Melyssa-with-a-Y

I'm pleased to report that a) it's been sunny in London (doh! I probably just jinxed us!) and b) we've really had a blast in the past two and a half days. We arrived on Wednesday morning. It's chilly, but not nearly as cold as it was last year. Or maybe I'm a lot less cold because I brought my super-warm wool coat this year! We hung out in the apartment for a bit, and then Bryan and I went out to find some lunch. Then it was naptime. Wednesday is also the customary trip to TESCO to stock up on groceries. We stopped at a pub for dinner - had to have fish 'n' chips! - and then went shopping. Prices seem reasonable when you look at the number in pounds sterling... then you do the math and realize that it's $1.65 to the pound. (Which is actually better than it used to be!) Mostly we need breakfast food. Thanksgiving Thursday, Mom, Dad and I went to the antiques market at Spittalfields . Many of the people in the shops wished us a Happy Thanksgiving. W...

I thought I might be able to post more often while I was in Portland, but that just wasn't to be. Here's a quick synopsis. Sunday was spent at the Convention Center, putting up posters in the TACC booth. We had our share of surprises, successes and snafus, but for the most part, our booth was lovely (bigger than we've ever had) and very successful . Sunday night, mom and I went to the Intel welcome party at the Portland Art Museum . (Apparently I didn't miss very much at the craft market.) The food was very good, we ran into a lot of people we knew and had some lovely conversations, and they gave out nice fleece jackets as a parting gift. My only complaint was that we didn't get to see the rest of the museum. That was kind of a bummer. Monday, I moved to the Governor hotel where the rest of the TACCsters were already encamped. After staying in the tiny room with my mom for the weekend, it was a pleasure to have a nice big room on the top floor, complete with fi...

(I mean the one in Oregon.... apparently there are a lot of other Portlands around the USA!) Today was filled with dining and shopping and football-watching. But let me start with last night's dinner, which was excellent. The front desk person at the hotel recommended a restaurant up the street called Southpark . I admit, I had visions of Stan, Kyle and Cartman at first, but it's actually a seafood restaurant with a distinctly Mediterranean flair. I forgot that it was a Friday night at 7:30pm... the place was packed. I ended up sitting at the bar in the Wine Bar section of the restaurant. It was very nice. I had a glass of Apolloni Pinot Grigio, and a small-ish dinner (it was already almost 10pm for me by then) of warm flatbreads with hummus, and the Pacific Northwest version of crabcakes. I was starving. Everything was very tasty, and the bartenders were really nice (one had even grown up in DC!), but between the time difference and the wine, I was starting to fade. ...

(I refuse to use Larry the Cable guy's catchphrase. Bleh.) This weekend, I managed to finish a bunch of things that were just sort of hanging around in limbo. For starters, I finally completed the crochet caterpillar for Nicky W. I'm hoping to get to the post office on Tuesday to ship it off to Boston. I also finished re-installing (mostly) my printer/copier/scanner so I could use it to scan photos and such. (see photo, right --> ) More of those will be posted shortly. There are so many to choose from! And, I cleared out a ton of cardboard boxes that have been filling my garage... I need the space -- my new B&D electric mower is coming on Thursday! (it's so cute!) There are so many things I can get done outside, now that it's not going to be 104 degrees every day. I also started a few new things - a new pot of basil is growing, some new parsley seedlings are peeking out, and I made an apple granola crumbly-thing for breakfasts this week. I'm sure this bu...

A big ol' thank you to Auntie M, for the bounty of housewarming goodies I found when I got back from DC. In no particular order: serving plates, a turkey baster, loaf pan, giant knitting needles, decorative glass bottles, cheese spreaders, tomato saver, and 'Auntie Sam' poster. phew!

Ryan got us tickets right behind home plate! So what if the Nats could be handed loss #100 tonight... it's a nice place.

(Image taken from treppenwitz, created by his wife Zahava)

(and our nation's Capitol!)

you could call these nosebleed seats... but I think those are below us!

First pair of eyeglasses... ever! It's amazing how much clearer everything is.

