Jesse Benjamin Feedbag

Fandom in Massachusetts

2012-02-04T09:52:00.001-05:00

Super Bowl VVVVVVVVVIIIIX is this weekend, and it's a weird one for me. As I've documented in the blog and by word of mouth, I've questioned my allegiance to the Washington Redskins and their mostly-reprehensible football organization. After moving to Massachusetts this past summer I was even more curious how regional ties and home-team coverage would affect me. I was able to watch 6 (or so) 'Skins games this season. They're still bad. I'm used to that. This season however, there was a tinge of scrappy youth that timidly emerged at points, peaking with Roy Helu's undersized explosiveness towards the end of the season. To my wife's dismay I'm still a fan.

The thing is, I also watched most of the Pats games on tv. They're cool. Most importantly: their owner is a mensch, not a slimeball; Belichick is brilliant; Tom Brady. A Redskin fan is so acclimated to sub-mediocre quarterbacking and coaching, that Brady/Belichick is shocking to watch on a regular basis. More than shocking, its enjoyable.

So what about this Super Bowl. I still feel more New York than New England, but as a Skins fan the Giants are enemies. Becky has insisted that the Super Bowl has never been as hyped and ubiquitously reported as it is this year. At our new jobs our coworkers show their Pats spirit to a degree we never saw in New York. Women! Women are bonkers for the Pats here, and it's not just because of Tom Brady's face. So, Becky is rooting for the G-men. I'm rooting for the Pats. But if they lose and I see pictures of New Yorkers partying in the streets, I'll probably get a little homesick. At least there's the Mets. Yipes.

Huh? Whuh? Where am I!?

2012-01-27T20:35:00.000-05:00

It has been a year since my last Feedbag entry. Why so long, you ask? Never mind that. Aside from my occupation, number of children in household, and city and state of residence, little has changed. What's that you say – sounds like 2 lifestyle changes more than a sane person should make in a short span of time? If I heard you correctly in that assertion, then yes, you are correct.

Current state of affairs: dad to Caleb McCarthy Strauss; living in a Boston suburb where thin crust pizza is a fools errand; addition through extended borrowing of one dog, EssBee; substitute teacher in the towns of Belmont and Lexington; homestead situated next to large tract of wooded reserve.

So here we are. There is a simmering pot of chili to my left that tomorrow will be delivered to friends who just had a baby. Caleb is asleep upstairs, and every day he grows more lovable and entertaining. Becky is working late – she is a professional nurse now, deftly ascending a steep learning curve. She looks totally cute but no-nonsense in her scrubs and specs. There is a new bike project - the Cubmobile for springtime - waiting downstairs in the work room. Substitute teaching; the house and its projects; missing Brooklyn - I'll get to those.

Strauss in the House

2011-02-05T16:15:00.000-05:00

Baby is close. Not here yet, but it's very close. There is a bit of juicy news concerning his name. And mine. And soon, Becky's.

We are taking my Grampa's last name, Strauss. In fact, as I type this I am legally, Jesse Benjamin Schmal Strauss. Becky is going to catch up after she finishes the craziness of getting her nursing license, at which point she will be Rebecca Colleen McCarthy Strauss. Little Straussling on the way will be _________ McCarthy Strauss.

I'm pretty excited about this for several reasons. When we got married and Becky kept her name, it was all good. However, once this little Straussling emerged on the horizon, we were faced with the last name problem. I was not into hyphenating our kid's name, not one bit. We both felt kind of weird about one of us taking the other's last name. Starting our family together with a new, yet personally significant name, seems like an equitable solution.

My Grampa, Ernest Strauss, was a stupendous individual. He was absolutely likable, faithful, intelligent, wrly humorous, easy-going, and the patriarch of our clan. Becky and I wear his and my Nana's wedding rings (and if you knew my Nana and Grampa, you knew their marriage as one worth emulating). Also, Grampa had two daughters: my mom, and my Aunt Karin, so 'Strauss' had been retired as a last name in our family. I hope bringing it back is an honor to him.

And so my driver's license, followed by the rest of my wallet, will identify me as Jesse Strauss. My dad has been incredibly cool in understanding the reasons for the change. I'm counting on my little brother Mike to eventually make some Schmal babies. And, you can probably cross out 'Levi' and 'Johann' from any baby name guessing.

Summy

2011-01-27T20:35:00.006-05:00

A week and a half ago, Becky and I had to say goodbye to our dog, Summer. Summy, 13 years old, had been having problems the last year with her heart, but more than that she had several stroke-like episodes that were difficult to diagnose, but were related to the whole old-doggie package. Two Sundays ago we woke up to another of these episodes, and knew things were only going to get worse for her.

Becky had been with Summer for 10 years when Maggie and I Brady-bunched up with them. I am so lucky that I met Bec in time to spend 3 years with Summy, the most adorable dog I've ever met. Now I'm part of a club that's great in number but select in its bond: fulfilling the painful and emotionally-requisite contract of dog ownership. We will miss Summer so much. Our son, coming around the bend, will be subjected to incessant Summy-stories. Sorry, kiddo.

Here are some of the things we will tell him:

When we woke up in the morning, she would fetch a squeaky toy, hop on our bed and then make the toy squeak

Her ears smelled like brownie batter

Smiley

She'd kick her leg when you found the right belly spot

Going up the stairs she looked like a lamb

Her inquisitive head tilt

Her single, irrepressible doorbell yelp

Great company in the car

She followed us everywhere in the apartment, and if we were at two ends of the apartment, she'd lie down in the middle

She ate a whole vole, whole.

After a bath, she's run around the apartment, rubbing against ever piece of furniture and rug she could get to.

She took off into a lake after some ducks, and swam out 50 yards before I freaked out, undressed and swam out to get her (it was cold and rainy). When I got to her and lifted her out of the water, she continued air-swimming.

She was the Ring Bearer at our wedding.

When she farted, it startled her, and she would run away from it.

No tail. Wigglebutt.

Her bouncy ears when she walked

She would spin around when her dinner was being prepared.

She'd poke her head into the bathroom if one of us was in there.

We called her Noodgie, Noodgers, Shloopie, Shlampy, Chomps, Chompers, Summy, Sumsum, Summybear, Monsterbear, Munchkinbear, and Wiggles. And Summer, of course.

We love you, Summy, and always will.

It's Been Too Long, Fish Stew

2011-01-27T20:25:00.002-05:00

A few of you have commented on my lack of blog entries since, um...September...2010. Anyway, a few things have been going on in the interim.
Becky and I are expecting our son in a matter of a couple weeks
Becky graduated from NYU nursing in December
We turned her office into a nursery
We said bye to our beloved dog, Summer (which I'm going to post about right after this because I'm stalling)

It's easier for me to jump back into the Feedbag by posting the recipe for tonight's dinner, which I was incredibly pleased with.

****
Incredibly Pleasing Fish Stew

in a heavy dutch oven type pot:
brown 1 finely diced onion with 1 tsp crushed red pepper in scant 1/4 c. EVO
add
1 28oz. can peeled plum tomatoes (drained & chopped)
1 cup white wine (fruity, not dry)
1-1/2 tsp salt
and reduce by 1/2

then, add and bring to a simmer:
2 cups water
1 celery stalk sliced
2 or 3 carrots sliced
1 medium potato 1/2 in. dice
1-1/2 Tbs. smoked paprika (Spanish)
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp white or black pepper
4 or 5 capers
1 tsp lemon zest
1 tsp carraway seed

while this simmers:
in a saucepan, brown 2 links (approx. 1/2 lb) hot sausage* sliced (italian
drain if it yields a lot of fat
add sausage to the simmering stew, then,
melt 2 tbs. butter in the sauce pan, stir in scant 1/4 c. flour
once browned and clumpy, stir in 2 cups water
stir till even & thickened, then add to pot

*Because of my wife, I used this really delicious vegetarian sausage made by Field Roast Grain Meat Co., but I don't recommend the substitute unless you're sure you like it)

return stew to simmer, then,
add a few dashes of tabasco
chopped kale/chard/spinach (1 small bunch)
chopped parsley (a handful)
and simmer for another 10 minutes (until carrots, potatoes are soft)

add pieces of fish (1lb delicious mild fish like cod/mahi/tilapia) and simmer gently for another 3-6 minutes (depending on thickness), until fish is cooked through.

serve with a squirt of fresh lemon over the stew and some crusty bread.
oh baby.

Baby

2010-09-12T17:54:00.004-04:00

There's a sizable development here that I've yet to chatter about on the Feedbag: Becky and I are going to have our first child in February. Writing about it is awkward in that so many of my closest friends have already become parents, so that anything I'm experiencing is uninteresting in its late-to-the-party status. I'm going to go ahead anyway. Sometimes being the last one to do something everyone does makes you really appreciate it - puberty, dating and The Wire, all solid examples for me.

We're having a boy. I'm extremely excited about this. If it were a girl I'd be extremely excited too. After 4 months of referring to our kid as 'it', the gender assignation made this seem all the more real and approaching. That said, our boy is still only a legume-like person and I'm already judging names for the lad on their infield potential.

Names: oh my god. What a challenge. I just dug up the Nicolas Cage SNL skit on naming a baby. Paraphrased:

Telegram for Mr Asswipe Johnson! Dear Asswipe and Emily...

Um...that's Oz-wee-pay.

As we tear through these baby name books it's amazing how few we consider. We can easily categorize the overwhelming majority into any number of feckless or unwanted character-types: Runny-nose/Park Slope/Date-Rape/Country-Club/Lacrosse-Douche/Basement-Dweller/Gun-Rack/A-Rod/Hobo/Punching-Bag/Weirdo

Inevitably, I can't ensure he'll be a cool and happy kid. We can only do our best. As I told my mom about how nerve-wracking I find the sonogram appointments - in needing to know everything is okay - she said get used to it. With kids, that's the rest of your life.

Bike Riding in Massachusetts

2010-08-14T21:17:00.006-04:00

Today I tried to tackle my first century - a 100 mile ride. Becky and I are in Massachusetts - I had already gotten in touch with a fellow vintage bike nerd in the area and he was already planning to do the century, so we met up at Lexington High School just a few minutes from the McCarthy's door, and the starting point for the ride, which was organized by local bike advocacy organization, Mass Bike. My riding buddy Neal saved the day by bringing a small bolt to replace a missing one that I'd only discovered last night. We hit the road at 8am. The scenery was beautiful, the weather unbelievable, and the route map...terrible. The course was roughly the shape of a figure 8, with the smaller top loop 40 miles and the lower, 60 miles (called a metric century). The intersection of the two loops was where one could decide to continue on the lower loop for the metric, or add the top loop for the full 100 mile century. Unfortunately, is was also where the course map was least clear. We missed a turn, improvised a little, then found our markers again; however, when we questioned our location and got our bearings, we found out we were a good ways around the lower loop on our way to the finish instead of chugging along in the upper loop of the century. Rather than turn around and initiate what would have meant a triple-cover of the same ground and who-knows-how-many-more miles than intended, we settled for the 60 miles and a more immediate BBQ lunch. It was a tasty defeat.

