Not much

Apparently my weekly post is all I can manage. Today I was out and about and my phone rings at 2 p.m. and it's Connie Z saying Don is wondering if I am coming in to do my show. Last week, the utes emailed the baseball schedule which said I would not have a show today or next week April 25. So much for planning.

Man, it was a beautiful day today. I cleaned up my grill in preparation for cookout season.

Last night after work I went to FP Mall and bought those jeans Sal told me to get and they SEEM to be great. But I'll see. Plus I bought a boatload of clothes in Penney's on the way out of the mall, two sundresses, a pair of shorts, two tank tops, two other tops and didn't try any of them on so now I will be returning everything but the tank tops.

Tom, Son of Kiger (as Dr. Sue calls him), is over at my neighbor's drinking and yukking it up in a big way and has been for about 3 hours. Hmmmmmmmmm.

I took my little flat of plants outside for some sun and now they are all nearly dead. Duh. I have no green thumb. Next weekend I might just start jamming seeds into the ground. I see on the NWS site that next Saturday it will also be 72 and sunny like today after a kind of crappy week.

James Armstrong at Grounds tonight. Lil Ed at FFB next Thursday. I see they want $10 to see him and it starts at 8:30. And Polka Floyd Sat. April 25 at Grumpy Dave's at 9.

Also heavy trash is the week of May 11.
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whirlwind

First, let me say that I am sorry to have accused Chip of cheating at cards when we were at Dylan and Stef's Friday night. I may have seen him steal the deal and PERHAPS reneg once or twice in other card-playing times, which may have been inadvertent, but cheating is a bad charge. So, sorry. I hope this doesn't ding me from future card fun.

Stef's party was a swell time. Many older folks were there when we got there at 8:15 but by the time we left at midnight, it had been taken over by utes, as it should be.

Friday I called in sick at work because, well, there are many reasons but I really was stuffed up and well, there wasn't any news and well, it was Good Friday etc etc. I stayed in bed til almost 2 reading. And eating.

Thursday was a swell time at the ClaZel. MANY people were in attendance, tons of whom NEVER come out for fun. Amy and I left at midnight and she offered to give Fred and Jo Sears a ride and when we got to the car, Fred says "Oh I forgot it was a two-door" as if this was a deal-breaker so I get in the back saying I was fully bendable, which after all the whiskey I drank, was true. Chip sent me some photos which I could not retrieve from home from my work email so I will post them later.

OMG, the horn players for Stacy Mitchhart are just the cutest boys EVER. It was a high energy night. Chris Shutters got onstage and played Red House, one of the best versions I've ever heard and then Stacy came back onstage and played with Chris and Stacy's band. Chris's PR person gave me a CD of his because somebody (my new friend Patrick) had told her I was the person who needed to have Chris's CD, which I played a cut of on my radio show today.

Kelly Wicks called during my show today to discuss the state of live music in BG. I opined that the ClaZel was not doing themselves any favors by having so many blues bands because the crowd for that was limited. I also said that Alex was doing a good job of bringing bands to Howard's and we agreed that the sound situation in there is not good. Plus the hospitality for the bands there is marginal, as Greg Ginn and the Texas Regulators had to buy their own beers, for chrissakes. Kelly also said the corporate sponsors for the Swamp had pulled out for this year and that personal donations would be appreciated. At last, the full schedule for the festival is online.

Amy and I discussed tonight that maybe the Swamp could pull back on the number of bands it books as most festivals we see have MAYBE 6 bands over the course of a day rather than the 9 the Swamp has. Something to consider to save money.

Today, hmmm, did a radio show, went to the Corner Grill for sausage gravy and biscuits with scrambled eggs, went to Meijer, cleaned the house. Tomorrow I hope to screw around in the yard, hoping the damn NE wind will have died down. Plus I will make the biggest delicious breakfast ever. As I will not be receiving any chocolate bunnies. Which I would not be so keen on anyway as I have not seen any made of 70% cacao.

Also I went to the bank this morning to find out how fast I could pay off my house if I made extra principal payments which the woman I talked to could not tell me so they are are having a mortgage person call me. Christ, I rolled out of bed for THIS? Some online mortgage calculator says that if I pay an extra $1,000 a month, I could pay if off by next October. I hope this is true.

