experimenting with black beans

they're fresh, as in not dried. got 'em from the farmers market this weekend. cookin' em up for dinner. i hope they're tasty. i've had katie's fresh black beans a few times & of course they were delicious. who knows how mine will turn out though...?

welcome to adam grass & jack steinmetz! seriously, everyone's popping out babies - although i bet their mom's might phrase it differently. welcome, babies!!!

think i'm finally settling into the job a little more. it's been rough at times, i won't deny it. the joy of working 6 days in a row is having the following monday off. what a treat! i enjoy monday's off much more than saturday's off. on a monday, the world seems pretty quiet (except for traffic on our street). i can go out & do things (like shopping) & want to kill myself a little less because stores aren't swarmed by everyone & their mother - THEY'RE AT WORK!! it's so great!! few things turn my stomach as much as stores full of people. you do have to make peace with the slow, poor driving of many old folks though. in my book, it's totally worth it. & it feels ok just to take it easy. there's no one else to hang out with & sometimes, that's exactly what i need.

anyway, i had a leisurely monday (after a short trip to work that i'm pretending never happened). went to yoga, sat around in the sun & read the book i've been struggling to get through (for a book club i'm trying), had some lunch, caught up on some e-mails, went to the garden for a bit & got the emissions inspection on the car. an all around good day.

i finally had time to attempt another compost pile at the garden. i've been taking our food scraps (non-animal scraps) to katie's compost bin, but seeing as she's leaving, i needed a new spot. so i dumped it on the garden plot next to ours, which has been abandoned for the winter & i piled it high with wood chips. boy did it smell - it was pretty horrible. hope they don't kick me out for stinky compost.

guess that's about it. getting a bit of a cold, i think. a sign that i haven't been taking good care of myself. dan was so sick last winter, like he was dying, & i didn't even get a little sick. hm... i'm on the market for a voice teacher & i've got a few leads. my new bedtime seems to be (eek!) 9:30pm. wacky. but it seems to work somehow. i'm old.

my dog has fleas....

me & maw & ricky elz waitin' fer the subway.

maybe i've been busy or maybe i've been lazy. think it's a little of both. i've realized how pointless this blog-thing is... i don't think it's accomplishing my original goal of helping to keep in touch with people at all.

work's been going ok. a little frustrating. i have issues with one person in particular. maybe it's just me. without being too specific, there's one person i interact with who's the opposite of helpful EVERY DAY. or, every time i have a question. one time, in response to my casual question, this person said, "What are you talking about!?" so... that's been fun.

we had this semi-formal fundraiser last friday... it wasn't too bad. i was feeling nervous about the attire - "casual coctail" - so i headed over to katies for some advice. it was the best part of the day by far! she & her sister had me try on lots of different things from both of their closets. it was exactly how i've always imagined life with sisters to be. i carpooled & one person dropped out, so i drove the polish guy who practices brazilian jujitsu. i started to feel like i was on some kind of wierd blind date since dan didn't go. but that eventually passed. the food was interesting - mashed potatoes served in martini glasses, that kind of thing. thank god for my supervisor's wife. we get along pretty well, so we had lots of time to chat.

hm... ricky elz was in visiting for the weekend. it was a good time. our quick trip to nyc was a bit too quick. the drive ended up being quite a bit longer than i thought & we got back super late. it was good to see maw though. it's been about 2 years since the last time we drove up, i think. wish she'd move back to balto.

trying to read a book called "The History Of Love" for a book club i might join. it was sooo good for the first 50 or so pages. sadly, it's become much less good.

i did make it for a second trip down to the solar decathlon. if i have time in the near future, i may post some pictures. it was really inspiring. if building something like that was a requirement for all masters programs, i'd be in school tomorrow. unfortunately, i think it'll take more time to find a school that emphasises building as much as sustainable design.

my dog doesn't really have fleas. i don't have a dog. but our apartment may have fleas thanks to a visit from some flea infested shoes. another reason to be glad we live in a carpet free environment!!

you can do it, duffy moon

a few short months ago, i was moaning & groaning that i was BORED BORED BORED with work & other things. everyone else (not literally) seemed to be moving, having babies, or both, while we were holed up in baltimore doing who the hell knows what. time has passed, as it tends to do, & we're still here. some things have changed & some haven't. funny how one often wants what one doesn't have. never satisfied. i started a new job with lots of possibility. only then did i realize how great certain parts of my old job really were, namely the easy relationship i had with my boss. he made me bat-shit crazy sometimes but... a lot of the things that inspire me about the new job are all the possibilities for change. it seems like an uphill battle & i find myself feeling bored more of the time than i thought i'd be on my 4th week. why am i always bored? it's not like i'm the brilliant kid in class who already knows how to do everything. maybe i should just get the tv fixed. then i don't have to spend any time thinking about life & what i could be doing with it. i could just watch some crap as the hours disappear. hm. turns out, the easy way isn't always the best way. discomfort can inspire growth, i think.

