Melyssa-with-a-Y

Our favorite Xmas baby (who hates to make birthday plans) was forced to celebrate last night! The lovely Ms. E. arranged for us all to meet up at the Village Bistro in Arlington. It was a nice small party of 9 - Stick braved the highways and crazy drivers all the way up from Atlanta to be there! She even managed to get Dani a nice gift from KH (with Holly's help). Thanks, Holly. ;) The birthday girl did wear a tiara all night, to make sure she was easily identifiable to the masses. (don't we look cute?) :) Dinner was verrrry yummy (and fast! entrees in under ten minutes!). Most of us vowed to return to the Village Bistro immediately - although I don't know if I'll make it back there before I leave on Monday. Poor Pete was the only guy at the table, but he was ok with it -- until we started talking about our mothers giving birth to us and other 'girly' topics... he was so traumatized by the end that he started re-folding the wrapping paper that Dani was neatly r...

Hannah in her pink boots! (Looks like she's already bow-legged!) Maybe her mom got a better picture of the modeling than I did... and, the magnets I made for Kelly & Micki and my favorite picture of the girl from Xmas Eve:

... but I think Austin is "home" now. Arrived on Saturday night. The whole fam came to pick me up at the airport, and we went to Ted's Montana Grill in Crystal City for dinner. We all had various forms of bison meat -- steak, meat loaf, short ribs, burger -- but nothing so impressive that we have to run right back. It was a little unnerving to sit underneath the wall-mounted giant stuffed buffalo head. (His name was Maximus.) When we got home, we celebrated the last night of Chanuka. I got a penguin to add to my collection (a collection that is growing daily as my mother goes out shopping), a lovely bracelet and three books I wanted (including a knitting book) from my brother. Poor kid had to brave the Crafts section of the bookstore to get the Yarn Harlot book . heh. I also opened my new (RED) iPod (thanks, Andy!) and started loading songs onto it. I loooove it! Xmas eve at Kelly's was tons of fun, as usual. We only had nine people this year, which was a nice,...

You've seen the USB fan , the USB light , the USB coffee warmer ... even the USB lava lamp . Now meet "Rex the Humper." Be sure to watch the video to see just how amorous Rex is. ;)

Sarah Silverman's Give the Jew Girl Toys

Whee! I'm a grammar whiz! Your Language Arts Grade: 98% Way to go! You know not to trust the MS Grammar Check and you know "no" from "know." Now, go forth and spread the good word (or at least, the proper use of apostrophes). Are You Gooder at Grammar? Make a Quiz

I have been trying to ignore stories about last week's Iranian conference on whether the Holocaust actually took place or not. (We all know that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is a nutcase.) This article in the LA Times really puts this conference into perspective. According to this emigree from Somalia, it's not that all Muslims deny the Holocaust - they are simply oblivious. They've never been taught about the mass murder of Jews, gypsies, homosexuals, political dissidents, (or for that matter anyone Hitler didn't like)... or seen pictures of the gas chambers, the cattle cars, the piles of suitcases and shoes and hair. As this writer suggests, they are being fed propaganda, not unlike Josef Goebbels' efforts, telling them that Jews are evil. Yes, there are still people in this great melting-pot of a country who have 'issues' with Jews (and why are there Jews in Hollywood who have forgiven Mel Gibson for his idiotic rant?!?) but for the most part, we're left alon...

I realized today that I have been taking pics but not uploading them, so here's the rundown. It's nothing terribly exciting. Two weeks ago when it was really cold around here, I broke out my new hot cocoa. I bought the "marshmallow lovers" low-fat Swiss Miss. Let me tell you, they aren't kidding when they say marshmallow lovers. Each serving is two packets - one is the hot cocoa powder, and the other is all mini-marshmallows ! I had to take a picture. It was soooooooo yummy. For the past week, my tv has been slowly dying (in fact, as mom reminded me, it was already starting to go south when she was here two months ago!) . I've had that set for ten years - it survived moving from Arlington to Chevy Chase and back to Arlington, and then to Austin. I spent the past week jumping up off the sofa to go whack one side of it or the other to keep the picture going. Finally, last night, I gave up and went to Circuit City. Complicating things, I have a tv unit that has a...

