happy.halloween!

I donated platelets today, and though I didn't plan it, loved that I was there on halloween! All the sick children who were mobile got dressed up and trick-or-treated around the hospital. The blood donor center had a bucket of candy, as did most of the offices and departments, and a lot of the doctors, nurses, and other hospital staff dressed up too. The children came in and out in their costumes, and were so happy. It must have helped them to have some normalcy in their lives- despite the wheelchairs, iv's and other medical devices, they're still kids who want to dress up and get a crapload of candy. Who wouldn't?

mythical.creatures.

The conversations that occur after several late nights of baseball viewing are amusing. The most recent case involved the unicorn vs. the pegasus. After agreeing that the pegasus is a horse with wings, and the unicorn is a horse with a horn, we questioned whether there could be a horse with both wings and a horn, and if so, what it would be called. Pegacorn? Unisus? The ensuing web search proved hilarious. Here are some of the results:

Q: Is a winged unicorn and a horned pegasus the same thing?
A: A unicorn is a horse with a horn and a pegasus is a horse with wings. Therefore a winged unicorn would be a horse with a horn and wings. A horned pegasus would then be a horse with wings and a horn. I would then say that they are both the same. But, if you were to consider the unicorns magic powers, the pegasus with a horn might not inherit these powers. I hope I helped, Miranda
A(2): They might look the same, but the powers that they both have, is very different!
(wikianswers)

A: On the subject of the word alicorn, it is, as far as I know, a cobination of the latin 'ali' (wing) and 'cornus' (horn), so I will continue to use it for winged unicorns until someone convinces me otherwise. Transparent wings are fun to draw. (Followed by a drawing of an "alicorn" with transparent wings.) (elfwood.com)

And my personal favorite...

Q: Can human beings alter DNA of a horse to make it a unicorn or pegasus?
A: No. Horse DNA doesn't contain code for a horn or wings, so we would need to graft these features from another animal. So far cross-species grafting techniques are not nearly sophisticated enough to give a horse wings, though we could theoretically make horse bioluminesent, so we could have glowing horses ;) (eduqna.com)

There were several more I can't find right now that discussed the actual presence of unicorns and pegasuses. Those were hilarious. So while we didn't come to any definitive conclusions, we sure laughed enough at all the people out there who spend their time posting about mythical creatures.

jellyfish.

Nora sent me the halloween pictures, so here's one of me as a jellyfish. It's in the dark, so you can even see the glow necklaces glowing:)

we.won!

Take that all you non-believers. We're world series champs! The four game sweep was rather anticlimactic, but got the job done. My favorite part was when matsuzaka had a bubblegum bubble on top of his hat while hanging in the dugout, and ortiz cracked up once it fell off and matsuzaka noticed. Then they did a cute little japanese bow thing. They looked like cute little boys getting into mischief!! I tried to find a youtube video to post, but no luck just yet. Here's our reaction to the win:

boo.

Halloween party at nora's! It was just like the good old days, but we're all a bit older and a little more mature. I'm known for making my own creative costumes. This year I was running late, so didn't come up with anything until an hour before I was supposed to be there. What I came up with was a jellyfish. I took a big clearish tupperware bowl, hung a bunch of multicolored string from the lip, taped some glow necklaces to the rim, and added an elastic to make it a hat. Nora has the good picture on her camera, so I'll add them later. For now you get a picture of me in barry's super dark sunglasses and two of the glow necklaces once I'd pulled them off the jellyfish.

It was great. We watched the game (which was almost boring, it was so good) and I came up with a great idea for next year's costume with barry's help. Now I'll have a year and a few days instead of an hour to prepare.

neck.snuggly.

It was cold today. I've been running in a t-shirt and shorts or pants (depending on the temp) but today I bundled up and added a running coat to my getup. As I was running, I noticed that my nose and ears were a little nippy, and thought back to last winter when I wore a neck snuggly and hat. I loved the neck snuggly, but whenever I pulled it up over my nose, my glasses would fog up. It was a no-win situation. As I thought about this, I realized that now I can wear my contacts, and there will be no glasses to fog. I was so excited I think it sped my pace up a little!

tacos!

