28 February 2007

Lost in Translation

私は、日本酒の素晴らしさを多くの人に広めたいと思っています。
I think so familiarize for many people that excellently Japanese sake.

I like to think of myself as quite fluent in Engrish, but the above has be absolutely baffled. Anyone reading this who cares to take a stab at a better English translation, be my guest!

27 February 2007

St. Patrick's Day is coming


And I'm definitely going to see some of this.

22 February 2007

California, here we come!

At long last, it's true... we are moving to northern California! Watch this space for more details :-)

Liz - send me an email we need to confer!

15 February 2007

Minnesota

If ever there was a reason to move to Minnesota, Al Franken has finally given me one.

Good luck to Al!

14 February 2007

It Had to Be Mitch

It's Valentine's Day, and Mitch and I have found ourselves on opposite sides of the country :-( So, I was sitting here thinking about him while I did my boring work, when iTunes played me a little Valentine song - Harry Connick Jr's version of "It Had to Be You." Not only is this version of the song from perhaps my all-time favorite movie ("When Harry Met Sally"), it is also the song we used for our first dance at our wedding. I don't have a video clip of the dance to post here, so I'm making do.

Also, we're a bit Harry and Sally ourselves. We were friends first. We didn't date for a good 6-7 months (though we were together as often as possible nonetheless) before we declared ourselves a couple, and God knows I'm the uptight one who gets cold when it's 71 degrees out, while he's the fun-loving Mallowmar eater :-)

These are for you, Mitch!



11 February 2007

Tagged by the Doubtful Muse

I have been tagged by Doubtful Muse. Here are the instructions:

1. Grab the book closest to you.

2. Open to page 123, look down to the 5th sentence.

3. Post the text of the next 3 sentences on your blog.

4. Include the title and the author's name.

5. Tag 3 people

So, I'm quoting from Freddy & Fredericka by Mark Helprin.

"Mr. Neil," the queen said, "at the moment, at least, is employed as a mould maker in a rubber sex toy factory in Naples." Then she and her consort chortled royally and went back to their chocolate mousse.
After some time, Freddy said, "That isn't true, of course."


LOL! Of all the salacious lines to have this game point us to... You'll have to read the book to find out if the Queen or Freddy is right!

I am now tagging The View from Fly-Over Country, FiberArts Afloat, and Bouncing Sputtering of a Disorganized Mind.

10 February 2007

The circus came to town

The circus is in town, and Mitch and I accompanied Ethan's kindergarten to a matinee on Thursday. It was Ethan's first time to go to the circus, and what a great intro he got! Thanks to some fabbo connections, his class was seated on the front two rows of the floor - the only rows on the floor - about 30 ft from the circus ring itself. As such, I was able to get some nice pics from my seat without having to mess around with too-far away subjects or people/things blocking the view. It's def. a different show when you get to see it performed from just a stones throw away. I think my fav part was watching the roadies in all black set things up while other acts were distracting the audience. Let me tell you, I was shocked (shocked!) to discover that the birds don't necessarily fly from out of nowhere, but are, instead, brought out in a box and released by a guy in all black at the right moment.

Here's Ethan and Mitch at the intermission,








Kyle (l) and Henry (r)









Austin









Ethan, his good fried Jorge, and their teacher, Mrs Tate.








Seeing a trapeze/aerial act from directly beneath is fabulous, and a bit worrying, too!








The elephants, of course, were Ethan's favorite part of the show.








This guy, who walks upside down, was really cool to watch.








The finale









Elephants unwind after the show.

07 February 2007

Which "Haggard"?

When I clicked on the NY Times' list of top stories yesterday, I was really confused. The headline read, "Haggard Pronounced ‘Completely Heterosexual’." For the life of me, I could not think why Merle Haggard was declaring his heterosexuality. As if we care. Apparently, though, it's a different Haggard, one about whom I care even less. lol

For the record, I believe Merle is "Completely Heterosexual" as well.

06 February 2007

The Wayback Machine



Yesterday was Mitch's 35th birthday, and, inadvertently, I bought him a wayback machine.

I'd gone to Barnes & Noble in search of some things from his Amazon wishlist, and came out with the world's tiniest Atari controller, with built-in Asteroids and Millipede games. Mitch played these when they were cutting edge (didn't we all?), but Ethan of course,e had never seen them. So, we hooked them up, and Ethan loved it. Now I'm thinking I need to find the other mini Ataris (we can "collect all three!")

A cool map


Visitor Map
Create your own visitor map!

05 February 2007

Wake me up before they go go


Am I dreaming or is my little George Michael and all that is the 80s loving heart dreaming? Is Wham! getting back together?!?!

I'll be there, even if it is more to laugh than anything else.

02 February 2007

Groundhog Day

Living with a five-and-a-half year old, I learned today that Groundhog Day is a Major Holiday. Ethan came home from school THRILLED that Punxsutawney Phil and Sir Walter Wally (the local authority) had neither one seen their shadows. His class got to watch the ceremonies on TV, and Ethan created a terribly cute groundhog home. It's made of construction paper, and shows the main entrance to his groundhog's burrow, the kitchen, bedroom, and even a bathroom. My favorite part, though, is that the burrow has been outfitted with an emergency exit (even called that by E). He explained that "you never know who will come down that main hole and make you need to get out quick!"

He, of course, has a groundhog who can live in this burrow he's made, and on the back, there's a song. To the tune of "I'm a Little Teapot":

I'm a little groundhog, short and stout
On February second, I come out.
If I see my shadow they will shout,
"Six more weeks of winter without a doubt!"


For the time being, at least, this ditty has replaced "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" as E's favorite song.