Today is the big day! We move into our new offices in the new building! I escape cubicle-land (aka "the Library") and enter a real office, with windows and -- most importantly -- a door! Unfortunately, it's also working-in-limbo day, because I can't go work in my cubicle (they're moving the cube furniture to the new building) and I can't go work in my new office, because they don't want us to get in the way of the movers bringing our stuff in. *sigh* So here I sit in Starbuck's, getting amped up on the strong smell of coffee, trying to get some work done, and drowning out the constant Xmas music with my Launchcast. (And trying to figure out what to get for everybody for Xmas/Chanuka. Any requests? suggestions?)

I wish I were kidding with this. "Soy is feminizing, and commonly leads to a decrease in the size of the penis, sexual confusion and homosexuality. That's why most of the medical (not socio-spiritual) blame for today's rise in homosexuality must fall upon the rise in soy formula and other soy products." --Jim Rutz, a columnist writing in the far-right WorldNetDaily that soy is a “devil food” that has caused a rise in homosexuality. Seriously. http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=53327

Welcome to the Holiday edition of "Getting to know your friends" - courtesy of Phyl-Phyl 1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Both. It all depends on the gift. I looove wrapping gifts. 2. Real tree or artificial? None. Menorah, check. Chanuka lights, check. Tree? Not so much. 3. When do you put up the tree? see #2. Menorah comes out the day before Chanuka, and gets put away after the eighth night... after I've cleaned all the melted wax off the base. 4. When do you take the tree down? again, see #2. 5. Do you like eggnog? Lactose intolerance really curbs my eggnog intake. However, I would love to get a sip of Dani's famous version someday. I'll just pop a dozen lactaid pills first! I'm still on the hunt for the recipe my mom used to have for eggnog cookies. they were awesome. 6. Favorite gift received [as a child]? There are two things that I absolutely love that my parents got me - first, a script from the West Wing, signed by Dule Hill, Allison Janney, ...

Spent the weekend in Kansas/Missouri. (Kansas City, MO is the closest airport to Overland Park, KS, so that's where I went.) My friend Stuart "officially" married his wife Jenny. Yes, you read that correctly. These two eloped almost three years ago, before he was to be stationed in [a Middle-Eastern country] for two years, and she was going along on the trip. So now that they're back, this weekend they had a church wedding and a big party. I admit, was a little (ok, alot) apprehensive about going to another wedding by myself, but in no time, I was "adopted" by Stuart's high school friends, Anthony and Tamara, and Tam's husband Eric. Turns out these were the "cool" kids - the ones that were always causing trouble, the ones that everyone stared at for laughing too loudly. I fit right in! We were so clearly the "fun" table at both the rehearsal dinner and the reception that people moved to hang out with us -- or moved to get away ...

I don't normally just post links to other blogs, but this one is disturbing, and a little bit funny. (Sort of like that diet coke ad .) The Priest-of-the-Month calendar, from Rome: http://athomerome.blogspot.com/2006/12/priest-of-month.html As Andrew Sullivan put it, "How Gay is the Vatican?"

The USC Trojans, after effectively squashing the Fighting Irish like bugs, felt good. No, they felt Grrreat! They were going to the BCS national championship to prove their mettle against Ohio State -- in what was supposed to be a rebuilding year at SC -- *if* they could win the last game of the season against crosstown rivals UCLA. Piece of cake! That turned out to be a big IF. We're perfectly content to play in the Rose Bowl, mind you. But the boys I saw on the field at the Coliseum last weekend were not the same boys that came out to play this weekend. UCLA is not that good. The Bruins were 6-5, fourth in the PAC-10. They just out-played us, plain and simple . It sucked. And somebody, please put Brent Musberger out of his misery. I know it wouldn't have felt as bad if we had been winning, but his commentary was really horrific. Maybe he was just being snotty because USC sent a nasty letter to the network after Musberger revealed Booty's hand signals on national televi...

Bryan, Marc and Carla went to the Magritte exhibit at LACMA on Sunday. (I'll bet my plane was probably somewhere over New Mexico before the boys even woke up...) I was very jealous. I am particularly fond of Magritte's Son of Man and the other bowler-hat images. But of course the most famous one is "Ceci n'est pas une pipe." -- a painting of a pipe with the caption, "This is not a pipe." I received this photo by email (and sent to my cellphone) on Sunday. The caption was "Ceci n'est pas une Fratkin." :) Son of Man is part of my favorite scene in The Thomas Crown Affair (the new version) -- Pierce Brosnan and his lackeys scatter around the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, all wearing black coats and bowler hats and carrying briefcases full of pictures of the man in the bowler hat. It drives the cops crazy. Marc also found (after Bryan mentioned) a picture of the Son of Man etched into the top of a Mac Powerbook, with the Apple...