Thanks to ellsbury, we can all get them free. Get yours on tuesday between two and five!

poor.jen.

She's had a run of bad luck recently. Last night was the candle on the cake. We were all sitting around watching bones when the eleven year old neighbor knocked on our door to tell us that some lady was hitting one of our cars over and over again. We all went outside (along with the rest of the neighborhood) and found that jen's car had been hit by a minivan who's driver was still sitting inside. She kept hitting the gas pedal which pushed the back of jen's car further and further into the curb. The neighbor who'd called 911 had tried to talk to the woman, but she seemed a little out of it. No one knew if she was crazy or what, so we didn't approach the car, but waited for the firemen to arrive. Turns out she was having a seizure. Apparently she had come around the corner, hit jen's car lightly, and then kept seizing which forced her foot against the pedal. So unfortunate. They moved the car after getting her into an ambulance and there was only a small dent on the minivan, and some rear bumper and panel damage on jen's car. Luckily, it missed her rear wheel well by inches, so her car was drivable. The woman was expected to be fine, especially since the impact was minimal. The kicker is that this has happened to her before. Her husband (they live one street over) mentioned "she's been doing so well recently too."Apparently seizure patients are allowed to drive after six months of being seizure free. I'm not sure how I feel about this- if I was close to someone who suffered from seizures, I don't think I'd be comfortable with them driving at all. What if she'd been on the highway doing 70mph? She probably would have died.

the.cost.of.clean

Here's a picture of my foot. I painted my toenails yesterday in preparation for bar night at the enormous room. G was spinning one last time, and we all went over to hang out. Although I thought I did a good job, I can now see that I didn't. Luckily it was dark at the bar, and I don't make a habit of sticking my feet in my face. The pathetic part about all this is the three blisters I have on the tops of my middle toes. You know how I got them? Cleaning. Yup, jen and I scrubbed all the floors in the entire apartment on our hands and knees. They were so bad, and needed a once over before we could move on to a weekly mopping routine. It took two hours, and towards the end, I looked at my foot because it felt like I had some sand or grit stuck in it. That's when I realized that I'd rubbed my feet raw, past the point of blisters and on to ripped open cuts. The nail polish almost makes it worse because from a normal distance, it's the same color, and looks like I missed my nails and painted my toes. Nice.

tivo.desktop.

I've had my tivo for almost a year, and finally downloaded tivo desktop, the program that allows you to transfer tivoed shows to your pc via your wireless network. It makes me feel safer to know that I have all the sarah silverman programs stored safely on my laptop and external hard drive. Who knows what might happen if one of my roommates ever tried to figure out how to use the tivo- I'd have nothing left there!!

you.were.saying???

(evil wrote) "(beckett's) just delaying the inevitable. start cheering for the patriots because the red sox season is nearly over!"

hair.again.

I got a new picture of my longish hair to put up for comparison. It's also my new blogger id picture. It's a good representation of my hair at the end of a busy day. On this particular one, I went for a run (though I took a shower afterwards, so the run doesn't really come into play in terms of my hair condition), took the T to kendall to visit my dad (and mooch a free meal too- mexican day at his office!), walked a mile and a half to harvard while it was sprinkling, spent four hours participating in a research study, took the T home, and cooked a chicken for dinner. Sure the ends look a little scraggly, but that would be cleaned up in a trim anyway. Despite my last vote for shorter hair, I think I've reconsidered and would now vote longish. Also my aunt and uncle were very adamant that they liked it best at this length- and they said so much more aggressively than any of you. So I'm adding in a new poll question to get length opinions again. Hopefully I'll get more input this time. Go vote!

waste.not.

