Is it time to say goodbye?

Quick post here before I head off to a meeting, but wanted to jot down the question I have been wrestling with recently. Whether or not to keep Richard longer? So the paper said that the Christmas tree collection occurs on your regular trash day of the week of 1/7. Well, that's this week. I had planned to denude the tree this past weekend but didn't have the heart and even ended up putting some additional recently found/created decorations on the tree.



Then last night, as I was heading home late in the evening, I turn the corner onto my street and there all up the block were several tossed Christmas trees on the curb. They hadn't been there in the morning, so it got me worried that the collection day wasn't my trash day (thursday) but the next day (tuesday). My initial instict was to quickly bring the tree out that night. But frankly it was about 9:30 pm, I hadn't had dinner yet, and taking the tree out wasn't as simple as taking the garbage out. I still had to take all the decorations off, the lights, double check I got all the decorations off, and then proceed to chop the tree to pieces before bringing it to the curb (don't forget Richard is fairly large and heavy and it took two grown people to bring him in). And then I would have to bind up all the branches and bring them out too, then clean up the fallen needles in the common area of my apartment so that I didn't leave a mess literally at the doorstep of my landlords. And, well, the thought just exhausted me. I just wanted to make a quick dinner, curl up on the couch, watch tv and knit (I'm so close to being done this wonderful caridgan, I can't wait - please let it fit the first time around).



So that's what I did. And as I sat, in the company of Richard I started wondering why I was listening to what other people were telling me to do. Shouldn't it be Richard and I who decided when to end the relationship and part our ways. I value friends and family's opinions but they didn't provide the final verdict, and especially not the local municipality. It was a private matter and should be decided upon in-house. Just because my city set a date for our departure, does that mean I should abide by it. I really like Richard. He's been a great companion, so big and warm and always welcoming me home in the evening with a twinkle in his branches. And he's been good, actually great. Over the holidays, I was worried I would find him keeled over from the boys playing with him (the base isn't that large after all and he is tall and friendly). Or at the least completely dehydrated and on his last legs (again the boys use his water - he's very sharing like that). But no, both times I got back after a week away each time, he was good. Just how I had left him, patiently waiting for my return.



And this weekend, while I was cleaning up my holiday mess and he was standing by happy I was home, I noticed he was still in good health. He should have been on his last legs by now. It was exactly a month ago that I first met him and chopped him down. And was he dropping his needles? Not at all. In fact, even when pulling on the branches not a needle fell off. He's still in the peek of his health. And I've grown accustomed to his company. Frankly, I don't know what I will do with the space in the living room when he leaves - about 2/3's of the room will just be empty. So why rush into that situation? Why can't we spend some more time? Yes, I know it must end one day, in the next month or two (or three), but until then can't we be together. But when it does end, what do I do then. Where do I bring him? How do I bring him anywhere? It would be easiest to part ways this week, but is that the right decision? Am I short changing our situation?



Well, that's the question. The answer I don't know. We have until Thursday (well Wed night really - tomorrow night). I almost hope the pick up was today and I missed it. That would be the easiest.

A "little" something different for Christmas

I've been in my wonderful apartment for over two years now which translates into three christmas's, counting this one in 2007. The first year I had been temporarily carless in mid-December (forget why), but remember I took the opportunity with a visit from my brother (and his Civic) to pick up a tree at the local Boys and Girls Club. I think it cost $35 with tip and everything (yes, I live in the city, tipping occurs). I put it up in the far corner of my living room, where it lived quite comfortably and integrated with my life. It was glorious.



Then, the second Christmas was really hectic with a monstrous project at work that took over my life (am still trying to block that out), and I decided to forgo a tree that year. Did I really need one? It's not like I spend Christmas at my place. And last year I even went to a farm in the outback of Vermont where you put your $20 in the envelope, grab a saw and drive onto their land and cut down your tree. I got to help Dad put it up and decorate it and everything. But felt like I only got a small slice of Christmas - not really getting into the holiday spirit until much later in the month.