That's it. That's all I need to write. Well, ok, I'll write about the rest of Saturday. :) Bry and I got up and got out of the hotel at 9am, as planned. We made great time getting to LA, pulling up at Marc's at about 11:15am. We drove up to the hills behind the Getty to pick up one of Marc's Band buddies -- they looked so cute in their matching band jackets! I should have taken a picture -- and then we were off to lunch and campus. We went to the Two Nine for lunch - the boys all had the Trojan Double Bacon Cheeseburger. (urp.) Then we walked down to campus. The place was hopping! Bry and I immediately headed for the bookstore, where we had to stand in line to get inside! The line moved quickly, and soon we were among the hordes of people upstairs digging through shirts, sweatshirts and other Trojan paraphernalia for the perfect item. I got a t-shirt, a sweatshirt (my old one is getting pretty ragged) and a pair of USC earrings! Had to put those on right away. The k...

This was the text message I got from my mother when I told her that we were going to Sea World last Friday. She remembers the last few times that we went to Sea World (when I was very young) -- we sat in the "soak zone" for both Shamu and the seal and walrus show. It's called the "soak zone" for a reason. :) Samantha, on the other hand, is very wary of getting wet. So we sat waaaaaay far away from the splashing Shamu and the dolphins. The shows were good, although they seemed really short (30 minutes each). Sam has a great story book about baby Honu the Sea Turtle , so we were able to relate the animals to their Hawaiian names in the book. She was much more excited about the eels and other creatures when she recognized them from the book. We looked for the sea turtles (there was one on the map) but we couldn't find them. Instead we went to see the starfish in a little pond, where you could take them out of the water and touch them. Sam actually touched the s...

I have posted the trip photos to Kodak Gallery . I'll continue blogging about the trip later. :)

... or as I said many times by the end of the day, "urp." Wow, there was a lot of food. Turkey, Ham, asparagus, spinach salad, sweet potatoes, stuffing, and "geoff-a-roni." and rolls. and wine. and don't forget the not-quite-seven-layer dip that we had for an appetizer. Like I said, "urp." And that's not counting the desserts!! Teri's brother Tom made spinach salad. Tutu made asparagus and stuffing. Geoff made his own version of Rice-a-Roni, and really yummy candied sweet potatoes. and three kinds of gelato. (much of the early time was spent messing with the gelato machine and explaining what 'zabaglione' was.) We ate outdoors in the sunny 70 degree weather (why didn't I remember from last year that black jeans are not good for sitting in the sun?!). Casey and Samantha had their own little side table, and Sam actually tried some of the Thanksgiving food. The girls seem to have had a good time, and the grownups ended the evening watc...

Wednesday, we helped straighten up for the onslaught of family that was coming on Thursday, while Samantha went to pre-school. Bryan was happy *gardening* outside. ( Hang on, Mom, I know you're in shock. ) He was enjoying the warm sunny weather, while also cleaning up the garden. He pruned the rose bush waaay back, mostly so that he could get past it to reach the hose, to rinse off the nice outdoor chairs. (The way he put it, he needs outdoor physical activity, and this was as close as he could get while on vacation.) I had to take a picture. :) We finished up with the chores pretty quickly, because we decided to go see the latest James Bond 007 movie - " Casino Royale." I liked it. It drags in places, but the opening sequence is phenomenal, and Daniel Craig is a very good Bond. Much as I looooved Pierce Brosnan, he was a little too ... "prissy" as Bond. As one of the reviewers said in People magazine, when Daniel Craig punches someone, they "stay punched...