Before now, I've only been responsible for paying utilities for one year of my life- the year I lived in an apartment with andrea and nadine. I couldn't even swear to it that we had to pay for anything other than the phone. I think heat and hot water were included in the rent, and maybe we just paid for electricity. In any case, it was a long time ago. In the six weeks that I've lived in the new place, I've become fanatic about not wasting energy, and not for the environmental reasons (though it would sound nicer if that was the case), but for the financial ones. Our first electricity bill was for $7.01. That included one week where no one lived here (we were moving stuff in and painting though), and one week where I was here by myself, with no tv. Our first real bill was $60.11- 315kwh. We're good about turning lights off, but the competitive side of me wants to get it even lower next time. I got some of those crazy looking energy light bulbs at costco a month or so ago (they had an instant rebate which made a pack of 8 cost $1.50), and instead of waiting for the current bulbs to die, we went around replacing the ones we use regularly. We leave one lamp on in the hall when it's dark out, but turn everything else off when we leave the room. I've considered turning the hall light off too (which we do at night when everyone's home and asleep), but then it gets tricky going from one room to the next in the pitch dark. So I guess we'll just keep being vigilant, and wait and see how much difference the energy light bulbs save. As for the gas....maybe we'll turn the heat on if it gets really cold in february. Otherwise it's sticking to showers and cooking.

poulet.

I did it! Roasted my first chicken! Thanks to all the suggestions, it went quite well. Here I am holding the raw chicken. I wasn't sure how happy I'd be playing around with raw meat, but it was pretty cool. It reminded me of a baby- a headless one. I fixed it up, threw it in the oven, checked the temp a few times, and an hour later, voila! A cooked bird! I also made a big salad and roasted rosemary potatoes to go along with it. It was quite easy- something I'll definitely do again. Maybe I'll even invite people over to eat it next time!

beckett.rocks.

How can you not love josh beckett? He should have pitched every night for the love of pete. Who needs rest?

office.

My friend andre likes a lot of the same shows as me. Sometimes he goes for the more juvenile options (think "blades of glory") but when I really look at it, everything he's convinced me to watch (and give a second chance, if necessary), I've liked. The office is the one show that I couldn't stomach for a long time. Sure, it had offbeat humor and uncomfortable situations (similar to one of my favorites, curb your enthusiasm), but I really found it boring the few times I watched. Not one to back away from a challenge, he kept at it, giving me a copy of the original british version (which is appropriate since he lives in london now), and convincing me to watch various episodes with steve carell while I was visiting in london. He caught me laughing a few times, and I had to admit that it wasn't as bad as I'd thought. I've been missing those guys recently, so decided to buckle down and watch the series from the beginning. I started with the british version (since it is the original) and after getting used to the style, really liked it! Ricky gervais is just hilarious. Now I'm on to the american version, which I expect will get better once they move onto their own stuff. The ones I've seen so far are pretty much a carbon copy of the british version, and it feels like they're trying too hard to stick to the plot, and aren't being themselves. They are, however, universally more attractive then their british counterparts.

stupid.indians.

I hate the indians and their stupid grinning native american mascot. So culturally insensitive.

cluck.

I picked up a chicken today. Tomorrow I'm roasting it for dinner. It'll be my first shot at a whole chicken, so I'm doing some research to make sure that it comes out alright.

knife.class.

Yesterday, et#1 and I went to another complimentary williams-sonoma class. This one was called knife skills. It was interesting, but could have been better if she'd wrapped it up a lot faster. We didn't get to cut anything (probably because there were 30ish people, and they didn't want a law suit on their hands) but she did pass a bunch around so we could feel the differences in balance, weight and material. Even knowing what I already knew about knives, I learned some new stuff. They focused on two kinds and four brands; european (wusthof and henckles) and asian (shun and global). My favorite knife is a wusthof, and I've used shun and henckles before, but had never held a global. I wasn't a big fan. The handle didn't fit right in my hand and the balance felt off. They do look nice though! One thing I found the most interesting was the differences in asian vs european. The asian knives have an 18 degree angled blade, and the european have a 22 degree blade. That's why you can't use the same sharpener for different kinds. The only downside to the whole thing is that now I want a whole nice set of knives!

barn.board.table.

