Things that vex

Crocii in the lawn, chez nm, Spring 2006.

TH called me while I was at the store on Wednesday. Turns out our lawn dude (yes, we have one) came by and mowed. He mowed down our crocuses. WTF? For the first time in my life, I actually fired someone on the spot. He was confused. He thought I told him to wait until the crocuses has stopped blooming to start mowing. He was wrong. I said, I would call him when we needed him. We typically don't mow until the crocus foliage dies down and the energy goes back to the bulbs. For a guy who has gone through the master gardener program, he's a few nutrients short of the 10-10-10 N,P,K ratio needed by most bulbs.

So, what do you do?

TH went out and bought some little containers of tete a tete daffodils and spread them through the lawn. It looks better.

I was chatting up the clerk at MM, bemoaning my lawns fate. She gave me the name of her parent's lawn guys and says they are good. So, hah, now I have a name. Poor Ms. C who asked me the day after the massacre for the name of the lawn dude. I hope this other person works out better. I have to say MM is one of the best things to happen to View Ridge/Bryant in a long time. Thanks peeps.

This morning on my way to work. I looked at the lawn and peeking out of the edge was the purple of two late blooming crocuses that made it through the edging and mowing and give us a sign of life.

nm

word cloud

Word cloud, March 2006.

From snap shirts website that I found while following a Seattle blogger, Michelle de Seattle, from Jenorama's blog. I hope you are feeling better today. Yowch.

nm

ducks in a row

Angus, the scottish duck. Edinburgh, Scotland March 2004.

Ack, it is tax season and other than knowing where all my stuff is, I haven't done diddly to get it to my dearest accountant who I'm sure is just salivating to get cracking on my taxes.

So, tonight, I will sit with the pile of papers, the statements and try and give her a glimpse of where the heck all that money went.

I have to say, that I should be getting a honking return, which will be nice as it ain't going to be that way much longer.

Right after tax season, she'll be vacationing I'm sure and you all will promise me you'll do a better job than me of getting your ducks in a row before next tax season rolls around. Right?

The same can be said for updating your wills, estate planning, figuring out your withholding, doing a FSA through your employer and maybe taking a few more dollars out of your paycheck pre-tax. I had three good conversations this past weekend with three women who are in charge of their finances and they all convinced me that I need to be a better job of dealing with my pre-tax dollars.

Thanks ladies.

nm

New Year's the Roman way

Haft sin, Rome 2006

My haft sin, March 2006 in Rome. Funny thing was that just down street (via) of our apartment was a Persian Rug shop with a lovely haft sin and a nice sign for Persian New Year. I purposefully walked that way daily just to see it.

I liberated my hyacinth (sombol) in the planter outside of our building. I will visit it sometime next Spring and hope it is flourishing.

nm

ajil

Ajil
Originally uploaded by flora and flying.

Okay, I'm lame and busy and tired. Here is a little bit of my mom's ajil for your perusal.

I think there is a tad left and I went to the Iranian grocery store on Saturday for some dried mulberries and a few more almonds.

For those of you who are wondering what the heck is up, I'm just tired and trying to catch up with my life.

More later on this most beautiful spring day.

hyacinth and going home

Hyacinth, March 2006.

On my way home from Rome, sitting in the Cathay Pacific First Class lounge at LHR dining on shumai and other delectables. The Hong Kong flight has boarded and we have the lounge to ourselves. Our transit has been remarkably easy this time. Bulkhead on BA, upgraded on AA and I'm looking forward to reading a few magazines, taking a nap and getting my menu ready for my persian new year dinner.

See you all later.

nm

Happy New Year - Aide shomah mobarak

Haft sin, Rome March 2005.

Happy New Year 1385 from chez NM to you.

May this year be much better than last year and the the following years even better.

Peace to all.

For more information about Persian New Year, please visit Persian Mirror.

nm

out for coffee

Cafffe Camerinno, the coffee with three fs. Rome, December 2005.

We'll be back in a few days, so just sit tight.

nm

miracles happen

Roman holiday, March 2006.

My camera showed up today, just when I was starting to really groove on J's Fuji that he kindly sent me. I promised him I'd send him a cd of my pics, so I'll try real hard.

I'm almost packed and if the weather goddesses are with us, we'll make it through DFW between rain and thunder.

Later taters.

airline pet peeve number 344

Well, more like an airport club one. People who speak very loudly on their cell phones in relatively quiet lounges when there are little work cubicles to be had.

The US airways lounge in BOS is pretty nice. Decent tarmac views and other than self-important peeps and the inability to carry in outside coffee, it works.

That does not work.

Had a fabulous day in Boston. Dinner last night at Durgin Park with a really great waitress (yes, J, she was great) who gave us two tips for places to get a lobster pizza and lobster roll next time we have a car.

Hotel was good too, nice suite upgrade and welcome from the GM. It was a bit out of the way, not really in Cambridge, so we had a 9 buck cab ride each way into Harvard Square. After the conversation with Jacques, the taxi driver, discussing his plans for opening a pizzeria, I decided that I was hungry again. Half a felafel sandwich from Cafe Algiers helped ameliorate that. :)

A walk from Newbury street through the Common towards Locke Ober was brisk and sunny. We had a great lunch and toasted TH's father who loved the restaurant. I had a great lobster salad and carrot ginger soup. TH had lobster bisque and roast beef hash. We left sated and killed some time at Filene's Basement.

Now, we're at the airport, getting excited (?) to go home. I'm hoping to get some work done. If not, I'm hoping that I'll just get some sleep.

Back home tomorrow and then off to Rome.

B--- you'll get your ajil tomorrow. :)

not for tourists

Not for tourist guides - available at many independent bookstores or amazon.com.

I love these guides. We have one for Boston which we'll use today and the one for DC is equally as useful.

I'm a big fan of alternative guidebooks, not the Fodors, Rick Steves or Frommers variety, but more like Time Out or Cadogan. In France I like the Routard guides and the Paris est a nous, which I have blogged about in the past.

The NFT guides are great local guides with hints on parking, where the nearest good food is and the maps are easy to read. I recommend you pick one up the next time you are going to Boston, Philadelphia, San Francisco or Chicago or another fine metropolis.

Other good on line guides include Gridskipper and I'm always happy to search and post on Egullet and if it is seat pitch, airline lounges or what they are serving in first class Paris-Singapore I'll happily use the search function on Flyertalk.

Me, I'm looking forward to dinner at Durgin Park (I know, I know, but the coffee jello...) and lunch and Lock Ober.


nm

the eve before the last wednesday of the new year

It is nice to be able to celebrate more than one new year. In this case, we're getting ready bit by bit chez nm for the Iranian New Year. Granted I don't do the big huge celebration that you would see in the Southland, but in my own little martha-ey way, I get things together. Alas, like last year we'll be in Rome, we know when New Years will be and we'll do our portable haft sin as usual.

Today is the the celebration of last wednesday before the new year also known as Chahar Shanbeh Soori, the traditions are based on Zoorastrian Fire Festival. People light fires and you are to jump over them getting rid of the illness and bad juju and bring happiness to the new year. We do it in the small scale, a candle on the porch. In the past we would pass the candle under Jacques and Roya and jump over it ourselves.

The other tradition is to eat a noodle soup - ashe reshteh and to have a special fruit and nut mix (ajil) that one's mother is kind enough to provide.

The chahar shanbeh souri ajil

In equal proportions mix

Shelled pistachios
Roasted chick peas (found in Iranian grocery stores)
Almonds (fresh and non toasted is great)
hazelnuts ( I like mine roasted)
Dried figs (these little ones are very dry and yummy)
Dried apricots (my mom skips this step)
Raisins (we use two kinds - flame and sultanas)

Mix together and enjoy during the next three or four weeks, if it lasts that long.

Nushe jan! Eat up, buttercups. My friends will attest to the yumminess of the mixture. TH leaves behind the chickpeas (my mom often makes a chickpea free version for her) and B. eats TH's chickpeas. Its a win/win situation.