So this year, I knew I was going to get a tree. I also thought I would try to wrangle getting it from the farm in VT (would require using dad's pick-up to bring it back to Boston). In November I started laying my ground work and thinking about exactly what type of tree to get. The more I thought about it the more it made sense to try out a larger tree. I have this wonderful living room that is quite open, two stories tall. The first tree seemed a bit dwarfed in the space as it was so short in relation to the height of the room. It looked like it was cowering in the corner (a bit of an exageration, but I was learning to justify my new plan). Plus, as I thought some more, if I'm paying a flat fee for the tree, it would make the most economical sense to get the largest one possible - more bang for the buck. Plus a tall tree bought in the city would cost in the range of $80 (I ended up only paying $25 - their taxes went up). I thought about it and then some more. And it helped that my brother was coming back into the country and claiming one of the cars at dad's meaning there was a shortage. This opened up the opportunity to get not only the pick-up but my dad's assistance in bringing in and putting up a tree (I got the first tree all by myself, but couldn't handle a bigger tree on my own).



Fast forward to last weekend. I drove up to VT Saturday afternoon and Dad and I hoped into the truck and booked it up to the farm before it got dark (at 3 pm). We walked around a bunch and selected two trees - one for him and one for me. Mine was a bit big, but then again his was a bit small. We bungy chorded both into the bed of the truck and made it back to his house. Spent the evening putting up the tree and decorating it. The next morning, I was looking out the window at my tree in the truck and parked near by was the neighbor's humongous SUV with a tree strapped on. My tree looked big. But again, I explained it away in that it was one of those optical illusions related to the diminutive size of Dad's pick-up in relation to the SUV. We headed off that morning and spent the afternoon bringing my tree in and putting it up.



Bringing it in was a little difficult and one of the tragic casualities was that the wonderous crooked top branch broke off. But otherwise after a quick sweeping afterward, you couldn't tell that I had brought a monstorous tree upstairs into my apartment. Yes, it turns out that my big tree is quite enormous. It's colossal. I was going to put it in the same corner, but was unsuccessful. I decided I will now catelog my lessons learned so that future Christmases I can learn from this one.


1. A room may be tall, but only in the center if you have a sloped roof/ceiling line. This means the tree cannot be in the corner.

2. Those exposed cross beams in the air way above your head are genrally invisible in daily life but can become quite an obsticale when putting up an object that reaches that height. They may seem invisible but they are still solid. This further restricts the positioning of the tree in the room.

3. Suprisingly, a tall tree translates into a big tree. Let me elaborate. Let's call the height of any given tree, H. And the diameter of any given tree at the widest point (near the base), D. As H increases, apparently, so does D - they're related, nature's funny like that. So the taller a tree the larger the girth.

4. A room may seem big because of tall ceilings, but that doesn't mean it's a big room. The floor area may still be limited. Again, an elaboration. Let's call the height of a room, H. And let's call the floor area of a given room, A. As H increases, A does nothing - they are not related. In the end you still have the same A.

5. Combining a large tree with a tall room that has a small floor area results in a room with a tree in it... and almost nothing else.

6. Also related to the girth of the tree is possible positioning of the tree in the room. Tucking the tree into a corner, or along the perimeter is no longer possible as the tree, although "tucked" is still a ways into the room. Actually, once you reach a certain size the tree will always appear to be in the center of the room no matter where it's placed.

7. If you have a tall tree, it would be helpful to have a foot stool. Unless you are really tall too. (getting that star on top was a bit tricky).



So that's my tree. It's 9'-4". I think it was over 10' before I broke the crooked top branch off. It's a big tree. I was worried I wouldn't have enough lights and decorations but buying just one more small string of lights it worked out wonderfully.



Well, the snow is really coming down this afternoon. We should be getting a foot or so. It is really turning out to be quite a christmassy Christmas!

3 Babies and a Wedding

So in my lapse of writing, tons have happened - of course. The big news though is that I now have three friends who are expecting and another that is engaged (no overlaps). And one of the due dates is on my birthday in February! So congrats to all - not sure, if it's public yet, so am being on the safe side and not naming names. But the due dates are February, April and July, wedding unknown.

In other news, this is my life. Well at least my mornings. It wasn't always like this, but for the last year or so we have been on a diet (the we being Winston). I can't tell you how close this is, other than the baseball bat - it's got the mornign routine down to a tee.