After a quick weekend at home, I got up at 6am, runny nose and all, and went off to the airport to fly to LA. Why an early morning flight? One word: Non-stop (ok, two words). In order to get non-stop flights to/from LAX at an affordable fare, I am flying early in the morning in both directions. But it's worth it! So I made it to LA and went to the Getty to have lunch with MZ. Unfortunately, there was some fixing-up in progress up on the hill, so we went elsewhere for lunch. ( Jerry's Deli, in Westwood ) We were going to go to the Bel Air Grill , but they hadn't opened yet. Then I dropped M back off at work and went to the Getty Villa , over on PCH. It has only just reopened. It was beautiful. I particularly like the Greek painted terracotta wine cups and vases, with stories illustrated around the sides. (The muses were my favorite part of Disney's Hercules cartoon movie.) :) But owing to the fact that my nose wouldn't stop running, and I had gotten up way too early,...

It seems that my mom managed somehow to get a pair of tix to the USC-Notre Dame game next Saturday, for me and Bryan... and she got them WEEKS ago. Bryan knew, J&T knew, even MZ knew, because both Bry and I are going to stay with him after the game. But they all kept it a secret from li'l ol' me. A secret, that is, until I started bidding on a pair of tickets I saw on eBay today that were still at 99 cents... so here's hoping I don't win those, cuz we're already GOING! You guys suck! But thanks. :)

One American Flag Sock finished! I joined the blue yarn when I was on the plane between Houston and Austin, and finished the "stars" and the ribbing when I got home, and during the day on Saturday. It looks so cool!! Of course I immediately cast on with the red for the second sock! Here's what the finished sock looks like, and next to it, the actual pattern. But truthfully, the only part of this pattern that I really followed was the grid for the stars. I knit toe-up rather than leg-down, and used "magic loop" vs. double-pointed needles (DPNs). but I don't think my version looks bad at all! Now if only I could figure out how to properly do the heel turn... mine always comes out with holes on the corners. ugh. Tomorrow morning I'm off to LA/SD for Thanksgiving. MZ is getting me a ticket to the Getty Villa, and we might go see the 007 movie on Monday night. I'm interested to see how Daniel Craig does as Bond. I've heard good things so far. Als...

I haven't written in a week. (Stick is right, I'm glad I didn't sign up for NaBloPoMo . I couldn't have done it.) Supercomputing'06 was exhausting.... even more exhausting than last year's conference in Seattle. I took even fewer photos than last year, too. Here's a quick rundown. Monday - flew to Tampa. Collapsed in my hotel room for a half hour before changing for evening event at convention center. Wore my red-white-and-blue cowboy boots. (I am becoming a Texan now, after all.) ;) Ended up back in the TACC hotel suite with all my co-workers, ordering pizza - the hors d'ouvres at the event left much to be desired. I think it confused a lot of people when I was walking through the exhibit floor and yelled "Hi mom!" :) Nice, since I hadn't seen her since she visited me in Austin last month. Tuesday - ate my breakfast on the 45-min bus-ride from our hotel to the convention center. The days seemed far longer when we couldn't quickly ge...

If you read this blog, you know that I am a big USC football fan. Ain't nothin' but a family thing. :) But when forced back to reality, I will admit that my undergrad degree is from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey . Rutgers has a proud history in football: RU and Princeton played the first college football game EVER in 1869. [ Rutgers won, 6-4] Up til now (since the time that I was there, in nineteen- ninety- mumble ), the RU football team hasn't been much of a threat to anyone but themselves... they went 1-11 in 2002. But things are looking up. They did well enough last year to make it to a Bowl game, and this year are 8-0 and the #15 team in the nation! Last night, they made it 9-0 ( I can't get used to this Thursday night football thing... my dad had to call me and tell me it was on ) by beating Louisville, the #3 team! Go Scarlet Knights!! They will undoubtedly move up the rankings on Sunday, so USC had better win too, or I'm gonna have to find a Ru...

Now I know why Brian Williams said election night was "like catnip, like crack!" -- It's so exciting that the world can change like this. The American people decided that they've had enough of the Republican control of the government, and the Dems will now control the House and the Senate. (It was touch-and-go there for a while, but Jim Webb managed to pull ahead by about 8,000 votes in VA. Senator Allen decided not to ask for a recount.) First thing President Bush did - let Rumsfeld resign so he can become the scapegoat for the war in Iraq. And try to rush through Bolton's confirmation before the lame duck session ends. In other news, Ed Bradley died of leukemia . I always liked his reports on 60 Minutes. He was the old, hip guy with the earring who did the great interviews - Michael Jordan, Lena Horne, etc. He seemed so gentle and caring, and yet he asked really tough questions and everybody answered them. Tonight I went to the Jewish Book Fair's Local Auth...