I'm finally getting around to posting about my table. I was waiting until I got some pictures from the process, but I keep forgetting to ask my mom (who was around and documenting it) to send me some. If I ever remember, I'll post them at a later date. So here it is. The barn board table. I got some old barn boards from jen's boyfriend's dad, and attached them by drilling holes and doweling them together. I added wood glue and clamps, and left it alone overnight. The next day I cut the boards so they were even, sanded it down a little, and used 2x4's and 4x4's for the base and legs. I polyurethaned the top (which brought out all the colors and grain), stained the legs and sides, and painted a bunch of mismatched chairs a light grayish green so they worked together. I have a total of ten chairs; two I had to begin with, three I bought at a thrift store for $3.99 each, and five I found in people's trash piles. I'm really happy with the finished product! It fits right into our place, and now we can eat off a table instead of the counter or couch. It was a lot cheaper than buying something too. The table ran about $70, and the total for ten chairs? $11.97.

douglas.jerry.silverman.

Another new sarah, this time about her thirteen year old chihuahua/pug mix named doug. After an abuse allegation, he's taken away from her and put into protective custody, and she has to fight to get him back. I laughed so hard, I nearly cried. My favorite part was this:

Cold war kids saint john is playing in the background. Sarah is let into the prison where doug is kept, and passes other dogs caged and in various jail-like acts (drugged out looking, dog on dog action, etc). When she gets to his cell, he's wearing a bright orange diaper.
Sarah: "Why is he wearing underpants?"
Guard: "For his own safety. Your three minutes is starting."
She pets him, and scratches his back.
Guard: "Pet higher please. You need to refrain from touching him in his covered area."

I suppose it doesn't sound as funny written out as it is on tv. You should all watch it if you haven't seen it. I have it tivoed, and will keep it along with the other seven episodes, so you're welcome to come over and watch it here. Hilarious. Absolutely hilarious.

go.lowell!

I love mike lowell. He's a great player (and fielder) and unlike some people (*cough* ramirez *cough*), he's not full of himself.

tire.trouble.

I went to the gym today and did two minute intervals on the treadmill for an hour. First I ran 1.5 miles at 5.5mph, then I walked at 4mph for 2 mins, then cranked it to 7mph for 2 mins, then 4 mph for 2 mins, etc. I like doing this for two reasons. One, it's good cardiovascularly and increases your endurance and metabolism for a while, and two, it's very satisfying being able to run at an all out sprint for two minutes with some time for recovery afterwards. It makes the hour pass faster than it would if I was just running, plus, I burn more calories this way. I was beat afterwards, and headed out to my car so I could go home and shower. Unfortunately, I had a flat tire. I'd driven over a screw- it was sticking out, right up front so I could see it. Like last time, the conditions were not ideal for me to change the tire myself. I was all sweaty in my running shorts and t-shirt, it was cold out, and it was raining. I called aaa since that's what I pay them for, and settled in my front seat and flipped through the real simple magazine I had in the car. Five minutes before they arrived, I realized that my trunk was as full as it gets. I'd packed my trunk, tighter than sardines, with stuff to donate until I was able to drop it off. So in the rain, I had to move everything from the trunk (fyi- jettas have huge trunks) into the back seat so they could get the spare tire out. First thing tomorrow, I'm taking a trip to the thrift store to drop everything off. Maybe I'll get better gas mileage without all that extra weight in there.

i'm.turning.into.my.mom.

