Picked a good day to take off, snowing hard, very pretty.

Show last night was something of a gas.

Need to go get kibble, considering making chili.

Am going to sing for a bar crowd in a bit. Grilled some sandwiches, listening to Richard Thompson & the like, trying to find a space in which to operate.

Finding that the proliferation of mobile devices induces a certain passivity, on my part anyway, sorry about that.

Tangy pickles, creamy cheese.

Came home, rested a bit, started laundry, made some spicy soup with leftover chicken, hoping to help L. with her cold.

More resting, cheesecake, folded laundry.

On the sidewalks there is a thin coat of snow or ice.

Went out to get some slices for lunch, people sitting next to me were talking about topics in the population genetics of some variety of beetle.

Still drowsy despite Dr. Pepper, where's the truth in advertising?

In the event, recovery took the form of a 15 hour nap, feel a lot better.

At work, occasionally going out to watch the snow fall.

While we slept, somebody set fire to something like 4 houses & 4 cars in and around downtown Northampton, a couple people dead, crazy gets old.

Made me rush down to deal with RAM upgrades in servers, figured reporters would be wanting their servers up & running, ugh.

Still recovering from two week sprint, maybe cookies.

Enjoying some much needed downtime, listening to The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, eating gulab jamun, etc.

Find myself thinking more than I'd like about how tedious it is to be employed by an organ of journalism, helping push forward things that are among my least favorite in our sad little human world, should probably find something else to do, sigh. Halfway wishing I had the wearwithal to start producing tasty food professionally, where my interests and those of the world at large meet, pretty much.

One moment, everything things flat, like a sheet of paper, an inept singer; next, everything is alive with detail and interest. If I got more sleep, I like to imagine, there'd be more of the second.

Warm rest on the couch really does seem do be doing Peretz a world of good, barely any shakiness at all on our afternoon walk.

Had some really good grilled cornbread earlier, served with a veggie chili a tad too acidic, sadly.

Peretz seems to feel a bit better, poor old dog.

Waking up with toast topped with fancy jarred Italian specialties.

Once again, winter storm is a flop.

Watching The Harvey Girls, opened presents.

Peretz has a hurty hind leg.

Happy Xmas.

Been quite something of a week, boss away at work, art show most of the rest of the time, looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow.

If you haven't been by One Chevalier this week, a glimpse of what you're missing, courtesy Ted:



Can't stop sneezing.

Another solstice, brighter days ahead.

Hellish day at work, stomach hurts.

Xmas festivities begin tonight, preparing with Ginger ale

So, no snow for us, vast quantities for Eastern Mass. Wonder if the kids are going to stay on another day?

Got a good deal of art done yesterday, may try to do more today, hurray.

Just talked to my mom about pricing dispute with surly liquor clerks. It's beginning to look a lot like xmas.

Henry's here, off being interviewed for a sysadmin job right now, seems decent, really hope he gets it.

Cold as a witch's tit, but has warmed enough that I should probably walk the pups.

L. is in Woods Hole awaiting the arrival of her pup. He missed his noon boat, kids.

If Henry gets done with the interview thing reasonably early, we're going to VT for pizza. Kid's got a show in town later.

OK, frosty dog walks.

At a show at Tork Clock, suddenly feeling very sleepy.

Left work early, Peretz threw up all over the living room, made an apple crisp for the holiday potluck at work tomorrow.

Dream this morning: blond realtor lady is in the house having fits & throwing drinking glasses against the wall. 'How do you like that? And how do you like that that?'

Woke from that with allergic coughing fit, still feel itchy.

Yesterday, servers & servers & servers, then snow & rain & ice & gave a little html tutorial & c. & c.

Dogs were very interested in the crusty, yet softer, snow this morning.

Just after that last post, 'Fox in the snow ' came on & set me woolgathering.

More coffee & an oversized cardamom roll setting me right, on the couch with dogs.

L.'s about to head out for Hudson girls' night out featuring Diane Cluck.

Took hazardous wastes to dump, got some mei fun & an xmas tree, loaded in firewood.

Last night, pretty dreamy improv show @ Feeding Tube, had forgotten those stark industrial corridors. Came home & fell asleep on the couch with Peretz, who seemed to feel a bit unwell. Cold is hard on his old bones.

Listening to Pandora station 'Twee City'.

Making latkes.

Having a pretty OK day off, though I didn't manage to sleep in.  Dog walks, nice lunch, applied weather stripping to rear door, etc.

Also making applesauce & kielbasa with sauerkraut.

Done with work for a couple days, feel a little dazed.

Made spicy dinner, latkes tomorrow. Chappy cholidays.

Big snowstorm yesterday, walked to the Recorder in the AM, worked from home in the afternoon, ordered in Chinese, lovely.

Losing track of time.

Having fun playing with Droid despite splitting headache.

Cold night, L. made a nice fire.

Oh my, oh my, that was one long show in one cold warehouse, lucky we brought snacks. For the rest of the winter, every show: mulled cider.

Feeling a bit flushed.

Should really get up & go to bed, unmotivated. Peretz is dreaming.

Made breakfast sandwiches, yum.

Icy front steps.

Work, shopping, show.

It's snowing.

Just went to the co-op for eggsbreaddonutsbagelscoffee, ran into lady who used to live 2 doors down on Conz with Chloe the dog who was never the same since her man died working in the bake shop, ran into Starpoli who wants some help with a website, sent me an email about it this morning, 'must be in spam,' I said & sure enough it was. Maybe we'll get together tomorrow.

Trying to get back into Inherent Vice, set aside since seaside vacation, L.'s downstairs frosting a cake for later bday bash.

Ordered a Droid.

Have the day off.

Keep having strange anxiety dreams, car crashes, dogs running loose, etc. Not really feeling particularly anxious.

Might go back to sleep.

Fell asleep on the couch listening to special twee Pandora station. Soggy morn.

Experiencing some funny time compression.

Need to get on with organizizing that Xmas in December thing,

The other night, falling asleep, got to thinking about my rich inner life. Ugh.

OK, dogs need feeding.

Still burning photos.

Yesterday, joined Greenfield artspace, Xmas in December plans slowly becoming less inchoate.

Need to take T. to the airport later.

Heavy cloud of sleep.

Peretz is restless.

Genuinely delightful Thanksgiving feast at the H & O followed by viewing of amusingly terrible G.I. Joe movie at the Brock/Stromsen household. Came home & fell asleep on the couch.

Dreary drive to work through the slate gray drippiness, would like to go home soon & I will. Pleasure universe.

Kugel's in the oven.

Had the kid here overnight, nice to see him again so soon.

Just had to take parchment paper with bits of cake affixed away from dogs.

Need to remember to bring copy of Norstrillia to dinner party for Chris.

Depressingly eager for my meager one day off. Dull city calling Funkytown, come in, Funkytown.

Burning old photos to dvd.

Eager/meager, Becky Beaver.

I'm one drowsy daisy, sleep was pretty seriously disrupted by agitated dogs climbing in and out of my blanket. They hate it when it warms up overnight while raining.

At some point need to get stuff for Thanksgiving kugel.

Going to meet up with T. in town for burritos in a bit.

Where's the excitement?

One long, stuffy headed weekend, T & the kid both in town, meals, shows (great to see Gerty Farish again), IT tasks at work & elsewhere, comped meals & cash in hand for IT tasks, might be I made a profit off the weekend, odd.

Back at work with stuffy head, free cider in the break room.

L. got back with the kid,we had some frozen pizza then went to a nice show at the record store down the way. Very pleasant.

Making another pan of butter mochi to share with friends at show this evening,the whole house smells like coconut.

Really should walk Peretz. He says, 'Yes, you really should.'

Been a big week for extreme discomfort. In addition to all round sickness, twisted my ankle yesterday. Somehow got a lot done despite being mostly bedridden.

L.'s about to leave to fetch the kid, has turned into a pretty day for a drive, anyway.

Cough, cough, cough, limp, limp, limp.

Another day home sick, did a surprisingly large amount of work regardless.

Cough, cough, cough. Peretz is bored with it. Bored.

Bored.

Sick, sick, sick. Sinus headache turned into something a lot worse while at work yesterday, came home early, fell asleep.

Mostly sleeping, coughing, sneezing since then. Was woken about an hour ago by extremely disgruntled Peretz. Just took a very hot shower, will soon move on to other challenges.

Got that pizza I wanted, also some frozen ones for later.

Went to see some music, show ran a little slow, but still nice.

Came home through the foggy night, watched The Amazing Adventure, am now watching Miller's Crossing.

Sinuses are going haywire.

Want some decent pizza, damn it.



Maybe tomorrow.

Crafts, Nice Korean, sake, long wait through pretty lousy derivative New York bands for pretty darn good, if derivative, Chinese one.

Learned a bit about Hampshire not paying bands shenanigans, ugh, jerky place.

Sleepy drive home down slick roads, listening to the tape Zack gave me.

Made pecan pie, brought L. snacks at work, went to protest, our mayor lacks a soul. Really astonishing sunset.

Came back, walked the dogs, had some pie, nom nom nom.

L. just left for Northampton where we will rendezvous a bit later. Dogs are milling about restlessly.

Friday off is off to a nice start, talked to my mom about whales in Maui, finances, etc., walked dogs, washed some pots and pans.

Am going to spend some time relaxing now, uploading photos, reading about Hawaiian cuisine. May make a pie later, may not.

Later, there's a prolibrary protest & a craft fair & Chinese postpunk bands.

Old lefties, humorless, overinvested in hagiography, no technique. Would be nice to think we owe them something, but, honestly, they're no Chuck Berrys. Let them sit by their quiet pond.

Crappy Pappy, Wiccan Chicken, Arclight Sphincters, whatever, it was pretty fun. Do the skip/slip.

Before all that, multicourse beer tasting dinner, pale ale with grapefruity hops FTW.

Happy Armistice, everybody.

11:11, eve of 11/11. Should be sleeping.

Long slog of work, band practice, leftovers, laundry.

Too sleepy to type. Nighty night.