I finished with a stronger desire to do the 100 miles soon, a satisfaction that 60 was pretty good, proof that my new Gazelle is a reliable steed, and a growing feeling that I would love living in this area.

Why didn't anybody tell me?!

2010-07-06T20:30:00.004-04:00

I'm thinking of words - semantics and pronunciations - at the moment, solely because I'm watching the Mets, and Keith Hernandez just said fustrated (sic.) twice in the last inning. Does Keith:

think the word is actually fustrated?
not get corrected because it's touchy to correct a person's language foibles, let alone Keith Hernandez's?
use some sort of broadcaster's trick in this instance, to cleanly deliver a word which if attempted in the correct manner, would give him trouble?

Myself, I find it hilarious when I've been pronouncing something incorrectly and someone points it out to me. The older I am and the more common the word, the better.

I learned that Massachusetts wasn't pronounced Massachusess, while I was in college.

Becky laughed when I made some reference to Faneuil Hall, as Fuh-neel Hall.

The claws on a bird of prey: tal(as in gal)-lahns. Tal-lahns.

One of my favorite jokes from The Simpsons:

Bart's teacher's name is Krabappel? I've been calling her Crandall! Why didn't anybody tell me?

June

2010-06-30T09:24:00.006-04:00

So, yikes - it's the end of June. My first season coaching is over, trophies and pizza to wrap it up for the dudes. My first semester is over, as is the first of my 2 summer sessions. The second starts next week and includes Educational Foundations and Teaching Science in the Elementary Classroom (the latter I'm totally excited about).

The Mets are leading the majors in grand slams allowed, which I'm finding to be one of the least pleasant superlatives to watch your team achieve. The U.S. exited the World Cup - disappointing, as I was really getting into the team vibe. I'll root for the Dutch now, because they're orange and fun and I just got a dutch Gazelle road frame from the late 70's.

I received the unexpected birthday present of selling one of my bikes to Wyatt Cenac of the Daily Show. We are not new-best-friends yet, but there's time.

Becky and I have a full-season of weddings to attend from now through December, having only knocked-out Buffalo thus far, and peaking Labor Day weekend when we'll be attempting a New-Jersey-New-Hampshire-Saturday-Sunday-flip-twist-turnpike. 5.8 difficulty (out of 6).

There have been some mighty achievements in the kitchen the last 2 months. These include:

fish tacos with fresh tortillas and avocado/sour-cream sauce

artichoke and tomatillo soup with blended white beans (this was a home run as far as warm-weather soups go)

and this plate of pasta from last night, which while simple, was so summery fresh (it's all in the peas, kids!), that even brutal 90-degree-quilt-like-humidity couldn't stop the chow-down.

The Blind Side and Mercy Rules

2010-04-27T12:59:00.003-04:00

Saturday was The Firebirds' 4th game of the season, and as Coach Andrew was out of town, it was just me in the dugout with the boys. We were playing a team we'd received advance warning on, and true to that warning, they were big hitters and they played like an experienced squad. What can I say - we lost 12-0, called in the fourth on the Mercy Rule, but the boys played well. I know this coaching thing is a good match for me when I still have a great time on the wrong end of a Mercy Rule game, and it seemed like despite the score, my guys had a good time too. They're totally starting to gel as a team, at least as far as pre-game horseplay is concerned. It's pretty easy to see improvement week to week in their skills, especially the kids who started a little behind the others. When the guys that haven't got the bat on the ball once in a game do it for the first time, it's honestly thrilling. We missed some basic baseball concepts that will be addressed at Wednesday's practice, but really - as long as the team looks like they're having fun, I think I'm doing my job well.

Last night, Bec and I finally saw the Blind Side. She loved it; I was entertained. For the first 30 minutes of the movie I could barely look at that sad kid's sadder face, even though I knew it was going to turn out well. My simple review would be this: there wasn't enough football to be a movie about football; there wasn't enough tension to be a movie about race and class. I think maybe it was a movie about motherhood, but there wasn't enough of the other kids in the family. I'm just going to have to read Lewis's book. Maybe that will help me understand how Joe Theismann's broken leg fit into the movie's bookends. At the very least, I now have more respect for Sandra Bullock and her somewhat appliance-like face.

Put Me In, Coach!

2010-04-11T20:33:00.008-04:00

A friend from Hunter, Andrew, and I quickly found out that we both like sports, more importantly - baseball. This lead to the following exchange at happy hour after we finished our last midterm:

A: Dude, I've been meaning to ask you - would you be interested in coaching a little league* team with me?
J: Absolutely.
A: Sweet!

A few days later I found myself as a coach, at my first youth baseball practice ever. My list of realistic regrets is pretty short, but not playing youth baseball myself, is in the top 3. Never mind the personal history there - I swear I could've been a solid 1st baseman (lefty that I am) - 4 practices and one official game into this season and I must say it's stupendously fun. Saturday, the Prospect Park Baseball Association opened the season with a parade in Park Slope that went down Seventh Ave and up 9th st to the Park, with a local marching band leading the way. The streets were filled with teams, coaches and family. Then later in the day we had our game. I suppose I should report that we did not emerge victors, but isn't the score fun-against-fun when it's 9 - 2? Wait...how does that saying go...I better look it up. Really, I was very proud watching our guys out there stealing bases (yes!), striking out the other team's little dudes (yes!), and even blasting a couple deep shots. We had the bases loaded a few times but couldn't bring 'em home. Luckily, there's a whole season ahead of us to figure that one out. While walking the dogs I'm finding myself thinking of drills to run in practice, and now that we have this game under our belt, I'm thinking of what we did well and what needs work. There were a lot of smiles in the dugout and I think we've got a pretty scrappy Bad-News Bears vibe kicking around, which is good because I'm a big Walter Matthau fan.

*technically, not Little League. It's a local Brooklyn organization.

Julie and Julia

2010-03-13T22:28:00.006-05:00

The wife and I just finished dinner* followed by Julie and Julia. It was pretty enjoyable to watch, though I came away with this demanding question: at what point did someone decide they should compromise Meryl Streep and Stanley Tucci's screentime for Amy Adams and Noname McGhee? Streep is amazing and hilarious in her subtle play on over the top character — physically: brilliant. If I had been producing this, I would have read the script, said, "Great. Now ditch the present with blogging and the whining and make a biopic about Julia Child". I would say for movies about food, Big Night (a bigger role for Tucci) is still tops. But, we did enjoy spotting my old Park Slope subway stop in one scene, along with a neighborhood bistro that was used a few times. Also, I now have a mind to try making Buerre Blanc, maybe for a special occasion.

*Unintentionally, I stuck with the theme of the movie by trying something myself for the first time in the kitchen tonight. I poached fish in olive oil. Verdict: delicious. Surprisingly not oily, and without the waterlogged consistency that's hard to avoid when poaching in water.

One Month So Far

2010-03-02T18:19:00.005-05:00

It's been a good while since I've posted, and I'd like to think it's in part due to the fact that I'm now a full time student. I'm in the accelerated Masters Ed program at Hunter, and with that is a pre-determined roster of classes for each term. Currently I'm taking Childhood Development, Diversity in the Classroom, Developmental Reading and Math Curriculum & Method. The big surprise so far – Math is my favorite of the four. Several reasons. The professor is very sharp, charismatic and confident in his balance of covering both theory and practice in the classroom. Most of all I'm learning elementary math again, but instead of learning it by rote, this professor has me understanding why I'm taking each step in a problem's solution. This is mostly through visual models - pieces or props representing the numbers we're throwing around, and boy do I understand things better that way. Apparently, lots of people do because we're being encouraged to use these methods in our [future]classrooms. Sweet!

Part of the curriculum this first semester is 25 hours of elementary school observation. My first of these was at a private school here in Park Slope, and when I sat down to watch a 4th grade reading discussion, my first thought was, "oh my goodness this is how little fourth graders are?" They were fidgety, spacey, goofy, fairly unselfconscious, and then as they started discussing the book, really bright! And that was really cool: these squirming little kids throwing out incredibly perceptive suggestions on the novel they'd just read. Whew. I was relieved. I tried to remember what I was doing back in fourth grade. I can remember my teacher, my best friend, the girl I had a crush on, the girl my best friend had a crush on, the lousy cello/violin "duet" I attempted in music class with this kid Adam, but for the life of me I can't remember what the hell we learned academically in the fourth grade. And that's where this grad program comes in. I'm actually getting two educations for the price of one - as a teacher and as a 33 year old elementary school student. I'm going to totally nail the state capitals test.

Up the Missouri with my GPS

2010-01-28T18:23:00.010-05:00

I finally got myself a smartphone. Its name is HTC Hero and I love it. I'd of course been pining for the iPhone since I was technologically leapfrogged by my own mother getting one some years ago, but I joined my wife's family's plan with Sprint and through a rigorous investigation:

me: does this phone let me do the finger-pinchy thing?

Sprint store guy: yes. And instant NFL updates and game broadcasts.
me: [returning signed-contract and nodding vigorously]

I have the Hero. Honestly, I wouldn't trade it for the iPhone. Why? Google has become the lynchpin of my technologically-assisted organizational structure, ala Aliens' Ripley in the loading dock suit. Yes, yes, hooray for me, but I digress. Shortly before acquiring this new phone, I started reading Undaunted Courage [Steven Ambrose] about Lewis and Clark's expedition to the new American West.

In some ways, the story is undercutting the heroic notions I had about them, but a lot of that is due to the anglo-centric attitude that wasn't really questioned back then. More than that though, I'm even more impressed with my new phone and its Google Sky Map app, which lets me stare at the sky with my GPS-located and gyroscopic phone matching my view in front of me with a corresponding map of the stars, planets and constellations. I'm positive if either Meriwether Lewis or Thomas Jefferson had seen this feature, they would've messed their britches in astonishment. Similarly, it would take some explaining on my part if I showed them how I purchased school textbooks online with the Amazon app, for less than the cost of those right in front of me at the Hunter bookstore. I guess my point is that this level of connectivity is even more stupefying when held up to the image of Lewis taking map measures with his sextant and chronograph. At the same time, the unknowing that his party moved forward with is of a type that we in the information age will never know. Also, the buffalo meat.

