Wicked Good!

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Ew! Ew! Eeeewwwww!!!!!!!!

This is just too gross. So of course I had to share.
Maine man pulled from women's outhouse tank in Albany, N.H.

Pancho Dogennegar

Seems my canine boy has aspirations of becoming a weightlifter. That blue thing in his mouth in the picture is a 5lb. weight that I left on the floor of the office. Apparently it had the right shape and foam covering to be a perfect dog toy and he most certainly was not interested in my demands that he stop slobbering all over the thing and give it back to me. He was prancing all over the place with it. He was so good with the 5lb dumbell we let him try the 8lb one. Not for long, but he did all right with that too.

Dover Dish

While I was waiting for the light to change at the intersection at Washington St and Central Ave this afternoon I saw "Koz", the owner of the Crescent City Bistro, in his trademark blond ponytail and a very bright, rainbow colored tie-dyed t-shirt crossing in front of my car carrying a couple of pizza boxes from La Festa Brick and Brew. I got a big kick out of it and explained to my girl that the guy who looked like a hippie owns and runs what is widely considered the best restaurant in town (should make that restaurants because I think I like his other restaurant, the Orchard Street Chop Shop, even better than CCB) and he was apparently grabbing lunch from the place up the street. It was just kind of funny to see him unlocking the door to his restaurant with those pizza boxes in his hand. The banner hanging under the window of CCB did say they serve lunch from Wednesday to Saturday. Today is Monday. Guess that makes it pizza day. I wonder if he eats Moe's on Tuesdays?

But In a Good Way

Interesting

In the manuscript I'm translating right now I came across a word I had never seen before, 転嫁 (tenka). The characters mean change and wife and according to my dictionaries the word means to shift responsibility or blame. That's pretty amusing.

Awesome Day

I'm proclaiming it an awesome day even though we're barely into the afternoon here. I woke up next to my honey, which is always a great way to start. He had to get up and head off to work. I decided to indulge myself in the summery, freelance wonder of my ways and sleep in until I woke up a little after 8. I made coffee, had some cereal with blueberries and did not shower or change out of my bathrobe because one of the best things about working from home is you can work in your bathrobe and so I did for a few hours.
The weather is sunny and pleasantly warm so around 11:15 I decided to take a bike ride and finally explore where the dirt road down at the bottom of the hills leads. Well, it leads to some lake sized puddles and the muddy in some spots, rocky in other ruttiness of it certainly justifies a mountain bike (or a horse I suppose since there was certainly some evidence that some of them had passed through). The road came out to a kind of nice and rural looking trailer park and then up along the big horse farm down the road from here into a perfect loop that leads right back home.
I took a shower and then modified some leftovers for lunch. Now I'm sitting back down to do a little more translating for a couple of hours before I go out and finish up my marketing rep gig for the last time. I really really do love summer. And now that the rest of my life has taken a shape that pleases me, I might enjoy freelancing enough to eventually lose the academic career, if that's what you want to call it, all together.

Rocking a Tuesday Night

Sis and I went to Portsmouth to see Shuttlecock and Commando Baby (where's your website, guys?) at the Muddy River last night. There wasn't a big crowd, seeing as how it was a regular Tuesday night and the gig hadn't been really publicized much. I knew about it because Sis had been in to get lunch at the downtown eatery where half of Commando Baby works and they told her they were playing.
So, the scene was mellow enough. Shuttlecock played first in what was a short, kind of weird(er than usual for them) set. They played more of their newer songs and did a couple of new covers. There was a very earnest rendition of their world wide hit "You Suck Big Dick Die" and I can only say that any man who can stand up on stage and scream "I have the biggest penis you have ever seen" (whether it's true or not, I don't know) and not have shit thrown at him is either among friends or possibly deaf people.
Commando Baby "headlined" and they sounded really good. The best of the three times I've seen them. Sure, my attention was at times drawn to the mullet dude in the orange t-shirt who was trying to use hand signals to order women out onto the dance floor with him but he was eventually kicked out of the place once the bouncer noticed him bothering too many of the women there.
I came home smelling smokey as hell, but that's what happens when you go hang out in bars. Also met some new Bolt fans and it seems like a resurrection may be in the works.