The outpouring

Thank you all you lurkers who have emailed me or asked TH if I'm okay after my smooth move last Thursday.

Let's put it this way, I am staying away from watering cans, benches and woodstoves for the foreseeable future.

I'm touched.

Sniff.

nm

my manicurist hates this time of year

No matter how many pairs of latex gloves I don, my nails looks like crap this time of year. She's going to be very cranky later today.

She's going to have to live with it, its definitely time to get dirty. Two pairs of socks is not enough to keep the earth out of my froggy boots.

It'll be vamp red toes for me starting next week or maybe I should go with something more earthy?

nm

rogue daffodils

Not so rogue daffodils, March 2005.

Today I spent the day going to and fro our fair city including a trip down Montlake Blvd with a requisite stop for bridge traffic. It was a beautiful and sunny day and who could blame folks for taking their boats out even if it means that the rest of us have to turn off our engines and hope that we'll make it across the cut before the next set decides to go through snarling traffic further.

If it wasn't a lovely glorious sunny day it would really suck, but it gave me a chance to admire what we call rogue daffodils, the daffodils that have naturalized on the slope between Montlake and the Burke-Gilman trail. We look forward to their appearance as they brighten our trips to and from our neighborhood to Montlake, Dowtown and the eastside.

Pretty much everywhere with the exception of Alaska should be seeing the first of the narcissus up and at em. I can't tell you how much it brings joy to my heart to see them popping up and spreading as the years go by.

nm

what a day

When you start out your day by spending 10 minutes trying to hunt down your orange coffee mug you know it is going to be one of those days.

I have no big plans for the weekend. I'm actually here all weekend, I get to go to airport to pick up TH, but no flying or trains for me. I'm quite happy.

I'm ready to collapse now, so that is what I'm going to do.

nm

flat on the keester

Twice this week, the first time was last Friday morning going through the turnstile at the Gare du Nord Metro station, I went forward with my computer bag and my rollaboard did not cooperate. By the time we yanked it out, I went flying and landed butt first onto the landing. Very graceful.

Today I was watering some plants on our porch and standing on a picnic bench. I fell off and hit my back against the Franklin stove that used to grace our living room/dining room before the floors were done. I think if I had been anticipating the fall, it would have been worse. Good thing I was wearing a charcoal grey wool coat as I think I would be covered in soot and to the cleaners tomorrow. So, just call me grace, because this week I have proven to be not very light on my feet and happy to show it to the world.

nm

Time shifting

This morning I went to a session at AAG on Podcasting and alternative technologies entitled Unfiltered: Podcasting, blogging and knowledge transmission. It was probably the best thing I saw today. Having just opened my brain to the concepts of podcasting, rss feeds and really how we deal with the constant bombardment of information and the best ways of filtering it to what we need and to determine what is the most accurate.

One thing that they did talk about was the concept of time shifting, which originated from recording television shows onto videotape for later transmission. Life is now about time shifting, paying bills on line with different due dates, tivo, podcasting, buy now, pay later. Time is both crucial as things happen so fast and yet, we try to make things work with our now hectic and managed schedules.

This alone is a topic of a dissertation.

TH and I had a great lunch today at Rhapsody. The weather was nice and we both decided that we could not stand eating out of a plastic clamshell, so we splurged and had a nice three course meal for 20.06. We're heading back out now for a plenary and dinner with dear friends. Sad to say, I have to be up at the COD for a 8:15 flight.

At least my upgrade cleared. :)

nm

back in chicago

Today and tomorrow. Just had dinner with my bro and now I'm sitting on the couch of my room looking at the river and the Wrigley building. The weather is fine and tomorrow I look forward to seeing some great talks and catching up with some friends. I didn't score the Monarch suite this time but its still pretty decent. As TH stated four hotel room in 4 days is a bit much for her.

I'm hoping to do a bit of shopping while I'm here, but other than that, its work, work, work.

I love a city where 2 bucks gets you from the airport to downtown.

nm

that nagging feeling

Signage, Lurie Garden, Chicago, January 2006.

I was awoken by my neighbor's car alarm at 4:37 am. I was actually asleep and I thought that it was one of our cars. Nope, it was his POS that continues to beep/screetch/honk at various and sundry times of the night and day and does he do anything? No.

Me thinks its time for a little talk.

Anyhoo, now that I am up, I am thinking that I am not sure if I have a hotel reservation this week for my trip to Chicago. I'm pretty positive that I did make a hotel reservation when the meeting dates were announced, but I'm not positive, thus the nagging feeling.

I log into my account and low and behold, no reservation pops up. Yikes. I go to my email and there is a reservation, but starting tomorrow not today. So, I check and I can get a reservation, which is a save. However, I'm now hoping that my reservation is still valid. If not, we'll be hotel hopping from McCormick place to Deerfield to the airport and somehow I'm not sure we're up for it...

None the less, TH has a room for tonight and given how she's been feeling, that is a good thing.

nm

not quite the wrap up to the weekend

TH is sick and is still in BRU. I think she tangled with something and honestly, it was better she just stay in bed today. I am quite used to travelling by myself, sometimes I prefer it. However,when I left her feeling miserable in the hotel room at 6:45 this morning, it felt strange, as if I was leaving part of me there.

She'll be flying tomorrow if she feels up to it. I can't thank the change desk in BRU enough for making some changes and getting her out tomorrow without the tortuous four hours that I have in JFK right now. It is too short to go anywhere and too long to sit here. The flight across was gorgeous - sunny across Belgium and France and England and beautiful when we made landfall in Canada. I got some really nice views of Long Island which is great since I'm currently working with that data.

The best thing is that I will finish that darn book before I leave here. Oops, I better go find something else to read.

Later.

nm

It's Saturday, I know I'm in Brussels

Oy, what a day.

Off to a cafe I know of near the canal and rue antoine daensaert. They have some really good hot chocolat and decent coffee.

Sunny and cold here, better than cold, sleet and grey of Paris...

More later.

travel necessities

travel necessities
Originally uploaded by flora and flying.

Here in the ORD Flagship Lounge, the second time in two weeks. I was supposed to go through New York today, but the ever vigilant TH check the weather report for JFK and we rearranged our flights. I tried using the superduper premium line and was told I could buy a new ticket. TH went the not so super duper route and they rebooked us, retained our domestic upgrades and got us the bulkhead in coach. Good thing, because our original flight to JFK was cancelled this morning.

So, the lounge is starting to fill with VIP (in their own mind) types doing important things and chowing down on chicken skewers, scallops wrapped in bacon and strange triangle shaped things of which I am afraid of.

I'm hitting the DD for a nice big coffee (decaf) preflight and a half an ambien.

I have noted some of David Lebovitz's favorite chocolate places to try on this trip. The weather appears to be defective, so me thinks we'll be visiting Christian Constant for a TH chocolat chaud tasting.

A bienot.

I'll be blogging remotely. I think.

nm

70K and counting

The Falls available at your local bookstore.

I have been carrying this book back and forth in my laptop bag for the last five months. I am giving it one more chance and if I doesn't move me, its going to be let free at a nice little English bookshop near Jardin de l'Odeon in the 6th.

I do this, buy a book and it doesn't move me to read it, it taunts me, it makes me feel guilty and then I either leave it at home or at my last destination. TH is a big believer in bringing as many books as possible, she reads voraciously and is always fearful that she'll run out of things to read en voyage.

So, her bag is laden with books that will soon be jettisoned and replaced with ballotins of chocs.

Sounds like a fair tradeoff.

nm

another pathetic evening chez ff

JK says her life is pathetic. She went to a show last night. I bored my seminar with my discussion of mapping flood markers in Rome and now at 11:30 pm, I am downloading data onto my laptop to take on vacation.

WTF?

No worries, TH is right with me, working on her talk for a meeting on Wednesday.

Very PoMo here. Dueling laptops with external harddrives. Me thinks next we need a roomba and an espresso machine.


nm

one more time with feeling

God, its nearly midnight and TH and I have dueling laptops and are working from home. I think I may have to divorce my laptop and consider that life is much more interesting when you don't spend it working.