And to wrap up this brief post, can I just say how much I dislike it when I accidentially hit a button and things go screwy with the computer. I was cleaning up my office this afternoon as we have a public event. I was dusting (where does this dust come from - I think it's all my dry, dead skin) and the keyboard got knocked. Anyways, the settings are all strange now and I have no idea how to reset it all back to the way it was. Hopefully tomorrow when I turn the computer back on that will do the trick.

Reality TV

On my way home, I was reading a piece in the paper about the on-going writer's strike and likelihood of increased reality tv shows in the next few months. It got me thinking and I felt it was time to weigh in on reality tv, a genre that is too often ragged-on and quickly dismissed.



First, I have to admit I'm a quasi-closeted reality tv viewer. Just like my religious beliefs (or lack of), I don't lie about where I stand, but don't readily reveal them either within certain circles. I have quite a few friends who not only look down on reality shows but television altogether. They rail on the boob tube and see reality tv as the epitomy of the junk shown. I was brought up with limited tv viewing, the majority of which was composed of PBS shows. But some Saturday mornings, all I wanted to watch was Saved by the Bell. All grown up, PBS is still my favorite station(s). They provide some of the best documentaries (latest recommendation is Who Killed the Electric Car) and entertainment (gotta love BBC). And if I look back, some of my favorite reality tv show's are from PBS - the whole House series from Colonial House to Frontier House to 1900 House are wonderful escapes into living in a different time and place.



Now understand, like anything else, there is a spectrum within the reality tv genre. There are the good and the bad and the mediocre. If you look at the mother of all reality shows (some would argue Survivor, but that was really just a spin off with money), the Real World has the fundamental element that attracts people to reality shows - the simple sanctioned voyerism. Who doesn't enjoy the cafe seating outside that allows people watching? You get to see all walks of life and that's what reality tv has provided over the past decade - variations on this theme, from the safety of your living room.



You have your professional series. Who hasn't thought about being a model or a chef or a fashion designer? I could do that. Even intriguing professions like designers and venture capitliasts got Martha and Donald to join the game for awhile.



You have the celeb series. This feeds into our endless love/fascination with the celebrities (or quasi-celebs). We've had them live together, dance, and even play detective - figuring out who the mole was in their group.



Then you have the elmination series - there can be only one. What that one is up to the show - the fastest, smartest, prettiest, geekiest, skinnest. Sometimes decided by judges, sometimes by your fellow contestents.



Or in contrast, you have shows, where the only premise is to all get along. The idea is through adversity and turmoil you learn from each other, grow and become enlightened - well at least that's the theory. Here we've seen it happen to people from different parts of the country switching mates to pre-pubescent kids rebuilding a town.



And let's not foget about Cops, which stands on it's own. There is no assembly cast, it's not needed as the show boils the characters down into two categories: the good guy and the bad guy. Or rather, the cop and the person disturbing the peace. It's a good stand-by, you always know what you're getting with Cops and it's real!



But getting back to the original point - not all reality tv is bad. So the question is, what makes for a good reality tv show? Just like any show, from Seinfield to Masterpiece Theater, there are two elements that must be provided with quality and balance: character devleopment and an intriguing plot. The downfalls in some of today's shows are that not enough time is provided for the backstory of the characters. We're not vested in them, don't relate with them because we don't know them - they're just portrayed as stereotypes. And unfortunately, the casting department will over do it - trying to cast the next Puck for turmoil, or casting the stereotypes. And unfortunately, once the execs feel they have a proven formula, they run it over and over, but missing the key elements of the original success - the unique situation and cast.



For some, tv is a great escape. Reailty tv provides that escape, allowing you to wonder how you would have done, living in a house and doing nothing all summer, strolling down the beach with a naked guy forming alliances, meeting the test of love versus money when faced with a pseudo millionaire bachelor, telling the difference between queer and straight folk, or living with Quaker kids. Reality tv gets stranger and stranger, and there is a lot of crap out there, but there are some gems out there too. My point being don't make a broad statement that all reality tv is bad until you give it a fair shot. In today's age, you sure have a lot to choose from and it looks like more is on the way.

Benefits of working downtown

Having lived in a half dozen cities and states over the years, I have to say I really like where I am. I like the town I live in and I like working in downtown Boston. Case in point being yesterday.



