At least my plate has penguins on it...

Watching the Winter Classic. Learning that I really don't care about hockey if I don't know who is playing. Off to check movie times...

Why I love Mike Lange and yes, we have a hard row to hoe, Penguins fans

Okay, so we lost. But I have to hand it to Mike Lange (listened to him on the way home from a fête of grilled veggies and chicken and the game on a leather couch, not my own.) As I'm turning from Highland to Jackson, he says, "You know, they knew they had to win a game in Detroit, why not Game 5? They've come back from stats this bad before." And the respect they give to the other team, whoever we're playing--the "three stars" and "the best play" aren't always the Pens, but when they're not, they give credit where credit is due--that good hockey was played tonight.

I have a defense mechanism. When in groups of people and the mood is bad at a sports gig, I nod off. So I was sort of aware that we were losing, but more aware of the trash talking towards the TV. Remember the year Janet Jackson had a wardrobe malfunction at the Super Bowl? I slept right through it. The world series in 97? (I have no interest in baseball and only was watching it because my Bible Study had been canceled for the evening and I wanted company.)

So unlike the fabulous game played by the Pens on Wednesday, which I slept through because I'd had a day of cramps and drama, tonight I dozed through a game played hard by the Wings, a great hockey club. I watched the TV version, with whomever NBC had doing color-commentary and it was tepid at best. I missed Mike, but you can't really ask your hosts, gee, why don't we turn down the volume and listen to the radio?

What I love about Lange is that while he is optimistic about the Pens and truly loves them, he loves hockey the game more than the particular team he announces for.

While I was searching on the Post-Gazette site for something, found these "Pens Cheer Cards." My printer is currently on the fritz, but these are fun. Especially love the ones for the Rangers, with the "I heart #87," (I do!) parodying the "I heart NY" logo that NYC is so well known for.

Tomorrow I'm going to go see SATC the movie, with or without my girls (whose numbers have dwindled due to boyfriends, husbands, and children. *sigh*) Well, the Fab Four will be there.

In other news, I seriously need a haircut. My bangs are long enough that I should cut them but I haven't done it yet. I looked seriously cute tonight with my hair air dried, my official Stanley Cup Finals t-shirt (grey heather with the helmets of the two teams) and I even wore contacts. I was told the party was going to be at the S. house and indeed, there were many grilled veggies and chicken to be had and enjoyed. It was nice to just sit and enjoy food. But the folks that told me about the fête didn't show. Um? Their loss.

In other news, tomorrow marks the one year anniversary of Date #1 with Max. Not that I'm that into remembering that day, but June 1 is just an easy day to remember. Um. Don't think we're going to be friends. He's just not talking to me. At all. (If you're new here, we dated for six months but still live in the same apartment house, he on the first floor, I in the third floor walk-up.) I'm not torn up completely, just a tad sad, but as J said at work today when I confided in her, "His loss." Love J, who totally was astounded when I told her that this week I sent food back. She totally understood how HUGE that was for me to have done.

What else? In the end, you can't convince anyone of anything they're not ready to hear. So me buying a friend a copy of It's a break-up because it's broken won't do any good until they're ready to hear it. It pains me that they can't see that, but since I held the torch on a crush over B for three un-fulfilling years, I'm not one to talk, just one to recognize the tortured behavior in someone else and the desire to FIX YOU. Which never really works. Sigh.

Well, the clock will strike midnight in five scant minutes and this girl is home, so need for a carriage or a pumpkin is not necessary, but I do hear the couch calling my name. So I bid you farewell, and a pleasant night's sleep. I'll sleep, to dream of the Pens winning the series. Because if Mike Lange can believe it, I can too.

We won we won we won...we need three more wins.

(Peter Diana for the Pittsburgh Post Gazette)

Yep, it's a bipolar title. What do you expect from yours truly?

I have very few rules about answering the phone, but here they are:

1) If it says unknown name or blocked--No.
2) If it says University of Pittsburgh and I know it's my grad school asking for money--No.

and 3) I don't answer the phone during a televised Penguins game. (radio games are OK, Kiki called Monday to wish me a "Happy Memorial Park" at the start of game 1)

or 4) when I'm falling asleep because I've lived through a day of drama and cramps.

I got a phone call from #2 JUST as the first goal was being scored. I did not answer, of course. I didn't even check the caller ID until after all the hoopla about the GOAL! had subsided. A little later, as I was drifting back to sleep (not for lack of exciting hockey, mind you) my folks called, and as I had sent a couple emails this week about some big stuff, I thought, I had enough drama for one day, they can leave a message too.

I fell back asleep, to the voice of Pittsburgh Hockey, Mike Lange, woke up to my phone alarm to take my bedtime meds and WE WON! So I missed this amazing game, 3-2. Well, in these games, the first goal and the last goal are the most important, so I was awake for at least one of those, maybe two.

I mean, c'mon, I went to the University of PITTSBURGH. Don't they close down telemarketing for the Pens playing for the Stanley Cup? I mean, I haven't given back yet (I will, don't worry) but I most certainly am NOT going to give back while Sidney Crosby is making his first goal of the series. (Don't you love the picture?) It's all I have, I slept through the game. I wasn't even facing the television when the goal happened.

(This snarky, spirited post is brought to you by Day 4, sleep, and the fact that I came here first, instead of reading Philip Yancey. Now I'll go read PY, but you know, I have to get the snark out once and a while.)

