It’s in the Wikipedia! February 29, 2008 ~ 9:59 am
Posted by Julie in : Uncategorized , comments closedSometimes I wish I didn’t have a day job that tired me out so that I want to be in bed by midnight. Because if I didn’t, I wouldn’t have had to stifle yawns during the funniest two hours of my life last night. The yawns were all a reflection on Some College during Commencement Season and in no way a commentary on Eddie Izzard, who was going completely insane on stage in front of me.
I have loved Eddie Izzard since I caught “Dress to Kill” on BBC America a couple of years ago (to be fair, I only caught it after Aimee and ESC told me I couldn’t go on in life without seeing it), and when I saw he was playing in New York, I was on that like white on rice. I bought a ticket immediately (of course without reading the details) and found myself with a ticket to last night’s 10:30 show. Because they’re all 10:30 shows. And thus I was dead tired at 12:15 this morning, but still laughing until I cried at Eddie’s encore.
For the record, he was an off-duty transvestite last night, in a blazer and jeans and no makeup, but he was still awesome. And yes, his eyes are really that blue. In what is par for the course with Eddie, I can’t describe the part of the routine that made me laugh hardest because it was about giraffes and how they can’t communicate verbally and it involved a lot of pantomime. Giraffes playing charades to tell the others in the herd about lurking tigers made the tears run down my face. There were a lot of Bible jokes, including my favorite, “The Good Samaritan.” Because calling him the good Samaritan makes it sound like “all the other Samaritans were assholes.” Eddie also does a bit with his iPhone about looking information up on the Wikipedia, because everything is there (it’s true, I tell people this all the time) and another bit about how dinosaurs don’t appear in the Bible, because Creationism doesn’t make sense, because if God made dinosaurs he was smoking crack.
I think it just defies description, but it was amazing and I want to try to see it again before the run is over on March 8. Maybe next Friday. And I’ll take a nap before.
Double Yoi February 27, 2008 ~ 3:43 pm
Posted by Julie in : Uncategorized , comments closedRick left a message on my voicemail earlier to tell me that Myron Cope passed away this morning. If you’re from the Pittsburgh area, you know what that means. If you’re not from Pittsburgh, read the Wikipedia article I linked, because I can’t explain it any better. Myron Cope is the voice of my childhood, heard on the TV during long Sunday afternoons before I learned to like football. His nasal voice speaking Pittsburghese sounds like home to me, and his death is a lot like losing a member of the family.
Here’s to the man who invented the Terrible Towel:
Mishmash February 26, 2008 ~ 12:07 pm
Posted by Julie in : Uncategorized , comments closedApple announced the update to the MacPro Line that I was waiting for this morning. Go ahead, look at Apple’s website and see it, I’ll wait. As soon as I saw the update on the website, I called all three Apple stores in Manhattan. None of them had it, and while they were confident that they would get it soon, they couldn’t tell me when. So I ordered it off the website. I should have it by midweek next week, fingers crossed that FedEx will be kind to me. I am impatient, what can I say?
Totally unrelated, I did something last night that I’ve never done before. I have been working on a pair of socks since…well, apparently since last March according to Ravelry. And they were in a yarn that I bought before I discovered the joys of Socks That Rock, or Lorna’s Lace’s, or Sea Wool, or Dream in Color Smooshy, and I kinda hated the way it felt. All rough and not nice. And so I had put them aside for a long while because the pattern was one I had to pay attention to and the yarn wasn’t nice, and I only picked them up recently because I felt like I had to finish them. And when I started the second one I realized that I had fucked up the pattern (Cookie A’s excellent Pomatomus) on the first one, but I kept going anyway because I had to finish them. And then yesterday at lunch when I was working on the second sock and the rough yarn was rasping away at my already dry, papercut hands, I realized I hated the socks. I would never wear them because the yarn pissed me off so much. I had an epiphany, and when I got home? I took them off the needles and threw out the socks and the yarn. I put them in the kitchen garbage so they were in with coffee grounds and I wouldn’t be tempted to yank them out again. I then took the garbage to the curb because it was garbage night and went inside and started on a pair of socks that I’d been wanting to do for ages but wouldn’t let myself start because of the Hated Socks. I felt strangely liberated by this whole thing because of my epiphany: life’s too short to knit with yarn you hate because you think you “have to.” You don’t have to do anything but pay taxes and die. If the project is a burden to you and makes you dread knitting? Rip it out. Stop knitting it. Knitting is supposed to be fun, not work.