Seriously, sinus headache all day, ridiculous.

After work, party for the Franklin County CDC (always makes "Harper Valley PTA" tune pop into my head, also have to correct myself for thinking it's the Center for Disease Control each time I drive past).

((()))

Sick of this headache.

Another sinus headache, feeling a bit sad about the many, many things that worry and upset me that I can do nothing about.

On the plus side, made pretty tasty pasta supper.

Been sleeping a lot the past few days, having some very unpleasant dreams. The sleep is worth it.

At work dealing with another vendor fuckup. Maybe some time off later in the week, bleh.

Could use a nap.

Yesterday, worked for a while, went to NH for lower vice taxes, went to Brattleboro to find an ottoman, got lost after when a bridge I was expecting to cross was closed, ended up on a dirt road, stopped to let 3 lovely deer cross the way. Finally got home, out to dinner & a show, came home, fell asleep on the couch watching bad scifi television.

Today, slept on the couch for a long while, took a long walk with L. & the dogs to a mead sampling (L. prefers the cassis, Peretz the Winter Warmer), got cookbooks in the mail, started reading Hawaiian one, decided to make shoyu chicken & after a little out & about did so.

Also, we've been watching Dexter.

Came home; made a quick dinner; went out into the dark, rainy night to see music.

On the way home, a tiny mouse ran quickly across the highway in front of my car, hope it made it someplace warm & safe.

Making this for laughs. Game's on, fire's burning, fed the pups.

Peretz just had a bit of a hard time clambering atop the blankets piled on the couch.

Enchiladas were aces.

Pizza for dinner, pizza for lunch, la, la, la, la, la.

Later, enchiladas & baseball.

Soda pop, soda pop, oh, soda, soda, soda. Soda pop!

Feeling a bit foggy, scratchy throat.

Show last night was a relaxing good time, went to Pint karaoke after, very much enjoyed L.'s renditions of 'Richard Cory' & 'Josie', didn't partake myself, scratchy throat.

Planned to take this AM off work as working late imaging a machine, etc. Didn't really work out, got sucked into troubleshooting on web server, etc.

Etc, etc.

Party last night was something of a gas, put on my best creepy, L. her best Ewok. Our set was a bit rushed, how it goes.

Dark by five, blech.

Last night, instead of going to party, fell asleep. Woke up about half an hour ago. Good times.

It's a rainy Halloween, may go for rainy Halloween dim sum.

Trying to work out tactics for this evening's performance. Had too much to dream last night.

Have spent most of today wanting to be asleep. Am going to go out to a party in a little while.

Also, Toste's here, hurrah. We've been eating pie.

Week has been way too much, now resting, had some pie, watched some baseball.

Lots of performances lined up, trying to get an art project started, weird.

Busy weekend. L. won a costume contest as a frenetic Mexican wrestler, went to a pumpkin carving party, band practice, did more Halloween errands, went to a show, blah, blah, blah.

Woke coughing and sneezing violently, must be another workweek.

Halloween errands, etc.

Would really enjoy some good pizza, am not going to get it.

Raining hard.

Last night, went for ride on haunted mini train.

Sorting through odds and ends of workweek, ready for it to be over & it will be, quite shortly.

L. has a pork pie.

Pie, pie, pie. Still some 3 berry waiting at home.

Need to figure out a Halloween costume.

lord ganesh
Originally uploaded by peretzpup

Feeling obstructed. Partially sinus trouble.

Gave my parents directions to Makapu'u beach by phone. Not as nice as being there, still nice.

Could use a snack.

Been working in the Greenfield office mornings this week. They've been running a bunch of biomass boosting articles, makes me feel sickish that I am in any way assisting them.

Folks got to Hawaii AOK, hopefully they're having fun.

Spending a lot of time feeling very sleepy, looking forward to weekend.

Way too many upcoming shows I want to go to, we'll see.

Unpleasant afternoon at work, most of the time spent repairing a workstation (shudder), also an increasingly bad what I hope is an allergic reaction. Just rinsed off, hopefully, it'll go away, had enough of sick.

Parents are off to Hawaii, lucky so and sos.

Sneezing like crazy this morning, still have a cough, but it no longer hurts.

Plugging away at administrivia at the Greenfield office.

Could use a bagel.

Earlier, Peretz regaled us with systematic confusion of all classic sitcoms with The Jetsons, charming dog.

Exhausted.

For some reason, assigned myself a dull, time-consuming and thankless task at work.

Came home, made sausages and spaetzel with gruyere.

Home before midnight, doesn't sound like much, but it is.

Amazingly jam-packed almost four day trip, so much so that I've kind of lost track- visits with old friends (including biscuits with gravy and a demonstration of the three sectional staff), Monticello, Richard Thompson (enjoyed him outlandishly more than I expected, probably the result of pretending he didn't exist for the past 12-15 years), Bull Run, fancy pie, visionary art, Japanese groceries, etc., etc.

Stayed last night at a Quality Inn. I suppose, in all fairness, they didn't specify which quality. It certainly had one.

Brr, it's cold in here.

Forgot to mention that we are staying in a hip, modern hotel. Just went out to buy some bourbon. On my way out, hip mom with a Betty Page do entered with wheeled carry on followed by her small duplicate who said, "This is amazing!" Shared my elevator ride back up with a guy dressed almost exactly like me, blue hoodie, brown work pants, he prefers Adidas.

Feet hurt.

Last night, after nice Ethiopian around the corner, walked down to Pennsylvania Ave trying to find caipirinhas (place was closed), did reconnoitering of White House.

This AM, walked back to White House in light rain. Took entertaining tour with security theater preshow. Taxi back to hotel in now heavier rain.

Brief rest.

Burger next block up (quite good), then walked to Metro station, train to postal museum, toured postal museum, train to Smithsonian, walked to Lincoln Memorial in still more rain, taxi to caipirinha place, caipirinhas, train to Portrait Gallery, a long hard look at the Portrait Gallery, short walk to nice Chinese, train back toward hotel, missed cross street coming back, ended up walking longer than we needed to in the ever present rain.

Feet hurt. More tourism tomorrow.

Still not feeling so hot. Had a pretty productive day despite that, also looking forward to going to the first show I've set up in a very long time.

Dogs are pretty hyper, one jumps off the bed, the other jumps up. Both have bones.

Wow, busy weekend.

Interesting video fest in town Saturday night, caught the tail end of the Ashfield Fall Festival yesterday, got some amusing free stuff from the tag sale as it wound down.

After all that, came home, feeling poorly & fell asleep. Got up after several hours & watched Monster Camp, a documentary about LARPers.

Back at my favorite Saturday afternoon activity, patching servers. Got started early, hoping I'll get done early, festivities galore await to the north.

Also, car is all fixed, yip, yip.

Last night, made a stew. Perfect stew weather.

Dropped car off at mechanic, got home early, yip, yip.

More of this:



Less of that.

Constant car issues are getting to me, lying in bed twitching. Latest: broken turn signal switch, ugh.

Stomach hurts.

On the way home from work: giant rainbow over river, thankfully, no fatalities.

:::

Need a beverage.

Painful cough persists. Ick.

D.C. plans are coming together.

Reheated Chinese buns on the docket for later.

So, if you've ever considered making Chinese steamed buns filled with smoked pork shoulder and spicy relish, I strongly suggest following through.

Also made some with a maple butternut filling, also pretty yummy.

Still sickish, but sleep is helping.

Still feeling yucky.

L.'s making sticky buns.

Going to go see a play about Lincoln & Douglas in Hardwick in a while, hope to pick up some smoked pork after to use in steamed buns.

Buns, buns, buns.

Rainy morning, dogs didn't want to get up.

So, crappy low energy coughy sickness continues. Made it out of the house for some nice Thai. Should probably make some chicken noodle & grilled cheese later.

Just learned that we've been assigned a White House tour, should be fun, haven't been to D.C. in a dog's age.

Peretz is looking at me sideways.

Home sick. Should go get soup.

Pretty cold today.

What I thought yesterday might just be allergies is definitely a cold. Sleepily fixing up workstations, after am going to try & enjoy an evening of music & such.

Could use a juice.

So, with all the this & that and here & there, Dim Sum Kippur was not to be. Maybe next year.

Did have some lovely pork kreplach. Thanks, hon.

Happy repentance, everybody.

Oh, lordy, that was a lot of driving in the rain with no speedometer.

Luckily, ingested providential H & O loco moco prior to embarkation.

Kids are back on their island. In bed with dogs.

Roasting squash for wedding pies.

Talent show last night was something of a gas, was sorry to leave early for Polvo, though that, too, was quite something. Love some well thought out rock music, hear it too rarely in these latter days.

Ended up performing with Ben at the talent thing, think it went well, hard for me to assess. A little girl sang the 'Star Spangled Banner.'

Shortly, I am going to remove squash from the oven, toss, then roast some more. Hope the butternut/delicata mix works out, counting on the maple syrup and butter to tie it all together.

Beautiful light.

Was feeling stressed out for a while about the 2-5 minute performance I am to give in a bit, threw out the idea of doing a soupy love song, thought for a while about doing a song I wrote in the car earlier about a seagull's doomed love for a doomed manatee, then realized I'd forgotten most of it. Started feeling tired & like I'd maybe skip the whole thing. Had a little cold coffee & now think I'm going to try to entice someone to join me in a microgestural danceoff while I do some vocal improvisation. Could be good.

OK, a little more serial killer drama, then into the breach.

Another stultifying workweek over & done. L.'s gone to the Cape to fetch the kid & his gal. Steaming some frozen gyoza for an afternoon snack. Love my stack steamer, I do.

Later, going to stop by Neil & Faf's prewedding talent show & maybe belt out a soupy number, then to Northampton to meet up with wife & kid & c. to see Polvo.

Tomorrow, going to make squash pies for wedding, then attend wedding.

Knee still a bit hurty.

It's muggy & yucky. Just now, walking Peretz, was getting swarmed by bugs. Peretz wanted to explore all the dark areas.

Tired.

Used stack steamer to make dinner of kale and squash.