GO PENS!

Why I write...and thoughts about crawling

Writing in the morning soothes me. Writing to yins makes me believe that my thoughts are going out to a friend, that I am not so solitary, after all.

I don't like routine. I fight it. My personality in one framework has been described as "abstract random." While I don't remember all the ins and outs of what that means, the random part comes out clear as a bell. While I like some things to stay the same, I need constant newness, something random.

I think my brain is either too tired or not awake enough to explain this well. I'll move on.

I've started reading something as I wake up. I know somewhere I have a copy of My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers. For years, I resisted getting a copy of this book, thinking how boring it would be to read out of the same devotional every single morning. And my snobbery (if something is so great, why does everyone like it) was also a factor. I remember a tribute album by some Christian artists came out and I thought, oh yuk. What IS it that they see in this stupid devotional? Someone gave it to me as a gift a few years back, and I have enjoyed it. But read the second sentence: I know somewhere I have a copy... I resist the sameness of one book by one author every single solitary day.

Talking to BJ about the Emotionally Healthy Spirituality book helped, as I know BJ has read the book numbers of times. He admitted to me that this summer he's going to try to put together "a rule" which is Pete S.'s prescription in the book--make a routine out of your prayer, study, rest. But see, Pete S. forgot one thing when he wrote the book--it took him YEARS to get there. I think all good "instructional for the soul" books should have an epilogue: I didn't get here overnight. Don't think by reading my book you will too. Take a couple of years of reading this, see if it makes sense to you, THEN start your journey based on my notes.

I laugh, ruefully, thinking at how many "financial" studies/classes/books of which I've been a consumer. And yet I still make the same mistakes. It hasn't sunk in yet. I think actually, more instructive than any book or class or seminar, being friends with Sally has been a help. I'm still not where I should be, but I am more aware. When I think out loud about changing my Internet provider, and come to the conclusion that it wouldn't make a huge difference, she reminds me that I know the main drain from my income: eating out. She doesn't reprimand, she just points out. And points out that I know it, which I do. No amount of writing down everything I spend, or making a plan to get out of debt will do any good until I start making some meals at home and going to the grocery store more often than I go to the eateries I love.

(I have eggs and bread and cheese at home and I'm actually going to make my own breakfast this morning! It's very exciting!) (And now that I gave away the flowers I got at Trader Joe's last Monday, I have to go back, and get some more flowers and some more of that scrumptious Tomato Hummus.) (Part of my problem is that when I leave work, I am STARVED that I can't wait the half hour it will take to get home. What if I had hummus in the fridge at work and had appetizers before the drive home?) (See how it starts?) (It's kind of exciting...)

In my reading this morning, from Philip Yancey's Reaching for the Invisible God, this is a quote from the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.: "If you can't fly, run. If you can't run, walk. If you can't walk, crawl, but by all means keep moving."

Yeah. Those are some words I can take in and savor. Because I have been doing a lot of sitting by the sidelines. And not doing a thing. But slowly, crawling. And even crawling gets you somewhere.

Am I making any sense? I think of the bloggers I love, who I know write in Word, rewriting and rewriting. And I just tinker a couple of times before I hit publish, because I don't really think of this writing as what I'm trying to polish. And yet, have I even started transcribing my novella? I've talked about it for years.

Crawling. Yeah, that sounds at least doable...

*****

In other news, I have been loving buying for 25 cents a pop back issues of Hallmark magazine. (Thank you, NPL Book Nook!) The best part is the back page, where author Amy Krouse Rosenthal writes and draws these fun little picture essays. She's the one that wrote Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life, which if you haven't read it, walk, or at least crawl, to your local book depository!

Oh, and the Pens lost last night. I hope they get to practice in Detroit--apparently the "boards are more bouncy" or something. Plus, they need to play a different kind of game, this is the Red Wings we're talking about. But gosh, I hope Cinderella gets the glass slipper this time...it would be SO sweet to get that Cup...

Sports sports...hockey.

Adrian is Rad posted a great video of the South African athlete who has double prostheses and is hoping to compete in the 2008 Olympics.

I can't concentrate...the Pens vs. the Red Wings! Starting at Joe Lewis Arena on Saturday!

When I became a hockey fan back in '97, the Red Wings were the team. So it's very very cool that the Pens are playing them...

I'm considering going away for Memorial Day weekend...I wonder if they have a radio at the cabins...I'll have to ask Sally...

I like to see a man proud of the place in which he lives. I like to see a man live so that his place will be proud of him.

(Abraham Lincoln)

I wanted a cool "Cinco de Mayo" quote and so Google took me to this post which reminded me that today is more than margaritas, it is a patriotic celebration.

So happy Cinco de Mayo! And happy moving day Bird! (Today she is a woman, my sister is moving into her own apartment with her friend L.!!! I'll be there later this week to celebrate the move, Mother's Day and see Kiki, who lives in PA, but not near me.) Multitasking vacations, I love it!

Today is a HUGE day for me. I have appointments from 9:30-8 (just about) and then a East Lib meeting to go to, which the title quote mirrors well.

9:30 Treadmill Lady (whom I adore)
11:45 Meet a potential new therapist
2-4 Last meeting for Summer Reading Committee, with lots of food and fun.
6:00 E. Lib meeting.