Got 2 books at the library today that I had ordered in: Jim Harrison's newest novel "The English Major" and "The Hour I First Believed" by Wally Lamb which is 752 pages.

Note to self: car windows.
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Hippity hoppity Easter's on its way!

And I get to stay home! I'm so delighted. I asked my mom if she wanted me to come down but since I have to go there two weekends in a row in May, she said I didn't have to. I sent her a card. I will be making myself a giant breakfast.

Tomorrow night is Rod's Collision opening for Stacy Mitchhart at the ClaZel and Friday is Stefan's birthday party. So laying low to save up energy for this activity.

Last night I booked a flight to New Orleans for May 28-31, just a short trip. Staying at the Richelieu which has the Paul McCartney suite, in which I am not staying. Anne is also going and I booked a flight to coincide with hers so we are on the same plane out of the layover in Memphis. My plane leaves Detroit at 6:30 am. Anybody want to make some quick cash and take me there? Amy has said she would come get me Sunday night when I get back. Of course, I'm not holding her to that. I just HATE that parking and shuttling and stuff at DTW. Please. Are you not my friend????

Also last week I bought 4 new CDs: Elvin Bishop and Little Smokey Smothers, Buddy and Julie Milller, Blues of the Future Vol. 3 with Watermelon Slim and many other good folks and James Hunter's The Hard Way. Plus I got a tribute to Doug Sahm in the free box at the radio station with artists like Los Lobos and Joe King Carrasco. Plus I apparently ordered a Eli Paperboy Reed CD off amazon.com when I wasn't paying attention the other night.

Many of my plants are coming up that I put in that starter box. Looks like it's cosmos, asters, zinnias, chives and cilantro. One of them is so big the plastic dome hits it so I need to get it out of there. Hmmm, how? This weekend I will set them outside again for some fresh air and sunshine.

Found out today I have no radio show April 18 and 25 (baseball). But then it should be smooth sailing on through summer.

And it's not too early for me to extend my annual Memorial Day cookout invite to be held the Monday of Memorial Day itself. As always, stop by no earlier than 3, eating around 5:30.

Another 2 pieces of my bamboo fence took a fall over the weekend so I rolled them up and will reattach when it warms up. Got me a whole new pack of zip ties for this.

I have 2 daffodils blooming but that's about it. The plants out front I put in last year seem to be coming back. Mostly.

Have had the Wall-E movie for almost 2 weeks and haven't watched it yet. Where does the time go?

Fortunately, Sal turned me on to a good brand of jeans so maybe I will have some nice looking pants the next time you see me.

What will I wear to New Orleans??? It's always a challenge when you have a fashion plate for a daughter.

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Shopping

Amy calls today about 11:15 to see if I want to ride to the Rt 20 shopping extravaganza and I agree to see if they have those canvas skimmers at Target. Suddenly presented with a variety of goods, I purchase:
Two bed pillows
Two ceramic pots that I envision on my new porch
A Houdini wine opening kit that includes the rabbit opener, a foil remover, an extra corkscrew for the opener, two corkers, a pourer, a corker for fizzy drinks
Two boxes of Triscuits
A bag of Panko bread crumbs
A pair of Keds slip-ons
Two outdoor glass-top, fold-up end tables
Two pairs of underwear
Three pairs of garden gloves
An Easter card
A magnet-backed pad of list paper
12 cans of kitty din

Now I'm making a lovely dinner of baked potato, a red snapper fillet I got at Stimmel's giant seafood sale and some green beans with bacon.

Saturday night we went to the ClaZel to see Frostbite with Doreen Robideaux singing. They were very good (Whippin' Post especially) and it was a small but appreciative crowd. Stacy Mitchhart's promoter fell at the bottom of the spiral staircase and broke her bottle and cut her hand so she was walking around with a wet towel wrapped around it. The boys were watching the Final Four games at the bar. All of my pictures are so bad I can't even post any. I need a new camera. Sal's Olympus takes great pictures. I need to look into this. Gonyer bought one on eBay. I better look around.

The Humane Society wine and cheese is May 29 at the Hilton Garden Inn at Levis Commons. I am donating a bracelet that I have had for years that is too big and I kept meaning to have it made smaller and have earrings made from the extra links but alas, it ain't happening. Plus I found this other bracelet I bought somewhere that is much nice anyway. Plus last night I shined up my old asian themed bracelet and wore that.