Hunter tomorrow!

2010-01-27T22:27:00.006-05:00

Tomorrow is my first day of school at Hunter. I'll be entering the Masters program in Childhood Education, and I have to admit I'm a bit edgy about it sitting here at 10:30 pm, not really knowing what is waiting for me in my classes, if I'll jump straight into the material or flail about for a bit, if I'll be the oldest one [and have the best beard], and if at 10-past-9 tomorrow morning, as I walk into class, I'll have remembered to wear pants. What I do know is that I'm thrilled to be entering an academic environment again (for the first time eagerly, since as an 18 year old freshman at UVa I think I was more hey-guys-we're-all-going-to-college-now-I-suppose-I'll-go-too! I won't be heading into the elementary school classroom for at least the first couple of classes, so I don't have to worry about how that will go just yet, but I figure why not get a head start. If I had to one-to-ten score my worry versus excitement though, right now, the night before my first day, I'd say worry is putting up a fight but is being generally outclassed by excitement. 3 - 8. Not too bad, right?

Thank Goodness for Heated Pools

2010-01-04T08:28:00.013-05:00

We're heading back to the Northeast today; the return to frigid Boston winter is going to be slightly padded as it's been unusually cold here in Sarasota the last several days. 50 degrees and cloudy didn't stop Becky from swimming in the pool, and from dragging me in with her.I perfected my whale-in-the-water imitation and Phelps dolphin kick, and gave Bec some useful pointers for her freestyle-form. We went to Turtle Beach and collected some cool shells; we went to Lido Beach and sunned ourselves on a couple of the many available loungers out in front of Lido resort. There are a lot of birds to see here: herons, pipers, vultures, hawks, pelicans and terns [below]. There was a trip to Publix that turned dramatic when we watched the store manager restrain a shoplifter until police could arrive. We had some great pizza at Il Panificio (umm...twice, actually). We watched a bunch of DVDs and did movie/chinese for Jewish Christmas. We went on several jogs, one of which I got us hopelessly lost (It was dark! It all looks the same here! I didn't know the road was a loop!). We totally rocked several Times crosswords and took my Great Aunt Irene out for dinner and brunch. Today, we're going to stop by a manatee viewing center on our way up to Tampa.

I can't say it would've been nice had it stayed above 70 during the afternoons here, but we had a good time despite the chill. Now we're pretty thrilled to get back to Summer and Maggie, and take them with us snowshoeing in some Massachusetts woods!

The Future is Now

2009-12-27T15:31:00.007-05:00

Yesterday, my wife and I chatted with my parents in Virginia, via Google video-chat. I'm a big fan of the video-chat, as it offers more of a conversational feel than cell phones can if there are more than just 2 people involved; also, my dad got to show off his grizzly new scar, and my mom got to peek fondly at Nana & Grampa's kitchen behind us while we talked. After we hung up, I realized how sneaky the future can be. I can distinctly remember as kid, thinking that video-phones would be a 'eureka!' type discovery, like one day we would be talking on our home phones—maddeningly-clumped-together-spiraled-phone-cord stretched taught across the kitchen—then, there would be a 72pt newspaper headline—DANES INVENT VIDEO PHONE— and after a week of stampedes to Circuit City, we'd all be talking into intercoms while looking at each other's bedhead and bathrobes. Well it didn't happen like that all, much to the chagrin of Circuit City, but here we are: I call my parents, tell them to hop on video chat, and a normal conversation ensues. A couple more years and the streaming and sync delays will be gone, I'm sure. I submit: awesome.

Turkey Sarasota

2009-12-24T16:32:00.004-05:00

The turkey and tomatillo stew I made last night came out especially flavorful, bright and delicious, according to my own reviews. The picture I posted previously on Facebook yielded a few requests for the recipe. I made it up as I went along, but here's my best recollection plus the adjustments I would make the next time I try it.

for the stock*:
2 turkey thighs
1 med. onion chopped
1 stalk celery
1 carrot
3-6 peppercorns
4 cloves garlic roughly chopped
1/4 C. white vinegar
salt

*it would of course, be much easier to use some chicken stock here instead, but a) homemade stock is way more fun, and b) you have to simmer the turkey anyway, so why not go for the gold...

1. put everything but the turkey in about 1 1/2 qts of water and bring to a boil, then add turkey, cover and reduce to a simmer for 45 min to an hour
2. remove from heat and put turkey in a bowl to let cool for later
3. pour the contents of the pot through a strainer and there's your stock

for the stew:
1 1/3 lb. tomatillos, husks removed
1 med ripe tomato, with an 'x' sliced in the bottom (for peeling later)
1 small onion, diced
1 rib celery, sliced
3 cloves garlic chopped finely
2 med yellow squash, into spoon sized pieces
1 lb. or so of red or creamer potatoes, chopped like squash
3 long hot peppers or a couple of jalepeños, or whatever your heat demands dictate
a couple of stock-worthy pig parts, like maws or hock (about 1/2 lb)
white wine
celery salt (to taste)
black pepper
cilantro
lime

1. in a sauce pan, boil the tomatillos for 7 - 8 minutes, then add the tomato and boil for another couple of minutes
2. strain contents, peel away the tomato skin, then puree the tomatillo and tomato
3. in a dutch oven or cast iron job, saute onion, garlic and celery and add pig parts to brown it for a couple of minutes
4. add puree and let simmer to thicken for about 5 minutes
5. add about 1/2 cup white wine and continue simmering for another 5 minutes
6. add turkey stock [just the liquid!] in the neighborhood of 4 C. but you'll have to adjust as necessary for a good stewy consistency, then add squash and potatoes, lay the peppers on top, cover and simmer for 1/2 hour; meanwhile, pull apart the turkey thighs into strips and chunks
7. remove the pig parts, throw in the turkey and most of your chopped cilantro, and let simmer for just a couple minutes
8. remove from heat, serve with chopped cilantro and a wedge or two of lime per bowl

enjoy with crusty bread and tell me how it goes!

Retiring to Florida

2009-12-21T14:06:00.002-05:00

I'll be starting at Hunter at the end of January. Becky has just completed her first semester at NYU Nursing, but when you count all the science prerequisites she had to cram in beforehand, she's been in school for over a calendar year straight, with very few breaks. And so, we are taking two full weeks--count 'em TWO-- to hang in Gulf Coast winter's spring warmth. We don't have much of an itinerary beyond the pool and walking on the beach, with some trips to the movies, Super Target and thrift shops, when the weather isn't cooperative. I've had some quality ocean-hopping travels in the past, but as much as I'd love to go to Europe with Bec and run around from town to town, I think a slow-moving schedule with very few demands is the perfect vacation for us at the moment. Our family jokes about how when we're in Sarasota, it's wake up; have some coffee and fruit and figure out what we'll do for lunch; then pool; then have lunch and figure out what we'll do for dinner; then pool. Not bad, huh!

Fix Bayonets!

2009-12-16T18:36:00.004-05:00

I just completed an American History course of the Civil War era. I loved it; it was totally cool. I've never enjoyed studying as much as I did for this class. I'm not sure if prior I'd ever enjoyed studying--probably not--so I can't say if it was just that I'm older and more curious about history, or if the class was great or it's just the material is in my wheelhouse, or what. Growing up in Northern Virginia and going to school in Charlottesville for a couple years turned out to be a dormant catalyst for my interest. Between drives on Int 81 and Rts 29 and 50, two years in Charlottesville, I'd inadvertently taken a thorough tour of the Virginia war theater. I blame Fairfax County Public Schools for this gap in knowledge. Anyway, the class was a good way to get my feet wet, as it'd been some time since I took a written exam, and I'm planning on starting grad school in January. So far I'm in at Brooklyn, City College and Fordham. I'm hoping to go to Hunter, which of course is the one I haven't heard from yet.

Apropos: if anyone is looking for a good read - University of Illinois' Lincoln Studies Center's printing of the Lincoln Douglas Debates is great. There's a small intro at the beginning of each of the seven debates, and with just a little refresher on Wikipedia re. some of the bills discussed, it's totally readable. Lincoln is a sass-master and sounds like the most thoughtfully measured and witty person who's ever lived.

Kiss & Make Up

2009-12-15T13:14:00.006-05:00

Well, after all this talk I've come to the conclusion that I can't leave the Washington Redskins. A friend of mine from high school [also a Skins fan and currently living in Berlin] noted that I do in fact come from the Washington area, and that is an important thing to remember. He has a point. I have seen the effort it takes to remove a full-grown tree stump from the ground though, and it makes perfect sense that 'rooting' is what one does for their team. Twenty-five years a 'Skins fan makes it nearly impossible to dig up and toss out that loyalty, at least not without a truck and winch and some laborers. There's a pavlovian effect that happens wherein anything 'your team' triggers interest-- their name mentioned in a headline or on the news, their colors or logo somewheres-- and I'm paying attention and hoping it's good. That's just how it goes, and it's not something that changes, I suppose.
So, I'm sorry Redskins. I'm sorry we had to have this door-slamming-foot-stomping shouting match. A couple days after I made this decision, the Redskins-Raiders game was on here in NY. I watched it. They looked pretty sharp. Tough defensive, and more watchable offensively. I'm a big fan of their quarterback, whom they'll probably get rid of in the coming season, but what can I do besides fantasize about some giant karmic swing wherein a debilitating fiscal or physical ruin befalls Dan Snyder and the Skins get sold to a wise and philanthropic old Washingtonian who rights the ship immediately.

I'VE ABANDONED MY TEAM! I'VE ABANDONED THE SKINS!

2009-12-09T17:06:00.006-05:00

Well, not just yet. But I've thought this through enough that I'm not sure I can turn back. The Washington Redskins are not the Washington Redskins for me anymore. So I don't get lost in the frustration and disappointment, I'll be brief. The only reason for me to like this team is that I've rooted for them since I was 7. That's a good reason. But here's why I don't like this team. The owner. And it's not that I merely think he's a jerk, because that I could weather. He's a meddling, corrosive, narcissistic jerk. He's turned a perennially classy team into a perennially underachieving squad of overpaid mercenaries, with a revolving door policy on both coach and quarterback. It's absolutely dreadful to watch and in no way reflects what I would like in the team I root for.

