November 27, 2006

Sleepless in Chicago

I've been up since 3:15 or thereabouts. Not sure why.

Meditation did not help. Nor did listening to Brooks Williams "Guitar Player" on the MP3 player. Nor did lying there. So I got up and messed around online some to avoid waking the Zipster. Gotta love having a suite with two rooms.

I'm headed back for another stab at it. This time, armed with the ultimate weapon: Enya.

November 26, 2006

Sunday Morning in Chicago

Last night, the Zipster and I hoofed it North to Lake Shore, to see her friend L. L's boyfriend M picked us up and took us to the northernmost part of the city, to Devon, home of an Indian-Pakistani neighborhood. We feasted on the most delicious Indian buffet (vegetarian) one might imagine, washed down with a Kingfisher. I ate too much!

Afterwards, M took us to the hotel via the back road (Clark, I think), through Andersonville, Boys Town, and Old Town. We got to see all the G/L hostspots. Certainly is vibrant and colorful neighborhoods / enclaves. Nothing like that in Hartford, for darn sure. We also got the 411 on a wonderful play - Argonautica - which we might try to see on Tuesday.

We got back latish, but that did not stop me from waking around 4:30 am locally (my body clock is still back East) and so I put down my mat and did about an hour of postures - enough to get a light glaze of sweat going. Next is a shower and primping a bit, then off to breakfast. Today is Day #1 of the show....my client TF from Milwaukee will be down for breakfast, and Zippy likes him. He's been teasing her about her bacon consumption / passion for the last few weeks so it will be fun to get them together again.

November 25, 2006

Safe in Chi-town

We're ensconced at the Embassy Suites. We've unpacked our clothes, hit the local grocer for soda, water, salty snacks, sweet snacks, and fruit. I'm online. Life is good.

We went over to the booth and helped set up; Zippy got to see the RSNA floor (in process) and was duly impressed. I'm on show duty Sunday through Tuesday.

Tonight, dinner with Zippy's friends L&M - some Mexican place that works for them (vegetarians) and has a BYOB policy.

Until then, R&R. I might climb into the tub and scrape the legs - horribly furry in the winter, I was mortified during my pedicure yesterday.

Traveling Again

With the Zipster at my side, for a change. We are sitting at the United gate in BDL, and I am taking advantage of free WiFi.

We got an early start, thinking back to last year (we flew on Sunday) but its a lot lighter travel day today, with no lines at the ticket counter or security. It helps that BDL has a new security checkpoint for United only, it used to be a single checkpoint serving all the gates except for American.

Looks like a gorgeous day to travel - clear and calm - and Chicago bodes well with temperatures in the 50's (highs and lows) today through Monday, and some weather and cold on Tuesday and Wednesday.

November 24, 2006

Busyish Day

Things to do today:

* Pick up a dress / jacket at the dry cleaners (7:45 am)
* Go to hot yoga (9:30 am)
* Get my nails done - pedicure if I have time, I am gonna be on my feet all week (2:30 pm)
* Pick up cards for nephews (birthday, get well) and friends (thank you) (7:45 am)
* Pick up panty hose and knee socks (I get to play dress up adult this coming week) - (7:45 am)
* Hit the post office (11:30 am)
* Hit the bank (1:30 pm)
* Pack my bags for Chicago / RSNA show - TBD
* Do a load of laundry - 9:00 a.m.
* Drop by the office and feign work or at least load up the laptop, get business cards and brochures, etc. - 3:30 p.m.
* Go to kirtan practice tonight - 8:00 p.m.
* Cook dinner - TBD
* Pick up a Friends and Family phone for Zippy - 1:00 p.m.

We're on a 9:25 am flight out to Chicago tomorrow morning.

Thanksgiving Wrap-up

We had a quiet but delicious thanksgiving.

Zippy and I traveled down to Westchester County to her mom's and then from there into NYC for dinner with her sister who has a beautiful condo on the east side (86th and 2nd). We had an intimate thanksgiving, the food was wonderful - more or less traditional thanksgiving turkey and fixin's, but cooked wonderfully and delicately. On a few occasions I found myself staring out the windows (her corner place faces North and West), listening to light jazz, sipping a glass of wine. Felt like I was in a Woody Allen movie. I love NYC at times, and yesterday was one of those times.