I talked to my mom for an hour tonight. My sister has taken in another dog, a husky mix. So that's 2 dogs, 4 cats. And Karen's disability was denied surprise. And my mom had to have 2 teeth extracted. It's just one thing after another with those two.
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Yay weekend!

I planted 72 little seedling things in a flat with a plastic dome cover and now only 6 days later, I have things coming up! I made this chart of what I planted and now, depending on whether I turned the flat around or not (can't remember), I have chives and cilantro coming up OR cosmos and asters. I'm trying to keep them warm by leaving them on the floor by a register and shining a desk lamp on them for a few hours. I am hoping that it will become warm enough to put them outside for a while each day to get good growth going.

Didn't go to GNO although I hear it was heavily attended. The May one is at Deb's with the annual white elephant swap at Martha's driveway. Time to dig out stuff I don't need. And probably come home with more stuff I don't need.

I got an email back from the arborist saying I would receive a letter outlining how the city will fix my sidewalk and my driveway apron and save the tree. No letter yet.

Have been very bad on the cooking school, making too much stuff that I don't end up eating all of and then feeling bad about how there are starving people.

Wednesday I went to Elder Beerman and bought two pairs of jeans and two belts and today I took back one pair of jeans plus a pair of shoes I had bought about 3 weeks ago which I had tried on several times and although they were the Born shoes, could not talk myself into thinking I'd wear them and a shirt I had bought before I went to Mexico that at the time I thought was black but was actually navy blue. Plus the one pair of jeans I kept turn out to be ill-fitting although they have the spandex in them, they have baggy legs and after a couple hours of wearing them, the waistband is stretched out and they look like they are some large mom's jeans.

I have been keeping track of what I eat to see why I am not slimmer and although I have had a breakfast burrito from McD's twice this week (300 calories, 16 g. of fat) I have otherwise eaten sensibly. Plus I lifted weights Monday and did a Pilates Wednesday and walked Thursday. Maybe it's that 500 calories of wine a day. I'll get right on that. I did have a cookie one day.

At least, work has been much better since I adopted the less-thinking regime.

Radio show tomorrow plus Frostbite at the ClaZel. Big James is at Hines Farm but I feel the ClaZel is all I'll do. Starts at 7. Come on down!
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Onward to April!

It's been a quiet weekend. Yesterday I raked up the last of the leaf slurry from the back yard and hauled it to the yard waste. Somebody demolished that stove in garage in back of the yellow house behind me yesterday. Still a lot of crap lying around.

Did a radio show, turned in my old cell phones at Calico Sage and got a tax deduction slip, watched Night Nurse, a 1931 movie with Barbara Stanwyck, Joan Blondell, Clark Gable, wherein the women were continuously changing their clothes on camera so we see a lot of 1930s underwear. At one point, Joan Blondell changes Barbara's stockings for her. Hmmm, suggestive. Also a lot of hitting, women on men, men on men, men on women. And suddenly it ended with no resolution of several story lines.

Finished reading Made in the USA by Billie Letts about 2 runaway children who are rescued from Las Vegas by some guy who had left his circus family and after the runaway teen girl is forced into making a porno movie and becomes hooked on blow and beaten severely and graphically by thugs, she is saved by joining the circus family and becoming one of the best aerialists of all time. Hmmmm.

Now I'm reading The Women, by TC Boyle which is a very interesting fictionalized account of Frank Lloyd Wright and the four women in his life and his dalliances and betrayals and divorces.

Plus I did a lot cleaning like my kitchen floor and vacuuming and dusting.

On Friday morning, David Bieneman, the BG arborist came over to discuss the removal of that giant silver maple in front of my house. I think at the end he was ready to do it but since then I have reconsidered the options and wrote him this email today:

David, I have been thinking about the taking down of that big silver maple in front of my house. Maybe it doesn't need to come down. We could get rid of the broken part of my sidewalk altogether and I can put a sidewalk from the remaining walk closer to my porch out to my driveway. Then if the roots could be trimmed on the west side and my driveway apron repaired, work could be done to repair the lawn and the tree could live on. Of course, I don't know how this helps the broken curb. Thanks for your consideration and for all you've done so far.

So we'll see what happens.