So can a guy make the switch? I'm not sure. On one hand, maybe I'm supposed to just grit my teeth and stay loyal to the burgundy and gold laundry I'm so accustomed to. Of course, Dan Sn*der could be the owner for the next two or three decades, dampening my enthusiasm for the sport and making me embarrassed of my choice all the while. I'm not sure if logic or emotion are even allowed into this argument. I know a lot of dudes would say that your team is your team for life. But doesn't that involve a large degree of mindless obedience?

I'll have to continue with my escape plans and alternatives in my next post...

Pizza Superlative

2009-10-14T17:01:00.003-04:00

I had to drop off my transcripts and such for my Brooklyn College application today. The campus is on my way home from Kingsborough, and serendipitously, I was passing through at lunchtime. Why serendipitously, you ask? Because DiFara's Pizzeria on Avenue J, is only a couple blocks away from Brooklyn College. My memory failed me briefly and I walked several blocks in the wrong direction, but this just stoked my appetite. I waited about 15 minutes for my slice, not bad considering the pizza is made by just one guy. One guy. He's been doing it for a long long time. There were no seats available, so when I got my slice—square with pepperoni—I took it and a root beer outside, and did the best job I could at savoring and not scarfing. It was not easy. The exciting revelation that came over me:
at that particular and fleeting moment, I might have been eating the best slice of pizza in the entire world. I for one believe that intelligent life exists outside of Earth. Most likely though, they don't have pizza. Therefore: I might have been eating the best slice of pizza in the universe. I'm completely serious.

We're Marchin' Down to Dixieland

2009-10-04T19:41:00.004-04:00

My art school transcript unsurprisingly has left me in want of some liberal arts core credit for my grad school applications. I'm not upset about it in the slightest though, because I was able to get into a Civil War era history course at Kingsborough Community College. So I'm currently commuting 3 days a week to Sheepshead Bay–a 45 minute bike ride down Bedford Avenue through several types of neighborhoods, all with their own feel. The most egregiously unfortunate building style along this ride is the Eastern-European's-American-Dream-realized-faux-villa-with-all-the-options. Really, it's terrible. Hooray for the family that worked hard and is celebrating their success through their residence, but I think as someone who pays attention to residential architecture, it's okay for me to point my finger and hold my nose. But I digress...the class itself has been a lot of fun for me. There is a novelty in having this bit of academic structure in my routine for the first time in a long while, and also I'm finding that like many an American male, I have the potential for Civil War buff-dom. I'm not saying I am one, just that it's a riveting subject and we're not even to the war yet. I think I'll wear a Union hat in to class when we talk about Chamberlain at Gettysburg. Apropos: here's one of my favorite Steve Earle songs.

Back in the Saddle Again!

2009-09-26T13:48:00.005-04:00

Just last weekend we attended our first wedding as a married couple. My good buddy Brett and his wife Cat. Known him since 5th grade and we get married within 2 weeks of one another—how 'bout that! Their wedding band did classic rock covers and was the best at it I've heard to date. They did Highway to Hell with howling female vocals—Bonn Scott would've been proud. Becky and I had a great time dancing and listening to me sing along with the band (right..honey??). We also had fun the night of the rehearsal dinner, walking two suburban blocks from my house to Brett's family's place to have a few glasses with his visiting relatives. Brett, Rob and I spent many many nights of single dude-dom over there during our teen and college days, shooting pool and listening to Led Zeppelin. To be back, toasting to the last of us being officially-spoken-for, felt pretty great. Congratulations to Cat and Brett!

Just Married

2009-09-23T09:34:00.012-04:00

photo by Pete Meltzer

Once Becky and I were back on our feet from the chair-and-hair-raising portion of the Hora, there was officially nothing left to worry about on our wedding day. Really though, we had a great time from the moment we started with our parents and dogs down the grassy hill at Hartman's to the garden where we had our ceremony. All of the little things we'd worried about just kind of fell into place, and we couldn't have been happier with how things turned out. My chief concern going in, was the friends and relatives we'd invited should have fun, after all the effort they were going through to be with us. Careful examination of the photos we have so far show lots of smiles on faces, and boy did they make us feel like a million well-loved bucks. Thank you thank you thank you to everyone who came. The folks at Hartman's commented many times on how sweet, fun and well-mannered our crowd was, and how much love was in the air, and we really felt it too.

There's occasional glimpses of the rings on our fingers that come as a smiling surprise in the middle of an otherwise ordinary afternoon. Also, referring to Bec as 'my wife' is so much cooler and more appropriate than 'my girlfriend whom I live with that I will most certainly marry soon' or 'fiancé'. It was a bit shocking to head straight from the wedding into the start of school, with no honeymoon. But sheesh - I don't know how people manage to plan an elaborate vacation along with all they have to do to make the wedding happen. Hopefully we'll still have one in December/January. We're planning a road trip to the family house down in Sarasota, with a stop somewheres like Savannah or Charleston along the way. Then, much relaxing in the winter sun.

One More Week!

2009-08-28T11:30:00.000-04:00

Things have gotten pretty hectic in the Schmal-McCarthy household, as we're a mere week away from our wedding. At the same time that we're taking care of all the final details [table charts, safety pins, and um...our vows], Becky is racing to finish an online statistics course before her start at NYU Nursing shortly after our wedding, and I'm in the midst of registering at Kingsborough Community College, to take the prerequisite history survey I need for my applications to Masters programs in the spring. Goodness, I just got anxious typing that. Maggie and Summer don't seem to notice or mind the pacing- both are relaxing on the floor next to me as I type. If only they knew of my plans to send them to classes in place of Becky and me, they'd be a more concerned.

Beards, Fried Chicken and Big Buck Hunter

2009-08-28T11:09:00.007-04:00

Last weekend, a collapsed bachelor's camping trip lead to a successful bachelor dinner at Sidecar, a delicious and laid-back spot in the South Slope that appeared shortly before I moved in North with Bec. There were 8 of us, and though I didn't anticipate any challenge since we're a well-behaved cohort, I feel like the staff there took care of us

pretty well. M y Cousin Ethan who couldn't make it due to the confluence of his wife Rachel's pregnancy, their move into their first house, and well...living 5 hours away, called in ahead of time and bought us two bottles of champagne. Very cool, E. I had fried chicken that was pretty great and was possibly overshadowed by its own side, kale with thick cut bacon chunks in it. Oh - and we also had some oysters to start things, and they were delicious and very fresh. Seth: way to be a mensch and try 'em for the first time. Oysters are somehow spectacular and spectacularly ordinary at the same time, in my opinion, but man alive I love 'e

m in the summer. A girl came over to our booth with a camera and asked to take our picture* for some Italian blog on American culture. All but one of us had a beard, as is the style of the time, I suppose. After Side car we went to Buttermilk, the bar I used to go to when I lived around there. It was a nice adieu to my bachelorhood: standing in a cluster of my male friends and feeding dollars into the Big Buck Hunter game which I'm pretty nimble on. I shot several trophy Bucks over the course of the evening, but couldn't fit them on Chris's scooter when he gave me a ride home.

*if said indiv. reads this post, please contact with picture or address of fake blog, thank you

Marriage = Conversational Lode

2009-08-11T21:38:00.002-04:00

As a dog owner living next to Prospect Park, there's a category of acquaintance — dog owners whom I see 3 or 4 times a week, chat with, but still do not know their names. They are called Luna-mom, Bella-mom, Shep-dad, etc. I've noticed that these acquaintances and other small-talk candidates, have for the most part a very genuinely enthusiastic response to the news of me and Bec's engagement. It's absolutely cool to be on the receiving end of this, and it surprises me every time. I mean, most people get married, right? And I don't think I carry myself in such a way that news of my impending wedding makes others pat me on the back in any sort of success-despite-overwhelming-odds manner. But when I tell them I'm getting married soon, they almost all get really bright-eyed and ask a bunch of questions about the wedding. When I talked about it with Bec, she suggested that others' experience and hopes and memories play into their response, which I think must be the case. And this notion is really cool, because added to the excitement of marrying the girl I love, is the suggestion that while we're entering the biggest day of our lives as a couple, we're also joining on to a giant Jungian bunny-hop, with...well, everyone!

Balrog, Orthanc, Lothlorien and Minas Tirith

2009-08-07T10:13:00.003-04:00

The last couple of weeks I've been reading The Lord of the Rings series. I'm just about done with The Two Towers at this point. I'd never read them before, but I was a big fan of the movies, despite little interest in the Fantasy genre, prior. What's really enjoyable, having seen the movies first, is that reading them is simultaneously making me appreciate Tolkein's craft, while also validating Peter Jackson's accomplishments in adapting the story to film. At the same time the reading is providing characters' background and purpose missing from the films due to the sheer amount of material that had to be sifted through, the action sequences make me appreciate the staggering scope and pace with which they were presented in the films even more so. They pass by with little fanfare in the text, and I'm thankful, as opposed to regretful, that I have the film sequences already in my head as a reference.

2009-07-29T12:47:00.003-04:00

Goodbye, wonderful Sennheiser ear-buds. It is rare that I'm able to see a load of laundry through, start to finish, without making some egregious error. This time however, I think I've really topped past efforts.

Check the pockets...

Check the pockets....

Check the pockets

Great PSA

2009-07-22T22:03:00.001-04:00

Getting Legal, Lexington Style

2009-07-19T20:27:00.006-04:00

Becky and I drove up to Lexington to take care of some wedding business. On the docket: apply for a marriage license; meet with potential wedding photographer; go to our wedding location for the menu tasting. Compared to the other aspects of planning the wedding, the Happiness-to-Effort ratio of going to town hall for our license was tip-top. The picture here was taken by the clerk that filed the paperwork, and I think it captures our mood - being a little closer to getting married - thrilled, plain and simple. Can't wait. The tasting was a lot of fun, but I don't want to give anything away.

Wait, okay, I will:

The steak was excellent, as were the farm's own veggies and herbs. And dessert...ohhhh baby.

What day is it?

2009-07-13T09:21:00.002-04:00

I've been hesitant to post updates lately because most of my time is spent thinking about and planning our wedding, or figuring out my hopeful beginning of a Graduate Degree in Education; both seem to me like the kind of thing I want to keep under-wraps until good and ready. However, the Mets are close to unwatchable and I don't want to wake the sleeping beast that is Michael Jackson coverage, so I might as well write about the other stuff. Bec and I had a solid two week period of making decisions on the wedding ceremony and reception. I created our invitations and we got them all sent out. We've set up a menu tasting that we'll be checking out this coming weekend in Barre, along with meeting a potential picture-taker for the day. Most importantly, we decided on our officiants, Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Louise of our Cousin Rachel. It was really rejuvenating and giddy-feeling to talk about the actual wedding ceremony - the reason we're doing all of this - as opposed to the various party details that have to be addressed. I'm pretty excited to celebrate with friends and relatives, but it's nothing compared to how much I'm looking forward to Bec and I saying We Do, and putting on our wedding rings*. As for school: there's certainly a lot to be considered. The nuts and bolts of tuition, time, work and other functional details are sort of making my head spin. I'm really excited at the thought of being immersed in a learning environment again, working towards an occupation I think will be a better fit for me. This week will be devoted to getting a definitive answer on how my art school transcripts will affect my admission into a program. It's not going to be pretty.