GO VOTE! That is all.

Friday night, I watched two Netflix movies I'd had since AUGUST... I felt it was about time to get them out of the way. I watched The Family Stone and Ice Harvest . What a waste of a Friday night! The Family Stone looked sort of cute in the tv ads, but didn't do well in the theaters, and I know why. First off, Sarah Jessica Parker was playing totally against type - the anti-Carrie Bradshaw -- uptight perfectionist b*tch, and she looked decidedly uncomfortable doing it. Second, this was not nearly as funny as the ads led me to believe. It was a holiday family dramedy... Spoiler Alert- in case you planning on seeing this movie: Diane Keaton (the mom) has some kind of cancer and dies in the end, although the only thing we see is the next year's family Xmas without her. And the uptight b*tch loosens up and ends up with the shaggy flake brother (Luke Wilson), while her original boyfriend, the uptight business brother (Dermot Mulroney) ends up with HER SISTER (Claire Danes). I g...

Yesterday, in addition to doing laundry, making banana-oatmeal-apple-cinnamon-bread, and going to the gym for my favorite class, I cut open my mini-pumpkin and took out the innards. I wanted to do a jack-o-lantern, but not a huge mega pumpkin... so I chose a small one. I also borrowed a recipe from 101cookbooks.com and toasted the pumkin seeds. (hmm... I probably would have felt better today if I hadn't eaten ALL of them in one sitting.) Tonight, when I got home, I drew a fun face on the pumpkin and cut it out. It turned out great! (The yellow clip isn't actually in the pumpkin's ear, it just looks that way) :) I also worked a little more on my very first sock. This is a picture of the first attempt ... after this, I switched to a smaller needle and cast on fewer stitches, and have now knit almost 4" of the first sock. It's great! I'm not used to having to work for so long to get only 1" of stockinette ... smaller needles, more knitting! I am also beginnin...

I went to an event this evening at the LBJ Library (I will have to go back and see the exhibits, there wasn't time tonight!) with the author of "Great Escape: Nine Jews Who Fled Hitler and Changed the World." Kati Marton is originally from Budapest, as are the nine Jewish scientists, filmmakers and authors that she chronicled. It's an interesting story -- the nine men came to the US when the Nazis were gaining power in Europe. These scientists helped convince Einstein to sign a letter (which they had written) to FDR to get the US to start developing the atomic bomb -- before the Germans could do it. I had heard before that Einstein was a pacifist, and that he regretted sending the letter for the rest of his life. But Marton provided the convincing argument that had swayed Einstein's decision - what if Hitler had gotten there first? How different would the world be if the Nazis had had a bomb to drop? That was a little scary. I thought of the Budapest that mom and...

Last night a bunch of us went to the Alamo Drafthouse to see Animal House on the big screen - with an intro/Q&A Session with Chris Miller. He was one of the original writers of the screenplay, and has a new book out . It sounds like a lot of the stuff in the movie is a) real, and b) minimal compared to the full story of what actually happened! Before the film he talked about a guy in the fraternity (basically, the Bluto character) who "wore" a carved jack-o-lantern around his middle (and nothing else!) to go trick or treating around town. Basically, the jack-o-lantern's nose was the guy's ... well, you can guess. :) I don't think I'd ever seen the movie on the big screen before... I was only 5 when it came out, after all. It was fun to watch. The Drafthouse here is similar to the one in Arlington - but the food is much better! Instead of comfy chairs at round tables, it's rows of movie seats alternated with narrow tables. They have great programs and e...

I know you don't really need to hear more about the desk-building experience , but there is more to tell! I will take this opportunity to point out the ups and downs of the fun I've been having with Office Depot. Good customer service: I used the OD website on Weds to submit a complaint about the desk. I just could not believe that the damn thing was so poorly made. (serves me right for getting the OD "brand," I suppose.) I received an email within a few hours that said that they would exchange my desk for a new one -- the next day! Yippeee! Bad customer service: You must wait patiently at the delivery location, for they will arrive any time between 8:30am and 5:30pm. Right, because I didn't have anything else to do yesterday! We won't even go into the notion of having them call first, because clearly that didn't work last week. But they can't even provide a 3-hour window, like the cable guy? Good customer service, part 2: Then reality set in. Did ...