Had my first job interview in ever so long by phone last night, pretty stress-free, seems like a neat place, we'll see what happens.

Knee still aches, had trouble falling asleep last night.

Playing a Halloween show with chums as Milky Death at the H&O.

First day back at work was a bit of a drag, 3 different locations, some unpleasant tasks, lots of catch up, knee becoming increasingly sore as I sat at my desk. Left early, going to go to a party with tasty food shortly.

After a day largely devoted to following the adventures of fictive British serial killers, am now enjoying the beginning of Return of the Jedi, the nonsensical Han Solo rescue plan has long been a cause for special delight.

L. will be home soon, got stuff for sandwiches. Also, my speedometer started working again, wonder how long that'll last.

Meant to go over to friend's house to see music last night, instead, fell asleep on couch watching British serial killer drama. Wonder if anybody's done a comparison of the number of serial killer victims in British TV dramas vs. the number of serial killer victims in Britain since 1990 or so.

Knee seems to be improving steadily.

Considering brunch.

Went & did work, didn't stop for lunch in Northampton, got a sandwich in Greenfield. Also, my speedometer has stopped working, ugh.

After that, a quiet afternoon with dogs & British serial killer drama. Made a surprisingly satisfying dinner of white rice & soy/sugar glazed winter squash. Having a black cherry soda.

Knee feels much better with support.

Went & got knee support/compression thingie from the CVS, was able to walk the pups without extreme discomfort. 5770, here I come.

Going to go swap tapes in a bit, would like to get some lunch. Anybody wanna come?

Happy 5770 everybody.

One stiff knee. Icing it.

Jiggity jig.

Think I forgot the dog's water dish.

L.'s on the island, may stay until Sunday.

Peretz, Pickles & I are watching A Boy & His Dog.

Swimming & shrimp accomplished, rough seas have left me with a twinging knee, totally worth it.

L.'s headed off to the island, I've decided dogs & I will be happier if we get home tonight rather than tomorrow, so finishing up the last dribs & drabs of cleaning, etc.

Twinge, twinge.

L.'s spent the morning readying for her later departure to the Vineyard to catch the kid's show.

Now we're going to go try to catch our favorite beach near high tide. Maybe more fried shrimp after.

Attempted whale watching precluded by high seas. Ate sweet fried things & shopped for tourist crap instead.

Going to go observe high seas with pups shortly.

Rain was a no show, swimming was go go go. Amazing turbulent water. More seals.

Also, more fried shrimp. First I remember I've had fried shrimp 2 days running. In the future, we will all always eat fried shrimp.

OK, off to the theater.

Lazy morning. Supposed to be cooler today with a little rain in the afternoon, going to go swimming anyway.

Uploading photos of yesterday's beach adventures, crawling along on our 864 down/180 up old school DSL. Country life. Peretz is jonesing for his YouTube.

Walked the dogs along the nearby bay beach at sunset last night, got swarmed by tiny biting insects, Peretz spent most of the time trying to eat cracked shells, still pretty fun.

Forgot to mention the very large seals swimming near us at Cahoon Hollow yesterday. Quite something. Saw one cruise by inside a wave directly in front of us- jeepers!

Mmm, scotch.

Lots of swimming today, also malassadas with an intriguing touch of salt.

Also did some grilling, walked down to nearby cove with dogs in the twilight, red dappled sky.

Lovely morning. Took an accidentally long walk with dogs, they seemed to appreciate it.

Had Portuguese muffins & coffee. Going to head to a nearby beach shortly.

Last night, fell asleep on the couch watching movie about space vampires.

Peretz & I are now ensconced in our Wellfleet vacation rental. Wife, child & company lag slightly behind due to minor car issue & back to school shopping.

Pretty terrifying rains on the drive up, flooding, etc.

Could use a snack. Peretz is investigating.

Still raining, prepping for departure to Cape.

Show last night was a genuine blast, glad we made the time.

A little groggy.

Getting ready to head out to Troy for Boredoms.

Slow first day of vacation, made eggs & sausage.

Raining, at least I'm not sick.

Getting through last little bits of work before vacation, reclined at home, with coffee.

Last night, the dogs got into the powdered sugar, spent a fidgety night, still waiting for them to calm down.

Good ol' car is out of traction & back in action. Odometer hit 200000 today.

Want to be on vacation already. Peretz too.

OK, so, alternator replaced with junk alternator which also didn't work, thanks to jumps & help from friend & wife, got car back to mechanic. Hopefully will be fixed properly tomorrow with new alternator & probably new battery as well, ugh.

Before all the trouble:



Happy days.

Well, at least dear old car got us all the way to the beach before experiencing total electrical failure. Alternator, maybe?

Got in a couple nice swims before calling the AAA, waiting, riding in big truck, etc. Truck driver regaled us with tales of his fear of heights & his junkyard dogs. Mary was nice enough to fetch us home from the mechanic.

Donuts were cheap & delicious.

Been doing lots of music the past few days, played a show yesterday with Tim, "Sea of Love", "Effete Gentlemen".

Today, going swimming at Hammonasset. Will pick up the donuts en route.

Now the kitchen ceiling is leaking, ugh.

Put together an IKEA chest of drawers, went to lunch, walked the dog, shaved. Pretty good for a day off.

Might go play/see music later, might not.

Dogs are bored.

In many ways, not a half bad day- got a pie, wrote a song, made strange Chinese pancakes, practiced for show, watched a children's movie.

On the down side, killed another camera.

Watching Never Say Never Again, silly.

Earlier, had to fix work photo processing process.

Sauce turned out yummy.

Silly, process, yummy. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Doing my once a year or so making tomato sauce from fresh tomatoes. No more farm share corn. Sad face. Table continues to amaze & delight.

Earlier, amongst all the work back & forth, bought tickets to see Boredoms at EMPAC. Posted about it on Facebook, now everybody & her brother want to go. Looking forward to seeing everybody & her brother.

Wow, cooking's a lot easier with a big open surface.

Weekend of way too much activity over, settling into shortish workweek, then another, then vacation.

Want to make some Chinese steamed buns.

Yesterday was a bit of a whirl, it's best emblem our short ride on The Orbiter at the Cummington Fair. Have finally stopped feeling woozy.

Joints hurt.

Under blanket with dogs.

Drinking coffee with wife & computers at new kitchen table, was going to put on Chelsea Girl, but couldn't find it. Just listened to a side of the great girl groups in lieu of.

Need to do a bunch of work, go to surprise party, etc., etc.

Last night, a lot of hard rain, still dripping.

Went & bought that kitchen table, took it home, reassembled it, went & got some stools from the unfinished furniture place on the south side of town. Haven't had much time to play with it yet as just after I got done with all that, L. got home & we headed to Northampton for zine fair.

Pretty hopping scene, that. Lots of nice work, bought some. Byron bought one of each of the zines L. brought (a lot, dating back to 1995 or some such). Brian sucked me into helping him activate his new cell phone. He said, "I keep getting your wife & Joel's wife confused!"

Like living in bad novel, sheesh.

Wrapping up the week's work, going to go see if I can't buy a kitchen table after.

Endless week, endless weekend, another endless week, been pretty tired the past couple of days.

Yesterday, talked with my mom about how much she likes "Fairest of the Seasons", should be listening to more music.

Didn't make it to Transperformance, late in the day at work tried to figure out if I could cadge some free tix, turned out I couldn't, got stuck late at work fixing a server, L. called to tell me they were sold out.

So, instead, came home & made a warm potato salad with andouille & c., boiled corn, sliced up a beautiful golden heirloom tomato. Watched an extremely low budget movie about time travel, am going to read some more of a scifi novel I got for vacation. Don't worry, I have more.

L.'s upstairs working on her comic book.

Humidity finally broke, picture of contentment.

Went to a birthday party, spent most of my time there feeling strangely out of sorts, still tired from all the driving around, I guess.

In other news from the tired front, this morning I was supposed to go to work in Greenfield for a while, but drove straight to Northampton instead, then realized what I had done & returned to Greenfield, sheesh.

Really, sheesh.

Just came up to go to bed & discovered somebody had made me an administrator of their website, must have that administrative look that inspires confidence. Should bottle & sell it. Or, better, soda.

Soda pop, soda pop.

Last night, fell asleep to gossip about what an egocentric jerk Zachary Quinto was as a youth.

Morning return trip uneventful, gale force winds failed to materialize, bit of a disappointment in a way.

About to go fetch the pups, excited to see them.

On the bus to the closed South Beach to check out high seas. Still drying off from swim in protected waters.

Earlier, went for bagels & coffee with kid. He should be practicing for show later now.

Feeling salty.

After a heck of a lot of driving around, much of it in unpleasantly heavy traffic, am settled peacefully in an arm chair in C.B.'s Vineyard Haven apartment. L. has gone out for beverages. Awaiting mine anxiously.

Before fetching kid, went to New Haven Ikea & purchased this & that for the home, also very inexpensive cinnamon buns.

Weekend plans have been pushed forward a day, need to go fetch the kid from Bridgeport ferry, proceed to Woods Hole ferry.

Need to take the pups to their spa shortly.

Maybe some leftover curry.

Pickles is feeling better, finally made that curry.

It's cooling off.

Back porch morning glories, pale blue & white, after long lying dormant, have now gone bananas. There were 9 blooming when I was out with the dogs around 7:30 this AM, by 9:15, L. counted 13.

Week has been seeming a bit endless, probably just the heat.

Went home last night thinking of making a vegetable curry, when I got home, it was too hot to face cookery. Went out for nice Chinese instead, green boba tea & c.

Pickles seems to be feeling poorly.

Very hot & in the latter part, very humid, but all in all, a damn fine weekend. I vote yes for more shows in the park, Bunnybrains + little children at play = good times.

Pretty lazy day today, slept in while L. went to help make the Free Harvest Supper, went shoe shopping & to see District 9, came home & boiled some corn & made sandwiches, watched some Lost.

Peretz has a new plan wherein we buy 4 adjoining condos & Pickles supports us by running a B & B in one. Pickles wants his chef's hat & apron. L. wants none of it.

