on the road

Where I've been

2008-05-19T22:43:00.002-04:00

Well, here, there, and everywhere! My sister got married, my brother graduated college and became an Army officer, and that was just the past month. Oh, and we moved!

I started a new blog (which I'll probably update more frequently than this one) with some house pictures. Follow me there, if you will, and bookmark it! :)

http://theedgeofthewoods.blogspot.com/

A few highlights...

2007-12-22T13:44:00.000-05:00

Here are some photos from the wedding, just because I feel like it. :) These are scans of the professional proofs -- they are much prettier in person. Thanks to Chris and Michele for the great work!

Walking down the aisle:

(My dad and I both hate being the center of attention, so this was challenging! I have a death grip on my dad's arm and my bouquet.)

Saying our vows:

(I love Shane's smile in this picture!)

Cutting the cake, to Dean Martin singing "That's Amore":

Dancing with my dad to Andy Williams singing "Moon River," and crying happy tears:

Dancing with my husband!

More to come, I'm sure. Off to a Christmas party!

Blogging Before Coffee

2007-12-21T08:03:00.000-05:00

As the title implies, I'm still shaking the lead out this morning, so bear with me!

What have we been doing lately? Well, for one, digging out! Our friends and relatives who get the much-dreaded "lake effect" snow scoffed at our 10-inch snowstorm last weekend, but it was enough to slow us down for a few days!

No, sadly, we didn't get a dog -- but this is the next best thing, my inlaw's Beagle, Duke.

Duke is rounding the bend of middle-aged and heading rapidly toward senior citizenship, but he's a puppy again in the snow! :)

Fun with my new camera (well, new as of September, but still new to snow!)

Thankfully, I stayed warmer than Mary...

Technically, it's not our "first Christmas together" -- we actually met on Christmas several years ago -- but it is our first as a married couple, and for goodness' sake, you know I'm going to make the most of it! (I love Christmas.)

Shane was downed two weekends in a row by a lingering sinus infection. The first weekend, I took matters into my own hands and cleaned the gutters and put up outside lights while he was sleeping.

The second weekend -- also while he was sleeping -- I decided we (well, I) needed to decorate. He woke up from a nap to find me surrounded by artificial tree parts, ornaments, and watching "It's a Wonderful Life." Don't feel bad for the guy -- he knew what he was getting into!

Things that make our new home feel like home -- a Santa identical to the one at my parents' house. My dad has had his for ages, but he found identical ones at antique stores for my sister and me. (Because he is just that sweet!)

The finished product!

Our new Nativity set (a wedding gift from Shane's aunt and uncle and cousins)

(More fun with the camera)

I hate the way Blogger does pictures. I can't get the spacing right. Oh well, you're going to make me late for work anyway, so that's all for now! Merry Christmas!

Moments of Truth

2007-12-05T16:22:00.001-05:00

A conversation with the coffee guy (excuse me, "barista") at one of my local down-home coffee shops. (Not Starbucks, by the way.)

Me: What's the flavor of the day?

Coffee guy: Well, we have this "caramel decadence," which is pretty good.

Me: That sounds good, I'll try that. Medium, please. [Suddenly noticing the "medium" cup is labeled "tall" on the menu.] Oh, sorry -- I mean "tall."

CG: No, no, don't apologize. We should be apologizing for giving them dumb, fancy names.

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Glaring Omissions

2007-11-14T22:09:00.000-05:00

Alternate title: Can I still call it a blog if I never blog in it?

What's that? I owe you, my two readers, a wedding/honeymoon post? I know, I know.

Before I can write about our wedding and honeymoon – which were both fantastic, by the way – I would be remiss if I didn’t finish what I started a year ago and wrap up my post about Spain.

(Photo: Madrid, putting up her holiday lights in November)

One morning, we started out thinking we'd go to Toledo for an afternoon. But after spending a couple hours in the wrong lines at the train station, we ended up heading to Segovia instead. (I'm still not sure how that happened.) No worries, because I had visited Segovia on my first trip to Spain, and I really wanted to take Shane there.

(Photos: The amazing Roman aqueduct; the Alcazar)

I was fascinated by the cathedral in Segovia the first time I saw it, and it was no less impressive the second time.

We also visted the Alcazar, and Shane enjoyed the military history -- and made some new friends. (And had me worried we'd get kicked out of Spain for good...) And, of course, we climbed the tower to see the amazing view of Segovia.

A highlight of the trip was definitely meeting one of my favorite expatriate bloggers, Sal. (Soon to be ex-expatriate?) This meeting did not occur without its difficulties.

First: Convincing the Fiancé that Sal would be harmless. The Fiancé, cautious by nature and admittedly blessed with a much better developed sense of logic than me, wanted to know how I “knew” Sal.

"Ehm… he writes funny things on the Internet about life in Spain, and coconuts, and barbecued pork,” I stammered.

“But you’ve never actually met him?”

“Well, no…”

The Fiancé didn't think this was sufficient evidence that Sal was not, in fact, a serial killer, but I used my feminine wiles and convinced him. It was at this point that I realized I should have probably sent the Fiancé a couple links to Sal’s blog before we left home. If there’s one thing he understands, it’s food, and it probably would have only taken one smoker post to lure him in.

What can I say about Sal? Well, I spotted him several blocks from our prearranged meeting point, but his steady diet of haggis and BBQ have apparently given him superhuman speed. He was hard to catch.

We finally did, and proceeded on to a bar (name long forgotten), where Sal introduced me to that potent poison, anis, and we all shared tapas and really good wine, of course.

(Note to readers who may have read Sal's post: I am not as tall as Andre the Giant. I'm 5'7".)

Eventually we made it to the medieval city of Toledo, which is one of my favorite places I've ever visited, despite the fact that I get hopelessly lost on its winding streets.

(Photos: Outside the city, pretending I know where I'm going; Resting our weary feet after a LOT of walking! Hey, it's the best -- and pretty much the only -- way to see Toledo.)

My computer isn't cooperating too well, so, to be continued, and hopefully within a year (kidding!): We finish up our trip with flamenco!

Blog-lite

2007-07-17T10:52:00.000-04:00

In lieu of doing something productive, like unloading my dishwasher or getting ready for work:

6 WEIRD THINGS THAT I DO WHILE GETTING READY TO SLEEP OR WHILE SLEEPING
(Inspired by my two readers, Sal and Christina.)

1. I usually wash my face with Clinique facial soap and use Nivea toner, then a little moisturizer. I recently started noticing that I have fine lines at the ripe old age of 24, so the routine is becoming a bit more regular because of my narcissicm. And of course, brush the teeth, rinse with ACT, floss when I remember. I don't really think any of this is that weird, but I had trouble coming up with six things.

2. I can only sleep if I'm covered up. Even if it's 100 degrees, I have to have a sheet pulled up to my ears to fall asleep. Once I'm asleep, I usually kick the covers halfway across the room during the night.

3. I don't remember ever talking in my sleep, but people have told me I do. My sister claims I once swore at her while sleeping, when I was much to young to even know swear words. In college, my freshman year roommate told me I woke up late one night when she was working on her computer, stared at her and said in a strange voice, "You can turn off the Christmas lights now." Another night, she told me I kept saying, "It's in the corner! It's in the corner!" I think I may have scared her a little. :)

4. I usually have trouble falling asleep for various reasons, but once I'm finally asleep, I'm almost always dead to the world. (Christina -- I think I might even be able to sleep through a German marching band outside my window at 4:30 a.m.) I'm hoping this will change when I have children... or maybe not. My mother has super-sonic hearing capabilities, but I don't think she ever truly sleeps, which can't be fun.

5. When I was a child, I had several recurring dreams, and objects in one dream (including a trash can outside my elementary school) would reappear in different dreams. Many years later, the dreams still don't make sense.

6. In college, the aforementioned roommate and I had wildly different sleeping patterns, and I took to sleeping with a pillow over my head. I still do it sometimes. My fiance thinks it's strange, until I told him about this. Ick.

See? Not that weird! :) OK, maybe the last one.

Blog-lite will likely continue for the next couple months. Wedding planning is like a part-time job, especially for someone as particular (not picky!) as me. Right now we are moving into DEFCON 3 with the invitations, which WILL be mailed by Saturday. The fiance and I spent a couple hours last night stuffing them. He kind of rolled his eyes when I told him to make sure the text on the map and on the response envelope are facing the same direction. I don't think he shares my vision! Good thing we love each other, in spite of it all.

We have a guest room full of delightful gifts from two bridal showers that friends and family have given me, so the next order of business is cleaning all the hand-me-down pots, pans, and dishes out of the cupboards to make room for the shiny new stuff.

Anyway, I know none of this is particularly exciting to anyone but me and maybe my mother. :) Now you see why blog-lite is probably a good idea, at least until I have some lovely wedding and honeymoon photos to share!

Ocho

2007-06-15T16:17:00.001-04:00

Memes are blogging-lite, which seems to fit the theme of my little corner of the web. I'm tagging myself from Christina's meme (see the link to Mausi's blog on the sidebar):

1. I have to post these rules before I give you the facts.
2. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them they're tagged, and to read your blog.

*****************************************************************

Things you probably didn't know about me...

1. I have more than 30 FIRST cousins. About half are married with children, and a few even have grandkids. Planning the wedding guestlist was a bit of a challenge!

2. When I was little, I wanted to be a ballerina. Being too tall, with too-big feet, and a complete lack of coordination killed that dream, but I still love ballet.

3. I still love Christmas the way an 8-year-old does.

4. I grew up in the country, where my sister, brother, and I used to catch frogs, toads, lizards, salamanders, the occasional snake -- anything that would make my mom shudder and order us to "get that out of here right now!" Despite my friendliness with the reptile and amphibian kingdoms, I hate bugs and I'm really, really scared of spiders.

5. In my short journalistic career, I've covered an execution, at least 10 homicides (four who were little girls), two drownings, and more violent crimes, fatal car crashes and sick people than I care to count. (No wonder I need a vacation!)

6. My grandfather was a state poet laureate and wrote the official state poem of Indiana. (Bet you didn't know there was one!)

7. I have a strange way of eating Skittles, M&Ms, or any other small colored candies. If I eat a red one on the left side of my mouth, I have to eat a red one on the right side. (And so on with the other colors.) If I only have one red one, I bite it in half. I've done this as long as I can remember. I realize this makes me a total freak, and I've tried not to do it, but it just comes naturally.

8. In grade school, the mean girls in my gym class called me Olive Oyl (Popeye's girlfriend) because I was so skinny. When I went home and cried to my mom, she laughed because they called her the same thing in school. She told me that in 10 years, I would thank the lord for my metabolism. (She was SO right, as usual.)

I won't tag anyone either, but go ahead and do this if you want!

Don't miss your chance to WIN $10,000 and other great prizes from Microsoft Office Live

Do you have a pen? Of course!

2007-02-21T22:34:00.000-05:00

Someday soon, I may grace the blog with a post about my fledgling lilac bush, and other plants, most of which are probably on death's doorstep. (As my plants tend to be.) But first, inspired by Mausi, the purse meme. I wrote it a looong time ago (as evidenced by the fact that these photos were taken in my apartment, which I vacated in March). But my digital camera photo-downloader-cord-thingie got lost in the moving shuffle, only to be unearthed a few days ago. What's a (quasi-)blogger to do?

***

I tend to change purses to match my mood/outfit/the weather. I have too many (but not enough) in many colors, shapes and sizes. But I've been stuck on this lovely purse since Christmas, when I received it as a gift from my future in-laws. (Can you tell red is my favorite color?) So deceptively simple and compact on the outside:

But on the inside -- It's like Mary Poppins' carpet bag in here!

2 packages of Kleenex (cold season)

Antibacterial lotion

Palm Pilot

Cheap sunglasses in cheap vinyl case, because I constantly lose or break them

Pill box, which only contains daily multivitamin and birth control pills, but otherwise with me, it's constantly "Did I take my pill and vitamin today?"

2 cell phones, which no one should be saddled with, but one's for work

Lots of keys

2 lip balms, 3 lip glosses (so WHY do I never have it when I need it?)

Ticket stub to Hugh Grant's latest film, which we saw last weekend (I give it 2.5 stars, because Hugh Grant is cute)

3 mint lifesavers

2 Peptol Bismol tablets

Some sinus medicine that I rarely take

A notebook (for play, not for work)

4 pens (again, that mysteriously disappear in my time of need)

A big fat red wallet (fat with receipts, not cash)

Business card case (it's Coach, also a gift from the future-in-laws -- Future mother-in-law has great taste!)

Work ID

Teeth cleaner thingie

Eye drops, for when my contact lenses get dry

Saline nasal gel, for when my nose gets dry

Nivea Creme, for when my skin gets dry

Face powder

2 hair bands, 2 hair barettes

The cute earrings I got in Spain (that's where those went!)

...I guess I can't really say I'm low-maintenance, can I? Although I think the multiple purses already gave me away.

Things that make you go "@$#*!"

2007-02-21T21:42:00.000-05:00

[Alternate titles: "The Week of my Blondness," or "Happy Valentine's Day to me!"]

As I mentioned a couple posts down, we had a bit of a blizzard last week. (A questionable "blizzard" by historical standards, but enough to cause a big mess.) Since I was of the minority whose job does not stop for blowing and drifting snow, I had to go to work on Tuesday and Wednesday during the worst of it. No big deal -- I'm used to that.

At my apartment complex ("Senior Towers" as my friend and neighbor Tim calls it), I don't have a parking spot. Tim shares a two-car garage with another tenant who was gone for a couple days, so he offered to let me park in her spot in the garage Tuesday night. I gladly took him up on his offer.

Later Tuesday night, I was baking chocolate chip cookies for my Valentine and set off the smoke detector in my apartment. (Gotta remember to set that time!) I should have taken it as an omen...

Wednesday morning, I trudged through the snow and gratefully hopped into my snow-free car, and carefully backed out of the garage. That's when everything went terribly wrong (cue horror-film music)... My back tires got stuck in a drift in the alley, and (in the process of un-sticking them), I somehow jerked the wheel or hit the gas, or... really, I don't know. All I know is I heard a terrible crunch and a ripping sound... and I got out of my car and saw this:

(Well, the duct tape was a later addition, but you get the idea.)

I have never been the driver in an accident before and I wasn't really sure what to do, so I called Shane and told him I "banged the hell out of my pretty car." (And cried, because I'm a girl and it's allowed.)

I think the edge of the bumper (down by the tire) got caught on the metal track of the garage door and just RIPPED my bumper, but I'm still not sure how the giant dent got there. The garage, miraculously, was barely scratched. Gotta pay my $500 deductible, and won't have my car back until Friday. Ouch. In a way, I'm glad my first "crash" was in the garage and not on the roads, because it could have been much worse... but how embarrassing, even if it was the snow's fault.

Anyway -- I can't believe anyone just sat through that drawn-out story, but thanks for listening if you did.

The good news is that life moves along, even when your car is in the shop. Shane and I decided that I would move into his house at the end of next month (so soon!) so I can save some rent money, which is especially important now that I'm crashing into things. He's going to live at his parents until we get married in September, because we're good Catholic kids like that, and his parents' basement is bigger and nicer than my entire apartment.

Two weekends ago (as my two readers may already know), we painted two rooms in the house. A lovely tan with crisp white trim. Not our first choice, but we're trying to go neutral because we don't expect to be there long and don't want to repaint before we sell. The lovely tan replaced dingy gray with dingy gray trim in one room, and bright blue (like the Internet Explorer bar) and dingy gray trim in the second. Ahh... at last, I have peace and pretty walls!

Last weekend, my mom and I cleaned out my childhood closet. It was a big closet. With many, many boxes inside. I'm not going to lie, Mom and I got a little sappy a couple times. :) About 3/4 of the boxes got cleaned out, and the rest are in Shane's basement, waiting for me to go through them. Many giant bags of trash went out... papers to recycle... out-of-fashion clothes to be donated. It's a good feeling to get it done! I think I'm finally overcoming the packrat tendencies that I inherited from both my parents and that Shane completely lacks. (I like to think we balance each other out, in many ways.)

I may have mentioned before that I'm a packrat, but REALLY, you have no idea. I mean, NO. IDEA. I saved almost every letter, every scrap of paper anyone ever passed to me in class since elementary school... school projects... toys... drawings... books... magazines... photos, oh God, the photos... and random, random stuff. In one box from elementary school, I found an eraser shaped like a cow. Its head had broken off, and years ago, I had lovingly taped the cow's head back on, wrapped a gold ribbon around its neck, folded it up in a paper towel, and tucked it in a little box. WHY, I ask you?!! The mind reels. (I threw the cow away.)

A new blog

2007-02-13T22:31:00.000-05:00

I have many photos of artwork I have created over the years (usually as gifts for family and friends), and I decided to post some of them on a new blog for fun. I only have a few posts so far, but it will be updated sporadically in true OTR tradition. ;) Here it is!

Spain, Part I

2007-02-13T20:41:00.000-05:00

Well, we're having a blizzard here, so what better time to blog about Spain, at last. (Honestly, the TV says "blizzard warning," everything's closed, etc. Too bad reporters don't get snow days!)

I can't believe it has already been a few months since we were in Spain. The trip was, in an overused word, amazing. The few snafus we encountered were either humorous in the end -- the best kind -- or forgettable with the help of a little sangria. The biggest obstacle occurred when I was packing three days before we were scheduled to leave... and I couldn't find my passport. I mean, COULD. NOT. FIND. IT. ANYWHERE. All I could remember is that I put it "in a safe place." (Yes, it's a strange, scary place inside my head.) We tore my apartment up and Shane finally found it tucked away in some wedding planning stuff, where I had looked three times before. Not before I hyperventilated for the first time in my life.

We hopped a local flight into Atlanta, and had what felt like the world's longest layover. When we finally boarded the plane, I was SO ready to get going, but of course the pilot came over the intercom to say that we would be delayed about 15 minutes while the crew fixed a "fuel problem" -- just what you want to hear! I absolutely love to fly, so I wasn't too worried.