Wednesday is GNO and it's at El Zarape at the bar. Not such a good idea: drinking at a bar clear across town.
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Last full week of March

Suddenly it's hard to believe it will be April NEXT WEEK. What woe can befall us now?? Weather woe, I mean. I'm sure some other woe could happen.

Mom update: Called Saturday, she's not moving, Karen has no money, I feel helpless/hopeless. I have to go down there May 17 for my Aunt Midge and Uncle Jim's 65th anniversary. Which is one week after Mother's Day. Grrrrrrr.

Listening to Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears. I got it in the free crate at the radio station. Soul, baby.

The lineup is posted for the Madison Ribberfest.

Tonight I had a massage after work and it was all I could do to prepare food.

Last night, I emailed the city in my quest to have that big tree taken down out front. I got an email back within a half hour that the arborist would address this. No follow-up yet.

Thursday, Josh Garrett is at the ClaZel. $3 starts at 9. Hope I can make it. Then Frostbite is going to be there April 4 and 18.

This last weekend I was worthless. I did a radio show, ate pizza at Amy's, I don't know. It was supposed to be nice but it was chilly Saturday and only nice Sunday for about 2 hours. Saw the Vagina Monologues at the Univ. on Sunday night.

So Monday after work I felt I needed to be outside so I raked up a couple big bags of leaves and took them to the yard waste and then walked to the library for a new book. Made in the USA by Bonnie Letts which is just the kind of lightweight fluff I like to read before hitting the sack.

I got a new computer at work which has the good news and the bad news. The good news is it plays video a lot better now but the bad news is sometimes there's no audio. The IT folks are still troubleshooting it. Plus of course all my previously visited websites history is wiped so everything I log in to is a new experience of forgotten passwords. But hey, they're not paying me too think. Right?
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Weekly report

I can't seem to get it together to post more than once a week. Thursday we saw the Kinsey Report at GFT and they were fabulous. We had seen them at Hines Farm lasat year and weren't impressed. Amy believes they had some female singer with then then that we had not favored.

Another action-packed weekend. Yesterday Amy and I went to the Stony Ridge Antiques looking for an endtable to go between the two rattan chairs in the living room. Nothing. We also stopped in at the Stony Ridge Antique Auction place which had some junque for a Sunday auction. Then we went to Menard's where I bought a birdbath. Then we went to Wildwood Antiques which is back behind Gander Mountain where I bought these two chairs which I thought would be great in the living room but alas they are small and not quite green enough. So now they're in the middle room.



Then we went to Pier 1 where I bought some candles. Then to ReDecor where Amy bought 2 folding chairs.

Later we went to the Welders who seemed really good. Click on a picture to see a larger version.

Connie wears the necklace she made for the Humane Society auction


Sal. We were doing some heavy duty dancing. She was hugging EVERYBODY. She exacted my undying love from me which alas, I feel she may have done from others as well.


Chip and me with my stunning Mexico necklace.


Men


Larry, whose 68th birthday it was, sings Stand By Me. I kept saying afterward he was great and everybody just kept replying, It was fun so maybe I overrated it.


Women

Donna's fur hat

Bomeli's new hairdo


Afterward, we had burgers at the Corner Grill. During which we missed FlipFlopFly which Amy had requested. It was Gus's birthday after midnight and Annette took a cake onstage which produced massive smoke after Gus blew out the candles. The event was heavily attended and until late.

Today, I got my sharpened clippers back from Ace Hardware where I also got some hardwood floor cleaner and some more zip ties to reinstall my bamboo fencing someday. Went to Meijer, moved the bookcase into the green room and took a bag of books to GFT for resale, went to the library. Then I put Step 1 of the lawn program on the backyard and decided the entire front yard needed to be raked before its application. That took about 2 hours, it seems like. But it was a beautiful day, about 60, sunny, no wind. Also I put chicken wire around two more bushes that the bunnies seem to be brutalizing.

So, worn out, I watched Witness for the Prosecution which at the end of, we were exhorted to not reveal the shocking ending to our friends before they have seen it. So I won't. Hint: Hell hath no fury.... It was Tyrone Power's last film as he was making Solomon and Sheba the next year (1958) when he died of a heart attack and they had to finish the film with Yul Brynner.

