Quote of the Day

"...your inability to imagine true love manifesting between two members of the same sex almost classifies you as retarded in my mind. It’s not even a moral issue."

Our neighbor.

Go(ing to) Fish

Today, the plan is to get in touch and hopefully meet with my old boss Jen who I will be working for again.  When I lived here last time, I got a job at Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen in Saint Helena.  Cindy’s is one of three restaurants owned (with the help of investors) by Cindy Pawlcyn, somewhat of a celebrity chef in northern California.  Cindy’s was behind Main St. in downtown St. Helena, across the road from the railroad tracks on Railroad Avenue.  It is in a two story white building with many windows and several dining rooms.  At one point it was a hotel for railroad travelers.  One of the little stories that we servers would feed our customers to add depth to their experience at the restaurant was that the fig tree that reaches over the patio where they were eating was at least 150 years old.  This is especially exciting to hear when it is fig season and we can tell them that the figs on the plate once dangled above their table like the uni-ball Jim once claimed to Val that I was born with (or without if you prefer).

Go Fish, the restaurant that my old boss currently manages is an aesthetic opposite of Cindy’s.  It is a large single story building on the outskirts of town, clearly more modern and more purpose built as a restaurant.  It has a cavernous main dining hall, divided by a large hanging artwork in the center of the irregularly shaped room.  Skylights dot the high ceilings and modern pendant lighting dangles over the tables and the angular zinc bar where you can order stellar sushi (or shoo-see as a little boy once called it to Colleen and I) and cocktails with some promise.

I was offered a position as a manager in training, or MIT for you DASAC people.  I would be paid an hourly wage as opposed to making tips, and this would likely often mean less dollars per day, but the chance to get a foot in the door at a successful and well managed company seems well worth it.  Optimally, I would get a chance to have a few nights as the barman at Cindy’s, should any openings arise.  

Brunch at the H&O!

We ran into a bunch of nice friends at the ho for brunch.

Quote of the Day:

Erin: "I put that up so we could snuggle."

Adam: ""I put it down because I hate you."

(said in the theater, regarding the armrest, after Erin chose to
occupy the very same seat Adam wanted.)

How about a state that offers citizenship but not residence.

How about a state that offers citizenship but not residence.

Imagine a globalized city, with actual physical resources, an economy, citizens, institutions, and cultures already in place.  Now suppose that the citizens of that soverign city extended citizenship to every person on this planet, sharing all rights, laws and economies they enjoy with all.  Every child, from central Wyoming to Tokyo, would guaranteed access to the laws and economy of this city.  In the city, they would have to right to a fair trial.  No matter where they lived, they would be guaranteed the right to participate in the markets of that city.  What would not be guaranteed, however, would be the right to physically occupy space in the city.  Though the freedoms offered could be described as non-corporal, their implications (access to a fair and balanced legal system, access to globe spanning markets and access to the entire world’s culture) could safeguard, elevate, and set free the souls of all people. 

There are complications and downsides.  This will be for next time, naturally.

Its been a few days...

Heather and Colleen left for San Francisco Monday afternoon, after toast and coffee on The Lanai, culminating a weekend of cooking, eating, and a little bit of Singstar.

After the reunion brunch, the three Kings and one Derrig went to Sunshine Market to provision for what would become an epic culinary adventure.  An incomplete list must include: local smoked trout and grilled corn filled ravioli with a sage and butter sauce, build your own turkey Reubens, an heirloom tomato and blue cheese tart, 2 kinds of ice cream (Saffron/Rose and Apricot/Raspberry), grilled flatbread with hummus, grilled eggplant and corn...     

Heather was amazing in the kitchen.  I knew it was going to be fun when I asked her if 8 eggs were enough and she gave this, "Hell no." kind of response.  We ended up using nearly 3 dozen over the 2 nights she and Colleen were here together.  I've been aware of Heather's food savantery from the times years ago that she and Colleen would come to my Mom's and my house to make christmas cookies; I remember her making ganache (which I looked at as a dark (he he) art at the time) for some chocolate cookies she was working on without batting an eyelash.  Over the course of the weekend, she would get up off the couch and say something like: "I'm going to just throw together this souffle." 

I've not needed a dinner much larger than cheese and crackers since the weekend.  

Heather is here!