I have a stash of "fun reading" at home that consists of used paperback novels, and I had thrown one in my carry-on bag without really looking at it. I pulled it out as we were sitting on the plane. It was a spy novel by Jack Higgins -- and the front cover showed a plane crashed into the water. The opening pages described the crash. I could not decide at the time if it was a very, very bad sign or just incredibly funny.

When the plane landed safely in Madrid many long hours later, I decided it was incredibly funny, and also decided to read something lighter on the way home.

Ah, Madrid, home at last!

I had the same completely impatient feeling I'd had on the plane in Atlanta while we waited for our bags. (Not to mention deja vu, but it was much nicer this time to have a travel buddy!) And I was so excited knowing that my Spanish mama was waiting in the next room!

Sure enough, when we finally got our passports stamped there was Concha, just as sweet as I remembered. She got choked up and said in English, "We are so glad you are here." I knew then that my Spanish family and my American fiance would be just fine -- Concha doesn't like speaking English, but she made an effort for Shane!

The ride from Barajas airport to home in Concha's little blue Toyota was the same death-defying joyride I remembered. :) Concha and I chattered in Spanish as I tried to pick up my Madrid accent again, after a few years of speaking Spanish with the mostly Mexican population around here. Shane sat in the backseat and smiled, nodded, and looked slightly scared by the Spanish disregard for traffic law and order. Concha and Victor opened their home up to us, which was nice because it meant Shane could see how the typical Spanish family lives, and we saved on a hotel!

When we had settled in, cleaned up, and had a snack, jet lag finally set in and we took a nap -- Shane slept the sleep of babes, but my jet lag was competing with adrenaline and excitement, so I didn't sleep as much. Finally the kids got home from school, Victor came home from work and we were all together! We went out in Madrid that night (a Friday) for traditional tapas. We arrived at the restaurant at 8:15, and it did not open for dinner until 8:30. This was Shane's first introduction to the Spanish timetable!

The next few days were kind of a blur, as we fit in as much sightseeing (and shopping, for me!) and reconnecting with old friends as we could! Some pictures:

Parque de Buen Retiro, Madrid (The warm weather was a nice change from rainy, cold home!)

We arrived just in time to celebrate my hermanos' birthdays with extended family. 13 for Elena, and 11 for Ignacio. (I know, I said 12 and 10 here -- what have we learned today, class? There are three kinds of journalists -- those who can do math, and those who can't.) Are they not the cutest kids you've ever seen? I miss them so much!

We met up with my favorite Texan, Laura, and her boyfriend Antonio for some late-night tapas and drinks near Puerta del Sol one night. It was so good to catch up with Laura, who made frequent appearances on this blog in the summer of 2004 and was a great partner in crime. :) Laura has returned to Madrid a few times since our summer there and now calls it home. We found a great friend in Antonio, also. He would not even let us take a cab home the two nights we went out and generously gave us a ride.

Many more pictures and stories still to come, sooner, rather than later, if this snow keeps falling: More Madrid sightseeing (including meeting everyone's favorite ukulele player/smoker/hasher!), Toledo, Segovia, and the one thing I made sure to enjoy on this trip that I wasn't able on the first trip -- FLAMENCO!

In honor of Halloween...

2006-10-31T09:02:00.000-05:00

My favorite costume ever!

(My best college pal and partner in crime, Rachel, as a cowgirl)

It was actually an easy costume to make. My skirt is a red crinoline from Goodwill that I pinned up in different places to make it look more like a flamenco skirt. My own shoes, tights, fan, jewelry, roommate's shirt. The hardest part was getting all my red-blond hair to hide under my cheap wig and coloring in my eyebrows and eyelashes to match.

I had a lot of fun going up to my friends and talking to them because many didn't recognize me!

This post makes me REALLY excited about going to Spain in 9 days! Maybe I should wear my costume...

My big break!

2006-10-10T00:57:00.000-04:00

An e-mail I just received. I'd be all over this like white on rice, but I prefer Bud Light. (Yes, I'm still too lazy to blog, so I post random junk mail for fun!)

To: (A lot of females, presumably)
Cc: ---@msn.com
Bcc:
Subject: Online Maxim Coors Light Model Search..interested?
Date: Mon, 09 Oct 2006 20:51:45 -0400

Hi Ladies,

I hope this email finds you all doing great!

We're adding a Coors Light Online Model Search to the City Tour this year.
To be eligible you must be 25 years old, and NOT from the
state of California. If you have any girlfriends that would be interested
please forward this to them.

The winner of the online competition will receive an all expense paid trip
to the National Finals in Las Vegas where they will compete against the
Regional winners. The winner will receive a one year modeling contract with
Coors Light and a spread in Maxim.

If you'd like to be considered please email me 2-3 of your hottest photos.
These are the photo's you'll be judged from so you'll want to make sure
they're Maxim worthy. Include one headshot and 1-2 full body shots in
bikinis or skimpy outfits.

We can't wait to hear from you!
Good Luck!
Angie Fisher

Poetry Thursday

2006-09-07T23:34:00.000-04:00

Wandering Woman has been participating in "poetry Thursdays," and I find myself liking that idea. I have 28 minutes until Thursday here becomes Friday, so I'd better get on it. The theme for today apparently is blue, and for some reason tonight, it reminds me of a poem I studied in college: Elizabeth Bishop's "One Art."

The last two stanzas are my favorite:

I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster.

-- Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) I shan't have lied. It's evident
the art of losing's not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) a disaster.

When I first read it, I thought it sounded like she is very brave in the face of loss, but to me, there is an underlying tone of desperation to her words. And I identify with the idea of losing a lovely city.

Anyway... I don't want to go all psuedointellectual on you all, so I'll leave it at that. With 19 minutes to spare.

UPDATE: Silly Blogger timestamp. I began writing at 11:32 and posted this at 11:41 p.m., I promise. My math is bad, but not that bad.

Shuffling

2006-09-06T15:22:00.000-04:00

Look* what I got for my birthday last Saturday! Thanks, Fiance!

*The photo file is being weird, or maybe it's just Blogger. In any case, visualize a white, 30 GB iPod.

In honor of my iPod, I'm stealing from Sal (who stole from TBFs, and so on...)

Per Sal:
"I crank-up my iPod Shuffle and write the opening lyrics to the first ten morsels of iPod meat that come screaming from the ear buds. You, gentle readers, must correctly guess each song and its artist. And, oh yeah...you are NOT allowed to Google."

Don't get too excited... my bank account's not looking too healthy lately, so there will be no cash prizes, only admiration for your good taste in music.

Just a warning... I haven't had time to organize anything into playlists yet, so these are some RANDOM selections!

1. "Well I hope that I don't fall in love with you" *Note -- the version on my iPod is a cover, so bonus points if you can come up with the band singing the cover. Hint: The band sings another song on this list. (Now I'm making it too easy!)
Winner: Michele. "Closing Time" by Tom Waits, cover by Hootie and the Blowfish. In defense of my inexplicable Hootie devotion (if one can defend a Hootie devotion), I do have the Tom Waits version on the iPod.

2. "I knew a man Bojangles and he'd dance for you" Great song, but too easy! Let's try again...
Winner: 1/2 point to Sal for naming the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, even though he was ignoring the numbers. (And he has two #1s on his list, so there is really no excuse.)

2. "Got no place to go but there's a girl waitin' for me down in Mexico"

3. "Has our conscience shown?/ Has the sweet breeze blown?"

4. "She sits alone by a lamppost/ Trying to find a thought that's escaped her mind"

5. "I bought a toothbrush/ Some toothpaste/ A flannel for my face"
Winner: Sal. "Tempted" by Squeeze. I love this song because it brings to mind the Gap ad from a few years ago with Raoul Bova in broken-in jeans... Lord. Watch it, ladies, trust me.

6. "I pulled into Nashville, Tennessee/ But you wouldn't even come around to see me"

7. "I hate the world today"
Winner: Michele. "Bitch" by Meredith Brooks

8. "I am just a poor boy and my story's seldom told" Wow, that is really random...
Simon and Garfunkel is right... think...

9. "En un día de estos en que suelo pensar/ 'Hoy va a ser el día menos pensado'" Um, good luck with that one! This is actually one of my favorite songs.

10. "Take me back to-a south Tallahassee/ Down cross the bridge to my sweet sassafrassy" (Best listened to in the car, windows down, going fast.)
Winner: Michele. "Last Child" by Aerosmith. Greatest. Song. Ever. Maybe not ever, but it's close.

There you go! Good luck, and take your time, because who knows when I'll wander back to Blogland again. :-)

Some days, you just don't feel like typing...

2006-05-10T10:42:00.000-04:00

So I won't. Enjoy the photos instead. (I took these Monday, on my day off.)

Lilacs smell so good!

Just think, in a couple weeks there will be hundreds more daisies!

Great place for a nap!

Don't you just want to bury your face in the lilacs? (I did!)

I can't take any credit for any of the flowers -- they're at my parents' house. I have a black thumb.

The exciting news continues...

2006-05-02T10:41:00.000-04:00

Last night, on a little Web site called Expedia.com, I bought two plane tickets to ... MADRID! One for me, one for my fiance. (Excuse my gratuitous use of the word, "fiance." I like saying it!)

We're arriving on a Tuesday morning (Spanish time) November 7, and leaving the next Monday. Certainly not as long as I'd like, but of course, as long as I'd like would be... weeks? Months? Years? I'm not sure.

This trip will be a lot different than last time, most notably because I'll be playing tour guide and translator to The Fiance, and because it's more of a homecoming than an adventure. Oh, and no more Spanish flings. That's fine with me. How can I not be excited about seeing these people again?

(Please note that this photo was taken on my last night in Madrid in 2004, after I'd spent, oh, 2 1/2 months in the blazing hot sun. And yet... no tan.)

Anyway, the kiddies are growing up fast. Elena will have just turned 12 when we get there, and we're arriving on Ignacio's 10th birthday!

After I bought the tickets, Shane called me "Miss Giddy" and it was so appropriate! Not only am I excited to go back to Spain, but I'm thrilled to go with him, and to show him how special the place and the people there are to me.

We'll probably stay close to Madrid, because we don't want to waste half our time traveling. But I'd like to take The Fiance to Segovia, and maybe Toledo or Avila. Any suggestions are appreciated! (We could be convinced to try some home-smoked meats...lol)

(Random cheesy Segovia photo, just because.)

Of course, this morning I'm doing my neurotic thing, like feeling guilty about spending so much money when we should save for the wedding (September 22, 2007! Mark your calendars!). And fretting -- what if, for some strange reason, my vacation request isn't approved? But, life is short, credit cards get paid off eventually, and if we don't go now, we really wouldn't have time until after the wedding... 2008 seems so far away.

So for now, I'm just going to try to keep the giddy feeling a while longer, and start counting the days until November.

OK, off to work.

News of great importance

2006-04-20T07:11:00.000-04:00

This is what I got for Easter! Shane and I are engaged! :)

He said he was going to come to my apartment on Easter morning to make me breakfast, so I was expecting him, but I was surprised when he showed up at 6:30 in the morning! I asked him why he was there so early and he said he wanted to give me my Easter gift.

We went into my living room and he had music playing (our special song) and there was a beautiful Easter basket with candy and a black wooden box beside it, with photos of us in frames on the sides. I opened the box and the ring was in a smaller jewelry box inside.

Being me, I cried a lot (happy tears) and he got down on one knee and asked me and of course I said YES! We told our families at church before Mass (and they were all pleasantly surprised!) and our extended families at Easter dinner later in the day. As his mom said (tearfully), "It's the best Easter EVER!"

The tentative date -- September 15, 2007

Really? Someone actually liked this color once?

2006-03-27T11:52:00.000-05:00

Real quick-like, since the weekend was spent in Cleveland visiting the boyfriend's grandma (i.e., not a computer in sight)...

Since Christina is enamored (and rightly so) with her gorgeous new appliance, I thought it was time to share with you all the glory that is my apartment's green kitchen...

"Avocado green" is the correct term, I think.

Since I STILL have no batteries in my camera (I'm lame, I know)... This photo was taken around Christmas on a messy day. Usually I am quite anal about aligning anything that's hung up on the fridge, and now there are quite a few more photos and such gracing the front. (Anything to hide the green.) Also, the counter clutter has been reduced (again with the anal-retentiveness). Note that I've tried to embrace the green with my grapevine potholders, rug, and burner covers. But, ick.

Anyway, that's your moment of zen for the day. :) (Since I can't grow a mustache to entertain myself, like some Bloggers...see Sal on the blogroll.)

Coming soon, my brown velvet couch, a.k.a. "The Lowrider"... (See the lower-right corner of above photo for a preview.) Off to work.

"I might even take a wild, boyish fling at writing."

2006-03-18T09:20:00.000-05:00

$1 U.S. to the first person to correctly identify the source of the quote in the title of this post.

I have been writing more lately, just not of the Blogger variety. And not the kind my job requires (God knows I do enough of that), but the kind that I love. What, me, keep a New Year's Resolution? It's still just March, so let's not get our hopes too high. Although the "get your lazy ass out of bed NOW" post-it notes I've been sticking on my alarm clock have helped not only the "write more" resolution, but also the "work out more" one, too. (Well -- so far I've worked out three times in 2006 -- once a month isn't bad, right?) I swear, once it gets warmer I'll start jogging again. Thanks again, Mom, for the metabolism, among other things.

Speaking of inspiration -- my new notebook, by popular demand. I tried to upload a photo, but Blogger's being mean and won't let me. Hooray for finally getting a Moleskine. Typing on the computer may be papercut free, but that's one of the few advantages. The last thing I want to do after staring at a computer screen the majority of my workday is come home and stare at a screen some more. The Moleskine is, in its very simplicity, inspiring to me. Plain black cover, lined pages. That's all. No silly designs on the pages or the cover to get me distracted from my writing. (It doesn't take much to distract me!)

I was on a roll for a few days, and the story that's been in my head has steadily made its way to my notebook pages. It's all just bits and pieces now, but it's a start.

Mostly I'm inspired by a note I wrote myself about six months ago, with goals for my writing career, and a list of things I want to accomplish by the time I am 25, 30, 35. I know those lists usually don't accomplish anything, but I've said it before, I do best with deadlines! I found the note last weekend, and realized, hey, I'm way behind.

My sister, who detests writing herself but loves to read what I've written, gave me a quote a few years ago: "Inspiration is the act of drawing up a chair to the writing desk." I love that quote, because it's so true. Sometimes the hardest part is just sitting down and actually picking up the pen, but once you do, the next hardest part is putting down the pen. Erin has always been my sounding board when I have a story idea. When I was still in high school and she went off to college, I would send her chapters of a novel I was working on (but haven't finished, of course).

She was home earlier this week for Spring Break and we had a slumber party, and we stayed up so I could work out some kinks in my future-bestselling novel. (She already has it selling a million copies in her head -- that's the kind of sounding board every aspiring writer should have!) We also worked on the naming problem, after the "Phantom of the Opera" problem (lol). Oh, and she thinks it's funny that I have a bunch of "Internet friends." I think it's funny that she's lived without the Internet in her apartment for the past 3 years or so. The horror!

And the other thing... as Sal knows from my comments at the bar (and conversation with Ironporer), I might go to Spain this fall. I'd really rather go this summer, because I'm impatient, but going in the fall would make so much more financial sense. I'm trying not to get my hopes up too high, but OK, I'll just come out and say it... I'M SO EXCITED! :) So is my little "family" in Madrid, who is ready to roll out the Bienvenidos mat. Pray for no giant unanticipated expenses between now and November. C'mon, car, don't crap out on me now... 87K miles is nothing! Stop making those noises! (WHAT was I thinking when I bought a Pontiac? Next car will be a Honda, or a Toyota...)

Figured out where the quote is from yet? Here's another hint, if you need it: "OK, positive statement. Ringing affirmative. I'm a writer."

Yes... I'll just keep telling myself that.

Off to clean the apartment. See you back here in a month. :)

I almost forgot...

2006-02-22T23:35:00.000-05:00

...the most exciting part of last weekend. I gave my cat a bath, against my better judgment.

She has short hair, so she rarely needs baths. But lately the eau de cat has gotten a little strong. All the advice I read online recommended starting cats' baths young so that they're not afraid of water. Yeah, that would've been helpful to know SIX YEARS AGO when she was a kitten. Although my sister (the soon-to-be doctor of veterinary medicine) has given her baths in the past, I had not. In any case, we made it. I'll spare the details, since many before me have already documented the experience.

Now she's squeaky clean. Or at least her back is, which is all that really got washed, after she wriggled out of my grasp for the third time and I collapsed in an exhausted heap on my couch and said, "F--- it," or something equally original.

[Lucy in happier times, before her owner decided to torture both of them by trying to dunk Lucy in the bathtub.]

Making up for lost time

2006-02-22T22:46:00.000-05:00

Wow, I procrastinate on blogging for what I think is a couple of days, only to realize suddenly it’s been a couple of WEEKS.

I wish I had a good excuse, like rats were taking over my neighborhood. (Yikes!) But I don't. I do have some lame ones, though. #1, a lack of power to my laptop because of a faulty dock. (Although my boyfriend insists I'm just not docking it right. I say, if it's that hard to dock, it's broken.)

#2, the weekends, when I actually have time and energy to blog, have been packed. One spent visiting my sister at Purdue; then Super Bowl weekend, that American spectacle. Expats, be glad to be so far removed from the madness! Then Valentine's Weekend... mmm... I got some of the world's best chocolate!

Just a few really, really belated reflections on the Super Bowl and related hoopla: Aretha Franklin, Aaron Neville, and the Rolling Stones do NOT look good on a 65” high-definition television. No, no, nooooooooo. Mick was the only one of the Stones who didn't look like a walking corpse. He gyrated as usual, but he kind of has the body of a 12-year-old girl, except for the jiggly skin under his biceps that made us all wish he’d kept on his long-sleeved shirt. Or maybe I’m still just bitter that they didn’t play “Angie.”