Then again, if I spent time at work working instead in meetings or on the phone about a meeting I would have time to work.

Later.

nm

Pancake Gals

I'm sorry I won't be in London today for the great Pancake Race. Its Shrove Tuesday to some, Mardi Gras for most and all I care about is TH's pancakes for dinner with a bit of lemon and sugar. Yum.

Its a tradition that I'm all for keeping up with.

nm

It doesn't really matter what day it is

Me, sometime in my infancy, I believe in Chicago, 1965.

I was on the phone with my mom yesterday morning and we talked for about 10 minutes about this and that and finally I said - "aren't you going to wish my a happy birthday?" She said "Your birthday is tomorrow, the 26th". I told her today was the 26th. Anyways, no matter what day, you have to be in the mood to celebrate. This weekend was not it.

Like last year, I have a major work crunch, a paper for my seminar and too much on my plate to even enjoy dinner out. I fell asleep reading about landscape and memory last night.

So, I'm celebrating my prime birthday (you figure it out), in Paris on Friday with dinner at Cafe Cassette or maybe somewhere swankier like Violin d'Ingres and a brief shopping excursion somewhere interesting.

TH consoled me with the fact that until his dying day, her father was convinced her birthday was six days later than it was, her first due date.

nm

the love boat

I had a moderately sheltered childhood. I'm not saying it was a bad thing, in fact, I think it was good. My parents were very social people and every other weekend would find us at the home of an Iranian friend who was hosting a "mehmooni" or party that usually started around 7 and went until 11 or 12. There weren't that many Iranians in the Pacific Northwest in the 70s, so we stuck together. The kids grew up together and we are all still pretty close. If the family hosting the gathering was further than our watersheds (Redmond, Medina, Three Points, Bridle Trails or Seattle), it would make for a long day. We would start early and make a trek to Centralia (god, we didn't know about Burgerville back then) or Olympia and it seemed so exotic.

In any case, it was good clean fun. Our parents would talk and laugh. It would feel like a salon after dinner where they would discuss politics or poetry. Before dinner, it was typically gender segregated with the women in the kitchen talking and prepping the food and then men in the living room usually talking shop (most of them were doctors). The girls would usually help set the table with the chafing dishes and all the large silverplate platters for rice, stews, salads and greens. The guys, probably were outside rough housing or inside playing foosball. It was well before dvds, Playstations or easy availability of recreational drugs. Dinner was served with great fanfare and as with all Iranians, you just can't have one main course, so there was lots of variety. I think this gene has skipped this generation. The kids would come in and get food and go eat at the kids table and the adults would get food and then find places to sit around the table or in the living room. Iranians are not big on sit down dinners. Go figure- generation skipping gene strikes again.

When dinner was done and some sort of sweet was served, the parents would go on saloning and the kids would all gather up around the tv in the rec room for the Saturday night line up of the Love Boat and then Fantasy Island. I learned to love the Love Boat and looked forward to the guest stars. It kept us happy for a few years, until we discovered boys, rock and roll and that there was life outside our happy clan. I still think fondly of that show and look forward to a few snippets I see when I channel surf on travel. I never got into Fantasy Island. I'm not sure if it was Herve Villechaise or the sinister plotlines, but it always felt so desperate.

I also was so tired from figure skating practice that I conked out sometime after the plot was outlined for FI. I would be happy when I woke up with a quilt draped over me and my parents gently nudging me off the couch to say my blearly farewells to my friends and our hosts and popped into the car for the drive home.

Tonight as I sit at home with dueling laptops crunching data, I wish I could be 11 again, watching the Love Boat with my friends and having not a care in the world.

nm

numb and whatever

Mmmm. Donuts. February 2006.

I really needed to go back to work this evening to see if my data had transferred to my latest trinket from TH. It is pictured here. I wanted something in a red box for my birthday, but as excited as I am about this, I was hoping that it would come from another company famous for its red boxes, not Lacie in Hillsboro. I guess that is the cool thing about being an adult, you can make your purchases if you wish. As for going back to work, I just couldn't do it. It was too cold. I was exhausted, both emotionally and physically. Today, I left at 5:30, that is the earliest I have in weeks. It was light when I got home, that was wierd.

I did succeed in getting the USGS to cooperate tonight. I have lots of data now and we'll see if I can make it all work this weekend, my deadlines keep getting moved up!

later taters.

nm

gobsmacked

TH and I received emails today inviting us to the Memorial Service of a friend we had no idea had passed away. She was only 46 and though we had not been in contact in years, we had both thought of her in the last few days. She was a great friend, mom and all over good person. We tried to keep in contact, but for some reason, they pulled away from us. After a while, its just not any fun to even try to keep in contact via christmas cards or birthdays.

I can't believe she's gone.

I was going to spend my tomorrow morning putting back my study, but I guess I'll just go to a Memorial Service instead.

nm

truly getting back to normal

Crocuses, Front Lawn, February 2006.

Dinner was delightful and knife and forky. Thin cut pork chopped dredged in flour and herbs, sauteed in a pan with shallots and sliced mushrooms and finished off with some marsala. Artichokes and herbed spinach pasta for sides. It was definitely yummy and normal.

Spitting now and cold and raw. The garden looks like it miraculously made it through the worst of the cold weather. There is a forecast of below freezing for the next few nights, so we'll be covering the citrus again. I can't wait for the fucshias to make it back out. I love them, but not in my front hall.

I think I lost two small hellebores that were in pots, at least their flower potential. Me thinks the plants are okay. I'll miss the first great plant sale of the year next weekend, but there will be more to come. I noticed today that the first of the peas are starting to break through the ground. I'm going to read the forecast discussion before I make the first few rose prunings.

nm

network issues

from: seamless.usgs.gov

"System Status:
Network Outage: Thursday February 23, 2006. The system is down due to network issues. We expect the system to be available again this afternoon. Thank you for you patience and we apologize for any inconvenience."

Yeah, right. You have been down all week and I can't get dick done.

Thanks.

feeling like a truck ran over me

Flood Marker, Rome January 2004.

Half our developers are sick, I'm all blurry and really feeling nasty. I will chug down vitamin C today, but right now the idea of spending three hours staring at slides does not excite me. I am happy to report that we did find somewhere to stay in Rome for March and D. has graciously offered to bring his camera for me to test this week. It will be interesting to stay somewhere different. I wanted to stay on the other side of the river, but the place we wanted was not available. This is close to TH's favorite gelateria, some grocery stores and our coffee place of choice. I am planning on spending some quality time on the streets looking for signs much like the one you see in this entry. Katherine Rinne, an architect, who started the Aquae Urbis Romae: The Waters of the City of Rome project which I am building some of my own work on. As long as the apartment has a moka, a good bed and some light, I should be happy. If I'm desperate for a computer I know where to go.

I need to start looking for a GPS now.

nm

defective

My Nikon D50 crapped out this weekend, right when I was going to take some pics. It was flashing some errors and when JK and I got back from erranding etc. I spent some quality time on some message boards trying to figure out how to troubleshoot from 5500 miles away. I shot off some nice pics on Saturday, which I would love to share, but sorry, you'll have to wait. I took the camera back to the store (local chain) and they said it had to be fixed by Nikon. I bid a sad goodbye to my most favorite camera and hopefully they'll either replace the body or fix it. Its under waranty and TH was smart enough to buy the extended waranty when we bought the camera in late September. I'm bummed since I have an upcoming trip to Brussels and Chicago and in less than a month I go to Rome. I have grown quite dependent on the D50 and I can't go back to my 5 megapixel camera now.

TH mentioned that it bummed her that something so technologically advanced could peter out in 5 months of use and wasn't sure we could trust it in the future. The manager of the store said that they would probably replace the body,which though I appreciate makes us realize that there are no longer craftsmen/women who take care of these things. Everything gets shipped off to the factory and more than likely, it will get trashed and a new one sent. Just like the Ipod, just like my first portable CD player, just like the hundreds of VCRs and DVD players that end up by the side of the garbage dumpsters or in landfills.