Me, I'm on the fence.

From time to time, I notice myself disappearing into things, nobody home. More than from time to time, really.

Agitated and blank, blank and agitated, just plain blank.

Tired, fan noise, tired.

Tomorrow, performance art in the park.

Spent the morning providing technical solution to social problem, in this case attempting to paper over poor business continuity planning.

Yesterday, ordered vacation reading, the new Pynchon, two Iain M. Banks novels, would like to be reading them by the seaside already.

Thinking about kitchen redesign.

Turned into a bit of a hectic day at work, nothing too serious, would've been more fun without the ongoing headache.

Home to pasta and tomato sandwiches, Advil, TV. Good times.

Home sick. Spent the morning with a sinus headache so bad moving my head slightly led to pretty extreme dizziness. Feeling a little better now, did some dishes, doing laundry, getting tired way too easily. Resting again now.

Truck just drove by with a low, loud whine.

Should listen to some music. Wish it would rain.

OK, listening to The Cars' version of 'Little Black Egg', things are looking up.

OK, definitely some low level head cold excitement underway, itchy eyes & throat, sleepy, sleepy, sleepy. Could use some soup.

Last night, woke to passing storm parched & sweaty.

Peretz has finally given the new couch his seal of approval.

Woke sneezing & coughing violently, ick.

Yesterday, pretty relaxing & idyllic, day before, after making stew, went to friends' art opening, nice stuff.

Had a dream about the Bennington College website, strange banner at the bottom of the page about animated robots prevented actual use of the page.

New couch's arrival coincided nicely with the arrival of Lost on Netflix instant viewing.

Going to go out for late brunch shortly.

Itchy last little bit at work for week, itchy, itchy, itchy.

Want to go home & make a stew.

Flat & vague & diffuse, then suddenly, sharp & clear as a blood diamond.

Oh so dull have I become. New couch is a blast.

Seaside excursion mildly complicated by scattered thundershowers. Brisk, wavy beach. And cold.

Show at Brattle opened with comedy team, not half bad. Joe Pernice reads from his novel about Hitler moustaches, Joe Pernice covers the earth, Joe Pernice reads from his novel about Lou Barlow, Joe Pernice plays some originals. Chairs there narrower than I remember, must've done some improvements.

Thought the drive home would be cake under the high, full moon, but the damp made glare a problem. Also more construction than one could shake a stick at had one the urge to do so. Should've settled in Erving & wired for the dogs.

V, v, v. Swiveling so fast it looks still.

Employers are choosing to aggravate me beyond the usual. Anybody in need of a sysadmin?

Am told that new couch is in place awaiting my return home. Beach & music tomorrow.

Hoo boy, dbr & his very busy day.

Drove out this AM to meet pals in from out of town at the MassMOCA, toured museum extensively with pals.

Drove back to Greenfield to fetch L., set out on tour of favorite junk food spots of southwestern MA & north central CT.

Then went to show in Northampton, got home from that around one, stayed up talking to Chris a couple more hours.

Maybe I'll regret it tomorrow, but it's very nice to see them both.

Today, we went to New Hampshire and bought a couch. Also responded to yet another work emergency.

Tomorrow, Chris & Emily are visiting.

Going to fall asleep watching anime.

Guess what I got for Sysadmin Appreciation Day? 4 or 5 calls from work after I'd gone home about how to reset a printer.

Neck hurts.

Made a peach cobbler topped with cinnamon-ginger pinwheel biscuits.

Falling asleep without the TV on = frequent nightmares. Going to turn the TV on.

After an excruciatingly long morning at work, decided I deserved a present & took myself to Holyoke for a hot dog combo with spicy relish. Nice day for a drive.

Returning to treadmill now.

Horribly draining work experience continues.

Last night, after more of that, came home to sultry house & made a pasta salad while L. engaged in some mild inter-generational drama on the phone.

Went out to see some music at People's Pint after supper & a couple episodes of Freaks & Geeks, band I didn't realize I also saw up in Gill last year, very fast, with sheet music.

Driving home, a couple young dudes flagged me down, needed a ride to up by the high school, gave them one. NPR was on in the car, piano music. 'That Bach or Beethoven?" said one. "Certainly not Beethoven," said I. Some more desultory conversation ensued.

Glad I gave those kids a ride, would've been a long walk.

Walking the dogs this morning past where I picked them up, I told L. about it. She tells me I shouldn't be picking up strangers, might get my head bashed in, etc. Eh.

Today, swam in a chlorinated pool for the first time in I don't remember how long, pretty pleasant, did some flips. Little frogs hanging out in the corners.

Before I did that, after a little work, got some blueberry pie from the fine folks at Bashista. And apricots.

Surprised by fireworks over the river, quite a treat.

Slowly recovering from hellish workweek with snacks & beverages. May hang out with Henry & family in a bit. L.'s off swimming with Karen.

Sometimes my head fills up with the most terrible images, going to watch some old Dr. Who to try & drive them out.

Pickles loves looking out the window.

So, beginning & ending my day with calls from work really fucking sucks.

Sound of rain is pleasant though, & I was just brought a cherry vanilla milkshake.

Pretty darn beat.

Got first corn from farm share today, nom nom nom & c.

Called my mom to thank her for shirts, cell kept dropping the call, finally gave up & took the dogs for a walk in the rain. Strangely, in the middle of the walk, Pickles spent some time paying attention to L. rather than his exciting surroundings.

Could use a vacation.

It's pouring, would like to go out to lunch.

Feeling vaguely blue about the deaths of various animals I have known, refreshing myself on Python syntax.

Watched Capricorn One to celebrate.

Headache continues along with my slow & haphazard tracing & retracing of the theme of cynicism in postwar American culture. Ho, ho, ho.

Theme, motif, compare, contrast.

Have an extremely severe headache, looking forward to being home & prone.

Otherwise, not much to report.

First day of two weeks as lone tech staff, going pretty much as per usual so far. Dull, dull, dull.

Yesterday, L. & I spent some time sewing up holes the dogs had made in my comforter, refreshing to wake not covered in feathers, thanks, hon.

Wishing we were at the seaside.

Peter left early, I slept late.

Last night, the first of what I fully expect to be many late night calls from work. Ugh.



Just sayin'.

Been a challenging weekend for going to shows, tonight, the band I wanted to see cancelled.

Been lovely hanging out with Peter, hope he stops hurting soon.

Rain finally came, cool & pleasant.

While L. dished out festival hot dogs with her pals, Peter & I did quick trip to Vermont for quality pizza, also tried to go to show at Bookmill, but it was mostly over before I thought it'd start, odd.

Just watched Bad Day at Black Rock, how much havoc can one man wreak?

Work dragged on a little longer than I'd have liked, stupid vendors.

Another humid day, blech.

Peter's here with scars & war stories.

Drifting through the tail end of a seemingly endless workday. Drowsiness & mundane administrative tasks are never a pleasant mix.

May actually go out to see music later, we are youthful & energetic.

This morning, while drinking coffee, thought about widespread lack of subtlety & felt a little sick.

Would like some new equipment to fool around with, anybody have some?

Spent much of the morning sorting through & approving software updates, hurrah!

Last night, had trouble figuring out what to make for dinner, finally settled on a vegetable soup with grilled sandwiches. Kind of got me on a roll, I guess, as I later made a small blueberry crisp.

Would like to be outside in the sunshine.

There was a show I wanted to go to tonight, had decided I didn't have the energy, then Neil called & offered a ride, so go I did.

Good stuff, quite a contrast to the godawful mess last time I was at that place. Had fun watching the mirror ball spin.

The wife just called to notify me I've got a doppelgänger cruising Greenfield in a painstakingly constructed replica of my car. Figures.

Work after a few days off = usual pile of detritus, feel dirty.

Peretz wishes every night were pizza night & I can't say I blame him.

Muscles hurt, could use more weekend.

Heard from Peter, sounds like he's doing more or less OK with one less kidney, will probably come down next weekend.

Just back from Evelyn & Lea's wedding, pretty fun, smoky meats a plus. Glad we brought bismarcks & bourbon, enjoy making modest contributions to transgression & excess.

Itchy & sore, feels good to be prone in pajamas. A few moments ago, after thunder crashes, another brief, violent downpour.

Back from the beach, good to have been bobbing in waves again. Also played about $5 worth of skee ball, exchanged tickets for two extremely shoddy toy construction vehicles. A little sunburned, muscles ache pleasantly.

Peretz could probably use a walk.

Deep purple morning glories climbing the front porch. Pickles is looking out the window, cleaning his paws.

Bit of a headache. Swimming & skee ball tomorrow.

Taking the day off. Slept like a dead man for about ten hours. Woke to coffee on my night table. Thanks, hon,

Yesterday, drove home from work through more torrential rain, near zero visibility through Deerfield, yikes.

Had our pal Karen over for cocktails & dessert, L. made Bitter Mcs, I made bread pudding with leftover cardamom bread.

Should shower, get an oil change.

Picked up farm share on the way home, once home, started making variation on saag paneer using collards & kale instead of spinach. Got call in the middle of that informing me that critical piece of equipment at work wouldn't turn on. Called my boss to tell him I was going to go deal with that, he being, in this instance anyway, less of a trusting soul than I, said he would call them back to make sure they weren't mistaken. One of these days I will realize that when people say they've checked everything, everything never includes electrical outlets or power strips. Was pretty sure I had already realized that, could be I'm tired.

Another strong thunderstorm came by in time for dinner, almost like being at home.

Day went from bad to worse with arrival of third party support & consequent additional power cut. Finally got home around 8, pretty wired, made some kielbasa & onions, snap peas & carrots sauteed in butter & a nice green salad. Farm share makes everything better.

Most of my muscles hurt, not sure why. Have been trying to drink a lot of water.

Been a horrible grind of a day, fallout from Friday's outage, mostly. Could use a nap.

Last night, fireworks. Love small town fireworks.

Astonishingly lovely day. Took a quick trip north to evade excessive vice taxes, side trip to Brattleboro for Indian groceries & Lebanese wraps.