Anyway, the show in Detroit was overshadowed by my boyfriend’s mishap with his company basketball team the Saturday before the Super Bowl. Boyfriend’s mom and I arrived at the game five minutes after tip-off (we’d been shopping) to find boyfriend on the court, writhing in pain (“But I scored six points!”). A trip to the ER and some X-rays showed his ankle wasn’t broken, only sprained, thank goodness! But that meant that was in charge of getting his house ready for the dozen-plus friends who were expected to show up Sunday to watch the game on the big-screen. It wasn’t too bad, except for our combined five loads of laundry! And dishes to wash… and vacuuming… etc. But it was a fun party!

Shane’s pain was followed by my own pain the following Thursday, when I got braces put on. Yes, braces. I have wanted to get braces to straighten my teeth for years and finally decided to do something about it. I got a fancy (read: expensive) new type that go on the back of my teeth, so people can’t call me metal-mouth. However, they still hurt like an S.O.B. the first few days, and made me thpeak with a lithp, which thucks royally.

Oh, and the “bite stops” that are supposed to correct my overbite meant I couldn’t really chew the first week. Gimpy boyfriend and I had a fancy date the Saturday before Valentine's Day to celebrate V. Day/one year of dating (yay us!) at the best steakhouse in the city, and I could hardly eat my steak. The mashed potatoes were great, though! If I were on a diet, this would be perfect. But… I’m not.

Speaking of the boyfriend… I realized tonight that I don’t know if he knows I still blog. I don’t really talk about it. I showed him my blog a long time ago, but I wasn’t updating then. Boyfriend, if you’re reading, leave a message after the tone! :)

That’s about all. Sorry for the “Dear Diary” entry, but what can I say, it’s been a boring couple of weeks, except those few highlights. Christina… no haircut/curtain photos tonight, because my digital camera is on the fritz. Or maybe it just needs new batteries and I keep forgetting to buy them. However, I did surf the web for a photo of my new coat, which is glorious and kept me relatively warm last week when the temp dropped down to about 5 degrees (that's F)...

Isn't she lovely? :) Pretend it's me -- it could be, I wear a lot of turtleneck sweaters!

Hasta luego, friends. Hopefully not hasta another three weeks!

A new woman

2006-02-03T09:18:00.000-05:00

A little bit of blogging this morning before work. I had an early morning haircut -- and I mean CUT. Contrary to what I'd have you believe (since I'm self-centered enough that I only post good photos of myself), my hair usually doesn't look half as good as my profile photo. Lately, it's been one ponytail after another. So today, I went to my appointment, pointed to my jawline and said, "Right about here." The style is kind of Sienna Miller, post-Jude-Law-and-nanny trauma. I haven't had it this short since I was in Spain. My head feels 10 lbs. lighter. (I have really, really thick hair!)

Photos pending, later, if I can get my laptop in order. (And photos of my new coat, which was everything I dreamed it would be, lol.) I've had troubles with the laptop's power supply, and the boyfriend/computer guru has been unavailable lately to fix it. That is, if the boyfriend will still fix my computer after he sees the haircut. (He has never known me with short hair, and he was a bit panicked when I said I might cut my long hair, which he loves. Easy for him -- he wasn't the one who had to blow-dry it every morning.)

In lieu of my promised blogging whirlwind, I turn to Christina again for an easy post. :) The Four Things Meme.

Four jobs I’ve had:
- Clerk at a video rental store (I had to restock the porn room during working hours. This video chain also made female employees wear SKIRTS on the weekend -- just what you want to be wearing when you're putting "Debbie Does Dallas" away and you're alone in the dirty video room with a middle-aged male customer.)
- Front desk/gift store clerk at a classic car museum (More older male customers hitting on me, but at least they weren't buying porn from me.)
- Line worker at a box-printing factory (I worked with Jerry, Jerry and Larry -- but that's a whole other post!)
- Private English tutor to two children in Madrid. (Which I won't describe, since the first three months of my blog already do!)

Four movies I can watch over and over again:
- Roman Holiday
- Chocolat
- While You Were Sleeping
- Breakfast at Tiffany's

Four places I’ve lived:
- Auburn, IN
- Franklin, IN
- Madrid, Spain
- that's all! (but I still have time)

Four TV shows I love:
- JAG (guilty pleasure #1)
- Lois & Clark, The New Adventures of Superman (guilty pleasure #2)
- I Love Lucy
- Friends

Four places I’ve vacationed:
- Chicago, Ill.
- Naples, Florida
- Italy
- Germany (Hamburg and Berlin)

Four of my favorite dishes:
- ice cream
- melted brie on melba toast
- grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup
- Quiznos classic Italian sub (mmm, toasty!)

Four sites I visit regularly:
- International Herald Tribune
- Expatica
- The Onion
- A ton of blogs, only a few of which are on my blogroll. (I'll get around to it soon!)

Four places I’d rather be right now:
- On a beach, anywhere warm and sunny
- Madrid
- Lake Como, Italy
- France (just because I've never been there!)

Like Christina, I won't foist the meme burden on anyone else. Feel free to tag yourself.

Or waste some time at work, via Sal. (887! Beat that, suckers!)

Have a great weekend. I leave you with this warning -- don't drink and fly.

I'm really tired, but...

2006-01-25T22:41:00.000-05:00

... here are some pretty pictures from vacation in Southwest Florida. :)

(My boyfriend, the computer genius, finished setting up my new laptop, yay!)

This is a rainbow we saw on our first day there. It was the only time it rained all week. I have never seen such a big rainbow. Our condo was on the 14th floor, so we had a beautiful view!

Lovely Marco Island around 5 p.m.

That's all for now... I have some beach photos, but I took them with my disposable film camera, because the digital was too nice to risk dropping in the sand. The vacation was so relaxing... laid by the pool (SPF 30)... went shopping... went out to eat... went to the beach (SPF 45)... sleep, repeat, for a week. Ahh. My new profile photo is also from vacation, but rest assured it was one of the few occasions all week I spent time on my hair and makeup. (Who needs to be glam on vacation?)

Anyway, it's been a long week of covering a murder trial... must have sleep. More soon.

Time to make the donuts!

2006-01-19T11:07:00.001-05:00

Taking my cue from Mausi -- a lazy post.

You Are a Glazed Donut

Okay, you know that you're plain - and you're cool with that.

You prefer not to let anything distract from your sweetness.

Your appeal is understated yet universal. Everyone dig you.

And in a pinch, you'll probably get eaten.

What Donut Are You?

"Everyone dig you." haha..

Hmm, I do love glazed donuts. However, I don't think I'm "plain," per se. Maybe I'm more of a long john with chocolate icing and cream filling. Now that's a great donut.

I'm in the process of setting up (well, having the boyfriend set up) my new laptop in my apartment, so surely there will be a whirlwind of posts when that is accomplished. Pictures from Florida, glorious Florida... maybe some of the shabby chic (mostly shabby) curtains I recently sewed for my bedroom window.

My big sister is inheriting my 5-year-old desktop. Yes, folks, she's a 3rd year grad student who hasn't had a computer since undergrad! Whaaat? How did she survive up until now? The mind reels. In any case, see you all soon. Take the donut quiz -- it's good times. Oh, and check out Sal in his kilt!

A night to remember

2005-12-17T11:40:00.000-05:00

So glad the week is over. I've been busy covering this terrible case, culminating with the funeral last night.

Not the first homicides I've covered, but the first involving children. Their faces have been haunting me, to the point that I specifically requested to cover the funeral, even though I knew it'd be tough with our evening deadline. I felt like it was the one little thing I could do -- write the best story I could to honor their memories.

Everyone there was touched -- media, church staff, funeral directors -- even if they hadn't known the family at all. I chatted with one of the funeral directors outside as he was taking a smoke break. He was probably in his mid-60s. "I've done a ton of these, but this is the worst," he told me with tears in his eyes. "I had to come out here to get away for a minute. I mean, they were just babies."

So, so hard to approach people who are grieving and ask for interviews. Luckily, some people came to me when they saw my notebook, and others I'd met before and had built a rapport to the extent that I felt comfortable asking them to comment.

One man commented that it must be a hard case to write about. I told him the worst part was the story I wrote when the autopsy report came out, spelling out how they had been killed. I said, "That's the kind of story no reporter ever wants to write, and it's the kind of story no one wants to read." He told me that I had done a good job with the story, and that I had treated the subjects with respect. His words meant a lot to me.

I left the funeral mass around 8, after the bishop had finished the homily, and ran out to my car to finish my story on my laptop and send it in by about 8:20. Then back to the office for some last-minute revisions, and on the road for home by 9.

I called home to talk with my dad, about the funeral, Christmas presents. Thanked God for what I have.

Shane came over, and I subjected him to "It's a Wonderful Life," which always makes me feel better. But later, I still dreamed about their faces.

Anyway -- so glad it's over, at least for now.

On to happier subjects -- Christmas poems about Spain, for instance. (If I was a publisher, you'd have had a book deal long ago, my friend!)

And need to head out to the grocery store. Had to stop at the gas station last night after work for bread and cheese, so I could at least have a grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup (my favorite comfort food) for a late dinner. I wasn't really hungry, but Shane made me eat. I tend to forget to eat sometimes!

And need to do some last-minute Christmas shopping. But wait, you ask, didn't you do all your shopping a couple weeks ago? You are correct -- but I've got to grab a couple things for my mom, from my dad. Poor guy has the worst problems getting gifts. Last night, he told me, "I was going to buy your mom some nail polish, but I couldn't remember what kind she likes. I stood in the store staring at the nail polish for 10 minutes. There's so many kinds!"

My mom has, for my entire life, used only Revlon crystalline nail polish in shades of red and pink. She keeps the nail polish collection in a cabinet in the bathroom, in plain sight.

Tonight is the family Christmas party for my dad's side of the family. He was the 9th of 10 children. All his siblings have grandchildren (and some, even great grandchildren) by now, but my sister, brother and I continue to hold out. It's one of my favorite things, ever. Well, when you get down to it, Christmas is one of my favorite things, ever.

Tragedy, and a brush with greatness

2005-12-14T10:49:00.000-05:00

It was a long, long workday yesterday, because of this. I didn't write the main story, but was called in because I can speak some (rusty) Spanish, and ended up writing a couple sidebars. Such a terrible tragedy.

And what a way for Fort Wayne to get national attention. About 11:30 a.m. yesterday, after we had posted our first story on the web about the crimes, I got a telephone call:

"Hi, this is Mike So-and-so. I'm stringing for the New York Times, and I just need to know if you guys have any updates to what you're running on the wire." [In newspaper-speak, that means he's freelancing and wants to know if there's new news.]

Me: "Actually, our reporter is still at the scene, and I only have a secondary role in this. I've heard some unconfirmed rumors but I don't feel comfortable releasing any information at this point. Our metro editor is in a meeting right now, but he'll be done in a few minutes. Can I put you through to his voicemail?"

Mike: [irritated and haughty] "Is that the best you can do? I mean, we are talking about tomorrow's New York Times, here."

Well, kiss my ass, Mike. You're only a stringer, anyway! Get a real job!

Mike injected a much-needed bit of humor into the newsroom when I shared with the other reporters who were working. We kept quoting throughout the day: "We are talking about tomorrow's New York Times, here."

Snow day!

2005-12-09T08:10:00.000-05:00

Well, my car was indeed buried under about twice as much snow as it is in the photo below when I woke a little bit ago. Ugh. But I can't bring myself to hate it, because it's so pretty!

But don't expect a photo of all that snow, because when I looked outside again about five minutes later, my boyfriend had stopped on his way to work and was cleaning off all the snow for me. I knocked on the window and he looked up. "I hate snow," he said, and even though I hadn't been able to pry the frozen window open, I could distinctly hear him. I probably should have gone outside to help, but I was still in my PJs and fuzzy from sleep. He looked like a Midwestern eskimo, in his heavy boots and winter coat, hood pulled up over his Notre Dame ski hat. Sure is going to be nice not to have to clean my car. :-D

(Thus ends my "I have the greatest boyfriend ever" post. Every girl blogger is entitled to one now and then!)

Outside the snow is falling...

2005-12-08T22:39:00.000-05:00

While we're on the subject of Christmas kitsch, I bring you this -- my very own "bad Nativity."

Yes, this lovely Nativity set was given to me by my garage-sale-loving grandmother, who was shocked and saddened to learn during my sophomore year of college that I didn't have a little Nativity set in my dorm room. It sits about three inches high. Some features you may find interesting, that don't show in the photo... there is black glitter on the roof and around the manger, presumably to emulate the lumps of coal that fell from the sky the night Jesus was born... and there is a small hole in the back near the roof, in case you want to further illuminate its beauty. Ah yes, and the bottom says "MADE IN HONG KONG." However, I love my grandma dearly, and I can't find it in my heart to part with my miniature holy family.

Apparently tacky decorations we're on my mind today, because while out driving this afternoon on assignment, I felt compelled to snap a shot of this beauty:

Because nothing says "Have a blessed Christmas season" quite like a 6'+ inflatable Homer Claus and tree.It could be worse -- it could be the Virgin Marge and Homer and the blessed Savior Bart. Seriously, I know people who would put that in their front yards.

In other news, it's snowing! I love the first winter storm of the season, when everyone panics and the weather reporters are all "Oh my god batten down the hatches it's going to be the biggest blizzard ever stay inside buy plenty of food and candles and water and batteries and DVDs." Good lord, people, get a grip. We're expected to get 3-7 inches tonight. This was the scene when I got off work tonight around 7:

Indeed, snowy, but hardly a white-out. Although I've only been in my cozy apartment about 4 hours, and already I'm not looking forward to shoveling off my car in the morning. Oh, how I envy those bourgeois and their garages. The current view out my 2nd-story window:

Crap. Man, I miss college. Right about now, we'd be headed to Province Park for some sledding action. Highlights: Jake sledding into the frozen creek (he was fine, just wet and very, very cold)... teaching Zeeshan (our Pakistani pal) the art of sledding... shooting Jackass-style videos -- I don't think I like being a grown-up!

A link-ful post

2005-12-06T09:29:00.000-05:00

First, let's just get this out of the way: It's THREE degrees outside. But that's good for you folks, because it means the longer I stay in my nice cozy apartment typing, the longer I don't have to go outside and get frostbitten.

As originally seen on NancyNall.com, and later in my forwarded e-mail to friends and family who I thought would find it amusing, not offensive, I bring you: A "kitchilicious" Christmas, as Sal dubbed it.

Speaking of Sal, he's helpfully provided this link for your further enjoyment.

My three (or is it four, now?) readers may have noticed my lack of blogging lately. It's not because I hate you all. I've been busy.

Last week, it was this: The Nutcracker. My boyfriend's mother invited me to see the show at the gorgeous Embassy Theatre in Fort Wayne. Her friend's daughter was one of the children who had been invited to dance with the Moscow Ballet for the Fort Wayne show. I was really excited, because I've always loved ballet, but had never seen the Nutcracker before except on TV. (I'd only been to one ballet -- Sleeping Beauty.)

The show was really beautiful, although I've always found the storyline of the Nutcracker to be a little trippy. My favorite part of the experience was seeing all the little girls who had come to watch, all dressed up, and especially the little girls who were dancing. It took me back to my days as a hopeful ballerina (about ages 7 - 11)... before I realized I had no coordination at all. Just as well, because I'm just slightly too tall to dance with a partner anyway. Alas. I went on from the ballerina years to have a distinguished softball career of about four seasons as a right-fielder. (Where my sister, the pitcher, would always catch me pirouetting in the outfield.) But I digress.

Anyway, the ballet was nice, and the boyfriend's mom gave me a nutcracker to remember the occasion. All together now -- Aww. :) As soon as those male dancers came out in their white tights and pink shirts, we were very grateful we'd left our manly, football-watching men at home. (Although not as grateful, probably, as the men were!)

In other news -- my Christmas shopping is almost done! OK, I'd understand if you hate me now, but in my defense, let me just say that it wasn't easy. I knew I didn't have much free time before the holiday, so when I realized I had nothing to do this Sunday afternoon, I had to jump on the opportunity. There aren't many good shopping opportunities in our small town, so I knew I'd have to make the 20-minute journey through the snow to the metropolis of strip malls that is Fort Wayne.

I descended on the mall around 2 p.m. with a sort of blitzkrieg strategy -- i.e., speed is of the essence, take no prisoners. For the first 20 minutes, I hit about five stores, walking away from all empty-handed. (Frankly, I felt like a big loser, walking around the mall with no shopping bags. Everyone else had them!) But soon my luck changed and by the time I left the mall, I had shopping bags from 8 stores... had already made one exchange (found something better)... and it'd only been two hours. Onward to Dick's Sporting Goods across the street, where I was looking for a particular item requested by my brother. Unfortunately the not-so-helpful Dick's didn't have it in his size, but they told me the Dick's on the other side of town did. Now 4:30 p.m.

This is where things got a little tricky, as I was supposed to stop by the office in downtown Fort Wayne at 6 to drop off my laptop for software updates, and then meet boyfriend and his family a few blocks away for his little brother's holiday concert at 7. There were still a few crucial items on my list that I wanted to get before I left Fort Wayne. First stop, Borders. You have to understand, I've never, NEVER, been able to dash into a Borders, or any bookstore, and not browse, just a little. But I was a woman on a mission. I saw the book I needed on the second table in the store, and made a beeline for the nearest cashier with my blinders on. Mission accomplished; time, approximately 4:45. Next mission -- returning a purchase made a couple weeks earlier to Target, down the street, pick up some wrapping paper and other items. Mission accomplished, time, approximately 5 p.m.

I made the 15-min. trip to the southside (OK, Jefferson Blvd.) Dick's, which had said it would hold my brother's gift for 48 hours. Got there, and the four (FOUR!) cashiers who were standing around doing nothing were like, "Uh, we don't have one on hold... uh... we can't find it... uh." Son of a... Finally, I gave up on the customer service desk and marched over to the section of the store that sold what I was looking for... and there was an entire rack of them. Hell-O! Idiots.

