i started using google reader to view all of my blogs and google alerts. it has completely changed how i check online news, and how often i do it.
from TIME:
At its best, Lost rips your heart out while it ties your brain in a knot. This season 4 episode did both expertly. Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick) has been experiencing premonitions of the future since becoming "unstuck in time" (a la Slaughterhouse Five) earlier in the series. It turns out that he's been time-traveling, or rather, his mind has: his consciousness is journeying between present, future and past. (It makes sense when you watch, trust me.) The unfortunate side effects of this condition are madness and death, avoidable only by focusing on a "constant": a person or thing present in each time one's consciousness visits. Desmond's constant, he learns, is Penny (Sonya Walger), the girlfriend he left behind when he was stranded on Lost's mysterious island. His journey into his own past to find her in the present is tear-jerking and mind-blowing.
Venus de Milo New England Clam ChowderHere is a variation of our clam chowder recipe which was a multiple winner at the Newport, Rhode Island and Boston, Massachusetts chowder festivals. At the Newport chowder festival the Venus de Milo is a two time winner and has been enshrined in the Chowder Hall of Fame. The secret to an exceptional chowder is to not skimp on the ingredients. Canned ingredients may be substituted but the final product will not be the same.
Preparation Time: Approx. 90 minutes
Servings: About 2½ quarts or 12 servings
Ingredients
2 cups 1/2 inch dices potatoes
5 cups fresh chopped surf clams
3 cups clam juice
4 oz. butter
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup minced onion
1/4 cup minced celery
2 tablespoons minced garlic
2 1/2 cups light cream
salt as needed
2 teaspoons ground black pepper
3 bay leaves
3 teaspoons dry dill weed
Method
Wash the diced potatoes, drain and place in a stock pot with the clam juice. Bring the potatoes to a boil, add the chopped clams and bay leaves and simmer until the potatoes are tender.
In a separate stock pot melt the butter and sautee the onion, celery, and garlic until the onions become transparent. Add the flour to the butter and onion mixture to make a roux and cook over a low heat for several minutes.
Add the hot clam stock through a strainer a cup at a time and wisk until smooth. Add the remaining potatoes, clams, and stock and bring to a simmer.
Add the light cream, black pepper, and dill weed and return to a simmer. Adjust the seasoning.
Serve at once with oyster crackers.
november 5.
sally sent me this link this morning. keep clicking around, it's pretty funny.
“I'm writing a letter, I can't write a letter, why can't I write a letter? I'm wearing a green dress, I wish I was wearing my blue dress, my blue dress is at the cleaners. The Germans wore gray, you wore blue, 'Casablanca' is such a good movie. Casablanca, the White House, Bush. Why don't I drive a hybrid car? I should really drive a hybrid car. I should really take my bicycle to work. Bicycle, unicycle, unitard. Hockey puck, rattlesnake, monkey, monkey, underpants"
it was a long long weekend, whch i will recap when i have more energy. but for now, some warm cocktails to celebrate the dropping of the temperature. even though it was a zillion degrees in dc this weekend.
In the dating world, geeks are often overlooked. However, many geeks are what you might call a diamond in the rough. Geeks make excellent boyfriends, girlfriends, and spouses. Although many of these are generalizations, we’ve found 50 reasons why geeks have a lot to offer the dating world.
Tech
Dating a geek means opening up a whole world of awesome technological abilities.
"Do you believe in love?" he said.
Sometimes I believe that loves dies but hope springs eternal. Sometimes I believe that hope dies but love springs eternal. Sometimes I believe that sex plus guilt equals love, and sometimes I believe that sex plus guilt equals good sex. Sometimes I believe that love is as natural as the tides, and sometimes I believe that love is an act of will. Sometimes I believe that some people are better at love than others, and sometimes I believe that everyone is faking it. Sometimes I believe that love is essential, and sometimes I believe that the only reason love is essential is that otherwise you spend all your time looking for it.
"Yes," I said. "I do."
-- heartburn by nora ephron
carey: tim burton is directing alice in wonderland
johnny depp is the mad hatter
helena bonham carter is in it
there will be segments in 3d
I am no longer studying for the GRE because it seems the universe has finally decided to make all my literary dreams come true.
1:57 AM
my friend jayde is getting married this weekend, and had asked me to find or write a nonreligious reading for the ceremony. in my searching i have found some wonderful pieces that aren't fitting for them, or a wedding at all, but are still lovely. so i will share some with you.
to start, from anne of the island:
"I think," said Anne softly, "that `the land where dreams come true' is in the blue haze yonder, over that little valley."
"Have you any unfulfilled dreams, Anne?" asked Gilbert.
Something in his tone -- something she had not heard since that miserable evening in the orchard at Patty's Place -- made Anne's heart beat wildly. But she made answer lightly.