*more on this to come

Bad Thoroughbred Names

2009-06-22T22:18:00.002-04:00

I found this list I made of race horse names in my journal the other day. It's from a few years ago, but I figured hey - I've got a blog now!

Precocious Sheldon
Fat Chance
Lazy Susan
Paramus Slowdown
Fishbelly
Herbert Hoofer
Glass Half-Empty
Napoleon's Bad Winter
Mr Coffee-Cups
Li'l Pisher

Maybe I Should Have Groomsmen After All...

2009-05-25T22:53:00.000-04:00

Why am I Still Watching 24?

2009-05-12T11:51:00.002-04:00

I really don't know. I'm pretty sure that by any academic standard, it's awful. Here's what bugs me right now:

The whispering. All the hushed intensity. Who talks like that? No one, that's who.

Gratuitous violence. I'm just not a fan. Two episodes back, a handcuffed kid broke a mirror and stabbed his captor in the neck with one of the shards. It all happened in the blink of an eye with no explanation for why this kid has such a homicidal instinct. Are they telling us anyone is capable of this kind of thing under duress? Not to mention they showed way more than needed to. It's like implied-action is no longer available to filmmakers.

I'm going to kill so-and-so if you don't this-and-that. [sigh] Really? This again? Geez.

The plot-lines' constant reliance on there being turncoats very very high up in the government. I'm pretty cynical, but I think most of the government is made up of bureaucrats who are making a living, albeit jerkily at times. Not so many homicidal nihilists.

It's all happening in a day? This never used to bug me, but this season it's a real problem. That African warlord's men infiltrated the White House earlier this morning, and now Jack is fighting a nerve agent he's been exposed to, while Duncan from Seinfeld is about to hold his daughter randsom [see two above]?

I don't think so 24. You've worn out your welcome. For some reason though, I'm still going to watch your Season Finale.

The Most Exciting Thing in the Unemployed World...

2009-05-05T12:50:00.003-04:00

...is not a job offer, though I'm very hopeful that the food co-op hires me for the Coordinator position I interviewed for. No, as a freelancer, I've had several stints of unemployment. I've had what feels like temporary unemployment, hopeful unemployment, spirit-crushing unemployment, kind of awesome but guilt-ridden summer unemployment, and my current figuring out big things while homemaking unemployment. Before I continue, let me assure my future in-laws and parents that I do not take pride in any of these forms of joblessness and am trying to make choices that will minimize my chances of having to expand or languish within that list. It's merely to qualify my position in asserting that the most exciting thing in the unemployed world is:

UPS

I'm currently awaiting two different packages containing some kind of bike part needed to move my projects out the door, and a backordered toilet paper holder that will crown the bathroom's remodel. If I were working all day at a job, they would just be there in the entryway when I got home, a pleasant surprise. Sitting here at my desk at home, with a nearly finished bike behind me and a roll of toilet paper sitting on the toilet tank instead of properly mounted on the wall in grab's-distance, that boxy brown truck would really shake things up if it were to slow down in front of our apartment. That would be 'what happened today'. Is that sad? I submit, no. I need to run a couple of errands and the dogs need a walk. Boy will it be disappointing if I come back to that missed-delivery slip on the door.

Allegiance

2009-05-03T07:55:00.004-04:00

Simultaneous following of the current Mets and Celtics' seasons has made me look to the notion of loyalty. The first month of the Mets has been mostly creaks, groans, and a lot of fast-turning-tv-off. The first week of Celtics in the playoffs has been an odd exercise in familiarity for me, raised on Celts' playoff-basketball, but absent from my radar from Reggie Lewis's death till somewheres around their 25 point comeback against the Nets in the Eastern Conference. But in both the Celts-Bulls series that ended last night and the Mets-Phills' the past two days, there are plays and players that make me ask why someone roots for a team.

Quickly:

—The beat on the Mets is their offense will not fight back from a late deficit, and even broader: they choke. The Phillies are showing a knack for clawing back, to the point their fans are expecting it even at 2 outs in the 9th. I root for the Mets and I kind of resent the Phillies.

—Rajon Rondo and Derrick Rose, the point guards for the Celts and Bulls, both seemed to achieve superstar status in this series. If you put them both in plainclothes and I didn't know their faces, I'd pick Rose to be on the Celtics and probably have no problems assigning Rondo the role of 'badguy'. That's not the case. I quietly acknowledge Rose's skill and demeanor, but cheer and root for Rondo and his headband.

—It's already clear to me that the Mets are going to be nauseating to follow for the next five months. If I had to pick an NL East team to root for from their descriptions, I'd be a Marlins fan. This is not the case. I kind of resent the Marlins.

—The current Celtics team in no way resembles the famed one I was lucky to grow up rooting for with my dad. The arena is different and it's filled with a markedly more theme-park-hey-look-where-we-are-I'm-on-TV-'cause-someone-at-my-company-gave-me-these-obnoxiously-priced-tickets crowd than what I remember cheering with in the 80's. There's crap music playing over the PA seemingly through the entire game, and I don't know why Stephon Marbury or the tattoo on his head, are there at all. But inside 2 minutes or when a couple of quick passess find Ray Allen or Eddie House open in the corner, I feel like there was no break between Bird-era and Pierce-era.

So what I'm left with is this: following a team has nothing to do with one's preferences. The team's character comes and goes and as a fan I'm forced to endure all the horrible decisions that are made and money spent, and then drink-up the nearly-random highs, when they're available. I think it's all an exercise in faithfulness and a constructed sense of permanence. The Celtics were there when I was young, and are there for times when I feel like following basketball (I just don't understand it very well). I only became a real baseball fan when I moved to New York and hopped on the well-appointed but fundamentally-rickety Mets trolley, but after only 8 years I feel like I've got a family member who gets me swinging-mad with every visit, but the visits always begin and end with hugs...

unless the Mets squander a lead today.

Two Week List

2009-04-22T17:07:00.011-04:00

Unfortunately, I've waited two weeks now to post a blog entry. Consequently, the material that needs mention is a bit overwhelming so I'm going to kind of put it out there and then tackle the juicy bits in depth over the next couple of posts. How about a list: the last two weeks in ascending order of noteworthiness, one to ten.

1. The Mets: already a headache. There must be some guys out there who can't hit the ball as far but don't mentally crumble with a guy on second in a close game. I'd like some of those guys in our lineup please.

2. Bathroom: it's great. We love it. We needed to get a piece of glass cut to dimension for an added shelf in our medicine cabinet. I called a guy on 23rd st in Manhattan, and the next morning he showed up at my door holding the glass. No packaging, no extra charge for delivery, just a guy with a piece of glass, 15-11/16"x3-3/16", in his hand, for 35 dollars. I will definitely miss this New York someday.

3. We found 3 ticks on Maggie's neck and chin after we returned from New England. Gross. Seriously. Removing ticks is officially Becky's job. They're almost an Ugly Sight but not really because they are a singular thing that is in-and-of-itself, repulsive. I'm well aware of the fragility of the ecosystem, but I say let's get rid of ticks, mosquitoes and Yellow Jackets, and just deal with adverse effect it has on nature. Deal? I mean, we've almost gotten rid of Polar Bears and we weren't even trying! How hard could it be if we really put our thumbs and cerebral cortexes to this task.

4. Cousin Ethan and Billy Huling were in town so Bec and I had people over for a dinner for the first time in a long while. I made calzones, veggie and meaty, from scratch. They were delicious but oh goodness the trouble and mess they were. We've since decided that all family dinner gatherings will just be solved with a lasagna. Heyyyy come on over, we'll pop a lasagna in the oven!

5. I was walking the dogs on the sidewalk and a minivan pulled over and came to an abrupt stop next to me. Two Hasidim asked me how much my dogs weigh. They wanted to know what's a 25lb. dog. What do you mean? Well, they say, we don't know about dogs. I say a spaniel of sorts weights around 25. They say they don't know dogs. If they don't know a spaniel then why are they asking. One says, a Poodle? Sure, I said. Thank you! And that was it. I think they either wanted to convert me, or eat Maggie.

6. Tree flowers are blooming all over Brooklyn which means a month or so of beautiful walks outside, after which it will be too hot for me and I'll wish I lived in Nova Scotia. For now, there Callery Pear outside or building, along with weeping cherries, magnolias and some yellow stuff I don't know the name of and maybe a Dogwood and lots of tulips - all along a 15 minute dog walk. It's pretty awesome. I think it would be rad to someday have a long gravel driveway lined with Callery Pears. The sight of a bunch of them in a row, all covered in white blossoms - it's great stuff.

7. Portland, Maine: we drove up, left the dogs at McCarthy Kennels and spent 2 nights in the Portland Oregon of the East Coast. Along the way we settled the argument that the Clam Chowder standard contains bacon [it does]. Several points of interest in Portland hadn't opened for the season yet, but we did get a nice sense of the downtown, which is quaint yet operational. Did a lot of lo oky-looing at shops and buildings and such. The Museum was cute, but it seemed a bit all-over in its collection, but the highlights were a badass U.S.Grant statue and a restored 18th century Georgian mansion that had incredibly cool carpet reproductions. We had a really delicious dinner at The Front Room with Rob, a fantasy football compadre, and his wife Maureen - both enthusiastic dog people like us. We swam in the hotel pool and ate a slew of delicious breads at the Standard Bakery down by the water. We stopped at Portland Head Light lighthouse on the way out of town - a beautiful classic that looked very well maintained (still operational) and sits on some prime coastline.

8. On the way up to Portland, Becky asked me why I hadn't considered teaching as a career. I have considered it at different times, but not lately and not outside of the arts umbrella like I did the several days following her suggestion. It is sounding very appealing right now and it feels good to have a notion that seems like a nice fit. Much more to come on this, hopefully.

