the von blog.

photo frenzy!

2009-10-14T06:55:00.001-07:00

Dear friends,

Brace yourselves:
A huge update is about to ensue, complete with photos.
I would put them in seperate updates, but then you might only click on one and never see the 3 or 4 before it. because who updates 3 or 4 times in one day?
not me. i save that kind of obsession for facebook.

click the button and read on!

anyway, let us start with Charles Bronson, or Charlie.
steve and charlie are doing well together, with the exception of a few minor altercations that are mostly due to charlie being an overwhelming ball of crazy annoying energy, and steve suddenly turning into a crotchety old fart. (he's not even 2.)
nonetheless, we love him.

here are pictures of charlie.

next up:
husbear turned 26! i made him dinner.
the menu: roasted pumpkin soup.

flautas with homemade cilantro pepita pesto.

apple cranberry crumble.

it took a long time, but was well worth it.

and i also threw him a birthday party.
it was at black bear lodge in manhattan, chosen mostly on behalf of the name.
funny anecdote: in order to find this bar, i googled "bear bar manhattan".
what i was presented with was certainly not what i was looking for.
i pass no judgement, i merely state that bars centered around large cuddly gay men with or without leather chaps were not exactly what i had in mind. so i backed up and searched for "bear THEMED bars manhattan." much better.

here are pictures of my darling's party.

(husbear is shown here shoving cake in jessie's mouth. this is why we call her big jessie.)

(psst- it's a chocolate guinness cake with chocolate peanut butter frosting. ...seriously.)

(in case you're curious- the vE is for von Erck.)

item number three.
my job is still amazing.
here are some pictures of miles being a supermodel baby.

i adore him. i want to eat him, but his mom won't give me the recipe. guess it's some sort of family secret.

and lastly, IT'S OCTOBER!
so we decorated accordingly.
here is a picture of our apartment.

next blog topic: our halloween costumes. going fabric shopping this weekend! ooooo! we'll let you know how things are coming along, and i'll put up some more pictures of our halloween decorating. because it's pretty fantastic.

as always, thanks for checking in!

2009-09-20T16:30:00.000-07:00

hey blogiverse!
sorry i haven't been around lately.

but tonight i find myself with a mug of tea, watching a marathon of law & order: svu while husbear does homework in his office.

soon he'll emerge and cook us a delicious dinner of salmon and pasta, and we'll curl up with the dogs and watch mad men, and i am greatly anticipating this.

but for now i'm enjoying the solitude and letting my mind wander to the approaching season and how much i'm looking forward to it. to october, with the sound of dry leaves skittering across the pavement and the smell of Cold and all of my autumn decorations that i'll pull out us soon as the weather dips below 60 degrees. to halloween, and my sewing machine and the hours i'm going to spend slaving over our costumes this year (Max and Moishe from Where the Wild Things Are, in case you were curious). to november and scarves and cider and walking down our street aflame with the beauty of photosynthesis. to thanksgiving, and seeing family, and baking without sweating, and the comfort of curling up on chilly nights with the dogs and husbear and a mug of tea.
just like tonight.

i don't have much to say, specifically, but i just wanted you all to know that i'm still here. that i'm alive and well and happy. that the dogs are getting along famously, and husbear and i are loving fiercely, and new york and i are getting along pretty well these days.

thanks for checking in, loves.

2 in one day! Well, it's a very special day.

2009-09-01T07:16:00.000-07:00

I have two announcements to make.

1. Upon our return home from vacation, Steve McQueen has been exhibiting some symptoms of what seems like depression. I'm sure it has something to do with dirty sidewalks replacing the expanses of woods and beach to which he became accustomed.
But i also think it is the lack of playmates, as he got to run wild with our bother/sister-in-law's two carolina dogs all week.
So yesterday, we got him a playmate.
I'd like to introduce you to Charlie Bronson.

(i'm sorry about the picture quality, all i have so far are cell phone pictures!)

He is a 7 month old pitbull/lab mix.
And he is just. fantastic.

He's housebroken, he's learning commands so fast, he sleeps through the night, and he worships Steve McQueen, who quite likes being worshipped.

Are we crazy for living in Brooklyn with two dogs, a cat, and a ferret? Definitely. But I've never presumed to be anything else.

2. I WON MY VERY FIRST GIVEAWAY! Thanks to the oh-so-crafty wife/mother/jewelry-maker extraordinaire, Secondsister Suaviloquy herself, I am now the proud owner of the VERY appropriate SPOT BROOCH!

I think it suits me. Don't you?

On the Shores of Swan Lake.

2009-09-01T06:55:00.000-07:00

Snippets from our week-long vacation to Pengilly, MN:

Steve McQueen loves to run, play with other dogs, and sleep in sand. He does NOT love water. How do we know?
...I pushed him in.
He sank to the bottom, swam up quickly, and doggy paddled like hell for the shore. And then puked.
I felt so horrible, but could not stop laughing. He's so cute when he swims!

This was a few hours after he fell off the dock trying to come play with me as I was sunbathing.
He seriously trotted halfway down and just went kersploosh! into the water. It was only chest-deep, but as he is a city dog, he had never been in any sort of standing water before, and didn't know what to do.
It took him a full half hour to realize that you can in fact move your paws when submerged in H2O. and when he figured that out, he high-stepped his little butt right outta there, making sure to lift each paw allll the way out of the water with every step. the hind ones were tricky, but he got those sky high, too. Again I collapsed in laughter.

Another night, we played spoons.
Basically, this is played by passing around cards until you have collected 4 of a kind. when you do, you grab a spoon. when you see someone grab a spoon, YOU DO IT TO. the object of the game is essentially to NOT be the one left without a spoon, similar to musical chairs.
Now.
I was up at this lakeside cottage with my in-laws. That means Husbear, his brother, his brother's wife, his father, his father's wife, his mother, and his mother's husband (they get long like that. it's very interesting).
I did not win the game, but I sure as hades did not lose.
It may have had something to do with the fact that I wrestled my stepmom-in-law OUT OF HER CHAIR and ONTO THE FLOOR in order to grab her spoon. Because that's allowed. encouraged? who knows. but it is allowed, and i got that freaking spoon.
my sister-in-law took off a few layers of skin from husbear's paw. Husbear about sent his dad into cardiac arrest. Oh, it was lively.

We spent a day at a logging reenactment camp. That was pretty fantastic, even if it was geared towards kids on field trips or retirees, like my in-laws. We had a grand old time on the trails, and in the gift shop, where my fully grown and oh-so-mature Husbear bought a slingshot...that is shaped like a bear. And he has used it. Oh, how he has used it.

But my favorite moments were the subtle ones.
Like how we'd wake up early each morning and make breakfast together. And we'd walk down to the lake where the boys had bonfires going as the sun rose, and we'd sit in chairs on the sand and drink steaming coffee and sigh about how beautiful the colors in the sky are.
Or how we'd all sit and make s'mores at the campsire every night, and argue over who was better at toasting the marshmallows and the merits of hershey bars vs. kisses. The dogs all slept soundly in the sand by the fire, completely exhausted from chasing each other and other small animals all day.
Or how still the lake is at 2pm with the sun shining and the breeze blowing just the right amount to get the best suntan of your life without sweating a drop.
I loved all of those things.

And then we came home, and people stopped waving to us in the road. and they stopped waiting their turns in line. And the stopped offering cheerful smiles and speaking in charming accents.
Hey brooklyn. Did you miss us? I haven't decided yet if we've missed you.

disEnchanted.

2009-08-13T06:07:00.000-07:00

some days life seems so magical and beautiful, and i have to stop and think, "i could do this. new york, i could love you. i DO love you."

yesterday was not one of those days.

oh, yesterday.

husbear is in michigan, on a little leg of the white pines tour.
husbear worked hard for the last two semesters and through both of his breaks.
and now husbear has the month of august off.
so he can go do those things.
it's not fair for me to be jealous of him because he earned this break.
but i can't help but feel those little nasty twinges of envy, and i can't help but hear the little voice in my head that says "how come you don't get august off? you worked hard, too. you're still working hard. you're paying bills, you're cleaning the house, you're what's holding everything together. he couldn't do this without you. you should get time off, too."
but i can't.
because while i love miles and i love my job, it is not the sort of thing you can just take some days off from.

so, here i am.
in hot, sticky, sweaty new york.
i spent $265 dollars on groceries on tuesday and tried not to puke when i handed them my card.
then i had to pay for a can to get allllllll of those bags from the store to my home.
then i had to carry allllllll of those bags up 3 flights of stairs. it took 3 trips.
then i had to take the dog down to pee and poop.
then i had to feed him and the cat.
then i had to put all the groceries away.
which meant i had to clean out the fridge. and the freezer. and the cabinets. so i did.
then i did all the of the dishes that husbear didn't have time to do before he left (and i am not going to listen to that little voice that said "but he had august off...how come there are dishes in the sink at ALL?") which was 2 sinkfuls. then i walked around the house and gathered another sinkful of dishes.

so anyway, yesterday.
turns out that steve mcqueen the dog doesn't want to sleep all night after having been locked up in his cage for 11 hours. (i know. this is so mean. usually husbear is home to take care of him, but he's not. and he can't stay out of his cage or my cat will get eaten and so will my entire apartment.)
so he was up and at'em at 5am. which wouldn't affect me, except he sleeps in my bed. and he kept pawing pawin pawing at me to get up, and whining at the door, and chasing the cat, and trying to chew everything, and burrowing in the covers to lick my feet. UGH.
so i gave up and got up for the day, an hour early.
so i finished the rest of the dishes in the sick and scrubbed down all of the countertops and took the dog down three flights of stairs and then back up them and fed him and the cat, who didn't seem to want to be ANYWHEREELSEINTHEAPARTMENT other than RIGHTUNDERNEATHMYFEET so i kept tripping over her and stepping on her tail and she'd squeal and i'd just scream "WELLLL????" because what did she expect, standing directly under my feet???
ugh.

also, we dont have air conditioning except for a little unit in the bedroom.
so i was sweaty and smelly, all before 7am.

so whatever, i got dressed and went to work.
and miles doesn't like the heat anymore than i do, and he made that very clear allllldayyyylongggg. i cannot handle whining. i can't. but how do you tell an 8month old to stop whining? all he hears is "fjs;lerhgadkjghadl/fkgha;ga" and who knows that means. so he kept whining, all day, in the same freaking pitch. i wished he would have just gone up a note or down two. just for some variety. and he's a WRIGGLER. he doesn't like to be wherever it is you want him to be.
now, i love him.
but yesterday was just not his day.
then i had to buy a huge thing of cat litter.
and carry it home, on the subway.

and when youre hot and sweaty and tired and cranky, everyone on the subway is at least ten thousand times more rude and snarky and loud and obnoxious and ugly. it's true.
so i stood there on the train, feeling sweat running down into my bra from my neck, wanting to swing this massive cannister of cat litter in a huge arc and knock out anyone it hit. it would have felt so good to just do that. but i would have gotten arrested, and that'd be hard to explain to my boss. so i just stood there glaring at everyone who weighs 3459720496 pounds and should have ot buy two damn subway tickets because they take up so much room and stare at you meanly when you have to duck and cover as they walk by.

so i got home, to my top floor not-air conditioned apartment.
i took the dog out.
and i started cleaning.
naked.

at the end i was exhausted, but my house is sparkling. SPARKLING.
with the exception of the bedroom, which i'll do tonight.
it's the messiest, but it's got the little ac unit in the window, so i wont mind spending my evening in there.

and tomorrow my husbear will come home and sweep me up into his arms and tell me how pretty the apartment looks and how pretty i look and how much he missed me.
and then we'll rent a car and go to harrisburg to visit my soulmate/best friend allison.
and i won't have to clean a thing.

and i'm ignoring the little voice that says "if you were out of town, do you think husbear would have cleaned the apartment?"

today i'm hoping for a better day. but i just don't have a lot of hope, because it's gray and rainy and STILL hot and i've already cried while reading other people's blogs because their life is just so put together and exciting and adorable and they're GOING places and DOING things and they can keep their damn houses clean, and i can't. i just feel like laying on the floor and crying, but i can't do that either. and miles will be awake soon.

please keep your fingers crossed for me.
if today doesn't go well, i'm moving to alaska.

The Living Room is back from the dead!

2009-07-21T07:42:00.000-07:00

this weekend my soulmate came back from harrisburg to help me reinvent my living room.
this is what happened:

(paint colors- "harvest brown", "adriatic mist", and "off-white", all by behr.)

currently in search of the perfect sofa cover. until then, this is the one that came on the couch when we got it off craigslist. not sure what colors we should be looking at. ideas??

next:

we'll be painting the ceiling "adriatic mist" like the top part of the wall, and the center piece off white, like the trim, to give the whole room a domed-ceiling feel. i think it'll be beautiful.

and as soon as our bank accounts have time to recover, we'll be tackling the "dining" room. right now it is glorified storage (at least it's organized!) but it needs to be painted and spruced up a bit.

Braindrops.

2009-07-21T07:12:00.000-07:00

Maybe it's the rain that has me in such a funk today.

Maybe it's the lack of knowing what's next.

Maybe it's the fact that our bedroom is the messiest it has ever been and i know it'll be my job to clean it.

But whatever the reason, I feel tired and discouraged.

I know, I know.
I'm young. I live in New York City. I married the love of my life. I have a cool apartment. I have a hilarious dog. I have a wonderful job.
...does that mean that no matter where we are in life, we'll always find something else to yearn for? I hope not. I hope one day I have a revelation. A moment where I'm sitting on my porch with a cup of coffee and I've just waved goodbye to the kids as the bus takes them to school, and I put my feet up on the wicker ottoman and sigh and say "Here it is. Here's that moment I was waiting for."

I have a phenomenal life.
That's why i think it's just the rain.

But I can't help but get excited to the point of impatience with our future.
I want to meet my children.
I want to kiss them and hug them and scold them.
I want to bake in my perfect kitchen.
I want to sit on my porch.
I want to walk through my garden.
I want to feel the fall wind and hear the dry leaves skitter in the street and see all the brilliant colors, because in my daydream it is Autumn.
Also in my daydream we have a cape cod style home with impressive landscaping and a giant porch and a roaring fire place and trees in the yard.

I miss Michigan. Today, anyway.

I think feeling stuck somewhere in between youth and adulthood and feeling desperate to capture the now is what being 24 (almost 25!) is all about.

I just need to find a project to keep my mind busy.
One that doesn't cost any money. Sigh.

domestikatie's kitchen clean up well.

2009-07-13T08:53:00.001-07:00

so i decided to take charge of some of those things that would make my life easier.

and i re-did my entire kitchen!
i cleaned and organized and decluttered and totally overhauled everything.
i even painted. and finished the whole dang thing.

wanna see?
come on in!

the front door. and my aprons. the paint color is called "river's edge" by behr, with off-white trim.

lucy the cat likes to eat breakfast by the window. also, i bought way more flowers for the fire escape. and this morning, i sat out there and drank my coffee. and i loved it.

this was before the fellas installed MY NEW COUNTERTOP!

AND AFTER! omg.

so cute.

and sooo much more space!

and in case you've never seen my kitchen before this:

(those were taken before we had really "moved in", aka filled every surface with an unimaginable amount of clutter.)

i have more artwork to hang, and i'll post more pics as i go.

but there you have it- my new favorite room in the house.

next: my living room! (this weekend!!)

2009-07-07T06:44:00.000-07:00

a list of things i am convinced would make my life better:

a shed-free dog. steve mcqueen sheds faster than i can sweep. i bought him a new brush yesterday. after running it through his fur three or four times, he shook himself furiously, sending all of the hair i had previously loosened swirling through the air to settle comfortably on the floor i had just swept. also, every morning there are what look liek snow drifts of hair in every corner. i have to sweep every single night.
and don't even get me started on our bedding. (and don't lecture me- he WILL NOT sleep anywhere but our bed. so shut up.)

an empty apartment so that i can just start over with a blank slate. i wish i could clear everytinything out and only put back what WE REALLY NEED. that way i would also be able to paint with having to worry about moving furniture and covering things with tarps. i just painted in february, but i'm already ready for a change- and i never even finished the trim the first time around. which brings me to my next point...

the will to finish ANYTHING i start. like painting. and organizing. and the laundry.

a bigger kitchen. we have a fantastic kitchen by new york standards, but it doesn't mean i don't long for miles of sparkling clean countertops and a HUGE oven and cupboards filled with everything i could possibly need to bake.

more money. i don't think i need to elaborate on that.

but for real, i need to tackle the shoe closet. i can't handle one more morning of digging through a MASSIVE MOUNTAIN of shoes to find my other flip flop.
i could use a bigger dresser and some shelving, too.

sigh.

organization is so overwhelming.

fireworks in my heart.

2009-07-06T05:59:00.000-07:00

our weekend, in pictures:

friday-

slept in.

the boys

found these.

went into the city.

went to the market.

watched scary movies. which allison loved.

Saturday-

went to a cookout.

ate some watermelon.

bickered with husbear.

kissed and made up.

he smoked his grandfather's pipe and looked bad-ass doing it.

john mccain stopped by the party. (aka, my husband in his halloween costume. SCARY!)

went back to our house.

sat on the roof to watch the fireworks.

so many people!

spent time with my soulmate.

Sunday-

went to brunch.

adam is a handsome listener.

came home full of banana pancakes, as evidenced by my belly.

then my soulmate and dear friend shelly left me to return to harrisburg, and husbear went into his office to study for the MCAT, and i was left alone in the echoing living room.
so i watched endless episodes of hannah montana in my pjs and ate so much (homemade!) raspberry shortcake that i settled into a food coma, in which i could feel only numbness.

why is it that when your friends leave, they always have to take all of the liveliness with them?

anyway, it was a beautiful weekend. my little life has been full of those lately.

unplanned parenthood.

2009-07-01T18:34:00.000-07:00

not us.

our cat...maybe.

last night, a bunch of pals gathered in our living room. this is common.
also common- they come in through the kitchen window via our fire escape.
it's like something out of "clarissa explains it all."

anyway, last night when they left, someone forgot to close the window behind them.

lucy, our cat, is in heat.

needless to say, when we woke up this morning and noticed the window open, our cat did not come running.

BUT FEAR NOT.
because this precious little kitty (who pees on LITERALLY everything that we own. even on our stove. and in my purse. ugh.) comes when i call her.
so i sat on the fire escape with a can of tuna and called "lulululululu! lucy goosey! lucina! lucy my kitty!" etc. and very soon a tiny little black head popped up from a corner of the roof extension below us. she didn't come running, but poked a little paw up at me and disappeared again.

so, channeling my inner spidey, i scrambled down the fire escape ladders and made my way onto the roof extension and tiptoed to the corner with the hole where i saw my precious babycat.

she was stuck.
and i saved her.

i saved that little whore. (excuse my french, but she did sneak out through the window to get laid by multiple tomcats.)

and i carried her to safety.

she is now skulking around the apartment all bewildered-like, soaked in flea and tick repellent. her belly is full of tuna.

and her uterus is probably full of babies.

anyone want a kitten?

haikus.

2009-06-30T08:30:00.001-07:00

to my husbear:

you are so handsome.
you don't eat meat but i still
do and you don't care.

to baby miles:

baby why don't you
go to sleep? it is nice for
me and for you. please.

to starbucks:

i spend lots on your
drinks each day. now i'm poor but
very energized.

to steve mcqueen, my dog:

i know it's your name
but stop trying to escape
your cage you're not him.

OR

i love how you sleep
with your legs in the air and
bits exposed. no shame.

to my lovehandles:

you are not sexy.
shut up and go away please.
i hate you both lots.

to baby miles again:

your drooling is nuts!
your giggles make me laugh hard.
your face is perfect.

to summertime:

I AM SO GLAD YOU'RE HERE.
WHAT TOOK YOU SO FREAKING LONG?
please stick around now.

safelove.