1. FIRST NAME? Melyssa 2. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? Great-grandma Molly. 3. WHEN DID YOU LAST CRY? Last Thursday night, while watching this item by Keith Olbermann . (yes, I cried. I must be PMS'ing or something.) 4. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? It could be better. I like my printing more. 5. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCHMEAT? Sliced chicken breast, which they don't seem to sell much here in Austin. 6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? Sure! I'm goofy and interesting and a good cook to boot! 7. DO YOU HAVE A JOURNAL? I have my blog now. I used to have a journal next to my bed. I still use that when I can't sleep and have to get something out of my head. 8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yes. 9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? Nope. 10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Quaker Oatmeal Squares. Or Cracklin' Oat Bran *(which is really crack, you know. It's addictive!) 11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? Not if I can help it. 12. DO ...

1. MEASURE the doorway that the item has to go through *before* it is completely constructed. 2. Don't buy the heaviest thing in the store. 3. MEASURE the doorway that the item has to go through *before* it is completely constructed. Yes, the Office Depot furniture arrived tonight. The Asst Mgr was nice enough to bring it over to my house in his own truck, saving me the $20 delivery fee. I had no idea how much the desk weighed. The desk top is ridiculously heavy. I had to leave the box in the kitchen and bring the pieces into the living room so I could build it! In retrospect, I could have used the $20 to pay Office Depot to build it for me. My hands hurt. My back hurts. It was exhausting. When I finally finished (2 hours later) and stood the thing up on its legs, it occurred to me that it had to go around a tight corner... and then I looked at the doorway to the small office. and immediately reached for the measuring tape. Desk: 29 1/2 inches. Doorway: 29 1/2 inches. d'oh! I b...

* - This is a phrase that my mom doesn't get to hear very often, so I thought I would lead with it. :) When mom was here last weekend, she suggested that I move the sofa back against the wall and shift the console table to one side... etc, etc. I decided this weekend I would try it, and also build the second bookcase that we got at Office Depot. (I will not bore you with the details of the undelivered office furniture; suffice it to say they're gonna call me about it tomorrow.) Lo and behold, Mom was right. It looks lovely. The only drawback is that now I'm much further from the tv... so I'm tempted to buy a bigger one. ;) I also hung some pictures on the walls and emptied a few more boxes. So this is what it looks like now. The console table is along the left wall of the room - you can just see the corner of it in the picture. Having moved the sofa back, there was enough room to build the new bookcase in the middle of the floor! Friday night, I went to see Carlos Menc...

...worry's for another day, let the music play, down at Fraggle Rock ! I have to say, I am excited that there's going to be a Fraggle Rock movie !! But when I stop and think about it, I'm not sure Ahmet Zappa is the right guy to direct... ah well, as long as the Henson family is involved, I'm sure it will be great. :) (and yes, I already have the "Fraggle Rock - Where it All Began" DVD, thank you Bryan.) I don't know why I am so attached to these five characters (say it with me now, " Gobo, Mokey, Wembley, Boober, Red! " ) and the other goofy creatures that inhabit their world (the Doozers!) ... Maybe I was young and impressionable when the series first aired on HBO. Maybe I'm just a huge fan of all things related to Jim Henson and the Muppets (yes, that's definitely part of it). Maybe I need to grow up. (naaaah.) Regardless, there's always a lesson to be learned in a Fraggle Rock episode, and this is a heck of a lot more entertainin...

Jude and Josh -- well, mostly Josh -- have finished re-doing the room that will be the nursery for the baby when she is born. (and it's happening soon - mid-November!) I am pleased and flattered to see that the little penguin has been given a place of honor in the room. :)

Now we have to make sure nobody gets in our way in OUTER SPACE ! US satellites and other objects must have right of way to cruise around the earth. We had to write policy about this? Is it just me, or is this another way to set it up in advance so we can go to war against anyone who violates "our space"? Please, could this be more ridiculous?!? Nobody stood up and said, really, Mr. President, there are more important issues out there, like ... the situation in Darfur cleaning up New Orleans the most violent month in Iraq yet the out-of-control national debt This can't even be a stunt for the election - it's not hurting anybody! But of course since the right-wing evangelicals don't really believe in science, I'm sure they'd believe Dubya if he said one of the 'Axis of Evil' nations is up there building a Death Star! (that's science *fiction* - which is still more sane to me than intelligent design!) On a related note, I've recently discover...

