Happy New Year ( Read more... )

Just when I thought I was getting over my fear and dislike of dogs, it happened. I hadn't stepped in dog doodoo since time spent overseas in the Famous City of DogDooDoo, and today, on my way to work, in the HAMLETO of all places, it happened again. I was sitting in my office, grading finals, being all professorial n'stuff, when suddenly, an ( Read more... )

I made it back from the Big Apple. For those of you who are tremendously curious, I did, indeed, end up having another Boston Kreme wonderDonut at the airport. It was divine. They're all divine. For heavens' sake, can a Boston Kreme be anything but divine? OKOK, no need to answer that ( Read more... )

Arrived in NYC late last night. Mini-conference on emigre literature today and tomorrow @ posh university in what used to be dangerous Harlem. Now it's just gentrified Harlem. I walked from 1st and 1st to the Metropolitan museum. For those of you not in the know, that's 100 blocks. It was gorgeous out, and Midwesterngal loves urban walking. I love ( Read more... )

ACK! Thanks, DocBroc. It's DWP (devil wears prada) and NOT DVP!!!! yes, that would be Don Valley Parkway and Yes, that does blow chunks. My bad.

FYI: in case you were all wondering -- today was free coffee day too!!!

I loved it!! What's all the controversy about a Blonde Bond? he ROX. maybe not as much as Sean Connery, I'll give you that -- the Bond to end all Bonds -- but he's certainly pleasant to look at. And sleek. And suave. But funny, he doesn't have the effect Jack has on me. Blond isn't unethically violent and sleezy PLUS charming. he just isn't. I was ( Read more... )

Seriously now. It's true. Could barely get out of my apt complex this morning -- there was a huge patch of ice that everyone kept getting stuck on. We had to push one car over it. That was fun. Some serious neighborly bonding happened this morning at 7:44 am, Central Time. Frankly, I could have lived with out it. But the snow is still glorious, so ( Read more... )

I've often wondered if there's anything better than drinking a cup of coffee (strong, good, afternoon coffee -- the kind I need at about 2pm to get me through the rest of my lecture/grading/paper) and Bach. I've had Bach's B minor mass blasting in my office for a few hours now. I'm now listening to Villa Lobos' Bachianas Brasileiras (#5), and I ( Read more... )

You'd think that life in Hamletissimo would have returned to normal but....streets still largely unplowed...I'm not complaining. Went on the most amazing walk on the trail outside my apt! Walking through a foot of snow is hard work!!! Took me about an hour to walk a mile. Might have been slightly more than a mile, but not MUCH more, that's for sure ( Read more... )

The Hamlet was struck by snow! A foot of snow isn't that much in the grand scheme of things, but in a place like hamletino that is entirely unprepared for snow, this might as well be a natural disaster!! The Hamlet turned into a ghost town. SUV's stuck in the snow, stores closed, snowplows broken - quite the scene of turmoil ( Read more... )