2009-06-24T07:25:00.000-07:00

this weekend i went to harrisburg, and part of me never came back.

you see, my soulmate lives there.
not the romantic kind of soulmate- i married that one.
but the kind of soulmate you have, no matter what.
the kind that has a bond which distance and life circumstance can't weaken or diminish.
the kind that's born from a situation in which you never thought you would find such pure, unadulterated love.
the kind that gives you haven when the person you think is your romantic soulmate turns out to not be that at all. (no fears, i am happily married. but other people are still looking, and that's okay, too.)

we call it safelove.
best friends don't break up.

so, i went to visit her.

here is how things went.

we had a picnic.

i helped decorate.

i made signs for the dips.

i made new friends.

i talked a lot. of course.

but i also listened a little.

we had a dance party.

we made crafts.

and i relaxed with my soulmate.

safelove. samehearts.

it was a wonderful weekend.

almost twenty five.

2009-06-22T13:19:00.001-07:00

Does anyone have any ideas for a 25th birthday party in new york in august?

i'm trying to plan something wonderful.

2009-06-15T17:18:00.000-07:00

my handsome husbear has his very own blog.

http://bjornvonerck.blogspot.com/

i'm so proud of him.

home.sick.

2009-06-15T08:55:00.000-07:00

i am deathly ill.

now, i have a tendency to exaggerate.
but this time, i'm serious.

if i don't beat this flu, i am going to lay down and let it beat me.

on saturday, we went up to our friends' place for a going away party, as our good friend scott is leaving on thursday for a 5 week stint doing volunteer work in south africa! he's going to love it. and i hope we take good care of his fiancee, terra, while he's gone.

the party was beautifully executed, complete with a tiki/safari type theme.
i loved everyone there.
the weather was perfect.
the food was amazing.
but i could not snap out of my funk.
i got some dayquil from terra but it didn't even dent my haze.

and then i had to leave to babysit miles.
thankfully, he went to bed about a half hour after i got there, and then i curled up under blankets to watch crappy nickelodeon tv and hoped to doze off and wake up having shaken the feeling of "blah".

but no, instead i got chills and body aches. i found a thermometer and took my temp every half hour.
i started at 100.2 and ended up at 102.9 by the time his parents came home.
they promptly put me in a car home, where i slammed a hot mug of theraflu made for me by husbear, and slept for 10 hours.
i woke up drenched in sweat, my skin nice and cool.
whew.
apparently my fever spiked and broke numerous times throughout the night, according to husbear who was keeping tabs on me every time he woke up.

on sunday, i moved to the couch.
and there i stayed, in my pjs, until it was time for bed.

husbear was such a dream.
he made my theraflu, he ordered me chinese food (upon my insistence that i could eat a whole meal. i couldn't. oh well). he ran down to the ice cream truck for a giant popsicle to soothe my throat. he rubbed my back. he let me watch all the movies i wanted. he even caught up on episodes of "i'm a celebrity, get me out of here!" with me.

he was the best, and he wins an award.

i was out for the night by 9:30, and at 10:30 he woke me up to move me to bed.
i then slept fitfully, unfortunately.
steve mcqueen kept stealing my covers, i kept waking up sweaty, and i had the WEIRDEST dreams of my life...one of them being that i couldnt remember where iw orked or who i worked for and i had to go door to door and look at different houses to see if they were where i was supposed to be. it was very unsettling, even if it sounds stupid.

and today i am at work, existing on purell for my hands and daytime theraflu for my body.

i hate hate hate not being able to kiss miles.

i think we'll spend the afternoon in the sunshine and see if some vitamin d will help me. worth a shot, right?

soon enough, i'll be able to wrap up in this beauty, made just for me by my beautiful cousin madison.
a little piece of home always helps when you're sick, don't you think?

haircut!

2009-06-12T16:14:00.001-07:00

today i went to arrojo studio in tribeca and got my hair cut by nicole.
i was sitting next to mr. arrojo, by the way.
though nicole is a big enough deal on her own.

and she was really, really wonderful.
sweet and silly, and very very talented.
wanna see?

here you go:

i also got some new clothes because urban was having a "yard sale". yay!
pics of those to come later, along with all of my flea market finds!

but right now i need to straighten up the house because people are coming over to watch the RED WINGS WIN THE STANLEY CUP TONIGHT!!!
oh, it's going to be glorious.

counting my blessings.

2009-06-11T08:07:00.001-07:00

today is just the poops.

i woke up sleepy and cranky.
apparently so did the sun.
so IT went back to bed.
THE LAZY MOTHER@#$%ER.

i cannot handle anymore of this weather.
it is JUNE, for crying out LOUD.
ACT LIKE IT.

so, i am sitting here while Miles naps (it only took him 4 #$%&ing hours to fall asleep) trying to remind myself of the positive things about today.

1. it is my friday, and also my payday. i have tomorrow off.
2. i am spending that day off getting my hair cut by nicole at arrojo studio. for you reality tv junkies, she was a runner-up on the last season of Shear Genius. yeah, her. she's cutting my hair. i'm stoked. and...it's gonna be short. short short. you'll see.
3. i had a chocolate chip pop tart for breakfast and i only feel a little bit guilty.
4. husbear uploaded pictures from tuesday night. and here they are:

this is adam, laurel, and jeff on the patio that adam built.

this is my dog, steve mcqueen, king of poop.

this is karl, husbear, and joe. they are also known as white pines. dave is also in the band, but he is behind joe.

these are some of our friends, enjoying the show.

this is the "stage".

this is joe. when he sings, laserbeam musical notes shoot out of his mouth. it's pretty amazing.

this is Husbear, doin' what he does. i love him.

this is molly dog, with jeff, anna, and erin.

this is my best friend kate. her necklace has my name spelled out, but all of the letters are clustered so you can't see them. oh well.

this is kate in my lap. we love each other.

and this is anna, matt, and davey jones of frontier ruckus.

there. now i feel a little bit better.

urban ruckus

2009-06-10T06:20:00.000-07:00

last night husbear had a show.
but this was no rodinary show.
this was a brooklyn backyard show.
which, if you will scroll back a few entries, you will find are the kinds of shows i enjoy the most.

this one was 2 blocks from our apartment.
in fact, this one was in the backyard of the house husbear and i first lived in when we moved to new york (after a brief stint in park slope).
but it's different now than it was when we lived there.
the fellows who keep it now have done really beautiful things to it.
including creating a backyard venue where previously there was only shrubbery and weeds taller than me.
and as i am five feet ten inches tall, that is no minor thing.

so they cleared that all out, along with some questionable material found among the debris (as this house is located directly next to an abandoned building that has been infiltrated by the neighborhood crackheads. yikes.)and they built a patio. and a garden. and strung up christmas lights and lit tiki torches.
and it's just beautiful.
(i will have oh so many pictures tonight when husbear uploads them to my laptop!)

and then my husbear kept a pretty beat for those handsome gents of White Pines.
and then just Joe and Dave played a few songs from That's Him! That's the Guy! and i was yet again rendered breathless at their harmonies. until you hear it, you will never know quite how powerful they are, but seriously...you can't move. oh, i hope you hear them one day.

and then frontier ruckus played.
and it was astounding.
this is such a talented, wonderful group of artists.
and then it rained, and we all ran as fast as we could into the living room and crammed our bodies in tightly to hear them play a few more songs.
and then the rain stopped, and we ran back out into the yard for a few more.
and so many of their songs are about michigan, and i got a little homesick.
and then i looked around and realized how many of us michigan folk were gathered in the yard, in a brooklyn backyard, to hear beautiful music about our home, and it felt like home, too.

because it is.

home is where we are.

i have the best friends in the whole wide world.
we caused an urban ruckus last night. it was a really good night.

he made the bed.

2009-06-09T06:15:00.001-07:00

that's right.
i came home and ate my words for dinner, because my darling husbear made the bed.
well, he at least pulled the sheet and comforter up to the top.
we'll work on pillow placement later.

so yesterday, while perusing organic produce at forager's market in dumbo, a short handsome gentleman stepped back and lightly bumped miles' stroller.
the young man turned around to quickly apologize and excuse himself ever so politely, and my heart stopped.
like actually and truly stopped.
and when it started again, it did so in a double time that would make billy blanks proud.
because i was excusing jason motherfreaking schwartzman.
if you dont know who that is, 1. shame on you. and 2. he was not only the drummer for my longest running favorite band Phantom Planet, but he was also in every other amazing movie ever. ever. including but not limited to Rushmore, the Darjeeling Limited, I Heart Huckabees, and Slackers.
i then found myself in line behind him as he paid for his groceries and was darling and polite to the cashier. he nodded goodbye, and i was an instant puddle on the floor. think alex mack.
so i text miles' mom immediately to inform her that this god of an actor is just walking willy-nilly around her neighborhood, expecting her to FREAK OUT and race home and scou the streets for another glimpse of him, and she just responds with "oh yeah, he lives across the street." like it's NO BIG DEAL.

...i love this job.

and jason, if you're reading this, don't be alarmed if i'm waiting outside of your building every morning with doughnuts and a smoothie from forager's. you don't even have to pay me back.

IN OTHER NEWS.

last night we were awakened at 3:09am to an ear splitting crack that made me very nearly wet the bed.
now, we do not exactly live on the right side of the tracks.
as a matter of fact, we live in bed stuy, brooklyn, just south of the marcy projects.
we're pretty much on the worst side of the tracks imagineable.
gunshots are a weekly occurance, to be quite honest.
so when i heard this crack, i hit the roof, thinking a stray bullet had come in our window.
but when i opened my eyes, our bedroom was filled with pulsating light and the curtains were billowing and swirling like a freaking ufo is landing on hart street.
my sleepy brain finally pieced together all of this information- we were in the throes of a horrible, horrible thunderstorm.
again, lighting struck and thunder cracked, simultaneously, and every car alarm on the street started to go off. this cacophony was far too much for my sleepy head and tiny heart, and i was completely paralyzed with fear.

when i was very young, the slightest rustle of wind in the leaves had me running full tilt for my house, screaming bloody murder that a tornado was coming to sweep me away. it was my absolute greatest fear, perhaps only rivaled by E.T. seriously, i couldn't play in my own backyard without visions of tunnel clouds plaguing me, leaving my grasping at grass with my little fingers just to keep from being sucked away. i had a very active imagination.
i like storms now, but this one was just too close to home, literally speaking.
thankfully, my big strong handsome husbear leaped to my rescue and quickly started closing windows and unplugging appliances.
he then crawled back into bed, retrieved me from the pile of covers under which i had retreated, and soothed and shh'd and cuddled me back to sleep, which took far less timenthan i had expected, considering the alarms that were still going off outside.

and steve mcqueen the dog slept through it all.
but i'm kind of glad i didn't, simply because of the way i was lured back into slumber.

caution: long, long entry.

2009-06-08T06:10:00.000-07:00

I have so many pictures to take to supplement this entry, but at least I will make an attempt to write it so that i feel motivated to post the pictures.
this blog is proof that i'm really trying to finish anything i start. ANYTHING. sigh. but i'm still powering through. so please at least be a tiny bit proud of me. after this, i go to my recipe blog and post some things since i haven't touched it since march. i suck at regularity.

so.
this weekend.
can i tell you about it? because it was beautiful.
not only because the sun was shining for the first time in weeks. though that part was spectacular.

on friday, i had the day off.
we spent the morning laying around, watching movies, eating cereal, being generally lazy.
then i made the mistake of asking husbear to help me straighten up a bit. especially since it was mostly my stuff laying around, because while i clean often and fervently, i am a horrible horrible slob during the in-between times.
and it turns out, this has been bothering husbear. who, i might mention, is the second messiest person of all time. needless to say, a brawl ensued, just short of "taking this outside". some people might see this as a bad thing. it's important for you to know, dear reader, that husbear and i fight often. and loudly. and fiercely. but not unkindly or brutally. we are just both very convicted, passionate people with a lot to say. and, lucky for me (and him, APPARENTLY), i clean when i'm angry. so what started as just a quick pick-up-the-living-room twirl, our apartment was quickly sparkling clean. the whole things. every room. i even swept under the sofas, people. yeah. that clean.
and then we kissed and made up. because that's how we do.
and then we left to babysit sweet baby miles for the evening.
once he slept, we ordered pizza and watched movies, and it felt like all the nights i spent in high school babysitting for the kids in the neighborhood, except i get paid adult salary for the best job of my life. which i feel very very blessed for having.

saturday morning, husbear left to play a show at an outdoor music festival in the pennsylvania woods (he drums for a really beautiful folk set with haunting harmonies. i'm so proud of his contribution to such a group of talented fellows!) and wouldn't be back until sunday, so we packed them up into the van with all of their camping gear, and kate and i set off for BROOKLYN FLEA!

now.
this place is heaven.
it is the most amazing flea market of my life, because there is no crap to sort through. no hidden treasures. EVERYTHING is a treasure. the miracle is having enough money to spend here.
i kept myself in check, however, as my last trip to brooklyn flea left my bank account curled up in the corner, bursting into tears every time i glanced in its direction. yeah.
but i did come away with a killer pair of vintage peep-toe heels in a beautiful dark teal color, a fabulous pair of jeans (which i tried on right there in the market, hiking them up under my sundress. they were straight of "sisterhood of the traveling pants", they were such a perfect fit.), a cute little ring, and a giant flower to clip into my hair, because flowers in my hair are sort of my "thing."
kate got a new bike (i had walked mine to the market, the full mile and a half, which was nothing compared to the riding we did later.) and we were off to ride 3 miles to the RENEGADE CRAFT FAIR!
on the way, my cell phone took a flying leap from my pocket and performed an olympic-wprthy floor routine down lorimer street. oops. i have managed to finagle some pieces back together to create a fully functioning electronic, but it is going to need to be replaced in the near future. sigh.
now, if i said the brooklyn flea was heaven, this place was the place you go if you died in heaven and went someplace better. if that makes sense. this place is like milk and cookies in heaven heaven. well, would be, if everything was free. which it is not. actually, everything is insanely expensive, because it's all handmade.
but man, it was just incredible.
i scored an adorable felted wallet, and kate and i went in search of the perfect friendship necklaces to remind us of one another when she moves to Akron in two weeks. (SOB!! I'M GOING TO FALL APART. but that's another entry all together, and for now, we are pretending it's not happening.)
we did indeed find the perfect necklaces. we were able to make our own at a cute little booth that sold every kind of charm imagineable.
so mine has a little bird, a tiny charm that says "laugh", and her initials- kb.
she then showed me up by spelling out my entire first name and my last initials, so hers says "kathryn vE". and none of her letters match, and it is darling.
sunburnt and broke, we departed for the 2 mile bike ride home (she lives on the floor below me. for now...).
once home we performed a quick transformation into cute outfits to bike to DUMBO (3.5 miles) to see a performance art piece at St. Anne's Warehouse (The Success of Failure (or the Failure of Success) with Cynthia Hopkins.)
It was unbelievable. Seriously. It was nothing I would have expected to see or love, but it was phenomenal, start to finish.
and it was free, because our dear friend Claire works in the box office and comped our seats. awesome.

and then, we biked 3.5 miles home.
we were sore, exhausted, burned, poor, and the happiest we've been in a long time.

i'm really going to miss her.

sunday came and brought with it my husbear, and we napped on the roof and ate homemade rice krispie treats and curled up on the couch for hours to watch episodes of True Blood and Breaking Bad. And that day was as successful, to me, as Saturday.

And I kept the house clean.
All weekend.
so let's see if the bed is made when i get home, as i requested. ;)

2009-04-27T16:03:00.001-07:00

i have started riding my bike EVERYWHERE.
to the park, to dinner, to outings with friends.
and to work.

it's just shy of a 5 mile bike ride there, making my total riding somewhere around 10 miles a day.
i pedal as hard as my legs and lungs can handle it, and when i pull up in front of my destination, i feel like my eyes are going to fall out and my stomach is doing somersaults, and it feels SO GOOD.
i now understand why people get addicted to exercise.

i hope this makes a dent in the 7 pounds i put on over the winter.

i'm currently at 152.
i was 145 last summer.
ideally, i'd like to be somewhere between 135 and 140. i know that seems low for someone who is 5'10", but i have a very very very narrow frame, so anything extra really feels out of place. i promise, i will be healthy.

i have been eating better than ever before, also.
i can do this!
i just keep saying that nothing tastes as good as thin feels whenever i'm tempted to inhale everything in sight.
but i definitely treat myself on occasion- i just make sure my boss eats most of it! haha.

...in other news, i got to lay out in the park for 2 hours today while miles napped in the shade of his stroller.

this is going to be such a great summer.

light at heart.

2009-04-27T06:20:00.000-07:00

I'm back, and with the passion and fervor of a thousand shining suns.
I credit the cloudless skies that burst forth rays of sun that feel like they were hand delivered to me by angels with long blond beach-curled locks of hair and flip-flops of gold with my name in glimmering calligraphy.

I'm in love I'm in love I'm in love with this life.
Finally, finally, I don't feel as if I'm just biding my time, waiting for the next exciting phase of my life. I discovered joy on my own rooftop, on my own firescape, in the very backyard of a Brooklyn brownstone. Joy is in my legs as I pedal furiously down Washington Avenue towards Prospect Park, a backpack loaded with beach towel, bottled water, healthy snacks, and sunscreen.

Joy is in my skin as the sun warms my shoulders and tiny flecks of light radiate from somewhere inside my body, as if it is not blood that courses through these veins, but liquid gold. Joy is in my laughter as I lay on a blanket with my dearest friend in the city, throwing a frisbee with people i have just met, sharing stories with beautiful people in between beautiful songs at a show on a beautiful night.

I take my coffee in the mornings with joy and cream and sugar. Lots of it. I eat chocolate chip pancakes at brunch with a dear new pal who makes my sides hurt with laughter and pour over them joy, thick and rich and from the bottle. I stir joy into my bourbon to make it sweeter and sip it from a jam jar on a patio in brilliant warm sunshine.
I consume joy. I am consumed by joy.

This is my life, and i want it all. every last drop. Don't ever stop living like this, don't ever stop loving how you live. One day,Katie, you'll long for this life again- being twenty something, married but with little to responsibilities, able to jump on your vintage yellow bike named Petunia and ride to the park, for ice cream, to brunch, to work. You'll miss spending your days playing with a tiny baby who beams when you kiss his nose, who falls asleep with the tip of your finger in his mouth, who sleeps while you drink coffee in the mornings on a bench on the boardwalk, gazing at the city reflected in the river while the wind lightly lifts your hair and swirls it around your face.

Love what you have. Let every moment explode with joy. This is your life. This is what you were made for.

2009-04-02T17:57:00.001-07:00

also, thinking about cutting my hair.

its so dry, and takes so long to do each morning.
and honestly, im just not used to having "long" hair. (ha, it's not even to my shoulders.)

but whatever.

i really like this haircut:

just imagine it megablonde.
and not in some gorgeous alley in italy or somewhere exotic.

hmm?

no more doughnuts. wah.