The cost of this tranquility and bliss was driving - about 6 hours worth in the rain. Ugh. Hartford to Westchester was not bad, traffic wise - we ran into traffic on the Deegan before the GWB in both directions. But just the tension and stress of driving in the rain - worrying about stopping, skidding, hydroplaning. I am heading out for hot yoga session this morning to get some of the stress out.

I missed my family this year. My nephew woke up in pain on Tuesday morning, and my sister wisely sussed out the problem and hurried him to the hospital to have his appendix removed. They got him in and out with one overnight, got home on Wednesday. She then proceeded to cook dinner for the extended family on Thursday. Before flying off to save the universe or the planet or something. Superwoman, she.

November 23, 2006

Connecticut Sun Wallpaper

Oh, just because. Here.

Erin Phillips, #31 now graces my desktop.

November 22, 2006

Pre-Turkey Day Shenanigans

Some work this morning. Picking up MYA at 2:00 - driving her to Hartford to pck up her friend at the bus station, then I suspect I am taking them out for some foodage. I will not see her for about a week - between turkey day (we're in NYC), Friday (Kirtan practice), and Saturday through Wednesday being in Chocago for the radiology show. So it will be nice to spend some time with her.

Yesterday's gentle yoga class seems to have worked the kinks out of my upper back / neck, so tonight perhaps, back to the kick my ass Ashtanga class.....

Rumor has it that tonight is the busiest bar night of the year, but one would not know that from me. It's been, I dunno, years since I have gone into a bar to drink socially.

First They Came

A while back a friend sent me a copy of Martin Neimoller's poem. The mail came in the context of a discussion / impasse that started out with a bit of anti-catholic irreverence (on my part), and moved into a discussion of my apparent bigotry. She and I are still at a bit of an impasse (admittedly, my crap is involved) but it led me into some web surfing this morning about this particular work.

Wikipedia has some interesting things to say. That the McCarthy era Americans deleted the "communists" stuff is interesting and understandable. More interesting is that the piece did not, in some original forms, mention religion at all. Lots of links and analysis; apparently Neimoller worked on this theme a great deal in the 40's yet the formal piece did not coalesce until much later. The formal version endorsed by the Neimoller Foundation mentions communists, social democrats, trade unionists, and then "me". No Catholics. No Protestants. No Jews, even. This may be revisionism on the part of Niemoller's heirs, surely he was mentioning the Jews (and Jehovah Witnesses) in his speeches that explore this theme in the 40's.

Wikipedia translates the piece from the NM site thus:
When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent; I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent; I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out; I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.

While wikipedia is never a sure source, the translation looks reasonable to my untrained eye; I ran the NM site text through Alta Vista's translator and it came out close enough.

According to Franklin Littell, Martin Niemoller , when asked about the addition of the Roman Catholics (the dissing of which started this whole dogmatic pileup), commented, "I never said it. They can take care of themselves."

Weirdness. This is such a pervasive piece of modern prose - odd that it has evolved and been adopted in the name of so many causes, and that its most common / accepted incarnation is not really what it was at the start.

November 19, 2006

The Simpsons

OK, so how the hell can the Simpsons get Jonathon Franzen, Michael Chabon, Gore Vidal, AND Tom Wolfe as special guests / cameos?

These are not my clothes....

One of my immediate post EI experiences (the Monday I got back) was looking into my closet (for something to change into) and thinking "these are not my clothes" - it was a pretty interesting observation. So I have been slowly working on the wardrobe. I have a couple of closets - I have been going through them, pulling out things that do not fit, do not look good, are outdated, or are just not worn. Reacquainting myself with some of my things, making room for other things.

I have a pile set aside to donate. A few things to go into winter storage. And a lot better idea what is there, that it all fits, and its all worth keeping. And there is more room in my closet, and things are more organized.

We're heading down to NYC on turkey day; I need to pick up a few bottles of wine for our hostess, who has asked us to "only bring tupperware". I picked up a fallish (kind of umber / dark pumpikin) blouse to go with some batik pants I have. If the clothes I do have are not my clothes, well then I guess I need to figure out what clothes *are* mine.