We Are Not Twins

Hmmm, I seem to falling off the previously quite focused track of concentration for work. Multiple blog posts in a short time are a sure sign of that. But I have to make a note of this morning's silliness.
If you've been reading this blog for a while you probably know I have a sister. We like to meet for breakfast at the old bakery coffee shop downtown once a week. It's "our thing". Another of "our things" is apparently to dress alike subconsciously. I got up this morning, showered and put on a red shirt, decided I didn't feel like a red shirt today and cut the tags off my new turquoise colored, pima cotton v-neck tshirt instead. After dropping the girl off at school I headed downtown to meet Sis. I walked into the coffee shop, let my eyes adjust enough to see her sitting there in the first booth and as I walked over I noticed that she was wearing, oh yes, a turquoise colored shirt. New. Also from TJ Maxx. Hers is sleeveless and with a crew neck, but still this is not a color either of us wear regularly and of course we have to wear it on the same day we're meeting for breakfast in public. Before we even said hello we burst out laughing and admitted that we were both wearing the shirts for the first time today.
An elderly lady sitting over at the counter noticed us and asked if we were twins and then told us she has a twin but looks more like her older sister than her twin. I let Sis do the talking and just sat, smiled and nodded. After omelets and multiple cups of coffee we went out and chatted on the sidewalk, as we tend to do, before we went to our cars, which are not the same at all thank goodness. A short guy wearing all olive green did one then another double take back at us as he passed by.
When I was little everyone thought my younger sister and I were twins. We were only a year apart so I guess it wasn't so strange. As we've gotten older people have started to think I look like a twin with my older sister. I'm not a twin! Just maybe a chameleon?

School's Out!

My girl is no longer
in elementary school.
I feel ... old.

The Power of Worry

Am I the only one who believes if you worry enough about something the wobbly worry vibrations will pulse out at a rate that is powerful enough to nudge whatever it is one has chosen to focus all the worrying energy on into a somewhat more favorable alignment?

My First 4,000 Footer

Now that I'm back relaxing at home with my two favorite guys (my spectacular boyfriend and my puppy) napping beside me I think I'll finally get around to writing about my big accomplishment of the week, climbing my first 4,000 foot mountain. We climbed Mt Tecumseh (elevation 4003 feet) on Thursday. I hadn't really planned to take on such a big challenge so soon back into my hiking adventures, but the mountain sat outside the window of our condo in Waterville Valley all the time just looking at me and when my boyfriend put out the idea of climbing it as something we might want to do that day I thought it would be cool to be able to look right back at the mountain looming outside the window and know I had been to the summit.
When we hiked the Welch-Dickey Loop Trail last weekend it was in the high 80s with crazy humidity and no breeze and it was tough. On Thursday the temperatures where in the low 50s. It was cloudy and the weather forecast cautioned there would be showers passing through. When we drove up to the trailhead at Waterville Valley ski area there was only one other car parked there. I thought it was just as well because I consider myself a slow pokey hiker and I wouldn't need to feel intimidated about it if no one else was around.
The trail is wooded the whole way up to the summit and it was cloudy enough that there weren't really any views to speak of in the few places we'd expected to find them. Even though the trail was quite rocky, I felt a lot more comfortable on it than I had on the rocky ledges of Welch and Dickey. It just feels like I might start rolling down and not stop until I hit the bottom on those open rock surface. The lower part of the trail was pleasant and crossed and recrossed a couple of streams. It was after we stopped to check out the not really existent view from the side of a ski slope that the going got steeper and even rockier. Despite all the huffing and puffing, my legs did not feel angry so much this time and I was able to hit a sustainable stride for a while. As we were nearing the summit we passed a group of three hikers heading back down. They were a younger woman and two older women. We exchanged greetings and joked about the great views. It's very inspiring to me to see especially women older than me out on the trail. I got a little boost after that and when we came upon a sign that pointed to two different trails up to the summit I was sure it was just around the corner as the way the light came through the trees had also changed. It was around a few more corners than I had originally expected, but when we reached the summit I felt very happy and we stopped for a bit to take a rest. My truly wonderful boyfriend was even kind enough to share his sandwich and trail mix with me since I had forgotten mine back on the couch at the condo. We reached the summit in two hours and ten minutes, which was even ten minutes faster than the time listed in the guide book and made me feel just a bit less pokey than I had previously.
On the way down I used my boyfriend's trekking poles. I hadn't even known about using poles for hiking but now I think I really need to get some. They took a little while to get used to but they definitely sped up my descent time and kept my knee pain to a minimum until we were almost back down to the base when they started to hurt a little more bitingly.
I was most certainly tired by the time we made it back to the car, but I was also very pleased. And when I had that nice cold beer after taking a shower back at the condo and settled down to watch a little mindless tv and nap it felt like heaven.

Milestones

Yesterday I climbed my first 4,000 foot mountain and today my girl "graduated" from elementary school. Well, it was a ceremony to celebrate the end of fourth grade and elementary school. To be honest, I hadn't even known it was a graduation type ceremony until she continuously referred to it as her graduation. All the info that came home from school called it a fourth grade celebration. In true kid fashion, she called me up the night before and morning of the ceremony to let me know she forgot one then another thing she absolutely needed at my house, so I had to leave Waterville Valley early and make sure she had her Class of 2005 t-shirt and flute before it was time for the ceremony.
It was a very nice ceremony and even though I always tell myself I won't get teary eyed at that kind of thing I always do. Shit, I cried at her pre-school "graduation" and her 3rd grade Thanksgiving play, too. Fifth grade seems way too early for middle school, but that's how it works in this town. I'm sure she'll be fine there. And I'll have to figure out how to be fine with it too.