In the meanwhile, I'm without my D50. I did ask a friend if I could borrow or pay him to use his SLR Pentax for the next few weeks, he just replaced it with a D200, so I have that option, but I'm just bummed.

Other than that, a bit tired, but not jetlagged. I made dinner tonight and though it was basic, it was all done at home in a kitchen with without boxes everywhere.

nm

stygian darkness

Nothing like flying across the Atlantic without a window and stygian darkness. At least I finished my netflix, worked and watched 8 episodes of that adorable Jason Bateman in AD. At least I got out for an hour or so this morning, walking towards Holborn and through back streets to avoid the hustle and bustle that is Oxford Street.

Back home now. Cheese is in fridge, rollaboard unpacked, clothes in hamper, chargers accounted for and presents presented to TH. We have dueling laptops right now and I'm about to wash off 5500 miles of jet fuel and go to bed. God, I get to do it again (Paris and Brussels in 10 days).

Later taters,

nm

sunday lunch

Actually, brunch at st. john with JK and E. and it was yummy. Great room and definitely will return for lunch, other than that, picking up some books for TH and some club bars as well. Visited my aunty in Finchley and realize that I'm due for a Ground Force weekend in April. Other than that Now, just hanging in the room and about to hit the club for a decaf cappucino to warm up with.

Tomorrow a few errands and then back to the airport. I'm glad I came, TH has kept herself busy with fun projects and hopefully I can convince her to return with me in April.

nm

things that require thinking

How many masters degrees does it take to send a text message?

Three, one for JK and two for me.

Had a nice day puttering about picking up cheese, fighting crowds at Borough Market, lunch at Roast, dinner at wagamamas with crazy Flyertalkers and then drinks at the Groucho Club and a visit to a Crapper Toilet.

Will post pics when I get back. That is the only cord I forgot.

nm

off like a herd of turtles

Bank for notary and then off to the airport where my flight is already listed as late out of Seattle, giving me a tiny connection time in Chicago. I think I may pick up a sandwich just to be sure that I dont' starve to death (never really a problem.

I have data to test for my beta and that should keep me busy for a while.

Yes, it is the first time since 2003 that my upgrade has not cleared.

Talk to you all from London.

I think.

nm

baby its cold inside

The freezer that is. I was rifling through the deep freeze today looking for my will and power of attorney I realized that first, you should put in in the freezer because its a fire proof place. However, its cold and honestly, its a stupid place when you are a hurry.

However, the next few weeks we'll be eating a lot of white salmon, blueberries, tomato sauce and lamb.

Its cold out as well. Many of the neighborhood plants are covered in blankets and sheets. The cold snap is not as severe as first thought. The forecast discussion sounds dissapointed. I'm not.

nm

i'm a mule

Hellebore orientalis, February 2006.

There is a really long old thread on flyertalk about the things that we are asked to bring back and forth as frequent travellers. My mom just talked to my auntie in London. My bag, once empty but for a few tech documents, powercord for my cracktop, a skirt, yoga pants, tights and a tshirt or three is now chockablock full of zip lock bags and emergen-c. No biggie, she has done millions of things for me in the past and I love her to death. I would bring her my mom if she would decide that London in February wasn't so bad.

Typically I bring emergen-c, ziplock bags (I question this), l'oreal conditioner, chicken stock and lemon pepper. I bring back cheese. That is about it. I love London to bits, but short of cheese and a few books, I need nothing from there. I will be hitting the cheese shops and perhaps a bookstore or three if time permits, but mostly I'll be there to make sure JK doesn't get into too much trouble.

OCD

I usually don't check my seat assignments very often unless I have a crap seat, which I do LHR-ORD on Monday. In hopes of moving from my okay seat to a better one, I have been checking the seat maps in hopes the others coach to business class upgrades have cleared and their seats have opened. That is, the creme de la creme of the coach seats that mere mortals cannot pre-reserve.

Just my luck, 31B opened on my return, so I'm back to the rollaboard as the ottoman, the latest OK!, powerport and tons of leg room seat on a not very full flight. A picnic lunch from the Cathay Pacific First Lounge and a large costa coffee and I'm good for the next 9 hours.

Sweet.

Now if my domestic upgrades would clear and I would feel better, then we could be very excited.

I'll stop boring you with the minute details of my life.

too much information

It appears if I will be flying in the back of the bus for my trip to London on Friday. The transatlantic part doesn't bother me that much as I'm getting used to it and I have an exit row which if I can leave my rollaboard down for most of the flight, should be great.

My Seattle-ORD flight may suck, again I'm in the exit row, but for some reason, they just aren't yielding the seat for me.

I hate that.

I usually pick my seats on my preferences, exit row, bulkhead, desire to see Greenland, etc... If it is a plane I'm not familiar with, I use something like Seatguru as my guide. The website has lots of seat maps for different airlines and plane configurations and gives you the locations of the powerports and user comments. I have found it a great resource. You do need to know your equipment though, you can usually find that on your reservation and itinerary.

Give me strength. I was seriously considering calling Alaska and seeing if I could redeem 90 to 120K for a Club/First seat on Friday just to avoid Chicago and the infinite delays, no points, but a non stop flight.

And I'm catching something...

nm

Happy Valentine's Day

I would send you all a bunch of marshmallows, but I'm about 12 hours from a working kitchen, so that is going to have to wait. You're going to have to settle for virtual mallows.

I used to hate Valentine's day. I like it now, its close to my birthday and there is usually chocolate involved. TH used to hate it, but I think she now realizes that its not a bad way to show your affection.

Then again, shouldn't every day be valentine's day -- be good to yourself, your loved ones and realize that if we all showed a little more patience, understanding and compassion, life would be more sane.

Oh, pass the bonbons will ya?

nm

100 hours and counting

My upgrade for sea-ord on Friday has not cleared. They are holding 5 revenue seats, I am either number 1 or 2 on the waitlist. At least I have an exit row and will go to TJ's on the way to airport to pick up asian chicken salad for lunch. So, maybe I'll have JK's luck and I'll clear.

If not, its going to be a looooooooooooooong day.

nm

Happy Birthday

The tshirt. February11, 2006.

let the fun begin

Woke up this morning to the rat a tat of a flicker trying to drill a hole into a birch tree, it was comforting and a sure sign of spring.

Spent the day running errands including a trip to the Winter Market for veggies and hellebores, Ace for more little felt pads and trying in vain to wash my car. It was sunny, it seemed like a good idea at the time.

Spent a bit of the afternoon celebrating the impending decadal bd of AM, while lunching at the Bayshore Room at the Yarrow Bay Grill. Yummy food, lovely room and lovely company.

Tonight TH and I being dragged to a garage in Interbay to listen to AM and his childhood friends, college friends and med school friends play loud instruments and eat bbq. We're bringing Top Pot donuts and earplugs. Should be good, Steelpole bathtub, Mr. Epp, Morphine and Snowman Hospital. Like I said, I'm bringing earplugs and my camera which are key. JK is in Austin, but I know if she wasn't she'd stay until the bitter end. ;)

nm

drat, foiled again

Trying to find somewhere to stay in Rome for four days in March. The apartment we would use is booked, I tried to get another one in the same area and was told by Dottore M. that our stay was too short and his apartment was too exclusive to rent it to us for a shorter stay because we were not really going to see all we could of the Eternal City in such a short period of time.

WTF? What the heck does he know what we are planning on doing while there?

Geez. I responded snarkily that I spend 15 days a year in Rome. I was not a tourist and there to do a research project (I am) and that I would find somewhere else that would be more amenable to our short stay. I refuse to stay in a hotel, which limits our ability to find something that will work. I continue to look, hoping that I can get into this as a stand by.

Bite me D. Mauro.
nm

frequent flying

Great circle mapper - January-March 2006. Oh the places you will go! Some over and over again, it seems.