2009-04-02T16:35:00.001-07:00

i'm such a bad eater.

seriously, if it's healthy, i probably hate it.

well, that's changing, now that my waistline is starting to reflect my choices.
i lost a LOT of weight after college, going from a size 14 to a size 4.
i wanna stay a size 4, and maybe ever shimmy into a 2 one of these days, and that just won't happen if i don't kick some of these horrible habits.

so here we go.
i'm going to be one cranky lady over the next few weeks, but this summer i'll feel fantastic, and it will all be worth it.

today, i had a cup of coffee around 8 (with half and half...i have no idea how to kick this! i hate coffee any other way, and i don't know how to function without coffee...eep). around noon i had a yogurt parfait from starbucks. it was incredible. i also had a grande soy chai latte. then around 4 i had a roll of sushi- california roll, and some kettle corn.

for dinner tonight, ill be having a burrito with rice, black beans, cheese, and salsa, in a corn tortilla. i probably wont eat the whole thing, because they're huge. i'm going to eat half of it, and save the rest for lunch tomorrow.

i'm trying to keep track of the things i put in my mouth, because i have a bad habit of lazy eating, and i dont pay attentiont o everything that goes into the black hole that is my mouth.

starting tomorrow-
no more kettle corn or drippy, buttery popcorn (sob! but i can make my own with olive oil and sea salt. its quite amazing). no more sour cream, guacamole, etc. i will continue to eat cheese, because i'll die without it.
i'll start getting margarine on my bagel in the mornings instead of butter.
when i'm hungry, i'll snack on granola or dried cranberries (FAVORITE!!) instead of chips and cookies and pizza.

and i need to drink lots and lots of water. lots.

this is not at all exciting.
im going grocery shopping this weekend...and it will be bleak.

on the bright side, husbear is on a diet with me. and hungrygirl has some awesome tips for situations just like this. and i have good friends who have come a long way with me on the scales and are amazing at keeping it off. i just need to surround myself with those people.
AND
I JUST GOT A NEW BIKE!
i can now save money on subway fare (they just raised the fare from 81 to 103 per month. ouch.) AND burn calories every day by riding to and from work!

there she is.
my beautiful Billie.
she arrives tonight.

good morning, brooklyn.

2009-03-30T06:31:00.000-07:00

alarm
snooze
alarm
stretch
touch dog
kiss husband
covers back
curtains back
sunshine, if lucky
stumble to bathroom
brush teeth
fix hair
fix hair again
wipe off mascara smudges
swipe lip balm
stumble back to bedroom
pull on jeans
find clean tshirt
pet dog again
kiss husband again
don't lay down...don't do it.
watch news for weather
make coffee
pull on shoes
put on coat
wrap scarf cozily
pack up purse, laptop
out the door, push back kitty
walk 5 blocks
say hi to woman on corner
wait for train
wait more
really? still waiting.
read a book
drink my coffee
watch other commuters
force eyes to stay open
eyes are closing, eyes...are...clo-
OPEN THOSE EYES
switch trains
hold on tight
ignore germs
get off train
climb stairs, so many stairs
catch breath
walk 4 blocks
stop for a muffin
chat about weather
yes, it IS windy!
take elevator up
come into work
wash hands

and then my day starts.

i need to start blogging daily.
right now i'm just working on forming the habit.

Letters

2009-03-25T18:13:00.000-07:00

Dear My Metabolism,
Please catch up. you're lagging. it'd be nice if you could maybe make up for lost time but putting in a little overtime this week. Thank you.
Love,
Katie's tummy and lovehandles.

Dear Lucy the Cat,
It's cute how you always have to be in my lap the second I sit down, but please do not attempt this when there is already a laptop there. It's frustrating. Forigive me? i still think you're pretty.
Love,
your crappy mom

Dear My Motivation,
See letter to Metabolism
Love,
All those blogs and recipes that have yet to be posted

Dear Skinny Girls,
Eat a cheeseburger.
You're making me look bad.
Hate,
Katie Katie Cupcake Lady

Dear Katie,
Please start using your imagination and creative abilities more. You are wasting a ridiculous amount of talent and potential due to your excessive laziness.
Love,
All Katie's unwritten prose.

Dear Fashion World,
Please make me a dress to wear for my friends wedding on Friday. Let it be perfectly me, and just my size, and cost one quarter. And let it arrive on my doorstep, because I do not have time to go hunt for it.
Love,
sophistiKatie

Dear Danny Gokey,
You are my American Idol.
I think you are handsome, but don't tell Husbear. He might get jealous.
Love <33,
Katie

Dear Springtime,
Please also reference the letter addressed to my metabolism.
Love,
Katie's severe Seasonal Affective Disorder and constant yearning for sunshine.

Dear Oreos,
GET AWAY FROM ME. DONT THINK I CANT HEAR YOU TAUNTING ME.
Hate,
the same things that wrote the letter to my metabolism.
(ps don't take it personally. you are irresistable for a reason.)

What will you celebrate?

2009-03-15T18:59:00.000-07:00

I watched this tonight and wept with youthful joy.
I'm sad my birthday isn't until August.
This is what I plan on doing when I turn 25 in 4 1/2 months.

Who says growing up means you can't still be a child at heart?

(Husbear is out of town for the week, so I'm emotional. Bear with me.)

Cry it Out

2009-03-12T07:28:00.000-07:00

Today at work, we are teaching Miles the "cry it out" method of falling asleep for naptime.
It seems has has gotten wuiote used to be tightly swaddled and rocked to sleep with the tip of my pointer finger in his mouth. he does not take a pacifier of any sort, and does not suck his thumb.
this has unfortunately and frustratingly affected his ability to fall asleep in the middle of the night after waking himself up with a giant fart. (or toot, if you please.)

so right now, he is laying in his crib, staying oddly quiet, because it seems the sound of my typiong is soothing to him. this is the first time he has calmed himself in a half hour. so i'm just going ot keep on typing. about anything and everything.

today is going to be a very long day, i think.
i woke up this morning to my alarm, which seemed more blaring than usual, and it woke me from a very deep and comfortable sleep.
as i hurried to get ready, i noticed a funny smell coming from my purse, and figured i would inspect it on the subway on the way to work.
it seems my stipid terrible horrible b word of a cat peed in my purse. soaking everything, including my wallet.
what a rotten thing to do, in my opinion. see if she gets any wet food for a long, long time.
so the ride to work was decent, considering it was one of those mornings when dan's classes conincide with my work schedule and we get to ride into work together, holding hands. but when i kissed him goodbye at my stop and got off the train, i saw, much to my dismay, that the up escalator was out of order. the down was working perfectly, of course. but i do not need the down. i need the up. otherwise i havce to walk 5 flights of very steep stairs. which i had to do.
my legs were burning at the top. welcome to new york.

so i get to work, and find that i do not actually have tomorrow off. which really isnt a big deal, i just need to help mama with miles at the pediatrician's office, and i still get to sleep in. okay, i can handle this.

and then i remembered: to day is cry it out day. so he is doing that.
and i kind of want to, too.

...oh my word. he might be asleep.

he is.
whew.

now im going to go into the living room and think about everything good in my life, and turn this day right around.
i have no room in my life for negativity.

2009-03-05T19:00:00.000-08:00

i just called customer service at Tiffany and they told me they have one ring left in stock at the New York store.
It's my size.
When it's sold, the ring is considered discontinued.

Tomorrow i'm going to go try it on.
Just because.
I deserve to wear it once before i wave goodbye to it.

i believe i'll have it one day, though it may not come to me in a Tiffany blue box.
i'll just keep the picture, and take it to a jeweler, and tell them to make one justlikeit.

but tomorrow i'm going to wear it for a minute and pretend it's all mine. if they let me, i'll even snap a picture for you.

it's a shame i don't have $6,000 lying around.

psst: i have a secret-

2009-03-03T16:59:00.000-08:00

...i'm dying to be in a burlesque show one day.

before it's too late.

i'd keep it tasteful, i promise.

also, i wish Husbear liked it when i wear red lipstick.
i'd wear it every day.

2009-03-02T18:12:00.001-08:00

also, i got my hair done at arrojo studio 2 weeks ago. she really just gave me a glaze to give my hair an almost lavender sheen.
this is the result.

i am tres pleased with the final product!
hard to believe this time last year, i was dark auburn.
and planning my wedding. (just 20 days until our first anniversary! this year has been wild and fast.)

2009-03-02T17:59:00.000-08:00

Why is it so overwhelming to update this thing?

My life is not so exciting that I race to the computer to pour forth fountains of stories and anecdotes from my days.
but it is not so quiet or dull that I have nothing to share.

I have a great deal to share.

I love my job.
I love.
My job.
I'm so crazy about little Miles.
He's the most precious little nugget in the universe and he has seized my whole heart in his tiny little fingers and squeezed it so hard honey is practically spilling out.

just look at those eyes!

Today, he wasn't feeling well.
About a week ago, his doctor decided that he might be allergic to cow's milk protein, so he was switched to soy formula for when i'm there, and his mama is on a strict no-dairy diet for when she breastfeeds.
Well, something was still wrong, if not more wrong, because where he used to just spit up all the time and have crazy gas, now he is vomiting. A lot. Everything he consumes.
So it looks like he's off the soy formula, and mama and papa now have to shell out crazy dough for this fancy hypoallergenic formula, WHICH he of course hated and then proceeded to launch all down the back of my sweater and into huge puddles on the floor.
Poor little guy.
Poor little tum.

I hope we figure this out soon.
He's such a darling when he's happy. Who doesn't want every tiny baby to be happy??

Anyway, this was a very funny way of telling you how much i love my job.
But the point is, i got puked on and i didn't mind.
i love my job because I love the family i work for and I love the baby i care for and I love the apartment we play in and the neighborhood we walk in. I love it so much that string of baby vomit don't phase me one tiny bit.

The other great part about my job is that I actually have the energy to bake when i get home, and clean my house on the weekends. This is a very big deal to me.
I'm practicing being a good little housewife for when my husband is a doctor man and i get to make my home look pretty and keep our tummies full of delicious treats.
This might be the opposite of what every feminist wishes for me, but it's what my heart wants, more than anything in the world.
I want to be a wonderful mama, a loving wife, and a "maker of art and dinner", to borrow a phrase from Ms. Suaviloquy.

It's so close, i can smell it. In fact, I can even see the pies cooling on the windowsill...

2009-02-17T19:57:00.000-08:00

i cannot tell you how badly i want this ring.

if you knew all the hell my current wedding set has put me through, you would understand my desire for a new one.
(my band itself is currently missing 3 small stones.)

i can't wait until my husband is a doctor.

2009-02-08T19:08:00.001-08:00

also, watch this.

because it's beautiful.

2009-02-08T11:59:00.001-08:00

i fell back in love with new york today.

all it took was a stroll under the manhattan bridge with my husband and my dog, looking at the incredible view, feeling the sunshine on my face and the cool breeze lifting my hair up in swirls around my face, my scarf flapping in the wind.

oh, and the job of my dreams, waiting for me to start a week from monday.

finally...
finally.

i love it here again.

now i'm going to clean my apartment and make it shine.
i'm home.

...oh, the dream job?
taking care of a tiny little baby named miles, only 9 weeks old.
getting paid what i do now, but in 4 days a week instead of 5.
working with parents who have made this baby their whole world and would give anything to see that he has the very best in life.
in the most delightful neighborhood nyc has to offer, Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass. DUMBO.

is this disneyworld?
it feels like it.

2009-01-27T18:32:00.000-08:00

some random thoughts-

every single time i walk into a grocery store or drug store, i instantly have to go tinkle.
this also happens at places like blockbuster and the library.
and the worst is when i walk in the door when i get home.
most days, i'm pretty sure i won't make it to the bathroom...but i always do.
well, almost always.

also, i am very very interested in taking up yoga.

2009-01-27T05:24:00.000-08:00

i love how every time i tell max to do something, i turn it into a song.
one of these days i'm going to go home to dan and start singing "wash, wash, wash the dishes...wash, wash, wash the dishes!" on accident, and i will find myself turned out onto the streets of brooklyn with nothing but a bottle of palmolive.

i also love how when i do sing these songs, Max is there to follow up my big finale with a giant "YAAAAYYYY!!!" and claps, to let me know i did a good job singing, like i do for him.

today i'm having a much more positive day than the ones i've been having in the past.

last night i stopped by my friend rachel's house to pick up two entire bags of handmedowns she had for me. i. love. handmedowns. especially hers. and my boss's.
almost all of the amazing sweaters i now own, and now two coats (complete with toggles and hoods!), have come from one of the two of these super-generous ladies.

so today i am sporting a lime green crewneck sweater that looks like something people tie around their shoulders in cape cod to play tennis or drink tea or whatever it is rich people do (lord knows i have NO idea.)
something about this bright color has brightened my spirits significantly.

also, i got new jeans this weekend.
one pair from target for 30 bucks, that are straight cut and high-waisted (think belly button, aka audrey hepburn style) and indigo wash.
the other i got for 15 bucks at daffy's and are my new favorite pair of jeans EVER.
so, feeling fabulous (and skinny!) definitely helps make my days sweeter.

now let's just see if it makes work go by faster...fingers crossed!

in other news, i'm ridiculously excited about this weekends Souperbowl Party.
Can't wait to post pictures! Just need to find myself a Cardinals tshirt. hmm...

2009-01-26T12:45:00.001-08:00

oh, also.

i officially changed my last name with social security on friday.
it only took me ten months. no big deal.

sincerely,
MRS. VON ERCK.

the culinary [mis]adventures of domestikatie.

2009-01-26T08:46:00.000-08:00

i decided to make a cooking blog, since i never update my just katie blog.
consider that one dead.
i'm way more excited about this.

you can get the link from my profile, or follow this:
http://domestikatiemakesamess.blogspot.com

i'm going to be posting my recipes and cooking endeavors there, complete with pictures and reviews by the mister.

i'm really excited about this!

2009-01-26T07:22:00.000-08:00

so i made these cupcakes.

Crystal Light® Raspberry Lemonade Cupcakes
Makes 12 cupcakes

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temp
3/4 cup sugar
3 large eggs, at room temp
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup milk
2 packets Crystal Light® On The Go Raspberry Lemonade mix
zest of one lemon

Frosting
4 oz. Neufchâtel cheese (or cream cheese), at room temp
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temp
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
2 teaspoons water
1 packet Crystal Light® On The Go Raspberry Lemonade mix

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners.
2. In a small bowl, whisk or sift together flour, baking powder, and salt.
3. In a large bowl, beat butter, sugar, and lemon zest with an electric mixer on high speed for 2 minutes.
4. Add eggs one at a time, beating on high speed for 30 seconds between each addition. Scrape sides of the bowl occasionally with a rubber spatula.
5. In a measuring cup, combine milk and lemonade. Mix well.
6. Add flour mixture alternately with milk mixture, beginning and ending with the flour. (You should have 3 additions of flour and 2 additions of milk.) Mix just until flour is incorporated.
7. Divide batter among muffin cups. Bake for 16-18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (a few crumbs are fine). Cool on a wire rack. When cupcakes are completely cool, make the frosting.
8. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and butter with an electric mixer on high speed for 20 seconds. Slowly add confectioners' sugar 1/2 cup at a time, beating on medium speed until combined.
9. In a small measuring cup, mix water and lemonade until completely dissolved. Add lemonade mixture to the large bowl. Beat on high speed until frosting is thick and creamy.

AND THEY WERE AMAZING.
they are a delightful light pink color, so i'm going to make more when we go upstate for a couple's weekend over valentine's day.
i'll be sure to take pictures.
also, i'm going to try a healthier version of the recipe, for those of you who are trying to be health-conscious this year.
i got the recipe from a blog called howtoeatacupcake.net, which posts tons of unique baking recipes every week. fun!

i'm really getting into this wife thing.

also, husband did the laundry for me this weekend.
he is certifiably the best man alive.

2009-01-20T09:34:00.001-08:00

my spirit feels so joyful when i watch the faces of everyone as they watch the inauguration.

i can't wait to tell my children about this day.

everytime i picture michelle's heart as she stands by her husband, my eyes well up.

what a beautiful, beautiful year.

2009-01-16T08:29:00.000-08:00

i got max to take a tiny poop on the toilet today.

when i flushed it, he yelled, "bye bye, poop!"

i loved it.

in other news, he has a fever so i have to take him up to the doctor this afternoon.
it's -5 outside.
it's a mile up york ave.
sigh.

2009-01-15T19:29:00.000-08:00

i just want to declare this:

if dan and i won the lottery, we would start trying to have a baby tomorrow.

i wish more than anything that we were in a place where we could provide for one.
we have their names picked out and everything.

until then...i'll just have to take care of everyone else's babies.
sigh.

2009-01-15T11:15:00.000-08:00

this weekend dan and i are going to our friend's place up in peekskill.
i plan on wearing my slippers all weekend long.
also, i plan on making some of my killer caramel corn, which i have yet to name (ideas?) and watching a lot of great movies.
also also, it would be nice to get a jump on some of my scrapbooking. it has been so long, and my creative juices are flowing to the point of bursting.
i'm very grateful to martin luther king jr. for making the world a better place, and in doing so, earning us all a day of rest. way to go, marty. you are missed.

in other news, both boys are sleeping, the heat is cranked while snows swirls fancily outside the window, and i'm watching law & order and eating hershey's kisses. this afternoon is not so bad.

i wish i had a british accent. or australian.
i'm wearing mismatched ski socks.

2009-01-14T06:28:00.000-08:00

i'm trying to ever so sweetly remind myself that in a few years, my husband will be a doctor and all of these aburdly early mornings and ridiculously long days filled with trekking other people's children in a giant double stroller all over the city in subzero temps will be worth it.
because i'll be able to stay home.
when i wake up absurdly early, it'll be to dress my own beautiful children for school and kiss my husband goodbye as he heads to work. it'll be to sit by the window with a mug of coffee and homemade scones with jam before heading into my workshop to knit or scrapbook or make beautiful things to sell to people who love to buy beautiful things.
when my days are ridiculously long, my time will still be spent on my family, on my children, with my dog and my husband.
when i do any trekking, it'll be a city that doesn't have the ability to make me feel like i'm drowning in a sea of irritated people and LITTER.
no matter how bad my days will be on occasion, i'll still be right where i want to be, and that will make all the difference in the world.

for my own sanity, i'm going to try to fall back in love with new york, as we're still here for another year and a half.
but new york better start being a little nicer to me, or i'm going to slam my giant front door in its mean old face.

so much for not complaining.
dlkfjafkla;d

2009.

2008-12-30T10:01:00.000-08:00

1. blog more. i want to have a record of my life, witnesses, encouragement, accountability, and most all, the ability to make a realistic reflection before starting 2010. plus, it helps me sort my thoughts at the end of the day and provides an outlet for my emotions. and i love to write.

2. write more. maybe look into starting a book. finally. at the very least, maintain the gift, facilitate its growth, see where it goes.

3. listen more. while i have calmed down immensely since college, i still don't feel that i have become the epitome of a good listener. i don't want to leave people with the impression that i care only about myself, but that i truly and eager to learn more about everyone else. i've spent 24 years talking. i want to hear some great things. this year, i will ask more questions, and hear more stories.

4. spend less. enough said.

5. complain less. i'll be grateful for what i have, and focus more energy on being positive. this is going to be a hard year, because i plan to start back up in school, and i will do well to remember that positivity is crucial during hard times.

6. snark less. i will speak sweetly to those i love.

*miscellaneous things i also want to work on:
-keep the house clean(ish).
-get my dog more exercise.
-stay on top of homework in school.
-take better care of my body.
-learn some more recipes and cook more at home!
-take the time to look my best before going to work or school. this seems silly, but it makes such a difference in my attitude throughout the day.

2008.

2008-12-30T09:21:00.000-08:00

1. What did you do in 2008 that you had never done before?
i married the swooniest man alive.

2. Did you keep your New Year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
i didn't make any last year that i can recall right now, but i am certainly developing a lost of expectations of myself for the next year, which i'm going to be posting on here.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
my cousin madison, who i grew up next to and is closer to me than a sister, gave birth to the first baby of our generation, willow olivia goodrich. she is truly breathtaking.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
i can thankfully say no.

5. What countries did you visit?
dan and i went to grand cayman, cozumel, honduras, and belize on our honeymoon. grand cayman was my favorite.

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
more nerve to stand up for myself, and the chance to continue my education.

7. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
March 22: our wedding. June 28th: our reception. August 14th: Willow's birth. September 28th: the day we left for our honeymoon.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
thriving in new york for another year.