I had time to grab some dinner (Arby's) and head to the office, where they told me they weren't ready for my upgrades, but I could leave my laptop there, which I did, after wolfing down my dinner. Now I had 45 minutes before I needed to meet the Boyfriend & Co., so I headed to the nearest grocery store and actually got my grocery shopping done as well. And was early to the Christmas concert.

Now THAT is what I call an afternoon of shopping. The Christmas list is nearly wiped out... the checkbook is still in the black... and I have blisters on my feet. I challenge any of you to try and top my success. ;)

Anyway... that was a really long story with no particular point, I know, but I was (and remain) immensely proud of myself. Gotta get ready for work now! (Late start today, because I have to cover City Council tonight... aren't you jealous of my exciting life?)

* Sidenote, to anyone who's from "around here" -- remember when they had the ice skating rink in Glenbrook Mall? I miss that! :(

"Rome! By all means, Rome."

2005-11-30T11:36:00.000-05:00

I guess if you're going to steal a star, you might as well steal one of the very best.

("Mr. Bradley, if you don't mind my saying so, I think you are a ringer." -Audrey Hepburn as Princess Ann, "Roman Holiday")

My favorite movie, ever.

Ahem... anyway, Roman Holiday moment over. Back to work.

The full picture

2005-11-26T16:16:00.000-05:00

As I told Sal in the comments below -- there's a reason the girl in the profile photo is smiling so big. :) (Pre-partying in Conchita's kitchen, summer of 2004; with Ashley and Renee. I'm drinking San Miguel, while Ashley has a BIG bottle of Mahou; Renee is looking at our photos from San Fermines in Pamplona.)

That was a long, fun night. From Conchita's kitchen... running through Puerta del Sol in the rain... to a couple random bars... to Kapital... to cafe at 7 a.m. ... And somewhere in there I kissed a man from Andorra named Antonio.

So a couple more photos, just for posterity. With Michael the German, who actually batted for the other team but pinched-hit as my boyfriend on a few occasions when the Spanish boys came on too strong (earning him the esteemed title of "San Miguel"); and Laura from Texas, who made every outing 100x more fun. I doubt she'll appreciate my posting this particular photo for all the world to see... but I'm doing it out of love. Ah, Madrid... te quiero.

Why? Because I can

2005-11-26T12:12:00.000-05:00

Angie & Erin, c. 1986 or so. An ode to my big sister, just because she's so darn cool. And because I've decided I'm seriously under-utilizing the "upload photo" tool on my blog. (And because I need to go grocery shopping, but I'd rather procrastinate a bit more.) Don't ask me why this photo was on my computer, but weren't we cute? And please note my angelic smile, in contrast to the devilish look on my sister's face. :)

Sticking it to the man

2005-11-26T11:27:00.000-05:00

Thanks to a good friend and neighbor who has magical computer powers, I now have a cable Internet connection in my apartment... for $15 a month. I don't think the arrangement is exactly allowed, but I'm not going to lie to you -- I feel no guilt. (OK, just a little -- I am Catholic, after all.) But anyway, cable is a scam. So are cell phones, but don't even get me started. Damn Verizon!

Anyway, here's hoping that my verboten Internet connection will inspire me to write a little more often, and blog more often, too. Starting... now.

Thanksgiving is over. Every year I feel a little guilty because I feel like Thanksgiving is just this hurdle I need to get past to get to the real show -- Christmas. I never give the pilgrims and Indians (Native Americans?) their due because I'm just ready for the Christmas season. Rode to Thanksgiving dinner with my boyfriend and my sister... and subjected them to my Dean Martin Christmas CD. In my defense, I will say that I didn't make them listen to the actual Christmas songs -- just the wintery ones. ("Let it Snow" and "Baby It's Cold Outside") Because it was snowing, and it was cold outside.

Although Erin doesn't share my childlike enthusiasm for Christmas, she does appreciate good holiday tunes, so we had quite a sing-along, with Shane shaking his head and wondering what he's gotten himself into. (This is our First Christmas Together.) Thanksgiving night, I started putting up some Christmas decorations in my apartment, although I'm not sure if a tree is in my future. (I have a cat... she likes to climb things and chew on foreign objects... "Christmas Vacation," anyone?)

I will say that my Christmas excitement does NOT extend to Black Friday. I went shopping on that infamous day one year with my best friend, Lyndsey, and her mother. I consider myself a bit of a shopaholic, but there's no comparison to Lynz and Tina. You could say... they are the Judy Garland of shopping, and I'm the Britney Spears. My talent doesn't compare. I could barely keep up. And I get a little agoraphobic at the mall... and I hate waiting in line. No, the day after Thanksgiving is for sitting around drinking hot cocoa and watching "Miracle on 34th Street" -- the original one -- and "White Christmas." (Except this year, since I had to work!)

Anyway, I've rambled enough for one afternoon. I leave you with this -- just in case you thought your Thanksgiving holiday was bad. (Yes, it was a slow news day.) Perhaps Sal will be inspired to write another limerick! ;-)

That German beer...

2005-11-22T17:23:00.000-05:00

... you've gotta watch out for it!

Maybe this man finally learned that...

A note from Dumbo Dippinbiscuits

2005-11-17T09:39:00.000-05:00

From an e-mail forward I received from my friend, Goober Dippindoodle, an elementary school teacher (obviously)... just what I needed on a Thursday after a tough week! Enjoy.

Sometimes when you have a stressful day or week, you need some silliness to break up the day. Here is your dose of humor

A. Follow the instructions to find your new name.
B. Once you have your new name, put it in the subject box and forward to friends and family and co-workers. Don't forget to forward it back to the person who sent it to you, so they know you participated. And don't go all adult - a senior manager is now known far and wide as Dorky Gizzardsniff. The following in excerpted from a children's book, "Captain Underpants And the Perilous Plot Professor Poopypants" by Dave Pilkey, in which the evil Professor forces everyone to assume new names...

1. Use the third letter of your first name to determine your new first name:
a = snickle
b = doombah
c = goober
d = cheesey
e = crusty
f = greasy
g = dumbo
h = farcus
i = dorky
j = doofus
k = funky
l = boobie
m = sleezy
n = sloopy
o = fluffy
p = stinky
q = slimy
r = dorfus
s = snooty
t= tootsie
u= dipsy
v = sneezy
w = liver
x = skippy
y = dinky
z= zippy

2. Use the second letter of your last name to determine the first half your new last name:
a = dippin
b = feather
c = batty
d = burger
e = chicken
f = barffy
g = lizard
h = waffle
i = farkle
j = monkey
k = flippin
l = fricken
m = bubble
n = rhino
o = potty
p = hamster
q = buckle
r = gizzard
s = lickin
t = snickle
u = chuckle
v = pickle
w = hubble
x = dingle
y = gorilla
z = girdle

3. Use the third letter of your last name to determine the second half your new last name:
a = butt
b = boob
c = face
d = nose
e = hump
f= breath
g = pants
h = shorts
i = lips
j = honker
k = head
l = tush
m = chunks
n = dunkin
o = brains
p = biscuits
q = toes
r = doodle
s = fanny
t = sniffer
u = sprinkles
v = frack
w = squirt
x = humperdinck
y = hiney
z = juice

Thus, for example, George W. Bush's new name is Fluffy Chucklefanny.

And my boyfriend is Snickle Chuckledoodle. Man, I could do this all day.

Things that make you go, "hmm..."

2005-11-15T11:35:00.000-05:00

1. Last night, I watched The Daily Show (don't know if it was new or not -- I tuned in halfway through). Anyway, Martha Stewart was the guest... in black leather pants. Martha. Stewart. In. Black. Leather. Pants. I turned it off after a few minutes, but didn't go to bed right away. You try sleeping after seeing that.

2. A tattoo parlor in town has this sign posted: "Tattoos are forever / Life is not / So get one now / Before you rot." To quote Sal: "Class...you just have to be born with it, I guess."

3. Last week, I wrote what may be my favorite lede ever, for our paper's Political Notebook column. (The top item is mine -- the one about the yard sign.) Now really... no sexism there? Anyway, again, all together this time... "Class..."

Small town, Friday night, full moon

2005-11-11T17:33:00.000-05:00

[Fun with the police scanner, Vol. IV]

A report came through that there were some "mooners by the railroad tracks."

Then, a few minutes ago, this from a tired-sounding officer: "I just told them to please keep their pants on..."

lol.

It's FRIDAY!

2005-11-11T13:10:00.000-05:00

Random plug: If you haven't visited this blog yet, do it. It's introspective and entertaining! And I can live vicariously through it. It's going on my links sidebar, as soon as I get around to editing the HTML. :)

Lunch break time is precious (and short) so not much else to say today. Except this: no relation, no relation, no relation! Rathergate was timed so that it happened right around the time I was searching for my first post-graduation job in the journalism field, so of course, every interviewer would ask, "Are you related to that CBS producer?" No, and if I was, I'd probably lie about it.

Have a good weekend!

I'm better!

2005-11-07T08:10:00.000-05:00

Yes, indeed... I have fully recuperated from my avian flu bug. (OK, sinus infection.)

However, the boyfriend hasn't been so lucky. Turns out he has mono!

The good news is that I've had it and theoretically can't have it again. I had it so long ago that it's also highly unlikely I gave it to him, so I don't know what he's been up to! ;) Poor guy.

In other news -- things that really, really piss me off. I totally respect these people's right to protest, but what a bunch of mother#$%^&*s, as my brother said. (My brother who's in the Army National Guard, who is almost the same age as this soldier that was killed.) If that had been (God forbid) my brother's funeral -- I don't think I would have been able to handle it gracefully. These are the same crazies who have the www.godhatesfags.com Web site. Sick, sick. I can't believe God would embrace that kind of raging hatred. I'd write them some hate mail, if I thought they'd actually read it. (I'm sure they've heard it all already.)

On a happy note -- I moved into my new apartment last weekend, at least halfway. Details to come soon.

That's all. Have a good Monday.

The bird flu.

2005-10-29T11:50:00.000-05:00

OK, I'm pretty sure what I have isn't the bird flu, but it's something. Hit me like a ton of bricks yesterday afternoon. Maybe just the normal flu. Which wouldn't be so bad, except I'm working today and tomorrow. Nothing like working the weekend AND being sick.

Anyway, bitchfest over. I've got my Campbell's soup for lunch, I've got my Ricola lemon-mint drops, and my generic Dayquil (with actual pseudophedrine, which is tough to come by in Indiana). I shall persevere. Plus, if this picture doesn't make anyone feel happy, what does?

This car is automatic.

2005-10-25T17:11:00.000-05:00

From Slate:

"Although I still couldn't drive a stick shift, I did learn something important: I discovered that the source of America's obesity epidemic wasn't portion size, or lack of exercise, or the decline in smoking. It was the invention of the automatic transmission. Here I was, the typical, atrophied American, barely able to press the clutch without my slack muscles begging for relief. Automatic transmissions became widely available in the 1940s. Over the decades, as Americans have increasingly embraced them, they've increasingly increased. Since you need both hands to drive a stick shift, there's no way you can also be sucking down Slurpees and shoving in Big Macs. It's because of automatic transmissions that we're becoming blob people who will soon have to be hoisted into our behemoth vehicles.

"Compare us with Europeans, who still generally have firm left legs and discernable waists. About 85 percent of cars sold in Europe have manual transmission. It doesn't seem like a coincidence that European weights are creeping up in tandem with upward sales of automatics. (Idea for a best seller: French Stick-Shift Drivers Don't Get Fat.)"

I still haven't learned to drive a stick, even though my brother keeps telling me he will teach me how sometime. (His Jeep Wrangler is manual.) I need to know for when I get my Ferrari someday.

I see this author's point on the link between obesity and automatics, having shoved many a French fry in my mouth and washing it down with a hefty Coke while cruising the highway. However, I do know people who can multitask while driving a stick -- for example, my Spanish madre, Concha. On numerous occasions, I saw her adjust the radio, bat at her rowdy kids in the backseat, and apply lipstick, all while navigating Madrid's thoroughfares at alarming speeds in her tiny Toyota hatchback. (However, most of these actions were accompanied by other drivers' screeching tires as they swerved to avoid hitting us and beeping horns... and me, saying "holy s***" under my breath... and Concha, shouting, "Venga, por favor, hombre!" like it was the other driver's fault. She was an impressive driver.)

Venga, hombre... I miss Spain.

On the importance of good handwriting...

2005-10-25T16:18:00.000-05:00

Left a scribbled note for my parents when I headed to work this morning: "Mom and Dad, I won't be home for dinner because Shane and I are making chicken at his place tonight."

Poor Mom... she thought I wrote "making children"...

lol.

January

2005-10-25T10:32:00.000-05:00

God (and my editors) willing, I'll be here, where the boyfriend's parents have recently purchased a condo. I know, Florida = destructed wetlands, overdevelopment, hurricanes ... but it also means beaches, and for a Hoosier in January, that word is music to my ears. Apparently the area was hit hard by Wilma but the condo came through unscathed. :-)

Q: Where have you been?

2005-10-24T18:35:00.000-05:00

A: Following this story, about 45 miles from my home. (Just barely in our coverage area.) It's scary stuff. Stories like this just hit too close to home -- especially if it turns out the murders were random. As I was telling my mother, "They live out in the country, sort of secluded." Mom: "Oh, like us?"

Um, indeed.

I take heart in the fact that we're not quite that secluded, or out in the country, as compared to this couple. But still, I'd been to that small town many times to go canoeing, had talked to the locals. People there are so scared. (I just filed my story on it for tomorrow's -- I'll update with a link then.)

Anyway, sorry to be a downer today.

In other (happier!) news, I do indeed have an apartment (NOT secluded or in the country), or at least, I'll have it at the beginning of November! Hurray. I am still lacking a few crucial items, however -- eg., toaster, television, coffeetable, etc. Ah, well -- as long as I have my coffeemaker, the rest is negotiable.

UPDATE (10/25/05): Today's story.

It just keeps getting better...

2005-10-20T16:49:00.000-05:00

Today's traffic on the police scanner:

Dispatcher: "We've received a report that there's a herd of sheep loose on County Road 56."

I couldn't make this stuff up!

I have plates!

2005-10-19T15:32:00.000-05:00

OK, so today hasn't really been that boring -- I did talk to the governor, after all. Plus a couple mayors, a county commissioner, and some state senators. Not bad for one morning.

But time for a little break/update, on a slightly more personal level. I've pretty much decided on an apartment -- a cozy (read: cramped) little place downtown that I like. Apparently a bunch of old people live there, and my friend Tim, so it should be fun. And, Lucy gets to come -- it's always better with a cat! There was another apartment that I liked better (mostly for the glittery, turquoise-blue bathroom fixtures from the 1950s -- and the lower rent), but alas, no pets. Lucy decides it for me.

So yesterday afternoon, I took a little trip to Goodwill... Purchased 6 matching dinner plates and cereal bowls, 4 dessert plates, salt and pepper shaker, napkin holder, various cooking utensils (like I'll use them -- hah!), and 6 sets of semi-matching silverware. (I.e., they're all stainless steel. Actually, the forks all match, but after spending 10 minutes digging through Goodwill's silverware tub for matching spoons, I said "screw it" and just started grabbing off the top.) All for less than $20! Ah, Goodwill, how I love thee. I'm pretty pleased with myself, because I don't see any need to invest much money in kitchenware -- that's something you let your relatives buy you for your wedding. If things continue going well with the boyfriend, I anticipate having matching stuff in my kitchen in a couple years. (Stay tuned.) :)

As far as parents go, mine are pretty great to live with, but I'm so excited to have my own place, finally!

Hemingway

2005-10-19T13:59:00.000-05:00

A little musing on the "razor-sharp prose" of Hemingway, for those who are interested. :)

Fun with the police scanner, Vol. III

2005-10-19T13:56:00.000-05:00

Dispatcher: "CP advises there is a loose cow wandering around County Road 35..."

Gotta watch out for those renegade bovines around here!

Been a long time gone

2005-09-28T10:35:00.000-05:00

At last, I'm back! I haven't really been gone... I started the new job, and it's interesting and actually keeps me busy. So, before I head into work today, a bit of an update...

I feel bad for leaving you all hanging since August 26, wondering whether or not my dinner for the boyfriend was a success or not. I'm sure you've all been kept awake nights for the past month, wondering.

Well, it started out OK. Went and bought the groceries, remembered everything. (Even with a shopping list, I'm a notoriously bad shopper, always forgetting stuff.)

When I got back to the boyfriend's house, he asked if I wanted any help. I said, "No, you can just go relax and watch TV." (Which is Angie-speak for, "Get out of my kitchen, I don't want any witnesses to this impending catastrophe.")

Cooking in the boyfriend's kitchen is a challenge in itself. While his house may no longer be a swingin' bachelor pad, it is still a bachelor pad. Which means he had no cutting board, so I had to chop onions and red peppers on a old plastic lid I found. When I went to cook the vegetables, I had to put them in a 9"x9" baking pan, lacking other cookware. But, it worked.

The menu was pretty simple. "Italian chicken stirfry," which was pasta, red peppers, onions, garlic, chicken cooked in Italian dressing. Complicated. ;-) I used bowtie pasta, mostly for its aesthetic value. (As if the boyfriend would care!)

On the side, we had broccoli (its vegetable-ness disguised with cheese) and strawberries (their fruitiness disguised with a teensy bit of suger, which they hardly needed). I discovered during this cooking experiment that I was doing what my mom has been doing to my dad for 26 years -- sneaking healthy food into his diet! Hey, somebody's gotta do it.

We also had a nice Shiraz. The wine snobs would probably say it didn't "go" with the meal, but we'd had it before and I knew we'd like it. Tasted good to me!

The recipe for Italian Chicken Stirfry said you could make it in an hour. Unfortunately, I'm no Rachael Ray, so it took me a good hour and a half, plus the grocery trip.