9. Becky got accepted to NYU's nursing program! We came home from running errands together, and I was putting stuff away in our apartment while Bec hung back in the foyer to sort through the building's mail. A couple minutes later she came upstairs and said, "honey look!" She was holding her acceptance letter in front of her and I can say it was the happiest I've ever been for another person. I knew she could do it but the wait and worry had become trying. We're very excited to have some blanks filled in for the next year or two!

10. And most importantly: I asked Becky to marry me and she said yes. She actually said "YES!YES!YES! EEEE!!" I had been tiptoeing around in attempt to have a ring made by my friend Mandy, a jewelry maker, so I could pull the classic surprise-out-of-nowhere proposal, but as it turns out once you're sure you want to be with someone for the rest of your life, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible(thank you Billy Crystal). We were in Lexington and I'd just realized that with the lighthouse, I'd totally blown a great location to ask - rrrgh. I scrambled into town while I was doing some errands without Bec, stopped at a bead store and had the woman there make a wire and stone ring to present as a place holder for the real deal. We went for a walk at Estabrook Woods with the dogs - it was a spectacular afternoon with dappled light and still ponds - I got down on the knee and asked her if she would be my wife and we could grow old together. The dogs were very happy for us.

Baseballtime

2009-04-07T21:51:00.006-04:00

Can the Mets break hearts a fourth year in a row? I've had several months of not entertaining this question, but now with these first semi-expected-miserable April days, it's the beginning again. I will say two things. First, is that I wasn't heartbroken at the end of last season, since I was telling my dad and Bec that the Mets "definitely have something wrong" about a third of the way through the season. Becky would now assert that I thought all the pieces were in place when they signed Johan, which I can't utterly deny, but that was before the season began and for the most part, a feckless assessment. Bottom line: it wasn't surprising they crapped the bed in the face of the Phillies chase, just sort of impressive that they were able to so thoroughly execute the chokejob we were all afraid of. Not winning the Endy-Catch Game 7 (which I was at, mind you) was horrible. Watching the next season's collapse and attending 2 of the final 3 games including THE Tom Glavine 1st inning implosion game...well that was also horrible but in a new, more nauseating way than the prior horrible. Becky said it best, after attending far more games in one season than I'm sure she would've preferred (thank you, babe): "Baseball seems really depressing - everyone gets their hopes up and then they get disappointed, over and over.*" I guess she's been paying attention.

Here we are though. A new season. A few million have landed us one of the best closers in baseball[Frankie Rodriguez], a potential lockdown setup guy [Putz], a great bit of platoon/pinch-hitting pop in the bottom of the order[Sheff]. Dan Murphy and Big Pelf are looking really solid, and Oliver Perez has to get less crazy at some point, right? Aside from Luis Castillo, I really really like the team this year. I think we're going to the Series. Unfortunately I think the affection-holding Sox might be too, which is a pickle I will have to cross when I count my gift nickles, as they say.

Yesterday I left the house to get a couple of groceries around the 5th inning with a Met lead of 1-0. How could I leave, you might ask. Easy. First of all: I knew the score would be 2-1 Mets in the 8th when I got back, which it was. Secondly, I had the comfort of knowing that there will be baseball for the next 7 months, laconically moseying into the fall with a gradual acceleration of intensity barely perceptible as it's happening, but boiling the frog by the end of September. I love that with baseball (and DVR), I can leave the room and come back. I love that in New York, yesterday's game results track me down even if I've missed them. I'm pleased that despite the big signings, there's a core of guys that really feel like Mets to me. I'm thrilled to watch some games at the new park, even though it's got a paid-for name and ugly brick that undercuts the really nice arch and metal work. I'm psyched that I can see the Mets doing really well, but personally I'd rather lose with a team I like, than win with one I don't.

*Try Pittsburgh, says a smirking Ron Schmal.

Ugly Sights - Artichoke

2009-03-30T09:26:00.003-04:00

When I told my family to check my last blog entry, they were fortuitously eating artichoke for dinner. My sister, lucky to have no Ugly Sight Receptors, was responsible for recording the appearance. And thus:

photo courtesy of Robin Schmal

Ugly Sights - An Introduction

2009-03-29T18:16:00.003-04:00

There is an inherited trait in my family that runs down through my mother's side, that makes us queazily susceptible to Ugly Sights. My Ma and brother Mike have Ugly Sight receptors much more sensitive than my own, but I do have them nonetheless. I suppose I should attempt to define an Ugly Sight. It's not easy. Essentially, it's lots of little things, close together, usually a natural occurrence but not limited to such. What's tricky is that most little-things-close-together pass unnoticed and do not trigger the Ugly Sight receptors. Really, the only way to understand them is by example over time. But for introduction's sake, I'll list a few Ugly Sights in ascending order of offense.

striations of cooked chicken breast when cut across the grain---> gills of mushroom's underside---> cluster of bell pepper seeds---> honeycomb teeming with bees

Since this all has the tendency to make those born without Ugly Sight Receptors scratch their heads in confusion or pity, I've decided to post pictures of Ugly Sights whenever I have the opportunity and means. Contributions and suggestions are welcome and encouraged.

And without further ado:

Obamaptimism

2009-03-24T21:45:00.005-04:00

My understanding of the current financial hubbub is limited at best. At best. I've been trying to catch the big ones in the Times, the occasional Planet Money and NPR ramblings, but I just can't get my head in the game. I think fiscal ambition is as sparse in my genetic code as raw hockey talent, military service leanings or Merengue obsession. But what I did notice tonight during Obamas p.c. on economic stimulus, is that while he's no doubt gleaning many angles from his team of advisers and analysts, he's not merely regurgitating. His speech and body language are suggestive of an active engagement in the material. It's like he wants to be President...and do what a President should do. When he firmly ended one reporter's questioning why he waited days to comment on the bonuses, Obama said "It took us a couple of days because I like to know what I'm talking about before I speak." Read you loud and clear, sir. I think W. was an illiterate, too. What was most encouraging for me though, was Obama's continued pressing of the notion that energy, education and health care can simultaneously create growth fiscally and holistically for the nation. On one hand, it's a general laundry list of Democratic rhetoric, but in light of his demonstrated understanding of what his top people are bringing to the table, I hope and to some degree expect, that he's working with actionable intelligence.

Knobby-Knob

2009-03-23T16:33:00.001-04:00

I was cleaning up and putting tools and supplies away today, and tomorrow I'm going to be spending the bulk of the day trying to clean the layer of dust that is now sitting over every-single-thing in our apartment. If I had to do this over I would listen to Bec, and put up plastic, cordoning-off the construction zone. What's done is done however, so in the meantime, here are some details of the glass knobs we put on the cabinets and door. I hope my next bathroom post is the final before and after pics!

Summynose

2009-03-20T18:53:00.002-04:00

The bathroom progress over the last two days has been little loose ends - grout, installation of the light fixture, some caulk, sealing the floor tile. I thought a cute Aussie was more fun for today. Tomorrow I'm going to paint our old door and install new hinges and a new glass knob to match the cabinet knobs. A couple of paint touch-ups and quite possibly...it will be finished. Oh my goodness...

MCXVII

2009-03-18T00:39:00.005-04:00

Whew. Just a little more. I finished plastering and painting the ceiling last night and was set to do a lot more finish work today, until my downstairs neighbor called from JFK having forgotten her passport. I suppose it was good practice for fastest-way-to-JFK, but I'd have rather spent that time cleaning up the floor or something. Anyway, I gave the dust a first pass and the room is coming together.

We're a little bummed about how dark and bulky the cabinet over the toilet appears, but we're thinking that once we get some towels, bathmat and chatchkis and other evidence of human activity, it won't be quite so view-commanding. Maybe.

Here's a happy accident. I cut the hex tile off at the doorway a little too short, so when I set the marble saddle (the wide piece at the threshold) there was a 3/8-1/2" gap - too wide to not look weird once grouted.

So I cut some of the glass mosaic in half and shoved 'em in that gap, and lo and behold: looks like I was planning that detail the whole time.

Stumbling to the finish line...

Same Day, Sort Of

2009-03-16T00:30:00.001-04:00

I just finished painting the walls. I'm pretty bushed.

XXII (XXIII?) - So...Tired...Must...Press...On...

2009-03-15T08:06:00.002-04:00

I'm so close to being done, but not yet there - it's a bit frustrating. It felt like a step backwards yesterday to cut a hole in the ceiling to install a new exhaust fan, but it needs to be done, and I'm glad Bec suggested I do it before I proceed with painting the walls.

Once the fan is in and the hole patched, I'll be able to do all the painting including the ceiling in one shot. At least opening-up the ceiling gave me a pretty cool glimpse
of the duct-work and timbers that are hidden above our dropped bathroom ceiling.

The last couple of days with a functional shower have been a wonderful if not a bit maddening preview of a return to normalcy around here! I'm going to wrap this up so I can get working and hopefully get the ceiling all taken care of this afternoon. We watched Sarah Marshall last night, which was mostly hilarious with a spotty turn towards relationship malevolence, which I do not enjoy. There was also an unexpected appearance by Paul Rudd, whom Becky has dubbed "my boyfriend". He's charming. What can I say.

...Okay, I typed the previous this morning, and since have installed the fan and am currently waiting for the first layer of plaster patch to dry before I go back to finish.

Day XX - Shower

2009-03-12T10:14:00.002-04:00

I am about to take a shower. No ordinary shower, mind you; probably the most earned shower I will have ever taken. Becky took the inaugural this morning and came out with rave reviews. Good pressure out of the new showerparts. Spacious feeling due to the clean new tile, added light in the ceiling, the removal of intrusive shower caddy and hand-held showerhead with it's coils and such. Needless to say, I'm very excited to both enjoy my weeks of handiwork, and join the rest of the daily-bathing adult population. I'm going to go now and use this shower. I will post more later about today's work. Here we go!

XVIII - More Color Samples...

2009-03-11T09:32:00.000-04:00

Maggienose

2009-03-10T09:47:00.000-04:00

pic by Becky

XVII

2009-03-09T23:54:00.003-04:00

Paint samples before deciding on a color and here's why...

Yeesh. Guess we'll see what 7+ has to offer!

Day Sixteen - Grout

2009-03-08T09:29:00.004-04:00

Grout! Oh baby, it's coming together. Shower soon.

Two Weeks! Two Weeks!

2009-03-06T22:01:00.004-05:00

Today, at 2:50PM Eastern Standard Time, I placed the last wall tile in its spot. Man did that feel good. There's still a whole bunch to do before it's finished, and a couple of little tile details on the floor I need to take care of, but moving past the noise and mess of cutting and gluing tiles all day long is a huge relief.

