I started out with the Editor and Agent Panel "Find out what they're looking for". This panel kept up with the recurring theme of "it's all about good writing". Then I went to "Plot"--this class was a little lighter on content, -but that's only my opinion. I think I was hoping for insights on more controlled plotting, something I have a difficultly with.The speakers were also largely focused on character-driven novels, rather than plot driven ones--makes it hard to talk about focused plotting. I tend to write and write, and kind of let things fall as they may. The polite term for this is "organic" plotting. I think I could bridge the gap, but I haven't been able to yet--that is, go back after the organic and fill in and patch all the little gaps and holes, make things complex, and unwinding. Still, the advice that came out of this class was food for thought: put your characters into impossible situations until you don't know how to get them out of it. And only then, do you think about it. After this, I called Marc, and we went to Red Robin to meet for lunch. It's unusual for us to spend so much time apart--we haven't--whether consciously or no, since we finally got to live together again in SoCal. It was nice to get away from the hotel for awile too. I came back from lunch, and went downstairs to wait for my editor appointment with Clarie. That went really really well--I felt like I had a little rapport thing going (ok, maybe it's in my head, maybe not) because she actually knew a little about video games and the associated IPs (Perfect Dark Zero). Afterwards, we met in the halls again--she was trying to connect with a friend who lived locally, and was on the search of Whideby Liquor, made from loganberries. I told her if she couldn't catch her friend, to let me know--and sure enough, she couldn't. So, I got to drive Clarie around scenic downtown Bellevue, where we discussed cats and air conditioning in our hunt for Whidbey Liquor--it didn't take very long, since Washington has a state liquor board stupidly anal about how, when, and where you can sell liquor. But still I got to take Claire Eddy around Bellevue! That's one of those things other people always get to do. After coming back from my outing, Yasmine Galenorn was in the lobby just chatting with a very small group. She is a very kind, approachable lady as well. I discovered she lives pretty close to me, to Crossroads...a published writer lives near me!!! I gave her an article I had pulled out of the local paper here Friday night, about a teapot museum opening in North Carolina.We chatted for awhile, and then went I went downstairs I bought a few books for the book signing (specifically Jay Lake's "Rocket Science"), and got them signed, and then went to Research Tools and Techniques, followed by Slushkiller (don't send gimmicky crap, don't send stuff in elvish font on purple paper, don't call and ask if your book was received), and then a panel on Aphrodisia, an erotic romance line published by Kensington books. Yeah, well, people are making good money selling erotica.Like paying their rent, paying actual biils. The highlight of the conference evening (Claire Eddy chaueffeuring aside) was probably the banquet and auction to raise money for Page Ahead. I personally thought the food (except for the tiramasu) was typical hotel food. I chatted with some new friends I made--Jannice and Christine. Karen announced the winners of the totem contest, and I am proud to say there was a tie, between the monkeys and the crocidiles. Then we did the rest of the raffles and went to the auction. The auction was pretty slow until we got the the final book (an Advanced Reader's Copy) from Elizabeth Bear--Worldwired. Keeping in mind the weekend-long joke of people being Elizabeth Bear, everyone had signed the book as Elizabeth Bear. For example, "Jay Lake as Elizabeth Bear", "Claire Eddy as ELizabeth Bear". Since you can usually get an autographed copy of a book, but not autographed like this, our auctioneer, Jenna Silverstein, emphatically encouraged us to bid more. When the bidding stalled, I suggested that Jay and Elizabeth throw in their (signed) totem animals. This was agreed to, followed by a copy of each winning myth (autographed by the team). Then Claire threw in her Japanese fan from WorldCon 1988-something (complete with the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse), autographed. Then they threw their name badges in. Then Jay and another fellow (Scott Hungerford) were signed up for a fan dance (yoikes). And then, Jay finally tried to throw in the socks Elizabeth was wearning (tie-dyed socks he'd made with his daughter) and that seemed to halt the bidding. That lot alone, though, did raise about $210 for Page Ahead. At this point, the festivities completed with the fan dance, and I trundled myself home, exhausted. I hope I am lucky enough that there will be Writer's Weekend next year. Current Mood: optimistic