Today I spent a great deal of time placating JK whose upgrades to DFW/Austin hadn't cleared before the 24 hour mark and figuring out with TH how to get to London and back and then to FCO with the least amount of stress to our pockets and our bodies. Hint: Upgrading on BA to Club on 2 hour flights makes it all better. It is all okay, its just part of the game, the checking the flight loads, calling the super secret line, figuring out the cost/benefit ratio to upgrading v. sitting in coach. I still managed to get California to behave and have a decent conversation with my accountant as well. Sometimes, multitasking is a good thing.

Anyhoo,when I put in my travel from January until the end of March, I was appalled to see that I will have flown over 64K. Yes, campers, that is alot of peanuts and little bottles of water and luna bar and only 15K of it will be work related!

Hmm, I wonder why I can't seem to lose any weight.

nm

storage lust

TH wants one of these for Valentine's day. Seems practical and honestly, ever since I lost my work laptop hard drive, I have become fanatic and obsessed about backing up and archiving data, photos and documents. I use a thumb drive for some stuff, but its now too small. I love my lacie 160 gig drive, but I'm looking to buy another one, like this, for another back up.

How do you back up your information?

nm

PMA

Aqua Virgine, Rome December 2005.

I'm trying hard today, I've been sort of negative the past few weeks with all the stuff that has been going on.

Things that currently make me smile:

1. Spring is springing up here! I'm excited to see my bulbs up, the sun out, neighbors and their dogs out walking and that maybe we'll get out and garden this week.
2. My silly district line cosmetic bag that TH bought me for Xmas. The color scheme is orange, yellow and black which matches my computer bag perfectly and reminds me of London every time I use it. I still can't understand why the green district line has orange upholstery.
3. My father, for all that he can drive me crazy, still calls me every day at work just to check in. I love that.
4. TH, since she came up with a brilliant idea for my project topic for my "representations of Rome" seminar that takes into account my love of maps, rivers, flooding, GIS and symbology. She is soo smart.
5. The fact that we both do the same sorts of things technology wise and that we can talk about it at length and bounce ideas back and forth of eachother.
6. That Saturday may be marshmallow making day chez nm.
7. Tomorrow night I will be buying bulbs at the NW Flower and Garden show.
8. Sunday, I will be planting sweet peas.
9. That for all I bitch and moan, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

just a wall to lean on

That is what I am currently doing, leaning on a wall in my hallway as there is not a place to perch to blog.

We went to my parent's condo tonight for dinner, TH made a yummy mushroom udon with springish vegetables and a chicken we roasted the night before. It was excellent and green. I caught up on a up/down and TH channel surfed until we got bored and decided to go home. Neither of us are big tv watchers, but the other options at home are to read (no big there) or sleep. Since there is no where to read, we would just sleep and sleeping at 8 pm is not an option.

So, here we blog, leaning, like we're at the airport.

Things are looking up - its supposedly dry this week. I'm going to scoot out early on Thursday and Friday and hack back at my blackcurrants and raspberries and maybe even go for a walk in the light. Imagine that!

chaos redux

TH and I spent today everything from the living room into the kitchen and the front hall. This entailed putting little felt squares/pads onto every piece of furniture we own. I feel like the next step will be doilies, little lladro figurines and coasters.

They are starting on our living room Monday. We are going to call and accept the bid on the cabinets (I think), so we're in for even more disarray.

However, we can enter the kitchen from the back, so we can at least get to our refrigerator. Even managed to eat a home cooked meal for dinner, not at our house, but close enough.

Things could get back to normal by say mid March.

On a bright note: The daphne is starting to bloom, we have tons of irises blooming and things are bursting in the garden.

nm

weather girls

I have spent most of the last week dealing with how science and policy mix and don't mix and really wondering how our next generation of female scientists will excel in a world that still has men saying "so, what do you ladies do" - "er, i'm a rocket scientist" or "I model large scale atmospheric and oceanographic data sets". If I could live my life again I would have combined science with policy at an early age and learned something about management organization so that I could lead instead of follow. That is the only way I believe that women will see positive movement in the sciences.

This week has been very eye opening for me.

Phil!

My Phil, London, November 2005.

The other Phil's prediction.

Don't remove that mulch. Phil has gone back to sleeping, eating chocolate and watching DVDs. He noted that it was nice to see the first ice follies daffodil in full bloom and the rest of the buds looked inviting. He enjoyed the daphne and the irises, but he'll wait for the really fat buds, an infusion of debauve and gallais from Paris (all dark please) and then he'll think about coming out again.

P.S. Methinks it is time to start soaking those sweet peas seeds for early blooms.

nm

WBF

White boy flights. Yup, that is what I had today, the guy who looks like he has the IQ of a tadpole who can't be bothered to take off his sunglasses or his bose headphones the whole flight. The one who was doing multiple guess tests for his futures trading exam and threw his shit on my seat.

Nice.

The next flight had a more well mannered guy who did much the same. What is with these boys? Can you perhaps wait until you are positive you don't have a seat opponent before putting all your crap on my seat?

Could you perhaps help the sub 5' woman get her rollaboard out of the overhead?

I'll bet you tomorrow will be much the same.

Other than that, the floors look great. I called on my way back from the airport and they told me not to walk on them for a while, I said I had to go home to get ready to leave again, they said okay, sans shoes.

It really looks nice. I can't wait to see it in the light.

nm

over and done

Yippee, some decent feedback and good confabs. Home tomorrow for clean smalls, check on the floor, pick up some more data, class and back to Hotlanta for a day at the Weather Channel and a working group meeting with people that I love hanging out with...

The Dekalb farmer's market was really interesting. Decatur looks like a neat place to visit, a guy from the CDC offered some good suggestions that we'll try on Friday.

Great stuff at the market, picked up some cheese, olives, bread and had a nice picnic!

nm

print me and wrap me

Stingrays, Georgia Aquarium, January 2006.

So, I am having a better day I think.

I slept until 9 am. Got up, worked a bit, went to a policy symposium lunch with TH, worked a bit more (actually I sudukoed), looked around the CNN center (mmm, nothing like eating fast food lunch while listening to news reports about child molestation) and then accompanied a historian of science and an archivist (both fabulous careers, dontcha think?) to the new Georgia Aquarium.

I have never been to an aquarium that asks you specifically to not bring in guns or knives. Go figure.

It was interesting. Everything is sponsored by a corporation, not in the little elegant signs that you used to see at exhibits (The following exhibit is underwritten by the generosity of the Dumwithie sprockets company), but more like the Home Depot Life with Leopard Sharks or the Best Buy Manatee Petting Pool. It was awful, in that everything by the Home Depot exhibit was that Home Depot bucket orange. The huge wall of fish was pretty cool though.

Made me miss Monterey and the otters.

So, why print and wrap? I am beginning to love this hotel for the very comfortable couch on which I am currently trying to finish up my powerpoint (and procrastinating by writing this) and that they have free printing. Yes, free printing, you upload your document to the web, send it and go downstairs and type in the pin they give you and voila, your document arrives. TH has a proposal due tomorrow and it has been a save for sure. In the past, we have actually purchased a printer -it is cheaper than most business centers.

Wrapping -- TH noticed we had no bathrobes - defective. I called today and they sent up two nice plush ones. Brand new as well. I had to call to make sure we had not crossed our signals and paid for two new ones instead of getting old ones.

Anyways, I still am not impressed by Atlanta, but the little perks are making it tolerable.

p.s B - Tomorrow at 4:45, I'll be vamoosing to DeKalb for sure. :)

nm

Hotlanta

I've been here for about 11 hours and I haven't left the hotel. Sad, but true. I have been holed up in the club lounge or in my suite (sorry, not monarch like) working my fingers off revising a bunch of data and though still not very happy, I'm more confident in my estimates...

Error propogation can be nasty if unchecked.

So, that leads me with a few thoughts.

One, why fly half way across the country to give a paper in a meeting with people who already know what you are doing and all you are seeing is the inside of the hotel room while you are working on work that you could be doing much easier at home.

Why do people build atrium hotels? They are awful sound vortexes and just plain hideous.

Is it okay to just go to your day of meetings and spend part of the day before your meeting doing something fun like visiting the Dekalb farmer's market and visiting the Aquarium?