had an enlightening discussion with a coworker on the way home from work today. turns out i'm not the only one who finds a prominent member of the staff to be disingenuous. good to know.

that's about it, really. d went with me to water the garden this evening. it's looking ok although i think the squirrels have ravaged quite a few of the seeds. my attempted fall / winter crops include: lettuce, spinach, kale, collards, carrots, beets & green onions. still have a few jalapeno & bell pepper plants growing like crazy. what to do with all the jalapenos?? katie suggests making green chilis. maybe....

& some things stay the same: we still have lots of rats, crime, few trees & little grass

Solar Decathlon

what a day... gorgeous. walked to the farmers mkt after jake & melissa left. got us some goodies. it was a great walk - part of it was along the marathon route, so there were lots of folks out on the street cheering & hanging out on their porches, playing music, handing out snacks & water to runners. i didn't see any runners until i was on my way home. i was just walking along enjoying the music, smiling people & warm sun on my face when i heard cheering. this man with a huge grin passed me by. he wasn't running though... he had some sort of hand-pedaled tricycle. a paraplegic. i was overcome with emotion for some reason. he looked so happy, grinning from ear to ear. i wanted to call out to him & cheer him on but i knew he wouldn't be able to hear me & my arms were full of goodies so i couldn't wave either. i don't have any idea how he had enough power in his arms to go 26 miles ... after he passed, i thought, "maybe i should do the marathon next year" - walk it, i mean. my knees aren't up for running & neither is the rest of me. maybe dan'd wanna go too? guess we'll have to wait & see.

i was awful slow getting back out of the house for DC. i had about 2 hours to walk around the Solar Decathlon before it closed for the day. made it through 3 houses. i'd like to go back & i'm trying to figure out when that would be possible. might do it monday afternoon... i usually hate crowds, but there was something about the energy of the students & visitors. excitement. inspiration. felt a little bit like, "these are my people," if you know what i mean. i hope it's possible to work on a house for the decathlon when i go back to school.

best get this kitchen cleaned up before dan gets home.... or my good wife status will be no more.

A few images from the day:

Took these pics for my Dad - UMR's solar house exterior.

UMR interior.

I really enjoyed the interior of the house above - by Penn State, I think.

Penn State interior - Outside the big doors are sliding shutters to shade the house from summer sun. Inside there are sliding shutters w/ glass milk bottles - The milk bottles are part of an experiment to help spread fall & winter natural light - & the warmth of the sun is supposed to heat the thermal mass inside the bottles & help warm the interior when the sun goes down. Interesting...

Penn State house: The large shelf unit in the background was attached to tracks on the wall to the right & the beam on the left. It slid along the track to enlarge or shrink room sizes as needed... Pretty cool.


University of MD's "Leaf house." Great exterior w/ shutters & plants growing on the side. It also had a dehumidifier system inside that used rock salt to remove moisture from the air...

sordid butt-juice chanting

i'm feeling a little sad. jake & missy are on their way to big apple to continue celebrating their one-year schmaniversary. i wish we could've spent more time together. if i'd gotten my shit together earlier, i probably could've gone up to NYC w/ them & spent some good time hanging w/ maryann & maybe some time w/ my bro while missy's at Marry Poppins. he's a nervous traveler & manhattan is an overwhelming place. i find it easy to get turned around. it would've been pretty perfect cuz maryann will be attending pat's wedding in philly on sunday too & that would be my ride back to dan & eventually baltimore. alas, that didn't work out this time around. i hope the rest of their trip is tons & tons of F-U-N.

had a crazy week at work. it started out fine & ended with me thinking, "what the hell am i doing here? i'm not the right person for this job." my supervisor & most of the higher-ups were out of town from wed-fri for a conference. tuesday was good - i got some people who seemed to know what they were doing to "fix" the troublesome warehouse garage door (even though i felt like the lead technician was drunk, or high). wednesday was fine. probably a little too fine because i was thinking, this job is cake. thursday rolled around & it was a lot less fine. chaos set in early. problems with a lumber order & a confused carpenter who didn't know what he needed (i changed his lumber order 3 times - from 5 to 7 to 2 joists. the lumber supplier thought i was a nutcase.), the garage door got stuck, one of the job sites was shut down for not having the right permit, i gave a crew incorrect google map directions somewhere & wasted a LOT of their time, engine light came on in one of the vehicles.... it was a long-ass day that ended with the garage guys coming back & helping the door down so it would close for the night. good times. thankfully, i was able to get a decent haircut in the evening, go to the gym & take a nice long walk with dan to help ease my mind of worry. friday was a little better but i ended up feeling like a total dumbass. i wasn't 100% prepared for the friday morning meeting, where my supervisor (me in his place) tells everyone what they're doing for the day. too many things went wrong at the end of thursday & i was way past being ready to go home when i left at 5. anyway, long story short, i felt crummy & excluded at the end of the day & wondering why i thought it was a good idea to take this job. the person who had the position before me stopped by & i thought: i'm SOOO not like her.... i'm going to do a shitty job. before the day was over, the construction staff & some office folks (old & young), went out for happy hour. i'm not a big fan of happy hour, but i'm still struggling to feel like part of the group... especially after the past 2 days. wish i didn't care about that kind of stuff. i need to get over it. it's probably better that they didn't invite me. i don't always do my best in situations where i'm not 100% comfortable with people & alcohol's involved. might've said or done something regrettable.