Plus there was my one-track mind, getting in the way. At one point, the meal was almost ready, and I realized I still had to heat up the broccoli. (I'd put it in the microwave about 10 minutes earlier but forgotten to hit "start.") About this time, the boyfriend came upstairs from watching TV... I think he could tell I was starting to get frazzled, so I put him to work slicing strawberries.

The end result was worth it. Not fancy, but definitely good! The boyfriend had two helpings of the pasta, and he took the rest to work with him the next day for his lunch. I took a photo of the end result to send to my sister and prove that I can cook. But, it's on the boyfriend's camera... maybe I'll post it later.

In other news... I think I might have found an apartment! I'm going to look at it later this week.

That's all I've got for today, because my cat is nipping at my bare feet in my computer chair. (That means she wants her breakfast, NOW! The cat has never questioned my culinary skills, unlike some people.) Off to work... My posts will be less few and far between in the future, promise. :)

Oh, and a shout-out to my good friend Jill, off in Paraguay doing the Peace Corps thing. I have a multinational readership! :) Check out her link on the sidebar.

More fun with police scanners...

2005-09-23T17:28:00.000-05:00

Not only are they good for coordinating law enforcement and rescue
efforts, they keep you up-to-date on the gossip, too!

Man 1: "Did you know he got married?"

Man 2: "Yep, one in the oven."

Something's fishy

2005-09-07T14:01:00.000-05:00

Haven't felt like blogging for a while. While I'm waiting for my muse, I
present you with this column I published in my college newspaper
about...my goldfish. (That's what I loved about being editor of the
college paper; I could print almost anything!) And, yes, he's still
alive! (knock on wood.)

***

Life's tough...especially if you're a goldfish

"Hell be lucky if I dont kill him."

Thats what I said my freshman year when I first laid eyes on my goldfish.

Now, you might be thinking, "Seriously, Angie - a column about a goldfish?"

But this is no ordinary goldfish. Hes a survivor, a death-defying shark
in a goldfishs scales. Hes looked death -- and my cat --- in the eyes,
and endured.

Id purchased my first fish a couple of months before. Poor Charlie.
Despite my best efforts, he barely lasted two weeks. I quickly bought
another and dubbed him simply "Fish." I didnt want to become too
attached, you know.

It was a good idea, because Fish barely lasted two weeks, too.

Thats why I doubted the wisdom of taking on another victim -- ahem, pet
-- a few short weeks after Fishs death.

But my sister, a student of veterinary medicine, had an aquarium full of
lively, rapidly-growing goldfish that she wanted to give away, and she
wouldnt be deterred.

"These goldfish are out of control," she joked. "I keep expecting them to
die, but I just cant kill them!"

"Oh, if you want to kill fish, Im your woman," I told her, picking out a
solid gold beauty.

Tongue firmly in cheek, I named him Lucky.

Two and a half years later, hes still merrily swimming in his tiny
one-gallon aquarium, lost in his own Technicolor world of neon gravel and
green plastic plants.

Hes been my companion on the three-hour road trip from home to school and
back again, never uttering a single complaint. (Sometimes I feel very much
like Bill Murray in "What About Bob.") And I havent killed him.

Not that I havent tried.

Luckys first brush with death came only a few weeks after I adopted him,
when I took him home to northern Indiana for spring break. Id poured out
all but about 4 inches of his water for the ride home. Since someone had
told me that hard water is bad for fish, Id filled a gallon jug with
"city water" from Franklin and put it in my trunk.

Once I arrived at home, I filled his tank with the water from my trunk and
forgot about it - until twenty minutes later, when I passed his tank and
realized he wasnt moving. I stuck a tentative finger in his water.

Ice. Cold. I tapped the tank. He just sat there, eyes glazed over.

Angie the Fish Slayer strikes again. Let this be a lesson to all you fish
owners out there: Always allow the fishs water to adjust to room
temperature before inserting fish, especially if the waters been in your
trunk for three hours and its 20 degrees outside.

I placed his tank on the kitchen table in direct sunlight, hoping to thaw
him out, and sat staring and silently pleading for him to twitch his
little fins.

Then I made my second mistake of the day - I left to unload my car.

When I came back, my carnivorous cat, Lucy, was nose-to-glass, her
menacing little paws mere inches from the surface of the water.

I moved Lucky to a high shelf to defrost.

Luckys most harrowing road trip was yet to come.

On my way home for Christmas break my sophomore year, I decided to stop at
Butler University in Indianapolis to visit my best friend. Id placed
Lucky on the floor of my car on the passenger side and sloppily wedged a
towel around his tank to keep it from tipping over.

Ive never been very good at physics, so the chain of events should have
come as no surprise. I was going a little bit too fast for downtown
Indianapolis, trying to make a green light. I made the light and turned
rightgoing about 40 miles per hourand out of the corner of my eye, I saw
Luckys tank fall on its side.

"Ahhhh!" I screamed, imagining my poor goldfish buried alive in a tidal
wave of neon gravel.

Trying to keep my eyes on traffic, I grabbed his tank and sat it upright
as best I could. I couldnt see him in the tank, which was nearly empty of
water. I suddenly remembered the bottle of water in my cup holder. One
hand on my steering wheel, I blindly poured the bottle into his tank with
the other hand.

"Dont die, dont die, dont die," I chanted.

After the longest two minutes of my life (and probably Luckys life), I
found a place to pull over. I braced myself for the carnage and peered
down into Luckys tank.

He was darting around the tank in about two inches of water, glaring at
me. I could almost hear him saying, "Took that corner a little fast,
didnt you, Ang?"

Whew.

Ive always considered myself a dog person, but goldfish have a lot going
for them. Theyre quiet, cheap and cute. They have a memory span of about
three seconds, so they dont remember murder attempts. Theyre never
bored, because by the time they complete a lap around their plastic
plants, theyve already forgotten where they were going.

And until I met Lucky, I would have said "easily replaceable." Now Im not
so sure about that.

Some people never learn

2005-08-26T09:39:00.000-05:00

The boyfriend and I have been together almost seven months now, and I've
made it that entire time without cooking anything fancier for him than
omelets and boxed macaroni and cheese. (And I almost screwed up the mac and
cheese -- long story.)

For the first few months of our relationship, I was finishing up college and
living in a dorm. The only cooking device at my disposal was a microwave,
so it was the perfect excuse. Since graduation, I've been freeloading off
my parents -- why cook if my mom will? On the occasions when I didn't eat
with my parents, I ate with friends, went out, or enjoyed the boyfriend's
skill with the grill.

But tonight, barring unforeseen circumstances, I'm taking the plunge and
trying out a recipe for chicken and pasta that I thought looked within my
capabilities.

My latest culinary disaster happened last weekend. I found myself with a
rare free Saturday afternoon, so I decided to try out a recipe for these
little fried cakes that my Spanish abuela, Jesusa, often made for us.
They're called "rosquillas." Jesusa's were always light, perfectly backed
and lightly flavored with sugar. The recipe I had looked pretty simple.
But something went wrong, and my rosquillas somehow ended up being greasy,
dense, and tasteless (once I gathered the courage to try them). I threw
them out before anyone else could make the mistake of biting into one.

I've been told I'm a bad cook because I'm impatient and easily distracted.
Oh, and my expectations are too high. (Three strikes and you're out?) The
rosquillas were one in a string of culinary misfires, and I won't bore you
further by describing them all. While tonight's meal won't be quite the
drama of Sal's grilling adventures (I won't have to construct any flower-pot
cooking devices), it will certainly be interesting to see how it turns out.
The boyfriend has assured me that he'll like it (or pretend to like it) no
matter what, so at least I have that in my favor. I'm going to be sure to
have a good wine on hand to wash it all down with... and maybe we'll get
buzzed enough that we won't notice how bad the food tastes.

Don't mess with me -- I'm a smoker!

2005-08-25T15:58:00.000-05:00

I'm editing some filler stories for a women's publication, and one is about
safety tips for women. I remember reading (or hearing) a streetwise tip for
women once: Even if you're a non-smoker, consider carrying a cigarette in
your hand, because it will make you look tougher.

I will admit, I actually considered this in Spain and Italy, because a tall,
skinny blond girl from Indiana needs all the help she can get when it comes
to intimidating would-be attackers. However, I couldn't find it in my heart
to support the tobacco companies, even to use the cigarettes as a prop, so I
never tried it.

But this brings me to my point (I do have one!) -- what's the strangest
street-safety tip you ever heard, and did you try it?

Variety is the spice of life

2005-08-25T15:33:00.000-05:00

Do you know those really annoying people who scan through radio stations
or channel surf while watching television? At the first sign of a
commercial break, or an irritating song, or an idiot disc jockey, they
bail for another station.

Yeah, I'm one of them.

I'm not proud of it. I know it drives people crazy sometimes, but I just
can't see wasting my life listening to bad music or repetitive commercials
with offensive sound effects.

This morning on my 25-minute drive to work, I sang along with songs by
Semisonic, the Supremes, the Gin Blossoms, John Mellencamp, Tim McGraw,
the Beatles, Squeeze, Ashlee Simpson, and some country song called
"Redneck Yacht Club." (Yeah, those last two are pretty embarrassing, I
know.) Seriously -- where can you hear variety like that on a single
radio station, commercial free? Let me channel-surf in peace.

***

And now, from the "morbid curiosity" category, I bring you this:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050823/ap_on_fe_st/eyebrow_hair

From the "links I plan to add when I'm not working from this stupid-ass
Mac" category, check out this blog:
http://wandering-woman.blogspot.com Too cool.

That's all I've got for today! Have a good one.

Panic, but not really

2005-08-23T11:37:00.000-05:00

It usually only happens in crowded parking lots, but the most recent
incident occurred after I parked in my boyfriend's driveway and waved hello
to his elderly neighbors, who were enjoying a calm Sunday afternoon on their
porch, drinking lemonade: I hit the panic button on my keychain.

My lights started flashing and the horn blared out a steady, "HONK...
HONK... HONK..." As I've done a hundred times before, I fumbled to hit the
button again to shut the damn thing up and blushed as red as the paint on my
car.

Many thanks to GM, the genius behind my little Pontiac, for making it so
easy to summon help should I be mugged within an 8-foot radius of my car
someday. In my case, it's like the boy who cried wolf -- people will just
say, "There goes that dumb broad in the red car again, hitting her panic
button by accident." I understand the logic of putting the button right
there on the keychain by the "unlock" button and the "open trunk" button.
But I doubt I'd even be able to FIND the button in an actual emergency. Ah,
irony.

Am I the only one who has this embarrassing problem?

Swimsuit models

2005-08-22T13:25:00.000-05:00

(The title of this post is a blatant effort to garner a few Google hits, but
it's germane, promise!)

The weekend was nice, but far too short. Enjoyed the season opener of high
school football on Friday night, and our hometown team won, so that was an
added bonus. It's not baseball, but it was entertaining.

Spent a few blissful hours yesterday hanging out poolside with boyfriend and
some friends of his. Tried to catch some rays, but only ended up a little
pinker. (In other words, progressed from "very fair" to "fair.")

Catching up on my current events and the happenings in the blog world this
morning, I ran across this (linked in a comment on
http://iraqthemodel.blogspot.com) for "appropriate swim suits through
Islamic rules" -- (http://www.hasema.com/shopen/proddetail.asp?prod=H104)

Makes me grateful to be a bikini-wearing American, but at the same time,
that swimsuit is probably what should be protecting my fair, fair skin while
out under the blazin' hot sun. Isn't it ironic?

Orcas and zebras and buffaloes, oh my!

2005-08-19T14:41:00.000-05:00

Just a random comment on this afternoon at work... I just saw a press
release for an estate auction, and among the items to be auctioned are "a
buffalo head, stuffed entire buffalo, a mounted orca, mounted zebra head"...
the list goes on.

Consider this my public commitment to never, ever have any dead critters in
my house, especially buffaloes, zebras, and anything bearing a remote
resemblance to Willy of "Free Willy" fame. People never cease to amaze me.

Speaking of "my house," the search for suitable living quarters picked up a
little speed last night, with Michele and I doing some research on
apartments in the area. (I don't want to live at home forever, even though
it has its good points!) So much to consider -- where to live, how much to
pay, etc. Circled about 10 classified ads, but that's as far as we've
gotten.

I stumbled upon this --
"http://www.sitnews.us/Columns/0505/051405_ben_grabow.html" Definitely hits
the nail on the head for my current situation, although I'd kill to have the
culinary skills of this guy.

Anyway. Back to work for a couple more hours. Have a great weekend,
everyone!

A food MEME

2005-08-18T23:44:00.000-05:00

First, a little update. The reason for my lack of posts is that I recently was offered a new job as a reporter at a local paper... one that's in competition with my current employer, which meant it was a bit of a sticky situation. (It's another paper, Sal, just bigger, so we'll still have the police scanner for entertainment!) Everything's squared away now (I gave my two weeks' notice at the beginning of this week) and I'm looking forward to starting.

Life has been grand lately other than that drama... and the speeding ticket I received tonight -- my first! -- for doing 65 in a 55. I'm not gonna lie, I have a lead foot, so it was a long time coming. But it killed my good mood for a while. Luckily, I was on my way over to The Boyfriend's house, where he had barbequed some chicken breasts for dinner. :)

Speaking of food (pardon the lame segue)... as requested by Don Sal de la Mancha, my top five childhood food memories, which I've been sporadically working on for quite some time. With the exception of number 4, they're pretty tame, because, hey, this is Indiana. Hope you like them anyway.

5. Although I’m not a “farm girl” per se, I did grow up in rural Indiana and exhibit certain characteristics of this upbringing. Among them, a tendency to say things like “It’s hotter 'n blue blazes out here,” a deep and abiding respect for the sacred game of basketball, and an affinity for sweet corn.

A few weeks ago, I helped my mom and grandma blanch the sweet corn from my parents’ garden and cut it from the cob to freeze. This is after we had a delicious dinner of hamburgers, homegrown goodies like cucumbers, tomatoes and green peppers, and sweet corn on the cob.

As a young child, I hated going out in the garden (or Grandpa’s field) and picking corn. Mostly because it was hot, dirty work, and it inevitably involved bugs. For the same reasons, I usually didn’t like snipping green bean, cleaning apples for homemade applesauce, or the annual pilgrimage to the “Pick –ur- Own” strawberry farm to get strawberries for jam. (Although the ride back from the strawberry farm usually involved the kids in the backseat filling up on fresh strawberries, so that part was fine!) In addition to strawberry jam, Mom also made peach jam (my favorite) and grape jelly. Our basement shelves are still lined annually with mason jars of canned peaches, green beans, sweet pickles, applesauce and more.

But this latest time, I didn’t mind helping with the sweet corn at all. I guess there’s a lot to be said for the familiarity of family traditions. I no longer see it as forced child labor, but as a chance to learn a craft from my parents and grandparents. That, and those four years at college gave me a much greater appreciation for Mom’s homemade food.

4. Watermelon mania: Nearly every summer gathering I can remember as a child involved watermelon. Like many kids, I used to believe that if you swallowed the seeds, a watermelon would grow inside you. (Middle school health class cleared a lot of things up for me.) One of the few times I felt really homesick in Madrid last summer was on the Fourth of July, when I sat on the patio with my host family eating watermelon, and wondered if my family in Indiana was doing the same thing.

But my favorite watermelon story comes from my grandpa, who occasionally will break into stories from his days growing up in Tennessee. He tells about how one night, he and my great-uncles, Clarence and Ed, snuck out to the neighbor’s watermelon patch and gorged themselves on watermelon. (My guess is the incident also involved some homemade grape wine and/or other alcoholic beverages.)

They finally snuck back into their farmhouse and made their way to their upstairs bedroom, when someone – I don’t remember who – needed to relieve himself. Not wanting to make the trip to the outhouse, the offender decided to pee in an old boot. (I’m not kidding.)

The plan would have worked, except the boot wasn’t quite, um, waterproof, and neither was the wood floor of the old farmhouse. My great-grandparents were sleeping in the room underneath.

Can you guess what happens next? Ew. (It grosses us out, too!)

As Grandpa says (with an alarmingly gleeful smile), “Goddamn, we got ourselves a whuppin’ that night!”

3. “Eating out” usually meant Pizza Hut or McDonald’s, but on occasion, we’d go somewhere fancy like The Town Tavern on South Main Street. In retrospect, it’s really more of a greasy spoon than “nice” restaurant, but since it didn’t have Happy Meals or commercials it seemed special. My favorite waitress was Dottie, who usually wore a lot of makeup and seemed kind of exotic to me. She would bring us Mickey Mouses, which really were just fruity pop with fancy straws. But she made such a big production out of them that we thought she had some mythical Disney character whipping them up back in the kitchen.

She still lives in my hometown, and in the backyard of her house, she has hundreds (not tens, hundreds) of lawn ornaments, including Snow White and all seven dwarves. It makes me wonder if she doesn’t have connections in Disneyland after all…

2. Halloween, Easter, Christmas, Valentine’s Day – any holiday involving candy. I was always “that kid” who hoarded her candy in secret stashes. My brother and sister would eat all their candy within the week after the holiday. I would magically produce chocolate bunnies in June, candy hearts in March. As the middle child, it was one of those few moments when I could lord it over both of them. :)

1. Dad’s double-layer cake. Or, as it’s affectionately known in our house, “crumble cake.”

My culinary-challenged father decided to make my mom a cake one year (probably for her birthday). My sister and I sat at the kitchen table and watched, because it was something of an event for dad to be making food that wasn’t cereal. My sister was about 6, I was probably 4. My mom was in the next room with my baby brother.

Dad meticulously measured ingredients (to add to the boxed cake mix). We could tell by his concentration that this was serious business, and he really wanted to impress Mom.

Soon he’d baked two beautiful layers of chocolate cake in round pans. Erin (the sister) and I oohed and ahhed as he brought them from the oven. He flipped one onto a plate, and we oohed and ahhed some more. It smelled heavenly and looked moist and perfect.

He took a tub of vanilla frosting and began frosting the first layer. Unfortunately, no one told him that you have to let a cake cool before you can frost it. It immediately began to crumble like Roman ruins.

