can I get a Hell Yeah

... for Christine, who passed her PA Bar exam!!!! I knew she would, she is one of the smartest people I know, but she likes to walk around pretending like she needs to study and doesn't do enough of it. Whatever girl- You Rock, and you know it.

*****

Yesterday I took Coconut to a dog park for the first time ever. She had the best time, and loved playing with all of the other dogs (my parents' dog just runs away from her). I can't wait to take her back, but I have made the decision to wait until she is fixed. Poor little girl was humped on by every boy-dog in the place at least once. At first, we weren't sure who liked it more, but by the end, you could see that, "get off of me I have a headache" look in her eye, and she is so little that her attempts to escape their grips weren't working. However, we hung around for way longer than I planned because everytime we were about to leave, a new potential friend showed up, and she was just so happy to see everyone who walked through the gates.

Now, I am looking for some of my human friends with dogs less than 35 lbs. to join us. Borrowed dogs will work too... any takers?

*****

Tonight, Alex and I are going to my parents' house for "Family Dinner," which was planned by my brother. He starts a one-month training tomorrow, before leaving for Iraq. When he called to let me know about the dinner, he said, "You don't have to come, but it might be the last time you see me." I know there was an implied, "- before I leave" in there, but it still sent chills down my spine.

I don't believe in god, but if you do, or if you don't, your thoughts, prayers, whatevers, are welcome in order to send some positive energy my brother's way for a safe deployment.

Sparks and Sushi

When I moved into Apartment, my mom gave me her old Panasonic vacuum, with the suggestion that I take it to the vaccuum and sewing machine repair place that is approximately one quarter of a mile from my apartment and have the belts replaced and the nasty pet-hair smell flushed out. I never did end up doing that, and since the smell was so horrific each time I vacuumed, I tended to do it... well... not so often.

Yesterday, when I flipped the switch to On, I was greeted with a loud, metallic exploding noise, like R2-D2 and Rosie had one too many shots of tequilla and decided to hump*. Whatever the noise actually was created sparks and a thin trail of smoke that raised up from where the cord goes into the machine. And then the whole thing just went dead.

I'm now trying to find a new vacuum, which I didn't realize would be such an expensive endeavour. I want one with a bag, since I've heard that the bagless variety aren't great for those with allergies, but damn, who wants to spend $300 on something you use to clean? Any suggestions for a good vaccum that isn't so expensive? Damn, this is boring and I am old.

* I fully realize this is the weirdest reference ever, but it's the first thing that came to my mind when I was trying to think of something to liken that sound to. I also fully really this makes me really fucking strange.

*****

Last weekend I went to NoJo, where Alison and Mike&Jay and I kicked off SushiFest2007. The whole ordeal kicked off at the Asian Food Center (familiarly called "AFC" by Mike). Have you ever wondered what it's like to be an ADD kid in a Chuck E. Cheese? If so, and you are someone who is not Asian, go to an AFC. Upon stepping into this store, I was greeted with so many bright colors, foodstuffs I had never heard of before (jellied redbeans? and people eat spiced chicken feet??), and packages with lables I could not read, that I just didn't know where to look. Searches for specific items like nori and edimame left me standing in the middle of an isle and turning in circles. After an hour or so, I found my self gazing through the windows into the gray, familiar parking lot to give my eyes and brain a rest.

It was totally worth it though, because, damn, did you know how cheap stuff is at an AFC? For about $40, you can buy enough food to feed 4-6 people to stuffed, while the same meal at a decent sushi restaurant would cost upwards of $100. And also? Rolling my own maki was SO FUN!! Jay was an excellent teacher, because surely I would have rolled the bamboo mat right into the rice had it not been for his instruction.

Other items on the menu, lovingly cooked by Anyonebutme:

• salted edimame
• tempura scallops and shrimp
• seafood and cabbage dumplings

Oh, and I made the dumpling sauce, because after looking at the ingredients on the bottle at the AFC, Alison wouldn't let me buy it, "Uh, you can make this yourself." It wasn't bad, but the bottled stuff probably would have been better.

I have added this cute sushi set to my Amazon wishlist, because although I loved making my own sushi, I probably would not do it just for myself. This set is for 4 people, so it will give me an excuse to invite the 3 of them down here for another go!

I want to be a part of it...

This was an awesome weekend, but everytime I started writing about it, I realized how boring my writing has been lately. I find that I'm much better at writing lists because they warrant no expectations of entertainment. A list is a list. An entertaining list is just a bonus. Here is a no-bonus list of my weekend activities.

• I took the TheBoy to Alison's Halloween party, aptly entitled "Alloween." As far as I can tell everyone loved (or at least said they approved of) him, and Meg even said she thinks he's The One.
• I dressed up as Alison, which I thought was pretty freakin' clever, and which everyone there seemed to appreciate. I even fought with her sister a little to make it really authentic.
  
• We stayed overnight at the Hyatt, and because they didn't have any rooms on the "Quiet Side" of the building, they upgraded us to a suite.
• We took the train into New York.
• We saw Wicked, which was an awesome, awesome show. And what was even awesomer was that when we got there, the show was actually sold out, and so we waited on the Cancellations line, and ended up with sweet 15th row, center section tickets- probably better than what we'd have gotten if we were on the ball and ordered them ahead of time!
• We ate dinner at Virgil's BBQ, which was super tasty.*
• My car didn't stall out due to lack-of-fuel on the Turnpike!
  

* Do people in Canada eat barbeque? Like real BBQ with coal smokers and stuff?