I was heading in to work a little late and instead of having a half empty subway car, it was jammed with red - people coming into the city to celebrate the Red Sox's great victory. One person had even created a World Series crown - it was fantastic! There were a lot of kids who should have been in school, but, hey, how often does your town win the World Series - oh right, once every four years - not bad.



But then I was once more ensconced in the walls of work and somewhat forgot about the celebrations. Although, throughout the morning we had been hearing the periodic roars of the fans. The parade route for the celebrations was just two blocks over.



For some reason, the first day in several weeks I hadn't had time to make my lunch. So a collegue and I ran out, both of us tight on time, to grab a sandwich. The streets were abuzz with people in Sox garb. We discovered the roars had nothing to do with the parade but was actually just the language of fans. As various groups roamed the streets, when they passed another group of fans they would cheer at each other. It was quite wonderful. We were all one group - the winning group.



But we didn't have time to wait around for the parade. So got our sandwiches and as we were heading down the street, we see people running ahead of us. There was ticker tape/confetti raining down on us, and the steady roar of fans. We got caught up in the anticipation and ran to see what people were running after. I got goose bumps as we rounded the corner and the block was packed - it was one of the side streets off the main parade route and the parade was in full force. The street was about 50 people or more deep, but with the duck boats, you could see all the players. The cheers as different players rode by from Lowell to Manny to Dicekay. We even got to see Papelbon do his jig while the Dropkick Murphys' played live on one of the flatbed trucks. It was great - such commradery. I've never been part of something like that. It reminded me what the parades for soldiers returning home from WWII must have been like.



And the amazing thing was that the confetti just kept raining down on us, the whole time. We couldn't figure out where it was coming from. It added to the surealness of the whole thing. All in all it was a nice 15 minute diversion to share the moment with the other hundreds of thousands of people. It was wicked cool!

Boston Contractors

Real quick, as it's been non-stop go this monday morning at work. I was enjoying my subway ride in - good book, good tunes and realizing that I have the luxury in coming in relatively late if I want too. I'm used to jobs in the past that you have to be in 8 am. And where 8:30 is pushing it. As long as I put in my 40 hours and get in by 10 am, no worries. Granted, I put in more hours than that, and do get in early and stay late. But nice to appreciate what you've got.



So coming up the elevator this morning, I'm in there with our local contractor - who worked on our office rennovation and works on alot of other floors in the building, and one of his crew. So the GC (general contractor) is this born and bred bostonian. The vowels are different, the r's adjusted, the h's manipulated. He's as irish or itlian or whatever, as it gets. Well, his employee is vietanamese, and he has some other crew that are chinese. You know how he talks to them? With an asian accent. At first I thought it was condencending, but than realized, the he figured out, if he talks like they do - with the broken english and accent and all, they understand him much better.



By the time I got off on my floor, I was close to cracking up in front of them. They were talking english the whole time - but I felt like I was next door in china town. Not what you expect, but you have to love Boston!

News and Updates and other goings on

Apologies again for being out of touch for awhile, although frankly, I think I need to get better about that. The apology thing, not the be being busy part. Why should I be apologizing to my blog, but than again I guess it's part my nature or waspiness, or who knows what. (Side note, I remember one time during a summer job working for the government - ok, I worked at the county landfill - but that's county government, right? And it paid well and I was appointed to the position. It was the summer before heading off to college. But that's not improtant, back to the point of the side note. I was with all these older college kids and would apologize every now and then for whatever it was, which might have been more than I realized, because one of the girls pointed it out and said I shouldn't apologize so much. And how did I respond? I apologized. Which was funny because then I wanted to apologize for apologizing. Anyways, this was the time I first really became conscious of the apologizing and tried to filter a bit better. Ok, that's not entirely clear, but hopefully you get the point, if not, sorry.) That would make for some good schtick if I ever did stand up comedy, which a friend actually was suggesting we do together the other day and on my way home I got some great ideas but of course didn't write them down and now have completely forgotten them, except that I remember they were really really really good.