L.'s still working on her zine, it's coming together, I think.

Oh, boy.

We were going to go to the beach today, but decided the weather forecast for the coast was a bit too gray & dire, so I mostly did nothing & L. worked on her zine. Did go out briefly to Polish roadside stand, bakery, watched the swollen river & canal.

Around 7, work called, reporting problems with the power, went down there, turned out fuses on pole had exploded, dealt with consequences of that for a while, then went to a nearby house show, sat around chatting & feeling agitated, got a follow up call on problems at work, etc., etc.

Once I stopped feeling agitated, I felt tired & like I hadn't had any dinner. Drizzly drive home was a drag.

What's the difference between an open field and an empty one? Not a damn thing.

Why is there something rather than nothing?

Made a stew. Rain continues.

Spent the day at work feeling submerged in molasses, always the way after migraines.

On the way home, picked up farm share. Got home, took projector over to new art space so Spanish class could watch a movie, came home again, made pasta with vegetables & garlic, thunderstorm in the distance, then here, with hail, even. Pickles found the hail fascinating, Peretz ate a piece.

After that, made a strawberry ice box pie.

Now pretty clear that the weird dreams were migraine onset. Still feel pretty funny, having some coffee.

Peretz just howled at a passing fire truck. Apparently, while I was out of commission with headache, he threw up on his bed.

Woke about half an hour ago, covered in feathers, from strangely vivid dreams, uninvited guests asleep in the house, darkened tête-à-têtes, drizzly walks to underground trains stations, talk of where the good pizza places are, long drives through the countryside, etc. to violent birdsong.

Went downstairs to get some water, sat out on the front porch for a while, watched a man with an elaborately equipped bicycle scavenge returnables from the neighbors' recycling. Dogs barking inside. He said, "Hope I didn't wake all the dogs." I said, "They were already awake."

Yesterday, took an afternoon trip with my mom to MassMoca, those Nanking particles are quite something, love a funhouse.

Woke promptly at 11:11, made a wish, checked email.

Peretz is on another summer, doesn't bother to get up for breakfast kick, differs from the winter ones in that he's not particularly hungry as opposed to too sleepy.

About to go to brunch with loved ones.

Last night, went to two, count 'em, two shows, in two far flung locations, Palmer bowling alley, boring & sweaty old Elevens. Thing at the Elevens was a bit of a clusterfuck & we eventually left in a huff, might've been better to leave in a minute and a huff.

Just made some quiche with bacon, chard, onion, etc. for friend & family. L. doesn't care much for cheddar.

Busy day. May go out to a movie later.

Just back from picnic lunch with folks & L., has become shockingly sunny.

Morning largely spent playing phone tag with other company's third party network support.

Tonight, our pal Sarah's coming to visit, should make for a fun weekend.

There was just a bat loose in the house, Pickles running around barking frantically, knocked it out of the air & the dogs dispatched it, poor thing.

Wonder if I'll be able to get back to sleep.

Make a wish.

Happy anniversary, birthday, summer, etc.

Show didn't run as late as I'd feared, got home a little after midnight, exchanged presents & crashed. Would happily have slept a good deal longer.

Word from parents is that Pepper is doing AOK with stitched, wrapped & bagged foot.

Managed to work my through the entirety of this week's farm share with mostly pretty tasty results. Feel pretty good about it, hope I can keep it up.

Feel less good about my plan to go out to late show tonight, after sleeping poorly last night, most muscles hurt, etc. The things I do for free improv.

Going to have some ice cream to power up.

Day started off pleasantly enough with my parents coming down for Father's Day brunch at the H & O, pretty hopping, tasty brunch.

After that, went down by the river with dogs & Pepper almost immediately got her foot horrifically gashed by something in the water. So, learned where the local emergency vet clinic is.

While she was being sedated & stitched up, my mom & I took the convenient free shuttle across the street at Channing Bete to the crafts fair, had some fried dough, etc.

Folks went back to their campsite, I took a nap, then got up & made stir fry with a variety of vegetables from my farm share.

Thinking about that cut makes my feet hurt.

Pouring again, just back from seeing Span of Sunshine in Easthampton, really glad I finally managed to see them, wish that place had better sound. And couches.

On the drive down, barely managed to avoid crushing a raccoon family. Very glad about that.

Earlier, went & visited the parents at their RV camp, roasted sausages over open fire, L. paddled around lake in kayak, photographing dragonflies.

Almost too sleepy to type.

Took Peretz to the vet, how he hates it, got him glucosamine chews for joint health, sweet old pup.

Washing machine has been having some problems the past few weeks, stopped working entirely with my wet, soapy laundry within. Washer tech coming on Monday, need to do my wash somewhere else tomorrow, I guess.

Dishpan hands.

Working from home this morning, 'No Milk Today' stuck in my head. You know, by Herman's Hermits, psychedelic period.



Farm share just lovely, wilted spinach salad with roasted beets, scape pesto on toasted rolls.

It's pouring. Feel a bit concerned about my parents camping nearby.

Interesting to have farm share again. Last night, made some pasta with beet greens & garlic, also a simple salad. Roasted beets for spinach salad I'm going to make later today.

Had a nice email interchange with my advisor from college last night. He & his wife will be in the area in September, look forward to seeing them.

Thinking about reinstating dinner & movie night.

Quite the flurry of activity yesterday, left work at lunchtime to meet up with the folks at the Manchester Pepe's, back to Deerfield to leave my dad napping & pick up farm share, out to dinner with Mom & L., shuttle back to Deerfield, car pool to Richard Bishop show.

Anyway, oh man, Richard Bishop show, quite something.

Sleepy now, coffee machine's on the fritz.

Just spent a little time on the front porch watching a very large, fluffy skunk minutely inspecting the neighbors' garbage.

Have quite the headache.

Was planning to go out to dinner & a show, realized about 2/3 of the way through workday that I was too damn tired.

So, lazing about.

Tomorrow, fancy CT pizza with parents.

Did first grilling off the year, a bit hectic with dogs intent on knocking the grill over, still pleasant enough.

Parents are en route.

Just discovered, out dog walking, that there's something a bit amiss with my left knee. Peretz says "Shut up, sissy."

Back to Veronica Mars marathon.

New York Times on Six Flags bankruptcy: "They improved the remaining parks by banning smoking, increasing security and having more costumed characters like Tweety on the grounds." Funniest sentence I've read in weeks.

Finally finished that Oryx & Crake, enjoyed it pretty well, last 1/4 or so a bit weak, so often the way.

Show at new art space down the street shortly.

Just set some flank steak aside to marinate for a stir fry later.

After work, went to Atkins for some things, determined that they did in fact again carry the no sugar added pies my father favors.

May go see Drag Me to Hell later.

Pickles has no interest in going out in the yard, very much enjoys looking out the window. Made Peretz's annual vet appointment for a week from today, how he hates it.

Woke to discover the power had gone out in the night, am now extremely awake.

Sat on the back porch with rain-leery dogs, quietly singing 'She's Lost Control' to myself.

Finally got back to that Atwood novel, maybe I'll even finish it later. Find myself comparing how much I read now with how much I used to read when I was in my 20s, find it kind of unsettling.

I'd called Cooper the other day to see if he was interested in having some of our fancy scotch, left a message. He wrote back saying he was & that he'd played 'Forever Changes' at work in my honor. Should watch that Love documentary.

It's raining hard.

Since about 3 this afternoon, I've been feeling terribly, terribly tired. L. took me out for a nice dinner complete with strong cocktails, but apart from that it's been a bit of a blur.

Wishing I could sleep in tomorrow.

Stayed up late last night reading the long introduction to an anthology of French postwar historiography, kind of entertaining, reminded me of things I used to know more about in funny ways.

This morning, out on the porch with cold coffee & dogs, thinking about technology, the elephant in the corner.

Still rainy.

Just watched Little Dieter Needs to Fly, reminded of why I mostly steer clear of the better art these days, makes it hard for me to sleep. Maybe the rain will help.

Toured farm share farm yesterday, they gave us a lettuce teaser.

Got too much sun touring farm, slept from about 7 pm yesterday to 7 am today.

Excited for the vegetables.

Whiskey & cigarettes, nothing to say.

Feeling pretty bleh, lack of sleep & icky weather. We've ordered some Chinese appetizers.

Going to watch a Walter Matthau movie, sadly not Hopscotch.

Peretz is sleeping on uncovered dog bed while the cover is being washed.

Big week for being treated like my time has no value, oh well, at least it's over.

So, funny thing, was advising my mom earlier about some software purchasing & Endnote came up, how it always broke with new versions of Word, requiring purchase of expensive new version of Endnote.

Anyway, told her it would be nice if she could move off Endnote to something, preferably open source, not made by exploitative jerks, that could import her existing reference database, having totally forgotten that Thomson Reuters, venal & wicked makers of Endnote had sued the Zotero project last year for making charming free software that does just that.

Turns out, the lawsuit got dismissed today, ha ha ha, in your face, Thomson Reuters.

So, Mom, why not give Zotero a try?

Work continues to irritate. Sigh.

Phone died in the middle of the day.

High of points of day all food related, went out for quality fish sandwich for lunch, came home & made a nice pesto pasta.

I mean high points apart from the wife & dogs, of course. Charming creatures.

No more extreme allergic reactions so far today, but my neck hurts, probably from tossing about so much last night due to itchiness.

Work is aggravating me.

11:11.

Just watched Frost/Nixon, found the portrayal of Nixon fairly interesting, seems like a hard job.

Earlier, had a pretty violent allergic reaction to something or other at work. Left early, took antihistamines, lay around feeling groggy & less itchy for a while, then went out for sandwich at the Four Leaf Clover followed by a caramel sundae with coffee ice cream at the dairy bar at the Bernardston town line.

Still a bit itchy.

Long day digging out from long weekend, falling asleep at my desk.

Driving home last night from housewarming, also felt like I was going to fall asleep. Once my head hit pillow, not so much.

This morning, didn't want to leave unusually pleasant dreams featuring ukuleles, warm sunlight, pats on the back.