The plan was that she was going to blast down here from Mendocino
early this morning but as things turned out she didn't make it until
about noon, which turned out to be perfect because I was not feeling
the get up early and make breakfast vibe. Instead Deb and I went to
Calistoga and bought a flat of organic strawberries and some amazing
smoked trout from the farmers market. By the time she got here the
pancake batter was half made and we all sat down to a nice late
breakfast.

A Dream

I just woke up from a dream in which I was watching a broadcast of President Bush make another tired and hollow claim about defending the world from evil and Terror. It was on television and was being presented by a famous news anchor, Dan Rather I think. Along with the anchor there was a thin vaguely Asian man with white hair and odd teeth. He had the air of a sign language interpreter about him, but he was speaking and as I listened I realized he was speaking a soft, stylized English.

After the president's speech, the anchor and the white haired man stood shoulder to shoulder in front of the people in the television studio with their arms around each other. The speech had just ended and in the wake of the twisted logic and doublespeak of our leader, these two men did something extraordinary. They began to sing.

It was a variation of our national anthem but instead of a poem about "That glorious fight," they sang instead of a fragile hope that we might deliver our selves from the grasp of fascism and empire coming from our own leaders and take back our freedom and good name in a time of madness and evil.

I found myself sitting next to my mother in front of the television and when the new words of anthem came up on the screen, karaoke style, we sang along.

Porta Potty, Zeitgeist

North Beach Lunch

The Cuz' and I have wandered down to San Francisco for a little big city outing. After a late lunch at Caffe Delucchi in North Beach the plan is to walk up to the Coit Tower and take in the sights of this hilly little town. Colleen was here once before with her sister, Cousin Heather.

In a few hours we are going to meet up with my good friend Ryan from my Zazie days.

Okay, the little side salads are here so it's time to go.

The things you see in real life

So I was on the way to see WALL-E in Napa with Deb and Colleen when we spotted this highly alarmed goat standing in a cage in the back of a truck. She was bleating (or is that what sheep do?) up a storm and was wide eyed and clearly not psyched about the mode of transport, nor I imagine being in the middle of a busy intersection far from her home.

I doubt she was going to see a flick.

Its an active lifestyle, it's not for everyone.

Day Old Quote of the Day: Two for One Sale!

Colleen: "If I ever meet someone from Cheyenne, I'm going to say, "Nice! I had the worst taco of my life in your town.""

Rachel: "People with Morton's Toe are better in bed than other people.  Its like, don't be repulsed by me, I give good head."

A Longer Leg

We made it from Lexington Nebraska to Logan Utah on Wednesday, leaving behind the perfect flatness of central Nebraska for Wyoming’s rolling brown hills and strangely huddled Black Angus Cattle, most of whom (like us) seemed to prefer to huddle tightly together rather than spread apart upon the vast landscape.  

As we left this land of ranches, mines and oil wells behind and climbed almost imperceptibly over the mountains I was surprised and pleased to see that the wind farms that Deb and I first saw a year ago on our way back to Massachusetts have grown much larger and in one instance we saw rows of partially assembled units, sections of their cylindrical towers lying on the ground.

It was about an hour and a half drive up from Salt Lake City, winding between orange and brown cliffs looming over either side of the road, studded with solitary conifers and swiss cheese-like rounded mini caves that I imagined were inhabited by coyotes and wierdos.

Progress:

72 miles from Utah.

Progress

Mile 386 I-80 west, Wyoming.

Nebraska Stench Inspires

Me: "Ohh, that stinks!"

Colleen: "Yeah, its pretty hellish."
(pause)
"That wasn't us, unless you know how to fart tar eggs."

Recorded near mile 376 on I-80 west.

Dietary variations

Ricecrispy-treat wrapped waffle cone anyone?

Quote of the Day

Me, "I feel like I'm finally an adult because my pits smell as soon as
I get out of the shower."

13 miles to Illinois.

Quote of the Day

Colleen, "I have my oen name for stretches. I call this one the
Superman."

Henry's Van: The First Day

I finished loading up your van yesterday morning and met some friends and family at Hope & Olive to have a final brunch before my cousin Colleen and I started driving out west.  We ended up leaving town around 2 in the afternoon after we went to the co-op to get some snacks for the highway.  It is really hard to find nice things like carrots and nuts and apples on the highways.  