Becky had a great idea for capping the edge of the shower tiles with quarter-rounds I bought to edge the floor. It makes the transition from tile to [what will be] painted wall more finished looking. I'm glad I went back and redid the tiles framing the soap/shampoo niche as I can now say free of hyperbole that it looks a zillion times better.

I had the end of the project clear enough in my mind that I was able to take the time to make dinner for the first time in days. Pasta with a braised short-rib ragu. It was pretty worthy.

Day Thirteen - Clog Free...sorta

2009-03-04T23:20:00.003-05:00

Joe came this morning with his son Joe, and installed the sink, shower fixtures and straightened the toilet. It was really nice to have some parts of the final picture completed. The fixtures operate smoothly and solidly, and they're nice and shiny.

Much of my worry was relieved when Tony the sewer guy came by and unstuck the boulder I'd grown in the tub's drain. We talked about Scrubs, Friday Night Lights and Willie Randolph.

Apparently, this is the face I make when I'm stressed, hungry and eating my breakfast that I made hours ago, moments before Joe arrived to get to work. I will try and avoid that combination of circumstances and thus, this face, in the future.

I messed up the edging around the shampoo niche. It's going to set me back a bit to redo it, but after so many days of hardwork, to not set it right on account of a couple hours and dollars...anyway, I'll fix it tomorrow. I think the tiling will be done by the end of the day. I will rejoice. Sushi tonight. Yum.

Day Twelve - Still Still Tub

2009-03-03T23:57:00.002-05:00

Mini melt-down this afternoon, slow going, but then a strong finish in the waning hours of the day. Chicken, beans and rice for dinner. We're getting verrrry close to finishing the tile...I can taste it. Literally: the tile saw spews a lot of clay dust into the room. The plumbers turned the tub problem over to a sewer guy who will be here tomorrow. That news was part of the melt-down. Tomorrow is a big day!

Days Ten & Eleven

2009-03-02T22:42:00.007-05:00

I thought the shower would be entirely tiled by the end of today, but no. Ugh. Mike works with a diligent perfectionism that is fun to have around, and I think we should be done with the shower tomorrow. There is an obstacle though. The tub is stopped-up and filled with water from work and cleanup. I sure hope we can get someone here in the morning to free-up the drain so we can get back to work.

Day Nine - Moving Along

2009-03-01T01:34:00.005-05:00

Mike and I spent most of the morning trying to clean and make some sense of everything outside the bathroom. Becky was coming home from Lexington with her dad and brother after lunch, so we cleaned as much as we could before then. Progress+*Neatness*=Illusions of Competence! After a quick look at what's been done so far, Dan and Josh headed back North. Mike and I tiled most of the long wall around the sink before Bec noticed that the light switchbox wasn't high enough to clear the belt-line of the tile, so we'd wind up having to cut into the tile to fit the switchplate. Blech. I moved the box up in the wall about an inch and Mike patched around it. I found it cool: that task in itself, had none of this renovation been going on, would've seemed like kind of a big deal that I'd pencil in an entire day to do, but as it is we cut the power and had that thing at proper height and the wall around it patched up in like an hour. Once again there was pizza. It was good. Tomorrow we hope to make it through most of the remaining tile and we'll all go pick up paint samples for the wall color.

The Day of the Crooked Toilet

2009-02-27T10:16:00.003-05:00

Day Eight was kind of stressful. My brother, Mike, was on his way up from Virginia to help for the next few days. The toilet was set to be installed at around 4, so I had to tile and grout the wall behind the toilet before then (so I wouldn't have to take the toilet back out to work on the wall behind it). I was anxious to get going on the tile, and then I noticed I was short one bucket of tile adhesive. I'd also resigned to chipping out the marble threshold so I could reinstall it with a 1/4" eave to then sit flush with glass tiles on the face of the slab. This meant more grout needed of the same color, and I'd used it all already, so I needed to drive back to Bensonhurst to get a small bag of the same stuff. I get pretty antsy when I'm ready to go on something but I have to do another task first. I got back a little frazzled from driving in a self-imposed rush, tried to relax and then threw the tile up on the wall. Mike arrived when I was about 3/4 done, he watched me saw a few pieces to size and then it was finished. Ready for the toilet. We took the dogs for a walk to Taqueria and picked up some burritos so we'd have some motivation to test said-toilet once installed. Joe's guys were unloading their van just as we got back, and they came up and put in the toilet. They made a high-craft job of it, using plaster to seal the edges. What I didn't notice until they were gone, is that it was crooked. Twisted so it's not facing straight ahead. It kind of lolls to the left like a distracted dog who won't look you in the eye. After an hour of—is it crooked—enough to complain—it's crooked, right?— I called Joe and left a message that I was sorry to be so picky, but the damn thing isn't on correctly. The bright side is that it has an amazing flush. I told Bec I was thinking of stepping-up my coffee consumption just to spend more time with our new toilet. Fran came over to give Mike and me a lesson in applying the joint compound to corners, as we'd never done it and Fran has spent countless hours learning from his mistakes on his house, so he could help us avoid doing the same. We spend the last couple hours of the night finishing the first pass in the room with the plaster, and felt like we got much better as we went along. It was relaxing and I went to bet feeling much better than I had earlier in the day. Joe called this morning and assured me he'd straighten out the toilet when he comes to do all the final installs.

Whew.

One Week - Floor is Done (well, almost)

2009-02-26T10:06:00.002-05:00

It's been a week since the first destructive hole was struck in the wall, beginning this project. I'm not too far off the schedule I originally planned out, but as expected, there's always the unexpected. I grouted the floor last night and it looks classy. I thought I was done but this morning I realized I set the threshold back about a 1/4" inch too far in the room. It looks fine, but I need a little bit of an overhang off the concrete slab on the hall-side of the threshold, to put glass tile flush on the face of the concrete bed. It's not terribly noticeable, but it will bug me if it's not done correctly, so I think I'm going to chisel out the threshold and first row of hex that sits against it, and do it again right. Kind of a pain, but at least it won't affect the toilet's installation this afternoon - woohoo! IN-MY-HOUSE! IN-MY-HOUSE!

Days Five & Six - The Floor

2009-02-25T14:01:00.010-05:00

The thing about working on the floor, is the working on the floor. After the last two days I can say that if I were granted a wish to be a Major League ballplayer, it most definitely would not be as a catcher. My knees and back are stiff and sore as hell after yesterday's 12 hour marathon. The good news though, is that the tile is down, and down pretty. Before doing any of that though, I had to fill the divots and missing chunks in the cement bed.

The bed itself was in pretty solid shape so I elected to keep it there and patch, instead of removing it in chunks and replacing it with new cement backerboard. Less carrying of concrete chunks is almost always a good thing, I think. So by Monday evening the floor was patched, level and ready to go for putting down the tile on Tuesday. I must say, I was feeling cocky and capable when I woke up yesterday. I didn't think it would take too long to put down the tile, especially since this would be the first time I'd have a wetsaw at my disposal. The day ahead seemed spacious and I thought I'd be done by dinner. I laid all tile in its place, dry at first, and determined the amount and spacing of the black hex flower details. Bec and I exchanged some pics and opinions of the arrangement and decided it was set to go.

I drew a map on the wall assigning each sheet of tile a number, including the small pieces for weird areas at corners and around the toilet flange, and this was probably the smartest thing I've done to this point— definitely of the project, possibly of my life.

I would've been lost when things got messy and tired. Next, I wanted to make all the cuts on the saw that I'd need to put down the tile so I wouldn't have to stop and waste valuable workable-thinset(mortar)time, and so I wouldn't disturb my neighbors (power saw cutting rock: loud and shrill). It was 8 o'clock or so at this point, and even though it took longer than I expected, I thought the rest would be cake. HA! wrong. I spent the next 6 hours crouched on the hard floor, meticulously fixing the tiles to the ground according to the drawn map, and my goodness were the black hex flowers a pain in the ass— mostly because they weren't as thick as the rest of the tile, so I had to apply extra thinset to them and then carefully place them in place, tamp them down with a flat board and mallet, then use a tiny screwdriver to remove the squeezed-out thinset. The first couple of these I had only the loosest grip on non-panic, but by 1/2 way across the floor I'd got in a rhythm and did a better job. I can actually see them improve in their application from the starting point at the toilet, to the end at the doorway. I had a small charge when the bucket of thinset I used made it all the way to the end, with barely enough to put down one more tile had I needed. Whew. I made a lot of crunching and groaning noises as I stood up, had a beer and a slice of cold pizza, walked the dogs and went to bed. When I woke up this morning, the apartment was a disaster, but the floor looks great and the tile is all where it should be!

Next up: grout!

Day Four - Walls without Toilets

2009-02-23T09:40:00.017-05:00

Will had to leave in the evening for Providence and Fran has a job, so with Sunday we wanted to get all the walls up, since it would be no fun at all for me to try it by myself. The room now looks like a room again - all the walls in place, *including* a new niche in the shower for shampoo and soap.

We framed an opening for a concealed plunger cabinet in the small wall next to the toilet but now I'm faced with two problems. First, that cabinet is now where the toilet paper roll used to be. I need to find another spot for the tp that's within easy reach, but not directly under where the hand towels go, since nobody wants to use pre-moistened toilet paper (well, possibly they do, but that is the subject for a future entry on bidets and their conspicuous absence from the American bathroom). Second, I had to remove the toilet to put in the wall behind it, and it's not worth putting it back in, only to take it out again for putting tile down. So - I made a trip to the gym this morning immediately on wake-up to take care of some business. I will be thrilled to have my toilet back.

All-in-all I'd say it was the best day of progress yet— deeply gratifying to put up walls and have it all take solid form. We couldn't get our hands on a fake skeleton on such short notice, so we put a drawing on the wall behind the medicine cabinet.

Day Three - Starting the Walls

2009-02-21T23:52:00.007-05:00

This morning I went to Classic Tile and Marble in Bensonhurst to pick up the subway tile and its various trim elements. The picture there is what I think the arrangement will be, the manila yellow on top being the manila folder I placed the tiles on for the picture. We'll probably paint the walls above the tile a bright blue or pale green. We took care of the final details inside what will be the walls— framing for the medicine cabinet, moved some electrical doodads around, and planted a fake skeleton for future mystery-making discovery. By the end of the night Will and I got a couple of pieces of sheet rock on one wall, and are ready to do the rest of the room tomorrow. The dogs I think, have already had enough of all this. The apartment is just about as messy as it's been since the days after I moved in. Does Rhoomba make a Shop-Vac? I could use it.