I was going to go into a Ralph Nader rant, but I think I’ll save that for tomorrow, because the joy of throwing out that horrible knitting is all encompassing right now and I don’t want to spoil it.
That last post was a lie. There was no Wii. February 25, 2008 ~ 12:25 pm
Posted by Julie in : Uncategorized , comments closedThis is how I feel today:
Summary of day February 23, 2008 ~ 12:54 pm
Posted by Julie in : Da Cats, Technobabble , comments closed
Only part of teh day. It hard to teach kittehs Guitar Hero!
Worst. Commute. Ever. February 22, 2008 ~ 12:28 pm
Posted by Julie in : Academic Office Monkey, In Da Hood , comments closedThis morning when I woke up, Brooklyn was blanketed with snow. I had been hitting snooze for at least a half hour, as per my usual, but when I actually opened my eyes and saw the fluffy whiteness? I jumped out of bed like I used to when I was in grade school. Unfortunately, much like my grade school never had a snow day unless there was a foot of snow (The superintendent was a dick. I still dislike Dr. Ross.), Some College was still open for business. Fuck.
I dressed for my battle with the elements. Merrells, which are waterproof and insulated. Lands End parka with hood. Handknit hat. Cashmere scarf my brother got me last Christmas. Furry gloves that I got at a flea market last fall which are as warm as can be. I was ready. The train came quickly, after only a few minutes of waiting. (My train, it is tricksy. Because it goes above ground two stops after my house, you can never be sure if it’s running or not.) I got off the train at the stop where I transfer to the bus that takes me to Some College, turned on my iPod to listen to the latest Knitters Uncensored podcast, and waited.
At first, it was fun. My gear was keeping me warm and dry, and it was funny that the snow was piling up on me and my backpack, covering my Captain Jack Sparrow and Obama ‘08 buttons. After a while, though, I was starting to get a little cold. I suppose I could have walked, but the thought of trudging miles through unshoveled sidewalks with four inches of snow on them? Not appealing. So I waited, squinting through the snow shower down the street in hopes of catching sight of the bus. Nothing. My toes in their insulated boots were starting to go numb, turning into little ice cubes that were hard to walk on. I am from Pennsylvania, people. I went to college where Lake Effect snow was just an accepted fact for seven months of the year. I am not a wus, but my feet were really freaking cold. Still no bus. I looked at my iPod and realized that I had been waiting at the bus stop for a solid hour and nothing was coming. I did what anyone would do. I called work.
I asked my boss how many people had showed up. Three, out of fifteen of us. The only people who had managed to make it to work either lived nearby or could take a train for the entire trip. I explained how I had been waiting for the bus for an hour, and how at this point walking wasn’t really an option because my feet were frozen. She told me to get back on the train and go home, and check my email because a professor was upset over something. I was okay with this decision, and after looking down the street for a couple more minutes, I got back on the train. And came home. And put my dripping parka and gloves on the radiator to dry.
I have to go back out in three hours for a meeting in Manhattan, but since that trip will not involve any busses, I think I’m fine. And afterwards, I’m getting a beer with Lori. Because if ever there was an earned Miller Time, it’s today.
How I know Rick has been influenced by me. February 21, 2008 ~ 1:16 pm
Posted by Julie in : Coupledom, Rick , comments closed(Because that sounds nicer than: How I know Rick is well-trained.)
We were talking about Macbeth as we walked to the subway last night, and both agreed that it felt really long in the second act in spite of stellar acting. Rick then said “You know that really long scene between Macduff and Malcolm? They could have used a dramaturg there.”