Last week, a gunman entered a LGBT Center in Tel Aviv and killed two people, and wounded a dozen more. Unfortunately, violence in Israel isn't exactly unusual, and while I frequently get choked up about it, this one was different. Because of Aubrey, I know a lot about the LGBT community in Austin (and have spent plenty of time in gay bars!), including the existence of Out Youth , which is an outreach center for young people, exactly like the one that was attacked in Tel Aviv. I went to their prom! --> Tonight, Out Youth, together with other LGBT community organizations and the Jewish Community Association of Austin, co-sponsored a vigil at City Hall to honor the victims in Tel Aviv. I had to go. When I started thinking about the whole situation earlier in the day, I started to cry. There is certainly no question that what happened in Tel Aviv was horrible. Any shooting, and particularly the shooting of children, is tragic. But even moreso because, of all of the places in ...

it took most of the day to get it all set up properly, but I love my new Mission style bedroom set! (thank you craigslist...) :)

Last month, I decided to organize a "Biggest Loser" contest at my office. I've since dropped out, but not because I am giving up. I'm taking a new path. Over the past... 20 or so years, I have spent a lot of time thinking about food. What to eat, what not to eat, how many calories (or WW points) everything is, how much I have to exercise to burn off whatever I ate for dinner, writing down what I've eaten -- and deciding whether to write something down at all (like those miniature york peppermint patties that I keep in my freezer)... and somehow, it never seems to end. I have been brainwashed by WW, so it's not a "diet" it's a " lifestyle change " -- I haven't used the word "diet" in forever. In the last year, I've been working with a nutritionist and a personal trainer (three years with the trainer), and although I know I'm in much better shape than I was when I started -- I definitely have more stamina, and I ca...

anybody want a ride? :)

aaah, summer in Austin!

it may be 90-something, but it's not so bad in the shade, and there's a nice breeze!

(taken from Seth Godin's blog ) When you love the work you do and the people you do it with, you matter. When you are so gracious and generous and aware that you think of other people before yourself, you matter. When you leave the world a better place than you found it, you matter. When you continue to raise the bar on what you do and how you do it, you matter. When you teach and forgive and teach more before you rush to judge and demean, you matter. When you touch the people in your life through your actions (and your words), you matter. When kids grow up wanting to be you, you matter. When you see the world as it is, but insist on making it more like it could be, you matter. When you inspire a Nobel prize winner or a slum dweller, you matter. When the room brightens when you walk in, you matter. And when the legacy you leave behind lasts for hours, days or a lifetime, you matter.

I stopped by HD on the way home to pick up some supplies. Now comes the real test - will any of it work? News at 11!

Yesterday, while I was getting ready for my supper club (making whole wheat pizza dough, and then rolling it out and decorating it with homemade pesto, mozzarella and sundried tomatoes, and another one with crushed tomatoes and artichoke hearts and more mozz... ) I was listening to the middle rounds of the National Spelling Bee on ESPN. It was sort of funny to see how ESPN made it more "exciting" ... they even did short interviews with the kids and their parents. It was cute. Starting with Round 4 (semifinals), they had to spell words like skeuomorph, hircocervus, echinocystis, and omphaloskepsis. Yikes! These are mostly 12 and 13 year old kids! I was amazed. I thought I was a good speller - I won the spelling bee in my elementary school in 5th grade and made it to regionals... where I was tripped up by the word "platelet" (I hadn't had biology yet, I didn't know that it didn't have the "-ette" on the end! oh well..) So yesterday, I tried ...

eeeexcellent.

and it's empty! where is everybody?

oy vey. This has been some day. I think I spent more time in my car than I did at the office. Or anywhere, except maybe the doctor's office. I started the day at the medical building for my annual physical, and to get a referral so I can get my knee checked out. He thinks I have patella-femoral syndrome , which is exactly what Bryan had when he grew too fast and had no cartilage in his knees. I can live with that -- I'd rather have to do PT than have any kind of surgery, but we'll see what the ortho says. I was all ready to head back to work after 45 mins in the docs office, but no! That would be too easy. I had to go to the lab first. EKG, blood test, and a tetanus shot for good measure. (ow. did I mention that they had to stick me twice to take my blood, because he screwed up the first time? ugh.) An hour later, I was finally on my way. I made a beeline for Starbucks first, since I had been fasting since midnight, and had only slept for about 5 hrs. And "beeline...