The yard is really shaping up. I talked to Doug Saturday night about fixing my front steps and my splintering hardwood floor and some other stuff. I hope he will get back to me about this.

Big week coming up. Nick Moss at FFB Thursday when Big James is at the HiNote's final show. I hear it costs $8 and we have free tickets to Nick Moss. Friday, Polka Floyd at the Rev's, Greg Ginn at Howard's and United Grass Farmers at Grumpy Dave's. All start late.

The full line-up is posted for the St. Mary's Blues Fest Labor Day weekend. Although attendance was spotty last year, THIS year they are having two full days, Saturday and Sunday with Lil Ed closing Saturday and Tommy Castro Sunday. Tickets are on sale now til 5/25 at half price.

My daughter sent these pics from her excursion to DC where you can rent Segways to tour the sites.






Yay! Halfway to April.

Another week races by

Kelly sent this line in email to the Atomic Mama: "But until then be sure to check out: Cowboy Mouth, Ruthie Foster, Lee Rocker". Apparently part of the Swamp lineup which is due to be released any time now.

Last week was that big one: Radio mtg. Monday, GNO Weds., wine Thursday, last night went to see Johnny Reed at FFB. Which was a clusterbuck because we got there right between the two comedy shows and had to wait in line almost a half hour and then we ended up taking the elevator upstairs and going in the back to get a seat at the bar. Their guitar player was lackluster or worse. Johnny Reed's son Jackson played harp and sang with the band.





My daughter sent me a fancy pop-up book of The Night Before Christmas that she had procured at the Smithsonian. She's a treasure.

Yesterday I raked the whole back yard (not the side or front) and got a huge pile of pine stuff that I couldn't determine if it was yard waste or brush and now it's out there getting rained on. I also cleared a bunch of stuff out of the beds that I shoulda done in the fall. It was really nice, maybe 60 outside. Cloudy but only sporadically sprinkly. Today however it's 38 and heavy rain. The sump pump is running about continuously.

Big cooking school plans: quiche and broccoli soup and lake perch and a rotisserie chicken to parcel out.

Looks like no radio show again this weekend because the women's MAC tournament appearance will be either noon or 2:30 Saturday.

another big weekend

I see Elvin Bishop is going to be at the Festival in Sycamore which is just north of Cincinnati on July 18, a Saturday. Can't find much about it on the internet but last year they had Atlanta Rhythm Section and Dave Mason as the headliners.

Yesterday I went to the seed swap at the Botanical Gardens. I took some wildflower and other seeds to trade and got 24 tickets for seed packs although many tables weren't bothering with collecting them. Some of them were home-bagged and some were actual seed company packets from a year ago. I got some chives and cilantro and basil, poblano chiles and jenny lind melons and ruby lettuce, and some black hollyhocks, several marigolds, cosmos and violas.

Then I looked at these 2 silver convertibles, one a 97 BMW and one an 02 Saab, at the Halleck Auto Sales. Just for fun.

Later we went to see Rod's Collision play at the fabulous ClaZel where HUNDREDS were in attendance. It was a swell time. I need to find out how that underwriting works at the radio station and get them to underwrite my show. Or some shows. On the way out, some young woman said to me You look so good! Hmm perhaps she meant-- for being 70 years old. Those youth.

Radio meeting Monday. GNO Wednesday at 149 North with free munchies courtesy Connie D. that she won in a contest. Sounds delightful.

Friday night I watched 3 episodes of 30 Rock (HI-larious) and then Hustle and Flow, a Memphis pimp in a mid-life crisis attempts to become a successful hip-hop emcee. It was like a version of those Mickey Rooney-Judy Garland movies where they say "Hey kids let's put on a show" except there's a lot of cursing and screaming and shooting and the star ends up in jail. Oh I should have said Spoiler Alert.

Yesterday I caught up on The Office. Also I did a Pilates crunch video off Netflix.

Today, not so much, one of the banned words/phrases for 2008. Along with First Dude and Maverick and the video of the Snowman Burning they do annually where they, uh, burn a snowman as a way of making winter go away.

Today I am trying to eat near the bottom of the food chain. I've had some granola and am making more coffee and it's noon. I should go to the store and I have an overdue library book (and now they--after 40 years-- have jacked up the fine to 25 cents a day) but some giant motivation better set in or it will be time to go see Gran Torino at the small mall.