I tried watching The Lives of Others (a German flick that two men I like, my dad and someone else, recommended) and gah! I'm just not interested in a movie that is pretty much (as long as I watched it, which might have been a half hour) about the Stasi (East German secret police) doing surveillance on this playwright, whose girlfriend is also dating a Stasi official. I think it must be a guy flick.

Katy and Kiki both gave me encouragement and good thoughts and tips about the resume/cover letter process and Kiki pointed out that most first interviews these days are phone interviews. Ah! Good point.

***********

The Pens won yesterday!! I don't understand hockey that much, but I like it enough to listen to it on the radio and then listen to the call-in shows afterwards. Oh, it was so exciting, I was screaming in my apartment every time they got a goal. And it even went into overtime. (I'm sure it was on TV too, but I was happily adding links about interviews to my del.icio.us page.)

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

Church was good. Eileen and hubby did the music, the songs were not songs we knew, but they reflected E and her husband's personalities well (quieter that the normal OD fare) and the lyrics to the last one ROCKED even if the music was more folksy. And we sang "Come Ye Sinners" which I ADORE.

It fascinates me the dynamics that exist in the Great Hall, this one big room with slant-y floors. People come early and leave early, come late and stay late, cry, laugh, open themselves up, shut down. I am amazed at how easy it is to avoid someone if you don't really want to talk to them--in our small community, there is still so much for us to learn about community, about tiptoeing and stomping. And I've gone beyond talking about me, because even I can't exhibit all those sorts of mood swings in the short span of the two or so hours we spend there. How easy it is to have Facebook lives, to beat someone at Scramble, but not have a word to say to them when you see them face to face. The sermon was really good. I took notes. (Well, and I always do, it helps me listen.) I can't remember what it was about at the moment, but I will later. Ah, it was about the tower at Babel and then the regeneration of language at Pentecost. The speaker was a man who left the OD just as I was coming in, so I never knew him, but he's back now. It was a GREAT sermon, mirroring the two stories. I was glad I took my Bible along. (Our scriptures are on a screen so that you don't need to carry one.)

Slowly I am telling people about my Queens dreams, mostly when they ask me about the car I turn it into, we-ell, I might not need a car after this summer... There are a few people I need to email, as I think they'd like to know before they hear it on the grapevine...but how I'd so much rather tell them in person...with a hug. So maybe I'll wait one more day.

The communion table is supposed to be a place where we experience grace, and last night BJ told us to serve one another, which we generally do, but the wine was at the other end of the table and so the woman next to me was waiting to serve me and the woman on the other side served me with grape juice, because I didn't tell her, I'm already waited on. ACK! I felt horrible, which I know I need to let go of, because hello, it was the LORD's table and if anywhere we are going to experience the life of God, it is there--as I write this out, I think how I have just written about the tapestry of what happens in the Great Hall and how the Eucharist starts out with "on the night he was betrayed." We make it out that communion is this holy wonderful thing and yes, it can be, it should be, but we are human, we screw it up, just like everything.

I remember a paper I wrote in college about a Gerard Manley Hopkins poem that talked about how we screw everything up but ends with that the Holy Ghost is always fresh. And Sister Maureen wrote, why did you end your paper on a sour note, instead of a fresh one, like the poet did? Hold the phone, I'll get the poem. I love me some GMH. God's Grandeur. (I dare not cut and paste, this website really does their HTML, and I'll be editing for hours.) But this is the last line:

Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
  World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.

There is a phrase I love, "dearest freshness deep down things," that reminds me that "nature is never spent," that we think we have screwed up God's world when duh, it is his world. If he wanted us to not screw it up, he would have locked it away. He wants us to hurt and heal. I think we forget that we can't heal until we hurt so bad that we actually get out the peroxide, put on the Band-aid, wait some days or months or years. So I didn't screw up that woman's communion experience just by an inadvertent word. She was already wounded. And I was already good at wounding, by wanting to please everyone. Oh how humbling it is to let things go.

I just finished another "Sisterchicks" book (I adore these, they are fluffy travel books that actually express women's fiction the way I think it should be expressed--and they aren't romances!! If the woman is married, she stays married. If she's single, SHE IS NOT FIXED UP by gettting a man!!!) Sisterchicks in Gondolas (and now I am in the last 15 minutes before running out the door). I'll write more about Sisterchicks in Gondolas later, but the one phrase I love is "shame off you." It takes the shame out and says, let it roll off your back like water off a duck's back.

I think with this walking thing (yesterday I walked to Whole Foods, about a mile) (and back, so two miles) I am expending more calories, so the small amounts of food are not going as far--I had a frozen dinner before church, but after church, I was FAMISHED. And no one was going to the SE, so I went with Jen Weiner (we're now Facebook friends!). (I started re-reading Certain Girls, am picking up the details I missed the first go round.) I had my "usual," Mediterranean Nachos and an iced tea. And I ate the whole thing. Then I went BACK to Whole Foods (I had to buy frozen waffles, which wouldn't have weathered the walk home, esp since I went to Goodwill after I went to Starbucks and Borders.) Then I walked to Walgreens, got their house brand of Claratin on half price, WOO!

Okay, gotta hit "Publish." Have a great day.

It's a great day for hockey!!!!!!!!!!!!

oh, and I know it's Superbowl Sunday, but I don't really follow football...

I'll write a football post later though. That sounds like a good idea.

