Trick or Treat?

My roommate and I are dog sitting while the dogs owners have a baby. I am more of a morning person, so I am fine with getting up early and taking the dog for a nice long walk. As I was falling asleep last night, I thought, "Maybe I'll do the 3-mile loop in reverse tomorrow morning." Thank goodness that is what I did and that I tend to be observant.

I found not ONE,

but TWO

ONE HUNDRED DOLLAR BILLS on the sidewalk. In my path.

They are so real with their watermarks and plastic strips and fancy ink. No one was around. It was not in front of a house. There was no wallet. They were a few feet apart. Is there a maximum amount of money that if you find over that, you have to report it? Someone mentioned there might be when I came in to work all excited this morning.

Happy Halloween!

Twice in a lifetime...so far

Last night was amazing.

I stayed up and awake for the whole game...and the Red Sox did great too.

Danielle is keeping me on the ball with the whole Red Sox thing! :) I went to a couple of the Pats celebratory parades when I was working in the city. Unfortunately, just like in 2004, I am supposed to be TAing tomorrow, so the timing of the Rolling Rally does not work out for me. Sad!

In 2004, I was home alone grading lab reports when they won (the ex said he did not 'feel like' coming over that night). This year I guilted my roommate in to staying up with me by telling her she could not go to bed halfway through the final game of the World Series. It is a good thing I was right or she would have killed me. I do not really know what to say. I love that my grandmother has now seen the Sox win two World Series in the past few years. I love that my parents brought us to games when we were little (and the tickets were still affordable), because I know that although I have not had to be as patient as my Gramma, I have still been a fan through the bad as well as the good. I love watching the bullpen drumming away during the games, the looks on the batters' faces when they realize their hit is over the fence, and seeing the team be so happy after their wins.

However, I do not respect their choice in beer for the celebrations. Bud light? Really? :)

Now for the off-season trading.

Enough with the sports posts

I mean, I am enjoying the fall sports season, but it is tiring. I usually multitask during Patriots games, because they tend to win and I can find plenty of things to do. The whole World Series thing has me exhausted. How 'bout a dating update instead?

There's not much to say, really.

I have quickly observed that the online service I use is more of a way for men to find women, and not necessarily the other way around. Any of the guys with whom I initiated contact, I have not ended up meeting for various reasons. All of the guys I have met initiated contact with me. What is the point of me paying for a chance for guys to send me messages? Along these lines, one guy and I were sending messages back and forth and at the end of the last one I gave him my phone number and said to feel free to call. No phone call yet. That was three weeks ago.

The only guy I am in touch with in person is Right-on guy. We've been seeing each other for maybe 4 weeks now. I really need to figure out what to say to him to not see him anymore. He is a nice guy and his cats love me, but I am a little bored and less than impressed with the number of times he uses not-nice language. Do not get me wrong, I swear. A lot if I am in a bad mood. I do not really know how to "break-up with" someone, even though I have always done the breaking up. I guess it is different if you are seeing each other but have not proclaimed yourselves boyfriend/girlfriend? Oiy.

There are three guys with whom I have exchanged communications - the guys who has not responded in three weeks, a guy who owns a couple of restaurants, and a guy whose grandfather was from Spain.

I went to a beer festival yesterday. That is the type of place where I am afraid I will see someone who looks familiar, not be able to place them, and then realize they were a match online. It did not happen yesterday, but it could have.

Closed matches: 370

Lyrics #11

I have my favorite people/bands that I listen to. This is a new song by one of them and I like it. :) It doesn't really resonate, per se, but I like the tune and the lyrics together.

I knew a guy
I thought he was my first love
But he had to decide
Between me and the one before
And she stacked it all up, like a house of cards
Said if he didn't come back, he'd find her flattened on the floor
And though I went and lived in my own hell,
Thought that I would die as well,
I let him go where he thought had to go.

And I never took heavy words for granted
And I never took an undeserved advantage
And I never took the easy way
So why don't you take it a little easy on me now

I am a lame fan.

Now that the Sox are up 13 to 1, I feel it is safe to go to bed even though there are still four full innings left. Is that wrong?

The life of a Boston sports fan in 2007

Not that I usually like to read sports stuff online, but I have my brother and my dad to send me things. :)

The Onion is hilarious in general. I should really start reading their sports section though. Check out these bits on the the Red Sox and Pats

This was in the Globe a few days ago. It's about a man who has been in a coma and wakes up from a 7-year coma and starts asking about sports. This is the advice the doctor ultimately gives the man after mentioning that Curt Schilling has a blog:

"Here's what you do next week. You go to the seventh game of the World Series at Fenway Park on Thursday, Nov. 1. On Friday, you go to the New Garden to see Garnett make his regular-season debut with the Celtics. The Red Sox Duck Boat parade should be Saturday afternoon, which will allow you to see second-ranked BC play host to Florida State later in the day.