9. What was your biggest failure?
trying to build up my credit. this seems to be an impossible task.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
some colds here and there, which are part of my job as a nanny. otherwise, i've been very lucky this year!

11. What was the best thing you bought?
my new macbook, who i have named olive gomerrybuttons. she's a dream!

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Both mine and my husband's. We have come through almost an entire year of marriage, and we make a really incredible team. we're both learning so much about how to love each other and people around us, and we help each other so much. i'm so proud of him for making the decison to start medical school and following through, and succeeding during his first semester, and i'm proud of myself for working harder than i've ever worked in my life and still keeping up with everything else. i love you, bear!

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
we've had our issues with some people, but nothing that wasn't resolved and improved.

14. Where did most of your money go?
RENT. ugh. bills in general.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
getting the puppy, the wedding, the receptions, the honeymoon, and CHRISTMAS!

16. What song will always remind you of 2008?
Mr. Violin and Dancing Bear, by Page France

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? oh so much happier, though last year i was pretty wildly happy, too.
b) thinner or fatter? a little thinner, woo hoo!
c) richer or poorer? slightly better off.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
spent time with family, saved money, and rested.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
working, hands down. i can't believe how much of this year was spent at work, or commuting to and from work.

20. How did you spend Christmas?
Christmas morning we opened presents with dan's dad who stayed with us, then in the evening we made a HUGE dinner for our friends who were stuck in nyc for the holidays, and it was amazing.

22. Did you fall in love in 2008?
I was already in love. I am lucky.

23. What concerts did you attend this year?
too many to even count. lots of stationary set shows, jeff taylor shows, one decemberists show, and tons of others sprinkled here and there.

24. What was your favorite TV program?
House. and dan and i made our way through the entire 6 feet under series, so we were obsessed with that for a while.

25. Do you dislike anyone now that you didn't dislike this time last year?
no. if anything, i like more people now than i did last year.
although, dan's ex girlfriend, who i didn't like simply on principal, moved in downstairs this summer, and became my best friend. that's kind of nuts.

26. What was the best book you read?
water for elephants.
right now i'm reading a book called then we came to the end, and i'm completed sucked into it. i love it.

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
jeff taylor.

28. What did you want and get?
more pay, a new camera, a juicer, a laptop, a dog, and a husband. KACHING!

29. What did you want and not get?
a winning lotto ticket. not to say we didn't try!

30. What was your favorite film of this year?
wall-E!

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
i turned 24 on august 3rd, and i spent it with dan and my othersis, casey, who dan flew out to visit me as my birthday gift. it was marvelous. we went to my favorite restaurant for brunch and spent the day shopping in soho.

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
starting school.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
i gave up on trying to look new york, and finally started to look katie. i feel fabulous.

34. What kept you sane?
my husband, though some days he made me insane, too. ha!

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
robert downey freaking jr. dfjakjghsldfkjghldskjgh

36. What political issue stirred you the most?
the election of barack obama, of course...but also proposition 8 in california. my stomach still hurts when i think about how far we still have to go. i can't believe america is still struggling with civil rights. which brings me to another favorite film of the year: Harvey Milk.

37. Who did you miss?
my family. oh, i miss them.

38. Who was the best new person you met?
Kate, my new neighbor/bestfriend/dan's ex. haha.

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008.
Life is what you make it. Be the change you want to see in the world.

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
"I am humbled in this city
There seems to be an endless sea of
people like us, wakeful dreamers,
I pass them on the sunlit streets
In our rooms filled with laughter
We make hope from every small disaster
Everybody says "you can't, you can't, you can't, don't try."Carolyn
Still everybody says that if they had the chance
they'd fly like we do."
Painting By Chagall, by the Weepies

I tag:
Bear, Mandy, Yeags, and Carolyn!

Things I Am Grateful For; Anxiety Ahoy!

2008-12-11T13:37:00.000-08:00

Eels (the band, not the monsterfish). The possibility of getting a van to drive around the city (a car in the city, what??). My dog and my wife (not necessarily in that order). Being back in school (except not for finals which are next week). Playing a show in Philadelphia tomorrow night, randomly (anyone out there wanna come see?)

oh and parentheses.

2008-11-01T14:27:00.001-07:00

i miss a lot of people today.

i wish new york city had a cider mill.

i want to have so many children so my house is full of the sounds of life all the time.

so much happens here, but i feel like i'm missing out on so much happening elsewhere.
i wish it was possible to do everything, to be everywhere, always.
though i'm sure i'd be exhausted.

gratefuls

2008-10-29T16:44:00.000-07:00

sometimes when i have a bad day, or month as the case may be, it helps me to make a list of the things that make me happy.

so here:

-the giant bowl of halloween candy next to the couch.
-takeout chinese for four bucks a person.
-a husband who does the dishes.
-the beautiful fall bouquet of autumn leaves and eucalyptus and cattails and wheat on our end table.
-my new patterned socks.
-the new rubber boots i have coming in the mail.
-feeling thinner than i have in years. 140 and holding steady. (thats 35 pounds since my college days. yee-ha!)
-peeling off nailpolish.
-watching episodes of six feet under.
-the popcorn i'm going to eat for dinner.
-the sight of the empire state building from my living room window.
-my midnight pomegranate candle.
-clean laundry. i don't have any, but it makes me happy when i do.
-a clean house. i don't have one, but it makes me happy when i do.
-the promise of weekend freedom. just two days away.
-a mug of tea, which i will have to accompany my popcorn for dinner.
-the way my dog sleeps on his back with his paws stretched all the way out, in between Dan and myself at night, even though he's "not allowed" on the bed.
-watching my stupid dog tries to catch leaves blowing in the wind with his teeth.
-this musician i just started listening to named greg laswell.
-being friends with my ex-fiancee's girlfriend. she is great. this makes me VERY happy.
-really delicious harmonies.
-knowing thanksgiving is just around the corner and that we get to host dinner for dan's mom and stepdad.
-pumpkin bread.

...there. that's better.

2008-10-29T16:35:00.000-07:00

i started my day off with a mug of theraflu and ten extra minutes to sip it and relax and try to begin my day on a positive note.

that was great.
but then the G train was fifteen minutes late, causing me to miss the E train, causing me to be very late to work, and i forgot my umbrella at home and it was raining.

and then max was still sick and then his school was cancelled so he had to stay home with me and we went to barnes and noble and he accidentally fell asleep in the stroller for all of ten minutes and when he woke up, he did not go back to sleep. once. for the rest of the day.

and then dan called and said steve escaped his cage and that stupid mutt demolished our apartment.
but my darling bear cleaned it all up.

and then i kept working, and max was a terror, and made me pull out all my hair.
so now im bald.

sigh.

i'm home now.
i don't have the energy to make dinner, or clean the bedroom, or do anything but watch episodes of six feet under, which i cant do because husband has to study so he can be a good doctor and i can be a stay at home wife.

can't wait.
so tired.
want to punch my job in the face.

goodnight.
better luck tomorrow.

2008-10-28T16:02:00.001-07:00

It is so hard for me to get out of bed each morning and watch the pup steal my spot next to my husband in my warm, cozy bed.
Even harder now that mornings are darker and darker each day.
I don't do well without sunshine.

Work today was manageable- Max is very very sick so he had to stay home from preschool, and went all manic on me whoch was not much fun. But I gave him benadryl and let him run up and down the hallway in the apt building until he crashed...and he napped FROM ONE UNTIL FIVE. amazing.
Micah is starting to walk, so I spent the afternoon chasing him around the living room, setting up little obstacle courses and seeing how far he could make it without falling down or reaching out for support. He was such a little cruiser.

When I got home, husband informed me that he bought me new rainboots from target and they will be arriving very soon in the mail. Gosh, he is darling. This weekend is our dating anniversary, but we're not technically supposed to celebrate that anymore cuz we're married and stuff. But we are anyway. I need a good fancy date.

I'm in a slump.
Everyone please keep their fingers crossed that at least one of the three schools i applied to takes me in.

i want to be a teacher.
...and i really want summers off.

2008-10-27T18:52:00.000-07:00

i suppose i need to be better at updating this little guy.

i have to admit, i'm so tired every night after work, and dan is usually using the laptop to do his homework, so the ol' bloggeroo really gets neglected. i promise to get better at this.

and dan, quit getting all political in here. post it on your facebook. this is a marriage/life in nyc/turning into grownups blog.
i looove youuuu...

right now i'm sitting at home, watching old episodes of home improvement and looking at the various blogs of people i was once close with, feeling very homesick and very disconnected from the world.

i'm hoping to get my life back when i start school in january. working fifty hours a week plus devoting two hours of every day to riding the subway to and from work is taking a serious toll on my well-being and general zeal for life.

i just need to get back on track with making my dreams come true, and nannying is not cutting it.

just a tiny vent.

on the bright side, it's autumn. i live in new york city. it's almost halloween.
all of these things bring me joy.

i miss everyone.

Cinday McCain on "The Issues" and Palin

2008-09-09T15:27:00.000-07:00

(CBS) CBS News anchor Katie Couric talked one-on-one with Cindy McCain about her husband's selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to be his running mate. They also discussed social issues, such as abortion. Couric began by asking McCain if the governor has been rattled by the intense media scrutiny.

Cindy McCain: No, she's not the least bit shell shocked. She's tough, she's smart. She's extremely on target with the job she needs to be doing. No she's a very - she's an amazing woman. She really is. I'm very impressed with her.

Katie Couric: When did you and your husband first discuss her as a possibility?

McCain: A while ago. We had, as you know, John and I pretty much discuss everything. And he brought her name up to me some months ago, after the primaries, of course. And then … as you get a lot of names, I mean we were thinking abut a lot of different people and Sarah was in that mix. I'm very happy he chose a governor, and I couldn't be happier. In fact, when he called me and said "ok, I think I'm going to do this," I was, if I could, I would have done back flips. I'm too old, but I could have.

Couric: Do you feel confident, Mrs. McCain, that the vetting process which is getting a lot of attention was as thorough as it needed to be and that Sen. McCain knew everything he needed to know?

McCain: Well, I was right in the middle of it. I know the vetting process was thorough. I knew that was going on, so absolutely, it was. She was vetted and she was thoroughly vetted. That's, you know, it's just something that, just because the media didn't know, doesn't mean we didn't vet her (laugh).

Couric: The scuttlebutt, if you will, behind the scenes is that Sen. McCain really wanted Joe Lieberman to be his running mate, but social conservatives would have found him unacceptable because of his position on abortion.

McCain: My husband and Joe are very good friends. And, wouldn't it be nice to work with your best friend? Of course. But we had to consider other things as well. And reform being the, as you know, my husband's most important issue, and my husband felt that Gov. Palin was a better fit for that.

Couric: Some, even Republicans, seemed surprised that Sen. McCain picked a running mate who opposes abortion even in the cases of rape and incest, and believes creationism should be taught in schools. And I'm just curious, do you agree with that?

McCain: What I agree with is the fact that she is a social conservative. She is a reform-minded woman. She is someone that will … shake Washington up, which is exactly what we want to do. We differ on many issues; we differ across the board with people. We don't have to agree on every issue.

Couric: Where do you stand on abortion?

McCain: I'm pro-life. I'm on the record as being pro-life, like my husband.

Couric: So do you oppose it even in cases of rape and incest?

McCain: No.

Couric: So that's where you two differ in terms of your position on that.

McCain: Uh-huh

Couric: And do you believe Roe V. Wade should be overturned?

McCain: No. no.

Couric: No. Why not? Your husband does.

McCain: No. I don't think he does.

Couric: He believes it should be overturned. That's what he told me, and that it should go to the states.

McCain: Well, in that respect. Yes, yeah, I do. I understand what you're saying now. It's a states issue.

Couric: So, you believe it should be overturned or shouldn't be overturned.

McCain: I believe it's a states issue. That I do believe.

Couric: How do you feel about creationism? Do you think it should be taught in schools?

McCain: I think both sides should be taught in schools. I think the more children have a frame of reference and an opportunity to read and know and make better decisions and judgments when they are adults. So, I think you know I don't have any problem with education of any kind.

---

So there's the problem. I understand that for some people, these issues are the hot-button topics when it comes to discussing one candidate versus another. But I feel the Republican side has been drawing themselves too thin. You can't say your platform is anti-abortion, regardless of circumstance, pro-creationism (are you kidding), pro-states rights, anti-terror, pro-green energy (oh yeah?), pro-jobs, anti-taxes, pro-government and -big business accountability all at once. You're going to shoot yourself in the foot.

And at the same time, using your primary argument against your opponent as his apparent lack of political experience, and then pick someone like Palin. Really? Obama isn't ready to be president, but this whack-job ex-beauty pageant first termer is?

Political discussion and argument of ideas is one thing. But any intelligent person can see the McCain camp is really grasping at straws. If Hillary had snagged the nomination, would McCain have picked an African-American man to be his running mate? How stupid do these Republicans think their constituents are? I almost feel bad for the right (and further extrapolation, the Christian right), because they are getting embarrassed publicly by the people they started off supporting.

But now they know how we felt in 2000.

Also, I implore everyone to check out this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMiUAcEJY98

I love the political debate as much as the next person. I even love discussing freely the ideas and opinions people have regarding their personal religious beliefs. But as my friends (and wife) can FULLY attest, the one thing I cannot stand is faulty logic... Specifically, hypocrisy. Bill O'Reilly is one of the biggest nutjobs out there, and every once in a while, it's worth it to see him DIRECTLY CONTRADICT HIMSELF in the span on a few months.

---

In non-political news, I started school last week as an NYU student. I am officially part of the post-baccalaureate pre-health school, gearing myself up for an early application to med schools around the country.

This decision was mainly contingent on the fact that I'm now starting my own family (EMERGENCY READ HERE: KATIE IS NOT PREGNANT, I'M TALKING ABOUT HER), and I want to be able to have a foreseeable future in which I can provide for her and any cubs that we decide to have. I want her to be able to not work, if she doesn't feel like it, and not feel pressured into spending time away from her kids to help bring home the honey.

Also, it's time for me to start feeling like the decisions I make have a lasting impact on the world in general, and our society as a whole. Philosophy is fun, but will always remain as something you can do in your part time. I want to be able to come home at the end of the day and not think "Wow, I just helped Hummer make another billion dollars (through my work at Nielsen)", as well. I'd like to think I can bring my specific talents and intellect to bear (GET IT) on deeper and longer-lasting issues.

2008-07-30T06:58:00.000-07:00

i have another blog, for those who'd like to add it.
It's not a married blog, it's a wifeblog.

www.thevonblog.wordpress.com

2008-07-06T11:39:00.001-07:00

the scones were SUCH a success!

also, i played with 50's hair today.
it was rather fun.

here is the outcome:

what a fun day this hss been!

also: go see wall-e. it will warm your heart and inspire your mind. mmm.

Sorry for the delay!

2008-07-06T07:48:00.000-07:00

I've been so ridiculously busy with my new job that I haven't had time to do much else besides drool and stare at a buzzing tv screen once I finally get home.

It's going well- rather, every time I think I'm ready to scream, I get paid, and it all feels much more worth it.

My boss is phenomenal. She's so caring with her children and really takes great measures to make sure that I'm happy with my job and feel at home with their family.
The baby is a delight, he mostly just cuddles and sucks on a bottle. The older brother is very very high energy, which is exhausting, but with the exception of a few two-year-old antics, is relatively well-behaved. The only problem I have with him is that he does everything in hi-gear...he's IMPOSSIBLE to keep up with, especially when there's a 20 pound baby strapped to my chest. Whew.

Our routine goes a bit like this:
I arrive at 8am and dad goes back to sleep.
I give Max his breakfast in his high chair with Sesame Street on the tv to keep his attention focused in one place. Otherwise food gets thrown and feet go kicking like the blades of a propeller.
I give Micah his bottle while sitting in the armchair, and give him his baby food when he's strapped into his baby chair.
While the boys are trapped, I pack the diaper bag and eat my own breakfast.
At some point here, Cora or Caitlin arrive to take Max on an outing- the playground, the library, a class, what have you.
These ae the babysitters my boss has hired to help make my job easier and keep me from wanting to quit. They do a great job, and I adore both of them.
So they take Max, and I am free to play with Micah and straighten up after breakfast.
Sometimes I can watch a little TV if the baby falls asleep, or sometimes we take a walk to starbucks and he dozes in his stroller while I knit by the bridge.
We all meet back up at the apartment to make lunch.
More Sesame Street to prevent mishaps while Max is in his high chair.
After lunch is naptime- if I keep him awake until 12:30 or so, I can get a good 3 hours of nap time out of Max. Micah will doze here and there during this time, so it's still relatively relaxing.
After nap (around 3 or 3:30) I give Max a snack and strap both boys into their stroller for another outing. Many times is the park or a play date with another kiddo, so I have someone else to talk to.
We come back at 5 for dinner time and a bath. Mom or dad come home around 6.

And I'm free.

And exhausted.

But I really like what i do.

My boss also just told me that the family is going to be taking a few vacations this summer so I'll be getting a lot of (PAID!!!) time off, but I'll need to be flexible with them in the meantime and be willing to do some evening and weekend stuff before they leave to kind of make up some of those hours. That's fine with me, because they already told me theyd give me a two hour break in the evening to have dinner with Dan or something, and then he and I can come back to work together and watch movies after the kids fall asleep. Not a bad deal.

So that's the update.

In other news- our Michigan wedding reception was a SMASHING success. I had so much fun!! I didn't get to see Dan at all though- we were far too busy mingling with everyone. We only got to steal smooches during some pictures that people wanted to take. Other than that, I had to gaze at him longingly over 120 heads and a horseshoe pit.
I'll post some pictures soon.

ALSO:
I've made my foray into baking.
I baked a strawberry cream pie for our 4th of July part that turned out fantastic, and I have a batch of chocolate chip scones in the oven right now that smell delightful, as well as some katie-made devonshire cotted cream in the fridge to smear on them when they cool.
:)

Wee!
My secret to baking: clean as you go, and make sure your husband doesn't mind doing dishes. ;)

Domestikatie.

2008-06-13T18:28:00.000-07:00

Today was my last day of work for the Criscuoli family.

We spent the afternoon at the sprinkler park and my tan approached levels i've never known possible for a pasty little dutch girl. I am so pleased!

Goodbye was awkward and hurried, but oh well. I've never been good at that.

So this weekend is my "fresh start" weekend.

When I got home I got to work cleaning.
I took out all the trash and sorted out all the recyclables, leaving them in the hallway for Dan to take down (which he did, and then mopped the hallway and made it sparkle- thanks hunbun!)

I swept and mopped the floors and bleached and scrubbed the hell out of them until they sparkled white (or ivory, because it's ivory tile). Hopefully no more animals will feel the desire to do what comes natch'erly on my clean floors, or they'll find themselves being shipped to the glue factory.

I scrubbed down the stove and the window sills and even the walls.

I cleaned out the fridge and organized all of our cabinets.

...and then I went grocery shopping and bought enough food to stock the entire kitchen. I LOVE coming home frm grocery shopping and unpacking them all into their proper places, and then standing back at how full and organized everything looks. We havent had the money to go full-on grocery shopping in a couple months, just enough to fill in the holes. But I got paid today and Dan gets paid tomorrow and I am starting a new job with a gigantic pay increase- so I went nuts and bought everything I thought we could possibly need.

Our good friends Kate and Joe moved in downstairs yesterday (Brackney and Scott, in case you know them, Quillen). I am so. excited. to. have. them. here.
Kate came grocery shopping with me, and she's downstairs making stuffed shells and garlic bread for all of us for dinner tonight because I cut her hair earlier.
Dan and Joe are at Home Depot, buyin' stuff and bein' dudely.
Kate and Joe even have 2 dogs that are Steve's new best friends.
We are couple-friends made in heaven. It's incredible.
Last night we sat on the roof and talked until midnight (wayyyy past my bedtime) whi,e watching the skyline and filling each other in on our lives and the move and city life.