Lots & lots of extra sleep has me feeling pretty groovy. Relaxed, pleasant.

Spent much of the day today preparing an elaborate meal, like old times.

A little while ago, across the street, 2 drunks, one wanted to wrestle, the other didn't. Watched them fall over a couple times, hope they work things out.

Pretty sleepy, will probably stay up for a while watching cartoons.

Funny day for coincidences yesterday, among others, reread Deleuze & Guattari's "Year 0: Faciality" & was later presented with video of faces deterritorializing into heads.

Solstice is coming & there's magic in the air, I guess.

Enjoying my day off, listening to the continuing rain, may go check out the new record store downtown in a bit.

Woke around 4:30 & lay in bed listening to the rain until 7. Different from most heavy rain around here lately, steady, no wind.

Dogs are fussing & fighting.

Finding it hard to believe this is my last day of work this week.

Network modifications were pretty uneventful.

Mine anyway, this one is a bit more exciting:



Yeah, up above the flaming truck- fiber optic cables. Would be happier if they weren't supposed to have data of ours running merrily along them, still pretty amusing.

Should be asleep, have hiccups.

What should have been a very pleasant day interfered with by pre network modification jitters. Ugh.

Tomorrow, going to modify some networks.

Just reading on Facebook about a high school acquaintance & his pal getting 'Fucking Faggots' shouted at them from a pickup truck in Florida yesterday. So sick of this crap. My impression is that ~20% of this country's population are hopelessly hardcore fascists. What to do, what to do?

I mean, apart from shaming their fellow travelers out of being willing to be associated with them, of course.

Makes my stomach hurt.

Not sure what's on the plate for today.

In a pile with dogs, long walk in the sunshine (that's you) has left me feeling a bit addled. Driving back from Northampton a little while ago, talking about art projects & why I'm not getting any done. Not true exactly, there's a flow of stuff dripping off me constantly, would of course like to be doing more & better, don't really seem to have the energy.

Joints hurt.

At art show, we were talking with some guy about how dogs get old & die too soon.

Sometime before that, had cocktails at Tunnel Bar, L. asked me about previous times I'd been there, Hendrick's martinis with Aaron, cosmos with Mom, Gore Dival, etc., etc. Enjoy a stiff cocktail in the late afternoon.

Went exploring in Turners Falls, watched shad climb the fish ladder, sat in the spray of the dam overflow, long walk down along the canal, etc., etc.

Makes me want to own a building in Turners, honestly.

Before that, breakfast sandwiches at the newly opened Cafe Siren, brief trip to the farmers' market, ran into chums both places, almost like being at home.

Would adore a nap, am heading to Northampton shortly instead.

Listening to Pandora for the first time in ages, it's playing Can.

Last night, went to show at strangely posh North Amherst home with the wife & kid, cherries & asparagus on offer, etc.

The hot, hot weather of the past couple days is gone, now it's a bit moist out, blech.

In a surprising development, working from home this morning. Nice.

Last night, was too sleepy to watch The Lady Eve in its entirety, what's the world coming to?

Hope you're having fun at the fair, sweepea, don't let the goons get you down. Not your fault they can't add.

Need to be off to New Britain shortly, going to take 10 as 91's status is somewhat cryptic.

Seemingly endless stream of activity leaving me feeling a bit thrown, not unusual. A few days to regroup would be welcome, a week and a half until that, I think.

Jittery, want to be asleep.

Bit groggy.

Work this week involves a lot of driving about, a nice change, mostly.

Also got to break into a networking device, always a pleasure.

Despite plenty of sleep & a Polish breakfast plate, still feeling a bit groggy.

My brain doesn't seem to feel like playing nice with language lately, annoying.

In Brooklyn. Late night last night, loud unsleeping drunks, formalism blah blah blah.

1st musical of the weekend was quite impressive and funny. Lots of Western Mass. talent on display, we live in a lovely place.

Woke at 11:11, made a wish.

Where's the coffee?

Another day, another terminal server setup.

Rainy.

Good day to be home with dogs.

Seemingly endless week. After work, made curry.

Just back from going out for Chinese lunch for the second time this past week, different places, got the same fortune at both: "You are never bitter, deceptive or petty." Wonder if that's an exclusive or inclusive or.

On the drive back to work, thinking about my utter contempt for this & that, overall, it's pretty utter.

After work, began process of restocking the house with staples. Somehow have failed to do this since returning from Nashville.

Have a head full of smart ideas.

Haven't yet gotten to laundry, guests have headed home, learned of presidential musical available for our viewing pleasure in NYC while we are there next weekend (high school chum is the scenic designer).

Feeling hungry despite tasty brunch.

Busy, busy weekend has so far included: making chili, being brought pizza from Modern in New Haven, playing with baby, watching movies, swapping backup tapes, going to record fair, going to retirement party, going out to dinner, going, going, going.

Going to go back out to see some music shortly.

Rest & laundry tomorrow, I think.

During dinner, there was a dramatic rainstorm. Alice sure is cute.

Driving to work, found myself wishing my fingers were better suited to playing the mandolin.

Sigh.

Looking forward to nice lunch.

Worked in a little early weekend fun going to see the new Star Trek movie. Quite enjoyed it, particularly the sound design, boop, boop. Pleasantly light hearted & action packed, apart from a ponderous penultimate scene, ugh.

Anyway, got quite a lot done this week, good.

Another busy day at work, not as alarmingly technical.

Slowly feeling less like I'm about to die.

Went & tried Gypsy Apple, quality food, but a bit fancy & cramped for me, bit of an old folks scene, lady sitting near us insisting on no salt on her husband's food, his salad dressing on the side, etc., etc.

After dinner, Bridge of Flowers, always pleasant, bit of a mystery why every town doesn't have one.

Got some alarmingly technical things done at work, am now extremely tired & hurty.

On the positive side, taco night.

Oh, ow, ow, ow.

Stayed home from work, dropped my car off to get its a/c fixed, flat on back again.

What yesterday was an annoyingly sore neck & mildly upset stomach has become an extremely sore neck, shoulder & upper back & more upset stomach, bit disconcerting. Want to sleep & sleep & sleep.

Need to go reboot servers.

Just fed dogs, now they're running around the house barking violently.

Yesterday, after Chowder Fest, made mint juleps & somehow found myself rooting for the horse that won the Derby. Go, Mine That Bird!

Last night, came home to L. making strawberry cupcakes. Once she was done with that, I made some fettuccine with the first local asparagus of the year. Nom nom nom.

Made me very sleepy & I fell asleep. Didn't want to get up this morning. Just took a nap.

Tonight it's crafts fair, housewarming & show.

Ridiculously busy day mucking about with new server. In the middle of it, went out for some spicy noodles. At the next table, poetry student & teacher were discussing the esthetic theories of Wallace Stevens. Imagination this, reality that. Eventually, Deleuze & Guattari came up, 'Becoming Animal' if you can believe it.

Going to walk the dogs.

Stayed out too late watching art.

Stupid, stupid.

Had to drive across town to buy a few things for work, really hot in the car, really cold in the server room, feel funny, almost dizzy.

Before that, broke into the admin account of a friend's computer on my lunch break, easy peasy, got some pizza & coffee for my trouble.

Sipping a grape soda, would like to be sitting on my red sofa.

This morning, waiting for coffee to brew, drinking yesterday's cold coffee, not as cold as has been usual lately, watching the dogs in the yard, thinking about intellectual laziness as a method for avoiding stress, about how authoritatively L. advises the kid on interpersonal matters, so unlike anything I'd ever do.

Anyway, on to the hot coffee, shower, etc. Running late for work, wanted to sleep & sleep & sleep, cool breezes through my windows.

Long day of driving in the hot, hot, hot. Got surprisingly delicious bbq in Brimfield, hurray.

Been working on remaining hydrated, seems to be paying off.

Been a fun weekend hanging with kid, need to take him back to his island later. May try to check out Brimfield bbq spot en route.

Been busy being a busy bee.

Work, shopping, dog care, toilet seat installation, etc., etc.

Then met wife & kid for dinner & a sweaty, stinky punk rock show.

They're downstairs watching Snakes on a Plane, I'm resting quietly with Peretz.

Getting home from work yesterday, flopped down on couch & zoned out, stayed that way, pretty much, while L. made a nice light supper, stayed that way while watching The Departed, stayed that way while I forgot to feed the dogs, etc., etc. Finally went to sleep.

Trying to figure out whether Pickles was funnier with his cone or (as now) without it.

This morning- dealing with broken mail server, replacing parts, worrying over it, seems OK now.

On my way to a sandwich at Serio's, "Coney Island Steeplechase" came on the radio, it's a song I sing to myself a lot, but hadn't actually heard it in years.

Lots of horseradish sauce on my sandwich, like horseradish sauce. Like dogs better than people.

Just finishing up first day back at work, wacky lot of catching up to do as per usual.

Most of the day was gray & damp, now it's pouring again.

Want to get home to the wife & pups.

Most of day spent driving in torrential rain, during some of the heaviest, climbing into the mountains of Pennsylvania, my driver's side windshield wiper suddenly flew off. Almost stopped in Frackville for a replacement, but thought better of it & stopped at the next town. Stopped for gas shortly after that & my gas cap blew away across the lot, managed to chase it down. Only other stop of note was so L. could get some sweets from the Alexis Diner in Newburgh.

Earlier, wet, wet, Gettysburg. Saw the recently restored cyclorama, pretty amazing, though we weren't allowed enough time together, lunch at a pretty OK brewpub, walked the dogs through sodden fields by the North Carolina monument, briefly visited a drenched Little Round Top, took pictures of tour groups' clustered umbrellas.

Anyway, home again, home again, whiskey & ginger ale.

Decided to stay in Nashville another day, saw more music & friends.

Now in motel in Gettysburg, planning to visit historic sites in the morning.

Between there & here, learned that one of Virginia's hallowed traditions, apparently, is not using the left lane to pass, but rather to cruise in at as close to the same speed as the vehicle in the right lane as possible.