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June 17th, 2006

09:44 pm Wow. Marc and I went to our first Fremont Solstice parade this year--it's something I've wanted to do since I heard about it. My friend Karen is turning 50 on the Solstice, and she decided to celebrate by joining in as one of the naked bicyclists in the parade this year. Ok, they're painted--body paint, that is, but it gives you an idea of exactly the tone the parade (and accompanying fair) sets. Anyway, she asked for a video taping volunteer, so I offered us up--seemed like agreat chance to help a friend and do something I'd wanted to do for a long time. We got up early and loaded frisbee with water, video camera, camp chairs,and digital camera. Logtistically, getting to Fremont was quite a challenge--the Fremont bridge was only open one lane in either direction, and the 520 bridge was completely closed all weekend. We ended up taking I-90, to I-5. Then there was the parking situation. 10 blocks out from Fremont in any direction, the streets were absolutely thronged with people. With good reason, I guess: a spokeman for the Fair said they were expecting 80,000-100,000 people. Crazy! People had to block their driveways so they wouldn't get stuck in. We found a space on a scary steep hill, picked up our stuff and started walking down the steep steep hill. Unfortunately, about half way down to Fremont, Marc realized we'd forgotten our "stake our claim" blanket, so he took everything while I walked back. Note to readers: let the person climbing back UP the hill call you, so they don't answer the phone while their lungs are gasping for air. Marc had staked out a nice area while I was gasping for breath, and we settled in to wait and watch. He also ran to fetch us some appetizers from Jai Thai (chicken satay and spring rolls...yum). More of Karen's support group showed up while we counted down to noon, ballons in tow so she could find us during the bike ride. While we waited, a great guy "Bubble Man" came through and entertained the crowds with huge tubs full of bubble liquid that he pulled through giant rackets (think badminton and tennis). Marc got some great footage of him, and I even got a few cool pictures. The parade started and they let Karen lead the pack--she did a Day of the Dead theme, with a white feather mask and tutu. There was an amazing variety of "costumes", plaid painting schemes, a crossword puzzle man, Spiderman, mermaids, cats, and...just for me, a flamingo. :-) There was a semi-naked cowboy--ok, really he was walking around with a hat, scarf, chaps, and nothing else. In good shape for an older man ;-) There were little kids--hope they had sunscreen on, and people decorated their bikes too. It was amazing to see how creative people were, given that, in theory, they only had their bodies to work with. But hey, a "blank" canvas. The parade progressed, with lots of politcal statements (it's Fremont, after all--they have their own bridge troll), such as legalize marijuana, and LOTS of negative Bush statements. There was also a "Million Belly Dancer" march, and a mini cross dressing parade (ow, my feet hurt just looking at those shoes). I had expressed interest in checking out the fair after the parade, but we were pretty dehydrated and tired after sitting in the sun for two hours, so we headed back across the water via Lake City, stopped briefly by Benjamin Moore paints to look at chips for repainting the house, and headed home. I don't think I'm giving credit to the general ingenuity of the people involved in the parade--these people invest a lot of time and energy into their costumed and little floats. The general atmosphere isn't rowdy and skeezy (which some people might attach to nudity)--just friendly, natural, and fun. Kinf of like the way things should be on a regular basis. :-) Current Mood: rejuvenated Tags: fremont solstice, naked bicyclists

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June 8th, 2006

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May 21st, 2006

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May 11th, 2006

10:29 pm - Please think about... ...preserving Net Neutrality. Please visit http://www.civic.moveon.org/save_the_internet/ to sign the petition. From MoveOn.org: "This excerpt from the New Yorker really sums up this issue well. 'In the first decades of the twentieth century, as a national telephone network spread across the United States, A.T. & T. adopted a policy of "tiered access" for businesses. Companies that paid an extra fee got better service: their customers' calls went through immediately, were rarely disconnected, and sounded crystal-clear. Those who didn't pony up had a harder time making calls out, and people calling them sometimes got an "all circuits busy" response. Over time, customers gravitated toward the higher-tier companies and away from the ones that were more difficult to reach. In effect, A.T. & T.'s policy turned it into a corporate kingmaker. If you've never heard about this bit of business history, there's a good reason: it never happened. Instead, A.T. & T. had to abide by a "common carriage" rule: it provided the same quality of service to all, and could not favor one customer over another. But, while "tiered access" never influenced the spread of the telephone network, it is becoming a major issue in the evolution of the Internet. Until recently, companies that provided Internet access followed a de-facto commoncarriage rule, usually called "network neutrality," which meant that all Web sites got equal treatment. Network neutrality was considered so fundamental to the success of the Net that Michael Powell, when he was chairman of the F.C.C., described it as one of the basic rules of "Internet freedom." In the past few months, though, companies like A.T. & T. and BellSouth have been trying to scuttle it. In the future, Web sites that pay extra to providers could receive what BellSouth recently called "special treatment," and those that don't could end up in the slow lane. One day, BellSouth customers may find that, say, NBC.com loads a lot faster than YouTube.com, and that the sites BellSouth favors just seem to run more smoothly. Tiered access will turn the providers into Internet gatekeepers.[4]' (Sources listed at MoveOn's site.)