Listening to John Hiatt's Hangin' Around the Observatory/Overcoats, his first 2 albums on one CD. Earlier, Jim White's Transnormal Skiperoo.

Also we spring ahead this Saturday night. And the question always arises: Will it be darker or lighter in the evenings then? Look at it this way: If it's almost dark at 7 p.m. now, it will be that same almost-dark at 8 p.m. after the switch. So, lighter. But a little darker in the mornings but that will pass quickly. On Sunday March 8, the day after the switch, the sunrise goes to 8 am; now it's a little after 7. But by the end of March, we'll be where we are now on sunrise time. Except by then it will be light in the evenings until almost 8:30. Bonus!

Last year we got 17 inches of snow in March but the March before, only about 3.
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A bad videogame

That's what work is like. Today, I go in and my computer is off. I had restarted the night before when I left. I turn it on. It starts up but goes into a maddening series of file scanning routines that disables me from booting up any other programs. I wait for more than 20 minutes while this goes on and call Bill, the IT guy and tell him my woes. He comes up, tells me that the UPS surge protector box I have on my computer has low batteries so every time even the slightest surge is detected, the low batteries think it's Armageddon and turn my computer off. By the time it's 9:30, morning news meeting time, I have been successful only at opening my email.

After the news meeting, Todd stops me in the hall to say that Channel 11 is sending a newsfeed to their Twitter account and why can't we do the same thing? I return to my office and my computer has died again. I reboot and spend quite a while trying to determine the URL of my news xml feeds so our news posts automatically to Twitter.

A fire in Tiffin becomes breaking news and must be posted right away. And updated.

I finally read through a couple of posted news stories for mistakes and typos, during which I get email saying the flash creative for the ad campaign that starts March 4 doesn't work right so I forward the bad graphic to the art director who created it who tells me he is too busy to fix it. I try to have Erin fix it, but he's sent an swf file and she can only edit flash in flv.

Then Sean calls me, the webmaster at WTVD in Raleigh. He knows where my xml feed URLs are. About halfway through my conversation with him, I realize I have missed my 11:45 digital sales conference call. When I hang up with Sean, it's 12:30.

I go to lunch, realizing this will be the only calm hour of my day. I eat at Organic Bliss and look at shoes at Elder Beerman and get back to work just minutes before my 2 p.m. webmaster conference call. During which we are chastised by the digital media VPs about our misuse of the newly installed site alerts that we had to learn how to use this week along with populating our new weather page.

I start again to post this xml feed to Twitter which involves a process of logging in to some ultra secure system that requires me to choose 3 pictures from a group of about 20 that I will remember later because they will be my SECRET IMAGES. I choose cats, food and outer space. How could I not forget those?? Then a login approval is sent to my webmaster email. Or so the software says. I wait. I choose Send Again and this time the email comes, I go back to the twitterfeed site, follow all the steps and get to the page where I enter the URL of my xml feed and a couple of other things and right after I click OK for what surely must be the last time, my computer shuts itself down. Again. It's 4:30. I have done no evening news, although Jennifer is there to do that but I always help her.

The IT woman comes up to help me unplug the faulty UPS surge box and we find the monitors were plugged into it instead of anywhere else so she has to go to the basement to get a common household surge protector so that she has somewhere to plug in the monitors.

I get my computer restarted and it's after 5 and the news director has sent me a 14-page pdf file of all the jobs they'll be referencing in the Job Bank call-in portion of tonight's newscasts. The file refuses to convert to text. So I have to ftp the file to a server and then reference it as a URL and send that to Jen so she can post it. And it doesn't show up the first two times I try it. But finally it does.

During all this other stuff, I have answered about 85 emails, discussed an upcoming contest that is so complicated we have to have a conference call about it on Friday, made a graphic and posted it for the Job Bank call-in, updated the Job Center web page with new jobs, posted a story about Tim Hortons roll up the rim contest because news made mistakes LAST night so I have to bail them out with a story that we otherwise wouldn't have posted because face it, it's free advertising.

At least Jen has me watch the video of the hero dog pulling the injured dog from a busy street in Chile. I love the internet.

last week of February

Many people are saying winter is going by really fast. Hmmm, not so much for me.