Peretz finds the motel room strangely fascinating.

Hard to overstate what a beautiful day it is today, could use more vacation.

Could use a shower.

Decided late yesterday, that if we were in fact going to do so, today was the day to visit the tourist attraction formerly known as Confederama.

So- headed out a little before 11, stopped by the post office, started driving toward Chattanooga. As we neared Monteagle, L. expressed a desire for food. Tried to find some in Monteagle, finally spotted a bbq place behind a gas station, went in, sat down, started perusing the menu. Some minutes passed. More people arrived, sat at counter, table, still no sign of waitstaff. Some minutes passed. Eventually a middle aged lady emerged from the back & started chatting with the guy at the counter. Then she did some organizational things by the register for a couple of minutes. When she started taking the drink orders of the other people who had arrived after us, we left.

Tried to find another bbq place in South Pittsburgh, home of the Pirates. Couldn't find it, L. called, number disconnected. Returned to downtown South Pittsburgh, observed Mexican place, Italian place, people sprucing up the old movie theater for the coming cornbread festival. L. asked, "Do you live around here?" Man painting trim said, "Nope." L asked, "Do you know of anywhere good to eat in this town?" MPT said, "What are you in the mood for? You like Mexican, Italian?" L. said, "We saw those, we want something else." Other man painting said, "The are a couple bbq places up around the corner." L. said "Walking distance?" OMP said. "Yep."

We quite liked the Dixie Freeze, waitstaff friendly & attentive.

Before leaving South Pittsburgh, we acquired a couple knickknacks & learned that 60-80000 people were expected at next weekend's cornbread festival.

From there, a short trip to Lookout Mountain, L. had learned of the existence of the Incline Railway yesterday & as it would deposit us within easy walking distance of the former Confederama, I had no objection. In the front of the car, very loud Indian family, phones, cameras, a lot of loud friendly talk.

On the way up, someone dropped a camera & the people below kindly recovered it & its battery & passed them back up. "Still working?" "Yes, thank you."

OK, so, Confederama: went into the gift shop, no one behind the counter to sell tickets to the spectacle. Walked over by the theater, staff lady poked out of the utility closet. "Show's about to start!" L: "Could you sell us tickets?" Lady: "No!" & disappeared into the utility closet.

After a while, she emerged & sold us tickets & we went into the very dark auditorium, the show not yet having started. Occasional speaker pops, eyes slowly adjusted to the dark, could vaguely make out a profile of a much scaled down Lookout Mountain.

Older southern man behind us suddenly asked, "Where you folks from?" Wondered if he was talking to us until some lady, also behind us, responded. She had a young boy with her, who when asked if he knew what this was about by the older gentleman promptly answered, "The Civil War." "The Late Unpleasantness, can't see that there was much civil about it." & on & on. More speaker pops. The house lights came up revealing the large battlefield diorama, which, with the addition of sound, light & narrative, constitutes the attraction as such, then suddenly went out again.

Voice from the utility closet, "I've already tried resetting it eleven times!" "I don't even know if these breakers are on or off!" And so forth. Lights on and just as suddenly off again, speaker pops, hum from a different speaker.

Older gentleman to family, "If you're going through Atlanta, you ought to see..."

Young boy, interrupting, "I know, the Golden King, I've already been, you don't get to actually see his body, just his stuff..."

Older gentleman, "That's not what I was going to suggest. I was going to suggest seeing Cyclorama, much better than this, life size figurines of Civil War soldiers, there's one scene where a Union soldier is holding a dying Confederate, you see, they found out, it was his brother..."

Lady, "That happened a lot."

Older gentleman, "Yes, and you know if a soldier from one side wounded another & then found that he was a fellow Freemason, he would rush & tend to him, there's a lot to be said for Freemasonry..."

Lights on, off, pops & hiss, dim light on the profile of Lookout Mountain.

Staff's voices from without, "Yes, I've already tried turning it off & leaving it off for a few minutes." "Couldn't some of this stuff be moved to the back?" Lights on, off. Etc., etc.

Eventually the cost of our tickets was refunded & we took a walk around the nearby park, taking in the scenic views.

Back in Nashville, we went & saw a band do pretty competent renditions of some nice Burt Bacharach, then had some extremely fancy & delicious sushi. Good times.

Day turned out nicer than I expected around 5, when I had a violent headache.

Before that, did a little work in the morning, checked out a Chinese place I was interested in (not so great), L. found a bunch of nifty clothes at a big thrift shop.

Then headache struck, took a longish nap, woke disoriented, we were going to go see more bluegrass but Chris called & told me of an indie rock show in a warehouse owned by anarchists off 4th, so we went to that. Also featured an informative slideshow chronicling Willy's recent trip to Indochina.

After that, late night biscuits & gravy. Lovely.

Just back from big birthday do, lots of Indian food, red velvet cake, feeling a bit done in.

Dogs want to know: where's their Indian food, red velvet cake?

In further dog news, either Pickles or Berkeley smashed a small window in the door to the deck in an effort to get at each other, seems like only my dad ended up getting cut, but Pickles's protective cone was badly damaged & needs replacing.

Went & got fed hot dogs & such by Ben & Molly, tasty, tasty, potato salad with bacon, etc., etc. Nashville was derided, I mocked the skill set of catalogers, we were shown a spinning wheel & how to work it, asked about the latest fiction, as if any of us would know, made some vague suggestions anyhow, we did.

After that, L & I went out to a lousy show, left pretty quick, was free, interesting to see what had become of the Cannery.

Before all that, we all went out & got my dad a new imac. Helped set it up for a while, hopefully it's all set up.

Last night, Station Inn Bluegrass Jam, low key, pleasant. Development of high rise condos in the area somewhat unsettling.

This morning, thinking about Nashville, wondering what it would've been like if that had had a sitcom spinoff too.

Finally feeling mostly recovered from drive & eye incident.

The balmy spring weather is quite remarkable.

Need to do some birthday shopping.

Pickles seems to be bouncing back nicely, happily trotting around, banging into things with his cone.

Last night, though, sedated post-op Pickles was a pretty pitiful sight, lying on the couch, red eyed.

Peretz is enjoying digging up my parents' yard, just tracked mud all over a blanket.

Anyway, recovering from long drive, wanting more danish, etc., etc.

In Nashville.

Pickles is at the emergency vet hospital, having lacerated his eyelid in a tussle with my dad's dogs, he'll need to wear one of those cones for a while, poor dumb dog.

Head hurts.

Pretty disrupted sleep, Pickles agitated by the hotel noises.

Going to load some stuff out to the car.

Long day of driving, got an early start.

In Wytheville, lying on a hardish king sized bed looking at the pebbled ceiling, Peretz is grooming his forelegs beside me while Pickles stalks about & L. plays with the whirlpool tub.

Maybe there are good things on TV.

Left work a bit early, went & got some snacks for drive, came home, did some tidying, did laundry without injuring myself, etc.

Ordered in Chinese. Vacation, vacation.

Set up a new drive for photo archiving yesterday, failed in the night, just set up another.

Spam subjects more whimsical than usual this morning, I'd give examples but have already deleted them.

Peace & love.

Had the sun been visible, might've recited the Birkat Hachamah, as it was, eh.

Trouble falling, staying asleep. Double eh.

Very friendly & eccentric man I've known since I was but a pup has been arrested on kiddie porn charges, sad.

Woke up with a still splitting headache, decided to sleep more, that helped. For those of you worried whether I have a concussion, though, note that I managed to forget my cellphone at home once I finally went to work.

Should really change banks, heard on the radio while driving to work that they're changing their name again, then stopped at an atm to deposit some checks & there were no deposit envelopes. Change your name all you want, fuckers, I know where you live.

OK, back to working on workity work.

Feeling like I walked head first into an iron pipe, probably because I did.

Ow, ow, ow.

Just back from Sedaris thing, L.'s happy he attracts so many people, makes her feel like people aren't such a bunch of ignorant sheep as she's worried they might be, I guess. I mostly wonder what about him draws in ignorant sheep.

Anyway, pretty funny, bit of political cheerleading toward the beginning that bored me pretty badly, funniest bits tended to the grotesque. Great thing about wanting to fry potatoes in his fatty tumor to find out what it would smell like.

So, weekend of big C culture, or middle C anyway. Sort of fun.

Leftover coffee, started making curry butternut soup, realized after starting that butternut had gone south, disposed of it, went to co-op for another, co-op had closed at 5, went to Big Y, got more butternut, made soup, more coffee.

Nice, silky, spicy soup. Quiche & soup & cake & c. Well stocked.

Going to go see David Sedaris compliments of the Advocate shortly.

Looking forward to going south myself, hopefully not all moldy & wet.

Day trip to Troy proved something of a gas, beautiful bit of a snowstorm along 2 to & from, mini hotdogs with Zippy sauce from Famous Lunch since 1932, overwhelmingly overfunded EMPAC with highly concentrated small sounds within. Fun, fun, fun.

Slept very, very late; made quiche; doing laundry.

More coffee, I think.

Been bopping around the house to the first Love record while L.'s been making another red velvet cake.

Later, going to Troy to see the BSC.

Between now & then, need to do some work & shopping. Weekend, weekend.

Juvenile humor is the best kind.

Wish it would rain more, hard, so I could listen to it.

Peretz loves his yellow crayon, every picture he draws has the sun in it, at least one, even night scenes.

Was going to spend the evening being social, spent it making stir fry, watching TV & eating ice cream instead.

Beginning to feel imminent vacation coming at me like a train, rather looking forward to it. Splat.

Keep getting lost in thought, then being surprised by my actual surroundings.

Another rainy day, looking for a bluebird.

Mostly thinking about music, endless string of songs, "Who Loves the Sun?", "September Gurls", "Dark Globe", etc., etc.

On the way to work had the Subway Sect song "Johnny Thunders" stuck in my head and was wondering if Sal had gotten into the Dolls yet.

A little bit more work, then fancy lunch, hurray for Fridays.

"Don't Fear the Reaper" on the radio just before I got to work.

