Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Beaver Epidemic. Of sorts. Never knew Massachusetts had a beaver epidemic until this week. Turns out my boss and some farmers crossed swords over beaver trapping a few years back and it is now necessary to dispel the erroneous myths which might derail my boss a commissioner's appointment. The memo, written by a woman whose only encounter with beavers has been via underwater cameras courtesy of National Geographic, was dropped off yesterday to the head honcho of our boss's fate, and by Thursday we should have this baby wrapped up one way or another.
More than surreal. Now and again Anna Bloviations checks out TV. Usually my strategy is to flip through channels randomly until something catches the eye. Last time it was the Over-40-Women's-Bodybuilding-Championships. We were more methodical this time. We caught up on the ever brilliant Bill Maher before jump-shifting to another HBO series called Tell Me You Love Me. Wow. Now that's explicit stuff... In fact one wonders the contortions necessary to look like you're really having sex without really having sex (or maybe they are having sex!). As the finale, we watched Marie Osmond's comeback on Dancing with the Stars...A very strange television threesome but then this is also the person who thinks it so very odd that a million people show up to Boston wearing red and painted faces to cheer wildly a bunch of guys who swing a piece of wood for a living.
More than surreal. Now and again Anna Bloviations checks out TV. Usually my strategy is to flip through channels randomly until something catches the eye. Last time it was the Over-40-Women's-Bodybuilding-Championships. We were more methodical this time. We caught up on the ever brilliant Bill Maher before jump-shifting to another HBO series called Tell Me You Love Me. Wow. Now that's explicit stuff... In fact one wonders the contortions necessary to look like you're really having sex without really having sex (or maybe they are having sex!). As the finale, we watched Marie Osmond's comeback on Dancing with the Stars...A very strange television threesome but then this is also the person who thinks it so very odd that a million people show up to Boston wearing red and painted faces to cheer wildly a bunch of guys who swing a piece of wood for a living.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Bet if Rev. Jerry Falwell were still alive he would be saying that the fires in California are God's just punishment for that liberal state's wicked debauchery and liberalism. But he's not still alive. Which isn't to say that I don't bet that there aren't plenty of "Christians" out there who don't believe California isn't getting what it deserves.... Of course, tornadoes or floods that hit their neo-con states are just tragedies and God's devine and mysterious will....
Monday, October 22, 2007
Spices. Based on an un-scientifically-backed NY-Times Sunday magazine article, Anna Bloviations bought into the notion that it might be wise to replace every herb, spice, and soup enhancer packet in the Anna Bloviations' kitchen cabinet. It makes perfect sense that having something edible lie around for years might not be the best of worlds. Cost? Around $50 to change out dried basil, bay leaves, cilantro, oregano, cumin, turmeric, tarragon, sage, mustard seed, ginger, tarragon, cinnamon, fennel, celery seed, parsley, chopped chives, Cajun spices, cayenne pepper, and, oh yes, salt. We explained this to the check-out lady at Stop & Shop. She looked to be in her sixties. "Gee remember when we just used things up until they were gone?" Well yes. Good thing? Or bad thing? Needless to say we have no excuse that dinners won't taste fab.
Spunk. The new $75K job may or may not be derailed by three backward hillbilly farmers from western Massachusetts concerned that our Rep might be too pro-environmental for the job. Good grief. Said Rep couldn't be pro-environmental enough to get the agricultural viability of MA up and running again. We will be so pissed if these idiots succeed in their efforts.
Sport. While everyone else on the planet of Massachusetts was watching the Red Sox bat their way into the World Series, we were reading the most fascinating article about water (or the lack thereof) in the western states (California, Nevada, Arizona). And then today about the sinking water tables of the Great Lakes. Let's not forget Lake Lanier about to render 5 million Atlantonians mighty thirsty. Forget oil. WATER will be the World War III of all time and it might even be a neighbor right next to you siphoning your garden spicket...
Spunk. The new $75K job may or may not be derailed by three backward hillbilly farmers from western Massachusetts concerned that our Rep might be too pro-environmental for the job. Good grief. Said Rep couldn't be pro-environmental enough to get the agricultural viability of MA up and running again. We will be so pissed if these idiots succeed in their efforts.
Sport. While everyone else on the planet of Massachusetts was watching the Red Sox bat their way into the World Series, we were reading the most fascinating article about water (or the lack thereof) in the western states (California, Nevada, Arizona). And then today about the sinking water tables of the Great Lakes. Let's not forget Lake Lanier about to render 5 million Atlantonians mighty thirsty. Forget oil. WATER will be the World War III of all time and it might even be a neighbor right next to you siphoning your garden spicket...
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Bill Maher took some of my thunder away on his last HBO show i.e. what I wanted to say he basically said already but let's say it again: Bush, for once, is right. The 11%-popular Congress REALLY has much more pressing matters to contend with than worrying about what Turkey did to the Armenians in 1915. The absurdity and arrogance of it is astounding.... Particularly that Turkey is our ally. Said Bush, “One thing Congress should not be doing is sorting out the historical record of the Ottoman Empire.” Give a pat on the back to your speech maker on that one Georgie.