Weekends go by way fast, that's for sure. Friday night, Sherry and Amy and I intended to play cribbage but alas we never made it off the couch. I was in bed by midnight and the next thing I know, it's 11:15 a.m. and I am just waking up. So much for Saturday morning gym. But a good rally resulted in me cleaning the whole house, going to Meijer for massive stock-up, going to the library where I got The Bible Salesman and Home. Read the Bible Salesman between Saturday afternoon and Sunday noon. Pretty amusing. And suddenly, it was time to go to Ron and Deb's to play cards, where I lost all but one game of euchre with Stubbs and Chip and Amy. Much good food-- chicken sandwich and rumaki and hummus and baked brie and pasta with jerk chicken and weenies and cookies.

Got home at midnight again and sprang up at 8:45 to finish my book. Finally got started on cooking school about 2 and made lasagna with leftover Bolognese sauces and pasta with chicken and carmelized onions and roasted grape tomatoes and and yam/parsnip/watercress soup and now I have a tilapia filet in the oven and a salad made to go with it.

At least I did the Pilates today.

One of my bamboo fence panels fell completely over so I went out today during a sunny period and brushed all the snow off and rolled it up and put it on the table on the patio. It looked unscathed so I hope I can just reattach it when it gets nice.

I hope Stubbs will play euchre with me Monday night at Grumpy Dave's.

Saturday is Rod's Collision at the ClaZel 7:30 to 10:30. Come out and see them. $3 at the door.

Tonight I have to update the Oscars part of 13abc.com. Another late night.

Back to reality

Check out the Upcoming Shows link to the right. Welders, Rod's, Polka Floyd and more! Plus, although not posted on their website, the Madison Ribberfest features Robben Ford, Dr. John and Watermelon Slim. Time to get a room. I called the Riverboat Inn tonight but the woman who answered the phone said I had to call back in the daytime when the events coordinator was there. WTF. All the other rooms are over $120 a night! May have to look at a longer drive to the motel. Like that place in Kentucky where some Black Swamp Blues people stay.

It was tough going back to work. Plus what was worse, my assistant left for vacation the day I got back so I've had to go in at 7 this week and still work til 5:30. Oh, the injustice!!

I finally have all my laundry done and limited food supplies laid in. Which more must be laid in for the next big snowstorm Saturday. Or not. Haven't had any Corner Grill in weeks.

Big weekend with cribbage Friday and cards Saturday at Deb and Ron's and Andrew Ellis at the HiNote Saturday. No radio show though. I think.

Other pictures

The snow before I left for Mexico.


Freaking bleak.


I call this The Rapture


One corner of my living room

Mexico pix

Remember: click a picture to see a bigger version.

Lucha masks se vende


Grandpa tries on a sombrero



The kitchen at Cueva del Chango


Carla at the bar


Yucatan breakfast: ham and peas and cheese on a tortilla on two sunny side eggs on a tortilla with salsa


More breakfast


Beach with many boats


Beach


At the Bad Boys Beach Bar



The band plays at No Limits, the bar at our hotel. The bass player is the husband of one of the bartender's at Bad Boys.


Tenth St. across from el banco

Last full day

Last night, we went again to the Bad Boys Beach Bar and saw that band who had some special guests including a guy named Brant Parkinson or something did some great blues like BB King and Carl Perkins. And some entire guest band did some Black Sabbath and some other tunes. And then these three chicas got up there and sang Let´s Twist Again and Mr. Postman in a cute girl group way.

Friday night we ate at La Tortuga again and I stupidly had shrimp, at least one of which was bad, so that all came up (sorry for the graphic description) in the middle of the night so Saturday I couldn´t drink or hardly eat all day. Stick to the beef. Annie had a great filet mignon there. I had just told the waiter we would tripadvisor the place very favorably so hmmmmm.

We also walked around to various pharmacies to buy RetinA which we ended up buying Receal A .01% for $9US a 60 gram tube. Other places, the stuff called RetinA on the box was like $27 or more although it was a higher percentage. I´ve been trying to google what the difference is without much luck.

Our pal Greg from Dec 07 shows up at the beach bar the other day and although he was supposed to be leaving the day after we did in Dec 07 he´s still here, having rented an apartment on 38th St. and now has some jealous Mexican girlfriend named Claudia who called him about 8 times while we were at the bar, finally threatening to walk into the ocean if he didn´t come home pretty soon. Which he didn´t.