Having a whole bunch of movie channels (and a DVR) is great, though sometimes it keeps me from watching my Netflix movies for months at a time. I can watch some of my favorite movies whenever they're on, over and over again, and quote most (if not all) of the lines. The list is long: Star Wars/Empire/Jedi, Princess Bride, Pretty Woman, Hunt for Red October, French Kiss, Footloose, Crimson Tide, Bridget Jones, Unforgiven... occassionally Dani and I try to build a complete list, but we can never think of all of them. I think it's a comfort thing. I know I can do just about anything around the house - work, laundry, build bookcases, hang pictures, knit, and even nap - and know exactly what's going on in the movie. It's actually harder for me to do these things when I'm watching a new episode of something, like Countdown on MSNBC, or CSI, because I want to concentrate on what's being said. But these movies are my comfort food. Speaking of which, tonight, Fie...

This afternoon, Rebeka and I went to a baby shower for our friends Juan and Letty . Letty has another six weeks to go, but she looks like she's about to pop! It was a nice, small shower, with couples and kids. Of course, I was happy to go to the shower, and I made the world's quickest duckie - started last night at 9:30am, finished in the car on the way to the party! But the biggest draw for me was that it was being hosted by one of my favorite bloggers, Stephanie Klein (and her husband Phil). I've been reading Stephanie's blog for at least a couple of years, since she published her first book, Straight Up and Dirty , moved to Austin (shortly before I did, I think), had her twins in December '06... It was great to actually meet her! The "beans" are a little over 2 now and talking. They're SO cute. And Phil is just the nicest guy in the world. Our illustrious hosts made finger sandwiches, complete with the crusts cut off -- cucumber, salmon, egg sal...

Wholesome student fun: BYU has a bowling alley on the bottom floor of their student center... And it's packed! -- ================================================================== This mobile text message is brought to you by AT&T

Time flies- last time I was here was four years ago!

mountains are purty... :)

Annetrelac socks, in On Linie supersocke 100, Highland color. Trying to decide how much more cuff before I stop...

4lbs of strawberries for $5.99! and they're HUGE! yummmmmm

After a much delayed flight (2.5 hrs on tarmac in Houston!) mom and dad made it to Austin... and not having eaten, I brought them right to Rudy's. :)

I am trying to keep Pesach this year. I get almost all the way through the week every year, but after about five days or so, I invariably put something in my mouth and start chewing before I realize it's a no-no. But, I definitely do my best at home. I moved all of my chametz into a couple of bags and put them away in the closet. I have been eating "matzah-and-" everything I would normally eat, so it's matzah and sun butter for breakfast, matzah and sliced turkey for lunch... etc. And some leftover matzoh ball soup (don't ask me why I spell the crackers with an "a" and the balls with an "o" - I don't know!) ... and haroset... it hasn't been too difficult yet. Tonight I decided to cook one of the new Passover product s I found- Kosher for Passover cous cous , to go along with a really neat recipe for chicken with asparagus . All I can say is, one of these recipes worked very well and is delicious. The other one, not so much. Can you gu...

I can't believe I'm finally seeing Springsteen! It's taken me 20 years to get here!

they're about to show Monsters v. Aliens in 3D... coming off two giant film reels. It's a $30million machine. Wow.

Passover is coming. I'm going to be making a brisket for Seder, so I thought I should practice making it once, just in case. I bought a small 1.5lb brisket and cut off the fat, and made it with garlic, broth, thyme and tarragon. It isn't falling apart like mom's did, but it's very tasty, and now I know what to do!

There was a severe storm warning in Austin this afternoon, which became a severe thunderstorm watch... so I stayed at work for a while longer to wait out the storm. But then I discovered that one of my neighbors had golf-ball sized hail in his backyard! Yet another one of the new things I'm learning as a homeowner -- hail is scary! What if it broke my windows? So I drove (slowly and carefully) home in the diminishing rainstorm, and was pleased to find that while there were little golf-ball hail lumps all around the house, the house was still intact. :) Here's a pic of the hail (oops, it's blurry) and a pic of the backyard. It's wild! Of course, less than an hour later, the sun came out, and there was a nice sunset. But the hail didn't melt right away.