"&*(%$," dad muttered.

“Is everything all right?” Mom called from the living room.

Dad assured her that we were fine and tried to valiantly glue the pieces of cake back together with frosting. It didn’t work well, but he had a shaky foundation.

He still didn’t realize the cake was yet too warm, so he thought, hey, if I put the other layer on top, no one will notice the bottom layer.

He gingerly placed the top layer on and spread a bit of frosting on top.

"^&$%^! #$@%! ^#$$@#!” he yelled.

(I don’t really remember which expletives he used, because I was only 4. Suffice it to say it was nothing my mom wanted him to say in front of two little girls.)

Mom came into the kitchen at that point and cracked up when she saw the wreckage of the cake, and pretty soon we all were laughing.

We put the pieces in a big plastic dish and ate them like finger food.

To this day, we all agree it’s the best cake we’ve ever had.

What a circus...

2005-08-16T10:52:00.000-05:00

...but the woman has a point. I'd be mad, too.

(Maybe it's just because I have a brother in the Army that this bothers me so much...)

A little more Peter Jennings

2005-08-12T12:30:00.000-05:00

From Poynter.org: Star-Telegram arts writer recalls brother-in-law Jennings (link above) This was a great column on Peter Jennings. I was so impressed that I sent a note of appreciation to the writer and received a personal response. A disclaimer -- to read it, you have to complete a quick, free registration with the Star-Telegram. It's a bit of a pain in the butt, but worth it if you're interested.

An apology...

2005-08-12T10:02:00.000-05:00

...for my lack of bloggage lately. There has been a lot going on -- good
stuff, but nothing I can elaborate on right now. Stay tuned, and have a
great weekend! Best of luck to all you BBQ'ers out there! :)

A Quixotic Journey in Spain

2005-08-11T10:31:00.000-05:00

Not much time to blog right now, sad to say. In the meantime, I urge you to
join Sal DeTraglia on his never-ending quest to find a BBQ smoker in Spain.
(See sidebar link.) Since Weber didn't come through, he's taken matters
into his own hands and constructed a smoker out of... terra cotta flower
pots? Is he tilting at windmills in Castilla-LaMancha? Time will tell...
Keep up the good fight, Sal!

More current events -- up, up & away

2005-08-08T15:10:00.000-05:00

A final bit of blogging for the day:

I admire the writing of Hunter S. Thompson as much as the next journalist,
but surely there are better ways to spend a million dollars or two:

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_3982747,00.html

They're coming out of the woodwork

2005-08-08T13:53:00.000-05:00

(Readers, that is.)

OK, not really, but yesterday my dear friend Michele (or "Mrs. Shell," as we
like to call her) revealed that she is a frequent visitor to this site. So
here' s a toast to Mrs. Shell, welcome back. :) I'll try not to speak too
much Spanish this time.

P.S. To the rest of my readership (I think we're up to 3 or 4 now)... My
MEME food memories, brought to you by the Virtual Tapas Bar (see sidebar
link) are coming soon. For real.

"Urbane Anchorman Was the Voice of ABC News"

2005-08-08T13:36:00.000-05:00

Those of you who know me (or spent any time in the Shirk newsroom or Dr.
Ling's International Relations class with me) know of my deep and abiding
love and respect for Peter Jennings.

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-me-jennings8aug08,1,3614055.story?coll=la-headlines-frontpage

May he rest in peace.

Stifler is not a good ol' boy

2005-08-05T12:50:00.000-05:00

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/4744801.stm

John Schneider and Tom Wopat -- the good ol' boys of Hazzard. My sister and
I used to fight over who had dibs on whom. (I always ended up with Tom
Wopat, since Erin had seniority, but that was fine with me!)

We loved the Dukes growing up. I still love it. Don't get me wrong, I'm
not suggesting the original series was some masterpiece of fine plots and
flawless writing and brilliant acting. (Tires squealing on dirt roads?)
But at least the actors projected some sense of intelligence. Good ol' Luke
Duke, for one, always had his head on straight. So did Uncle Jesse, and
even Daisy had more wits than her short-shorts suggested.

The new movie just looks... stupid. (Oh, and is anyone else disturbed by
Jessica Simpson and Willie Nelson cozying up in her new "These Boots are
Made for Walkin'" video? Ew.) And as I heard a female radio DJ comment
this morning, "The Duke boys were always hot. Stifler and the Jackass guy
are just...not hot."

At least the General Lee is still hot.

Ben "Cooter" Jones and calls the movie a "sleazy insult" and calls for fans
to boycott it.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/TV/07/14/dukesofhazzard.complaint.ap/

I'm with Cooter -- I think I'll stick to the reruns.

* Sorry about the bad links. The Mac and my lack of HTML knowledge strike
again, but I will hyperlink them later from home.

Everything you've heard is true.

2005-08-05T08:37:00.000-05:00

In the newsroom, the police scanner never ceases to amuse (and amaze) me.

Overheard this morning: "What should I get?" "Two dozen Krispy Kremes."
"10-4."

Living in Hollywood

2005-08-05T07:59:00.000-05:00

Not much time for bloggage today, but at least it's Friday! Oh wait... I
have to work all day tomorrow. :-\

The Boyfriend and I are going to a wedding tonight (not ours)... it will
mean that this summer, I've attended... wait for it... Four Weddings & a
Funeral! (some of us are easily amused)

That's all I've got. Have a great weekend!

Frolicking about

2005-08-04T14:33:00.000-05:00

During finals weeks of years past, my friend Trish always quoted one of her
classmates. Something to the effect of, "I feel like I'm in a field and my
notes are spread around me like flowers. And I'm frolicking in the field and
tossing handfuls of papers in the air and letting them rain down, but I'm
not really accomplishing anything."

That's kind of how I feel about work right now. It's like I just keep
typing... but I'm never done.

Poor, poor Lucy

2005-08-03T15:30:00.000-05:00

According to the link above, helpfully brought to my attention by MSN, my cat
is overweight. Of course, my sister the tarantula-tamer has been telling me
this for years.

If you've never met Lucy, let me tell you a bit about her. She's not
big-boned or chubby, she's just plain fat. Little and fat, to make matters
worse. But she's active and she's been on a "low-fat" diet for the past
three years, so I've come to the conclusion it's just in her genetic make-up
-- the same way that I've always been pretty thin. (I'll be eternally
grateful, Mom!)

We found Lucy at my grandparents house when she was an underfed kitten,
about 6 years ago. She looked like she'd had her tail shut in a door or run
over. Since my grandparents live by a busy highway, we decided to adopt
Lucy and save her from certain death at the hands (or wheels) of one of the
many Hoosiers in SUVs and pickups who feel the need to drive 70 through a
residential area. (But I digress -- that's another post!)

My sister took her to the vet clinic where she was working at the time and
poor Lucy's tail was so mangled and infected that the only thing to do was
to (eek) amputate it. Since then, she has graced our home with her cute,
tail-less antics, growing chubbier every year. She thunders around the
house and hops like a rabbit. Her lack of a tail, combined with her
obesity, mean she sometimes will try to hop up on tables and counters, only
to come up short and thump to the ground. (I know, it sounds tragic, but
you'd laugh too if you saw it.) My brother enjoys hiking her like a
football.

And if you just read this entire post about my cat and are trying to figure
out the point of it, there isn't one. :) I'm just bored. As soon as I
figure out the photo feature, I'll post of pic of the cat for all the world
to enjoy.

UPDATE: I've added links! And it wasn't even that hard! And a photo of Lucy! (Because what would a blog be without a picture of the blogger's cat...I mean, really.) But this dial-up connection at home is killing me. Photos will have to be added in the future from The Boyfriend's computer, where I can savor the speed of cable Internet. Whew. I'm too tired to reflect on the joys of my childhood right now (see below)... check back tomorrow! :)

Yuckiness

2005-08-03T14:24:00.000-05:00

Oh, Mac. You continue to befuddle me with your mysterious, un-Windows-like ways.

If you're a faithful reader of my blog (Sal and cousin Jason), then you might notice my breezy background of pastel dots has been replaced by a rather clunky, pukey orange banner and a plain white background. I changed the background because the dot background did not have a field on my sidebar for links, and I wanted to include some links, dangit. And since I don't know HTML code to make my own field, I was at the mercy of Blogger's limited background selections.

So orange it is.

But alas, what is this? Now I try to edit the links that have magically appeared on my sidebar with the transformation of my background... and it won't let me. As always when I have trouble posting from work, I wonder wherein lies my problem -- my Mac, or Blogger? My money's on the Mac.

Sheesh... I miss my dots already.

On a more positive note: Soon I shall be regaling you all with my five favorite childhood food memories, at the request of Mr. Tapas himself: http://saldetraglia.blogspot.com/ (I'm putting the link here, for lack of a better method.)

Probably will include Mickey Mouses at the Town Tavern with Dottie (sounds intriguing, doesn't it?); picking strawberries with the grandparents; ice cream at the Blue Moon; watermelon, watermelon and more watermelon; and canning vegetables with Mom, an art I detested as a child but now find myself *almost* enjoying.

In other news, my big sister will be making her way home next week, after spending her second summer in a row interning at an equine clinic in Tucson. Further proof that it's a miracle we're even related: The other night, she stayed at the clinic overnight with a colicky horse. The clinic's in a big, open barn in the middle of the desert. It was storming that night, and my sister said all the tarantulas -- yeah, that's what I said -- started coming in the barn where it was light and dry. "There were dozens of them, bigger than my hand!" said my sister -- who spent much of the night knocking those pesky critters into a bucket and dumping them back outside. She tried to take a nap at one point, but every time she'd start to fall asleep, she'd hear a noise and it'd be another tarantula crawling in, so there was no napping. As she told me this story, it was obvious she was more excited about the entire episode than scared.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why I live in Indiana. (SHUDDER)

Another capri-cious post

2005-08-02T12:49:00.000-05:00

I’ve decided life’s too short not to blog, so here I am, back again. Having been welcomed back into the world of blogging with a note and some free-association on the word “capri” from Sal DeTraglia (see comments in post below), I feel it’s inevitable. Even if I never have any readers, at the very least I can entertain myself. My mother always said I was good at that as a child.

I plan to update the layout of the blog, add some links, etc. in the near future... but I’m at work right now, and my Mac here makes Blogger go CRAZY. No kidding... something about cookies. I don’t understand it... sounds like a job for my computer-literate boyfriend. (Yes, that was a hint.) I thought cookies were something you eat, but apparently they live in my browser as well. Who knew?

Anyway, today’s topic: Mark Twain. Actually, a quote attributed to Twain that I found online. “Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.”

I serendipitously stumbled across this quote after e-mailing my sister a list of goals that I would like to accomplish by age 30. I'll spare you the details, but I will say that I broke the list down into manageable steps and set deadlines. It seems like overkill, I know, but I’ve learned in my almost-23 years of living that if I don’t have a deadline, I never get anything done. I don’t want to be 80 years old and still saying, “Someday I’m going to be a successful novelist.” I want to be 80 years old and resting on my laurels... or rather, my books. Plus, as I told my sister, I'm not sure I want to be a reporter past age 30, because in my observations, that's when about 50 percent of reporters become bitter, cynical, lazy, and often overweight.

The miraculous thing is that, despite all this introspection, I’ve managed to be quite the productive ad copywriter this morning. Too bad the inbox is still much fuller than the outbox, but that's life.

Capri -- more than pants

2005-07-29T11:33:00.000-05:00

Ah, the island of Capri. Crowded with noisy tourists (many of whom sadly belonged to my tour group), zig-zagging streets lined with designer shops boasting merchandise I could never dream of affording. I walked away from my day in Capri about 50 euros poorer and bearing one of the most spectacular sunburns of my fair-skinned life. And I loved every minute of it.

In case you're wondering what brought up this moment of reminiscing, it was this article in the International Herald Tribune: http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/07/24/news/trcapri.php

On an unrelated note — the small town where I work is having Sidewalk Sales day. From my big window in the newspaper office on Main Street, I can see some of the comings and goings. It makes me a little sad. Since we're all overworked Americans and this is a weekday, it seems the only Sidewalk Sales customers are old people and housewives with little children. Probably just as well, because it's been my experience that such sales usually only offer overpriced antiques and stuff nobody really needs. Kind of like El Rastro in Madrid: http://www.travelinginspain.com/madrid/el_rastro.htm

Enough blogging. "If I don't crunch those numbers — doesn't really matter." Or something to that effect. (That's a Chandler Bing quote from "Friends," in case you're wondering.)

Una manzana a day keeps the doctor away

2005-07-14T16:10:00.000-05:00

[Recently I wrote to the author of the link above, Sal DeTraglia, who publishes an excellent blog on life in Spain. I e-mailed him in response to his blog entry, "It was a pleasure to disserve you." Here is part of what I wrote... posted here for posterity, and because I'm in a nostalgic mood. Also check out www.expatica.com, which is by far the best English-language roundup of Spanish news that I've encountered online.]

I traveled to Cordoba toward the end of my 3-month visit, and during the last week, I became so ill that the friend I was staying with hauled me off to the emergency room. (It was later established that I had mononucleosis and strep throat.)
The gentleman at the desk asked for my nombre — "Angela" — then my appellidos — "[my Anglo, one-syllable last name]". He couldn't understand. "Just [last name]?" Once we established that I only had one appellido, my computer-generated name tag was handed to me, and it read "Angela [last name] X."
After a typically long wait, we were whisked into an examining room, where a nurse, nonchalantly and without warning, jabbed my arm to draw blood for a test. Then the harried doctor arrived. My Spanish is pretty good, but my throat was swollen, making it hard to speak. I tried to explain my symptoms to him. "Does she speak Spanish?" he asked my Spanish friend, ignoring me. My friend looked puzzled and replied that I did. Even so, he addressed all his questions and comments to her during the entire exam, except to grunt orders at me in Spanish. "Lie down." "Open your mouth."
My favorite part of the exam was when (like the nurse, with no forewarning) Dr. Rude pushed my blouse up to my breasts to check for any swollen organs. Um, nice to meet you, doctor!

Pictures!

2004-09-21T17:09:00.000-05:00

I'm starting the long and arduous task of putting some photos online. You can check out photos of my Spanish family and some of my friends here: http://groups.msn.com/6degreesofangie/shoebox.msnw

Almost famous...

2004-08-29T10:38:00.000-05:00

Apparently I'm a celebrity...click here to read all about it!

Lost in Translation

2004-08-22T09:17:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to share a few tidbits I collected throughout the trip. These are messages from throughout Spain and Italy that make creative use of the English language...or just make no sense!

Hotel in Florence: "Towels are not gadgets of the hotel. If they are less, it will be added to the bill."
Hotel in Seville: "This hotel accepts no responsibility for money or valuables be posited in the safe box of the hotel."
Hotel in Granada: "The prices stated by your hotel appears in the document which will be handed to yous at the reception desk and signed by yourself."
From my ticket to the Alhambra in Granada: "Do not photographies using a tripod. Do not eat or drink, except in the specific areas allowed to it. Get a 50% discount showing your Alhambra ticket for the same wek."

The Great Andalusian Roadtrip...

2004-08-15T11:46:00.000-05:00

...becomes the Great Andalusian Nightmare.

Hi everyone! I'm back safe and sound in the US, but I wanted to update here. After I wrote my last post, I left for Granada and saw the Alhambra, but I just wasn't feeling right. Well, by my second night in Granada I was miserable, with a fever, a horrible sore throat and cough, and so tired that I could hardly get out of bed. I ended up heading to Seville the next day as planned, but I was too miserable to leave the hotel room after I got there.

The fourth day of my roadtrip (fortunately!) took me to Cordoba, where I was staying with a friend of my host mother, whose husband is a doctor. He told me he thought I had mononucleosis. I went with his daughter (who is my age and a med student) to the emergency room the next morning, and they did a blood test there that came out positive for mono.

Well, spent another miserable night in Cordoba and a few more in Madrid before I finally headed home. I have never been as happy to see my mother as when I finally made it through Customs in Chicago. We went to the doctor the next morning, who told me I have strep throat and POSSIBLY mono...he said the test in Spain could have been a false positive. (I don't know...I'm really tired, I think I have mono. We'll see.)

In any case, the end of the trip was less than romantic...and obviously I didn't get to see Pedro before I left! (But maybe that's better...I hate goodbyes!)

Still sick as a dog and should be in bed now...but I just wanted to update the journal. Don't tune out yet, because I still plan to write a little more in the future about the Italy trip and Spain in general... why should the fun stop just because I'm home? :-)

Back home again...in Spain!

2004-08-05T09:41:00.000-05:00

Left my hotel in Rome at 4:30 a.m. yesterday. That was a bit of a trip. My travel agent set me up in a hotel "near the train station, so I could take the 8€ train to the airport"...but what she apparently didn't factor in was the fact that my plane left at 6:30...and there aren't any trains that early! No airport shuttle...a few unreliable, confusing, and dangerous night buses...so, I had to get a taxi. And how much does a taxi to the airport from downtown Rome cost at 4:30 a.m., you ask? Oh, only 60€!!! Holy crap. That's enough to rain on anybody's Roman Holiday, but I forked over the cash.

At least it was a REALLY nice taxi, and the driver was wearing a suit and really good-looking, a regular Mr. Italy. However, my flirting skills are non-existent at 4:30 a.m., and I was still bitter about the 60€, so he barely got a "buon giorno" from me.

So anyway...after a LONG layover in Brussels, and a challenging Metro ride to my lodging in Madrid, I barely had the energy to take a shower and say hi to my hosts (my former host mother's sister-in-law's sister...yeah, I'm confused, too).

However, I'd told Pedro (remember PEDRO?) that I'd give him a call when I got back to Madrid. It was so great to talk to him...but he's leaving for Valencia (the beach) tomorrow. (His little vacations wreak havoc on my love life.) Anyway, he told me he'd call tonight, and maybe we could go out...I'm trying not to get my hopes up, but I wouldn't mind one last date!