Thank you, yes, they could have. This is the second only to last weekend when I showed Rick a scarf that I was knitting in a chevron pattern (which basically makes the scarf edge wavy instead of straight), and not realizing that it was designed that way, he commented “It’s really nice, but you’re going to have to block the hell out of that, aren’t you?”
He got some for that.
Jealousy February 20, 2008 ~ 12:11 pm
Posted by Julie in : About a Julz, Drama Queen , comments closedToday I make a lot of you jealous by saying that tonight Rick and I are going to see Patrick Stewart in his sold-out run of Macbeth at BAM. Because is there anything better than Patrick Stewart performing Shakespeare? Well, there is, and here is where I let you know that sometimes I get jealous, too. The Ex took the Oldest to see this production last week, and afterwards they went out to dinner…with Patrick Stewart.
Dude, there are days when after I get over the fact that my complexion has turned an alarming shade of pea green? I wish the Ex would just adopt me.
De-cluttered, finally February 19, 2008 ~ 10:52 am
Posted by Julie in : Random Insanity , comments closedFor the first time in I have no idea how long, my home office space doesn’t look like a trash heap. It took all weekend to get to that point, but it was totally worth it. See, I hate filing, and it didn’t help that I hadn’t updated my filing system since 1999. So rather than filing, I was putting all paid bills, taxes, etc., into an inbox of sorts. I had been doing that since I moved into my old basement apartment four years ago. This weekend, in an attempt to “red up” in case I do start freelance grant writing and actually need a functional office, I went on an office decluttering mission.
I went through everything in the inbox and shredded all bills over a year old. I got rid of crap that I didn’t need. I went through my filing cabinet and did the same (which meant I got rid of virtually everything since I hadn’t filed anything in there in four years), got rid of all the stuff left over from grad school that I didn’t need anymore, and generally reclaimed the space. The shredder broke halfway through this (it was old and sad and had done well in its time), so I manually shredded for three hours. But it is effectively done - all that’s left is the filing of things from the past year (a very small pile), and cleaning out the cart beside my desk that houses all my old computer programs. Now I want to buy some organizational stuff and a replacement shredder (tax write-offs, my accountant tells me), and the office will be an actual office instead of just “that paper-strewn place over in the corner where I play on the internet.” Yay!
Now I just have to call the artistic director at the theater and talk to her about the grant writing. Cross your fingers, people.
Antici….pation February 15, 2008 ~ 1:41 pm
Posted by Julie in : Technobabble , comments closedWhen I was little, I was the kid who couldn’t sleep on Christmas Eve for the thought of all the loot to come. Actually, we were probably all like that, but I’ve never lost it. If I know I’m going to get something? HolyshitIwantitrightnowcan’twait! And thus is the saga with the MacBook.
After some emailing back and forth with Vince, I’ve decided to go the way of the MacBook Pro. The review Vince posted two days ago about the MacBook Air, along with this one, decided me against an Air. Yes, it’s pretty, yes, it’s light, but when a review tells me that this should not be your primary computer or maybe even your secondary, and that’s what I really want? Bye, Air. Also, the fact that I would have to buy an external CD-ROM/RW/DVD/whatever drive because it doesn’t come with an internal one (that’s why it’s so light, peeps), and that it’s slower than a MacBook? Game over.
So, a Pro. Which with my educational discount (thank you, SomeCollege!) is the same price as the Air with the USB drive. The screen is bigger, it runs fast, I am in! But then today I start looking around the Mac forums and see this. Looks like the Pros are going to get that trackpad that I loved so much on the Air. And will run faster. And this will be happening in the next couple of weeks, by the sound of it. Well, I was going to have to wait until March for my refund check anyway, so this is doable. And the last time I bought a Mac, my beloved little iBook which bricked, Apple came out with a new version with double the memory a week later. I talked them into giving me some cash back, but on the whole, I would rather have had that extra memory. Not going to make that mistake again, I will wait, ta very much.
But the waiting, it has never been my strong suit, and that is putting it mildly. Gah!