After a few hours Colleen and I made it to the middle of New York, where we stopped to get gas and stretch our legs. 

Then it was time to drive again.

Prelude to Exodus: Finishing Up

My blog got into the weeds a few days ago as I tried to get my possessions packed and my apartment at the Weinstein's empty and presentable.  The objectives seemed simple enough: go through my stuff and get rid of things that I didn't want anymore or that wouldn't fit in the MPV,  pack the good stuff and get rid of the crap and then attempt to stuff it into the minivan and leave the apartment looking nice for Jacob who I think is arriving within the week from India.   It was a lot of work (though not as much as when I still had 3 couches, 2 beds, a few kitchen tables and more).

I wasn't worried about this because I had over 2 months to get this all done... right up until last week, when I realized that all that time had been frittered away and I was about to blow my departure date.  This was a panicky feeling.  I was rescued yesterday by my mom who cleaned as I packed and fretted.

I reached that mercenary point where if it wasn't packed in a box, it was packed in the trash.

Henry's Van

Its loading time for your van Henry. I'm filling it with everything I
own so I can move with all my stuff all the way across the country.

When I pack the last box and basket and clean my house for the last
time, your van and I will drive for days and days.

Behold

The oddity of modern life (yes they are both mine).

Quote of the Day

Me, "Great! Now my head smells like kitty litter."

Quote of the Day

"These days, the slightest task makes me have to pee."

Quote of the Day

Colleen, who is celebrating her 30th birthday has this to say, "I've
never done it in the kitchen, but I've never been with a foodie. "

I love this.

Mystery Solved

So I've been wondering who bumperstickered my car last week and assuming that it was one of my Hope and Olive coworkers.  Assumptions are usually a bad idea, and as it turns out I was barking up the wrong tree.  A few days ago Johanna (my landlady and good friend's mom) knocked on my door to apologize for the stickers, which she revealed were planted by her nephew Eben.  This was a good turn of events for several reasons, and funnier as well.  First it was good to know who had done the deed and secondly it released me from feeling like I had to keep the stickers on until the joker (again an assumed coworker) got a chance to see them when the restaurant reopened a week from BumperstickerNacht.  Also, it meant that Eben had gotten the "message" I left for him (I set his homepage in Safari to goat.se) and was responding in kind.  

It was fun to find out that I had some humor in common with Avi's cousin, whom I've seen from time to time since I started being friends with Avi in first grade or so.

ps. Those of you who know what goat.se is, good for you. For the rest of my (3) readers, if you haven't heard of goat.se, you probably don't want to look it up, its pretty gross.  Suffice to say, goat.se is an image that was used in a classic (meaning at least a year old) internet meme, where you would send someone a link that you said would lead them to something they wanted to see, like a family photo album or Paris Hilton's tits but would instead take them to this very unsavory image instead.  Look up "RickRolling" if you want to see a funny (and non-disgusting) and more current version of this joke.

WTF?!!?

I came back to my car after seeing "Get Smart" with the Cuz and didn't
recognize it for a second. Apparently the "Less Bush More Trees"
sticker had spawned a host of Leftern Massy sentiments.

Foul play? Or just the ghost of Osgood street?

Why I love my iPhone

So I'm halfway along the "Dutch and Mary Barnard Trail" at the High
Ledges and I was wondering if the trail looped back or if I should
turn around at some point. So I did a little google search and stuck
the phone back in my pocket for a minute, checked it and found this
handy map if the area, showing me that it is in fact a loop, and I'm
on my way to the ledges.

I should buy some Apple shares.

http://www.massaudubon.org/Nature_Connection/Sanctuaries/images/maps/highledges_trails.gif

Tenacious Fly

I dropped Max (the young ruffian that my dad hired to help him out this summer) off in Charlemont after work yesterday because it was on the way to Johanna's retirement party.  As I crossed the Deerfield river and turned west onto Route 2 I noticed his fly was hanging on to my window, on the outside.  Its wings were perfectly still as I approached fifty miles an hour and then, just like that, it lost its grip and went flying up the windshield and over the van (I hope).

Poet's Seat

Colleen and I went up to the tower this afternoon. She offered to take me to see the platform where we could see the crack pipes and needles, but when I learned that it was a mile away it became less compelling. I'll just watch an episode of "The Wire" or something.

