these days of leiderhosen

Researching: Luchessa Boots. Holy... people pay a lot for those. I've always wanted a pair of red boots, but this is beyond belief. And the ankle to calf ratio is not quite right.  Daily Craving: hot chocolate around 11 AM  Tortured by: Cold feet and hands when everything else is balmy goodness.  Status of the Porch Cat Lola: In her house, mostly snoozing. Still too skinny.  Currently Loving: Periodicals on the Kindle Fire. Perfect use of the media and for midnight reading in bed.  Today's best thing about California: Citrus in abundance.  The Bum Brigade Status of People's Park: damp and slightly more unhinged that usual. Deeply Loving: CrankyPressman's Guide to Letterpress.

Hi, Da. I cleaned the house today a bit more thoroughly than I have lately. It's not a great priority, but I hauled out my cleaning toolkit and went to work. That little yellow Fuller brush with its locking green dustpan? I use it every day, probably as much as you use the back scrubber cloth. I love that thing. I probably would not have owned that thing if you didn't think it good enough to spread onto your kids. Therefore: Thanks, Da. I've a little less disgusting grit in my life, thanks to you. - Mme.

Random thoughts: A word I often think in Berkeley, but would never/ever say: Hag! The Magnum Double Caramel Bar is waaaaaay too sweet. Too sweet to the point of being inedible: McDonalds' Sweet Tea. Before my first mouthful I had never spat out anything in the street, in public. Oh, awful. I love my new bed. Love, love, love. Links to look into later. Contrariwise: Literary Tattoos . Ray Bradbury short autobiographical story . The Steven rented Source Code last week. Jake Gyllenhaal, Jeffrey Wright, the lovely Vera Farmiga. I did not even remember it hitting the theaters or hearing anything about it. We ditched the cable outside of basic about eight months ago when money started getting tight and have been Netflixing/Amazon Download/Hulu-ing our media lately. Other than my one click of Jon Stewart Fix, I'm not missing it much. (Call me when The Kardashians/Hiltons and Housewives fall out of programming.) I'd actually add this to the growing list of Zen movies. For those w...

Oh, plums! Not one but TWO co-workers presented me with plums from their garden. One set was huge and round and black and tasty. The other were red and fragrant and with tart skin. Nom!

Ma's just turned 70 and has -surprise!- just come down with Myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). Oh, lucky, lucky us. I think everyone has been told. We are now taking a moment to adjust to our new reality. Work is not going well. "Histrionic" has been used to describe one of my new management and any moment now, the movers will be here to ship my stuff (2 file boxes) and all the project stuff I work on (30+ boxes) out to a remote location where 30 minutes will be added to my commute everyday. I will be out of contact with some very civilized people I've become very fond of in this building. The new place will have very few places to escape to and a whole lot more fluorescent lighting which can be downright soul-sucking. So what do I do? - Stay with this position, (becoming poorer by the month) because it may allow me enough flexibility to help Ma out when she needs it? - Go find some other gig that will pay better, but may object to my other commitments? Notes for me ...