Monday, October 15, 2007
We spent the day 'nesting'. It's what a lot of women do when they are under stress. Let the world be falling down around you but as long as your house is clean everything will be fine. So rather than taking the bull by the horn i.e. learning everything there is to know about the Massachusetts Department of XXX, or brushing up on advanced Excel and other nifty applications which would surely make Anna Bloviations's professional life much easier when she is suddenly thrust into the roll of Chief of Staff, what do we do? We take our German-made Miele vacuum cleaner and suck up the au-naturale Halloween decorations which have festooned themselves oh so naturally into various hard-to-reach asymmetrical vaulted ceilings of Anna Bloviations's living room, dining room, hallways, and bedrooms. We then take an old toothbrush and clean the design-challenged crevices of faucets, light switches, window sills, and mostly-made-in-China appliances (yes we mean you Jenn-Air and Magic Chef). We snip dead leaves off house plants and sew loose buttons and torn shirts. Old clothes are purged; the summer keepers are stored. Fall/winter clothes are sorted. We take a short break and insert masturbation-stimulant CD #4 into brain. Good choice. We then open cans of paint and touch up nicks and boo-boos. Every wood blind is wiped down and every top-of-a-picture-or-painting-frame dusted. And yes, this is the part where we would love to invite every person we know to admire the results and eat off of the floor. To boot we've made a To-Do list: call lawyer and have them send our $650-expensive will and testament i.e. why should we have to stop by to pick it up; call the gynecologist for a check-up and schedule to have I.U.D. removed following advice of sister-in-law who says an I.U.D. that has been in as long as mine kinda' needs to come out...; get the rust spot on the BMW touched up. Then call the cheorgraphers above and ask if this is some kind of joke segment of my life...CD #5?
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Boy that last blog makes me sound like SUCH an Ueber-brat. Apologies. But it is all relative they say...
Poised but Petrified. Over the last week or so, Anna Bloviations has been heavy into employing her master persuasive skills so that by November, Anna should be Chief of Staff at a certain Massachusetts governmental agency. From a doing-something-meaningful perspective, we are thrilled to soon be part of it. To boot, we will be going from a measly $31K to $75K a year salary. OK, still pathetic compared to almost everyone we know yet on the other hand, we're not likely to get laid off in six months either. But between you, me, and cyberspace, Anna Bloviations is starting to panic and it has nothing to do with the fact that we are not particularly a domain expert on the stuff we will be dealing with. No, we are panicked at the thought of revving up from 2 1/2 days a week (which technically made our measly salary $62K) to full-time, full-throttle kind of stuff. And we will be working for a boss who is brilliant but a Neanderthal when it comes to all of the things that would ease our lives in this position i.e. typing with more than just an index finger, cell phone savvy, and knowing that a Blackberry isn't just something you add to your cereal, etc. The minute I start this job I'm getting a house cleaner. And possibly a weekly massage...
Sunday, October 07, 2007
Somehow Macarbre Over the Last 24 hours
A silver-glitter birthday card to Anna Bloviations from the law firm that just completed a will and testament for hubby and me.
A Council on Aging and Elderly Affairs Recreation Facility in Salem located right next door to a cemetery.
Kids (usually boys) who wear really cool (and expensive) Bern bicycle helmets with the chin straps flailing in the wind unbuckled.
A brother-in-law who is literally losing his liver (and soon his life) to alcohol abuse checking into a hospital because of a skin rash....
A silver-glitter birthday card to Anna Bloviations from the law firm that just completed a will and testament for hubby and me.
A Council on Aging and Elderly Affairs Recreation Facility in Salem located right next door to a cemetery.
Kids (usually boys) who wear really cool (and expensive) Bern bicycle helmets with the chin straps flailing in the wind unbuckled.
A brother-in-law who is literally losing his liver (and soon his life) to alcohol abuse checking into a hospital because of a skin rash....
Friday, October 05, 2007
Lot of Living... i.e. last three weeks as follows (keep up): arrival London to Rothbone Hotel. Standing ovation at London's rendition of Wicked. Indian food. Indian food again. And the obligatory walk along the Thames whilst admiring London girls with their cuffed hot pants, stockings, and boots. Everyone's smile is improving in the U.K. too. Copious wine. Then to Majorca replete with many Germans and Brits but at least they keep the island clean. Cobbled sidewalks and rich rose-colored stucco architecture, olive groves, gloriously dry September summer days sans bugs. Copious wine. Watch the jelly fish. Then to Salzburg (hiking in the alps), Wagrain (hiking in the alps), Vienna (incredibly dysfunctional visit with hubby's incredibly dysfunctional family), and back to Salzburg (more hiking). Copious wine supplemented with Austrian chocolate that did no harm for all the hiking.
Mountain of Life. Go away for two weeks and the mountain of life that awaits you upon your return makes the Austrian alps look like mole hills. Job front? Hubby moves on AGAIN from yet another psychopathic software company. Anna Bloviations moves on too. She arrives home to 1) find her newly-painted house beseiged by woodpeckers intent on obliterating the house in Hitchcock fashinon (did you not wonder at the rapping noise son [who took care of the house?]), and 2) to find that her boss has an imminent appointment under Governor Deval Patrick and that she has been invited on board for nearly double the pay. OK I can do that... Can I wear my Ann Taylor suit on a farm do you think?
Daughter turns 21 (see pic). So nothing to hold me back on the career front other than 14-year-old Australian Shepard Heidi. Poor deaf girl. But still in good enough shape that Anna may not play God yet -- but rather find an appropriate dog walker during the day...
Mountain of Life. Go away for two weeks and the mountain of life that awaits you upon your return makes the Austrian alps look like mole hills. Job front? Hubby moves on AGAIN from yet another psychopathic software company. Anna Bloviations moves on too. She arrives home to 1) find her newly-painted house beseiged by woodpeckers intent on obliterating the house in Hitchcock fashinon (did you not wonder at the rapping noise son [who took care of the house?]), and 2) to find that her boss has an imminent appointment under Governor Deval Patrick and that she has been invited on board for nearly double the pay. OK I can do that... Can I wear my Ann Taylor suit on a farm do you think?
Daughter turns 21 (see pic). So nothing to hold me back on the career front other than 14-year-old Australian Shepard Heidi. Poor deaf girl. But still in good enough shape that Anna may not play God yet -- but rather find an appropriate dog walker during the day...