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May 2nd, 2006

08:55 pm - My cat has onion breath Last Saturday, my husband willingly accompanied me to the mecca of herbs, Molbak's. I love going to Molbak's this time of year, because of the amazing selection of herbs they have--lavender, fennel, rue, dill, espazote, seven different kinds of basil...on and on and on. Anyway, I bought a bunch of herbs --including basil, for husband-sponsored bruschetta this summer-- and some summer vegetables, such as beets, garlic, and some Spanish and Walla Walla onions. We left them indoors on the dining room table overnight. They'd just been removed from what, for all intents and purposes, was a greenhouse, so immediately exposing them to WA spring temps would not have been the healthiest option for them. Late Saturday night, I was in the kitchen--glancing towards the dining room, I noticed a black shape near the plants. I turned the dining room light on--and lo! There is a black cat, quickly jumping down, guilty, from the dining room table, and rushing off. Upon closer inspection--my Spanish onion tops have been nibbled down! Rotten cat! Current Mood: amused Tags: cat; onions; breath

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April 28th, 2006

08:56 pm - Garden destruction, dinner, garden resurrection It was a full weekend. Full of yard work, mainly, but it was so gorgeous, it would have been criminal to stay inside. Besides, it was the first weekend in ages where it didn't rain, so it was our window of opportunity for rototilling. At long last. Yeah, it's funny to look forward to rototilling, but we had our big retaining wall built right before moving to SoCal, and so we didn't get to play in our new earth at all. Big plans for it...vegetable gardens and herb gardens...too many tomatoes to even count at the rate the seedlings are going. We tried renting a rototiller from Home Depot, but let's quickly summarize that as pointless. We won't rent from them ever again. Instead, if you're in Bellevue, give the folks at Eastside Rentals a try. They do things like...explain how the machinery works, and help you load it into your vehicle. Seems pretty basic, but Home Depot couldn't manage those two things. Marc did the rototilling. The end. There was no way I would have been able to handle the torque produced by that machine. He did the back path (or what will be the back path) and the garden bed near our retaining wall. Then he began the raking. I was out in front mowing the lawn at this point, edging, and other fun, then moved to assist with the raking. Got tired of the raking pretty quick--geez, some of the root systems those weeds manufactured are unbelievalbe...they go down at least a foot. Insane! I ended up getting down on my hands and knees and digging some of them out with a hand trowel. Then we raked out all the weeds we dug up, and marc tamped the soil down--this owuld have been fun for the casual passerby to watch, since he used an old card table we had. Anyway, the weeds now offer a nice batch of stuff to add to the compost bin. Let the excitement roll. After our extensive raking, we moved the bed container out, then made a trip to Angelo's, the nursery down the street, for some pebbles (path around the containers) and garden soil. We bought 5 bags of garden soil, emptied them all, and they still just barely filled the container. We gave in and went to Home Depot--but not the one in Bellevue. Our seedlings continue to flourish. I look forward to starting to set them outside, to get acclimated to sun, rain, wind--I even read up on some ways to help them get familiar. We'll be going to get some additional plants--marigolds, onions, garlic, basil--to plant around our tomatoes. If all these tomatoes take, we're going to be up to our elbows with them. Our other task for Saturday was to try and return the rest of our renters' stuff--specifically a lawnmower, weedeater, etc. We thought--exhausted at this point--that it might be nice to go to dinner at an old haunt, DC Steakhouse on the Plateau, and so we invited Bryce along. DC Steakhouse is a very nice little restaurant. We gave it a try when it changed over from being a little Caribbean themed place, and have never regretted the loss of the previous incarnation. They have snazzy drinks (Butterfinger!) and the best whole wheat bread (warm). The service is pleasant and friendly without being pretentious, and it's this aspect of DC that really came into play this trip. DC has a very nice wine menu, and of course, that instantly appealed to marc and Bryce. They deliberated between two vintages before settling on one (below Market price) that Bryce really, really enjoys. Our server came, pulled the cork, and Bryce gave it the eye. It was almost black at the bottom. The server poured out, and Bryce