Sitting at National airport, watching USC basketball and waiting for my flight back to Austin, a lady walked by my table and made what she called a "strange request" -- she asked if she could use my laptop really quickly to send a note to her boss. I figured, what the heck, she looks nice, and it's good karma. And I know the feeling - though it hasn't happened to me since I got my blackjack last year. She sat down and started typing, and we chatted a bit... it turns out she is going to Israel to visit her son. She didn't bring her blackberry because she doesn't have international service on it, and she really needed to send an email. I mentioned that I hadn't been to Israel since my bat mitzvah, and we had a laugh about "Jew-dar." :) She told me she'd be at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem tomorrow, and would say a prayer for me. So there you go, I'd say that's good karma!

Hmmm... maybe I'm off the hook for a little while? Thanks, Val! ;)

-- and no, I don't mean the NCAA men's basketball tourney... I mean "Fug Madness 2009!" I love reading the Go Fug Yourself blog . There are times when I don't recognize the featured personalities, but it's fun to see what odd things Hollywood people like to wear out of their houses, especially when nobody else in their right mind would wear that stuff! I mean, really ! Who is the stylist who told you that was a good idea? and why haven't you fired them? So, in order to pick the "fugliest" dresser of the year, we get Fug Madness, for which there are four brackets: Madonna, Charo, Cher and Bjork (they're real fashion trendsetters, don'tcha know...) and everyone votes for the fashion victim of their choice, until we're down to one. The nice thing is, you can instantly see the top vote-getters when you vote. And over 11,000 people have voted already! Last year's winner was Bai Ling . Suffice it to say, Bai wore some goofy, strange...

This is a letter from a right-wing organization that was in today's email from the Texas Freedom Network . Since when is PP a "pro-abortion behemoth"? I say, Run, don't walk, to your nearest store and BUY SOME WINE! From: Life Decisions International Date: March 17, 2009 Do You Enjoy a Glass of Wine FRONT ROYAL, Va., Mar. 17 /Christian Newswire/ -- Do you drink wine? Millions of people do, but most are unaware of the fact that many winemakers give financial support to Planned Parenthood, the world's leading pro-abortion behemoth. "I like a glass of wine every now and then," said LDI Chairman Thomas C. Strobhar. "I am appalled that so many winemakers fund the Culture of Death. I urge my fellow pro-life activists to let winemakers know that they have a 'choice'. They may continue to fund Planned Parenthood and lose a lot of business to competitors or they may stop funding Planned Parenthood and reap the benefits that come from happy consum...

there goes the truck, full of my stuff!

Yes! Iz purty. :)

Sunday afternoon, I took another load of boxes up to my new house (yay!) and discovered new little friends: pillbugs! also known as roly-polys! EVERYWHERE! Well, ok, not everywhere. Around the kitchen and the bathrooms -- apparently they like dampness. When I went back tonight, they were mostly dead in corners. Not to worry, though, I bought Ortho MAX, and will be spraying it around the outside of the house and in the kitchen and bathrooms, before move-in day. :) I also picked out a fancy new fridge (it was on sale) and a garage-door opener, both of which should be installed later in the week. And then on Saturday, I'm moving in! OMG! Photos from move-in will be posted... when I recover.

Bright, sunny Saturday, so I decide to move some boxes to the new house. And, my friend John comes to meet me so he can give me a quote on some minor repairs. We go out into the back yard, and what happens? Door locks automatically! Yep, that's right -- I got locked out of my new house on the first day! Fotunately, John had his phone, so we called a locksmith. One hour and $90 later, I'm back inside. sheeesh!