This is really so terrific, and much needed for Dan and myself. I'm so happy.

Tomorrow is new hair day (YES, TOTALLY FUN), and we have a dresser getting delivered so we can finally organize the bedroom. When I get home I'm going to do that straightaway, and then work on cleaning the other rooms as thoroughly as I did the kitchen. We have a couple that Dan knows staying with us next week, and I want to demonstrate my amazing wifeliness.
Plus I dont want to have to clean again for a long time, as I'll be working my tail off with my new job.
Also, with Kate and Joe moving in, their place is all clean and organized, and I have home-envy. Dan and I will be shopping for plenty of organizational-type things this weekend so the place doesnt look quite so...overstuffed. I think cluttered homes are cozy, but I'm more one for organized chaos.

I'm really excited about this weekend.

Everyone come visit soon. I'm so damn proud of this home.

The Night I First Saw Death Cab.

2008-06-11T11:23:00.000-07:00

So we decided to avoid the heat by bailing on Rogue Wave, who was opening for DCFC last night at McCarren Park Pool.
We waited until around 7 to leave the apartment.
I wore my favorite skirt- it's a wrap-around patchwork india silk number that I know Alisha would borrow in a heartbeat- and a teal beater-style tank top, with my trusty comfiest flip flops. I didnt care about looking cool, I cared about staying cool. In a 100 degree+ heat wave, less is less, and that is more.
We met up with our pal and a girl he had met at a bar the night before. She was very sweet, but very...young seeming. It was a little weird, but thankfully we only had to socialize for a few minutes before Death Cab showed up on stage.

For those of who who haven't been to McCarren, it's a pretty great venue. It used to be a huge community pool like back in the 70's and it's about the size of a football field. Now it's empty, and a few nights a week they fill it with people for these awesome summer concerts. Last year, Dan and I saw the Beastie Boys play for their first ever Brooklyn show. It was so sweet.
Anyway, I was geared up for something huge: my first Death Cab experience. I was expecting to be physically and emotionally...transformed, I guess.

So they started, and the sound was all off. It all felt like we were wearing earplugs. The bass was way up and the treble was way down, and you couldnt hear any of Gibbard's guitar. His voice was tinny and weak. This makes it tricky to get into the groove. After a song or two (lots of new stuff, which I'm not totally entranced by), they started getting the sound levels right, but something was still missing.
Gibbard sounded really weak, still, and he kept coughing. He wasn't hoarse at all, there was just no power behind his voice. He was making a valiant effort to keep his enrgy level up, but I was still waiting to be grabbed. Also, his guitars were all out of tune and the sound would come in and out. SKFHAD;SGH;D
Finally, about 45 minutes into the set and after 3 or 4 guitar exchanges, he screamed "FUUUUUUCKKKKKKKKKK" (not into the mic) and pitched his guitar to the sound guy backstage, then grabbed his mic from the stand. He went apeshit. He jumped into the crowd, he danced around, he totally let loose. That's when my heart soared out of my ribcage and went to rest at his feet. He was amazing. He was on, he was alive, he was beautiful.

And then his mic went out.
While waiting for the sound guys to fix THAT, he bounced around and greeted fans and danced on stage with Chris Walla.
Also, the bass player (name?) was amazing to watch. Dan mentioned that he used to hide in the back and just do the bass groove thing, but he was SO INTO IT. He was my fave to watch. I could feel every bass line in my fingertips. I loved it.

So the mic turned back on, and the night progressed ever upward.
I was lost, I was in love.
I kept thinking, this is my life.
This is my husband.
These are my friends.
This is my city.
This is it, this is it.

The little tendrils of hair that escape my pony tail and usually rest on my neck were lifted in the wind and tickling my face. The air was moving in such a way that I felt weightless, that if I moved just so I might be swept up in it and float around as if in a dream ...my skirt was swirling around my knees, I could feel the night air on my eyelids and my scalp and between my fingers. It was fluid. I can't even explain it. The purple sky, the brillant flashes of lightning miles behind us, the music, the heartbeats...
It was magical.

We were electric.

And then the wind changed, and brought with it stinging dirt and leaves and twigs. Suddenly the gusts were cold as ice, and traveling with all the speed and strength of a barreling semi truck. The lights above the band were swaying precariously, violently. The banner at the back of the stage billowed out like a sail and looked as though they might tear at any moment.
They wrapped up "Sound of Settling", thanked us, and ran.
The park directors asked us urgently to get home as soon as possible.

The sky was no longer a brilliant violet fading into a soft lavender- it was the angry purple and gray of a painful bruise. The wind was swirling and stinging, the trees were bent low to the ground.
We left as quickly as possible, but not before a beer tent released itself from its holds and nearly came hurtling through the air at us. I felt Dan throw himself over me, and force me into crouching position with him arching protectively above me. People screamed and shouted and raced to the exit.

We figured we had time to get to the train before the rain came.
Wrong. And the rain, like the wind, was merciless. It came in fat, stinging drops that felt like exploding water balloons on our bare skin. Slowly and painfully at first, then faster, and sideways. We watched it move in circles and waves on the cross streets. People clustered on stoops and under awnings- but some of us pushed through. Wet is wet, so we kept walking. My drenched silk skirt was flapping in the wind and whipping my legs, my tank was plastered to my stomach and ice cold. Water fell in rivulets down my face and in my eyes. I tucked my glasses into my bra for lack of pockets, and we ran.

About 5 blocks later, I no longer felt my glasses.
I yelled for Dan, and we turned back. Nearly blind and with raindrops careening into my eyes, I walked slowly back up the sidewalks, scanning the ground for a darkish blur or a shining reflection...nothing.
I'm crying, but the tears get lost among the raindrops.
I can't see. I can't see a thing.

Dan catches up with me, and he stops and swipes his foot through every ocean-sized puddle in every gutter. I stoop to peek at every glittering surface. Dan keeps telling me "It's just broken glass, honey." But I'm blind and crying and I can't tell the difference between a beer bottle and my glasses.
The rain slows, and we're just left with chilly night air and water dripping from every surface. I watch water run in rivers towards sewers, feeling my spirits get pulled in with all the debrit.

I walk ahead to ask people if they've passed any glasses on the sidewalk, and I hear Dan yell my name from a block behind me.
I can only make out his silhouette. He looks like a soldier coming back from the war.
He's holding my glasses in the air, and his shoes in his hand. They had been in a gutter, in a puddle of gray water.
I hug him so tight and kiss his wet beard and tell him he's my hero.

And we walk home barefoot and wet in Brooklyn, holding hands.

huge pups and pregnant cats.

2008-06-10T05:18:00.000-07:00

I posted pictures of phase one of going blonde on my myspace:

www.myspace.com/shallwedanse

saturday is phase 2- i have an appointment with Antonia at Arrojo Studio (should sound familiar to those What Not To Wear fans!). I'll post more pictures afterwards!

also, you can see how gigantic my puppy has gotten in the last 5 months. It's unbelievable.

tonight is my first ever death cab concert.
its going to be 106 degrees out.
and i don't mind a bit. i will enjoy it with all of my body, including my....
(i miss my spring arbor pals. sigh.)

last night it was so hot in our bedroom that dan and i slept in our skivvs with our heads at the foot of the bed to be closer to the fan.
i use the term "slept" loosely- it was more of a light doze, drifting in and out of heat-induced nightmares.
dan awoke me mid-doze and asked me to switch spots with him, because every time he closed his eyes he pictured a man in a mask hiding in our office (on his side of the bed) and he couldn't fall asleep because he was scared- errr, uneasy, we'll say.
so he threw me to the wolves and made me sleep on the dangerous side. thanks, honey. i always said i wanted to die first, but i didn't mean at 23. sheesh.
just kidding, it was all very precious and i wasn't scared a bit. though i did get up and make sure the door to the hallway was locked, haha.

kate brackney and jow from CANADA move into the apartment below us today.
this is going to be so great.

also, our kitty cat might be preggers, as dan mentioned in his post.
which means: FREE KITTENS TO ANYONE INTERESTED!
i'll keep you posted.

2008-06-06T08:17:00.001-07:00

So my wife is super hot.

Also, this is the kind of thing that happens every day at work:

And my puppy is pretty great looking and getting better behaved by the day, my lesbian cat is finally calming down (and may be pregnant, IRONY), my apartment is awesome and two beautiful and friendly friends from Michigan are moving in downstairs, the Wings got the cup, Obama got the nomination, I'm thinking about applying at med school, our reception is in a few weeks, we're going on a cruise, my friends are all talented and happy as well.

EVERYTHING IS COMING UP BEARS.

-DvE

2008-06-04T18:06:00.000-07:00

1. I'm dying my hair.
.....blonde.
.....very very blonde.

I'm trying to safely go from very very very dark red (almost black) with fire engine red streaks to icy platinum blonde, like this:

I bought a product called One n' Only Colorfix, and used it to remove as much of the permanent haircolor as possible.
I'm currently at a pretty hilarious shade of strawberry blonde, but it is unbelievable light, considering I haven't even touched it with bleach yet.
I'm letting it rest tonight, and then attempting bleaching #1 tomorrow. It may take two tries, but my hair has always taken to lighteners really well. Dan even promised to help me apply it. What a fab husband.

I'll post pictures when I'm done!

2. I start my new job in a week and a half. So I got some new shoes, because I'l be walking alllllll over the city! We're going to take long walks with the stroller, lay on the playgrounds, go to central park and the zoo and all sorts of fun places- and my chucks are about to die so I needed somthing a little more functional.
I got these:

and these:

3. Dan may be going to med school. This is kind of huge and amazing. He's in th process of gathering info from a few different schools, mostly in Chicago and in West Virginia. We're really excited about this idea. We'll keep you posted!

4. There are more updates but I'm tired so I'll fill you in tomorrow.

3 seniors barred from graduation over Confederate flag prank

2008-06-04T12:47:00.000-07:00

Three high school seniors have been barred from Bloomington Kennedy High School's graduation ceremony tonight at Target Center because of a prank involving Confederate flags.

Rick Kaufman, a spokesman for the Bloomington School District, said three male students brought the flags onto school property Tuesday morning. He said they were "carrying and waving" the flags in the parking lot as parents dropped students off for class.

Principal Ron Simmons spoke with the boys shortly after the incident and suspended them for three days. Superintendent Les Fujitake affirmed Simmons' decision Tuesday evening despite objections from the boys' parents and other students. School officials declined to release the students' names, citing student privacy policies.

"The Confederate flag is an issue we take seriously regardless of their intent," Kaufman said.

Today, between 25 and 30 Kennedy students staged a protest near the school. Kaufman said several students wore white T-shirts with the three students' names and chanted "let them walk."

Kennedy seniors were on campus this morning for a graduation ceremony rehearsal. School officials asked the protesters to remove the T-shirts before they entered the rehearsal. Kaufman said students complied with the request.

"This doesn't mean they [the three males] won't get their diploma. They've earned that. But graduation is a privilege, not a right," he said.

Bloomington's conduct policies ban students from any school-sponsored activities including graduation during a suspension. Kennedy's student body is made up of more than 40 percent minority students, according to the state Department of Education.

Kaufman said it's unfortunate that the boys' decision resulted in their exclusion from the graduation ceremony, but the ban isn't new.
"We believe and have communicated with students that the Confederate flag represents hatred, bigotry, intolerance, slavery, civil rights issues and discrimination," he said. Kennedy students know they're not allowed to have a Confederate flag on school property because it may violate the district's anti-discrimination rules, he said.

---

And don't pull the "Free Speech" card on this situation, like so many inbred and (hatefully) ignorant people are attempting to do. In our society, there is no plausibility to saying you are ignorant of the resounding symbolism of the Confederate flag. It stands for hatred, bigotry, intolerance and racism. Which, consequentially, ARE long-standing traditions in the South.

Touting confederate flag, a burning cross, a Nazi armband, a noose, or a white hood are all synonymous in the US. It doesn't matter if you're young or old, from the South or North, or actually harbor any malicious intent. Factor in the reality that 40% of the student body are minorities, and the Seniors were waving the flag with intent and purpose, and you get a deserved sentence.

A Senior with a Confederate flag sticker on the back of their car may just be an ignorant or covertly racist moron. To bring it to school and wave it around, shortly before graduation, is a level of stupidity on par with believing in those ideals or thinking the flag itself stands for anything to be proud of.

Ruh Roh!!!

2008-05-28T11:55:00.000-07:00

It would be easy to think of Scott McClellan's new book as a piece of dish, designed for sales, pitched for controversy, packed with juicy detail. And it is that, of course. But it is also something more. It is an argument by a man very, very close to the president, and deputed to be his spokesman for many years, that the president deliberately deceived the country about the reasons for going to war. We're not talking mistakes here; we're talking about a deliberate shading of the truth to hide the real motivation for risking the lives of thousands of soldiers and hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians:

In Iraq, McClellan added,Bush saw "his opportunity to create a legacy of greatness," something McClellan said Bush has said he believes is only available to wartime presidents.
The president's real motivation for the war, he said, was to transform the Middle East to ensure an enduring peace in the region. But the White House effort to sell the war as necessary due to the stated threat posed by Saddam Hussein was needed because "Bush and his advisers knew that the American people would almost certainly not support a war launched primarily for the ambitions purpose of transforming the Middle East," McClellan wrote.

"Rather than open this Pandora's Box, the administration chose a different path — not employing out-and-out deception, but shading the truth," he wrote of the effort to convince the world that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction, an effort he said used "innuendo and implication" and "intentional ignoring of intelligence to the contrary."

"President Bush managed the crisis in a way that almost guaranteed that the use of force would become the only feasible option," McClellan concluded, noting, "The lack of candor underlying the campaign for war would severely undermine the president's entire second term in office."

If this is true, if the president intentionally ignored data refuting the existence of Saddam's WMDs, he should be impeached.
"

-DvE

East End gallery owner carted off to jail for serving drinks without a license

2008-05-26T08:28:00.000-07:00

It was chaos in the Hamptons as cops crashed an A-list Memorial Day weekend gala, dragging the owner of a tony art gallery to jail for serving drinks without a license.

Longtime gallery owner and East Hampton fixture Ruth Vered was hauled off in handcuffs after she refused to stop serving drinks Saturday evening - and then balked at cops' orders to follow them.

"People were screaming, 'Leave her alone,'" Vered told the Daily News Sunday. "It's disgraceful."

She dismissed the East End cops as big-muscled toughs with too much time on their hands.

"I told them I've been doing this since before they were born," fumed Vered, 67. "They have some nerve."

She was taken away from the wine-and-cheese shindig in front of her granddaughter and the 200 elbow-rubbing fashionistas and socialites gathered at Vered Gallery for the opening of an exhibit by celebrity photographer Steven Klein.

East Hampton Mayor Paul Rickenbach said cops were just enforcing state alcohol rules.

"It's standard operating procedure for the police," Rickenbach said. "It's not something that's new and out of the blue at all."

The beach town brouhaha began as bold-face names like leggy blond Kelly Killoren Bensimon and Kelly Klein, Calvin Klein's ex-wife, sipped white wine and cocktails while they scanned the sexy shots.

The exhibit includes photos of Madonna, Justin Timberlake, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. There were also Polaroids of gay men in various sexual poses.

Just before 8 p.m., two police officers arrived and told Vered to stop serving drinks. When she refused, they told her she would have to come with them to the police station.

"I said I'm not going anywhere," said Vered, who recalled telling them she would only discuss the issue with a higher-ranking police official.

"There were about eight of them with big muscles."

Moments later, up to nine police cars and more than a dozen officers descended on the gallery and arrested Vered. Then they carted out crates of fancy Champagne, wine and Grey Goose vodka.

Vered was identified by cops as Ruth Kalb, but she told The News she prefers using only a single name, Vered.

She blasted the small-town cops for having too little work.

"They really have nothing to do so they pick on me - it's harassment," she said. "You'd think someone was murdered."

Gallery customers said the police response was totally out of proportion to any problem caused by the reception.

"There were about nine cops there for one woman," said Lou Contino of Huntington, L.I. "It seemed like a gross overreaction."

Vered was fingerprinted, photographed and handcuffed to a bench for more than two hours at the East Hampton Village police station before being given a summons for serving liquor without a license. She has a June 25 court date.

Cops didn't return calls for comment.

But the mayor insisted they did everything by the book.

"It's unfortunate the atmosphere was the way it was, but the police operated in a professional manner," Rickenbach said.

Cops also shut down a reception at the neighboring Walk Tall Gallery.

Witnesses said cops confiscated bottles of wine as a woman who worked at Walk Tall began to shake and cry in fear when she was handed a summons.

"It was like a drug bust," said Wendy Wachtel, owner of Walk Tall.

Artsy types said it's going to be a long hot summer in the Hamptons if the cops decide to crack the whip on wine-and-cheese parties.

"This is a dog-and-pony show," said Jim Hayden of the East Hampton Artist Alliance. "It's outrageous."

---

Gallery owner Ruth Vered is cuffed and put into an East Hampton police car.

2008-05-21T17:39:00.001-07:00

I wish BedStuy had Taco Bell.
Though I have to admit, I don't know that I'd ever eat Brooklyn fast food. Sigh.

Tonight I had a surprise dinner waiting for Dan when he got home.
I made burgers (veg for him) and corn on the cob and veggie baked beans and spiked lemonade! I also bought a big bag of kettle cooked bbq chips..mmmm.
AND i had fresh baked chocolate chip cookies hiding in the oven for afterwards.

I'm really doing well with this whole wife thing, I think.

Clean house, good dinner, letting him watch the pistons games....

He's taking the dog for a walk right now, so I'm watching American Idol.
David Cook is totally my new celebrity crush...shhhh...
but I think David Archuleta is going to win. I honestly would be thrilled either way: they both deserve it so much! And I'd hands down buy either one's album. Don't tell any of my friends...I'll lose all my indie Brooklyn cred. Ha.
This is the first year I've ever paid attention to the show, but I got so HOOKED. Man.
But I wish they'd just ditch all this time-filling nonsense and just announce the winner already.

I spent all afternoon beefing up our registries (Target and Bed, Bath, & Beyond, if you're curious.) because I realized that I had far less items on the registry than guests invited to the reception.

OH: My friend Allison made our invitations for us...and they are breathtaking.
This is the outside:

This is the inside:

I cannot wait to see them all printed up. My mom is printing them out at work and shipping them to me to address and stuff.
Dan's mom has purchased our centerpieces, picnic tables, and most of the decorating components, secured the park and the caterer, and is about to order the plates and napkins i wanted so badly. She's been amazing about all of this...I'm so grateful.

Man, i'm finally getting back into the habit of this blog thing!

Of windex and animal unrest and night terrors.

2008-05-21T05:44:00.001-07:00

So on Saturday, after I came home from my last day at the salon (which I ended up not having to work), I cleaned the HECK out of our apartment.
Uusually I just do a surface clean, or a "straightening up", and somehow it's messy again an hour later. This is infuriating to me.
But we got our new tv delivered- a 42" flat screen HDTV...and it is a beauty, let me tell you- and I wanted our house to look like it deserved such a luxury.
So I dusted and swept and windexed and organized and rearranged and made our home look better than it has since we moved in in November. We also bought some more candles and placed them all over the living room, and opened all the windows so it spells like fresh spring air instead of puppy breath and sleep.
I am so happy with how clean it is- and here's the best part: IT'S STILL CLEAN.
Dan and I have made been making a conscious effort to put our shoes in the hall closet and our laundry in the hamper and wash every dish when we use it and not let any clutter even hit the coffee table or the end tables. And it has been so easy, and the house still looks fabulous. 4 days and counting, haha...
Erin- you know how big of a deal this is for me, as you had to live with me and my absurd messiness.