gave the taste a try--Blech! Vinegar. The server went to fetch the sommelier; as Bryce swirled the glass more, we could see sediment. Sediment at the top of the bottle=bad thing. Ewww. The sommelier was extremely apologetic--he even took a sip of the vintage, and made a horrific face. Cringing, he asked if we'd care to try another bottle of the same vineyard. We'd had good experience with this wine before, so we gave the second bottle a try--it was even worse than the first! The cork actually left a black residue on Bryce's hand. The sommelier gave this one a try as well, and pronounced it worse than the first. They'd also had another bad bottle earlier in the week, so unfortunately, it seemed their entire batch was "corked". having only had mediocre wine (wine that's not great), rather than wine that was once great, but has gone bad, this was an interesting experience for me, and something everyone who drinks wine should probably go through, just so they know how bad "bad" can be. We gave up on that batch, and moved on to another vineyard entirely. The rest of dinner went on without a hitch, and I have a new foofy drink I like! (Butterfinger:Godiva chocolate liquor, Stoli vanilla Vodka, Buttershots, half and half). From here, we trooped out to Bellevue to Cafe Pirouette, where Bryce's other half, Breana works. Cafe Pirouette has lovely dessert crepes. Bryce is addicted to the Nutella/Banana crepes--and they make them huge! We're talking the size of dinner plates! We had another weird occurrence while we were at Cafe Pirouette. The restaurant closed at 10pm, but while we were inside chatting, a tall, older man with a bright blue sweatshirt and Mr. Burns posture came in and began asking odd questions--"Do you have a class H license?" (Class H is for hard liquor) and then sating "I dine out eveyr night" (hmmm, sounds like that would get old). He seemed a little bit nutty, maybe eccentric would be a better term (The patrons at the table opposite us voted for drunk). Bryce assessed the situation for a moment, and then a flash of recognition passed over him. "I think that's William Gates Senior." We didn't want to out and out ask who he was, but there were signs. The sweatshirt, for example, read "It's Hard to be Bill Every Day". Bryce asked him if perhaps he was an attorney (the technical questions about liquor licensing gave us an edge), to which the man replied "Nope, I just hire and fire 'em." He finally toddled back outside and left us in peace. So ended the day of garden destruction and resurrection. Current Mood: tired Tags: garden; till;

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April 20th, 2006

09:57 pm - Tonight's writing exercise Digging out my favorite books--the ones that sit in my special "I want to write like this when I grow up" cabinet. This involved sorting through four or five boxes, trying to figure out where they were in our remaining "unpacked" moving stuff. Naturally, this involved moving stuff. Do you see the irony? My joints fail to see the irony. I spent 2 more hours this afternoon digging up dandelions. Dandelions are my nemesis (as my IM name clearly states today). A friend of mine and I went to lunch together, and drove past a field FULL of dandelions...my car veered as far away from them as possible. Then there was 30 minutes of biking on our Nautilus. My knees disapprove and I'm the only person I know whose feet fall asleep while bicycling. So, the books. I need to read through the dialogue and analyze what I like about it. Then I need to apply that knowledge to my own. Marc read through the 3 pages I wrote last night, and gave me thumbs up, and then good constructive feedback. I like where I'm going. It feels like the rock tumbler of writing may slowly be picking up speed and adding some polish to those words. WTD: 208 YTD Words: 9263 Current Mood: chipper

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April 19th, 2006

10:44 pm - Word Count and the Black Cat of Doom Ok, back to work. Must start writing again. Word Count today (not including my "Care and Feeding of Managers manual" at work: 578 I'm going to count my Viva Lost Wages blog entry, since it's ridiculously long:3436 Now I have to find an entry that tells me where I last was on words for the year. Blarg... Took a walk today, came home, biked, did Pilates...avoided dandelions. (three days straight of dandelion digging-up). Our black cat has discovered she can lie on my arm while I type in my office. Oh, joy. She is a rotten, rotten beast, totally the spoiled youngest child. She gets away with things I would never let the other two do. She had a temper tantrum in the bathroom earlier today and mutilated a roll of toilet paper, and threw things off the sink. YTD Words: 9055 It's April. I have some serious work to do. Current Mood: tired