I loooove Rachel's yogurt, so I stopped to check out the sign @ Whole Foods - and then I did the math. 4 for $5 means each one is $1.25, right? (fortunately, they're on sale for $0.79 at HEB this week... ) If you can read it, in the corner it says reg price $1.19 - you *save* 6 cents. um.... no. Maybe I should tell the manager? :)

Finally, someone who both believes in Gd and understands evolution! A Baptist blogger has written a nice piece about why religion and evolution do not have to be mutually exclusive. I'm not sure I agree with him 100%, but at least he makes the case for open-mindedness. All I have to say is, Thank you! I'm pleased to see that rational thought exists somewhere in this country! For another view on evolution vs. creationism, see this Family Guy clip . :)

but you'll notice the Bush Countdown Clock is GONE from the sidebar! He's GONE! :) hoooray!

He's at it again -- already! Just one week after reinstating a Holocaust-denying Bishop (and then releasing a statement about how we must all work together to make sure the Shoah doesn't happen again) , the Pope has now elevated to Bishop an Austrian priest who says that the Harry Potter books are spreading Satanism, and that Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans to wipe out the hedonism (and the abortion clinics) there. If there's one thing that was drummed into me as a child, it was "Question Authority." Please tell me there are Catholics in the world who don't agree with this man? ... Who have more sense than this? ... Who, even though it might be sacrilegious, are willing to question the authority of the Pope to do these things? Yikes.

@ Momo's - right at the stage! :)

On the anniversary of the day that the Soviet army liberated Auschwitz in 1945 (see video below), I was treated to a story on NPR this morning about the Bishop that was "un-excommunicated" by the Pope this week. Bishop Richard Williamson has been -- recently, not just in the past -- quoted as saying there's no historical evidence that 6 million Jews died in WWII. Bishop Williamson, who has said that the Vatican is controlled by Satan and that the Jews are bent on world domination, reiterated in a broadcast last week on Swedish television that the historical evidence was “hugely against six million having been deliberately gassed in gas chambers as a deliberate policy of Adolf Hitler. I believe there were no gas chambers”. I'm sorry, WHAT?!? and he gets to be a Bishop in the Catholic Church? The way the current pope is reversing Vatican II, I'd say the "heretics" in Europe had better watch out - the Spanish Inquisition may be poised for a comeback! But...

This afternoon, I did seven interviews with Canadian Broadcasting Corp stations all over Canada - from British Columbia to Saskatchewan to Manitoba to Ontario to New Brunswick to Yukon ( not geographically in any particular order ). They asked me questions about collecting political memorabilia -- how I got started, why people collect, what's valuable, and what's out there for Obama. I talked about my flasher collection , Cox-Roosevelt buttons , and the Obama Chapter of the APIC. The station in Victoria, BC (6th go-round) sent me an MP3 recording of the interview. I've asked for recordings of the other ones, but I actually think this one was the best. One of the producers I spoke with likened the experience to "Groundhog Day", and she was right! The station in New Brunswick also offered to send me a bobblehead doll of one of the DJs. :) If I can figure out how to post it here, I will. Otherwise, if you want to hear it, email me and I'll send you the 6MB ...

...but the "We Are One" concert is on, and it's amazing! 1:30pm (CST) Starting with Copeland's Fanfare for the Common Man was genius - it was symbolic, as an announcement of a new beginning. It's one of my favorite pieces. I was in tears almost immediately. (starting to regret staying in Austin for the weekend...) Watching the Obama girls see themselves on tv was so cute! (Sasha made her mother move out of the way!) 1:40pm Bruce. Wow. The newscasters kept saying that the musicians weren't going to be singing their own music, but singing "The Rising" with a huge choir in the background was fabulous. 1:50pm Hmm... maybe Mary J. Blige should have worn something other than white/off-white so she'd stand out a little more against the steps? Oh well. Lean On Me, another great uplifting song. You go Mary J! and Michelle is singing along! :) [and, not having saved this post often enough, my Firefox crashed and I lost almost an hour's worth of comme...