OK off to the beach. Had breakfast today at Tropicale where we had eggs AND fruit plate with granola and yogurt because we had hardly eaten yesterday.

Friday the 13th

Very eventful week: contained a full moon, Friday the 13th and tomorrow, Valentine´s Day.

Last night we went to the Bad Boys on the Beach where a band of Americans played songs like Taking Care of Business and Sweet Home Alabama and some Pink Floyd and there was much consumption of beer and Miss Annie being picked up by American men our age. When it was over at 9 p.m. we were too tanky to dine out so we got some pizza off a street vendor and ate it in our room and went to sleep.

Yesterday, I couldn´t go to the beach at all because I needed no more sun and I was, uh, listless from having drunk quite a bit of whiskey the night before. I swung in our balcony hammock and read and later went to the beach bar at the hotel for a mineral water with lime.

There are several restaurants we haven´t eaten at yet. And a couple we are marking off our list: Media Luna and La Caprichoza.

Two days later

Well as I always say, we are not losing any weight down here. The weather has improved, if that´s possible. Not as much wind and warmer. 87 today. Looks to continue throughout the week.

More good food has been eaten. Tonight we are going to La Carpichoza where they make a fab caesar salad at your table. Last night we tried to go to Yaxche, a Mayan restaurant, but it was packed so we went to Maktub, a Lebanese restaurant where i had chicken kabob and Annie had vegetarian platter which was great.

We went to the Mexican equivalent of WalMart the other night and bought beer and wine and Jack Daniels, in a frugal way, and some bread and cheese which we have had for afternoon snack two days in a row.

Thursday night we are going to Bad Boys on the Beach where a band called the Nasty Bastards plays.

Otherwise, I don´t what we´ll do with ourselves. We are blasting through books like crazy. Because you can only take so much lying on the beach, believe it or not. Today, I had to lie under an umbrella because I am kinda red. But not real bad. I can hear the no sympathy from here.

Besos, chicos.

Ola chicos!

Well we got here Saturday with no problem and were on a barstool yesterday by 3. It rained lightly but not enough to keep us from the palapa bar. We were fairly wiped out from the traveling so we had an early dinner at Media Luna which has become unremarkable after remodeling and moving to the second floor.

Yesterday we ate breakfast at Hot which was very good. Later we had a mexicano platter at the bar at the hotel and we thought we were too burnt (out and sun) to go out for dinner but later we recovered and had a great meal at El Bistro at La Torguga on 10th Ave. This is something to keep in mind--anything you can get on Fifth Ave is probably better and cheaper on 10th. We had mussels for an appetizer and then had big salads--Annie with the pear gorgonzola and me with a smoked salmon pecan. We had a bottle of Argentinian Malbec which pretty much cost as much as the food.

Today we had breakfast on 5th at Tropical where Annie had a vampira smoothie (beet juice and stuff) and a bagel and I had yogurt with granola and some banana bread with cream cheese. We started out both days with coffee from Java Joe´s which is just a block from our hotel.

The first night, the thumping music from hell started up about 1030 at a bar two hotels away from ours and continued on to 4 a.m. Yesterday we bought earplugs but last night, no music. Hopefully this is just a weekend thing. We could stay cheaper away from the beach but it´s so nice when you´re down there to run up to the room for stuff. What princesses.

Have had one marg today and now it´s 230 and we are taking a beach break, going to the ATM, where the exchange rate is very good. Took out 1500 pesos and it cost 100 American. Muy bien.

More later. Weather is fabulous. I see it is nearly summery in BG.

OMG get me out of here

I can't even keep track of all the crappy weather we've had. It's real damn cold all the time and the snow is still a foot deep on the ground. But in just a couple of days I will be in Mexico for 10 days. Mmmmmmmmmm. It's my only hope, Obi-wan.

For a couple weeks there a couple weeks ago, I was exercising and eating sensibly so as to not appear too blimpish in a swimsuit but alas this last week I have fallen mightily so whatever. I'm sure fatter people will be on the beach.

Just a few last minute things to do, like buying cat litter and getting a big pile of cash out of the bank. I'll try and do a better job of posting during the vacation than the last time I was in Mexico.
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