Oh well, time to sign off from the Crown Suite on the 15th floor of the Hyatt Regency in Atlanta. Sorry kids, no pool table but a pretty decent living room that we've currently turned into proposal and number crunching central.

Dinner with our fearless leader tomorrow. Very exciting! Team building! One Organization! Sis Boom Rah!

nm

dare to be crazy

Hellebores, January 2006.

That is so me, I have abandoned my normal nubuck look in the dansko clog for a more razmatazz shiny version. Next you'll see me wearing rhinestones, no doubt about it.

Above is a picture of a hellebore that I took in the garden today between two squalls. The weather was nice for the seven minutes I got to do something fun today. I just got back from the office and am waiting for my tshirts to dry before I pack them.

Don't get too excited for me, I think those going to see my Atlanta will be amazed at my breadth of wardrobe excitement. I'm taking one skirt and one pair of slacks, that way they can keep on guessing what I'll be wearing.

nm

Things to ponder

Graves used for the drying the cod, during the cod fishery, St. Pierre et Miquelon, June2003.

Why are there Dukes of Hazzard dvds out their the public's consumption and not Spenser for hire?

Why is my new neighbor afraid of natural light? Every single one of his window shades remain closed every stinking hour of the day. What is he hiding? Is he afraid of us? We were originally afraid of him.

Why do braising greens sound so good when you buy them and then you never get around to eating them?

My poor workstation is pounding away, I can hear the little dear just cranking and cranking, trying to convert all those pixels into a new data set. It sounds like it is on its last legs, poor dear. This week has definitely made me realize its time for a major technology refreshment. Guess who will be speccing/requesting/buying a new workstation next week?

I was here until 12:30 last night. Don't feel sorry for me, its partially my doing - I can't stand up very easily and say, are you out of your mind? or hmm, maybe if I wasn't doing something I wasn't supposed to be doing last week, I would have had all the data I may have needed for this little exericse. I can tell you one thing, it sure has opened up my eyes to how I'm going to do data management for our next server, when it shows up...

Anyways, enough of that....

They stained a bunch of our floor today. Wow, I guess. I will not get to see it in the light, but TH said it was good. We have to make a descision on phase 2 of the kitchen, cabinet refinishing with a coat durable enough to deal with basset drool and cake batter. It will be lovely when its done.

I hopefully will spend my tomorrow dealing with all the mundane tasks that I have been putting enough because of work- laundry, bills and the library. I also have to redo a powerpoint for my talk on Tuesday, should I put in a subversive background? Whizzing arrows? animations? I hate those things.

Oh, and packing. Yech. Must pack.

Did you know that I unpack my bag within five minutes of getting home from any trip? Its a trait of which I am proud of, so now I need to rip the plastic off the doors and find my bag for my trip to Atlanta. Never been there before, hope its fun.

Okay, must dash, sounds like my machine has finished cutting apart my data and I can finish.

Update: Machine was not cranking away, I was out of disk space. I had to delete 8 gigs from my working directory. Yikes.

nm

guess where I am...

Chained to my desk for the foreseeable future. Feel sorry not for me, but for my TH who is so kindly extracting data that seems to bog my system down. I just loaded another liscense on my work cracktop,so I can continue to ke-runch these numbers while I am away for part of next week. I knew there was a reason I bought an empower plug....

plastics - the future is in plastics

My house is completely encased in plastic, it flaps, it whispers, in mimics a rainstorm. It confuses me and I hate it. Its for our own good and at least we don't have to abandon ship quite yet. Life is confusing enough without adding moving in the mix.

Great dinner tonight at Piatti Locali - duck risotto with a port/sour cherry sauce for TH and grilled mahi mahi nicoise for me...

nm

the closet

Crocuses, Spring 2004, Seattle, Wa. It is on its way.

No, not that one. Our front hall closet that at one time may or may not have been part of the house. Anyways, it is the black hole of something jammed with oilskins, coats that I'll never wear again, old rawhide chews and gear we never will use. It was emptied out last night for the next phase of floor work. Yikes. I hope to only put back 1/3 of what was in there as it was scary.

The most amazing thing that I noticed was that we have close to 40 of those bags that you get at conferences, you know the ones I'm talking about - the ones that drug companies or meeting organizers put all the gack you get at conferences in. I have some beauties, but my goal is to do only have eight by the end of the process which to be totally honest will be moot because we'll receive two more each in the next four weeks. These are great for the library, farmer's market or the grocery store, but maybe overkill in our case.

I also filled our recycling bin with those little bags they give you now when you shop at boutiques. Lovely as they are for lunch bags, they were starting to drive me crazy. I think we had something like nine la maison du chocolat bags alone. Now that is a place I could eat lunch. ; )

So, do yourself a favor, don't wait until you have to empty that closet to do work or deal with the plumber and gushing water pipes, go through and get rid of the bags and donate those wearable warm coats to those who might need them, ditto for gloves, mittens, art supplies and toiletries. I just donated 2 bags of amenity kits to our local shelter and they are happier than clams to get them.

Oh, and it was sunny today. I even managed to sneak out and enjoy it for an hour!

nm

merge me

God, I have had a day from hell, being micromanaged, dealing with data that just doesn't want to behave and realizing that in a week, I have to get up and tell the world what the hell I've been working on for the last few months. Nothing really, I am still waiting for a developer to free up to test out some stuff. I will have a lovely overview, some solid examples and a road ahead, but no fricking hard coding done. I am not happy right now. TH is in the same boat as well. We're not a fun bunch to be around right now.

I am desperately waiting my beta copy of ArcGIS 9.2 so that I can load it up and see if it really does everything it says it will -read my file formats of choice, have better documentation and make me a decent hot cup of coffee. Okay, that is a stretch, but the file formats are important.

So enough about my lame day at work.

They started on our floors today. Our house is a disaster area. It is worse than when we did the upstairs floors because it is so easy to move things downstairs than it is to move couches up the stairs. Our refrigerator is in our dining area and our oven is where the wood stove used to live. Now that we have liberated the woodstove, I'm thinking that it may be time to get a nicer and smaller one and move the old one into the JCDM library wing when it gets built sooner than later. We're testing the stains tomorrow and deciding whether it'll just be better to go natural.

Okay, back to merging DEMS or something or maybe just going home now...

nm

Airline pet peeve no. 457

People who insist on coming by to chat with their friends and end up leaning on your seat while they are having an inane conversation that they can have sometime during the week during their HVAC engineer convention.

Why do air conditioning engineers meeting in Chicago in the winter?

Why are their so many air conditioning engineers in Seattle?

nm

Princess for the day

Room 3475, Hyatt Regency Chicago, January 2006.

Okay, maybe that is the wrong title, but that is what I felt like when I called to check in to my hotel and they told me they had put us in the Monarch Suite. I was expecting an upgrade to maybe the club level, but a suite, let alone the Monarch Suite was a bit over the top. After a yummy dinner of many wursts at Berghoff with the good fortune of being a two top and getting in after only one hour or so standing in 26 degree weather, TH and I found a cab and went to our hotel.

Hmm. I think the suite is/was bigger than our house. TH shot some pool, I read by the fire, neither of us cared to tinkle on the ivories though. The views were nice of the river as well. I'm staying in the same hotel in March for a few days, me thinks I'll be happy to get a club room.

So, for approximately 13 hours of my life, I was the princess I deserved to be. :)

nm

friday is always on my mind

Sunset over Puget Sound, December 2005.

This day would not end. Calls from realtors dealing with the f*$k up that is happening, data that still doesn't work, constant emails and trying to figure out how to move a whole main floor's worth of furniture into a large, but not really that large kitchen.

Oh well, at least I have tomorrow to look forward to - flying to Chicago and dinner at the Berghoff for one last time. It is snowing right now and the flights to ORD have been cancelled until tomorrow am. I hope we get out and if not, we can make it before they close.
I need to find my long johns as well.

nm

junior league

Hellebore foetidus and friend. January 19, 2006. Seattle, Wa.