Notes:

*winning tickets to playoff game (Redskins, 1984)
*Jerry Maguire, my fave football flick
*the WVU bowl game
*the year we got a TV for Christmas (Redskins vs. Raiders, 1984)

"Thank you for making this occasion necessary" (Yogi Bera)

Happy Father's Day! Google has done up one of their doodles again. It's early -- well, not really, but I've only been awake for a half hour and so my voice had frogs in it when I wished Pa a happy day.

Father's Day grew out of some lady hearing a Mother's Day sermon. So she worked to get a day for Dads. Father's Day is also the highest netting "retail holiday" besides Christmas. It makes sense -- for Valentine's, most folks buy chocolate, for Mother's Day you can get away with a dishtowel, but dear old dad invariably gets golf clubs* or at least a coffee table book on Augusta.* (And those go for like $40 a pop) (pop, get it...) Also, Dads aren't as good at that thing Moms always do, "pshaw, I don't need a thing." Erin over at Biscotti Brain has a great idea if you're shopping for "the man who has everything and then some" or you just want to make your gift more meaningful.

Speaking of golf*, Pittsburgh is (I speak on behalf of the city) pleased as punch to be hosting the US Open at Oakmont.*

*This is the one and probably only time you'll EVER hear me talk about golf more than once in a post or in a post EVER, so I had to cram it all in.

(About the quote: my dad is forever quoting Yogi Bera--yours too? This year he has amended his usual, "You were the one that made me a Daddy" to something like "I wouldn't have been a Daddy so soon if it weren't for you." I think the first one is more literary, but real people resist editing, and surely he has his reasons for changing his tagline -- maybe that he has two other lovely children... I love you Daddy!)

signed,

His #1.

Ride, Paul, ride!!

With tax day in the US being yesterday, today snuck up on me. It was only after I posted a comment on Nutmeg's blog (SHE'S BACK-woo hoo!) and saw the date of my post that I realized what today is.

If you do too, recite it along with me:

Listen my children and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five;
Hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year... (read the rest here)

My grandmother, a true poetry lover (and teacher) drilled this into my mother (not so much a poetry lover, but also a teacher) and she drilled it into me. I wonder if my other sibs (there's a ten year difference between us, so we had different childhoods) absorbed this poem.

Of course, because I never really memorized it, and the eighteenth of April part is the most important part to me, I always mangle the first stanza and start off with "It was the eighteenth of April in Seventy-five..." and then I get lost...

In some states (Massachusetts?) today is celebrated as Liberty day or something. And the reason why tax day was not Monday (April 16) was that Lincoln emancipated the slaves in DC (our nation's capitol) before the rest of the slaves were emancipated, so it's a holiday there.

The Pens lost last night. To stay in the playoffs, they need to win the next three games. I figure, Mario just needs to announce something big the day of each game and they'll rally. (Every time there's been a big announcement, the Pens have won, and big.) No, I'm not linking this paragraph, I highly doubt I have too many readers that care about Penguins hockey, and if you care that much, YOU do the searching. I gotta get ready for work!

So yesterday was National Library Worker's Day and we went on a field trip. To other libraries, of course. I took pictures, and I'll post them later this week. My car and my sense of direction having a clear allergic reaction to the South Hills, instead of staying South East and going more East, I went North. Instead of ending up in the South Hills, I ended up in Oakmont. (Like eight pages off the map, if you're looking at a map book of Pittsburgh.) I thought going through Plum was an odd way to get to Upper Saint Clair...

Today is the Big Visit. People from other libraries are coming to visit us. As we are the sole library in the consortium with OCLC privileges, I'm giving a demonstration of how that works. I'll be using a 7 cassette audio version of Confessions of a Shopaholic to demonstrate how records merged badly when we joined the consortium--our item record merged onto a record that has 8 audio cassettes. (I'm sure many of you read this last paragraph as whawhawhawhawha, you know, like the adults in Charlie Brown TV specials.)

Anyways, I missed my chiro appt on Monday, so I'm going today. Which means I better run if I'm to get a shower.

Remember to give each other lots of hugs. As the news filters through, it turns out that two of the injured students were from this area and the sole PA fatality was too.

Here's a link to those who died Moday, courtesy the New York Times website.

I'm outta here!

(Although I have much much more to tell you...)

Weather report brings laughter--"it'll warm up today, expect 33 degrees F": Sarah Louise catches you up on everything and much much more!

And the Post Gazette front page that is in my car's backseat says, "What happened to winter?" (It's an old front page.) (My back seat is where things go to die, and books go to become overdue.)

Sitting at the Take Care Nurse-in-a-Box two weeks ago (right before I was diagnosed with the double ear infection) I read an editor's letter in a magazine that said, "Readers reading this will be saying this was the winter that wasn't." (not an actual quote, but from memory.) You'll forgive me for tossing that magazine aside.

Yesterday we had 1-3 inches of snow in the morning. We got winter, it just was a little late.

I got more antibiotics, this time for a sinus infection. Things I learned:

• Throw out your toothbrush! (I sort of knew that.)
• Warm vaporizors are great at harboring bacteria. The cold vapor ones are the way to go. That cost me $50 yesterday. This is counter to a magazine article I read, but as seen above, magazines LIE! Nurses, however, are smart!
• This one surprised me: guaf and decongestants might actually be detrimental if you're not drinking enough liquids, because they dry you up.
  