"I Guess it Worked"

Zippy's comment to me yesterday, as we were fetching the 40 pound bag of dog food.

She was talking about the Enlightenment Intensive. And I asked her "What do you mean?" - I mean, I had a kicking buzz and afterglow, and I feel very positive about it all, but I do not feel like a different person or anything.

Per the Zipster, I am more attentive, more thoughtful, spend more time and energy on our home and my space, spend more time with her (as opposed to occupying the same space, but not being there). I'm a better person to be in relationship with.

Hmm.....wow. Cool. Nice to have that sort of feedback. Not that the EI was supposed to "fix" me - but one would hope that a dose of enlightenment, a few dollaps of knowledge, wisdom, and awareness, and a taste of the divine might have some positive impact on ones life. And I think it has.

Boredom some Moredom

Kind of a low key Saturday night.

Zippy and I went down to a mentoring activity in Middletown (woefully underattended). MYA bagged on it, but we went and schmoozed with K the program director (one of our favorite people who we do not hang with, really, she is a sweetie) and hung out with a newish mentor/mentee pair.


Then off to Sears where Zippy found some new glasses (more butchly) and I found some things to buy - a pair of uncharacteristically funky / girly shoes. As our friend Audrey would say "The straps are too wide". As I look at the image I recognize that these are actually kind of butchish girly shoes. The fact that I call them "girly" says something about me, no?

We made a dinner melange (ground turkey, diced tomatoes, red beans) along with frozen veggies. The cupboard was bare, produce wise. We ended up at Apple Tree after dinner to replenish the larder - coming away with onions, spaghetti squash, fresh pineapple, greens, shrooms, and a bunch of misc fruits and veggies. We love Appletree.

We channel surfed for a while, I got a call from a long time friend which ate up some of the night, and I took care of some personal maintenance. Was in bed around 9 pm.

Left to my own devices I might have snuck over to RAW to see the People vs. John Lennon, but Zippy was not interested. So, a quiet night.

It's early Sunday morning. I am faux caffienating (i.e. - drinking decaf, I remain clean and sober, caffeine wise) and as soon as I finish this I am going to meditate. Hot yoga this morning (methinks John, although I get surprised now and then by subs). Probably end up doing some laundry, cleaning, and yardwork today. Maybe even get the gutters cleaned out, although I'd need to borrow a ladder and a ladder holder to tackle the ones in front.

Oh, and I am totally happy with my new MP3 player - I put every single ripped CD (admittedly not too many) on my puter into it and ate up maybe 25% of the space - and I am planning CD ripping sessions to get some of my faves into rotation (tentatively, Ferron, Dar Williams, John Gorka, Patty Larkin)

November 18, 2006

Saturday Noonish

Just a quick catch-up.

MYA and I went up to NoHo last night to catch a film. Good crowd. Not a super film (an old documentary, MYA had seen it) but some good networking opportunities, and a good discussion afterwards. Of course, I tried to go the back way up to NoHo from Bristol to avoid Friday night traffic in Hartford, so it took 2 hours to get there. Ugh.

This morning, balloon chasing - a long flight from Farmington to Cromwell. Uncharacteristically, I was not at the landing site - I'm normally right there (my favorite is bolting from the van and literally catching the basket as they land) but I got all turned around between the Chamberlain Highway and Berlin Turnpike and not a lot of East-West through roads.

Zippy and I are heading down to a mentoring activity (MYA called up to bag this morning) and then some shopping / errands.

November 16, 2006

New (to us) Couch

We've been without comfy furniture in the living room for a while. An old couch (we had cadged from a friend) got tossed when it got too doggy. So we have have been making do with temporary seating - outdoor chairs, directors chairs. Not comfy.

When I got back from the Intensive, one of the things I "saw" when I came home was how unhomey the place was. So I have been scouting for somke replacement furniture. Craigs List has gifted us with new kitchen chairs (ours were falling apart) and now, a new couch.

It's leather (less likely to get "doggy"). It's dark blue. It's in great shape. We're psyched!

