you can steal, for inspiration

Madonna versus Marilu Henner (via The Usual Suspects).

I actually mostly, relatively speaking, kind of like the new album (how's that for a qualified endorsement?) although I think the lyrics to the song "New York" may be Madge's dumbest yet...

Real! Live! Kittens!

Weekend was lovely … it started with a really relaxing Friday night watching the Kings game and some TiVo-ed shows, eating Trader Joe’s Portobello ravioli and then sipping on coffee with Kahlua. Saturday, I was supposed to help a friend move but she had it all squared away so I instead tended to my own home front, cleaning and organizing and airing the out the house by opening all the windows and generally enjoying the day. That night we went to see Walk the Line, which I thought was really good if not quite spectacular. Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon in particular were great but the way they constructed the story felt formulaic to me. No bothers, I still enjoyed it.

Sunday we went to San Francisco and hit up Amoeba where I purchased the following:

Aqualung: Strangeand Beautiful

The Ponys: Castle Celebration

CocoRosie: Noah's Ark

After we hustled over to Union Square to check out the new H&M store. It was nearly 6pm – just an hour before closing – and I honestly thought we’d probably avoid the mad frenxy of excited H&M shoppers.

I was wrong. The place was crazy busy and they had people at the door counting the number of people going in and out so that the store didn’t get too crowded. Of course it felt too crowded and kudos to Cory for putting up with the crush of frenetic shoppers in a store that was blasting its furnace on a 70-degree day. When all was said and done I walked away with a cute green coat, a sweater and a skirt.

We followed that up with dinner at Kuleto’s where we dined on the most amazing butternut squash and sweet potato ravioli in sage butter with hazelnuts. Seriously, we both got this dish because it sounded so yummy and we were not disappointed. It was both sweet and savory and very rich and filling.

On the way back to the car we walked by the Macy’s window display where I experienced the highlight of my entire weekend.

Kittens!

They’ve got several windows made up as little rooms and they’re stocked with cute Real! Live! Kittens! doing wonderful things like playing and napping and eating. (No pooping as far as I could tell – they must rotate out the kittens on a very regular basis). The window displays are sponsored by the SPCA – I’m not sure if that means the kitties are up for adoption but let me tell you, if they are – it’s a brilliant ploy. Those window fronts were jam-packed with weary shoppers laughing and smiling and lusting for kitty love.

I want a kitten but the two adult cats at home are probably not in the mood for a new sister or brother.

Sigh.

Short week up ahead, thank goodness. It’s all I can do to deal with this place. I’m ready to put November to bed and kickstart December and having next week off from work will be the best way to do this.

Oh, also, starting Dec. 7 I'm going to attempt to get off my blogging ass and participate in Holidailies. I didn't do it last year but in 2003, I found that it was a really interesting way to keep me writing - forcing me to think and compose during the busiest time of the year. It really made me enjoy blogging again and, as this year winds down and I'm feeling a bit blah and creatively empty, that's what I'm going for once more.

Why? Because clearly I'm crazy and holiday shopping, cooking, socializing, wrapping, cleaning, organizing and decorating (oh yeah, and work) is not enough to keep me busy.

My crappy camera phone does not convey the awesome-ness that is fourth row seats for the Paul McCartney show...

So just trust me....great seats, although some did complain of the loudness. Not me. I'm deaf as it is.

Also: I feel as if I have not slept in days - and mostly likely look it too. But only a week until my 10-day vacation begins. Ten days of just hanging out and not feeling rushed and maybe getting caught up around the house and for the holidays. I plan to do some pre-holiday test-kitchen baking, shopping, cleaning, organizing and maybe even some old-fashioned relaxing.

Next time on Writegrrrl: actual content. Mayyyyybe.

skimmed

Debit card update (via Sacbee.com):

More than 1,300 Sacramento-area debit-card holders had their cards canceled this week after banking officials discovered what appears to be international fraud involving hijacked card numbers...


Golden 1 Credit Union said it canceled about 1,300 of its 480,000 debit cards as a precautionary measure after being alerted to possible fraud in the Sacramento area. In an e-mail, the giant credit union told customers that the fraud operation resulted in "counterfeit cards being made and used internationally." ...

The case involves "card skimming" at an unidentified Sacramento-area merchant, said Teresa Halleck, Golden 1's chief executive.

I'm trying to figure out the merchant, but I think the only two places I've used my card in the last few days are Trader Joe's and the Post Office...in fact, I'm pretty damn sure of that.

a case of the Thursdays...

File under: Things that suck about today:

• Tried to use my ATM card at the Co-Op and was rejected


• Called bank to find out WTF was going on - found out card was shut down due to a merchant error that caused 1500 cards to be jeopardized, security-wise


• Was told new card would arrive by sometime next week


• Left to wonder when the hell the bank was going to call and tell me this - if at all


• Missed important phone call while on phone to bank


• Enrolled in new health plan and realized that not only would it cost twice as much to keep my current coverage but that enrolling in the second-rate, second-choice coverage will still cost me more than what I'm paying now


• The empty feeling that comes with realizing that being a card-carrying adult is really not all that it's cracked up to be

File under: Some things to which to look forward:

• The Thirty-ish club's monthly night out (tomorrow night


• Art Second Saturday


• Sunday morning flea market and farmers market


• Death Cab for Cutie Sunday night - because I seriously need some emo-whinery right now

karma?

So, yeah – last night’s game royally sucked…the Kings started out well and then fizzled and then almost caught up – coming within four points – and then they just imploded.