For your reading pleasure (or discomfort, in this case), here's a post detailing the various actions going on in other parts of Israel, instigated by the same Arab countries who won't admit to directly helping Hamas, and won't help the Palestinian civilians in Gaza. If you are inclined to 'poo poo' the seriousness of these attacks or downplay their impact on Israeli morale, just think back to 2002 when the 'Beltway Sniper' was able to terrorize the entire eastern seaboard of the United states into immobility with nothing more than a hunting rifle and an old Chevy Caprice. Also, with Israel at war on one front, just how much restraint are we really expected to practice with all the other belligerents in the neighborhood? A fair question, I think. Americans have never been exposed to this kind of constant barrage -- Beltway Sniper notwithstanding -- he could only fire in one place at a time. How can we be expected to understand the mentality of the Israeli ...

I went to the nutritionist tonight for a "check-up" -- this is the same woman who put me on a mostly-organic diet in January 2008, and with whose help I lost about 15 lbs last year. We talked about what I've been eating, which has been far more sensible since I've been back from DC. I showed her my last 10 days of Weight Watchers food tracking. Other than the fact that it is sorely lacking in vegetables, it looked pretty good. But then she did the math, and apparently I'm not getting enough calories! The way WW does things, I get to eat food that adds up to 25 points per day (a point is 60 calories or 6 grams of fat), plus an extra 35 pts to use throughout the week. Ergo, 25 x 60 = 1500 calories. And if you evenly split the 'extra' pts, that's an extra 300 calories per day. But I hardly use those - the program makes it sound like those are for "emergencies" only. But according to the tests that Nancy did last year when I signed up for ...

Yet another "about me" list that I've stolen from Phyl : The things I have done are in bold. 1. Started my own blog 2. Slept under the stars 3. Played in a band 4. Visited Hawaii 5. Watched a meteor shower 6. Given more than I can afford to charity 7. B een to Disneyland/world 8. Climbed a mountain (Not sure if hiking counts but it was a moutain) 10. Sung a solo 11. Bungee jumped 12. Visited Paris 13. Watched lightening at sea 14. Taught myself art from scratch (does knitting count?) 15. Adopted a child 16. Had food poisoning 17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty 18. Grown my own vegetables 19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France 20. Slept on an overnight train 21. Had a pillow fight 22. Hitchhiked 23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill 24. Built a snow fort 25. Held a lamb 26. Gone skinny dipping 27. Run a Marathon 28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice 29 . Seen a total eclipse 30. Watched a sunrise or sunset 31. Hit a home run 32. Been on a cruise 33. Seen Niagara Fa...

I have (until now) refrained from posting any rants here about the situation in Gaza -- how Hamas is getting their own people killed; Israel's right to defend herself... etc. I mean, seriously, if crazies in Cuba or Mexico or Canada were indiscriminately dropping rockets on New York or Miami or Houston -- TRYING to kill civilians -- wouldn't we fight back? Damn right we would! But now apparently all Jewish children are targets , no matter where we live -- as Jeffrey Goldberg points out on his blog: Put aside Zahar's chutzpah -- Hamas has been happily killing Jewish children for years. What's important is that he is making an explicit plea to jihadists everywhere to take matters into their own hands and kill Jews. Any Jewish school or synagogue or JCC anywhere in the world that doesn't take this seriously is beyond negligent. This is not a time for panic, just preparation. But if you read further down in that article, French President Sarkozy points out that the m...

It's 2009! How did that happen? 2008 was a fun year, and I can only wonder at what 2009 holds for all of us. Hope y'all have a happy, healthy year, full of pleasant surprises. :) And now, for a trip down memory lane: I found this on Phyl's blog , and I love it! IF YOU WERE A LITTLE GIRL IN THE 70'S... 1. You had that Fisher Price Doctor's Kit with a stethoscope that actually worked. Hmmm. Don't remember this. 2 You owned a bicycle with a banana seat and a plastic basket with flowers on it. Uhhh, Nope. I didn't learn to ride a bike until I was 13. By then, it was the mid-80's. 3. You learned to skate with actual skates (not roller blades) that had metal wheels. Oh yes, and skated through some dogsh*t the first time my dad took me out on them. 4 You thought Gopher from Love Boat was cute (admit it!) Sigh. ok, I admit it. 5. You had nightmares after watching Fantasy Island. EEEK!! I thought Scooby Doo was too scary. I didn't even watch Fantasy Isla...