Tonight I have to dust and sweep again just to keep ahead of the game, and we really need to do laundry. I usually don't mind doing laundry, but I'm so sick of dragging all of our clothes down 3 flights of stairs and then 3 blocks to the laundromat to wait for a big enough machine, blah blah blah. I just like the smell of clean laundry when I'm folding it.

SO. LAST NIGHT.
I woke up in the middle of the night because Dan had been sleeping fitfully, thanks to our witch of a kitten running laps around the bedroom at 2am. This means across our faces and over our legs and onto the dresser and up on the window sill, etc. When he got up to lock her in the bathroom, she got away from him and took off into the living room, where she ran on the walls practically, knocking everything over (INCLUDING dan's macbook!) in her wake. I have never seen such an angry bear of a husband. Whoa. He was yelling and cursing at her and trying to catch her, and she put up such a fight when he finally did. I was afraid she was going to lose her tail, or he an eye.
Of course, the dog woke up because of the commotion, and WOULD NOT go back to sleep. He kept stirring at the foot of the bed and pacing around and stepping on us and chewing the blankets...and Dan was already furious with not being able to sleep, so he kept sitting up to yell at the dog to go to sleep, which wasn't working (obviously, because dogs dont understand english). We finally had to put the pup in his cage for the night...but then he couldnt stop fidgeting and his nails were skittering all over the plastic floor, and I could feel Dan's heartbeat racing against my back, and he was actually letting out a low growl. My house is full of animals.
So Steve finally falls asleep..and of course the FERRETS start to chime in by scratching on their water bottle and rattling the cage. By now it's like 4am. I'm exhausted and emotional, and Dan is infuriated and so weary, and we're both just desperate to fall back asleep.
Somehow we do.

And then I wake up. Again.

Dan and I always sleep on our right sides, with him as the big spoon and me as the little. His right arm extends out and fits perfectly under the crook of my neck, and i hold that hand with my left. Cute, yeah.
But I never knew how deadly...until last night.
I don't know WHAT he was dreaming about, but I woke up with stars in my eyes because he had suddenly jerked his right arm towards him and held it there, almost snapping my neck and cutting off oxygen flow to my brain. I seriously had pinpricks in the backs of my eyes from the speed at which he had put me in this headlock. I woke up and gurgled something like "GAH! ACK! OWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!" and he didn't move. I couldn't get him to let go. Finally I elbowed him in the side and he sort of rolled over.

Whhhhaaat?

So my husband dreams of strangling me.
Guess he doesn't like cleaning as much as I thought.

Oh, Life.

2008-05-20T11:14:00.000-07:00

Dan and I booked our Honeymoon, finally!

We leave September 28th from Tampa for a 7 Night Western Caribbean Cruise with Carnival cruiselines, on a ship called the Legend.
We'll get to see Grand Cayman, Cozumel, Belize, and Honduras!

Our best couple-friends, Scott and Terra, are coming with, too.
I know it's unconventional, but so are we.
And this way I have someone to lay out with and get spa treatments with, and Dan has someone to gamble with. Ha.

Anyway, I did a little cruise shopping this weekend at Target.
I got two bathing suits:

(though I'm not crazy about these bottoms. They had plain red ones that tie on the side- I may go exchange them for those ones.)
and a new dress!

I've already cheated and worn this. But I tied a metallic gold sash around the waist and wore it with teal flats and skinny jeans, and scored myself a new job!
I decided to quit the salon because I was so exhausted from working 11 hour days there with barely any pay. The owner was temperamental and unprofessional- and didn't pay hsi stylists for haircuts?? What the heck.
So I (hopefully) got a new job as a nanny (again), starting June 16th.
I'll be making 600 more a month than I do now, which will be a huge stress relief...plus I'll be getting 2 weeks paid vacation and a Christmas bonus...oooo!
I got along so well with the mom, whose name is Anna. She and I mostly just chatted during my 2 hour interview.
She has two little boys: Max, age 2- who is a SPITFIRE! and will keep me quite busy; and Micah, who is only 6 months old. He was so quiet and precious, he just slept in my arms the whole time...and when he was awake, he was smiling every moment.
She kept telling me how hip and fun I was, and that I'm going to be an astonishing mother someday (to which I BEAMED!...but it won't be anytime soon).
She lives on the Upper East Side, so I'd have millions of places to take the boys during the day, and I'll be able to get lots of sun and exercise this summer!

Let's keep our fingers crossed, shall we?

Also: I'm going back to school. More details on that to come...but I know I'll be studying elementary education. The application process commences this month. Gulp. And let's home that FAFSA I submitted comes back with only the best news, ha.

California Supreme Court overturns gay marriage ban

2008-05-15T10:28:00.000-07:00

From the Associated Press:

The California Supreme Court has overturned a gay marriage ban in a ruling that would make the nation's largest state the second one to allow gay and lesbian weddings.

The justices' 4-3 decision Thursday says domestic partnerships are not a good enough substitute for marriage. Chief Justice Ron George wrote the opinion.

The city of San Francisco, two dozen gay and lesbian couples and gay rights groups sued in March 2004 after the court halted San Francisco's monthlong same-sex wedding march.

The case before the court involved a series of lawsuits seeking to overturn a voter-approved law that defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

With the ruling, California could become the second state after Massachusetts where gay and lesbian residents can marry.

"What happens in California, either way, will have a huge impact around the nation. It will set the tone," said Geoffrey Kors, executive director of the gay rights group Equality California.

California already offers same-sex couples who register as domestic partners the same legal rights and responsibilities as married spouses, including the right to divorce and to sue for child support. It's therefore unclear what additional relief state lawmakers could offer short of marriage if the court renders the existing ban unconstitutional.

A coalition of religious and social conservative groups is attempting to put a measure on the November ballot that would enshrine California's current laws banning gay marriage in the state constitution.

The Secretary of State is expected to rule by the end of June whether the sponsors gathered enough signature to qualify the marriage amendment, similar to ones enacted in 26 other states.

The cases before the California court were brought by the city of San Francisco, two dozen gay and lesbian couples, Equality California and another gay rights group in March 2004 after the court halted San Francisco's monthlong same-sex wedding march that took place at Mayor Gavin Newsom's direction.

Conversations At Work

2008-05-14T09:28:00.000-07:00

So the following is a conversation held within the Spanish department at my work.

Exxxx Bxxxx says:
Ok this is my history for today... Yesterday I went to the bank and the employee was a brazilian guy, and I speak Portuguese, so I started to speak in portuguese with him and he congratulate me for my good spoke
Dxxxx Hxxxx says:
that's an awful story
Dxxxx Hxxxx says:
add something
Dan Erck says:
OH SNAP!

where hilary went wrong

2008-05-08T09:49:00.000-07:00

Senator Hillary Clinton talks to the press on her campaign plane leaving Minneapolis for Weschester to vote in the Super Tuesday Primary .

For all her talk about "full speed on to the White House," there was an unmistakably elegiac tone to Hillary Clinton's primary-night speech in Indianapolis. And if one needed further confirmation that the undaunted, never-say-die Clintons realize their bid might be at an end, all it took was a look at the wistful faces of the husband and the daughter who stood behind the candidate as she talked of all the people she has met in a journey "that has been a blessing for me."

It was also a journey she had begun with what appeared to be insurmountable advantages, which evaporated one by one as the campaign dragged on far longer than anyone could have anticipated. She made at least five big mistakes, each of which compounded the others:

1. She misjudged the mood
That was probably her biggest blunder. In a cycle that has been all about change, Clinton chose an incumbent's strategy, running on experience, preparedness, inevitability — and the power of the strongest brand name in Democratic politics. It made sense, given who she is and the additional doubts that some voters might have about making a woman Commander in Chief. But in putting her focus on positioning herself to win the general election in November, Clinton completely misread the mood of Democratic-primary voters, who were desperate to turn the page. "Being the consummate Washington insider is not where you want to be in a year when people want change," says Barack Obama's chief strategist, David Axelrod. Clinton's "initial strategic positioning was wrong and kind of played into our hands." But other miscalculations made it worse:

2. She didn't master the rules
Clinton picked people for her team primarily for their loyalty to her, instead of their mastery of the game. That became abundantly clear in a strategy session last year, according to two people who were there. As aides looked over the campaign calendar, chief strategist Mark Penn confidently predicted that an early win in California would put her over the top because she would pick up all the state's 370 delegates. It sounded smart, but as every high school civics student now knows, Penn was wrong: Democrats, unlike the Republicans, apportion their delegates according to vote totals, rather than allowing any state to award them winner-take-all. Sitting nearby, veteran Democratic insider Harold M. Ickes, who had helped write those rules, was horrified — and let Penn know it. "How can it possibly be," Ickes asked, "that the much vaunted chief strategist doesn't understand proportional allocation?" And yet the strategy remained the same, with the campaign making its bet on big-state victories. Even now, it can seem as if they don't get it. Both Bill and Hillary have noted plaintively that if Democrats had the same winner-take-all rules as Republicans, she'd be the nominee. Meanwhile, the Clinton campaign now acknowledges privately:

3. She underestimated the caucus states
While Clinton based her strategy on the big contests, she seemed to virtually overlook states like Minnesota, Nebraska and Kansas, which choose their delegates through caucuses. She had a reason: the Clintons decided, says an adviser, that "caucus states were not really their thing." Her core supporters — women, the elderly, those with blue-collar jobs — were less likely to be able to commit an evening of the week, as the process requires. But it was a little like unilateral disarmament in states worth 12% of the pledged delegates. Indeed, it was in the caucus states that Obama piled up his lead among pledged delegates. "For all the talent and the money they had over there," says Axelrod, "they — bewilderingly — seemed to have little understanding for the caucuses and how important they would become."

By the time Clinton's lieutenants realized the grave nature of their error, they lacked the resources to do anything about it — in part because:

4. She relied on old money
For a decade or more, the Clintons set the standard for political fund-raising in the Democratic Party, and nearly all Bill's old donors had re-upped for Hillary's bid. Her 2006 Senate campaign had raised an astonishing $51.6 million against token opposition, in what everyone assumed was merely a dry run for a far bigger contest. But something had happened to fund-raising that Team Clinton didn't fully grasp: the Internet. Though Clinton's totals from working the shrimp-cocktail circuit remained impressive by every historic measure, her donors were typically big-check writers. And once they had ponied up the $2,300 allowed by law, they were forbidden to give more. The once bottomless Clinton well was drying up.

Obama relied instead on a different model: the 800,000-plus people who had signed up on his website and could continue sending money his way $5, $10 and $50 at a time. (The campaign has raised more than $100 million online, better than half its total.) Meanwhile, the Clintons were forced to tap the $100 million — plus fortune they had acquired since he left the White House — first for $5 million in January to make it to Super Tuesday and then $6.4 million to get her through Indiana and North Carolina. And that reflects one final mistake:

5. She never counted on a long haul
Clinton's strategy had been premised on delivering a knockout blow early. If she could win Iowa, she believed, the race would be over. Clinton spent lavishly there yet finished a disappointing third. What surprised the Obama forces was how long it took her campaign to retool. She fought him to a tie in the Feb. 5 Super Tuesday contests but didn't have any troops in place for the states that followed. Obama, on the other hand, was a train running hard on two or three tracks. Whatever the Chicago headquarters was unveiling to win immediate contests, it always had a separate operation setting up organizations in the states that were next. As far back as Feb. 21, Obama campaign manager David Plouffe was spotted in Raleigh, N.C. He told the News & Observer that the state's primary, then more than 10 weeks away, "could end up being very important in the nomination fight." At the time, the idea seemed laughable.

Now, of course, the question seems not whether Clinton will exit the race but when. She continues to load her schedule with campaign stops, even as calls for her to concede grow louder. But the voice she is listening to now is the one inside her head, explains a longtime aide. Clinton's calculation is as much about history as it is about politics. As the first woman to have come this far, Clinton has told those close to her, she wants people who invested their hopes in her to see that she has given it her best. And then? As she said in Indianapolis, "No matter what happens, I will work for the nominee of the Democratic Party because we must win in November." When the task at hand is healing divisions in the Democratic Party, the loser can have as much influence as the winner.

---

And this, from Reddit:

"Hillary Clinton: The Psycho Ex-Girlfriend of the Democratic Party

Despite all the math counting her out, Hillary Clinton fervently remains in the race to become the Democratic nominee for president in 2008. She has become the Democratic Party's psycho ex-girlfriend, and she's not going away without a restraining order.

It's 2:31 AM. The Democratic Party is sleeping peacefully when it hears its phone buzz on the night stand. It rolls over and sees "Hillary" on the caller ID. It pauses briefly, considering pushing "END" and not dealing with this shit tonight. The thought is appealing but the Democratic Party knows that if it doesn't take this call, another one is only minutes away.

DEMS: ...Hello?

Hillary: Hey baby.

DEMS: C'mon Hillary. Enough with this.

Hillary: Don't you get it? You NEED me.

DEMS: No, I don't. It was fun while it lasted but I'm with Barack now. I made my choice, it's done.

Hillary: You can't really mean that. How can you say that after all the good times we had?

DEMS: To be honest, I started hanging out with you because Bill's pretty awesome.

Hillary: But I'm just like Bill!

DEMS: No, you're not. Bill is charismatic, inspiring, and gets me really good weed.

Hillary: F*** you. You're elitist!

DEMS: I'm going back to sleep.

Hillary: No, no, wait. I'm sorry, I didn't mean that. Listen... there's still got to be a chance. Remember when people told George W it was all over. When the numbers were against him?

DEMS: Yeah but...

Hillary: Remember?! And remember how everyone said America didn't really want to be with George W? But they stuck it out anyway?

DEMS: Yeah and they're really f***ed up now, Hillary.

Hillary: But WE'LL make it work. Forget Barack, baby. Just take me back and we can forget this ever happened.

DEMS: Look, I think you're a really good Senator... let's just keep it that way, OK?

Hillary: ...I'll see you at the convention.

DEMS: No! Hillary I told you...

CLICK

DEMS: Dammit. Crazy b****."

---

Also, i'm super pumped about the country bear jamboree. This is what it's going to look like.

COME TO IT.

country bear jamboree!

2008-05-07T10:54:00.000-07:00

this is the inspiration board for our wedding reception in Michigan, which will be on June 28th!

more details to come. :)

WEIRD NEWS

2008-05-06T06:58:00.000-07:00

So "My Fox DC" posted an article this morning about a Judge who is suing the Office of Administrative Hearings for $1 million and his job back. The wacky part of the story is, this is the same judge who sued a dry cleaners for $54 million when they lost a pair of his pants. The story is one short click away .

What gets me, though, in the midst of all of this "wacky sue crazy American" bullcrap, is how terribly this Fox News website has edited their story. I had to re-read it a few times to understand what was actually going on, and even at this point it was so convoluted and poorly constructed I had to go to another news source to see exactly HOW the two lawsuits were (if at all) related. You'd think one of the most powerful news conglomerates could afford to hire competent editors (even if it was just a local affiliate. A DC affiliate, no less!!!)

"WASHINGTON (AP) -- A former judge who lost a $54 million law suit against a dry cleaners over a missing pair of pants is suing to get his job back and at least $1 million in damages.

In the suit filed in federal court, Roy Pearson he was wrongfully dismissed for exposing corruption within the Office of Administrative Hearings, the department where he worked. In court
documents, Pearson said he was protected as a whistle-blower and that the city used the fact that he was being "vilified in the media" to cut him out of his job.

In a response to a Freedom of Information Act request from The Associated Press, the city's general counsel wrote that Pearson's term as an administrative law judge expired in May 2007, and the D.C. Commission on Selection and Tenure of Administrative Law Judges voted not to reappoint him.

Pearson's lawsuit in D.C. Superior Court claimed Custom Cleaners did not live up to Pearson's expectations of "Satisfaction Guaranteed," as advertised in store windows. Initially, Pearson calculated his losses at $67 million but lowered his request to $54 million."

---

The second story is about fat monkeys.

Fat Monkeys who live behind THIS LINK

DON'T LOOK AT ME, I'M HIDEOUS.

What's Up With Us

2008-04-29T10:18:00.000-07:00

So katie and I just purchased a 42" HD TV for a fourth of what it's retailed at. And last night I bought Grand Theft Auto IV!!!

+

=

---

Also, today I was talking to one of my Spanish co-conspirators (workers) at the job, and had this interesting clip:

"Exxx Bxxx says:
sorry but we only wanna live the AMERICAN DREAM
Dan Erck says:
stop STEALING OUR JOBS".

Man, if IT or our bosses are actually reading these conversations, I'm gonna be fired in a heartbeat.

Bathgate

2008-04-24T12:33:00.000-07:00

Katie and I saw Chris Bathgate play at the knitting factory on Monday.

The following is the really poor amateur footage I took of the event. Go watch it on youtube!

From Jack Thompson

2008-04-23T10:10:00.000-07:00

Dranks.

2008-04-23T08:47:00.000-07:00

Outright thievery from Holy Taco, but I thought it was an interesting list:

11. Irish Car Bomb

Why is it manly?: What’s manlier than going mano-a-beero with a pint of the world’s thickest stout mixed with a shot of whiskey? Knowing that if you don’t chug it fast enough, you’ll be downing chunks of curdled Bailey’s cream.
Recipe:
3/4 pint Guinness stout
1/2 shot Bailey’s Irish cream
1/2 shot Jameson Irish whiskey

10. Kentucky Tea
Why is it manly:? You can get shot in the face by an Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms federal agent just for making this cocktail.
Recipe:
1 mason jar halfway full of moonshine
Fill the jar with branch water

9. Rusty Nail
Why is it manly?: I can’t put my finger on exactly why, but there’s something oddly macho about asking your girlfriend if she would like to sip on your Rusty Nail.

Recipe:
¾ oz. scotch
¼ oz. Drambuie

8. Snake Bite
Why is it manly?: Anytime a drink is compared to a snake sinking its fangs into you and depositing venom in your bloodstream, chances are, it’s probably pretty stiff. Basically it’s straight up Yukon Jack, which has been known to make balls hairy. The only reason there’s a dash of lime juice is so you won’t get scurvy.

Recipe:
2 oz Yukon Jack liqueur
1 dash Lime juice

7. Jagerade
Why is it manly?: To be honest, I don’t know if this is manly or just gross. Either way, a man can never get enough electrolytes.
Recipe:
8 oz chilled Gatorade energy drink

4 oz Jagermeister herbal liqueur

6. Gin and Juice
Why is it manly?: Snoop Dogg likes to drink this when there are bitches in his living room gettin’ it on until six o’clock in the morning, so that has to be worth something. Gin and juice was also the morning cocktail of soldiers and officers in WWII. That’s right, this is what you drank right before you killed a bunch of Nazis. You can’t say that about Malibu and pineapple.
Recipe:
2 1/2 ounces Gin.

1 oz. orange juice.
Equal parts mind on your money and money on your mind

5. Nuclear Waste
Why is it manly?: This is the only thing Keith Richards drinks now. According to the man himself, “”Whiskey wasn’t agreeing with me anymore. The old body couldn’t take it. Brandy is a killer, and wine is best with food, so somehow I settled on this. Plenty of ice. Lovely.” If it’s good enough for Mr. Richards, it’s good enough for this list.

Recipe:
2 oz. premium vodka
1 oz. Sunkist or any orange soda
Plenty of ice

4. Tequila Sunrise
Why is it manly?:First off, it’s a breakfast cocktail. And secondly, “2 measures tequila” is short for, “as much tequila as your glass will hold.” It may look a little fruity but it’s about as tropical as a back alley in Tijuana.

