Update

OK…back on the blog…odd after all this time has passed.  Frankly it seems like only two or three days since the last time I posted…that’s how fast this summer has gone by.  There are only 13 days of school left and many, many final projects to complete in the meantime.  However, it is Friday afternoon so I deserve a short break (while I’m stuck at school waiting for a 6:00 meeting).  So many things to update on….

-of course I relented and allowed the roaches to come to our apartment for the summer…needless to say they are foul.  they’re bigger much bigger than normal roaches and actually look more like beetles because they have plates on their backs.  for some reason, andy is in love with the roaches.  the other night he hand fed one an entire piece of lettuce.  The get so excited when he feeds them that sometimes I can hear the entire bunch of them chomping on lettuce and carrots.  Disgusting.  Also, they had another set of babies so now we have three generations of pet roaches

-in additon, we also have wild roaches now. that’s right…in stereotypical new york city fashion we now have roaches.  we obviously aren’t attracting them because we’ve lived in the same place for three years and havent changed the way we do things but they have arrived.  they mainly like the bathroom so when i get up in the morning andy has to check the bathroom and remove any roaches before I can shower.  It’s foul, truly foul.  if anyone has any roach removal tips i would love to hear them

-the one upside of roaches is that now the apartment has to be absolutely clean at all times.  we wash dishes immediately after using them, don’t eat anywhere but the kitchen, take the recycling out every night…it’s really my dream but without the roaches. hopefully they’ll go away and we can keep up the highly reginmented cleaning.

-sadly one of our snakes died…so now we just have “other snake”

-our garden is doing well but becoming more and more frustrating every day….

but i’ll save that for the next post.

 

Procrastination

I thought that once I started school writing the blog would be an excellent way to procrastinate…and since I’m a notorious procrastinator I predicted there would be post after post, but of course that hasn’t happened.  I have so much work to do at this point that I don’t even have time to procrastinate.  Pretty much every day there’s tons of reading and at least one thing due.  My liesurely nights of doing projects and watching movies is definitely over…at least for the next year.

I did take time out on Sunday to go to the U.S. v. Argentina men’s soccer game which was a lot of fun despite the fact that NYC is in the middle of a heat wave.  The temperatures here have been in the 90s for the last few days which is pretty unusual for June.  The U.S. played really well considering all of their players are about my size.  I’ve never seen such a tiny group of athletes. Landon Donovan looks like a little sprite, flitting around the field.  The game ended in a 0-0 draw but both teams had good scoring opportunities.  It started pouring during the last 10 minutes of the game but thankfully our seats were under the overhang. The rain did energize the crowd though and everyone was jumping up and down screaming “U S A!”

I’m sure everyone is eager for a garden update.  Ha!  I did have lots of good things to report until this recent heat wave so I’ll reserve comment until the weather breaks. Then I can assess what’s still alive before I brag about how well our plants are doing.

 

Champions League

Ten years ago when I first started watching soccer with Andy I found the games insufferably boring.  I didn’t really care who won or how, so much so that the last time Manchester United was in the Champions League Finals I slept through the entire game, save for the first and last ten minutes (which coincidentally turned out to be the only times either team scored).  However, in the intervening years he’s managed to wear me down with almost weekly trips to bars to watch games and lots of Man U talk.  So yesterday when we went to watch the Champions League final, Man U v. Chelsea, I actually cared who won.  I got a little nervous before  the game, just like I would for LSU football, and I couldn’t help wondering what was wrong with me??!

The choice to watch the game at a bar was a good one because I always enjoy the comraderie of the soccer fans.  Also, they don’t mess around…they actually WATCH the game..unlike the NYC LSU alumni during football games.  Everyone’s chair was pointed towards the screen and most talking was done in hushed whispers.  The game was really exciting despite the Chelsea’s players constant whining to the referees.  I still haven’t figured out why they let them get away with that constantly.  If I had seen Joe Cole make his pouty face one more time I was going to scream.  So, the  game went to overtime where another of my least favorite players Drogba, was sent off for giving a gentleman’s slap to Vidic. And then the game went to penalty kicks.  Since I had been nervously chugging alternating glasses of beer and water and I really needed to pee.  I figured that Renaldo’s PK would be the perfect time to go since there was no way in hell Renaldo was going to miss a PK during the Champions League Finals.  I knew I was wrong when I heard the collective gasp through the bathroom door.  After that it was all up to van der Saar who saved it all in the end.  When he blocked Anelka’s kick all the guys in the bar (everyone minus me and 4 other girls) went nuts, hugging each other and high fiving like they played an integral role in the game.  Watching Andy and the other Man U fans celebrate like they had just won the lottery was almost as fun as the game.