¡Hasta luego!

At long last...

2004-08-03T06:33:00.000-05:00

Back in Rome after 12 days (more or less) on the road!

I've been keeping a journal the whole time, but haven't had much Internet access to post anything here. I'll give more details later, but in a nutshell, I've seen...

In Rome...

Colosseum (inside and out)
Roman Forum and Palatine Hill
Mouth of Truth
Pantheon
St. Peter's Basilica (I climbed all the way to the top of the dome, EP! What an amazing view!)
Vatican City (and the museum) and the Sistine Chapel! But no Pope.
Spanish Steps
Trevi Fountain (every time I go by, I'm compelled to toss in some coins...it's like at the Glenbrook Mall fountain, but much worse...)
Piazza Navona
and about a million other places in Rome!

Other notable places...

The Duomo in Florence (I went to Mass there)
The Academy in Florence, where we saw the David (he's better-looking in real life)
St. Mark's Square, The Bridge of Sighs and the Ponte Rialto in Venice...and we took a GONDOLA RIDE!!!!! (Highlight of my life, I think...)
The Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi
Pisa and the Leaning Tower!
Verona
Pompeii
The beautiful hill towns of San Gimigano and Urbino
A winery in Tuscany to sample the local Chianti (YUM!!!)
Lake Como, one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen
Sorrento and the island of Capri (two of the other most beautiful places I've ever seen...we swam in the beautiful blue water and took a boat tour around the island and into the Blue Grotto)

That's not even all, but that'll give you some idea why I haven't had the time or motivation to find an Internet cafe! Tomorrow morning, it's back to Madrid for a couple days, then off to southern Spain for some last-minute sightseeing before I head home on August 13.

Arrivederci, everyone, and thanks for all the comments and e-mails! I'm getting through them slowly but surely. :-) Check back for updates soon...because I know you've all been starved for entertainment lately.

And how about those Cubbies getting Nomar!? Allow me to mourn the loss of Alex Gonzalez's pretty face for a moment...but I guess that's not a bad trade. ;-)

I love Italy!

2004-07-24T15:07:00.000-05:00

And that's all I have time to write, because I'm at an Internet cafe with 20 seconds left...but I'll get back to you all soon! :)

ROME!

2004-07-21T07:28:00.000-05:00

I'M IN ROME! If arriving in Spain felt surreal, this is...surreal-er. (Words escape me.)

I'm staying in a hotel that's within walking distance of most of the big sites...so far I have seen the Trevi Fountain, the Roman forum, the Spanish Steps (Piazza di Spagna, or something like that)...of course I had to have my Audrey Hepburn moment, and eat gelato on the Spanish Steps...I made some poor Australian guy take my picture. It was so much fun...I think I might go do the same thing tomorrow!

I don't mind being on my own here, but it will be nice when I meet up with my tour group on Thursday. I'll be able to see a lot more and actually converse with people in English. I keep trying to speak Spanish here, but without much success.

That's all for now...I'm in the Eternal City, I don't want to sit inside typing!!!

Love to everyone!

P.S. If anyone feels nice and wants to send my poor little brother a letter at boot camp (he'll be there until September), the address is:
Pvt. Mapes, Andrew
E 1st/19B FA 1st PLT
402 NE Southboundary Rd.
Fort Sill, OK 73503-8010

Disclaimer *

2004-07-19T11:35:00.000-05:00

(At the request of my big sister, Erin...)

* Anything Angie does in Spain or Italy is independent of her older sister's influence and was not initiated, suggested, or endorsed by her older sister in any way, shape, or form.

When your heart's on fire, smoke gets in your eyes...

2004-07-16T12:56:00.000-05:00

Yesterday afternoon I went to Concha's office in downtown Madrid so that we could go have lunch with her brother, Manolo, who works for the Congreso de los diputados (like our House of Representatives). When I got to the office, Concha introduced me to her co-workers, including one American, David. (He was coming to the Congreso with us.)

Concha told us that she'd heard on the news that there was a big fire near Atocha train station, which was where the March 11 terrorist attacks were. We were really worried that it was something else like that, but it turned out to be just a huge fire in the electrical plant (and actually not even that close to the station).

David, Concha and I hopped in the car and headed down to the Congreso, which happened to be in the same neighborhood as the fire. The sun was out, but it seemed like a cloudy day because of the huge billows of smoke coming from the fire. It was really an incredible sight...and we were stuck in traffic for quite some time, so we had a great view! Of course, I stuck my head out of the car to take photos...Concha and David got a big kick out of it. I felt like I should be rushing to the scene to interview witnesses...but I restrained myself.

Anyway, we FINALLY made it to the Congreso and met up with Manolo and had a nice lunch. Concha's other brother, Fernando, is the one who always speaks English with me...but yesterday Manolo revealed that he speaks English, too! The guy's been holding out on me!

Manolo gave us a great tour of the parliament and we got to take photos on the speaker's podium. It was so cool! Afterward, Concha, David and I went to the Palace Hotel a few blocks away and splurged (well, Concha splurged for us) on Cokes. (It's like a trendy thing to have drinks in the atrium of the Palace Hotel...)

That's about all my news...cannot believe that I only have a few more days here! I'm going out tonight with the American girls...sans Pedro, but there are 3 million people in Madrid, so maybe I'll meet someone, who knows... ;-)

More language-barrier incidents:
Elena, trying to say that Julia Roberts has "curly hair" -- "She has crazy head."
Ignacio, trying to say that his grandmother has a house -- "My grandmother is a house." (ha!)

And here's a good one...Concha's host brother, Fernando, has been teaching English for about 12 years...the other day we were talking in English, and his 5-year-old son came over and just stood beside us. All of a sudden, he blurted out in Spanish, "DAD! You speak English?"

I bow to your superior knowledge...

2004-07-15T02:56:00.000-05:00

Major kudos to my big sister for catching a typo in my journal...haha...I'm so proud, Erin! :-) Keep looking, I'm sure there are many more.

Going to visit the Spanish "Congreso" today with my host mother and her brother, who works there...will update soon!

Elvis has left the building...

2004-07-14T04:02:00.000-05:00

I cannot believe that in less than a week, I'll be in ITALY!!!

Anyway...Pedro called me yesterday (Tuesday), and unfortunately he had too much to do in preparation for his job interview to go out last night...such as renting a car. (Did I mention he has a motorcycle? and yes, I rode it...but with a helmet!) But at least I have his address and e-mail address, so we can stay in touch. (Besides, I'm going to Italy...bring on the Italians!)

Not much else to report, except that I worked out my schedule for my final week here...it looks roughly like this:
04 Aug. Arrive in Madrid from Italy (evening)
05 Aug. Madrid
06 Aug. Granada
07 Aug. Granada
08 Aug. Seville
09 Aug. Seville
10 Aug. Córdoba
11 Aug. Madrid
12 Aug. Madrid
13 Aug. Plane leaves Madrid at 11:50 a.m. for CHICAGO :-)

Rico Suave exits stage right

2004-07-13T03:22:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone!! Thanks again for all the e-mails, letters, comments...I love reading them!

Today is the start of my final week with my host family! I can't believe how fast time is flying. It makes me sad, but then again, I can't wait to see Italy and eventually (in about a month) set foot on Hoosier soil again.

As for updates...yesterday, I didn't do a whole lot. Homework, gave the kids their lessons, went to the pool to (unsuccessfully) work on my tan. My host mother's brother, Fernando (the English-speaking one!), his wife, Carmen, and their three boys came over and we all had a nice chat. I played a little soccer with their youngest, Miguel, who is about 6 years old. Good times. :-)

After dinner, my parents called me and we had a nice chat. Then as I hung up the phone, it rang again, and it was Pedro! (a.k.a. Rico Suave) If you recall, he's a lawyer, but currently unemployed...he has a job interview in the south of Spain later this week, so he's leaving Wednesday for 2 weeks! (He's staying down there for a little vacation...because these Spaniards like to mix business with pleasure whenever possible.)

Anyway, we had a nice little chat, and he told me he'd call me around lunchtime today to maybe go out this evening...and then that will probably be the end of Pedro, unless I see him my last week here (Aug. 4-Aug. 13). As I said before, I need a Spanish boyfriend like a whole in my head. ;-) But it's too bad, because he's just super. (Or as my good pal Rita said, "All the Pete's I've ever known were really swell guys!" lol)

Anyway, I've been told my last post about Pedro was sort of ambiguous...so I don't want to give anyone the wrong impression. I just didn't feel like typing anymore. :-)

One heck of a FIESTA!

2004-07-12T04:45:00.000-05:00

I'll attempt to describe this last weekend, which was full of bull...wish me luck!

Friday night, we went to a bullfight here in Madrid, in Plaza de Toros. It was an amateur one, so the tickets were dirt-cheap, which was fine with me!

What an experience. I’m still not sure whether I would classify it as art or animal cruelty, but then, I didn’t go to judge, just to watch.

The actual killing of the bull is drawn-out, usually 15 to 20 minutes, and painful to watch. Men on horseback drive lances into the bull and other men on foot charge at the bull and attempt to stab banderillas into the bull's neck. Then the matador comes out and does his dance.

The first matador we saw got a little too close to the bull’s horns and had to be carried out of the ring! We’re not sure what the extent of his injuries were. The second bullfight we saw was mediocre, but the third was pretty good. The matador was very brave (or stupid, depending on your school of thought) and killed the bull very quickly. (To my cousin Jason: The third matador got to keep the ear! I’m glad they didn’t try to give it to me.)

Before the bullfight, we had gone to dinner...not sure if that was such a great idea or not! My favorite Spaniard, Pedro, called me during dinner and told me his plans for the evening had been cancelled, so did I want to go out later? So after the bullfight, we met up with Pedro (whom one of my American friends dubbed “Rico Suave”) and Pedro and I went out for drinks and had a really nice time! :-)

*PAMPLONA*
Now the real fun begins...as if we hadn’t gotten our fill of bulls yet. Saturday afternoon, we (myself and 6 other Americans who are working as English tutors) boarded a bus to Pamplona. The bus ride was LONG and around half past 8, we arrived in Pamplona. The nightlife doesn’t even start until after midnight in Spain, so we called my acquaintance from Franklin College, Andoni, who was in Pamplona for the fiesta. A couple of us went with Andoni and his friend, Jon, to buy frozen pizzas and refreshments for the crew, then we hung out in Jon’s apartment until about 1. There were two other friends there, Miguel and a guy we just called “What’s-his-name” because it was too hard to remember.

Jon’s apartment was about a 15-minute walk from downtown Pamplona. On the way downtown, we stopped at an outdoor concert and danced for a while. I have never seen such a wild, crazy party! Everywhere you looked, people were dressed in white with red scarves or belts (myself included, although I think I looked more Irish than Spanish). The streets were littered with bottles, cups, and the occasional passed-out drunk. As my cousin Jason wrote, “I imagine it will be like Hemingway in the 20's, having drinks, watching bulls run, more drinks, and then some drinks.” Jason was on the mark. We made our way from one bar to another, although we didn’t even drink in the bars because it was expensive. Whenever we left one bar to go to another, Andoni made us hold hands so we didn’t get separated. (My friends called him “Coach” all night.) The streets were absolutely packed with people, and the bars were worse... but not so bad that we couldn’t dance, of course!! Everyone happy, laughing, having a great time, people from all over the world.

We danced, and danced...and danced. Around 3:30, some of the girls wanted to go back to the apartment and sleep. My new best friend Andoni and I walked them back and then met up with his friends again. (I couldn’t bring myself to sleep...how many times will I be in Pamplona for San Fermin!?) So we all danced some more...

Finally around 6 a.m., even though the party was still going strong, we made the journey back to the apartment. (We = What’s-his-name, Miguel, Andoni, me, and two of the American girls, Rebecca and Alitsia.) It was already light outside! Our feet were so tired we could barely walk, so we collapsed on the stoop...and then our friends were so dead asleep in the apartment that it took a good 15 minutes of buzzing before someone woke to let us in! When we finally got inside, we roused the troops, gathered our cameras, and headed downtown for the encierro...the running of the bulls...because, oh yeah, wasn’t that the reason we came to Pamplona?

We headed back downtown, looking a little worse for wear. We were a little late to get good seats to watch the bulls. I could see over people’s heads, but my vertically-challenged friends weren’t quite so fortunate. It was over so fast! Around 8 a.m., we heard a shot that indicated the bulls had been released from the corrals, and then another that meant they were running. A few seconds later, we saw them stampede by, and the crazy runners in white and red, either dashing past or diving for cover. Pretty much the way it looks on TV! Andoni ran with the bulls, but we couldn’t see him in the mad crush of bodies...he said it was somewhat anti-climatic because he wasn’t that close to any bulls. (Crazy kid!!)

Around 9 a.m., we bid farewell to Pamplona, What’s-his-name, Coach, Jon and Miguel...after another LONG bus ride we made it to Madrid, then I caught the Metro, then another bush home, and came dragging into the house around 4 p.m. I was still wearing the black pants and white shirt I’d had on all night in Pamplona, now sporting about 5 drinks that had been spilled on me and who knows what else. And still wearing my red sash like a true pilgrim to Sanfermines. My feet were covered in grunge, the cuffs of my pants, too...I have never felt so in need of a shower! My host mother and Elena were the only ones home, and they got a huge kick out of my looking like a homeless wino.

At the end of San Fermin, everyone sings a song called “Pobre de mi,” and the lyrics basically mean “poor me, I survived Sanfermines”...now I can completely relate. I slept from 7 p.m. last night until 8:30 this morning! But what a wild, fun weekend! I had an absolute blast. I don’t think I’ve even come close to describing what it was like in the journal, but I hope I’ve given you some idea. I can’t wait to get my film developed!

Climbing walls!

2004-07-08T11:57:00.000-05:00

To those of you interested in the running of the bulls, here's a little history. I'm actually only going to be there for one running. Our trip is July 10-11.

To those of you who have written me e-mails recently -- I'll get back with you soon, I promise!

In other news of note:

Today I met a friend of Concha’s named Ignacio (another one!) who is a reporter for El Pais, Spain’s leading newspaper. We had coffee at a sidewalk café, with the idea that I would interview him, but I think he asked just as many questions – a true reporter! And his English was better than my Spanish, so we spoke in English...thank the Lord. All this Spanish is exhausting sometimes.

Ignacio’s worked at El Pais almost since the paper started (in 1976) and is now in his late 40s. Now he covers northern Africa, especially Morocco, and goes down to Africa at least once a month! (And my mom worries when I work in Indianapolis...) But he was really interesting and helpful. He is going to send me some more information about the paper.

Change of subject: Yesterday, I took a day trip (by myself, sorry Mom) to the city of Ávila. Partly because I wanted to see the city, but also because I have family in Avilla, Ind.! Victor dropped me off at the train station in Madrid on his way to work. What an experience I had in the train station trying to figure out where to buy my ticket, which train to take, etc.! The place is a bit of a zoo. But I managed.

Ávila is 1 hr. 15 min. by train, and from the train station in Ávila, it’s a 10-minute walk downtown. (Or so my guidebook tells me...It’s more like 20 minutes for people who don’t know exactly where they’re going and are too stubborn to look at the map, trying instead to prove that they really DO have an inner sense of direction.)

But anyway, downtown is impossible to miss, because it’s surrounded by a medieval wall! The wall is huge, and was built by Muslims and Romans in the 11th and 12th centuries. I climbed a rough stone staircase to the top of the wall and walked about a kilometer around the city. It was so cool!!! Not great if you’re afraid of heights ...but I’m not.

After that, I bought postcards and gifts for my grandparents, and stopped by the post office to mail the cards. I had lunch and visited a couple museums of local history, and walked around to admire the architecture. Then I went to the cathedral, which is just inside the city wall and apparently is one of the earliest Gothic churches in Spain. Unfortunately, there is a temporary museum exhibit inside of religious art – which is really interesting, but it covers up the interior of the cathedral itself! I was somewhat disappointed, but what can you do?

Another change of subject. Anyone who knows me probably knows my interest (obsession) with sports cars. Spain’s attitude toward cars is interesting to me. In general, at least here in the city, even really nice cars aren’t well-taken care of. They park on the street and bang their doors into other cars or railings (my personal pet peeve). The most common marques are Renault, Volvo, Volkswagen, Citroën, Peugeot, Nissan, Toyota, Fiat, Hyundai...mostly small, not-so-exciting cars.

However, I see at least two or three Porsches every day! So far only two Porsche 911s, but a lot of Porsche Carreras. There are also many Audis, Mercedes, and a bevy of BMWs, but I can take or leave those. I am pleased to announce that I have seen quite a few Ferraris, including a red convertible today (*huge sigh of longing*). I have only seen TWO Corvettes since I’ve been here…and one was a 4th-generation, painted a sparkly (read: garish) teal, so I’m not sure it even counts.

Anyway...anyone who took the time to read the above two paragraphs had to have been EXTREMELY bored. I salute your devotion to my online journal. :-)

Vaya con Dios, mi hermano...

2004-07-07T16:28:00.000-05:00

Hope you all had a safe and happy July 4th...speaking of, I ate some sandía (watermelon) after lunch in honor of that great holiday...then I joined up with my American friends Laura and Ashley to watch the soccer match between Portugal and Greece. We made a toast with our cervezas to our great nation. :) The game itself was a bit disappointing...I was pulling for Portugal, our friendly neighbor here on the Iberian peninsula. (I´ve determined that the Portugal/Spain relationship mirrors the Canada/USA one -- they like to make fun of one another, but there´s mutual respect there.)

Not much else to note, except that my baby brother left for basic training today...and I didn´t get to talk to him before he left! (I messed up the days and thought he was leaving on the 8th.) I´m so proud of him. Please say a little prayer for our troops...and my mom, who has an empty nest now. (Time to call the Great Pam Hunt and sign up for those belly-dancing lessons now, Mom!!! hahaha)

And...belated props to Jason for another great Cubs update... AND major kudos to my pals Jill and Brad! For those of you who don´t know, two of my friends from Franklin are working with the Peace Corps...Jill is in Paraguay, and her brother Brad is in Uzbekistan. Imagine my surprise and happiness to receive e-mails from both of them last week! I promise I´ll write you both back soon, and you are both in my prayers. :)

Sure, I love plumbers...