Vacation-- Part 1

Going on vacation used to mean packing up two large suitcases, a wheeled carry-on bag with a long handle and a backpack, waking up before dawn and riding two hours in a bus to the airport where I would board a plane that flew for 13 or 14 hours. Then I would spend a few hours in transit at some mid-western airport to board another plane to fly another 90 minutes to Boston, where I would then ride in a shuttle bus for another hour or so in the dark and finally arrive exhausted at the place I used to call home. I've simplified things since then.
Preparation and travel for my latest vacation has involved packing a weekend bag and a hiking pack, throwing those and my bike in the car and driving two hours through the verdant New Hampshire scenery to spend time away with my wonderful boyfriend in a place that is quiet, green, calm and not home.
I haven't perfected the vacation thing yet. I've had to cut this week into two mini-vacations to look after my girl on "my days". If things were normal and my ex not so rigid, I could have probably arranged it so I could have spent an uninterrupted week away. Oh well. Maybe some day.
Our vacation locale is Waterville Valley. I went skiing there once as a kid, but ski resorts always look so different in the summer. We used to have a place up near Gunstock and I used to prefer visiting in the spring and summer when we could go exploring in the woods, even though I did once get trapped in some quick-sandy muck when I was out bushwhacking around by myself. Waterville Valley is indeed a valley with only one road running in (or out, of course). There are a lot of condos and townhouse developments, but it's still a charming place that seems very sheltered from the rest of the world. Our room looks out over trees and has a stunning view of Mt. Tecumseh. It was extremely hot and humid this weekend with several thunderstorms that moved through, so I spent quite a bit of time on the couch looking out the window watching that mountain disappear and reappear with the storm clouds.
I usually have a pretty good tolerance for the heat, so I thought a hike over the Welch-Dickey Loop Trail on Saturday morning would be challenging but fun. It was fun because it ended and I survived it, but it would have probably been much more fun if 1) there had been a breeze and not just a hot, heavy haze that seemed to hold the bugs in suspension, 2) the thermometer had been reading in the 70s and not the high 80s and low 90s and 3) I were in much better shape than I am now. Even still, there were some beautiful views, the rare breezes that did blow felt like heaven and I felt accomplished and exhausted in a very satisfying way when we made it back down the Mt. Dickey side of the loop and back to the car. On our way back to the condo we stopped to dip our hot, tired feet into Mad River and I'll admit that when I saw the small hill we had to scramble down to reach the water my immediate reaction was-- but I'll have to climb back up it to get back to the car! What can I say? My legs were awfully tired by that point. The water was freezing cold but running fast and once I allowed my feet and calves to acclimate to it a little it was kind of like an arctic jacuzzi effect the way the water wove around the rocks and splashed against my pale white then shocking pink feet.
As I mentioned before, I had to come back down to Dover today, where the heat and humidity don't seem nearly as picturesque and conducive to inhaling novels and languid hours of couch meditation. The heat is supposed to break early in the week and the temperatures are rumored to be heading down into the 60s. As long as it's not too wet, I hope we'll be attempting another hike later in the week when I head back up north. I didn't do much hiking until I was in college, when I mostly just went up poking around in the hills overlooking Boulder, sometimes in the middle of the night just for the thrill of it. After I graduated and moved to Japan I started to hike on the weekends with friends from work. After those years it was something that I never seemed to find the time or companions for. I'm looking forward to exploring and enjoying it more right here close to home.

Gotta Get Away

I'm going away for a few days to a place with no computers or internet. Have a nice weekend!

Oops

My bad. I forgot to activate the domain. It's not in it's glorious finished form yet or anything, but if you want a peek, click here.

ARGGHHHH!!!

How friggin annoying is it to spend all morning putting together a new website on my recently upgraded website package stupid thingy and not have the damn thing load even though it is supposedly all set and ready for viewing at the new address? VERY ANNOYING AND FRUSTRATING! Am I making myself understood here?
God, I hate to say it but I think I may need a real job.

When You Hear The Ice Cream Truck You Know It's Summer

It's summer. The girl is still in school for another week or so, but it sure feels like summer. The ice cream truck makes its daily rounds through the neighborhood, singing its little song. It's light until almost 8:30. We went over to play tennis at the school courts last night and all the ball fields over there were swarming with small ball players and their families. The porta potty's scent was raging.
Yesterday morning I went over to volunteer at the school. The Dover Militia was set up out in the field teaching the fourth graders about life in colonial times. There was a doctor who explained how he used to treat men on the battlefield. He showed us his bone saw and the knife he used for amputations. There was also a man who showed the various flags that were used in battle, two women who demonstrated the musical instruments people used to play, another woman who talked about the work the women and children did and the big finale was the lighting of a big, old cannon by various students and a couple of teachers. My job was to help set up and then put away the food in the hospitality room. That was easy and it was fun talking with the militia folks, the kids and teachers and the other parents who were there helping out.

