Melyssa-with-a-Y

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...

Last month, I read a great article in FastCompany magazine (I adore FastCompany! I tend to refer to their articles often) about a new kind of light bulb. Well, ok, it's not *new* exactly... it's a compact flourescent lightbulb. According to the article , this little item will "change the world." I thought, "eh, it can't be that great." Then I got my first month's electric bill. Ouch! (of course, it was over 100 degrees here for 24 days in August, that could explain part of it...) Turns out (I have just calculated), I paid for 51 kWh of light from my incandescent lightbulbs, just in the living room and my bedroom. I didn't notice that two of the bulbs in my bedroom were 100w until I went to switch them - no wonder it seemed so damn bright in there when I woke up in the morning! (I didn't count the ceiling fans in those rooms... apparently those use about 300 kWh per year, so that's another 50 kWh per month for my 2 most-used fans.) The...