Meanwhile, more suicides, the wife had a tale of death while institutionalized on yesterday's sunset dog walk, just recommended a pc tech to somebody at work whose former one overdosed on pills in the woods.

Makes me want to give everybody a big hug, not that it would help, of course.

Looking this morning of a photo I took over a year ago of some fabric printed with owls, thought about how much what seems beautiful and significant to me varies one moment to the next. Not what they seem.

Have spent much of the workday refreshing myself on sed & awk, the sort of thing I should probably do a lot more of, if only to preserve sanity.

Cold finally seems more or less shaken.

Ate some apples, thinking about summer fruits.

Getting ready for bed, feeling like I'd like to sleep for a long, long time.

Nice crescent moon.

Thinking, feeling, stupid, stupid, stupid. Decrease the frequency, increase the amplitude.

Acetone fumes wafting through the server room today, feel fortunate for the stuffy nose.

Woke early, sneezing violently. Peretz is sick of it.

About to go to Easthampton to deliver ink cartridges, check on mail configs, get lunch, etc.

Just sayin'.

Not quite getting the hang of this Monday thing.

Even gummi bears didn't help. Trying more yucky pod coffee now.

Spent this morning's half awake commute thinking about social functions of religions, largely.

L. just notified me that she has sent used dog blankets ahead of us to Nashville in hope that they would ease territorial feelings as suggested by experts.

Plan for dinner: Polish plate.

Woke to thunderstorm, fed dogs, made matzoh brei.

Could use a few more days of sleep, I think.

Rain's stopped for now.

Emerging slowly from sickly fog, did some work, some grocery shopping.

Damp day, feeling cold. Nap, maybe.

Just did taxes, this year we get cash back from the war machine- thanks, Frank.

Feeling a bit less ill, still tiring easily.

Feeling blurry, kept waking in the night coughing violently, muscle cramps in neck & shoulder.

Feeling like I should be doing something to improve the state of the world.

Feeling like going home & having some nice lunch.

Sometimes feeble, sometimes lively. Drifting back into the feeble, tight chest, neck hurts.

Lovely local lamb burger at the Wagon Wheel earlier, happy little lamb. Bit heavy on the tapenade.

Restocked on pale dry ginger ale. Life's little pleasures.

Intermittent coughing jags, sipping ginger ale.

Still feeling crappy, thought about getting more soup for lunch, got pizza instead.

Should read more novels.

More tea, could barely taste my dinner, lame.

Plans for evening include television & blanket.

Despite feeling pretty lousy, went last night & sang my piece to the punk rock kids, not that happy with my performance, but others seemed pleased enough. Funny sort of show for me to be at, very straight ahead punk, drunk kids fighting & hugging, etc. Not really my scene. Big Kids, the band that played last, from Brattleboro, were quite good though, hope to see them again sometime.

Didn't realize how genuinely crappy I was feeling until I hit the cold outside air, started shaking pretty violently, drive home across the mountain was a bit of a challenge.

Since then, I've been asleep or trying to sleep, mostly.

Went to Great Wall & got that noodle soup, hurrah!

Tea was nice, too.

Scratchy throat, supposed to sing tonight, want some noodle soup.

Vague intimations of coming cold, around the edges, peeking out.

L.'s on a cooking jag, last night raviolis & salad. Taco night tonight.

Made a hurried tart myself last night, ginger snap crust, lemon pie like top, pretty decent.

Head full of art theory, yuck.

So, Zuppardi's in Wilmington, really quite good, make their own sausage.

BBQ place north of town, not as good, not bad either, doesn't ruin pulled pork by stewing in sauce.

Last night, attended play about raccoon in support of Turners artspace, pretty cool, but found myself drifting off. Big week for late in the day sleepiness.

Have settled on a food tour of Wilmington, VT as the day's activity, wish us luck, will report back.

Happy Spring!

Meant to say: reality loses endlessly to aptly applied semiotics.

Thank goodness for bourbon & pale dry ginger ale.

Battlestar marathon continues, how long can those pesky humans hang on? Poor little simps.

We're lined up on the couch, Pickles, L., Peretz, me. Warm & cozy.

Shambling zombie-like through the last of the workweek. Brains! Etc., etc.

On a new scifi TV jag, go go killer robots.

Really like everything that assembles associative sets.

So tired I'm worried about falling asleep.

Funny, drifty day. L. made a really nice dinner.

How the mind wanders.

Yesterday: learned people will wear bright green to burials on St. Patrick's Day, everybody wants a Shamrock shake.

This morning: walking the dog, bits of Jesus Christ Superstar revolving in my head, saw a piece of plastic debris with Elmo on it, thought about possibilities of talking Elmo lighter. "Elmo loves fire! More! More!"

Back at work, digging out.

Good to be back from alien cultural landscape, a lot like hell, honestly. Never will understand how people fail to learn to mistrust their own resentments.

Awfully glad L. got herself out of that without being totally wrecked in the process.

Maybe we'll have time to be sad now. Bye, Pat.

Been a long few days. Just got home, unloaded the car, found that Peretz had vomited on the stairwell, cleaned that up, collapsed.

Glad to be clear of family feuds.

Would like to sleep until tomorrow, Toste & the kid are on their way, however, so it's out to dinner & a show. Also nice, don't really have the energy.

Well, if nothing else, this little trip has already provided me with a few more reasons to never, ever consider being an alcoholic.

Long night, police, etc.

Finally got sleep, got up, walked around yard with dogs, feeling a little ragged.

Happily, lovable island folk will be arriving this afternoon to make everything better.

Went & had a lovely civilized dinner with Norm, Ron, Ernie & Carmella. Grilled steak, asparagus, potatoes & onions.

Made for a nice respite, back in trenches now. Cat's gone off with L.'s dad, Patrick was here briefly, but has now disappeared to the bar round the corner, hopefully he'll get back.

Tiring this, have a bit of an upset stomach.

Slept for a long time amid the comings and goings of dogs.

In typical fashion, can't find the coffee filters.

Nice neighbor lady brought us xmas cookies.

Just rehung the bathroom door.

In Syracuse, at L.'s mom's house. Lots of chaotic dog action. L. got bitten by her mom's freaked out cat. Just transported the now calm cat to basement where food, water, litter await her. Poor little critter.

Family dynamics in full swing, pretty stressful, less so for me than for others, I'm sure.

Peretz is sitting next to me on the couch while Pickles stalks the house.

Weird upstate NY cable modem doesn't play nice with my wireless router, using the neighbors' Belkin.

Tired, sad, too much to do.

Trying to get myself combat ready. Zap, zap. Take that, awkward social situation.

L.'s mom died. Sweet, funny lady.

Cop arrived just after we got home from work to tell us so. Guess nobody had L.'s new number.

Anyway, pretty upsetting. Found myself worrying earlier about the welfare of her virtual pets. Glad we got her up & running on Facebook just the same, she sure seemed to get a kick out of it.

Watching Carefree.

Pretty cold again this morning, starting to hear the mating calls of birds.

Amazingly peaceful sleep, didn't want to get up.

Peretz is lying on my bed, stretched out, head resting to the left of his extended paws.

So tired. Wonder if I'll sleep.

Thinking about Bruno Latour.

Last night, L. made lovely roast chicken & asparagus & noodles, I made some beignets for dessert.

Wondering why the, to my mind anyway, largely irrelevant figure of reflection so dominates our image of thought or, alternately, its concept.

Could use some lunch.

Overslept, delightful.

Spent my shower time systematically confusing "Tracks of my Tears" & "Tears of a Clown", as if they needed any help with that.

Lately, as soon as my head hits the pillow I feel as though a shot of adrenaline has been administered.

Awkward phrasing, shy schoolgirl.

The combined effects of migraine & novel reading on my dreams proved to be quite something, extremely vivid, some unpleasant, some not, a lot of overscripted irrelevancies.

More generally, the effects of any substantial amount of serious reading on my perception of time & my ability to sleep are extreme enough these days to explain why I don't get much reading done. Everything condenses to a vibrating blip, think about things I'd rather not, adrenaline starts pouring forth, etc., etc.

Back at work now, unrested, foggy, eyes atwitch, playing catch up.

Foggy morning, foggy notion, wishing we were by the ocean.

Woke up around 5 this morning with a migraine, spent most of the day asleep, finally got up a while ago, made some noodle soup, cleared the walk of slush, walked the dog.

Been asleep something like 80% of the past 24 hours. After doing some work yesterday, went to Target for sheets to replace two destroyed by dogs, started feeling very tired on the way home, took a long nap. Strange.

Turns out L. already had the Atwood novel I ordered, started reading it in my few waking hours.

Working on it.

Just changed my bedside clock from 11:11 to 12:11.

Fell asleep on the couch last night without realizing I was doing so, woke cold with lots of stuff in my pockets. Divested myself of stuff in pockets, pulled a blanket over myself and went back to sleep. Was woken several times by dogs jockeying for position.

Peretz was unusually desperate to go for a walk this morning, that lost hour messes with his system.

Yesterday, ordered a postapocalyptic novel by Margaret Atwood & the first Katamari sequel, working on reforming my sensibility into one recognizably mine.

Coffee, brunch, work, repeat.

Big day for chores: laundry, banking, web site maintenance, ice removal, etc., etc.

Was also delightfully warm out.

L. made special hot dog, potato salad & asparagus lunch. She also made a very attractive red velvet cake for birthday party later.

A lucky fellow.

Should probably walk the dog before going to art opening, cold drizzle.

Dreamt last night that my old style yellow VW bug had been booted for no apparent reason while parked in the parking lot behind my condo.

Drove to work thinking about political strategy, silly.

Need a coffee, have no change for coffee machine.

There's a lot of music & art happening this weekend, wondering how much I can manage.

Working for the weekend.

Replaced the crappiest power supply I've dealt with in years this morning with another of the same crappy model, had to cut off the modular connector for the wires to the cpu fan, strip the wires, twist them together with wires dangling off the fan & cover with electrical tape, etc.

Am planning to drop the tired old man act for the evening & go to a show on a school night, at Hampshire, no less. Long haul.