Non-essential Personnel

Worlds did not collide. And life went on without me. I know I should be happy everyone gets along so well now, but I can't help feeling a little left out to hear that my boyfriend spent the afternoon with my sister and her family and they had a little cookout and no one bothered to call me even though I live just 10 minutes away, less if the traffic is light.

For the Record

It's been in the nineties for much of the weekend. I'm sure many of the people who were crabbing about how cold and rainy it was have been complaining about the heat. For the record, I wasn't complaining. Yes, it was hot, but I kind of like it that way. It seems to inspire me to read more.

When Worlds Collide

My boyfriend has been helping my sister and her family come into the 21st century with their computing set up, since that's something he knows a lot about and they don't. He's been over there even when I'm not, which feels a little funny but also good since I think it means everyone is finally comfortable with each other and the situation. A year ago I wanted so bad for them to accept him and us and no one was ready yet. Now it's not a problem.
I think he's going over again this afternoon to help my brother in law figure out a few things about the computer and burning cds. He might be there right now. My sister emailed me and said my ex was over helping brother in law with a leaky faucet.
I'm sitting here wondering if universes will collide and if they do, what it will be like.

Cowboy Junkies

On Friday night I went to see the Cowboy Junkies at the Palace Theater in Manchester. It was the first time I'd been to Manchester since high school and I can't say I remembered anything about it from what I saw. I still haven't even been to the airport there, which everyone says is much easier to deal with than flying in or out of Logan.
I hadn't seen the Cowboy Junkies before or even listened to them much except for various songs I've heard on the radio over the years. That still didn't stop it from being a very enjoyable evening of music. The venue and the music were a great match. I can't imagine another setting could have been more approriate to their languid, dreamy sound. The sound quality was excellent. During the first set I thought I'd never seen a band that sounded so much like their recorded sound live. It was a great mix which must attritbute to the acoustics of the theater, their sound crew and the band members having good monitors and actually listening to each other. Most every show I see someone is too loud and someone else is muddy and everyone is competing to be audible over the drums. None of that was going on there.
Margo Timmin's voice is so beauitful and she has a very down to earth stage presence that makes you think she's someone you could sit with in a coffee shop or your living room and talk with like a real person who just happens to have the most incredible voice. The musicianship all around was superb and it was easy to drift off into their slow, bluesy jams and slightly psychedelic sidetrips.
The Palace Theater is a wonderful, old theater, but just like the Opera House in Boston, the seats upstair are tiny. I'm not a particularly large person and my shins were digging into the back of the seat in front of me the entire night. The music was good enough that I didn't care and didn't even notice much at times.
Apparently I'm quite late to the bandwagon, seeing as how the band has been together for about 20 years, but it's nice to make a discovery this far down the line and have all that early material yet to discover.

Ya Ne Znayu

I have recently reclaimed several boxes of books and papers from when I was in grad school in the early 90s. One of the notebooks has my notes from Russian 101. It's very strange to see a notebook filled with my handwriting in a language I can't read anymore.

Good Things Come in Threes

Three names you go by: Pam, Pammie, Pamela

Three screen names you have had: bsisnh, bogaht sister

Three physical things you like about yourself: my basic shape (when not packing too many pounds), eyes, smile

Three things that scare you: spiders, unemployment, meeting new people

Three things you�re wearing now: glasses, jammies, bathrobe

Three of your favorite bands or musical artists: Black Crowes, Foo Fighters, The Who

Three things you want (need) in a relationship: love, understanding, laughter

Two truths and a lie (which one is a lie?): I lived in Japan for 12 years, I was a high school teacher, I've been hit on by a transvestite stripper at a strip bar in Bangkok

Three physical things about the opposite sex do you love: shoulders, hands, mouth

Three of your favorite hobbies: writing, playing music, knitting

Three things you want to do badly right now: get dressed, finish this thing, go outside and check if my flowers are blooming yet

Three careers you�ve considered: lawyer, teacher, film maker

Three places you want to go on vacation: Italy, Australia, Japan

Three kids� names you like: Rachel, Jessica, Robert

Three things you want to do before you die: write a book (or two), live someplace where I can't see the neighbors, help other people acheive their goals

Three ways that you are stereotypically a girl: I cry at sad movies just about anything, I have girly hobbies, like knitting and gardening; I own lots of beauty products that take up a lot of shelf space and don't do much else.

Three celebrity crushes: Rich Robinson (of The Black Crowes), Russell Crowe, Johnny Depp