TODO

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I am so proud! I just eeked out 994 words of critical crap, er, analysis of How to be Good. And now I'm going to do a to list:

1. pay s.t.
2. pay artists
3. find a new epithet for business partner (motherfucking, cocksucking, asshole, piece of shit just seems so inadequate)
4. sweep up the dog hair
5. get photos printed for upcoming show (my very own show at NOT my very own gallery, they like me, they really like me)
6. mat and frame said photos
7. mat and frame bean's december birthday present (i haven't forgotten, just lame)
8. frame e&s's painting that i've had for a year
9. drink three or four more draft ciders before bed
10. take two or three valerian pills before bed
11. go to sleep on k's chest
12. wake up at 2am with a start; think of things that i forgot to add to this list; roll over twenty three times before drifting off at 5:33am
13. wake up at 5:50 am
14. brush teeth
15. take a shower with k - nice, big, new shower!!!
16. don't forget cooler and thingymabob for stuff for party tomorrow night
17. meet with death penalty dude (why did i have to squeeze that in?????)
18. party in the wonderfully unairconditionedplace that is my gallery
19. bitch at business partner about unairconditionedness of the place and use new epithet under my breath as he consumes an entire county's share of wine and cheese that i've paid for while he opines on and on about the virtues and contemporary need for recognition of ayn rand's atlas shrugged and brags about the "fact" that he is just as skinny (not) and fetching (not) as k.
20. go home with k -maybe have sex, maybe just play backgammon.

g'night.

Mission

I just spoke with K. who tells me that he took Sadie, our 9 year old lab, with him to work today. He had taken the 2 year old yesterday, because one of his clients had wanted to meet her, bu Sadie was so sad that he had to give her a turn. Now this dog is the best dog ever - even better than Dooce's Chuck I'd wager.

But, in reading about Chuck today, I remembered a funny picture we have of our little darlin'. We always close off the kitchen because we have open cabinets instead of pantries (comes from years of cheffing) and Sadie, well, she gets hungry when we're not there. So, we, like I said, always, always close the kitchen off. Well, not always apparently.

After returning home from a big ole party a while back, we found that she had eaten an entire bag of tortillas. Nope, I don't know why they were sitting out, other than the fact that I am one heinous housekeeper. But Sadie seemed to enjoy them, and so we decided to punish her by making her wear the bag:

Wasting Time

I cannot believe that I have just sat here in my office and wasted at least an hour reading, not a blog, but the comments on a blog. On sleep methods for six or something month olds. What the hell?! I mean, I do not give a rat's patooty about the subject and I certainly don't give one about what other bloggers think about the subject. And yet I scroll...... hanging on every meaningless (to me) word.

I think I'm mentally ill. I have two books to read for next week, an essay to revise (one that I'm reading in public in Oxford on Saturday, no less), four papers, no five, that are already past due. I think I'm mentally ill...oh I already said that. Must be true.

How in the world can I get on track?

Is there a support group for blog addicts???? Apparently it's a real thing: I googled it (the phrase "blogging addiction") and came back with no less than 13K hits. Yep, that's thirteen thousand hits, like this one, for instance.

So, I'm off to read EVERY SINGLE MEANINGLESS WORD OF THEM.......... grad school will have to wait.

She couldn't wait to say..."Are You Nick Horn-by?"

Yesterday I got to have lunch with Nick Hornby. Yup, that Nick Hornby.

His appearance was disarming for some reason. I suppose that it is because the way that I most commonly see his image is the cartooon bust in The Believer (a t-shirt for which he was wearing - give 'em a raise Eggers!). He's not very tall; his face has a sort elastic softness that I found very interesting and appealing; of he's bald, of course - we can see that at least in the cartoon; and he carried himself with a sort of slouch that insinuated a shyness or reticence, that was present during the lunch but which disappeared when he stepped on stage later in the evening for a reading to about 1000 people.

He doesn't sound like John Cusack, which, though I thought I would be terribly sad about having to let go of Cusack's voice when reading Hornby, was actually a very cool thing.