2004-07-05T16:48:00.000-05:00

Happy birthday, Michele!

Comic relief: Victor (my host father) likes to try to speak English with me during our evening meals. However, it's been about 10 years since he studied English, so his English can be even more interesting than my Spanish. For example, tonight he told me to put my food on an "ashtray" to carry it to the patio (instead of a "tray")...and then he asked me if I'd like a "plumber" ("plum") for dessert!

Hope you all had a safe and happy Independence Day!

Un refrano

2004-07-03T17:56:00.002-05:00

A little advice, from Spain and me, to all of you...

Le dijo el mosquito a la rana
Más vale morir en vino
Que vivir en agua. -Quevedo

(For those of you who are Spanish-challenged: Said the mosquito to the frog / It is better to die in wine / Than to live in water.)

Ashley and I saw this quote on a plaque in Segovia last weekend, and we decided it´s a good life philosophy. No, not to be taken literally -- I don´t think it means one should drink all the time. But it means live in the moment, go places, carpe diem and all that jazz. (Bear with me...it´s after midnight here!)

If I could share a glimpse of Spanish life with all of you, I would have chosen tonight. Concha unfortunately had to go to a party, but Victor, Elena, Ignacio and I had dinner together...around 10 p.m., which doesn´t even faze me anymore. (Apparently I´ve assimilated.)

We ate on the patio. Ignacio set the table with yellow and blue placemats and and candles and pretty white and blue plates. (I don´t think this family even owns paper plates.) Our meal was really simple, just pizza and salad, but it was a beautiful, warm night and the conversation was lively. It reminded me of my first night here, when we had a similar meal, except now I really feel at home with the family, free to joke around and be part of the conversation. It really made me realize, as well, how much my Spanish has improved since I arrived, when I compared how much of the conversation I followed tonight (virtually all of it) to my first night here. Of course, it also made me miss my own family, but I´ve really been blessed to be with these people.

Forgive me if I wax a little poetic. I can assure you it´ll be even worse when I go to Italy!

As for updates on my amazing and exciting adventures (ha) today I went to the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid...and isn´t that one heck of a name?! It was formed from a huge private collection by some rich German-Hungarian family, my guidebook tells me. Anyway, on my way inside, I became acquainted with two British ladies in their thirties on vacation ("on holiday") and we decided to tour the museum together. Their names were Cathy and Louise. It was a great time. They said things like "blimey" and "bloke" and generally kept me in stitches. Afterward, we stopped at a sidewalk café and had coffee and cake. Yay for new friends!

And speaking of new friends...I was just kidding about marrying the Spanish policeman, Manolo. IF I were to marry a Spaniard, it´d be Pedro. (I know, try to keep up. Sometimes I get confused, too.)

Who, you might ask, is Pedro? I met him earlier this week in Madrid...he´s 25, a lawyer (but currently unemployed) and cute as all get-out. We´re talking tall, dark, and handsome, here. And...he speaks English! Don´t worry, folks, I have my head on straight. And I won´t come back married! (haha, Lyndsey!) But as the mosquito said to the frog... ;-)

Nothing like getting a haircut in a foreign country.

2004-06-30T03:13:00.000-05:00

People keep asking whether I’ve experienced “culture shock” here. The answer – YES. Besides the language, of course, the day-to-day life is very similar to the USA, but some things have caught me off-guard. So I give you…

Angie’s Top 5 Causes of Culture Shock in Spain

5. HOMER AND BART. The Spanish are OBSESSED with the television show, The Simpsons. It’s on all the time, dubbed in Spanish. I’ve never really liked it in English, so I don’t really understand the obsession.

4. LA COMIDA. (The food.) The milk is processed differently. They buy it in bulk and store it in the pantry, not the refrigerator, and the milk we have now expires in August. My friends at school always tease me about how much I love milk, but I don’t like the milk here at all, so I haven’t been drinking much. (Sorry, Mom.)

The eat jamón (ham) all the time! Also cheeses, breads, seafood, other kinds of meat.

One food I really like is gazpacho, a kind of spicy soup of tomatoes and other finely blended ingredients (usually peppers, cucumbers, onions, lemons, breadcrumbs), served cold. It doesn’t sound good from the description, but prepared the right way, it’s great.

I feel like I’ve been eating a lot, but I’ve actually lost almost 10 pounds. Of course, that could also be all the walking I’ve been doing!

3. ¡QUE CALOR! The heat here is unbelievable. We’ve had record-setting temperatures, and it’s not even July yet. It’s enough to make me want to stay in the pool all day…or chop off my hair! (More on that later.)

2. TIME IS ON MY SIDE. As I’ve said before, everything is later and longer. Breakfast whenever you roll out of bed, lunch at 2 or 3, dinner around 10. Nightlife doesn’t begin until at least midnight and it’s normal for it to last until 6 a.m.

1. SPANISH MEN. And this is not all good. They are always whistling, winking, cat-calling, or saying, ¡Que guapa! They are ridiculously forward here, but it’s just the culture. I expected it, and I’ve heard it’s 10 times worse in Italy, but it’s hard to get used to. For example, the other day I was heading home on the Metro after a long HOT afternoon in the city, and throughout the course of the ride, 3 men approached me and asked for my number. (None of them got it – don’t worry, Mom and Dad.) Of course, I can’t generalize about all Spanish men – but it’s definitely an obvious trend.
Naturally, if the men are good-looking and nice, it can also be kind of flattering. :-)

NEWS OF NOTE: Regarding the heat, and my wanting to chop off my hair. Well, I did. Many of you may know the unreasonable anxiety I have about getting haircuts, so this was a big step for me! This heat was OUT OF CONTROL and yesterday, I just snapped. I walked into one of those chain places (think Great Clips) and a nice woman named Gema listened to my instructions (in broken Spanish and hand gestures) and actually did a really nice job! It’s just a little shorter than it was last fall, and already it feels so much nicer.

As I was going home on the Metro later yesterday, a man next to me told me, out of the blue, “You have beautiful hair.” I took it as a sign that chopping off my hair had been predestined. (But also, I refer you to #1 above.)

Stupid Things I’ve Said in Spanish, Chapter 4.

Duchar = to shower, Luchar = to fight

So imagine Ignacio’s confusion yesterday after our lesson when I told him, “Vale, voy a luchar ahora.” (Okay, I’m going to fight now.)

Random stuff...

2004-06-28T16:16:00.000-05:00

Aunt Julie...a belated GRACIAS for your message! :) Grandma told me she is going to use you to relay messages...so if you get a chance, will you tell her thanks for the letter? And by the way, I´m not sure if I have your e-mail right, so could you send it to me, please? Thanks, love you lots!

Erin, Flá, Michele, and everyone else...don´t worry, I will be safe and behave myself with the handsome Spanish men. Mom and Dad, I can´t guarantee I´ll be home by 10 p.m., but I won´t wander around the city alone, or alone with handsome Spanish men. Unless they´re policemen. ;)

Flegel and Davis...I need some Cubs updates! :)

Stupid things I´ve said, Chapter III

Sometimes the Spaniards say "Hasta luego" (see you later) so fast that it sounds like "ah-lwey-ho." (That´s the only way I can describe it phonetically.) I was leaving a store the other day and the clerk standing by the door said what I thought was "hello," and I thought, "How nice, he must be able to tell that I´m American," so I told him "hello" back and he gave me a funny look. I was kind of confused, so I just kept walking out of the store, and then I realized that he´d really just said "see you later" in Spanish and I´d answered him with an American "hello."

OK, that´s all. ¡Hasta luego! (Not hello.)

Sad news

2004-06-28T07:10:00.000-05:00

I was very saddened to hear of the death of a beautiful young woman from my hometown -- the youngest sister of a very special friend -- in a traffic accident this weekend. Please remember Jessica and her family in your prayers.

Update, part II

2004-06-28T07:03:00.000-05:00

(continued from below)
The palace at Aranjuez was interesting to see. Like the Royal Palace in Madrid, there is one room completely panelled in porcelain, and other rooms full of tapestries and other treasures. Afterward, we went to a café and chatted for a while. Mercedes remembered that I´d said I was going to Italy, so she loaned me two guidebooks, one on Spain and one on Italy. (They´re in Spanish, but it´s good practice.)

Saturday, Ashley and I boarded a bus and headed to the amazing town of Segovia, which is about an hour north of Madrid. We walked around the town all day and saw a huge Roman aqueduct built in the first century without a drop of mortar. Then we visited a medieval castle. No joke, a castle! There were suits of armor on display and artillery and weapons and everything. And a MOAT and a drawbridge! It was all our dreams of fairy tales and castles, come true. They say the castle, called Alcazar, inspired Sleeping Beauty´s castle in Disneyland. We paid an extra €1 and climbed a long, dizzying spiral staircase up to the tower. What an amazing view!

We also went to the Cathedral of Segovia, which was truly magnificent. I think no matter how many cathedrals I visit here, I won´t get tired of them. (You all might get tired of hearing about them...sorry!)

After we returned to our homes and freshened up, Ashley and I met again in downtown Madrid, dressed to the nines and ready to hit the town. It was a great night. All I´ll say is that I met a handsome Spaniard named Manolo and IF I were to fall in love with a Spanish man here, it would most likely be him. I´ll try to have some self-restraint, because I don´t think the Latin-lover types here can be trusted. But Manolo´s a policeman...so I´m safe, right? :-)

The Spanish just love to party... so much, that they can´t just say¨"cheers" like everyone else. After someone buys a round of drinks, they stand in a circle and say, "Arriba" (up) "abajo" (down) "al centro" (to the center) "y dentro" (and inside), moving their drinks accordingly. It cracks me up everytime.

Not much else to note. I have actually been working a little with the children...it´s not all fun and Spanish men. I usually work for an hour with Elena, an hour with Ignacio, and then an hour with the two together. Ignacio has some trouble paying attention at times, but they are both intelligent, good students. We try to come up with fun things to do besides just workbook activities. For example, last week Elena and I emptied the clothes from my closet and made an imaginary boutique in my room, then took turns being the shopkeeper to practice colors and items of clothing. “Pardon me, do you have a black dress?” “Why yes, here is a black dress. How beautiful.”

Okay, that´s about enough updates for now. I miss you all! Thanks so much for your e-mails, letters, calls, messages, etc. :-) Any and all communication in English is appreciated.

Update, part I

2004-06-28T03:58:00.000-05:00

At long last, an update. I apologize to those of you who live to read my stimulating musings on Spanish life.

The run-down:

Tuesday night I went with Fernando, my host mother´s brother, to a suburb south of Madrid where he is director of an English-language school. His English is better than mine, I think. He speaks with an interesting blend of British and Irish accents, because the English that is taught here is British, but Fernando also spent a few years living in Ireland.

The language school caters to students of all ages and walks of life who are interested in learning English. I met with about half a dozen of Fernando´s students and we all went out for tapas and drinks at a bar in town. It was great to speak English for a little while. Some mornings I wake up and the thought of trying to communicate in Spanish all day is just overwhelming. The problem is that I´m such a perfectionist that it bothers me to say things incorrectly. But I feel like my Spanish has improved already.

Thursday, Ignacio had a birthday party to go to in downtown Madrid. He wasn´t going to be able to go because his parents work during the day, so I volunteered to take him on the bus, and Elena too. Talk about a couple of well-behaved kids! Elena and I dropped Ignacio off at the party and did a little shopping downtown, then we went to the shopping center near our subdivision and had a nice lunch. She´s so mature for her age, sometimes I think she´s 10 going on 30.

Thursday night was a blast. I went with Ashley (my non-Mormon friend from Utah, who arrived here two weeks ago and is working for the same agency) to a little restaurant in downtown Madrid and then we decided to find a good club and go dancing. Well, it took a lot of work – the first club we tried ended up being way too expensive, then we made about 10 laps around the neighborhood and met some interesting people. Finally, we hopped into line at a club and some guys in front of us gave us free passes to get in. We ended up hanging out with them for most of the evening. (One of them, Jorge, keeps calling me, and I keep having to shoot him down, which is kind of hard to do in Spanish. He´s really nice, but I don´t think I need a Spanish boyfriend – right, Mom? Poor Jorge.)

Friday, I went with Ashley (we´re tight now!) and one of Fernando´s students, Mercedes, to a town south of Madrid called Aranjuez. Mercedes is in her late 30s and her 17-year-old daughter, Arroncha, came with us. The Spanish royal family has a "seasonal home" there, and extensive gardens...

have to run...will finish later!

Nightlife

2004-06-21T02:30:00.000-05:00

Just got back from church (like a good Catholic girl) and thought I´d leave an update here. Right now, I´m watching Mary Poppins on TV with Elena…dubbed in Spanish. It´s not quite the same without Julie Andrews´s voice!

Friday, I went to El Escorial, a monastery commissioned by the royal family of Spain in 1563. It was an hour´s bus ride north of Madrid. The monastery looks very severe and austere from the outside, but inside, it´s something else. Almost all of Spain´s royalty since the reign of Charles V are buried in elaborate Baroque tombs inside the monastery. The kings and queens used to use the monastery as an autumn retreat, and the furniture they used is still there! It was amazing to see the king´s bedroom just as it was in the 1600s. The building has an extensive collection of paintings by Titian, El Greco, Velázquez, Tintoretto, and others.

After lunch, I walked around the small town and just watched people. It´s amazing to me that these people live with their nation´s royalty buried practically in their backyard!

Now, the fun stuff. Friday night, I went out with Laura (another non-whiny American) and some of her new Spanish friends, Rafa (short for Rafael), Tomas, and Victor. Before I left, Concha gave me the “don´t ride with people who have been drinking” lecture…then 10 minutes later, I got the same from Victor. We met for dinner at a great restaurant on the south side of Madrid, and later went back to Tomas´s apartment to hang out. The guys were really funny, but not exactly the Spaniards of my dreams…they were kind of goofy. J But I enjoyed hanging out with them. It was good practice for me, too, because only Rafa spoke English (and not a lot), and Laura can barely speak Spanish. All night, I had to be the translator!

Saturday night, I went with my host family to a block party and I met a girl who used to baby sit for Elena and Ignacio. Her name is Begonia! (Dad, there really are people named Begonia!) Anyway, she´s 23 and she seemed really nice, and she invited me to go out with her and her friends later that night.

As I´ve said before, everything is later in Spain happens later. Begonia and I hopped in the car at 11:30 and headed to downtown Madrid. We picked up her friends, Olga (what a name!) and Sylvia and went to a trendy, expensive club called Cats. Luckily, Begonia´s ex-boyfriend was working the door, so we got in for free. (Friends in high places.)

The club was pretty empty when we got there and the band that was playing wasn´t great. I was a little worried…where was the wild Spanish nightlife I´d heard so much? Well, I didn´t need to worry, because by about 1 the club was packed, the band had left, and the party was on. For some reason, I´m a much better dancer when I´m with strangers, and I had so much fun dancing last night! (And I hadn´t even been drinking, don´t worry, Mom and Dad!) We danced for about 4 hours straight and were joined by Begonia´s friends, Peter, Juan, and Nacho. (Nacho kept trying to teach me all the Spanish dances…we almost succeeded!) I also met a really cute guy named Raúl. Don´t worry, Mom, I don´t think I´ll marry him…but I did get his phone number! Begonia and I got home at 6 a.m.! It was already light out. But that´s the way they do things here…when in Rome, and all that.

So, anyway…Props again to Jason and Flegel for the Cubs updates, and to all my awesome friends and family who have been leaving messages! If I haven´t gotten back with you personally, I´ll try to do so soon. I try not to tie up the phone line too much.

Off to have lunch (at 3 p.m., GEEZ) and later to watch Ignacio´s soccer game…and then the Spain – Portugal game! ¡Viva España! Hasta luego...

Stupid Things I´ve Said in Spanish, Chapter 2

-At the club, a song came on that sounded like, “falta, falta” – which means “fault” or “foul” during sporting events. When the song came on, everyone started jumping up and down. I asked Begonia, “Oh, falta, like in a soccer game?” She started laughing and told me that they were saying salta, which means “jump”.

-While I was playing soccer with Ignacio the other day, I told him to kick it to me because I was the pelota. I was trying to say “I am the goalkeeper,” but what I really said was, “I am the ball.” (Pelota = ball, Portera = goalkeeper)

Lazy days, bulls, etc.

2004-06-17T03:41:00.000-05:00

I feel like I´ve been on the go since I got here, but today I´m having a lazy day. (It´s almost 11 a.m., and I´m still in pajamas!) The maid is here from 8-12 everyday, so I feel like I should help her...but she never lets me. It´s HARD being a full-time tourist/houseguest.

Tonight, I´ll get my first taste of Madrid nightlife. We´re going to an "exchange party" in downtown Madrid at a big club. (It´s an open party for exchange students and natives alike. Should be a good time, although I hear the Madrid nightlife usually runs from midnight to 5 or 6 a.m., so it´s probably a good thing I slept in today!

Other news of note: I´M GOING TO THE RUNNING OF THE BULLS IN PAMPLOMA! My friends and I signed up to take a bus up to Pamploma on the 10 and come back the 11. Apparently it´s an all-night party. (But don´t worry, Mom, I´ll definitely be watching from a balcony somewhere. No bull-running for me!)

That´s all for now, except that I really miss baseball! Many thanks to my good pal Josh for his colorful and extensive (and I might add, "flegelicious") updates on the Chicago Cubs. Anyone who wants to talk a little baseball, feel free to drop me a line. These Spaniards couldn´t care less.

(Although I have to say, I´m really getting into this soccer thing...and I think I´m in love with Real Madrid´s goalkeeper, Iker Casillas! He´s currently playing for Spain in the Euro 2004. Click HERE! As Elena would say, ¡Que guapo!)