Evelyn and August

Its Father's Day, and Jim's family has dropped by during the in
between time.

Its nice to go out once in a while.

I got to go out for dinner with Clayton and Tiffany a few weeks ago.  We met up at the community gardens in Greenfield, where they were working on their plot, weeding and watering their beans, carrots, and potatoes.  They had done some reading about gardening (something I've never done) and it was interesting to hear some garden theory, like planting low stuff next to tall stuff or sun loving stuff so it provides shade for the more heliophobic members of the garden.

We also discussed the relative merits of fertilization, especially compost vs manure:

After the gardening we went to Ristorante DiPaulo.  It was a yummy meal, though I'm not sure they have changed their menu since I was last there a few days before Thanksgiving.  

Past Due Posting

So there are several things that I've been planning on posting about, but you know how it is (maybe you super-actualizing people don't) with getting things done.  Speaking of getting things done (which I'd prefer to do at the moment instead of getting them done) I have a growing list of things to accomplish before I head out west for my 4th cross country drive in two years!

Get the new van checked out and inspected.

Arrange for the clearing on my property to get mowed so it will still be a clearing when I get back.

Save a ton of money (not looking too good on that front).

Plan our route out west, and get in touch with friends or family that we may try to stay with.

Consolidate all my music on the laptop so we can replenish our iPods while we are on the road.

Do something about the mullet that is growing down my neck.

and the list continues...

Are you kidding me?

I just read this abstract from a medical study of the linkage between cigarette smoking and Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn's Disease.  It looks like they are saying that people who have quit smoking are at higher risk for recurrence of the disease (in the case of Ulcerative Colitis) and even that smoking reduces the chance of needing surgery.  Weird.

Drive By!

So me and Cousin Colleen and Jim and Jen were leaving the Sex and the City movie when we heard a loud muffler and as the noise passed us and I felt this smack on my side and a splash. I had just been drive by water ballooned! It wasn't a hate crime though, some teenage girls around the corner were standing around their just ballooned car with a big puddle next to it. We all shared a chuckle about it as we walked past.

Some of my coworkers:

This cricket lives in the sewing and cutting room. It has a lot of
friends, but you'd think I was the I.N.S. if you saw them scatter when
I came in the room.

This is a Pony clamp. It is good for holding fabric to the cutting
table or to a framework.

This is Max. He works with us a few days a week.

Ars Awnica

Fold down two inches. Sew down sides before spline pockets. Repeat.

Casualties are all around me.

Tuesday afternoon I found this bird lying on its back in the dirt at the edge of the driveway between the awning shop and my grandparents' house.  Its eyes were open but its neck was at a weird angle and it seemed only able to move its feet a little bit.  I thought its neck might have been broken, but I couldn't really know.  It was clearly dying.

I picked it up as gently as I could and held in in my cupped hands.  It was so light and soft and it looked at me and blinked and panted with its little dark beak open.  I carried it over to the big oak tree in the middle of the yard and put it in the middle of a tuft of grass so it could die somewhere better than on the rocky dirt of the driveway.  

I considered killing it, but I decided that killing it would be selfishness cloaked in mercy because I didn't really know what it wanted.  I wanted to protect its right to witness its death on its terms, so i left it alone and didn't tell anyone it was there.

I went back to my sewing. An hour or so later, I returned to the lee of the tree where I had put down expecting and kind of hoping (again for selfish mercy's sake) to find it dead, but it was taking deep urgent breaths and its eyes opened when I knelt down and looked at me.  So I left it again and we all went to lunch.  

It rained while we ate and I checked on the bird when we got back from work.  Its breast feathers looked disturbed by the rain and it was breathing in measured gasps, but it opened its eyes again as I looked at it.  So I left it alone. When we finished work at five, it was still breathing.  

I looked for it yesterday, but it was gone without a trace.  

Some folks we know

Dylan and Colleen hung out with me after work 2 weeks ago.  

Thats me in the picture.  I mean, thats a picture of me I'm holding in this picture.  Its a school photo I think 5th grade or so.  Now its taped on the ice machine in the server station behind the dining room, embellished with a mustache and eye patch.  

Ars Awnica

I spend a lot of my time at the awning shop making straight lines, cutting with the hot knife, a German hand tool that melts the synthetic fabric we use most of the time. The fused edge of the cut eliminates the need for hemming the fabric.