Part of m's homework was learning about the correct way to write abbreviations. Periods, capitals, etc. I was taking her to her nutcracker rehearsal tonight, and while I was testing her, she mentioned that some of the abbreviations don't have anything to do with the word. Really it was only the word pound. Where did the lb come from? Instead of writing it off, I was curious enough to look it up online. Turns out it's from the latin word libra, which means "scales, balances," and is close to an ancient roman use of mass that's similar in weight to a pound. So there we go. Lb is from libra. And pound is from libra.

full.episode.viewer.

I used to watch the bachelor with tishka all the time. It acted as weekly assurance that we'd hang out, and even though I wouldn't have otherwise watched it, I liked it. Then she got married and moved to florida, so I hadn't seen the show in some time. Yesterday I woke up early, and went online to watch the last minute of another show that had run over and been cut off by tivo. While scanning their full-episode viewer, I found a ton of shows I'd never heard of, along with the bachelor! For old times sake, I watched the first episode, and got hooked again. I like this guy too. Some of them seem a little cocky or to much of a player, but I like brad. I'd go on this show!

credit.reports.

I like to check my credit report every year just to make sure everything's in order. I've never actually received my credit score because I'm too cheap (and broke) to pay the $7.95 fee for each score. This time I did some digging, and found a way to get all three scores for $1. I signed up, and just have to make sure to cancel within 7 days so I don't get roped into monthly payments (it's on my calendar so I don't forget). So now I know my credit scores, and I was pleasantly surprised! They were much higher than I would have thought- all three of them in the very good to excellent category. I'm very conscientious about paying bills on time, but I had a bad college credit card experience, and one or two late payments several years ago. Apparently my stellar performance over the past three or four years has paid off, and now I could get a darn good interest rate on a home mortgage...if I could afford a home.

happy.birthday.kevin!

He's the big two-one today. He's one of the youngest of his friends since he started college at 17, so he had to wait until now to be legal in the bar scene. We had the birthday dinner for him and my mom on saturday, and I made sure that he was planning a good first drink. As the oldest, I was the first one to turn twenty-one, and spent a while picking out the perfect first legal drink. Mine was a '57 chevy with a white license plate (1oz vodka, 1oz creme de cacao), and julie's was a birthday cake shooter (a double shot the bartender came up with at some bar in virginia. We don't remember what was in it, but I'm pretty sure there was some creme de cacao, something pink, and whipped creme on top). Kevin went out last night at midnight, and had an irish car bomb (pint of guinness with a shot of whiskey and baileys dropped in, then chugged). I don't know what brian had, though hopefully it was something that could stand up to ours.

b.y.s.o.

I lucked out with four free tickets to the boston youth symphony orchestra. A and p went, but due to some misunderstanding, the girls were out and about, and couldn't attend. Since yesterday was my mom's birthday, and my aunt nancy and aunt peggy were staying at my parent's house, I asked if they wanted to tag along. We were in the fourth row, and the seats were much roomier and comfier than the usual show seats. I can't even begin to explain how amazing these kids were- they audition children from kindergarten through 12th grade, but the majority were in junior high and high school. They were unbelievable. Watching them play with such emotion and exact movements was pretty cool. It also made me want to learn the violin. Anyone want to teach me?

happy.birthday.mom!

She's 29 again this year. The thing is, so am I, which could pose a bit of a problem for her. In fact, I was 29 in june, so I'd technically be older than her. Creepy.

i.love.my.red.sox

Tonight was a great baseball night. Not only did the yankees lose and the sox win, but both games were nail biters. The yankees went into extra innings until the indians won it 2-1 in the bottom of the 11th. The red sox, tied 3-3 with the angels, were looking to be on the same track, but manny pulled it off in the bottom of the 9th with a really hard hit three run homer. Final score; 6-3. One more win for us on sunday, and we're set to go. Which is good because I'll need to catch up on sleep. I've been watching baseball since 7pm- almost six hours. It's too bad I have to wake up in six more.

wipers.