"Then on Sunday, you fly to Indianapolis where the unbeaten Patriots will play the unbeaten Colts in a rematch of last year's AFC Championship game. That ought to just about get you caught up. Any questions?"

"Just one," said the patient.

"What's a blog?"

Wicked excited

Danielle asked in the previous post if I was excited about the Red Sox. Well, I am wicked excited. Yes, wicked. My parents were at the game last night?! My Dad reports that, "it was the single most intense event (sports and concerts) that I have ever been too and that includes some pretty interesting happenings in the 60’s." He is a true New England sports fan, sticking with the Sox and Pats through all those long hard years, so I am glad that they got to go to the game and that it turned out the way it did.

When I was watching the game Saturday night, we were talking about how much longer before Red Sox fans will let go of The Curse and general misfortune - I think it will take this year's World Series. :)

Smells

1. Why do my sweaters always smell like a perm when they come out of the washing machine?
I suppose it is because of chemicals used in dyes or processing of wool, but it still brings back memories of all those perms I had.

2. I am using one of those Thermacare stick-on heating pads for my shoulders for the first time. I keep smelling something oddly chemical and that is the only thing I can think of that is different from my usual shower/lotion/hair routine. It is totally worth it because my shoulders are much less tight than usual (after having it on for 6 hours).

The Investigator

I found this here. The only things that concern me are the things about being paranoid and being greedy...and some of the people who are Investigators. Oh, well. That's what I get for being a scientist I supposed.

You Are 5: The Investigator

You're independent - and a logical analytical thinker. You love learning and ideas... and know things no one else does. Bored by small talk, you refuse to participate in boring conversations. You are open minded. A visionary. You understand the world and may change it. At Your Best: You are sharp, inventive, and creative. You have the skills to lead the world. At Your Worst: You are reclusive, weird, and a bit paranoid. Your Fixation: Greed Your Primary Fear: Being useless or incompetent Your Primary Desire: Being competent and needed Other Number 5's: Bill Gates, John Lennon, Kurt Cobain, Bjork, and Stephen Hawking.

What Number Are You?

Like a Rockwell painting

I had a wonderful weekend seeing all my old neighbors from my childhood that was featured here. One of the sets of parents from the neighborhood was celebrating their 30th Anniversary and their kids pulled off a great surprise party. I went up early with my sister, her family and my parents and we visited some places I remember.

I cut off the sign at the start of the bridge so you could get a sense of how long it is. I think it is either the longest bridge in New England or New Hampshire.














This is the elementary school we went to...only the farthest roof to the right in the picture is an addition they added since we left. It was a great small school house. My sister's class only had 5 students in it. All the children would take turns ringing the bell (where the white circles are now) at the end of recess - one big kid and one little kid.




This is Long Pond - it was past peak foliage, but still beautiful.














Then the Brick Store. My parents used to bring us there after school performances where we could pick out penny candy. The used to sell Swedish Fish and Hot Balls by the piece. Now they will not let you reach in to the jars because they are antiques and they sell everything by weight.
One of our friends asked my sister if she missed the town and our friends. She put it perfectly when she said that she missed growing up in the perfect Norman Rockwell painting and is sad that it does not exist anywhere anymore. (The town we grew up in exists, but not the feeling of being in a painting and how perfect it all really was.)

A scientist in the kitchen

My roommate will laugh at me for posting the following story with this recipe, but here it goes.

Apparently someone my roommate knows was interviewing for a job in a laboratory. The interviewer (P.I.) asked if she liked to cook and how she cooked in the kitchen. Later, after the woman got the job and was working in the lab, the P.I. explained why he asked. He apparently finds that when scientists like to cook, and use a recipe but are not afraid to stray from it they tend to be better scientists. I guess it means you are likely to use a protocol but are not afraid of figuring out how to make it better. I made this zucchini-roni pizza tonight for company and it was good. The jar of roasted red peppers I had on hand was smaller than what the recipe called for, so I sauteed up some vidalia onion and blended them together. I also used the alternative smoked Gouda mentioned at the end of the recipe. The last few pieces of the pizza are in the back right corner of the table:
I also made a quiche with my own mix of recipes right next to the pizza at the back of the table. You can't go wrong with sharp cheddar, bacon, spinach, and onion. :)

Family reunion

My great-uncle used to have the entire family at his house for St. Patrick's Day because his house was on the parade route. When he passed away, my parents started an annual family reunion on Columbus Day weekend, the idea being if it was the same day every year, eventually the California cousins would make it out. The foliage was not quite at its peak this year. The first picture is a stop on the drive to my parents' house and the second picture is the road up to their house looking out my windshield, both pictures from last year's drive to the reunion.