So, I made a list of things I needed to update on my way into work one day, and just came across the list and realized I hadn't posted yet, and now the list is really really really long. So before it get's to daunting and I just give up on this whole blog thing, here goes. In list form of course and in no particular order of course:

1. First, in knitting news, several things. One, I'm a little screwed (pardon my language ma and pa), but I finally got invited to join Ravelry. If you're in already (I'm sukeyknits), you know why, and if you aren't well most likely you're not really into knitting all that much and so it doesn't really mean much to you. But for the outside folks, it's this wonderful central hub for knitters and all things knitterly. I've not really spent much time creating my profile. Still need to do inventory of the yarn stock and grandma's needles and projects (finished, unfinished and those that are itching to be started). The great thing is the database of information (mom, you'll apreciate the ref. librarian aspect of it all). I've been stumbling on some wonderful patterns I want to start, finding projects people have made with some of the yarn I own and frankly just sinking too much time surfing through the site and procrastinating at work, at least the initial couple of visits. On a second note, I don't know why, but I decided to knit a christmas gift this year. I know I'm horrible with deadlines when it comes to knitting, so don't know why, but it was the only thing I could think of giving to the person and I started in the end of september so figured I had months to go. I can't really say what it is, but am already half done, and feeling good about the timeline, so am starting to wane on actually working on it and trying to come up with convincing arguments why I should allow myself to start a new project from the many I've recently seen (also just got the new Webs catalog - need to make a run to Northampton soon - good sales). So I'm holding strong and just working diligently (although the last few days got distracted by a book so my most effective knitting time during commuting was lost, but just finished and am back on track - even knit as I walked to work - it's at the beginning of a new piece so isn't that heavy). Two more things to add to this too long paragraph on knitting: I did finish the birthday present for Cece, a bit late, and finished and blocked (ok just ironed, but that's pretty much the extent of my blocking) at her place the other weekend. I had to knit with my bag in my lap so she couldn't see, but was determined to not let it drag on too long. I don't usually gift knitted gifts as with any gift, people don't always love it as much as you do, and when it's knitted and all that work, it takes more for me to gift as it's more of a gamble. Well, this was great as the yarn was Cece's (left over from a shal and just beautiful - Rowan - my favorite) and the pattern was one she had gifted me for my birthday so felt pretty safe she liked it. She wrote about it here on 10/1, and took a picture - ain't it purty. Love the color but can't wear it myself. The second thing is that an old knitting group of mine got revived. It was with some old coworkers who no longer worker with me. In the end it was a sad showing, but it was me the hostess and another lovely woman - with my name! Hopefully, it'll take off this time. Need to get back into that sort of thing again - it was tons of fun and love the community it creates.

2. Enough with knitting, on to art and culture. Ages ago now, I went and saw my old buddy Garrison speak at Northeastern. The line was long, but we got in and it was free. It was soo strange to be there and hear that familiar voice and it be in person. He is my one constant (that and orion's belt), everytime I moved - comforting. And now I download each week the news from Lake Wobegon to listen on my way into work. It was strange to hear him live that saturday on his show after just seeing him in person several days earlier. Tried not to think about that too much. My friend and I took pictures with our phone of him on stage. Technology has come a long way, but yet neither of us have been successful of getting the photo off hte phone, and regardless, it's a blurry red blob far off on a stage - not very recognizable. That was the culture, the art was attributed to the Lowell art festival Cece and I went to the other weekend. Amanda has a studio in this wonderful old mill, so we confined our journey's just to the building. It reminded me of the old art studios in SF - the old marine base. Anyways, just like then, I was hoping to find some wonderful art at affordable prices. The prices were great, but no art really spoke to me until the very end and I got a wonderful painting from a recent art student (gotta love them) at a killer price. Needless to say Cece and I had a great time perusing and shopping. I got a pair of earrings for myself from Amanda's studio which I've been wearing almost everyday (think I like them a bit). Cece got a bunch of stuff too, which helped me get stuff - nothing like a fellow enabler. Happy with everything.

3. Finances. I've been working on getting back on top of things now that I'm relatively out of debt (still have the student loans - ugh). I took this class for retirement. It's me and these three older women nearing retirement. The class is a bit of disappointment content wise - know most of that stuff already. But it's forced me to bring all this info together and get it up to date. Very useful. Also, been working alot on my job - being more strategic about what I take on as projects and looking at long term development for myself. Much better than just reacting to what needs to be done immediately. I've finally got my salary up to what I should have been hired at - now just need to work on phase II.

