I know I’ve been remiss in my relaying of all things Rufus, so here’s a bit of news related to his Judy Garland concerts: a CD of the Carnegie Hall concert was released yesterday, as well as a DVD of the concert in London. (Aside: I’m inspired to get a copy of the 1961 Judy album, which — gasp — I don’t already have.)
In other news, there are a couple of tempting holiday concert dates on his schedule: he’ll be joining Belinda Carlisle on New Year’s Eve for “Paris à Go-Go” at Walt Disney Concert Hall in L.A., and on Valentine’s Day he plays Radio City Music Hall in New York on his ongoing whirlwind world tour for Release the Stars.
Ha, love it. By the way, that In-N-Out/Krispy Kreme sign could very well be the one here in Daly City. (I say as if I hadn’t been there enough times to know.)
I subscribe to the e-mail newsletter for the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. I have this vague dream of attending the games in person, especially since Vancouver is closer than any host city to where I’ve happened to live during the Olympics. (Well, L.A. was indeed closest, but in 1984, I was … seven years old; by the time the games were held in Salt Lake City, I was living in D.C.)
When I got an e-mail from them earlier this week with the subject “Meet the Vancouver 2010 Mascots,” I was already cringing. Granted, most Olympic mascots have been pretty innocuous, but Izzy certainly gave them a bad name. When I saw the Vancouver ones, I thought, they’re really cute! (A little too cute? I suppose unlike most sports mascots, Olympic mascots have come to be designed for children. At least there’s the marketing for all. Ah, so cynical already.)
It’s time once again to bring out Bruce McCall’s “Thanksgiving Rules Revised” from the New Yorker. Just follow these simple guidelines, and you’ll be all set for the holiday craziness.
Have a happy (and sane) Thanksgiving! Now pass the stuffing. No, seriously, hand it over.
I just looked at the clock in my office and realized once again that I still haven’t changed it back one hour from daylight saving to standard time. I don’t actually rely on that clock much, since the ones on my computers’ toolbars are more handy, and well, at the moment the desk clock is partially obscured by a rising tide of assorted papers to be filed … eventually. It’s like there’s a time zone boundary running the length of the office. (Sort of like how Thom and I each have an alarm clock on our nightstands, but for some reason they’re a few minutes apart; apparently our bed is some kind of time gulf.)
Maybe I haven’t changed my office clock because I get some satisfaction in looking at it, being surprised at how much time has gone by, and then realizing, whew, I have an extra hour. Hmm. The fake-out isn’t much comfort when you’re waiting for lunchtime. Or quitting time. OK, I’m changing it now.
As I mentioned briefly a while ago, we have a couple of additions to our family: two new cats!
Just to backtrack: Our cat Alex ran away from home in May, as you may know. We miss him, but he is such a social cat that my hope is someone found him and just decided to take him in. It’s funny how your emotions can go into auto-pilot in times like this; shortly after he ran away, I found myself resigned to thinking that we’d never see him again and making peace with that. And then I felt guilty that I was “giving up” too early. (Could it be defense mechanisms from losing my dad last year? Anyway.)
In the weeks after Alex’s disappearance, Thom and I went to the Peninsula Humane Society every few days to see if Alex might’ve been brought in, and during our visits we would take a peek at the cats available for adoption. We stopped going for a few months, and then we felt like it was time to have a cat (or two) again. Last month we looked at the Humane Society website, and saw a cute pair of young cats named Poof and Fuzz. That weekend we went to see them in person. Potential adopters and adoptees get to spend some time in the “get acquainted” room; here’s Thom and the kitties:
They were kind of skittish but so cute, and we decided to adopt them. It’s been great seeing them get used to us and their new home (and their new names!). Introductions: Tiki is a female tortie and just turned two years old; we don’t have her exact birthday, but we narrowed it down to the month, and decided to celebrate it on Halloween. She’s the more energetic of the two and also likes being a lap cat. (In fact she’s on my lap as we speak.)
Mojito (also known as Mojo) is a male, three-and-a-half-year-old Maine Coon mix. Thom named Tiki, so I was to name the other one. It took me the longest time. I was looking for a similarly island-themed name, and the inspiration came when we were recently at a restaurant ordering cocktails! Mojo’s easy going and has a beautiful, long coat.
I’ve started a photo set for them, and Julie has some really great photos from earlier this week. By the way, I came across this xkcd comic recently. It’s so true. Who’s a good kitty? Yes, you are!
And lastly, there’s this cartoon by Simon Tofield:
I said to Thom, “Thank goodness our cats aren’t that aggressive.” He replied, “Yet.”
A few weekends ago, Jennifer, Thom, and I went to the Half Moon Bay Art & Pumpkin Festival, which was pretty fun. Lots of arts and crafts and most importantly, all kinds of food with pumpkin! We had pumpkin chicken sausage, pumpkin cheesecake, pumpkin ice cream, etc. Afterwards we went to Half Moon Bay Brewing Company for dinner, and had even more pumpkin stuff! (Though they were out of pumpkin beer.) Here’s Thom at dinner (more photos from the day):
Last year I offered you a Halloween flashback, and here’s another one but from the not-so-distant past. It’s me on Subarna’s and my visit to a pumpkin patch back in October 1998, which would’ve been during our senior year of college:
Happy Halloween, everyone!
Addendum (2:43 p.m.): I was at Safeway today buying candy (I ended up getting Kit Kat, Smarties, and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups), and I noticed this tag: “BUY 4 GET 0 FREE.” Gee, sign me up! I assume it’s a typo. Actually, using the new per-ounce price, it seems like if you buy four, you get six free. But even that seems kind of crazy!
We just had an earthquake! When it started, I was in my office at the computer, and Thom was in the kitchen. It was kind of long, maybe about ten seconds of shaking and swaying. Some dishes rattled, and the cats are still a little spooked, but everything else seems OK here at the house. I called my mom, who also lives in Daly City, and she’s all right. According to the USGS, the quake was magnitude 5.6, centered northeast of San Jose.
Whew, nothing like an earthquake to get your heart pumping!