It is always wonderful and exhausting to see my family. I really enjoy seeing my second cousins now that we are older, and the youngest generation grows every year - last year my cousins daughter was only 2 weeks old and she was walking around this year!

Aside from my grandmother, whose husband passed away 30 years ago, and my uncle, who is single for reasons influenced by his mental health, I was the only single one there. I loved seeing everyone but had to disappear a couple of times to regroup with myself. Away from the couples and families. People definitely wanted to know how dating is going and whether I have hit it off with someone yet. But I get tired. One of the reasons I like having my blog now is that I do not have to rehash all of the dating stories to all of my friends, only the ones who do not read my blog. :)

100 things: 21-30, Childhood memories

I just posted lyrics and the little background gave me inspiration for the next 10 things - things I remember from some of my growing up in a wonderful neighborhood in northern New Hampshire. This was really easy to write! I am going to one of the neighborhood parents 25th anniversary party next weekend and can not wait to see all the old friends.

21. I still remember my blowing my first bubble gum bubble - I was probably about 4 or 5 and I was outside near our garden during the summer. I do not remember who I was with, but one of the Dads was coming on his tractor and I ran to show him because I was that excited about my first bubble!

22. We had an amazing sliding hill behind our house and my parents (i.e. the Dads of the neighborhood) installed a flood light for night sliding. We used to have sliding parties and the Dads (of course) would pull us back up the hill in big sleds attached to snow mobiles.

23. I call "sledding", "sliding". I have no idea why.

24. In addition to sliding parties, our neighbor tapped trees and we would have sugar-on-snow parties. SO GOOD. When they built the sugar shack in the woods, the whole neighborhood would go down. Boiling tree sap down until the maple syrup is really thick, pouring it in little dollops on snow, eating it with a fork along with homemade pickles and donuts. How much more New England can you get?

25. We went back one winter to visit after moving. There was a sliding party and I broke my arm...because one of the dad/son pairs on a sled slid right on to my arm. Unfortunately, I did get a cast because it was right near my elbow and did not go all the way through the bone.

26. I was petrified of the woods around the edge of the bottom of the sliding hill. I thought there were bear and evil things. Talking to my sister now, I think our Mom must have said things to scare us so we would not go past the tree line. Clever.

27. I have plucked the little feathers off chickens when it was the time of year to slaughter the chickens. Did I mention we lived next door to a farm?

28. I also used to collect eggs in the hen house with one of the boys on the farm.

29. Said boy on the farm was older than me and was great with kids! He used to tell me which earwig bugs were "good" and which were "bad" and I would only stomp on the bad ones.

30. I used to collect polliwogs in the pond in the summer with the other kids. They were the black ones that you can not see through. We would bring them home and watch them grow legs or start to lose their tails. We did not know how to feed them, so we always returned them after a couple of days.

Lyrics #10

The songs that really stick with me that I love to listen to usually have some memory or person or experience connected to them. Below is the start of one of these songs. It reminds me of a random memory that requires a little background. My family moved right before third grade. It does not sound like a big deal, but I had a hard time fitting in at that age. My sister was starting middle school, where most of the kids did not know each other anyway; my brother was going in to first grade, and kids that age do not necessarily remember who was in kindergarten the year before.

I was not very athletic (to put it lightly), and my brother was in little league. I was in about sixth grade when, during one of his games, I went over to the pond near the field with two little brothers (5 or 6-ish) of one of my brother's teammates. They were looking at the frogs at the edge of the pond, so I started catching frogs for them to hold. For whatever reason, this memory really sticks with me. The little boys where really impressed that a girl would catch frogs,the parents were happy I was occupying the boys, and I felt like I fit in or was needed somehow. I missed the pond and frogs and tom-boy things I would do before we moved to this town, so I guess I was glad I got to share catching frogs with these little boys.

Anyway, the song is about being a tom-boy, basically.

I won't forget when Peter Pan came to my house, took my hand
I said I was a boy; I'm glad he didn't check.