I came home, had the lovely leftovers of General T's chicken*, lay down for a nap around 7 pm, and woke up at 11 to take my bedtime meds. I was going to do a load of laundry, but nixed that idea and went back to bed, sleeping until 7 this morning. The news tells me it's around thirteen Fahrenheit. Yahoo tells me it's about 20 degrees Fahrenheit. Duquesne Light (call for the time and temperature: 412-391-9500) says it's 16 degrees. One of these days I'll figure out how to make the degrees symbol show up (tell me if you know, in the comments?).

I have no committment to be at work until 1 pm, but since I was all petered out at 3:45 yesterday, the plan is to go in today 9ish or 10ish (I'm not rushing!!). I was actually at work for six hours yesterday--a veritable record!! (I worked four hours on Tuesday.)

The Pens might go to Vegas? What would they be, the Las Vegas Pens? I mean, blech!!! I had planned to go see them at the Igloo (yes, the Mellon Arena) this season but it hasn't happened yet...

Oh, and Happy International Women's Day!!

And since my last post, folks have been clamoring for other bipolar symptoms.

So here's a "Could it be Bipolar?" test sponsored by Seroquel, a drug used for bipolar disorder. The last bipolar book I took out of the library (I don't even remember the name, it was that bad) was written by a doctor who was convinced that most of the population of NYC has bipolar to some degree. That Bill Clinton exhibited bipolar leanings. And a number of other people. Forgive me for not remembering--the book was trash!! The book sort of glorified the manic portion of what used to be called manic depression. As long as it was hypo-manic (the energetic feeling you get before it's really dangerous), use it. Well, if you have bipolar, you sort of know that, and that is when you clean the house, but seriously, if it goes to manic, then you get the "what goes up must go down"--depression!! The higher the high, the downer the down.

That pause was a call from my work-a-holic mom. Yes, she has a two hour delay, but she was calling me from the school parking lot. "It's like a gift of two hours!" I am grateful for Mary, over at My Vast Veranda**, for showing me that teachers do and can have actual lives. Over the weekend, my mother crowed, I work and then it gives me more energy to do more (extra stuff) (work). She claims it's because there's no one to do stuff with (that she puts so much into her work.) I cannot fix my mama. It's really good that I'm NOT living down there right now. I told her, I'll come down to VA and make you play Scrabble with Daddy!! No one in that house communicates with each other. I go home and stir the pot. Yeah, I think I'll stay up here in Pittsburgh for a while. My need to FIX THINGS could really get out of hand if I moved down there right now.

For the first time in YEARS, I don't have a crush. It's sort of a bizarre feeling, but I feel good. (Although, the first coupla weeks were HELL, as folks that I email to can attest.) I had hoped something might happen with the guy I met at the Jubilee dinner (from Annapolis) but there was nothing on his end, no "What's your phone number," or "Gosh, I hope to see you when you come down to see your Mom in a few weeks." Which I didn't. Sunday, I went to the fellowship where I had initially met him and he was nowhere. Oh well. And at breakfast, Friday, with one of my truth-teller friends, Sasha, when I told her about playing "Dutch Bingo" with the guy when I saw him at Jubilee, she said, no, that just means God is telling you there are guys out there. Oh. So I don't think I'm heading for lifelong singlehood, if God is telling me there are guys out there, but WHERE IS HE***???

Anyways.

Hmm.

So.

So, it's International Women's Day? What will YOU do to celebrate? bobbie, of Emerging Sideways, one year celebrated by giving her and her daughter red plates (a celebratory tradition in their house.) I think I'll celebrate by GOING TO WORK for seven hours!! I think I could actually do it! Be home to watch the Office? Hey, it sounds kind of fun...

*My local Chinese restaurant is great: for about $6, I get tea, soup or egg roll, water, and an entree. AND, the portions mean I get two meals. Chinese for lunch, Chinese for dinner. YUM.

**Okay, a bad choice for a post to show that teachers have lives. But she has time to blog. And she has pets. And if you read this, you'll see she has time to read, and watch TV, two things my mother doesn't do. (Gee, do I have issues with my mother loving her job?) My mother works 24/7. I-am-not-kidding. (It actually reminds me of my father, when he was fixing the economy in Poland, in the early nineties. Hmm, do you think work-a-holism can be contagious?)

***(Charlotte, from SATC. The actual full quote is: "My hair hurts. I've been dating since I was fifteen. I'm exhausted. Where is he?")

It's eight degrees out there, I don't want to know the wind chill, thankyouverymuch!

And I'll be at church at night, without the advantage of the sun. Yeah, this will be layer city, I'm thinking...

So a few words on blogging. I have added a few to the right (and I still laugh at when I first did a post on adding things to the left and Poppy was like, um, is your screen aligned differently?).

I have been spending the morning at Poppy's. We're kindred for many reasons, including she is also a Sagittarius. I sometimes worry about how I spend too much time on one blog, commenting five times in one day, are they going to think I'm stalking them? Because, truly, I'm not. I'm just bored out of my gourd, this being the fifth day of this cold and I've only been out of the house twice. (Friday, to spend some much needed time with my peeps, and Saturday to work a few hours and grocery shop.)