 

bright, bright sunshiny day

While I usually write about things I’m cranky about on this blog, here’s why I’m in a fantastic mood today….

–I am completely mentally checked out of work…three days left to go and I can’t concentrate on anything while I’m at my desk. I feel like I’m in a totally overcaffinated state at all times…total ants in the pants.

–this morning was the best trip to the farmers market yet this year…2 whole black sea bass, smoked fish, fresh cheese, ramps, radishes, potatoes, rhubarb, and kale

–PLUS herbs to plant..two kinds of basil, sage, thyme, oregano, and parsley.  Even if you’re not into gardening…plant an herb garden!  The plants were $2.50 and we spend that much usually buying a bunch of one of these herbs for a recipe…these will pay for themselves in about 2 weeks…and herbs are super easy to grow.

–leaving early today for the Champions League finals

–great season finale last night of Andy and I’s guilty pleasure TV show…Gossip Girl.  We replaced one GG (Gilmore Girls) with another.  the characters on this show are so outrageous, so back stabbingly rich and delicious.  Also, something crazy happens on every episode…it’s not like most shows where they drag out every plotline for three years.  Now 3 of our 4 television shows are done for the year, we are left only with Top Chef

–Crazy Love, a fantastic documentary I watched a couple of nights ago about a man in the Bronx who hired someone to throw acid in his ex-girlfriend’s face..she’s blinded, he goes to jail, he’s released, and now they’ve been married for 28 years…I was riveted. They really are a couple of characters..highly recommended.  (oh, and one complaint…Baby Mama, not recommended…especially b/c they claim it takes place in Philly when the whole thing was filmed in our neighborhood..very annoying)

 

 

 

last monday

So today is my last Monday of work…my last Monday of financial security, last Monday of sitting at a desk for 10 hours a day, last Monday of wondering what the hell I’m doing with my life…hopefully.  I’m super-nervous about going back to school, mainly the ever present fear of failure.  But there’s no turning back now…loans have been taken out, two weeks notice given, tuition downpayment made.  I know this year will fly by but I hope I can take the time to enjoy this hopefully last foray into academia and learn a lot in the process.  There are a million questions running through my head right now, what will my classmates be like, will they all be smarter than me, what will the professors be like??? It never ends.  But before that I have this long weekend of floating..the time in between job and school and I want to take advantage of it…any suggestions for super-cool Memorial Day activities?

In response to Nick’s comment on the last post about Man U and Chelsea…who knows?  For those who don’t know, the soccer season starts in AUGUST and ends in MAY, meaning that there are only two and half months of soccer free weekends.  BUT, this year Man U is in the Champions League Finals, meaning that the season has been stretched an extra two weeks.  Andy is taking the day off (for other reasons) and I’ll be leaving work early so we can watch the game live…because I’m sure we would find out the score if we did otherwise because everyone will be talking about it no doubt. 

 

Hornets

Last night, after watching a HILARIOUS Office season finale Andy and I decided to catch a little of Game 6 of the Hornets v. Spurs play-off game.  I usually don’t watch the NBA but I do feel some affection for the Hornets since they’re from New Orleans, and they’re actually good which is quite unusual for one of New Orleans’ professional teams.  So, I watched about 5 minutes and that’s probably the last 5 minutes of professional basketball I’ll ever watch again.  First of all, the Spurs are quite possibly the most boring team in the NBA…secondly, if people are complaining about all of the flopping in soccer, they obviously have never watched the Spurs.  Maybe it’s due to the international nature of team, perhaps Tony Parker learned to flop from fellow Frenchman Thierry Henry, who knows but they were like fish out of water, flopping left and right…and the refs called an offensive foul on the Hornets EVERY TIME!  I really believe that someone (David Stern) was telling the refs to make calls for the Spurs, trying to push this to Game 7.  Once Chris Paul and West picked up their fourth and third fouls, respectively, the game was basically over….and then the flopping stopped. 