My windshield wipers were crap. They were so bad that I wouldn't even clean my windshield, because the dirt was easier to see through than the streaks left behind. I'd been meaning to replace them for some time- at least since july when my sister drove and mentioned it was a problem- but fate kept stepping in the way. For some reason, I always buy wipers at target. I think it started out because they were cheaper (or I just perceived them as cheaper since target's pretty cheap for everything else), and it continued because I like to be faithful. As much as I love it, target's not super close, so I tend to plan trips rather than just swinging by. Twice I went to target and forgot about the wipers. The last time I actually remembered, but after looking in the book to see what size my car takes, I realized they were out of them. Today I went to the gap outlet (which is across the street from target) and as I looked through my filthy window, decided I had time to run in quick. They had them, and even had a mail in rebate if I bought two (which I definitely needed since both sides were shot). I attached them right away, and now my windshield is as clean as my bathroom.

why.i.love.tivo.

I was sewing a new cushion for my bench this morning, and I flipped on the tv to catch up on some tivoed shows. Along with the usual shows, there was a new addition to the sarah silverman program folder. I assumed it was a repeat from last season, but no! It was a brand new episode! It felt like christmas morning!

four.zero.

Red sox-1. Angels-0. Four more to go.

bloody.sock.

I had a mysterious incident today. After running 4.3 miles around the reservoir, I got home, took off my shoes, and found a bloody sock. A significantly bloody sock. My second little toe was all bloody too, but when I took a shower and it all washed away, there was nothing to suggest trauma. It's a mystery. Hopefully my toenail won't fall off.

long.or.short?

I've received many comments recently about how long my hair's getting. No one specified if they liked it or not, simply said something along the lines of "wow! Your hair's really getting long!" I hadn't personally noticed, although the last time I got it cut, david liked the line of the back, and left it longer. That was sometime at the beginning of july, and I haven't been back since. (I only go about 4 times a year, and since I have no income, I won't be going for sometime yet!) So it makes sense that it's on the long side. Normally, I go and tell david to do whatever he wants. He's the only hairdresser I've felt comfortable saying that to, and I always like what he ends up doing. He better not move anywhere or I'll really be out of luck. My question for all of you is this; is my hair better on the longer side, or the shorter side? Here are two pictures to help you decide. Please vote in the comment section. Then I can tell david what the majority thinks, although I'll still let him make the final call.

bus.rules.

I learned some new things about taking the bus today:

1. If you sit in one of the first four seats, you'll have an old person for a seat buddy. They'll smell like something; if you're lucky, it's peppermint and moth balls. If you're unlucky, it's old person b.o.
2. The older folks on the bus don't have a sense of personal space, and will lean right into you. The younger crowd makes sure to keep any physical contact to a minimum.
3. If you take the bus on a weekday between 2:30 and 4pm, there will be a bunch of high school kids. Depending on which bus you're on, they're either punks, or the good studious type.
4. Most of the drivers are really nice, especially if you say hello when you embark and thank you when you disembark. They're not servants, and like to be treated with respect.
5. If you've waited twenty minutes for one bus, and it's not coming, walk up the street for another line. You're guaranteed that the first bus will come right along, and the second one will be another five minutes.

There you go. Bus riding lesson number one.

nippy.

I've been freezing cold recently. I'm not sure what's up. Last night, jen and I went for our run around the reservoir, and I didn't bring a fleece. I was wearing running pants and a t-shirt, and I was so cold (even when running) that I didn't really sweat. I took a hot shower, put on a long-sleeved shirt, pj/sweat pants, socks, added two blankets (one was a quilt) on top of my feather duvet and sheets, and was still shivering. By the time I woke up, it wasn't as bad, but I still decided to dress warm, and grabbed a cable knit sweater, jeans, and a t-shirt. Once I was outside I started to think that I'd overdressed, but a little later my hands were freezing and I was glad for the extra layers. My hands are cold as I type this. What am I going to do once it's legitimately cold out, and not just 65 degrees cold?