Yesterday I wrote a rant about how everyone in Pittsburgh has their family nearby (except lil ole me). It was a little too ranty for my own taste, I may tone it down and take it out of drafts. I'm also crafting a post on "Mama Said" because mine is the smartest woman in the world. Or so she claimed, when I was in fourth grade. Nowadays she denies that she is the SWITW, but to me, she always will be. In my real world, I'm working on a "positive piece" about the bus crisis in da Burgh to publish over at I heart PGH. I will not be publishing it under Sarah Louise, or linking it to this blog, but you're smart enough to figure out how to find it, I'm thinking. While I do not currently ride the bus in da Burgh, buses are an integral part of this vibrant city and...well, they just can't take away 100 routes without a fight!!

My diet is pretty much oatmeal and ramen soup, clementines, water, and zinc. Although the zinc is not really helping--it usually clips the main pain of the cold after the first day and hasn't this time...

So, I have added on the left, I mean the right, Colin, a student at MIT. Found him through Pat and Adrian. There's this fun Pittsburgh expatriate vibe going with Adrian and Colin...anyways.

Also, Jenny. She is a hockey mom and very funny. The meme below this post is one I swiped from her.

Let's see, oh, I added Paula's photo blog, Finding Beauty, to the "Bohemian Shoes" area. I'm considering stopping the whole "Shoes categories" because I have a definate order in which I read them--it should be like "Everyday shoes" "Once a month shoes" "Once a week shoes." Because some of my friends don't update but every two months (but I still love them to pieces!!) I think there is a way to fix the HTML (maybe with RSS) so that you can see which ones have updated (because Bloglines is like crack for me--a bad idea) I think the PCUSA blog has that going on. Maybe since I'm homebound AGAIN today I'll work on that. Or maybe not. I feel a nap coming on...

Also, church is during the SB, but GO BEARS!! I wonder if You Tube has the Superbowl Shuffle...

(The super-fun music video was pulled due to copyright worries, but this gives you an idea at least...)

This just in... (updated with photos of Rte. 8!!)

The seventh Harry Potter book will be entitled Harry Potter and the Deathly Gallows.

The Pens are off the market and Lemieux is considering taking the Pens away from the Burgh (say it isn't so!)

Four lanes for Christmas--I think so! The Mae West Bend at Rte. 8 is almost done--I'll post pix when I get home tonight.

Look, there are cars on the South and Northbound lanes! (I'm northbound.)

Look at the rest of the Norhtbound lane, being readied for two lanes in one direction...

The lack of machinery and construction men--it makes my heart go pit a pat...

Look!! Road that will be part of two lanes in the SAME direction!!

Yes, my geek flag is flying high tonight. But hey, when it's the road you travel to work 90% of the time, it makes a HUGE difference!!

Oh, and I was stopped in traffic--I did not take pictures whilst in a MOVING car. Since we're still one lane each way, I was able to take four pictures whilst we were STOPPED.

Back to your regularly scheduled lives...

Hang your shining star above the highest bough...

...and have yourself a merry little Christmas now...

Three Christmas parties down, one graduation party to go!

The final Christmas party was a dress-up dessert party. If you didn't dress up, there were decorations like garland or bells or Santa hats to wear. One girl made an oragami star and wore it in her hair. Very festive.

Today's luncheon party was wonderful. Yesterday's luncheon party was also wonderful, except that I lost my lunch pretty soon after it, and so I'll be going in to work every day until Friday to make up the lost time. (I was already behind time and this is the year's last pay period.)

I feel a little (actually a lot) geeky, blogging about a party I just left, when I know there are people still there making merriment. But I have to pace myself and I was starting to fade. It was good to see everybody, though. (The introvert confesses...)

Oh, and my dear brother sent me an email! This is very rare--so it must be celebrated with much fanfare. SHAZAAM, my brother sent me an email. Fanfare, fanfare!

Why did he email me, you ask? There's a new bike path between Northwest Maryland and Pittsburgh and today's Post-Gazette had an article. (It actually is the top of the top five emailed articles for today.) I emailed it to him and in his email to me, he wrote thusly:

haha awesome.

i'm planning my trip already.

thanks for bearing the good news.

A man of few words, my brother. He's the best.

I'm in denial about the other news in today's paper, about Balsillie retracting his bid for the Pens. I remember saying I was going to go to a hockey game this year, and yet, this year is almost over. Perhaps in the beginning of the new year.

Yes, I have hit a new geek all time high--talking about hockey on my blog when there are people playing games and dancing at the party I just left. Oh well, I'm off to read in bed. TTFN!

laughing all the way...Bells on Bobtail ring....

Well, that Days Go By chick did it again. I needed a morning laugh and she delivered...with pictures of hockey players. Well, go visit her and see.

I'm not home, but my shoes are. Leave them a message.

(Sarah Jessica Parker, as Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and the City)

As requested, here is my latest acquisition in the shoe department:




This is a significant moment in the building of my wardrobe: my first pair of high heels. I've always figured I was tall enough, I didn't need high heels. But I think I must have watched Carrie Bradshaw run in her heels on too many episodes of Sex and The City, and these were less than 3 bucks at Red White and Blue!!

I've worn them once, so far--to Terzo's baptism. And since I've been ice skating, my ankles are stronger, so I did pretty well for someone who has never owned a pair of heels until now!

And when October goes....

(yes, Barry Manilow, though I heard it first on a folk album)

THERE WILL BE MUCH REJOICING!!

This so far has been the best October in near history but it still is vile.

Today was a great day wherein I hobnobbed and heard authors, not the least the most recent Newbery winner, Lynne Reid Perkins. I got to be a part of a writing workshop led by the same (!)