I really watched the game with the intent of getting into the Hornets..but oh well. The NBA had a chance to acquire a new fan last night but instead I was treated to game totally controlled by some outside force, namely one that wants the reigning NBA champs into a Game 7…and I won’t be watching the NBA again. 

 

back again

Well, once again we’re back in NYC….we had a really really nice weekend in Lousiana for Mother’s Day. After some very careful pre-planning we managed to fit in visits to everyone, with the exception of one or two people, and best of all no feelings were hurt. The weather was perfect, we got some time in the pool, did some fishing, and got to hang out with Andy’s cousins. I know it’s a couple of days late, but in honor of Mother’s Day enjoy the following educational video from Mr. T. Lousiana pictures to come!

 

Sssssss…..

Being the head of the science department at his school Andy gets to decide how the money is spent for lab equipment, science materials, etc.  A few weeks ago he placed a pretty big order which arrived on Tuesday.  He im-ed me during the day to tell me about the newest animals for the classroom: red-spotted newts (awesome) and Madagascar hissing cockroaches (not awesome). 

For some reason he purchased a male and a female cockroach.  In fact, in between when they arrived on Monday and when he checked in on them on Tuesday they already managed to produce 22 new roaches.  I told him that he should immediately kill all the babies or he was going to have a problem.  His response was, “Oh no big deal, up to 200 of them can live in a 10 gallon tank.”  There is no way that 200 roaches can not not be a problem.  The question now is what will happen to the roaches over the summer?  Andy seems to think that they will be living with us but I have to draw the line somewhere.  Under no circumstances am I sleeping in an apartment with 200 roaches (assuming I don’t already…but I’ve only seen 1 and that was 2 years ago).  I told him that if adopted a Communist China policy on population control then I would consider it but he’s going to be commiting large scale roachacide for the next 2 months.  Did I mention these things hiss?  Pretty loudly apparently.  I’m getting chills just thinking about them. 

On the bright side, we had a soba noodle salad last night with carrots and cucumbers.  Andy took all of the peels to school and fed them to the roaches, so I guess they are good for the environment…like my own little garabage disposers.

 

We’re back!

No posts last week…even for Earth Day…because we were on vacation in sunny (but not always warm) California.  We celebrated both Earth Day and National Parks Week in the best way possible, by camping out in two of California’s National Parks.  We spent two nights in the Channel Islands National Park and two nights at Joshua Tree National Park.  Before we left I did a lot of research on the Channel Islands.  There were warnings all over the National Parks page about mice and the hantavirus and I learned that the campsite was on top of an earthquake fault.  I worried about both of these things before we left but the real enemy we encountered was never mentioned- THE WIND.  The entire time we were at our campsite the wind never dropped below 15 miles an hour and this was punctuated with really strong gusts.  I think I slept for about 3 hours the first night because the wind was so loud.  We did get to do some sea kayaking which was awesome even though the water was about 50 degrees.  We then headed east to Joshua Tree National Park where the weather was hot! YEAH! I can’t tell you how much I’ve missed the warm weather.  Before we left I purchased the dorkiest pair of pants ever, the ones that zip off into shorts, but I actually used them.  I told Cassie they were the dorkiest item of clothing I had worn since my mom stopped dressing me.  Joshua Tree was amazing…a totally alien landscape.  It really was unlike anything I had seen before.  Cassie was an amazing tour guide, since she worked as a ranger in the park several years ago.  It was like having our own personal park ranger.  I’m working on the pics right now and I’ll have more stories throughout the week.  Right now I’m readjusting to sitting in front of a computer screen all day…I certainly didn’t miss it!

 

First Sprouts

  This weekend we got the first sprouts of the new year!  Above, my two pots of tennis ball lettuce, filled with little green sprouts!  This is a leaf variety of lettuce that grows well in containers (hopefully) and is slow to bolt.  I’ll have to weed some of them out as they get bigger and I might try transplanting some of them to the back bed.  We’ll see… And here are the first two of the inside seed sprouts…two tiny sprouts of Brandywine tomatoes!  I can’t tell you how excited I was about seeing these.  They are on the windowsill so I was worried about it being too cold but they were fine. 

  Here’s another sprout of the same kind of tomato…I love how the tiny sprout was attempting to push over the big ball of fertilizer (maybe?) from the seed mixture.  I didn’t help it along by moving the ball so as of this morning it was still trying to push it over.  So the current tally is three tomatoes and tons of lettuce…hopefully more to come!