4. Entertainment. Not sure why, but realized I needed to straighten out my television viewing, so over labor day weekend, I went out to buy a new tv. But there were none - quite literally the shelves were bare - for the small sized tv I wanted. In the end I got a new HDTV as I didn't want to have to buy a new one a couple of years down the road. It's amazing, which is surprising. I've seen HDTVs before, but didn't think it would effect me as I don't have cable. But the way it works, is if I can pull in the station (i.e. decent reception), than the HD chanel is there - like cable. It's amazing - no more fuzz (well kind of). Plus, they have additional stations. Mostly the PBS (my favorite), so now I just expanded my station repetoire - I think I'm in double digits now. The second thing, partly because of this purchase and I've been thinking about it all year is Netflix. So I signed up for the cheapest version and been enjoying some new movies which has been great as I think I probably saw a total of three movies in total last year.

5. Which leads into my day of hookie. Having worked so much the previous week, I got a bit burnt out by thursday, and with the change in the weather making it harder to get out of bed (is it just me?) and that fact that The Departed (in HD too) had just arrived the day before, I decided to be startegic and work on maintaining good energy level. It was a fun movie being in the Boston area and it being set in Boston. I was able to finally run weekday errands and closed an account I had wanted to close since March and made a deposit of some rolled coins that had been sitting around all summer and in general enjoyed a nice day in my town. While at the bank to close the account, I noticed a painting behind the desk of the busy intersection. And instead of the modern, not so great, church that is there now, was a wonderful old New England church. I wonder what happened - it must have burnt down - will have to find out. I visited my local used book store and picked up a bunch of books after spending two hours perusing. Just finished the quick read "Quite Honestly" by John Mortimer (sp?). Bought primarily because he is the author of the Rumple of the Baily series from my days of growing up. It was ok. Just finished it this morning, on to read the next book.

6. Gotta love my town (more on that next post). But before I forget, I was leaving for work the other morning. Beautiful crisp fall day. And as I walked down my sidewalk, there, across the street, walking down the sidewalk were a pair of what appeared to be tibetan monks - they wore the red and yellow garbs like in the picture (but imagine a new england setting for the back drop). It was strange as we were walking along at the same pace on opposite sides of the street. Not what you expect first thing in the morning in my quiet hamlet. Gotta love it!

7. And finally, the real maple syrup cotton candy. As mentioned in the previous post I was enlisting some family to go to the New England fair to hunt down some of the euphoric aforementioned cotton candy. Had a great time, dad and my cousin Catherine, and I. Although I did get tuckered out the soonest (long week for me). Tons to see and do. And I got not one, nor two, but three bags of the cotton candy. I had brought a canvas bag so as to cut down on trash, but when I mentioned I had my own bag the salesperson scoffed and said it wouldn't do, while simultaneously pulling out a white kitchen trash bag. $3.50!!! That's all it cost for the big bag of cotton candy (each). Dad bought one too and we ended up eating some of that first. I ended up lugging the bag around most of the day, trying to protect the fluffiness from being defluffed. Then, the next week was so busy that most nights I didn't get home until just before bedtime and couldn't really ingest sugar as the sugar high would be counterproductive in the whole going to sleep thing. So it wasn't until Wednesday that I actually opened a bag (4 days later!). I did share some with Cece as her birthday present - she so knows how much I love the stuff she was very hesitent to accept the gift. I assured her I had more. Unfortunately, there was a lesson learned when it came to the cotton candy (which on another side not, funny enough, the purchase of hte cotton candy coincided with being the same week I finally had my first boston visit to a dentist - a little guilt there). The lesson learned, and learned the hard way, is that although it is beneficial to place the big bags of fluffy real maple syrup cotton candy up high so that the cats won't maul the bag apart in the middle of the night like many other items I forget about when I bring home, the storage place for the aforementioned treasures should not include on top of the fridge. Although a useful resting place for many other items, apparently the heat (not evident from short term observations) transforms the light and fluffy cotton candy to a reduced hard (very hard) maple syrup candy. Luckily I made it through a bag of the cotton candy, so this really happened on the last bag. I've tried knawing on it a bit, but now that the roof of my mouth is all torn up, I'm thinking of just melting it and using it on the pancakes saturday - sad but true - lesson learned. Also, note to self, the vermont stand is not the only dispenser of cotton candy at the fair - massachusetts also represents!