December pics for your viewing pleasure

Click to see my Rome pics from December 2005. Please note that these are not necessarily touristy shots, but Rome as I cherish it.

I am in the process of editing my last few trips that were done in the digital age.

Click here for London.

Click here for Paris.

Okay, back to the arduous tasks of the day.

airline pet peeve no. 456

To log into your frequent flyer account to see you have no specials/cheap fares from your market and they (the airline) wonder why you aren't booking flights.

Hmm.

Maybe if you served my airport better, I would fly more.

nm

watching paint dry

Partly sunny Seattle in 15 minute intervals, January 2006.

Honestly, that is what I'm doing. Waiting for "treetop" to dry so that I may add one more coat and finish the baseboards in my study and call it art. Our house is a disaster area. All the stuff is off the plate rails, the wood stove is nearly disassembled, the paintings are off the wall, all the books are packed. You would think we're on our way out instead of just having our floors redone.

I hate this kind of change, it is disruptive. Last night, in hopes of cheering up ourselves over the lack of rain, we made a homemade chocolate pudding. We were hoping to use Fanny Farmer, but in our packing away the cookbooks, we put Fanny in one of the first boxes. Oh well, it'll be three weeks before we unpack the boxes. The pudding I made - cornstarch, cocoa, sugar, milk, vanilla and egg was okay, but not great. I may try again tonight with a less dark cocoa and more sugar. I did pull some cookbooks out for the great upheaval, Nigel, Christine, Lindsey, myself and Rachael (don't say a word..). I should have left Irma out as well. I'll have to rely on myself to figure out what we're having for dinner the next few nights.

So, as TH said last night, this city is half assed. We can't even beat the record for rainfall. I have to agree, 26 hours without measurable precipitation after 27 days followed by another week of precipitation really does suck. It wasn't like today was sunny and glorious, it was the same, just different as we get to start all over again. Naw, I'll just blame it on the seahawks.

Well, back to figuring out a dinner entree that we both can agree on.

nm

knife and fork

TH has declared Monday knife and fork day, that is, dinner must require two utensils to eat.

I guess she's tired of casseroles and soup. It is time for pork tenderloins and gratins. I figured it was a good night to finish off the contents of the refrigerator.

Whatever.

airline pet peeve no. 455

Being trapped for 4 hours in 2a while 2c takes a snooze after three glasses of wine with dinnner and a baileys and coffee with his pumpkin cheese cake.

guess what?

Doorway detail, Chateau Brécy, Brécy, France. September 2004.

It is raining, day 26.

Spreadsheets, real estate irritations, too much sleep, not enough sleep, daunting weekend plans all play into the mix of my mood, which is not good. Too bad, since the week started out so great.

I'm about to install a software package on my workstation that will allow me to IM/jabber in an ArcMap session. Cross your fingers, I hope it works.

nm

Probably the funniest thing I read today

Water feature, January 2006.

Well, sort of ...

Oops and yech.

Sick really, but honestly, I can't tell whether I would want to announce this to the world if I had even the slightest inkling that I had done this.

Sitting at home on another rainy Thursday night, getting all psyched to make dinner (deciding between pasta and co. hazelnut tortellini with light alfredo sauce or chicken stir fry with lots of veggies. The lazy in me is going for the tortellini, Friday is a good day to chop veggies.

Just finished baking two batches of cocoa brownies with the Hershey's special dark cocoa which someone on a foodie bulletin board likened to tasting a bit like oreos. I think they may be right, but damn skippy,they make some beautiful brownies.

Here is the master recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, melted
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup HERSHEY'S Special dark Cocoa
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts(optional) - I used guittard mint chips in one batch and sour cherries in the other
  

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease 9-inch square baking pan.

2. Stir together butter, sugar and vanilla in bowl. Add eggs; beat well with spoon. Stir together flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt; gradually add to egg mixture, beating until well blended. Stir in nuts/chocolate chips/dried cherries, if desired. Spread batter evenly into prepared pan.

3. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until brownies begin to pull away from sides of pan. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into squares. About 16 brownies.


From www.hershey's com

Other than that, time to can up some more pear jam with cocao nibs and call it art. It's clean your fridge out Thursday.

nm

all for swinging you around

Cyclamens, January 2006.

As my pal, Y would say --righty oh. What a day I have had - calculating populations at risk from inundation waves - always a happy topic, going to my seminar on representations of Rome and sneaking out at lunch to actually see the sunlight. Wow, what a concept - leaving in the middle of the day to run silly errands and to photosynthesize.

Now I must bid you all adieu to do the mundane tasks involved in getting ready for tomorrow.

nm

relentless

When I was a young buckette and was a sea going one, I was sort of excited to finally get to work in the Bering Sea. However, one day, one of my work colleagues described the Bering to me as being grey. Basically, he held up a grey file folder in front of my face and said "This is the what the Bering Sea is like - the sky is grey, the water is grey and there is no difference between the two". Well, my experience up there was not that grey. On certain days, it was beautiful, sunny and calm and nothing like the greyness that we have experienced here in Seattle in the last twenty three days.

On way in today it was grey upon grey. Grey sky, with darker grey clouds overlaying the mountains and grey asphalt on my way to work. I try and get in before eight thirty most days, but these days, it seems I'm getting in later and later just to experience a bit of lightness before going into my interior office for the day. The forecast says rain for the next week, unless things change, we're going to beat the 1953 record. Nice if you like that kind of thing, I guess.

I'm happy to say that at least this week I'll experience a few hours above the clouds flying and that may improve my mood.

nm

comfort food 2

TH and I love tapioca and tonight was definitely a tapioca night - rainy and windy. I don't mean that wierd tapioca that is made by Jello and is not only full of big irregular glutinous chunks and tastes of cornstarch and fake vanilla that they plopped on your lunch tray in elementary school. It is my opinion that a real homemade tapioca is something to be celebrated. Smooth, not too sweet and real with the small pearls. I make a chocolate version, which I like when it is still warm.

Here is the classic recipe with my own notes:

3 T small tapioca (INSTANT)
1/3 cup sugar (I use only 2-3 T)
2 3/4 cup milk (1% is fine)
1 egg (beaten)
1 t vanilla
2 T dutch processed cocoa (I used the new Hershey's Special Dark, but any is fine)

In a pan (heavy bottomed) combine milk, egg, tapioca and sugar and stir together. Add in cocoa and whisk it in. This is where using a bigger pan is a good thing. Let the mixture sit for at least five minutes to combine.

Over medium heat with constant stirring, bring the mixture a boil and let it continue to boil for a minute. The balls will start to rise and the whole thing will start to thicken. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Pour into containers and enjoy hot or cold.

Note: The Hershey's Special Dark cocoa purchase was sort of a mistake. I was surprised when I opened the container and saw its color. Its quite dark and may not translate well in some recipes, but in a brownie, delish.

worker bees

Daphne Odorata, January 2006.

Sunday night is one of my least favorite times of the week. It really starts if I happen to open the Parade section of the Times and see the Howard Huge cartoon. When I see that St. Bernard doing something silly, I know its over -- there is homework to be done and all the fun is over. Even as an adult, I still get morose when I see Howard, it means that Monday is back to the same old stuff.

What didn't we do this weekend?

The rain held off today (Sunday) until nearly four. We managed to finish planting bulbs (not a word,folks), rake up more leaves, feed the ever hungry worms, deal with cutting up the christmas tree for mulch and dead head plants. I planted peas in hopes the maybe they'll make it. If not, well, I'll do it again. Its still early I know.

We also managed to clear out my study (mostly) in hopes of getting in there this week and starting the painting process. Our main floor bathroom is now a sea of boxes and in the whole process I have managed to locate a few gems that I have yet to read, so I am excited. However, I am currently also exhausted. At least the hardest part is over, that room is a pain to empty as it is floor to ceiling bookcases. It should be lovely when it is repainted and the floors refinished.