Recipe:
2 measures Tequila
Orange juice
2 dashes Grenadine

3. The Original Sazerac
What makes it manly?: This cocktail takes the classic New Orleans recipe and adds—what else—a nice, healthy addition of Absinthe. Because if huffing rye whiskey doesn’t make you a man, mixing it with mythical psychadelic liquor that tastes like cough syrup will make sure everyone knows you have a penis.

Recipe:
1 tsp Sugar
1-1/2 oz Rye whiskey
1 Dash Herbsaint, Pernod or Absinthe (to coat the glass)
2 dashes Peychaud bitters
2 dashes Angostura bitters
1 Lemon peel twist

2. Martini

Why is it manly?: Well, it’s pretty much straight alcohol, with just enough vermouth to remind you that you’re not drinking disinfectant. Plus, James Bond drinks it, and he bangs lots of chicks and beats the crap out of dudes with names that describe a hideous disfigurement they have that also provides them with some sort of physical superiority.
Recipe:
2 1/2 oz Gin
1 1/2 tsp Dry Vermouth
1 Olive

1. Manhattan:

Why is it manly: You may say “it’s got a cherry, nothing with a cherry is manly.” Well, nibble on this: It’s notorious for being the favorite drink of the Italian Mafia, who are notorious for killing people. I’m not saying killing somebody makes you a man, but it’s probably not the best idea to call someone who just threw someone off a bridge a “cherry drinking pansy.”
Recipe:
*3/4 oz Sweet Vermouth
2 1/2 oz Rye whiskey

dash Angostura bitter
1 Maraschino cherry

sports

2008-04-22T13:53:00.000-07:00

So katie thinks I can only write posts about science or politics or religion. But in a constant effort to prove to my blushing bride how versatile and multi-faceted her bearsband is, I bring you a quick one-act diatribe about Detroit sports.

The actors:

Kevin Hatton, a brusque but well-meaning Cubs fan, who is deathly diabetic and likes to poke fun.
Dan, a die-hard and caustic Tigers fan, who is quickly prodded to rage, and a stickler for correct grammar.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008.
4:45 PM

Kevin: So how come the tiger's blow chunks?

Dan: 1) No apostrophe
2) F*** YOU, HATTON

Kevin: hahaha
but seriously, how come the tigers blow chunks?

me: F*** you, Hatton.
Seriously.

Kevin: it's a simple question
weren't they supposed to go all the way this year?

me: F*** you hatton.

Kevin: i don't know why you're mad at me, I'm not Detroit's s****y baseball team

me: F*** YOU HATTON.

---

And, scene.

things

2008-04-19T18:19:00.001-07:00

So katie's the best hairdresser on the planet, and I'm ridiculously proud of her working at this salon on the UES. Friends, we need you to set up appointments with her! The haircuts are free, so you get all the pleasure of a salon, and you only really have to give her a tip!

---

I chew popcorn kernels. Katie tells me not to. She says I'm going to hurt my teef, and I say she's making up stories.

Today I chipped one of my already mangled top front teef on a popcorn kernel but don't tell her.

shh.

Oh, Intelligent Design

2008-04-17T14:02:00.000-07:00

So I love katie. She's the best thing that ever happened to me. And secretly, I love it when she wears glasses.

---

In unrelated news, what is the DEAL with intelligent design theorists? What century do we have to reach before people will start packing up their antiquated and superstitious beliefs that attempt to directly contradict incontrovertible and rational evidence?

I used to respect Ben Stein. I really did. And then he released this movie called "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed", which was lauded by the faux-intellectual right-wing politicians and theocratic scholars as a "fair and balanced look at the subjugation of intelligent design theorists in modern educational circles", with Ben Stein.

Turns out he's a loony nutbar, just like the rest of them.

Hey, real science, what's up?

---

In the film Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, narrator Ben Stein poses as a "rebel" willing to stand up to the scientific establishment in defense of freedom and honest, open discussion of controversial ideas like intelligent design (ID). But Expelled has some problems of its own with honest, open presentations of the facts about evolution, ID—and with its own agenda. Here are a few examples—add your own with a comment, and we may add it to another draft of this story. For our complete coverage, see "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed—Scientific American's Take.

1) Expelled quotes Charles Darwin selectively to connect his ideas to eugenics and the Holocaust.

When the film is building its case that Darwin and the theory of evolution bear some responsibility for the Holocaust, Ben Stein's narration quotes from Darwin's The Descent of Man thusly:

With savages, the weak in body or mind are soon eliminated. We civilized men, on the other hand, do our utmost to check the process of elimination. We build asylums for the imbecile, the maimed and the sick. Thus the weak members of civilized societies propagate their kind. No one who has attended to the breeding of domestic animals will doubt that this must be highly injurious to the race of man. Hardly anyone is so ignorant as to allow his worst animals to breed.

This is how the original passage in The Descent of Man reads (unquoted sections emphasized in italics):

With savages, the weak in body or mind are soon eliminated; and those that survive commonly exhibit a vigorous state of health. We civilized men, on the other hand, do our utmost to check the process of elimination. We build asylums for the imbecile, the maimed and the sick; we institute poor-laws; and our medical men exert their utmost skill to save the life of every one to the last moment. There is reason to believe that vaccination has preserved thousands, who from a weak constitution would formerly have succumbed to small-pox. Thus the weak members of civilized societies propagate their kind. No one who has attended to the breeding of domestic animals will doubt that this must be highly injurious to the race of man. It is surprising how soon a want of care, or care wrongly directed, leads to the degeneration of a domestic race; but excepting in the case of man himself, hardly anyone is so ignorant as to allow his worst animals to breed.

The producers of the film did not mention the very next sentences in the book (emphasis added in italics):

The aid which we feel impelled to give to the helpless is mainly an incidental result of the instinct of sympathy, which was originally acquired as part of the social instincts, but subsequently rendered, in the manner previously indicated, more tender and more widely diffused. Nor could we check our sympathy, even at the urging of hard reason, without deterioration in the noblest part of our nature. The surgeon may harden himself whilst performing an operation, for he knows that he is acting for the good of his patient; but if we were intentionally to neglect the weak and helpless, it could only be for a contingent benefit, with an overwhelming present evil.

Darwin explicitly rejected the idea of eliminating the "weak" as dehumanizing and evil. Those words falsify Expelled's argument. The filmmakers had to be aware of the full Darwin passage, but they chose to quote only the sections that suited their purposes.

2) Ben Stein's speech to a crowded auditorium in the film was a setup.

"Viewers of Expelled might think that Ben Stein has been giving speeches on college campuses and at other public venues in support of ID and against "big science." But if he has, the producers did not include one. The speech shown at the beginning and end was staged solely for the sake of the movie. Michael Shermer learned as much by speaking to officials at Pepperdine University, where those scenes were filmed. Only a few of the audience members were students; most were extras brought in by the producers. Judge the ovation Ben Stein receives accordingly.

3) Scientists in the film thought they were being interviewed for a different movie.

As Richard Dawkins, PZ Myers, Eugenie Scott, Michael Shermer and other proponents of evolution appearing in Expelled have publicly remarked, the producers first arranged to interview them for a film that was to be called Crossroads, which was allegedly a documentary on "the intersection of science and religion." They were subsequently surprised to learn that they were appearing in Expelled, which "exposes the widespread persecution of scientists and educators who are pursuing legitimate, opposing scientific views to the reigning orthodoxy," to quote from the film's press kit.

When exactly did Crossroads become Expelled? The producers have said that the shift in the film's title and message occurred after the interviews with the scientists, as the accumulating evidence gradually persuaded them that ID believers were oppressed. Yet as blogger Wesley Elsberry discovered when he searched domain registrations, the producers registered the URL "expelledthemovie.com" on March 1, 2007—more than a month (and in some cases, several months) before the scientists were interviewed. The producers never registered the URL "crossroadsthemovie.com". Those facts raise doubt that Crossroads was still the working title for the movie when the scientists were interviewed.

4) The ID-sympathetic researcher whom the film paints as having lost his job at the Smithsonian Institution was never an employee there.

One section of Expelled relates the case of Richard Sternberg, who was a researcher at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History and editor of the journal Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. According to the film, after Sternberg approved the publication of a pro-ID paper by Stephen C. Meyer of the Discovery Institute, he lost his editorship, was demoted at the Smithsonian, was moved to a more remote office, and suffered other professional setbacks. The film mentions a 2006 House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform report prepared for Rep. Mark Souder (R–Ind.), "Intolerance and the Politicization of Science at the Smithsonian," that denounced Sternberg's mistreatment.

This selective retelling of the Sternberg affair omits details that are awkward for the movie's case, however. Sternberg was never an employee of the Smithsonian: his term as a research associate always had a limited duration, and when it ended he was offered a new position as a research collaborator. As editor, Sternberg's decision to "peer-review" and approve Meyer's paper by himself was highly questionable on several grounds, which was why the scientific society that published the journal later repudiated it. Sternberg had always been planning to step down as the journal's editor—the issue in which he published the paper was already scheduled to be his last.

The report prepared by Rep. Souder, who had previously expressed pro-ID views, was never officially accepted into the Congressional Record. Notwithstanding the report's conclusions, its appendix contains copies of e-mails and other documents in which Sternberg's superiors and others specifically argued against penalizing him for his ID views. (More detailed descriptions of the Sternberg case can be found on Ed Brayton's blog Dispatches from the Culture Wars and on Wikipedia.)
5) Science does not reject religious or "design-based" explanations because of dogmatic atheism.

Expelled frequently repeats that design-based explanations (not to mention religious ones) are "forbidden" by "big science." It never explains why, however. Evolution and the rest of "big science" are just described as having an atheistic preference.

Actually, science avoids design explanations for natural phenomena out of logical necessity. The scientific method involves rigorously observing and experimenting on the material world. It accepts as evidence only what can be measured or otherwise empirically validated (a requirement called methodological naturalism). That requirement prevents scientific theories from becoming untestable and overcomplicated.

By those standards, design-based explanations rapidly lose their rigor without independent scientific proof that validates and defines the nature of the designer. Without it, design-based explanations rapidly become unhelpful and tautological: "This looks like it was designed, so there must be a designer; we know there is a designer because this looks designed."

A major scientific problem with proposed ID explanations for life is that their proponents cannot suggest any good way to disprove them. ID "theories" are so vague that even if specific explanations are disproved, believers can simply search for new signs of design. Consequently, investigators do not generally consider ID to be a productive or useful approach to science.

6) Many evolutionary biologists are religious and many religious people accept evolution.

Expelled includes many clips of scientists such as Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, William Provine and PZ Myers who are also well known as atheists. They talk about how their knowledge of science confirms their convictions and how in some cases science led them to atheism. And indeed, surveys do indicate that atheism is more common among scientists than in the general population.

Nevertheless, the film is wrong to imply that understanding of evolution inevitably or necessarily leads to a rejection of religious belief. Francisco Ayala of the University of California, Irvine, a leading neuroscientist who used to be a Dominican priest, continues to be a devout Catholic, as does the evolutionary biologist Ken Miller of Brown University. Thousands of other biologists across the U.S. who all know evolution to be true are also still religious. Moreover, billions of other people around the world simultaneously accept evolution and keep faith with their religion. The late Pope John Paul II said that evolution was compatible with Roman Catholicism as an explanation for mankind's physical origins.

During Scientific American's post-screening conversation with Expelled associate producer Mark Mathis, we asked him why Ken Miller was not included in the film. Mathis explained that his presence would have "confused" viewers. But the reality is that showing Miller would have invalidated the film's major premise that evolutionary biologists all reject God.

Inside and outside the scientific community, people will no doubt continue to debate rationalism and religion and disagree about who has the better part of that argument. Evidence from evolution will probably remain at most a small part of that conflict, however.

-Scientific American

Boys and Girls.

2008-04-16T08:08:00.001-07:00

Just to clarify:

The posts about Evil Corporate America and the End of the World and other current event issues are all Dan.

The posts with fuzzy wuzzy moments and vomit-inducing sentiments about married life are all Katie.

We obviously cater to a varied audience.
I believe this gives our blog a delightful balance of romance and danger, laughter and tears, mystery and adventure. We would make Morgenstern proud.

Also: if you read this, please comment so we can add you to our list of blogs to read. Thanks!

-KvE

Um. Shouldn't We Be More Concerned?

2008-04-16T07:52:00.000-07:00

Giant Meteor Not Very Likely To Kill Everyone In 21 Years, Says NASA. "Actually, You're Wrong", Says 13 Year Old German Dork

BERLIN (AFP) - A 13-year-old German schoolboy corrected NASA's estimates on the chances of an asteroid colliding with Earth, a German newspaper reported Tuesday, after spotting the boffins had miscalculated.

Nico Marquardt used telescopic findings from the Institute of Astrophysics in Potsdam (AIP) to calculate that there was a 1 in 450 chance that the Apophis asteroid will collide with Earth, the Potsdamer Neuerster Nachrichten reported.

NASA had previously estimated the chances at only 1 in 45,000 but told its sister organisation, the European Space Agency (ESA), that the young whizzkid had got it right.

The schoolboy took into consideration the risk of Apophis running into one or more of the 40,000 satellites orbiting Earth during its path close to the planet on April 13 2029.

Those satellites travel at 3.07 kilometres a second (1.9 miles), at up to 35,880 kilometres above earth -- and the Apophis asteroid will pass by earth at a distance of 32,500 kilometres.

If the asteroid strikes a satellite in 2029, that will change its trajectory making it hit earth on its next orbit in 2036.

Both NASA and Marquardt agree that if the asteroid does collide with earth, it will create a ball of iron and iridium 320 metres (1049 feet) wide and weighing 200 billion tonnes, which will crash into the Atlantic Ocean.

The shockwaves from that would create huge tsunami waves, destroying both coastlines and inland areas, whilst creating a thick cloud of dust that would darken the skies indefinitely.

The 13-year old made his discovery as part of a regional science competition for which he submitted a project entitled: "Apophis -- The Killer Astroid."

---

Here's a parsed synopsis of what "the big hairy deal is" concerning Apophis.

In Egyptian myth, Apophis was the ancient spirit of evil and destruction, a demon that was determined to plunge the world into eternal darkness.
A fitting name, astronomers reasoned, for a menace now hurtling towards Earth from outerspace. Scientists are monitoring the progress of a 390-metre wide asteroid discovered last year that is potentially on a collision course with the planet, and are imploring governments to decide on a strategy for dealing with it.

Nasa has estimated that an impact from Apophis, which has an outside chance of hitting the Earth in 2036, would release more than 100,000 times the energy released in the nuclear blast over Hiroshima. Thousands of square kilometres would be directly affected by the blast but the whole of the Earth would see the effects of the dust released into the atmosphere.
And, scientists insist, there is actually very little time left to decide. At a recent meeting of experts in near-Earth objects (NEOs) in London, scientists said it could take decades to design, test and build the required technology to deflect the asteroid. Monica Grady, an expert in meteorites at the Open University, said: "It's a question of when, not if, a near Earth object collides with Earth. Many of the smaller objects break up when they reach the Earth's atmosphere and have no impact. However, a NEO larger than 1km [wide] will collide with Earth every few hundred thousand years and a NEO larger than 6km, which could cause mass extinction, will collide with Earth every hundred million years. We are overdue for a big one."

Apophis had been intermittently tracked since its discovery in June last year but, in December, it started causing serious concern. Projecting the orbit of the asteroid into the future, astronomers had calculated that the odds of it hitting the Earth in 2029 were alarming. As more observations came in, the odds got higher.

Having more than 20 years warning of potential impact might seem plenty of time. But, at last week's meeting, Andrea Carusi, president of the Spaceguard Foundation, said that the time for governments to make decisions on what to do was now, to give scientists time to prepare mitigation missions. At the peak of concern, Apophis asteroid was placed at four out of 10 on the Torino scale - a measure of the threat posed by an NEO where 10 is a certain collision which could cause a global catastrophe. This was the highest of any asteroid in recorded history and it had a 1 in 37 chance of hitting the Earth. The threat of a collision in 2029 was eventually ruled out at the end of last year.

Alan Fitzsimmons, an astronomer from Queen's University Belfast, said: "When it does pass close to us on April 13 2029, the Earth will deflect it and change its orbit. There's a small possibility that if it passes through a particular point in space, the so-called keyhole, ... the Earth's gravity will change things so that when it comes back around again in 2036, it will collide with us." The chance of Apophis passing through the keyhole, a 600-metre patch of space, is 1 in 5,500 based on current information.

There are no shortage of ideas on how to deflect asteroids. The Advanced Concepts Team at the European Space Agency have led the effort in designing a range of satellites and rockets to nudge asteroids on a collision course for Earth into a different orbit.

No technology has been left unconsidered, even potentially dangerous ideas such as nuclear powered spacecraft. "The advantage of nuclear propulsion is a lot of power," said Prof Fitzsimmons. "The negative thing is that ... we haven't done it yet. Whereas with solar electric propulsion, there are several spacecraft now that do use this technology so we're fairly confident it would work."

The favoured method is also potentially the easiest - throwing a spacecraft at an asteroid to change its direction. Esa plans to test this idea with its Don Quixote mission, where two satellites will be sent to an asteroid. One of them, Hidalgo, will collide with the asteroid at high speed while the other, Sancho, will measure the change in the object's orbit. Decisions on the actual design of these probes will be made in the coming months, with launch expected some time in the next decade. One idea that seems to have no support from astronomers is the use of explosives.

Prof Fitzsimmons. "If you explode too close to impact, perhaps you'll get hit by several fragments rather than one, so you spread out the area of damage."

In September, scientists at Strathclyde and Glasgow universities began computer simulations to work out the feasibility of changing the directions of asteroids on a collision course for Earth. In spring next year, there will be another opportunity for radar observations of Apophis that will help astronomers work out possible future orbits of the asteroid more accurately.

If, at that stage, they cannot rule out an impact with Earth in 2036, the next chance to make better observations will not be until 2013. Nasa has argued that a final decision on what to do about Apophis will have to be made at that stage.

"It may be a decision in 2013 whether or not to go ahead with a full-blown mitigation mission, but we need to start planning it before 2013," said Prof Fitzsimmons. In 2029, astronomers will know for sure if Apophis will pose a threat in 2036. If the worst-case scenarios turn out to be true and the Earth is not prepared, it will be too late. "If we wait until 2029, it would seem unlikely that you'd be able to do anything about 2036," said Mr Yates.

---

Here's a proposed map of the impact trajectory:

Some ideas of what it will look like, shortly before the sun gets blocked and all coastline gets completely demolished, sending us all underground and forcing the survivors to create bands of roving (possibly cannibalistic?) mercenaries and fleeting tribes:

... Let's Start Talking.

Conversation. Blogged.

2008-04-15T13:56:00.000-07:00

"Ben Worcester says:
question
Dan Erck says:
peremptory statement
Dan Erck says:
sarcastic response
Dan Erck says:
explosive laughter
Dan Erck says:
obligatory insult
Dan Erck says:
Open-ended threat
Dan Erck says:
Disingenuous farewell
Ben Worcester says:
STOP BEING META
Dan Erck says:
offended retort."

Also:
"Ben Worcester says:
i wanted to know if you've never noticed jack leading with his head
Ben Worcester says:
when he makes turns
Dan Erck says:
yes
Ben Worcester says:
i can't get enough of it
Ben Worcester says:
it's like a game of mario kart is going on in his head
Ben Worcester says:
anyway, back to work"

And:
"Adam Sivits says:
she walks FUCKING WEIRD
Dan Erck says:
?
Adam Sivits says:
like, she leans forward at a slight angle, and takes these strange, hesitating steps
Adam Sivits says:
like she's perpetually ALMOST about to start running
Adam Sivits says:
but she never does
"

Lastly:
"Jack Thompson says:
ever heard of "too much light makes the baby go blind"?
Dan Erck says:
no
Dan Erck says:
but i wanna try it
Jack Thompson says:
yeah man. It's like...it's body like LSD, but it's mental like really good pot.
Jack Thompson says:
No you idiot, it's a play.
Dan Erck says:
i meant i wanted to try giving a baby too much light to see if it would go blind
Jack Thompson says:
aha.
Jack Thompson says:
I'm SO not ever babysitting for you."