I am addicted to the Huffington Post . The blog runs pieces from all kinds of people - movie stars, serious reporters, regular joes, and everyone in between. I love reading Nora Ephron's posts. This week's post is about Vegas , so of course I had to read it. Apparently, in the presence of Nora and a few others, Steve Wynn (who owns a great many fabulous pieces of art, and used to display them at the Bellagio) put his elbow through a Picasso painting. This is the painting that the show* in his hotel is named for - Le Rêve. The same painting he was about to sell to a collector in Connecticut for over $100M! ouch. (Fittingly, the hole he made was basically in the woman's elbow area in the painting...) Can you imagine?! It's aPicasso! Apparently Nora and friends had to keep mum about what they had witnessed - at least until an art restorer could look at the damage. Her observations on the experience (and on being at the Wynn hotel and how amazing it is) are amusing. And h...

Last week, Jae and Teri gave Samantha her own camera(s) -- three of those little disposable ones -- so she could take her own pictures of Disney World. Probably safer than handing her one of their nice digital ones and having her drop it... So here's a link to the pictures that she took. There are a few pics of her fingers, or random body parts (belonging to my family, and assorted other people), but she did do very well taking pictures of Jae & Teri and of the rest of us. Jae has great pictures of her taking pictures, too. She would point to a rock or a particular spot on the ground where we were supposed to stand, and then she would back up a few feet and say "one, two, three, smile!" and snap away. (A guy in Epcot saw our stroller-photographer taking a picture of us, and wanted to take a picture of her taking a picture of us, but she refused to repeat the adorable activity for the benefit of strangers. good girl!) Anyway, the pics are here: http://terifratkin.fotki...

No, not " Typhoid Mary " ... not even "typhoid Melyssa"(which my grandmother and aunts called me when I was little) ... I had a visit this weekend from "typhoid Sue!" To say that mom has a head cold is a major understatement. The poor woman was so stuffy she couldn't sleep until I basically forced her to take some cold medicine - and take it again at 4:30 in the morning! She was coughing her guts out! :( It all started with a rainstorm. Thursday afternoon (after spending the day hopping back and forth between two conferences - the Governor's Conference for Women , and the UT Ready to Commercialize Conference), I went to the airport to pick up mom. She had been in Dallas all week at the EDUCAUSE Annual Meeting. Her plane was a little late because of the quick-moving storm, which lowered the temperature in Austin by 20 degrees in 2 hours. But by the time we came out of the airport, it had stopped! We went to Central Market and had dinner at the cafe ...

Last night as I was about to go to bed, I turned off the tv, and I heard a weird buzzing sound. I turned to look in the small bedroom, and a FLYING COCKROACH came out at me - at eye level! AAAAAAH! I was asked (a few weeks ago) if I had seen these yet, and I was relieved to say no. Well, that was then. At least I had a vague idea of what the thing was when it came at me! It was 2" long! I swatted at it, and it went into the bathroom. I scooted to the kitchen and got the (floral-scented :)) RAID. I mostly hit the bathroom mirror, but I did get the bug a bit. If my aim with the spray had been better, the next thing that happened would not have happened - it flew into my bedroom, and took a hard right into my closet! ACK! I was too far away to see exactly where it went in the closet, and it never reappeared. I am now absolutely positive that in the next day or so, I will go in to grab a t-shirt or a pair of jeans and the bug will come out at me - alive or dead. EEEW! Needless to...

In case I never mentioned it, my big brother loves all things Disney. So when the 35th Anniversary of Walt Disney World rolled around, he had to take Teri and Samantha and go. And of course if they were going, then Grammy and Baba and Uncle Bryan and Auntie Mel had to go too! We rented a big house complete with a pool (which I didn't have time to even dip a toe into!). I don't have the energy to go through everything now, but we had a GREAT time. Samantha is so bright and happy, and it's thrilling to see her growing up and learning new things every day! Super-short recap: Baba and Grammy arrived at about midnight on Weds. Bryan and I got there in time for dinner on Thursday. Friday we went to Epcot. Saturday we went to Disney's Animal Kingdom, which is an incredible place. Thursday night and Saturday night, Jae took us to his favorite night-time spot at Pleasure Island, The Adventurers Club . (Those visits alone will require their own blog post.) We ate well, walk...