Day Two - Electrical and Plumbing

2009-02-21T00:18:00.002-05:00

I suppose it's good to know your limits and when to turn to the pros, especially when the result of not doing so could be very bad things happening inside your apartment's walls. So this morning I had Beckford, a really nice guy, come over to add wiring for a recessed light above the shower. Shortly before Beckford finished up, Frank and Joe(also very nice guys) came to overhaul the plumbing leading to the shower and sink. Midday when the apartment was buzzing with people, dogs and progress, it felt really really cool. Fran and Will came over, the pros finished, and Becky left for Lexington after completing her second semester of school with possibly the first actual 'A+' I've ever seen on paper— way to go, babe! Fran and I picked up all the materials we'll need to start the walls tomorrow, we ordered a couple pizzas, brought all the goods upstairs with Will, then we ate those pizzas. They were delicious and there are leftovers.

Day One - Demolition

2009-02-19T19:05:00.005-05:00

It begins!

First day with gloves and hammers and with the help of my buddies Fran and Will, we took all the sheetrock down, and all the old tile up. As Will said, "the non-exacting part of the process is very much fun."

Toilets and Coloquialisms

2009-02-16T18:07:00.003-05:00

Almost all of the materials and fixtures for our bathroom have been picked out, including the toilet. I've got to plead ignorance: until I had to pick out a new toilet, I'd never given them thought from a design standpoint let alone split hairs over the myriad choices I have for sending my shit hurtling to the sea. A good hour reading online reviews of models and features allowed me to make an informed decision, but left me with this: when does the word 'shit' get promoted to non-swear status? I can't honestly recommend that you spend your free time reading reviews of toilets, but if you wind up having to and are dreading it, know this — euphemisms for shit are many and awkward. Aren't we beating around the bush here? Why am I reading things like: BM, fecal deposits, solid waste, number two, and the always comical poop. How about Corn Kernel Delivery Cylinder? It's perfectly clear that toilet bowl X is unsatisfactory because the water level is low and one has to clean the shit off the inside too often. Toilet bowl Y takes too many flushes to get rid of the shit. As far as I can tell, all the other names for shit just call *more* attention to it, and stop you in your tracks like you've just read a word in Swedish in the middle of a perfectly good English sentence. Haven't 'damn' and 'ass' nearly completed their ascendancy into non-eyebrow-raising usage? I think so. Shit needs to follow close behind[!].

We wound up ordering a Toto Promenade. It's got a round front, wide flush valve, and a nice trim that will compliment our other design choices in the room. Also, it will zip my shit away in a quiet whirlpool of environmentally-efficient bliss.

Renovation Neurosis

2009-02-10T10:05:00.002-05:00

When we first set upon choosing materials for this bathroom renovation, we wanted to achieve a kind of classic New York bathroom look, though slightly updated. Hexagon tile with black tiles in little floral shapes for the floor; white subway tile for the walls with tile chair rail and floral detail band running underneath. Y'know...classic. Then we went away from that idea, culminating in an entire day spent traipsing about the tile district in Manhattan. We came home with a changed tune - glass mosaic on the walls, big marble tile on the floor. We were exhausted and lost in our pile of options, not sure if we were choosing what really felt like 'us'. Then we turned on the tv and This Old House was on— this season covering a Brownstone renovation just a few blocks away from us. The episode showed them choosing tile at a supplier in Bensonhurst, blocks from where we got our tile for the kitchen renovation. What did the homeowners choose? Nearly the *exact* selection we'd planned at the onset. This gave us a good shaking and now we're back to the original plan, with the addition of modern mosaic glass detailing the shower. I'm now trying to work out a decorative mosaic border for the floor. I found this company in my search for ideas and their stuff is drool worthy. More to come as I try to order my materials by the end of the week...

Gods and Chili

2009-02-02T21:55:00.003-05:00

This past weekend I hosted my fourth Super Bowl Chili Hoohah. It went over pretty well, and I think the chili was my most successful yet, with a marked improvement in the texture of the veggie version. But let me just cut to the chase here: I want to be Larry Fitzgerald, just briefly. When asked what the greatest day of their life has been, most people say the birth of my first child. Caveat to Larry's first: don't be surprised if you get nudged out the top spot, because your dad made an immortal play in the Super Bowl, and unless you emerge singing complete Verdi arias, that play is his best day. Maybe it was the camera angle, maybe it was the crowd's roar - I don't think I've ever seen a person run that fast. When you're a kid playing football with friends, I think the standard for imitating a cool touchdown catch is the Santonio Holmes tiptoe-dragging layout, but now I know that's because when you're 12, you can't say "watch this!" and then accelerate to residential speed limits with your legs! I — lanky, slow and timid — am not good at sports. I've created a nice life for myself wherein senses of confidence and accomplishment are derived from other sources, but my goodness: I want to know what it feels like to make that play. I've watched it about twenty times now, and I think the appeal is how simple it looks. A quick post, hit in stride and he runs untouched. He's momentarily transcendent. And when he pulls up in the endzone and raises his arms, it looks like no piece of the moment escaped him - he knows what just happened - he's man again.

Excellent Animation

2009-01-28T17:11:00.001-05:00

Best walk cycle ever!

Cave Canem

2009-01-28T15:42:00.005-05:00

Today at lunch with my coworker, Kim, I mentioned that in addition to many bikes, I'd like a table saw in my future garage. The caveat with that idea though, is that table saws are scary enough when you're working on them in a shop with other people - people whom in the event of an emergency can help out. As many of you know, I'm a passer-outer, so the thought of severing a finger on this fictional saw of mine, then immediately growing faint and hitting the floor, is not something I ever want to contend with, sans nearby help. This consideration lead to the following question: at what point to I cease to be 'beloved master' to my dogs, and become edible. I.E. is the only reason Maggie and Summer aren't interested in eating my finger, that it's attached to me and not laying on its own on the floor? If we were to run this scenario with Becky out of town, me unconscious on the floor minus one finger, and the dogs watching on...well, I could see Maggie being pretty distressed about my well-being, but I think maybe Summy is going for the finger. I can probably make do without a table saw, I suppose.

Garrison Keillor on the Inauguration

2009-01-22T14:36:00.002-05:00

A quick and touching description of the day.

President Cool

2009-01-21T14:28:00.002-05:00

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Changefest '09 - Youth Inaugural Ball

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

I've been reading Team of Rivals for about 3 months now. I haven't had any solid chunks of time to sit and plow through 30 or 40 pages in a sitting, and I've either been biking to work or not working, so all that prior subway reading time is gone. Turns out there's a bright side to reading at this slow-motion pace: one, I get to take in these Honest Abe tidbits one at a time, like a vitamin or a joke-of-the-day calendar. And two, I've had Abe as a reference point from the time of the debates through the election and now inauguration (I have a 150 pages left). What strikes me most in the book, is what a cool guy Abe seemed to be. He was awesome: slow to decide but firm in the decision; sensitive and thoughtful but put the hammer down when he needed to; lively, funny, articulate, and essentially a superheroic extrapolation of everything I'd love to be. Most of all, despite his superheroism, he seemed like a real dude.

Obama too, seems to me like a real dude. Of course I'll add the preface that we haven't seen him do anything yet, but my intuitive reaction is that Barack Obama is a good guy who will ruminate over decisions, evaluate opinions from different angles, and govern wisely. Not only that, but he has opinions on music, he likes the White Sox and not the Cubs, he has things to say that don't sound like they were whispered in his ear moments before they came out of his mouth. He reads! He's a person!

I'm thrilled because we deserve this. We deserve to be excited and inspired by our President. We deserve to read the paper without expecting to cringe or shake heads muttering expletives. And we deserve and expect some really good changes. Lots of good changes. New Deal good changes. I guess I'm setting myself up for disappointment, but repeated praise of Lincoln sites his uncanny understanding of the popular mind, and when I see Obama up there, I can't help but feel that he sees things the same way we do.

We want bold and thoughtful greatness. Good luck, Mr. President.

Bathroom Renovation Ramp-up

2009-01-17T10:06:00.007-05:00

Bec and I have been talking about remodeling our bathroom since before I moved in last June. The sullen economy coupled with my desire to break from storyboarding has made this winter a perfect time to dig in and redo our commode. To put both of our minds at ease about the project, I want to plan and anticpate the numbers and choices as best I can before crowbar hits sheetrock. I found a 3D interior program to help visualize all the changes so there will be fewer surprises with regards to shapes and colors. Unfortunately though, learning this program involves a great deal of exploratory tinkering, and said tinkering really brings out my obsessive side, which is kind of a skinny Hulk with whom I don't enjoy mingling. My eyes going green and shirt tattering around my cerebral biceps while I tried to fabricate a tile texture for the model, Bec saw me freefalling down the rabbit hole and effectively grabbed me by the collar and lifted me back to the safety of our living room and leftover clam chowder, which turned out to be just as delicious as its first pass. After dinner it was easy to see that the texture I was breaking myself trying to make is hardly necessary, so we watched an episode of The Wire. It was possibly the best one I've seen.

The Snow is Sticking!

2008-12-19T12:07:00.005-05:00

From Snow 12/19/08

First snow to stick here in Brooklyn and I'm excited. Why? I don't have a sled; I've got no job to skip out on; I'm most definitely not anticipating any skiing or snowboarding [ever ever again]...so what's the big deal? Well for me, snow and rain are all-powerful validation for indoor activity. Should I be out riding my bike instead of tinkering with the chain and breathing gently on the shiny parts? Nope - it's snowing. I could go to the hardware store and get a replacement kit for my toilet's gamy flushing mechanism - nope - snowing. I'm going to watch Tropic Thunder and pet Maggie and Summer. Oh wait: the dogs...they love love love the snow! Guess I will have to go out there before it turns to slush just to watch them run around like firecrackers with those dog smiles that trump most human complaint.

Happy Holidays = Unemployment

2008-12-14T22:52:00.008-05:00

Two weeks ago I officially became a victim of 2008's economic meltdown. It seems that the list of invulnerable necessity to the infrastructure does not include animated shows with animals made of letters. So here I am jobless with a small unemployment stipend, modest monthly expenses, dogs that love the company, and a hope to find my way to a new line of work that involves less drawing with headphones on and more leafy greens. I need to find a shape soon for the efforts of this change, but at the moment I've got time to start a blog, buy groceries and make dinners for my lovely and school-busy girlfriend Becky, clean things like stove burners and toenails that don't get addressed when I'm working hard, make my Itunes wirelessly play through my home stereo, tinker with my bikes and possibly go on a day hike before it gets hunker-down cold and we're all bundling against the bleakness of January to Spring Training.