It was also a day wherein I spent 20 minutes trying to get to the Children's Museum once I'd reached the North Side. (Read: driving around in circles, Pittsburgh style--you can't get there from here.) But, once I got there, I did find parking and I was indeed signed up for the conference and the DELICIOUS LUNCH where I got to sit with Very Important Librarians, queens in the Children's field in Pittsburgh.

It was also a day of deluges of rain and umbrellas going inside out for the wind.

It was also a day of bad rush hour traffic and wrong turns once I figured out that I wanted to go to Goodwill in Cheswick. I got waylaid on the way there and made a few wrong turns on the way home. (Read: it took an hour to get home from Cheswick. It should take 20 minute

Home, I expected to have a few hours before sitting in front of ze TV and watching the season premiere of Crossing Jordan. Which has been moved to an undisclosed date.

Did I mention, though, how pretty the trees all are and how I spent $33 to buy four (yes four) pairs of Liz Claiborne or Bill Blass pants and other sundry items. (Inclusive was that $33--I can never go back to retail.)

This, however, was one of the biggest disappointments of the day. I so rarely get to the North Side and this cafe was started by seven of my brother's college friends.




November, come soon!

Tomorrow: Mother Daughter and then in the evening, ICE SKATING, Praise the Lord!

Give me a word, any word, and I show you that the root of that word is Greek.

(Michael Constantine as Gus Portokalos in My Big Fat Greek Wedding)

Okay, so some days I post...a lot. I can't help it that the Pens WON! Beat the Buffalo Sabres, 6-5, Woo hoo!! Although, let's pause a moment, for Buffalo, enveloped in snow. They have a driving ban. We are saddened for your loss of power--but not for the loss of the power plays!! (Whatever did I eat for breakfast?) It must be the chocolate chip cookies Sally brought in. (Yes, one of the two co-worker Sally's in my department.)

And then, I opened my work email and found this, from LIS News: a boy in Pleasant Hills raised money for a mythology center in his high school library. He is a sixteen year old autistic boy, on the honor roll. How did he raise the money? By showing My Big Fat Greek Wedding and selling his grandmother's baklava. He went before the Eagle Scout Board yesterday to see if he was granted the Eagle Status. Here's the story, from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

How cool is that??

And in celebrity news, thanks to my co-worker Laura, Maggie Gyllenhaal has named her baby Ramona. How did this come up in conversation, you ask? Astute of you to wonder. I'll tell yins:

Ramona's World is the book I chose for Mother Daughter Book Club. However, it is not the book we'll be discussing. Why, you ask? Well, because, in my mind, I flipped the titles and for all the press, for all the publicity, sent out that we'd be doing Ramona Forever. I only just realized my mistake yesterday when I visited Munchkin's Bookshelf (a children's bookstore in the North Hills) and saw my bookmarks in the book, Ramona Forever. Wait, I thought. This is not the book I picked...**sigh** So I went back and saw that it was no one's fault but my own, as I checked old emails. So now I have a week to read Ramona Forever, which is plenty of time. I'll probably read it tonight--Crossing Jordan doesn't come back on air until NEXT Friday.

Oh, and in case you were keeping track: next month's Mother Daughter will be Charlotte's Web, giving me a real life work related excuse to bone up on my spider knowledge, now that they have become my fascination. Sally (yes, the chocolate chip cookie baker) is doing spiders for the "Pajama Storytime" tonight. A book I want to snag from her when she's done: Someone saw a spider: spider facts and folktales. Last week was a full moon (could you tell I went a little looney?) and she did moon stories. The moon pictures she made still festoon the children's program room.

Another reason I'm not so crazy about fall: I don't get to be around my dad, who loves to make piles of leaves for you to jump in and go va-va-voom! I could hear him in my mind every time I came upon a mini pile on my walk this morning. My mom makes leaf houses with many rooms. I'll try to find a childhood picture...

Sleep, who needs sleep?

So I just spent a half hour labeling a bunch of posts, changing up the template, etc. Be impressed. Very impressed. I think my two favorite categories are "hair agony" (love lorn) (which translates into any situation where I'm sick of being single, and not any particular love that was lorn.) and "hockey" which is synonymous with ice skating for purposes of this blog. I'll probably simplify, it was very organic and will refine itself but I now have to fall into bed. I have a busy day tomorrow:

• lunch with one of my favorite bloggers, Eileen.
• WBS (The Patriarchs continue. Sarah died, though. Abraham weeps and pays too much to buy a gravesite.)
• see the social worker and then the shrink. Fill out tons of paperwork. Remind me to not become bipolar in my next life...
• work until 9 pm.
  

(everything is chronologically listed except for dessert -- I mean lunch.)

Blogger Beta: Check!

Very exciting. I know you can't see anything different, but the email comments are wunderbar--I got one comment already and it tells you which post the comment is on! (Instead of scrolling around to figure out which post someone commented "that's so funny!) (Which is a perfectly accceptable comment, btw.)

I am very excited (not exited) and stay tuned.

Meanwhile, here are a few bloggers I know that are using beta:

Emerging Sideways (bobbie)
Weirdbunny (weirdbunny)

I get to put labels--this is too exciting!!

Oh, and Babs said those magic five words today: "I have my own skates!"

"The latest thing"

Carolyn tagged me and well, I have this quiz or one like it to thank for getting me back in touch after being out of touch with a friend for almost six years. So here goes.