so that brings me to today. the plan is to hit our farmer's market & then head down to DC for the Solar Decathlon - it's a contest where students from different colleges & universities design, build, and operate energy-efficient, solar-powered houses. "Solar Decathlon houses must power all the home energy needs of a typical family using only the power of the sun." anyway, i'm pretty excited to check it out. (kinda loud here at the moment - today's the Baltimore Marathon & there are 3 helicopters flying right over our building.) tomorrow we head up to philly for pat's wedding. looking forward to it. at least fall weather has arrived so i don't have to panic about not having appropriate clothing for the wedding. i hate shopping, especially for "nice" things that i will rarely wear. although that reminds me, i need to purchase some hosiery for the occasion. i used the last pair (which were in fine condition, mind you) to strain the paper pulp from my bathtub for last years christmas cards... WHAT? you didn't get a fabulous handmade christmas card from me last year? that's because they're sitting in a pile under my desk. it took so long to make them that i thought, maybe they'll be post-christmas thank-you cards & then it waas valentines cards, st. patrick's day cards, 4th of july cards..... at some point, i just gave up. sorry, guys. my plan for rinsing the pulp from the hosiery didn't work either & eventually i tossed them so dan wouldn't go insane. what can i say? i'm a good wife...

it looks like a beautiful fall day outside. hooray!!! (where does that word come from?? it looks wierd.) (the title for this blog came from the magnetic poetry on our fridge.)

baby mamma drama

do i believe in global warming? hell yes, i do. it feels pretty gross here right now & has for more than a week. warm & unusually humid for this time of year.... although i think last fall was similar. pretty sure i remember a few nasty hot days up until a week or so before Christmas. i thought winter would never come. i hope it arrives earlier this year. i hope the weather is more tolearable this weekend when jake & melissa stop in for a quick visit on their way to NYC.

dan & i just got back from a walk around the hood, even though it's pretty nasty out. as we crossedthe street from our immediate neighborhood crammed with rowhouses, into a nicer neighborhood with lots of grass & trees, we felt the cool breeze blowing past us... it felt like everyone in Guilford has their ac on & windows open. the state of the world is frightening. war, global warming, peak oil... tomorrow's supposed to be a toasty 93 degrees. yikes! dan, the lucky bastard, has the day off & is planning to spend the day at the beach. this is one of those times i feel sad to have "real" job where i can't just say, "hey, i'd like to go to the beach today" & get away with it. i actually have to go to work. not only that but my immediate supervisor & most of the other folks in charge of things are heading to a conference in New Orleans for the remainder of the week. there's almost no chance that i'm not going to get stressed out. i still don't know any answers. i have been feeling a tad bored at work lately, so this should be the ultimate test. i don't know how the hours pass, but they do. 4pm rolls around before i know it & then i have a nice long evening to look forward to!! it'll be even better once i adjust to the early mornings. i was so pooped this weekend, i could hardly stay awake.

nothing much going on really. dan & i took a walk to hampden this weekend to check out a new shop. i never know what to expect in hampden. it's half gentrified & half not. & the half that's not can be SO in your face, it's pretty uncomfortable. if this was st. louis, i'd use the term hoosier, but no one's familiar with that term around these parts. so anyway, on our walk to hampden, we passed a gaggle of police officers & baby mammas on the street corner making a ruckus. probably 4 cop cars & maybe 7 or 8 teenagers, each pushing a stroller with a baby. not something you see every day. it baffles me & makes me sad at the same time. poor babies.

had dinner with my old boss last thursday evening. it was fun & odd all at the same time. i definitely expected it to be odd but was pleasantly surprised by the fun part. dan & i brought some wine (because we like wine). neither one of them drink much at all but i fear the next day might've been uncomfortable & possibly a little humiliating... we got a new sharp kitchen knife & sharpener out of it though, which was odd. guess that's all i know.