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April 11th, 2006

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April 9th, 2006

10:19 pm - Viva Lost Wages Friday, April 7 Way back when--possibly before Christmas--a dear friend I was IMing with suddenly inquired if I liked Billy Joel. Well, my husband Marc is about the biggest Billy Joel fan there is, without getting into all the creepy Bodyguard/stalker overtures. Marc's been playing the piano since he was a child, and fondly pulls sheet music from the two volumes of Billy Joel songs to practice and play. We were fortunate to go see him on his "farewell tour" about 7 years ago; I didn't even know he was making this round--and as a matter of fact, my friend pointed out to me this weekend, he is making only two West Coast appearances (Las Vegas, and LA). All this sums up as: I jumped at the chance. So, we've been home just over a month, and out the door we went, painfully early Friday morning. Our flight dropped us in Las Vegas before noon, and we picked our rental car (a Subaru Outback) and headed to our hotel. Budget constraints had us staying at the Westin off-strip--even then, we had a hard time getting room reservations. The desk staff insisted it wasn't a busy weekend in Vegas, but you sure wouldn't know it by the room rates and availability! Our only real activity Friday night was dinner at Emeril's, at the MGM Grand.This hotel is still a mammoth property mid-strip, with roughly 5000 rooms, a labyrinthine casino, four different pools, a lazy river--you get the idea. These days, casino architecture isn't quite so bent on making you walk through the gaming floor to reach any part of the hotel, but the MGM Grand predates those decisions. The sparkling emerald green exterior (a la Wizard of Oz) is clearly visible from the plane, on the ground at the airport, and almost anywhere you look from the strip. We scouted out lunch at Stage Deli in Caesar's Palace Forum shops first. Our new camera makes a world of difference inthe pictures Marc takes! We have our lunch, and then continue down the strip towards the MGM to make sure we know where Emeril's is--in doing so, we see the restaurant designated for dinner Saturday night (Fiamma), pre-concert, as well as the mammoth MGM Grand Garden arena, where Billy is playing Saturday evening. The place seats 15,000--and the concert is sold out. Holy cats! Marc wanted to try and find a nice bottle of wine to bring to dinner--corkage fee+wine cost being less overall than a bottle at the restaurant. Wine still doesn't seem to have hit the Strip as a big thing--the concierge at the Westin had to get a little more detailed in her questions as to what we were looking for before realizing Art's Liquor Bar around the corner wasn't going to cut it with a bottle of $4.00 Rose. She did finally succeed in directing us to an "International Wine Store"--when we arrived after cautious investigation, it looked like a recent add-on to the existing cigar store. Their wine "cellar" was impeccable, climate controlled, with a bottle of each available vintage out for viewing, and a corresponding bin number on it if you wanted to purchase. Marc followed his bias for Italian wines and we ended up with something very nice. I couldn't remember the name or type if my life depended on it. *grin* After further exploration, we returned to our rooms, showered, changed, and put on uncomfortable footwear. Our dinner reservations were late (9:00pm), but we arrived early, and they were able to seat us early. Our morning flight had made us pretty tired, and with a long day stretching out before us for Saturday (I'd obliged myself to shop at 10am), we were grateful for the earlier seating. If you've never been to an Emeril's (in this case, Emeril's N.O. Fish House), go.The food was amazing. I wouldn't expect anything else from the king of BAM, but it's nice to have your expectations fulfilled. We were seated by a pretentious (but polite) maitre'd in a suit, wearing an orange shirt and a textured orange tie (think burlap). Marc had his back to the glassed-in wine room which, given his current obsession with reds, was probably a good thing. It was a little noisy in the restuarant, but we didn't have to yell, and it's nice when there isn't a hushed air of anticipation (or horror) for the entrees. We started off with cocktails (I do love a restaurant that will serve a nice blended dacquiri), and an appetizer of his barbecued shrimp. To give an indication of flavor, the first thing I did when I booted up my laptop yesterday was see if the recipe was online.The shrimp were absolutely incredible--spicy without burning, flavorful, tender, and served with a "petite rosemary biscuit", about the size of a quarter. It was really the cutest biscuit I think I've ever seen....with this came the meal's "bread": a large rosemary roll, delicately flavored, a corn cake, with small kernels of sweet corn, and