Other than that, nothing more than the mudaneness of laundry, cooking (jam, pizza, soup and stock), sorting and purging. Note to self: Ironing thirty placemats and napkins in one sitting is too many. I am quite content as travel and craziness follow in the next few weeks, so catching up with life at home is okay.

Now, back to sitting with Nigel's Appetite and trying to get motivated to finish putting back the guest bedroom to its pre-Christmas shape.

nm

peek a boo

We saw blue sky this morning for a few nanoseconds. It was amazing. In the emerald city, we have had twenty days straight with measurable precipitation. This is not a record, but it can be a bummer. I was happy to see a shadow this morning and on my way to the Winter market saw the first of many crocuses (crocii?) to bloom in the lawn.

The winter market is a great things - we loaded up on tulips, cabbage, arugula, pears, carrots and potatoes. Good hearty basics that we will transform into a few yummy side dishes this week. We have also gone out on the hunt for boxes. We're not moving, but having our floors refinished on the main floor of our house and that means basically moving everything and we have alot of books. It also means painting my study which dear readers could use a bit of jazzing up...

So, off to Ace I go in search of some color with a name like "dry sandstone over bile green" from some Home and Garden TV host's collection. Hmm, maybe I'll invite over R. with her great eye to give me a suggestion or three.

Have a great and productive Saturday.

nm

latest obsession

Suduko love. Image from http://www.pocket-lint.co.uk

Okay, its been a long week and I admit it after a yummy bowl of tortilla soup crafted by TH, I'm knackered. Tonight I will relax with the puzzle that you see everyone hunched over these days - a suduko. I first saw these in London in August and wondered why anyone would waste time trying to figure out the way to fit 1-9 in each box and in each row and column. Well readers (the four of you I know of), it is addicting and confounding. I spend a goodly amount of time on planes these days sudukoing with the sounds of Aimee Mann, Cowboy Junkies, New Pornographers going through my head. For one thing, it makes you think in a different way, I like that.

This year, I have the suduko a day calendar on my desk, its not elegant, but its a nice way to keep my sane during short breaks in the work day.

Once again, I'll say -- Try it, you'll like it.

nm

spring planting

Kitchen Garden at Blue Hill at Stone Barns - Pocanito Hills, New York, September 2005.

Okay, it is a little early and really really wet in the Emerald City, but the seed catalogs are coming fast and furious and on same days I believe the same can be said true about spring. I have already ordered some replacement raspberry canes for TH's christmas present, the first crocuses are starting to pop up, so I'm thinking ahead to what we're going to plant and where we're going to do it.

Things are starting to change in the back garden of chez nm, with some new beds to build and one day (I hope) we'll consider constructing the JCDM memorial library with the RPMM terrace in front. The beds are a must do, the old ones are falling apart. Anyhow, it makes us stop and think about what we're really trying to accomplish back there.

We grow lots of stuff in our nearly 800 square feet of PPatch we cultivate each year, so other than the desire to run out and pick a tomato, some parsely and basil for dinner, we can take care of most everything else at Picardo. I think this year I'll make sure the beans we plant are ones we like and ones that will pickle well. I know that I'll stick to canning type tomatoes with a few slicers and saucers. We'll continue planting pumpkins and hubbard squashes and hopefully put in a few rows of carrots for our new dog in hopes he will love them as much as Jacques did. The seed catalogs give me inspiration and hope that I'll wake up one morning at 6:20 and it will be light and bright out and I can return home in the light, change clothes and run up to the garden to weed, water and pick the first few peas and some lettuce.

Here are some great seed resources out there for the gardener:

Territorial Seeds - great for the Northwest

Johnny's Seeds - amazing selection

Seeds of change - great old seed varieties

Abundant Life - great old seeds varieties, rare ones

Happy dreaming.

nm

little miracles

Collismo XL ready to go! Paris, December 2005.

There is something about giving someone something to mail and hope that they will actually do it. In my case, it is also learning to trust that something that I ask someone to do will be done, that is my box is not sitting in a coat closet waiting to be mailed. Well, my second collismo has arrived full of silly toys from muji, bars of chocolate from bespoke chocolatiers, some really heavy books and some fleur de sel with herbes de Provence. I'm thinking of a quick trip to Paris soon just to bring back the fleur de sel that Poilane sells by the kilo. Imagine that. Even I would check my bag for that joy!

So, I now have my Larousse du chocolat and some little guide books from the Paris est à nous collection that I really like and I hope you will too. As with the Larousse, you will need more than a passing knowledge of French, but they are great little guides, great for trip planning and small enough to carry around.

This trip we picked up Les meilleurs restos à petits prix (good but inexpensive restaurants), Cuisiner comme un chef à Paris (How to cook like a chef in Paris) and lastly, to add to our ever growing fondness for Parisien chocolate -- Paris Chocolat. You can peruse more of their selections at the Parigramme site.

Well, I think I have my work cut out for me. TH is asking for madeleines and I may just have to try the chocolate and lemon ones in Larousse.!

nm

oh joy

Moss detail. January 1, 2006.

Back to work after a slacker month (one week of work, ten days or so of vacation, being sick (really), christmas, being sick (really), new years)). I can't say I'm very excited, but I guess I'll just start in and see what happens at the end of the day.

Must improve mood. Must really improve mood for everyone's sake.

Other than that, still fighting this cough. Going to see the doctor today.

Have an excellent Tuesday, unlike JK, I did not go to the gym yesterday and it started pouring when we started up towards the library/top pot, so we got into the car. No gold star for me. J, I'll mail you a sheet today.

However, I'm on it this morning. Really.

nm

calendar girls

Hydrangea quercifolia, January 1, 2006.

TH and I spent part of yesterday putting away paperwork for 2005 and scouring the web for dates of note -- meeting dates in the future, dinners, academic calendar dates, plant sales, music festival dates and garden walk dates. Why? Because we needed to fill in the calendars.

This is not to say we live and die by the calendar, I am forced at work to use a on line calendar and mine is pitifully empty unlike some of my east coast compatriots (I like it like that), but having everything written down is both useful and at the same time restrictive. TH keeps a three month calendar that puts everything into one place - this is a great technique, but I wish it was more user friendly for the the novice user/reader of her age old system.

We do the same to plan trips. Right now, we're trying to coordinate a quick trip to Chicago with JK to go to the Berghoff before it closes. Should we go on MLK's bd or just do it is a quick overnight knowing that TH and I will be in Chicago for a week in March? I haven't even started planning any long distance travel because nothing excites me right now...

Anyhoo, there is still something lovely about putting the first commitment in pen for the new year even if its as tiny as the first crocus siting of the year -- yesterday!

Have fun doing the same folks.

nm

Happy New Year

Galanthus nivalis, January 1, 2006.

Happy New Year from chez nm.

Started the morning out with some fabulous smoked halibut that M. smoked for us (yum) on a freshly made baguette that P. dropped by yesterday when he brought Miss M. and Mr. J over for Christmas presents. J's brownies rocked as well.

I think the food year is starting out most excellently here. I take it as a good sign of things to come. We were thinking of going to CUH for a putter, maybe when it stops blowing and raining horizontally.

Take care all...

nm

mulching to cover

TH and I did some garden clean up today, nothing too exciting, but realized that everything does better with a bit of mulch -- bulbs to keep the evil squirrels away is a good example. Things look pretty decent considering this spring we're going to have to build some new beds and rethink the garden and if we want to build a taller fence against our northern neighbors.

I can't say our garden will win any awards for its design, beauty or plant collections, but it suits me just fine. I saw that the hellebores are really starting to pop up and the daphne is showing color. Our sarcocca is smelling very lovely and in the squirrels cool their jets, we may see some early bulbs soon enough.

Tonight, we're going to Nell's for dinner. Honestly, we have eaten at home twice in the last eight days and those were haphazard meals. I guess its nice to be festive and eating close to home will help. We went to the first of the winter farmer's markets and picked up some stuff for the new year. I plan to start it off with a nice tom yum gai, a sauteed chard dish and something that uses a roasted chicken.

Happy New Year y'all. May 2006 blow 2005 out of the water.

Really.

nm