1. FIRST NAME? Suzi. I changed the spelling from Susie to Suzy in college and at some point changed the y to an i. Turns out, it's very German. (Oh ack--did I just out myself?) I'm sorry, I'll not be Sarah Louise for this. (Although that might be a fun exercise...)

2. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? No...I was supposed to be a boy and be Andrew because my due date was Nov 30. My parents had some Catholic friends who had told them Nov 30 was St. Andrew's day. So my middle name is Andrea.

3. WHEN DID YOU LAST CRY? Last night. I sobbed and sobbed and I couldn't stop. It's the hormones, it's the lonliness, it's going to a seminar on churches and realizing the one you go to is pretty darn good but still lacks REAL community.

4. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? In fourth grade I was given a prize at the end of the year for "most improved penmanship." It's been all downhill from there. I write big and messy.

5. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCHMEAT? Lebanon Baloney. We only get it at the Lake. I don't generally buy lunch meat, cause it goes bad and there's only me to eat it. Pastrami is second.

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? Yes, but I'd buy stock in Kleenex.

7. DO YOU HAVE A JOURNAL? This is like that quote from Wayne's World, only backwards. "A gun rack... a gun rack. I don't even own *a* gun, let alone many guns that would necessitate an entire rack. What am I gonna do... with a gun rack?" Let's see, I have a beautiful notebook that lives in my purse. I have the blog. I have a folder in "My Documents." I have a shelf in my closet of all my journals from high school. So I guess the answer would be Yes, yes, and yes.

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? I don't think so.

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? That would be a "no."

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Post Honey Bunches of Oats.

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? Good grief, no. (Stolen from Carolyn, verbatim.)

12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? I'm stronger than a bread box. (again, verbatim from C.)

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR? Ben and Jerry's Chubby Hubby. It is ambrosia.

14.SHOE SIZE? 7 1/2 or 8. What? Yes, my shoe size went down when my arches got higher. I used to be an 8 1/2.

5. RED OR PINK? If you have to ask... (although I always get compliments when I WEAR red.)

16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? My tendency to get depressed (surprisingly, half of Carolyn's verbatim.)

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? It's not a who really. I miss having a friend like in high school, someone to hang out with and roar with laughter together. (verbatim, again.) I miss having friends on weekends. All my friends have family on Saturday/Sunday, and I have work on Saturday and Sunday is the worst until church, which is at night!

18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU? I want everyone who wants to do this to do it. How's that? (verbatim, again.)

19. WHAT COLOR PANTS, SHIRT AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? I'm not dressed yet--it's 7:14 in the morning. I'm wearing an old robe of my uncle's.

20. LAST THING YOU ATE? Part of a white meat dinner at Boston Market. Then they played the Everly Brothers "Bye Bye Love" and I lost my appetite.

21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? Surrounded, a CD of praise music compiled by a worship group at Hope College, the alma mater of my parents, grandparents, and brother. It was a Christmas present a few years back. I'm surprised I haven't worn it out, for as many times I've listened to it.

22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? I hate this question. Pink.

23. FAVORITE SMELL? A red red rose. (I don't know. I'm not really a smell person.)

24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? My mom. They're in Williamsburg this weekend.

25. THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE YOU ARE ATTRACTED TO? No idea. It's different every time.

26. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? Yes, yes I do! (This is a good answer. A weird answer is "Sure" as in "do you want fries with that?" "Sure." But it's okay, doll, I've gotten over it!!)

27. FAVORITE DRINK? Fresh squeezed lemonade.

28. FAVORITE SPORT? To do: ice skating. To watch: hockey.

29. EYE COLOR? Brown.

30. HAT SIZE? Why, are you going to buy me one? I have no clue. I do like hats, though...

31. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? Yes.

32. FAVORITE FOOD? That's like asking Imelda Marcos to pick out a favorite pair of shoes. Come on now. (verbatim from Carolyn.) Mexican/Latin American, if I'm pressed, though. Tortillas with re-fried beans and sour cream.

33. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? Happy Endings (verbatim.)

35. SUMMER OR WINTER? Winter.

36. HUGS OR KISSES? Both.

37. FAVORITE DESSERT? Backlava.

38. WHO IS MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Do I LOOK like a magic eight ball? (verbatim.)

39. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND? See question 38. (this is getting embarassing....verbatim)

40. WHAT BOOKS ARE YOU READING? Well, at least you didn't ask what book (singular). Riding the bus with my sister, Sahara Special (on audio), the Book of Genesis, Eat Cake...

41. WHAT'S ON YOUR MOUSE Pad? e.encyclopedia. It's an ad for a DK book. I got it for free at a library conference.

42. WHAT DID YOU WATCH LAST NIGHT ON TV? I watched Men in Black, again.

43. FAVORITE SOUNDS? When Abraham sings in between the verses at church.

44. ROLLING STONE OR BEATLES? Beatles. "I wanna hold your hand..."

45. THE FURTHEST YOU'VE BEEN FROM HOME? Moscow, Russia. It was a 24 hour train ride from where I lived at the time, Warsaw, Poland. And I'm sure it still qualifies as far far away from Pittsburgh.

46. WHAT'S YOUR SPECIAL TALENT? Making and giving gifts.

47. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Columbia Women's Hospital, Washington D.C. The city remains, but the hospital is gone.

48 WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? Carolyn. What, were you not paying attention?