The Evils of Working in Corporate America: Volume 1

2008-04-15T08:23:00.000-07:00

Before I post this, I've gotta say a few things. 1) I always have my cellphone on me. Period. 2) Katie would never allow this to happen to me. Which is one of many reasons I love her more every day.

Edit:
Notes. This is not a work of fiction, and there is a video of the entire encounter at the bottom. It's nightmarish.

BEGIN:

"

Madness: Trapped in Elevator Car 30

Nicholas White was a thirty-four-year-old production manager at Business Week. He was working late on a special assignment and wanted a cigarette. He told a colleague that he’d be right back and, leaving his jacket behind, headed downstairs. Thus commenced the longest smoke break of Nicholas White’s life, a harrowing experience that began at around eleven o’clock on a Friday night in October, 1999.

The Business Week offices were located on the forty-third floor of the McGraw-Hill Building in mid-town Manhattan. When White finished his cigarette, he returned to the lobby, got into Car No. 30 and pressed the button marked 43. The car accelerated. It was an express elevator, with no stops below the thirty-ninth floor, and the building was deserted. But after a moment, White felt a jolt. The lights went out, immediately flashed on again and then the elevator stopped.

The control panel made a beep, and White waited a moment, expecting a voice to give information or instructions, but none came. He pressed the intercom button, but there was no response. He hit it again, and then began pacing around the elevator. Time passed, although he was not sure how much, because he had no watch or cell phone. He occupied himself with thoughts of remaining calm and decided that he’d better not do anything drastic, because, whatever the malfunction, he thought it unwise to jostle the car. As the emergency bell rang and rang, he began to fear that it might somehow start a fire. Recently, there had been a small fire in the building, rendering the elevators unusable. He began hearing unlikely oscillations in the ringing: aural hallucinations. Before long, he began to contemplate death.

The most striking thing about the security-camera videotape of White’s time in the McGraw-Hill elevator is that it includes split-screen footage from three other elevators, on which you can see men intermittently performing maintenance work. Apparently, they never wondered about the one he was in. Eight security guards came and went while he was stranded there, and nobody seems to have noticed him on the monitor.

After a while, White imagined building staff members opening the elevator’s doors ten days later and finding him dead on his back, like a cockroach. Within hours, he had smoked all his remaining cigarettes. At a certain point, he decided to open the doors. He pried them apart and held them open with his foot. He was presented with a cinder-block wall on which, perfectly centered, were scrawled three “13″s-one in chalk, one in red paint, one in black. It was a dispiriting sight. He concluded that he must be on the thirteenth floor, and that, this being an express elevator, there was no egress from the shaft anywhere for many stories up or down. He peered down through the crack between the wall and the sill of the elevator and saw that it was very dark. He could make out some light at the bottom. It looked far away. A breeze blew up the shaft.

He started to call out. “Hello?” He tried cupping his hand to his mouth and yelled out some more. “Help! Is there anybody there? I’m stuck in an elevator!” He kept at it for a while. White opened the doors to urinate. As he did so, he hoped, in vain, that a trace of this violation might get the attention of someone in the lobby. He considered lighting matches and dropping them down the shaft to attract notice, but still had the presence of mind to suspect that this might not be wise. The alarm bell kept ringing. He paced and waved at the overhead camera. He couldn’t tell whether it was night or day.

Eventually, he lay down on the floor and tried to sleep. The carpet was like coarse AstroTurf, and was lousy with nail trimmings and other detritus. It was amazing to him how much people could shed in such a short trip. He used his shoes for a pillow and laid his wallet, unfolded, over his eyes to keep out the light. It wasn’t hot, yet he was sweating. His wallet was damp. Maybe a day had passed. He drifted in and out of sleep, awakening each time to the grim recognition that his elevator confinement had not been a dream. His thirst was overpowering. The alarm was playing more aural tricks on him, so he decided to turn it off. Then he tried doing some Morse code with it. He yelled some more. He tried to pick away at the cinder-block wall.

At a certain point, Nicholas White ran out of ideas. Anger and vindictiveness took root. He began to think, They, whoever they were, shouldn’t be able to get away with this, that he deserved some compensation for the ordeal. He cast about for blame. He wondered where his colleague was, why she hadn’t been alarmed enough by his failure to return, jacketless, from smoking a cigarette to call security. “Whose fault is this?” he wondered. “Who’s going to pay?” He decided that there was no way he was going to work the following week.

And then he gave up. The time passed in a kind of degraded fever dream. On the videotape, he lies motionless for hours at a time, face down on the floor. A voice woke him up: “Is there someone in there?” “Yes.” “What are you doing in there?” White tried to explain; the voice in the intercom seemed to assume that he was an intruder. “Get me the fuck out of here!” White shrieked. Duly persuaded, the guard asked him if he wanted anything. White, who had been planning to join a few friends at a bar on Friday evening, asked for a beer.

Before long, an elevator-maintenance team arrived and, over the intercom, coached him through a set of maneuvers with the buttons. White asked what day it was, and, when they told him it was Sunday at 4 P.M., he was shocked. He had been trapped for forty-one hours. He felt a change in the breeze, which suggested that the elevator was moving. When he felt it slow again, he wrenched the door open, and there was the lobby. In his memory, he had to climb up onto the landing, but the video does not corroborate this. When he emerged from the elevator, he saw his friends, with a couple of security guards, and a maintenance man, waiting, with an empty chair. His friends turned to see him and were appalled at the sight; he looked like a ghost, one of them said later. White told a guard, “Somebody could’ve died in there.” “I know,” the guard said.

White had to go upstairs to get his jacket. He went home, and then headed to a bar. He woke up to a reel of phone messages and a horde of reporters colonizing his stoop. He barely left his apartment in the ensuing days, deputizing his friends to talk to reporters through a crack in the door. White never went back to work at the magazine. Caught up in media attention, which he shunned but thrilled to, prodded by friends, and perhaps provoked by overly solicitous overtures from McGraw-Hill, White fell under the sway of renown and grievance, and then that of the legal establishment.

He got a lawyer, and came to believe that returning to work might signal a degree of mental fitness detrimental to his litigation. Instead, he spent eight weeks in Anguilla. Eventually, Business Week had to let him go. The lawsuit he filed, for twenty-five million dollars against the building’s management and the elevator-maintenance company, dragged on for four years. Eventually, they settled for an amount that White is not allowed to disclose, but he will not contest that it was a low number, hardly six figures.

He never did learn why the elevator stopped. There was talk of a power dip, but nothing definite. Meanwhile, White no longer has his job, which he’d held for fifteen years, and he’s lost all contact with his former colleagues. Now, he’s also lost his apartment, spent all of his money, and searched, mostly in vain, for paying work. White is currently unemployed."

Edit:
On the lighter side, if that video above made you feel claustrophobic and WEIRD, (which, honestly, how could it not), I submit the following:

Sleeptalking.

2008-04-10T07:51:00.000-07:00

Last night Dan woke me up in the middle of the night and said, "Honey...will you check for the spiders?"
I, a girl who hates to be woken up, responded in a very irritated voice "WHAT?"

Dan, still asleep, said, "please check for the spiders."

I sat up and looked around, saw nothing, and instead of being a good wife and saying "Shh, honey. No spiders, Sleep well", instead replied "What are you even talking about?"

Dan apparently didn't appreciate this, and yanked all of the covers off of me and pulled them over his own head while exclaiming, "NEVER MIND. I'LL CHECK MYSELF." and promptly returned to a state of rest.

I was left cold and exhausted, but completely humored, on my side of the bed. I decided to see what else I could get him to say.
"Honey, are you awake?"
"No."
I chuckled, trying to be silent.
"Honey, did you know you just asked me about spiders?"
"No I didn't. I was playing scrabble."

???!!!??

I'm DYING laughing.
He wakes up.
And does NOT think I was funny.
I was lucky to get any covers back.

This morning he was still angry, and seriously wanted to know why I wouldn't just check for the stinkin' spiders so he could get out of his nightmare.

Oops.

So maybe I'm not winning any wife-of-the-year awards...but man, he's a cute sleep talker.

About a year ago, he woke me up by kicking violently at something under the covers.
I sat up quickly, in a panic that a rat or roach might have been in our bed. I'm on the verge of tears, going "WHAT? WHAT? WHAT?"
He responds simply, "There's a sneaker."
"A what?"
"A sneaker. There's a sneaker."
"You mean a shoe? A tennis shoe? There's nothing down there...and who even uses that term? Sneaker??" (I told you, I'm grumpy when sleepy.)
"A SNAKE. IN THE RIVER. THERE'S A SNAKE IN THE RIVER."
"Shh honey, it's okay. No snakes. Just sleep." Laughter is struggling to escape so violently that my ears are popping and my eyes are watering.
The poor dear.
I petted his hair and snuggled in close.

Even in dreams, he makes me smile.

Dr Human Rights, or How I Learned to Start Worrying and Hate the Beijing Olympics

2008-04-09T06:53:00.000-07:00

There's been a lot of talk about international protests regarding the worldwide traveling of the Olympic torch. Multiple arrests, violent conflicts (constructively viewed and documented as being perpetrated as much by the authority figures as the protesters themselves), lead the Olympic committee to be forced to piss or get off the pot.

The Chinese, however, in typical "Evil Russians from "The Mighty Ducks"" fashion, are being as hard-nosed as one could expect an evil world power to be. Denying the reality of the situation, condemning everyone worldwide who calls an end to blatant Human Rights violations, and refusing to negotiate is a standard position held by the Might in the Wrong (see: Communist Russia, Nazi Germany, the Japanese in WW2, and the US in Iraq). For their response, and a comical look at Eastern Bureaucracy, I urge you to Click Here .

Beijing was decided as the location to host the 2008, ostensibly because of China's growing "Economic and Political powers", says the committee. But isn't rewarding a country for becoming more economically and politically powerful, in the face of (and apparently in direct correlation with) their horrid and nightmarish treatment of anyone who dares disagree, whether it be on their continuously abhorrent treatment of the situation (Genocide) in Tibet, to their forced subversion, subjugation, and in some cases, outright murder of intellectuals, artists, spiritual leaders, foreign journalists, local protesters, poor chicken farmers with radios, children and orphans, mothers, fathers, puppies, Christians, Jews, Muslims (Did I leave anyone out? Are you getting the point here? EVERYONE?) only going to reinforce the position that the global world powers will turn a blind eye towards your soul-crushing practices as long as you're willing to dump some slippery cash into the situation and back up the US in our (I use that term shakingly, and with remorse) reverse Manifest Destiny (MOVE EAST, CHRISTIAN SOLDIERS, MOVE EAST)?

This is a time of political upheaval, when the US gets to see that not everyone in the world is going to treat international evils with a blind eye or an apathetic stare. We've dropped the ball in situations that were ridiculously hard to maintain (The middle east and African genocides to name two). These were situations that any country would have a hard time getting into. But our efforts were deplorable, and nearly insulting. The Beijing Olympics are a pretty cut-and-dry example of an instance where we as a country and a rationally-minded group of caring people can say "Nope. Sorry". If only there was a precedent set. If only we could look back at a situation and say "Hey we really made a mistake back then, in exactly the same scenario". It's a shame that nothing like the 1936 Olympics took place in history.

I'm sorry, this just in from Google: "For two weeks in August 1936, Adolf Hitler's Nazi dictatorship camouflaged its racist, militaristic character while hosting the Summer Olympics. Soft-pedaling its antisemitic agenda and plans for territorial expansion, the regime exploited the Games to bedazzle many foreign spectators and journalists with an image of a peaceful, tolerant Germany.

Having rejected a proposed boycott of the 1936 Olympics, the United States and other western democracies missed the opportunity to take a stand that — some observers at the time claimed — might have given Hitler pause and bolstered international resistance to Nazi tyranny. With the conclusion of the Games, Germany's expansionist policies and the persecution of Jews and other “enemies of the state” accelerated, culminating in World War II and the Holocaust." Oops. So hey, government, take this opportunity to do the right thing. It's commonly stated that "History repeats itself". But usually not word for word, step by step, within one person's lifetime. WE ALREADY HAVE THE PLAYBOOK ON THIS ONE.

I understand that there are two sides to every story, and I would like to give the Chinese standpoint on this one. Turns out, it's "WE'RE DOING NOTHING WRONG. LOOK AWAY. DO NOT MIND THE BLOOD ON THE FLOOR."

For a surprisingly all-encompassing, rational-minded, and non-partisan look at the ongoing Chinese Human Rights violations, Maybe You Should Click Here . christusrex.org did a pretty stand up job, again. Thanks, gents. (Guh? Dan sending readers to a Christian website? Call in the horses, boys, show's over?) They fact checked with Amnesty International. So I'll give them one, and you a quick list. SPOILER ALERT.

Restrictions on Independent Organizing
Restrictions on Free Speech and the Media
Suppression of Religious Freedom
Torture and Ill-Treatment of Prisoners
Lack of Judicial Independence and Due Process
-Arbitrary Detention
-Conditional Releases with Continued Deprivation of Rights
Death Penalty Increase
Tibet
Women
-Violence Against Women
-Abduction and Trafficking of Women
-Discrimination in Employment and Education
-Violations Resulting from Family Planning Policy
-Violations Against Female Children

---

In short.

and

Thoughts?

-DvE

Continuing Musical Nerdlarity

2008-04-07T11:17:00.001-07:00

Nerds took two Linkin Park songs, pitch shifted one, and made the dual mp3 with them.

Find it Here

Cartoon Network is not for kids.

2008-04-03T06:19:00.001-07:00

Hey dorks.

A couple of quick things, on my inaugural post, and then I have to get back to watching Telenovelas to pay the rent. Forgive me for my itemized list, it's how all the great minds work. The topics of discussion for the day are as follows:

1) Locker Room Etiquette
2) Literati Skillz
3) SARS
4) The pope
5) Steve McQueen (King of Being an Asshole)
6) Cartoons and Cages (WTF is the Problem, people?)

1) I don't understand grown men's (non-sexual, apparently) obsession with being flagrantly naked in front of each other in the locker room of my gym. Every time I go in to work out, and come back to get undressed before taking a shower, I make sure that there is a minimum of time that my naked ass is presented to the entirety of the room. I do this not out of shame (Katie tells me it's pretty good looking) or fear, but RESPECT.

But somehow, these wingbats seem to feel it's their right and duty to get undressed facing towards the center of the room, spend as much time as possible completely bare naked (walking to the scales, standing in front of the mirror, slathering their naked bodies with lotion, etc). Today, a giant gross troll of a man walked from his locker, to the drinking fountain, brushed his teeth, lotioned up, and performed some DEEP LEG STRETCHES all completely naked, with a towel draped across his shoulders, his bits flopping around for the world to see. So I have to put up a mental divider that starts from the floor and goes all the way up to slightly below my neck. Are they trolling for dates? Want to show off? Is this some primate behavior relating back to vying for prime ape status I'm unaware of?

---

2) I am the king of Literati. I have a streak of 16 games right now, and I don't see any signs of slowing. I accept all challenges, however. Bring it.

---

3) I'm sick. It's been more than a month with this thing, and apparently antibiotics are worthless against it. So it's officially SARS, and I'm officially dying, so everyone better get your respects ready for the wife, she's about to be widowed.

---

4) The pope is coming to New York on the 20th. Who wants to come? It'd be neat to see the hat, the car, the pomp, the audacity.

---

5) Steve broke out of the kitchen yesterday while we were working and did some Major Work on the apartment. I know we named him after the brash and daring hero of "The Great Escape", but COME ON, DOG. Next time you want to tear apart a copy of Steven King's "It", eat two bags of chocolate M&M's, and ravage the entire place, let us know in advance so we don't come home unknowingly to a disaster area.

---

6) Why is it that animators always make the bars in cartoons so far apart? The character inside could OBVIOUSLY squeeze through, especially given general cartoon physics, specifically regarding the flexibility, mobility, and malleability of the average cartoon character. Is it because they're worried about the bars being too opaque and blocking our view? Someone get on this, please, thanks.

Tagged!

2008-04-03T05:42:00.000-07:00

We got tagged by Mandi Haney to list 7 random facts about ourselves.
As Katie is the author of this blog, many of these will be about her. Ha.

1. I cannot pronounce "Project Runway" for the life of me. We love to watch the show. I hated Christian with a fervor, but he was a phenomenal designer. My personal favorite was Chris. He was such a darling. I want to be his friend in real life...I need that laugh! Anyway, every time I say "Project Runway" out loud, it comes out "project oneway" or "project runray" or similar. It's humiliating, really. Secretly glad the season is over. I hated having to say "ProjRun."

2. I can change the nastiest diaper or wipe the runniest nose without even a wince- but when my puppy has eye goobers, my stomach turns inside out and I find myself lunging for the nearest trash can to unleash my lunch in it. I ca't handle them at ALL. At Dan can remove them with BARE HANDS. ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? Gross.

3. We have a current obsession for giant green olives stuffed with garlic cloves. We eat them like popcorn during movies. They're incredibly addicting, and wicked expensive if you buy them at the wrong place.

4. I have an affinity for zippers, buttons, laces, and other fasteners. I don't know when it started or where it came from, but I'm pretty sure I've always had it. Dan was just the first person to ever point it out. If I see any of these on him, I must change it's state. For example- if there is an unbuttoned button, i must button it. Or unbutton it, if buttoned. I have to unzip the zipped, tie the untied, etc. I don't even notice I do it until Dan grabs my hand and gives me The Look. That look that says "I love you but you're going to lose a finger if you don't leave my pocket alone." Yikes. What's my deal?

5. Our kitten was rescued from a woodshed in Dan's mom's backyard. She was abandoned by her litter, so she never learned appropriate cat behavior, such as meowing. She makes this weird bark-yelp sound when she sees birds or wants attention. It's a little like saying "RALP!" in a high pitched winy voice. She also sleep slike a person- on her back, hind legs spread out, front paws resting on her chest. What a kook. Steve the pup sleeps the same way. That wasn't really about us, but it was about our family.

6. Dan and I have this sickeningly cute system when one person is mad at the other. This is typically used in public when it becomes necessary to calm down because you can't just steam at each other all the way home. This also works when you've said something really stupid and you know you deserve to get yelled and and you're very sorry. We poke each other in the shoulder, and the one who gets poked is then REQUIRED BY MARITAL LAW to smooch the poker. Usually the poke is given with a puppy face or with the tongue sticking into the cheek like a little kid who knows they're in trouble. This works like a bandaid until we can get home to calmly discuss the issue at hand, and does wonders for bringing the other person to a more neutral state, making them more open to an apology or a little butt-kissing. Plus you can't help but laugh at the face the other person makes when they know they're in trouble.

7. My favorite thing in the world is when Dan dip-kisses me in the middle of the street. He gets compliments from the dudes on the curb or in shop windows, and I feel like a movie star. The envious glares from all surrounding women make me feel pretty awesome, too. I love being unashamedly in love.

Happily Ever After...

2008-04-03T05:32:00.000-07:00

March 22nd, 2008- Dan and Katie are wed. <3

I love you madly.

You are my very best friend.

Today I give myself to you as your husband/wife.

I promise to encourage and inspire you,

to laugh and play with you,

and to hold your hand in times of sorrow and struggle.

I promise to love you in good times and in bad,

when life seems easy and when it seems hard,

when our love is simple, and when it is an effort.

I promise to adore you, admire you, and to always respect you.

These things I give to you today, and all the days of our life.

Here is the link to the rest of the photos:

http://s278.photobucket.com/albums/kk100/thevonercks/

More will be added as we receive them from family members, so feel free to check back!