butter. Thank goodness the butter was appropriately room temperature--it's another pet peeve we have, especially for fresh bread, that staff can't figure out we don't want to pulverize our bread with rock hard butter. Marc continued with a bowl of Fall River clam chowder, on the principle that Emeril's would be amoung the best, and he might be able to learn a thing or two. Is it possibly to learn with your eyes rolled back up in your head in ecstasy? I had a taste, and personally thought Marc's chowder he makes during the holidays was just as good, but he accuses me of being biased. For dinner, I had what appears to be my steadfast entree: half a pig (on the menu, as a double-cut pork chop). This is a running joke that may have been explained in previous blogs. It came with sweet potatoes (a weakness of mine) and a green chile mole with tamarind glaze. I love mole, and I love tamarind, so there you go. I wasn't able to eat quite all of it, but not without trying (must save room for dessert--and admittedly, i was eyeing Marc's entree for quite some time). Marc had the Surf and Turf, which sounds quite Sizzler-esque, and really was anything but. The offical Emeril description was "Seared Filet of Beef & Jumbo Gulf Shrimp on Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes with a Blue Crabmeat Hollandaise". I only tasted the Crabmeat Hollandaise, but afterwards, Marc had to avidly protect his entree. We finished dinner with the Emeril’s Banana Cream Pie with Banana Crust, Chocolate Shavings and Caramel Sauce--we shared...having devoured our appetizers and entrees. But if you can ever go just for dessert...get this. Cocktails demolished, wine drained and dinner completed, we did the slow stagger back to the Westin via the Monorail. Say it with me now..."monorail...monorail...monorail!!!' Saturday, April 8th Saturday began with an early phone call. No apologies Ann, we were awake already. Just after our not so late revelry, we were a little tired. I had originally planned to go on the shuttle to the Outlet Stores in Primm, about 45 minutes southwest of Las Vegas. This turned into Marc driving out to the stores with me--not a bad thing. I got to spend more time with my sweetheart, and my sources say the shuttle driver talked incessantly. Sometimes I don't mind that, but I was in the mood for observational conversation, not reactionary. It also allowed us to see exactly how far up the Strip the Fremont Street Experience was--we had wanted to go the last time we were there, but holy cow! You go to the end of the monorail, and THEN you take a shuttle? Also, as a note--Vegas is really only meant to be seen at night. Maybe it's because night hides things, or maybe it's because the neon and flashing lights make the city seem more unique, more special. But Vegas at 10AM is not special, or glitzy. It's really rather dehyrdated and flat. We perused the wildes of the Las Vegas outlets with caution. The Williams Sonoma outlet, for example, didn't seem too outlet-y. I don't really consider $5 off regular price a super deal. Moving on, we checked out a variety of stores in a hopeless search for pants for me--a few months ago, while we were in SoCal, there was a washer/ballpoint pen accident that added extra color to some of my pants, so I'm slowly trying to accrue a few more pairs. Unfortunately, few retail stores in corporate America seem to have grasped two basic concepts: women often have both hips and thighs. I tried on probably 10 pairs of pants to no avail--either they wouldn't make it over the hips, or the leg was stick straight, with no room for thigh muscle. I realize most models in America have no figure, but really. Though it was nice to remember my friend Kristine, who is extremely trim, and runs obsessively, also has problems buying pants for the same thigh reason. So at least for a minute, I had a clothes-buying problem someone in shape had. Yeay me! While I was on a quest for pants, Marc was looking at shirts--we did find some really really nice shirts at the Nautica outlet. I'm pleased there's more color in my sweetheart's wardrobe...some sherbet orange and yellow, for example. He even picked a cute summery short sleeve in orange, with kind of a surfing motif on the back--very yummy. Marc was also on the quest for Decent Dress Shoes. I know these beasts exist for women (Taryn Rose at $500 a pair, yes, but they exist), but I wasn't sure about men's shoes. At the Neiman Marcus Last Call store (sweater marked down to $500 from $1200---who is this last call for?) he did find a really nice pair of comfortable dress shoes. I think he's becoming a little bit of a shoe whore, because he recognized the designer name . I met up with my friend Ann, briefly--by the time garrulous shuttle driver pulled intot he lot, we had almost completed our circuit of the mall. We stopped at Tommy Bahamas for more pointless pants exercises, then the Gap Outlet, where pants proved futile, but