They lost by a million points (OK, 14) and yes they looked awful out there but it nonetheless amazes me how many people choose to leave before the game is over – before the fourth quarter is even half over. I’m sorry, but that just makes you a poor loser – and a stupid one too if you paid as much as we did for our seats.

Speaking of stupid – Cory sent me this MSNBC story this morning about the ghetto images used during a Detroit Pistons pre-game montage.

When the Detroit Pistons were introduced before Tuesday night’s game, the Arco Arena scoreboard flashed images of abandoned buildings, burned-out cars — nearly every outdated, offensive stereotype of their hometown.

How offensive, embarrassing and stupid. Cory and I kind of saw the montage but neither of really realized what the images were – the pictures were dark and somewhat grainy and hard to make out. I thought they were just really poorly taken photos of downtown streets – I couldn’t make out that the buildings were abandoned, etc. Honestly, I wasn’t even paying that much attention because I was trying to look at the players on the floor (Tayshaun Prince: Be still my beating heart…)

Cory, who has much better eyesight than me and is also much better at paying attention, says he realized what the images were – but didn’t realize it was Detroit. He thought that, for some inexplicable reason, they were showing images of a Katrina-ravaged New Orleans.

But to later realize that that is what was on the screen as the announcer introduced the Pistons – it makes me ill. According to a Maloofs spokesperson, the person who put the montage together and/or decided to air it has yet to be identified – but once that person is there will be “immediate discipline.”

I say that person deserves nothing short of being fired - and although the Kings players weren't responsible, perhaps it's karma that we got the ass-whooping that we did...

diamond life

Just sitting here listening to the new Neil Diamond record which sounds pretty good - a very nice record for a rainy day: Open and airy and quiet.

Tonight is the opening home game for the Kings (against Detroit) and I'm very excited - especially after Sunday's nailbiting win against Phoenix....We have lower level tickets and I expect a wonderful chaos - the kind that makes you willing to put up with rude people and insane traffic.

Still mourning the end of a very nice weekend - the kind in which one both relaxes and gets off one's ass...one of the highlights was Olivia Coelho & Tim Tinker's art reception at Fools Foundation. Be sure to stop by there this Saturday to check out the groovy art collab - it comes equipped with an art cheat sheet!

Other fun things this weekend: A family reunion of sorts at my aunt's amazing property in El Dorado Hills, breakfast with Laura and ice cream at Gunther's....

But, back to the present. Voted at lunch time and did not get my ceremonial "I voted!" sticker...they ran out or something and I feel a bit cheated. But, whatever...

So does anybody out there have any thoughts about all the hoo-ha surrounding Maureen Dowd's New York Times magazine cover story last week? (No link to said story because the archived piece is already locked unless you want to dish out $3.95 ... which I don't.) I finally got around to reading it this weekend and did find myself shaking my head more than once at some of her observances regarding the so-called death of feminism - then again, I have met women who really are consumed by the quest for the right husband and will do anything to acheive said quest.

Anyway, according to Salon's front page story today, the Times severely chopped and screwed Dowd's piece - it was excerpted from her new book Are Men Necessary? (out today) - so that it came off as a mish-mash reshash of trend stories and woe-to-all-you-hairy-armpitted-feminists-who-fought-so-hard-for-our-rights.

I'm very interested in reading the entire book to see what her actual thesis and ideas are...I'm generally a Dowd fan although she does have some annoying quirks - not the least of which is her ability to try and play up her "clever' tendencies...

Because I do believe that feminism is dead among a certain class of women - but the question is how many of those women are out there and how much power do they have?

Barack Obama alert! The Illinois senator appears tonight on The Daily Show.

Also, I am glad that CNN is finally recognizing Anderson Cooper for the news god that he is. (Lost Remote).

Hooray.

waking hours

My iPod seems to have the right idea this morning - mixing Jawbreaker with Brokeback, Kings of Convenience and Japancakes. Bitter and angry and aggressive smoothed out by the soothing calm.

Last night we tried to go to Masons for dinner but there was an hour and a half wait and, judging by the way the hostess smiled at us with pity, we were dumb-asses to not make reservations on a Wednesday night. Whatevs...we ended up at Nishiki and it was just alright but at least we got in and I love the vegetable tempura roll and so that was that.

And the Kings? Well they lost again, but not so bad this time - in fact they really did fight the good fight against a good team for most of the game so my faith continues to hold strong.

Work is very quiet right now and now Iron & Wine is playing and apparently my iPod just wants to go back to bed too.

on imploding and wanting to hide ...

Busy one again. So, SO busy.

Also feel a cold tickling in my nose, throat and head...

Stressed.

Things that will happen that will hopefully help:

Dinner tonight with Kim. Masons, I think.
Weekend birthdays and family reunions.
King's opening home game next Tuesday - tickets! I'm just going to pretend that last night's debacle never happened.

Also:

Hot miso soup on a chilly afternoon
A fully-charged iPod powering through the "indie" genre selection (Sufjan, Dressy Bessy, Rilo Kiley, Iron & Wine , Yo La Tengo, etc)
New hardwood floors in the office can't wait until they're done.

Also:

This weekend we watched some the Beavis & Butthead first season DVD with Bobby & Claire. Mostly we watched the music videos and thusly decided that this is what is now missing from society: a snarky, dumb-ass show that calls bullshit on all the cliched music videos.

Also:

I feel like something's got to give. My life -even post-school - is just getting crazier and since I'm not really in the position to quit my job, I need to figure out something that will help to ease the load and the stress- especially as we go full-force into the holiday season.

I've thought about becoming an anti-social hermit but that seems so, well, extreme