The best thing about it all, besides one of the most excellent readings I've ever heard, is that I came away liking Hornby's work more. I mean, I already really liked it, but I'm so often put off by "famous" people (in my glee I've mentioned my lucky lunch to several people who had not heard of Hornby - go figure - so I guess maybe he's not universally famous, but anyways....) who seemed to want you to only come to them as a sycophant or who attempt to capitalize on their notoriety by acting inappropriately or narcissitically.

I liked him. He was cool.
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I'm a very bad juggler

I'm juggling again...trying to keep about ten breakable balls in the air. One of these days I'm gonna get caught up. I hope. Maybe it's my personality, a problem with the way I take on the world.

...

It was a perfect weekend. Friday night we had the grand opening of the newly remodeled gallery. It was a HIT and I can't believe that it actually came together (I was hanging pictures right up to show time). We had lots of new people visit the gallery and we sold more than we have in a LONG TIME! Whew!

And then K and I went hiking on Saturday at the Wolf River Trail in Germantown. It was a really beautiful day and we found about four or five rope swings that people had hung. This one even conveniently had steps. Made me wish for summer, though I never would have thought I'd even consider swimming in the Wolf.

Sunday was a rainy day - great day to veg on the couch and then work on art projects, which is what we did. Then dinner with the parents. We had gin martinis - first time I'd ever had one. Yummy! (But, oh so stout!)

I'm wishing I could go back and do that one all over again.

Thinking about a friend

K's best friend K2 is having brain surgery today. He has cancer, and we're crossing our fingers for him.....

He's already really a living miracle. When he was diagnosed his wife was pregnant with his second child, a son. The doctors told him in May that he would not see his son born. That was six years ago.

So, K2, I'll put on some Al Green and say a prayer for you. Hang in there. We're all proud to know you.


______

The surgery went well!

Austin Rocks

Man, oh man, does Austin rock! I just spent a week there, well, actually five days, and was so thrilled with the city. I love that there are hiking trails right in the middle of the city and a river (resevoir, actually) on which people were canoeing and kayaking and rowing. How cool, how cool, how cool!

more dubai

www.dailyreckoning.com: Port Deal Causes Protectionism to Rear Its Ugly Head

BALTIMORE, MD - Republicans and Democrats are up in arms, declaring a threat to homeland security after Dubai Ports World acquired London-based Peninsular & Oriental Navigation Company, which manages five U.S. ports. However, one expert asserts that not only are these fears unsubstantiated, but that this wave of protectionism is actually counterproductive for the U.S. economy.

“America’s trade deficit hit an all-time high for 2005, and the country is not in the position to start dictating where foreigners can invest,” says financial expert and Daily Reckoning columnist Chris Mayer. “The only way the United States is able to sustain such a deficit is by getting money from abroad, by attracting investment dollars.”

“It is short-sighted protectionist measures – like the ones being pursued by members of Congress – that helped precipitate the Great Depression,” says Mayer. “The more difficult politicians make it to do business in the United States, the more they risk triggering global depression and economic stagnation.”

Mayer warns that the protectionist measures mean that dollar assets are not going to be as attractive to investors abroad – and that means bad things for the U.S. dollar and the health of the economy.

“For those who say they don’t want a foreign government running our ports; well, here’s an interesting fact,” continued Mayer. “China already runs a terminal at the Port of Los Angeles. Singapore runs terminals in Oakland. The fact is, around the world this is commonplace. If the U.S. government is going to exclude foreign companies (even government-owned ones) from running its ports, it will only slip back further in the global competitive race, isolating it from the biggest and most efficient port operators in the world.”

Among emerging markets, the United Arab Emirates – of which Dubai is a part – was the second largest purchaser of U.S. companies last year, with over $1 billion invested. That’s a small fraction of the Middle East’s buying power. Currently, the Middle East holds over $120 billion in U.S. securities, excluding trillions of dollars held by foreigners in other parts of the world.

“America can either encourage the open markets it so often trumpets,” says Mayer, “or it can retreat into the ugly cocoon of protectionism – with racist overtones to boot.”

Come

I saw this here and thought it was purty funny!

Dubai - Part Deux

ok, so i now know that the company is state owned (by the emirate of Dubai, that is). still not sure that it has to be such a big deal and still very sure that we look really bad in making such a big deal about it.