there were some cute tank tops and tees. So at least I walked away with a little something. Back to the Strip, a tailwind at our backs... The return trip on the freeway did provide a valued opportunity for Marc to see the crappy motel I stayed at for the previously employed at company's event last July. I not so fondly refer to the motel as "The Ant Hill". Does this really have any bearing on our story? No, other than it's almost a year later and I'm still bitter about that particular experience. Can I hold a grudge or what? We had wanted to check out the Rio, having heard there was a neat wine store there. We also hadn't eaten yet, and it was running close to, if not past noon at this point. My point about Las Vegas during the day applies to the Rio as well--it's an older, off-Strip casino that looks pretty neat far away. Then, the closer you get...well, the iridescent paint isn't really iridescent, and the building looks a little...tired. Inside, the theme is supposed to be Carnival, with "floats" attached to the ceiling for the "Evening Masquerade in the Sky". Well, we saw one weary riverboat float making a practice run with the maintenance guy aboard...and the wine store didn't open till 3pm. We had a mediocre lunch, where the high excitement was Marc reading the Keno card and calculating the odds of winning...something like you had a better chance of winning the State lottery than the high prize on the Keno board... Exit the Rio...we deposited our purchases in our rooms and ran out to fortify ourselves withsupplies (i.e. water and soda we weren't going to pay the Westin's exhorbitant prices for). We took the monorail and then walked to the nearest Walgreens, where we stocked up on bottled water and soda ($4.00 for bottled water at the Westin), then headed back to shower and change for dinner and the concert. Ann had made reservations at Fiamma, a restaurant in the MGM Grand across the way from Emeril's--they were sort of nouveau Italian. I had a rum and Coke that was almost transparent--so mostly rum--and given our limited food intake for the day, my head immediately began to spin.Ann arrived shortly, and then Stefanie and Jon, a married couple Ann knows from working in Xbox. Stefanie and Jon live in Las Vegas--Jon is one of those extremely rare creatures, a native Las Vegan (hmm, weird designation). We figured out pretty quick we'd all get along, as Jon laughed when, in my alcohol induced haze,I tried to climb a step that wasn't there to our table. We didn't waste time with appetizers; Marc had swordfish steak, which he said was scrumptios, and I had Gnocci (which I will mispronouce forever)-- Maine Lobster Ragu, Zucchini, Salsa Rosa, Fresh Herbs. I have a new thing about lobster--it's been recently introduced into my diet not in gnocci form specifically of course), and if I can get Lobster Bisque, I'm there. Meritage in SoCal (Pylea) had a lovely, small lobster bisque, and I think that was actually the first place I'd ever tried it. But on we go--service was a little slow, and the clock was edging towards 8pm--concert time. Marc helped me polish off a lovely trio of gelatos--then Ann stealthily took care of the bill (we'll get you!) I'll skip the grumbling about the noisy people behind us (how can you be noisy at a stadium concert? Just suffice it to say...you can!) whom Marc politely dispatched, and talk about the concert itself. Marc introduced me, for the most part, to Billy Joel's music. He's been playing and playing since he was a child, grew up playing BJ's songs. He has two books filled with the music that are tattered and falling apart after their extensive use over the years. My experience up until Marc consisted of a friend whose mother wouldn't let her watch MTV when "We Didn't Start the Fire" came out (well, she stapled the "bad" parts of romance novels together too--I guess it never occurred to her they made staple removers). It was three hours of AMAZING music. Billy was relaxed, friendly--even cheeky at time ("Hey you guys int he nose bleed seats,thanks--I need all the money I can get to pay my car insurance.") He played pieces from mutliple albums, including songs as old as Marc and I. He took the time to introduce ever single member of his band--his piano rotated so he was facing the audience on all sides of the arena at one point or another. He let a roadie named "Chainsaw" sing "Highway to Hell", he encouraged audience participation, and continued to make likght-hearted fun of the recent headlines on his latest car accident (For "Italian Restaurant" the lyrics go "Bottle of red...bottle of white...maybe we'll drink both tonight"...he changed the last lyric to "Glass of gingerale for me tonight". He made us work for our encores (leaning towards and away the exit to our hymm of "YEAY!" and "BOO!". Even though we were way high up (probably 15 rows from the top of the theater), it was utterly worth the time, the travel, and the