Monthly Archives: January 2007

Miz. Lois C, also known as michelle’s mom, also known as the reason for Team Lois, passed away on Wednesday morning after her marathon year+ battle with cancer. It’s so very sad. Michelle’s parents have always been so kind to me, and I’ve felt close to them over the decade+ that I’ve known them. Michelle and her family are in my thoughts and prayers.

And Godspeed, Lois C, on your latest run. I hope the wind is at your back, and I’m so glad to have known you.

last weekend daniel, dan aaron, and meredith came down for a visit. of course, it was either so cold or my camera really didn’t like being dunked in thai food, and my batteries vanished almost as soon as I put them into use. so I don’t have any pics of the weekend.

they drove down on friday night and we got the card table out and played flinch. I love that game. I have so many good memories of sitting with gramma and dan aaron at her dining room table at, like 9PM, when it felt so late because it was pitch dark outside and we’d been running around all day, playing flinch or rummy or muggins until we were so sleepy gramma sent us to bed. then we all went to bed early, because we had a big day ahead of us.

after a hearty breakfast of scrambled eggs and a blown circuit and dan aaron getting a new one, we were finally out waiting for the bus at 10:40. once into nyc dan aaron and meredith went to the motorcycle convention and daniel and I had cupcakes at the cupcake cafe. then we were off to the natural history museum, where we saw dinosaurs (cool, but not interactive enough for daniel), the ocean life exhibit (he didn’t want to look at the giant squid but the whale was really awesome) and the space show (cosmic collisions – a hit, b/c it was technologically more in line with what daniel is used to, and also, because we could sit down). then back downtown where we met dan aaron and meredith on the train platform by port authority, and off to walk across the brooklyn bridge.

from meredith: us walking across the brooklyn bridge.

once across, we went for pizza at grimaldi’s. yum. they were refreshing the oven so we had a nice chance to look through flyers and pick out our motorcycles for our future motorcycle gang. I’d tell you the name, but it’s got our last name in it and I try not to put that on the internets. here, though it’s not as funny as the real thing: we’re going to be called “The Big LastNames.” heh.

pizza was great, and then we walked around the corner to Jacque Torres for the incredibly thick and sweet hot chocolate. we couldn’t finish it! and we’re all into sweets! then we took the train back to the bus and took the bus home and played yahtzee until daniel was so wiped out he was looking at us cockeyed. and then he slept for TEN HOURS.

such a lovely weekend!

as much as I’m all “do it yourself” and “cheap as heck” and “no sir, I don’t need to buy an ipod, because it won’t play books from the library,” I think that apple has finally done it. When I first got a cell phone I was obsessed with small and really used the heck out of my cutsie wee nokia. after I got used to the windows based PDA, I was obsessed with small, and moved to the handspring. I thought maybe the treo would be the phone of the future but it just wasn’t, and cell phones have just gotten bigger and boringer as time goes by.

and then! I find myself at work still, late at night, and instead of working, I’m watching the video introducing the iPhone. and holy cow. maybe I *do* need an ipod after all. it’s everything I ever wanted from a phone, a camera, and a pda (sort of, it’s got a calender) and it’s all fully integrated! and wee small! and smart! and so sharp looking! and so fancy! and offered through cingular, my current cell phone carrier! (though you wouldn’t know it from their webpage tonight, way to not market yourself, cingular.) wowza!

[[though, at $499, maybe I am still kind of cheap as heck. by the time they start shipping maybe my contract will be ready to re-up, so maybe it’ll be less spendy for me…]]

yesterday was so foggy and rainy! it was very warm, though, with temperatures between 50 and 55 degrees. I wore my bathing suit under my clothes and jaunted out to coney island. I caught a 10:20 bus, and got there by 11:45 – not too bad, considering I was coming from nj. I love that Q train. it is the best.

I met sangu, lisa, lorelei, and jenn at the beach. sangu knows a real polar bear! I don’t have a photo of him. at 1PM we all ran into the ocean like crazy women. it was amazing. so, at first it’s really cold. and then it’s really painful. and then it’s kind of like you’re on fire. but then the endorphins kick in, and it’s the most amazing fun experience you’ll ever have. Sangu and I ran in 5 times. We would get out, mill around, run back in, get out, dry off, run back in, rinse, repeat. I think I’m good for about 2 minutes in at 48 degrees before it wasn’t fun any more.

you can see how healthful and happy we look after our icy plunge. and PINK!

After that was the fun of getting dressed on the beach. the skirt was no problem, and the shirt wasn’t much of a hassle b/c I’d brought a loose wool sweater to cover the top of me in and I had room to work with undergarments under that. and it was warm. wool is so great, what with the insulating when wet. the issue was that everything was so damp – the clouds were low that day, and I couldn’t get un-clammy.

rocco and xenia showed up and whisked sangu and I back to manhattan, where we met michelle for our semi-traditional first meal of the year.

happy new year!