"Of course. Everybody has. It wouldn't do for us to have all our dreams fulfilled. We would be as good as dead if we had nothing left to dream about. What a delicious aroma that low-descending sun is extracting from the asters and ferns. I wish we could see perfumes as well as smell them. I'm sure they would be very beautiful."
Gilbert was not to be thus sidetracked.
"I have a dream," he said slowly. "I persist in dreaming it, although it has often seemed to me that it could never come true. I dream of a home with a hearth-fire in it, a cat and dog, the footsteps of friends -- and YOU!"
Anne wanted to speak but she could find no words. Happiness was breaking over her like a wave. It almost frightened her.
"I asked you a question over two years ago, Anne. If I ask it again today will you give me a different answer?"
Still Anne could not speak. But she lifted her eyes, shining with all the love-rapture of countless generations, and looked into his for a moment. He wanted no other answer.
check out brad paisley's new video, "waitin' on a woman" featuring andy griffith. it's a sweet piece, and satisfies my obsession with both country and little old men.
at paisley's request, the video can't be embedded, but you can view it at youtube here.
ncmpr update: just received word that out of the six entries we submitted to district competition, five have placed. we won't find out which place until the medallion award dinner in october, but as you can imagine, we were dancing around the office with excitement.
we're very proud of the work we've done this past year. and this just goes to show that we're doing our jobs the right way. at least in the eyes of our peers.
On Sunday, September 21, some friends and I will be walking 26.2 miles in support of the Jimmy Fund. Help me by donating whatever you can. You can do it online at my page here, with a credit card, or by mailing in a check.
We spend so much on drinks and dinners and clothes, why not put some of it to a good cause?
Even if you just wander your way to this blog, even if you don't know me, or we haven't spoken in years, you know this is worth it.
Thanks guys.
we knew we had quite a few things to do for the relatively short time that eamon was home on leave.
1. find/buy a houseof course, number one was a lot more complicated that it sounds. we had to find a place (no easy task), put an offer, get it accepted, get house inspected, get a power of attorney for maryland, set up mortgage, house insurance, etc. looking back, we were really, really fortunate. by the time i had to come back to massachusetts, we had enough settled with the house that eamon could come home with me. i would have gotten to spend significantly less time with him if not. but our realtor is great, and the lender we're using is easy to work with (knock on wood). so i'm able to trust them to get their parts done before i go down to close on September 15.
2. talk to priest and confirm church
3. decide menu for wedding
4. eat seafood
...which i am not sharing on cyberspace.
BUT, we did find a house in silver spring, md, made an offer, went through a series of counter offers, and finally had one accepted. the inspection has gone through, and i'll be back down in the d.c. area on september 15 to close on the house.
things are moving quickly. but eamon and i came back up to mass wednesday morning, so now we can just relax and enjoy the rest of his leave.
and i can get back to wedding planning.
craziness.
this weekend was jam packed as ryan and his boyfriend paul came up to visit. he lives in new york so he was trying to do all of the new englandy things that he misses. pictures to come, but here was the agenda:
friday night: out to olives in providence with some former bacardi girls. i had never been before, but the do an excellent dirty martini. and magically, as the night went on, so did the number of olives in my drink.
saturday: jenn and john brought brooke down for a visit (she is getting huge), and we met up with ryan and paul, and samantha. had an early-ish lunch at o' gils (hooray portuguese food!) before i left them to go to amy's bridal shower. ate way too much food there (amy's dad tim is a professional cook, and supplied all of the food), and was not at all hungry for the cookout at ryan's parent's house. i did manage to force down some of friendly's watermelon roll (yum!). then we headed out to providence to attend waterfire. greg and meg met us out as well, for our cliche summer night in providence.
sunday: tried to sleep in to catch up on much needed rest. while i had lofty goals of cleaning my room, i got sidetracked and got absolutely nothing done. then went with carol to see journey, heart, and cheap trick at mohegan sun.
whew. i need a nap. especially since i'll be picking eamon up in baltimore in less than three days!!!
Some cultures have customs in which people are encouraged to "make a wish", such as blowing out the candles on a birthday cake, seeing a shooting star at night, tossing a coin into a wishing well or fountain, or breaking the wishbone of a cooked turkey. Even though such wishes are not magically granted, the act of formulating a wish can be beneficial. The wisher has an opportunity to identify what they most desire of all the things in the world. Often, wishing is a time for first becoming aware of a previously-unarticulated hope. Once identified, these hopes can become personal goals.In practice
as promised, here are pictures from shrine last week. i and a couple of other ex-bacardi girls met up and decided to play on a suprisingly fun thursday night in connecticut. we even managed to be paparazzi and snag a few pictures of lindsay lohan, jacoby ellsbury, and samantha ronson. word has it that top model caridee english, as well as melissa etheridge, were there. 
*shamelessly copied from lauren's photo album