occasional frustrations we encountered in Vegas. We all went our separate ways after the show--Marc and I wanted to see the fountains at the Bellagio, but unfortunately our trek via foot took a little too long, and we arrived after the last show. We didn't know this at the time, so sat out and just watched the pond and the people, and listened to the drunk (but polite) Texan debs waiting next to us. At 1am, we gave up the ghost and returned to our hotel room to collapse in blissful slumber. Sunday, April 9th Also known as "we get to sleep in on this trip at some point, right?" day. We did sleep in--late enough that when we went to the Paris for their buffet breakfast, we had to wait in line about a half hour. I have to say the wait was worth it though--the food was fresh, and they had some unique options, such as a on-the-spot crepe station, mimosas, and lots of fresh seafood. We'd done a buffet brunch on our Vegas trip in 2001, but it wasn't quite up to par with the Paris'--thanks to Sam and LouAn for their heartfelt recommendations. We walked around for awhile longer--checked out the new Wynn hotel (swank, but not the same feel as the Bellagio), and then headed over to the MGM Grand to vegetate with Ann and John. Ann had rented a cabana for the day, next to the lazy river; this was something I didn't even know you could do! And boy, were we spolied! The cabana guy brings you drinks and food, you have shade, and chairs...you can change clothes behind the cabana-supplied privacy screen, then use innertubes to float the river (normally $18 a day, per tube!), guided by your tolerant, grinning spouse. The "wildlife" as Ann referred to less lucky denizens of the pool area, was kept at a discreet distance by low walls and plant separations, and if you tired of lazing in the sun, you could watch TV in the cabana itself. We indulged in a drink or two...and then headed out about 4:30pm to prepare for dinner. By this time Vegas was getting a little tiring for us--no doubt the 7am flight back to Seattle the next morning was weighing on us somewhat heavily. We had dinner plans at a Middle Eastern restaurant called "Marrakech" but when Ann called to cancel, it was kind of a relief to not have to socialize. We had bought tickets to one revue show at the Luxor (Fantasy), so we drove down and parked, and just spent some time at the far end of the Strip. We thought about dinner at Mandalay bay's Aureole, home of the glass wine vault, and the accompanying "wine angels', but their menu was pricey, and the restaurant itself seemed very very cold, personality-wise. We checked out rumjungle, and Red Square (over 100 different kinds of vodka), and finally settled on a small American style bistro called "Red, White and Blue". I think basically at this point, we were just too tired to try exotic food, but I really enjoyed my gumbo, and Marc's dinner was good as well. It was the least "exciting" of our meals in Vegas,but our server had the most personality, so all things were equal. The revue show was cute enough--there was a lot of fog machine fog, and we were in the second row, which lent new meaning to "you could take an eye out with that thing" (it was topless). The girls were lovely, but it was nice to see some women with curves rather than the emaciated waifs depicted in magazines. I was really surprised to see all the girls out after the show (with tops) getting their pictures taken and smiling. It seemed very un-Vegas to me, for them not to be charging. Hmm, the shiny's definitely worn off. Time to go home. We got four hours of sleep before we had to head out to the airport. Good bye stinky city. In a few weeks, the irritation factor will have worn off, and you will sound fun again. We didn't have a bad experience--we're just not good in crowds, easily antagonized by smoke and nudie escort service card smackers... We were fortunate to sit in a two seat exit row on the return, and a very kind gentleman swapped seats with Marc so we could sit together. I was so tired, I actually fell asleep on the plane, which never happens. We received copios cat lectures upon arriving home, and I slept for a few hours longer before daring to tackle my email. We are fortunate to have such generous friends, that they would share their time and space with us. Thank you Ann--you not only made this trip memorable, you are responsible for making it happen for us. Current Mood: contemplative

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March 28th, 2006

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March 2nd, 2006

09:12 pm - Only 36% evil!!! You Are 36% Evil A bit of evil lurks in your heart, but you hide it well. In some ways, you are the most dangerous kind of evil. How Evil Are You?

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February 26th, 2006

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February 24th, 2006

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