My journal is moving. you can now view it here.

I'll still be skulking about LiveJournal,commenting here and there, but updates of my own will now be on our site.

Maybe not. I'm now quite miffed that we have tickets to the Final Four and neither the Gophers nor the Huskies will be there. It's the first time in forever the Huskies haven't made it. The only thing that'll make it moderately okay for me is if Tennessee is miraculously beaten by Rutgers tomorrow.

Yeah, it'll be cool to see some of the other teams play. Yeah, it'll be fun to get away with Steve, and no one else, for a couple of days. Yeah, there'll be some great basketball. But no Geno Auriemma shouting from the sidelines? That's just wrong.

Best so far, because it sums up two years of my life in three lines:

LiveJournal Haiku!
Your name:	soigneusement
Your haiku:	storrs change major three times work in archaeology lab get drunk a lot
Username:
Created by Grahame

( more haiku )

Steve's grandfather, Puh, passed away this morning. Northwest Airlines very kindly booked bereavement fares for Steve and I. We will go to Norfolk on Sunday, the funeral is Monday, then on Tuesday go to D.C. to sit shiva for a couple of days with the family.

I want to put up an online memorial for Puh, but need to get the obituary info to do so. I've called the funeral home to see if they can send it to me, to avoid having to burden Steve's mom any more than I have to. If anyone has suggestions for memorial sites to use, please let me know.

Geno is, I think, trying to make me feel better by looking really cute. Either that or he's just napping, I'm not sure which.

I'm putting some home stuff on hold, but have had to call and make arrangements for a few things before we go. When you spend a lot of time around here talking to people whose companies will come and fix things around your house, you hear an awful lot of that real Minnesota accent. It's kind of fun, but I do then find myself saying stuff like "oh, sherr, you bet." As long as I don't start pronouncing "bag" as "beg," I'll be okay.

I am using a heat gun to strip off the ugly, khaki paint off of what appear to be absolutely lovely wood cabinets in our kitchen. I'm using my new heat gun, which bubbles and softens the paint, making it easy to scrape off (there's a great David Sedaris essay about a job he had where he did this that I think I must re-read now).

My total kitchen remodeling plan:

- Strip, sand and varnish cabinets and wood trim
- Repaint walls
- Install new countertop
- Tile backsplash
- Fix cabinet above stove
- Install rangehood/microwave combination
- Get new dishwasher (Kenmore Turbo Wash system, here I come!)


And maybe, if it's economically feasible, install new cabinetry along the bare wall: a pantry, a base unit with countertop and a pot rack would be ideal. Unfortunately, that space is not very deep, so I'd need to have it custom built. Oh, if only I were a carpenter.

Off to bed, sans spouse. I am always sad when he is away.

10 Things That I've Done That You Probably Haven't (my mother may not want to read this)

( read on, if you dare )

10 Things I've Done That I Probably Shouldn't Have

( mom probably doesn't want to read this one, either )

if you know what it's for, i don't have to tell you.

I received a stiff envelope from the University of Minnesota today. When I saw where it was from, I thought, "Cool! The NCAA tournament tickets have arrived!" I was somewhat disappointed to find out that it was only my Bachelor of Arts Diploma.

Just redesigned the women's hoops blog for our friends Ted and Sara, fellow Gopher fans and dedicated disseminators of news about my favorite sport.

Now I can resume my Oscar nominee film fest.

The more I poke around lately, the more amazed I am at how beautiful some web sites are. Like The Man in Blue, or John P. Hoke's Asylum. I have much to learn before I am a real web designer.

but I figured an LJ post was better-

P'shop this

"Trademarks are not verbs.

CORRECT: The image was enhanced using Adobe® Photoshop® software.

INCORRECT: The image was photoshopped."

Now I must go sneeze into a Kleenex© Brand Facial Tissue.

It's after 11 and I'm still in jammies, only half awake. This is the result of watching all of Prime Suspect 2 in one sitting and then being to jazzed to go to sleep until 2 am. I could not, however, watch the first DVD and then wait to watch the second. Too compelling by far for that.

I must shower and get my lazy butt in gear.

I redesigned our website. Check it out and tell me what you think, particularly you Windows users, since I haven't checked it on anything but the mac yet.

The Current is the best thing to happen to Twin Cities radio since ... oh, I don't know, I've only been here four years. But it's freaking great.

listen to their aac feed

Now that I have been released---

So I am bursting to tell all, but of course forbidden from doing so, so this post and all related will remain private until my involvement in the trial is at an end.
Truth be told, there's not much to relay. I went in this morning, then first thing was called (along with 35 others) to go upstairs with a clerk. We were then led into a courtroom, where the judge (Monahan), defendant, and the two attorneys were waiting. We were then introduced to the parties involved and the judge informed us that the charge was murder in the second.
After explaining our duties and how the process would work, we were required to answer a long survey. The questions covered our background and feelings about different racial groups - specifically Hispanic (the defendant) and African American (the victim). I found the questions a little slanted towards the assumption that the potential juror was white.
While I know that I would go out of my way to NOT make assumptions about the defendant based on his race, his attire is another matter. His sweater was atrocious, and he had a dumb-ass little tail at the back of his otherwise shaved head. Still, innocent until proven otherwise, regardless of how bad his fashion sense is. Bad clothing choices do not make the murderer.
I realize how flip and shallow that just sounded, but be assured that I would take this duty so seriously that I am nervously nauseous just thinking about it. This could be the most weighty responsibility I've ever had to take on.

I just took a nice, hot bath and used scrubby philosophy stuff. I feel clean and moisturized.

Today was my first day of jury duty, which consisted of sitting around and reading. My group (along with many others) was released early, but that means that we have to report tomorrow, whereas the groups that stayed on until the bitter end do not have to report (unless they got called to a trial this afternoon).

Downtown Saint Paul is really underwhelming. Corporate stuff, government stuff, so-so restaurants. Eh.

I bought a great pair of jeans last night. Possibly the most flattering pair of jeans I have ever owned. They're low-slung Kenneth Coles and have stitching that creates a permanent front crease, nice and lengthening for my stubby legs. There's something to be said for straying from Target once in a while...

Trip this weekend: Madison, Wisconsin. Women's College Basketball games attended: Minnesota v Wisconsin, Penn State v Wisconsin. Women's College Basketball game watched in bar: UConn v Tennessee.

( complete report )

Home now, to the phenomenally good news that accommodatingly officially has been granted tenure. I am bursting with pride.

steps to my bachelors degree, for which i completed all coursework yesterday -

Step 1: 1990 - accepted to NYU and The New School, could not go for lack of funds and family not understanding that you must get in debt up to your eyeballs for education.

Step 2: 1990-1991 - attend Mohegan Community College, Norwich, CT

Step 3: 1991-1993 - attend University of Connecticut, Storrs. Change major three times. Work in archaeology lab. Get drunk a lot. Dad gets laid off, have to drop out (see step 1 - eyeballs misunderstanding - above).

Step 4: 2000 - husband gets PhD from Yale. Decide that I should go back and finish to mitigate shame.

Step 5: 2001-2004, University of Minnesota theatre student. In-laws cover tuition. Warm feeling of accomplishment ensues.

1 shot Irish Whiskey
1 tablespoon Lemon Juice
1 tablespoon Honey

Heat a glass with these ingredients by placing it in a bowl of hot water. Sip and feel its soothing affects on your scratchy throat, while its warmth fills your core and your aches and pains fade away.

It may not be a cure for the common cold, but it sure makes you care a little less that you have one.