To celebrate, we are sitting on it right now, and watching the Uconn women beating up on Colgate.

Some Toys

According to the various tracking systems out there, I am due to receive sometime today:

a) A music mixer / headphone amp, from Sam Ash. I hope to use this to mix two guitars, provide a bit of a confidence monitor (via earpiece), and avoid unplugging / plugging (pops and crackles) at Kirtan. I ordered this a while back from Music123, they were out of stock and never bothered to tell me. Sam Ash was a little more expensive, but in stock. Excited to get it. Coming via Fed Ex, to the house.

b) A new MP3 Player (a SANDISK) - my Dell DJ Ditty has been great - but I want a bit more memory (4 Gig vs. 512 K) and a bit of a larger uder interface. Price was right.....coming via UPS to the office.

Geekery tech musical warm fuzzies.

A Strong Ashtanga Practice

I've been kind of in a yoga groove, alternating between my morning power and hot classes. I toss in some alternatives - a gentle or all levels class when my bisy asks for it, a special workshop when its available. But mostly, two classes, two teachers.

Last night I went to a different teacher for a 6:15 class - someone I had worked with before (and liked) but the class times rarely work out all that well. I have had it in the back of my mind to get to one of his classes. KICKED MY ASS.

It was a really good and strong Ashtange practice, with less in the way of flow and less fluidity. Every posture was held for five long breaths, and we'd work through cycles of postures. A great cardio-vascular workout as well as a humbling posture workout (lots of twists and binds and folds that I just had to accept my body was not going to find its way into)

Nice to be challenged, nice to be in a different space, nice to get a little different spin on practice. I kind of know where my other instructors are going most of the time, their classes are so familiar, theirs are the voices I hear in my head when I practice on my own. So it was nice to have to ebe a bit more alert and focused. Good call on my part (going to something a little different).

November 15, 2006

I am the Lorax, I Speak for the Trees

I look out my office window, to piles of logs stacked like bodies in a Matthew Brady civil war photograph. I am cranky about that.

The company across the street (ironically, a landscape and design firm) took down 2 or 3 large maple trees that once guarded their street side, and made this particular stretch of North Mountain Road in Newington livable, habitable, peaceful.

It feels sterile, cold, and desolate out there right now.

Mort Pride Center ?

In the midst of questions concerning the mentoring meeting (see below) I asked "Is there some reason we are not meeting at the Pride Center?"

One of the folks from True Colors simply said "They closed the doors"

Not surprised - the move and overhaul at that place have been pretty traumatic, the plac edid not seem to get its feet back under it, and the last time I was there it seemed like a ghost center. Nothing about it on the website, but the calendar lists a Board Meeting and Special Presidents meeting for Monday night. Maybe some things got decided.

Update: False Alarm. No idea where the rumor started or why someone said it at the meeting, but I have been assured by someone on the Pride Center board that all is well, the doors are open.

Bad Directions

I went to a mentoring meeting tonight.
Our next mentor meeting will be held
on Tuesday (tomorrow), November 14, 2006 from 6-8 p.m. at the UCONN
School of Social Work in Room 208 in West Hartford

Uhm, except that there are three buildings (at least) on the campus. I went to the most likely suspect (Library building, where I have been to things in the past sponsored by the same organization) and 208 did not look like a meeting room. 203 did, and 308 did. But I left the email invite at home so I began to doubt myself - did I have the room right? Was it really Uconn Law School? When nobody showed up at 6, I headed home.

Got home, reread the email, decided I was at the right place, but left too early (queer standard time, right?) - so I headed back. Still nobody. So then I decided to check out other buildings - the Undergraduate Building (nobody there) and then the (surprise!) School of Social Work building. I got there at around 7, to find only two other mentors there. Kind of disappointing. The facilitator apologized profusely for the miscommunication - I have to believe there were more people who either tried to come (and could not find the meeting) or simply did not come because they were not sure.

Future reference - adding a link to the campus map and specifying a particular building would help - a LOT. For someone not familar with the campus (such as myself) - I have always thought the entire Hartford Campus was the "School of Social Work") its pretty hard to know what building to go to.