Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Two Random Tales
1. Conversations with John's Grandma
John's grandma is one of the most unintentionally funny people I know. Yesterday over dinner she brought up that she heard we got cats and that she doesn't like cats. and the conversation played out like this
Gma--who is going to take care of the cats when you go out of town?
Me--John will
Gma--You think HE can take care of the cats
Me--Well Grandma he has to learn sometime. I figure he'll learn with the cats for when we have kids.
Gma--You should've gotten a plant!
2. The Wierdest Dinner Ever
So John and I head to this Indian restaurant in Tallahassee (Wine & Curry). It's actually a restaurant /Piano Bar. Now I don't know how they stay in business because the two times we have been there the place was just empty. The first time, our service was awful, they were so slow which was wierd since it was empty. The second time well...
It started when we walked in and sat down the old guy (as he shall be called for the tale) seats us without menus and then takes a good five minutes to get them to us.
After we look over the menus we decide what we want. Eventually he crawls back to our table. There were literally three tables of people (each with two people) and yet it still took a while. I ask how many samosas come with an order and he says two. John and I converse for a second and we both really want samosas so we ask for two orders. Old guy looks at us and says, "No, that's too much, just get one." NOW I am just a lil shocked and John and I converse again and I spit out "No we really want two orders." Old guy relents, we order our entrees and then he says. "You will have water" and leaves our table. Drink options were not a choice this evening. The rest of the service was slow and terrible, culminating in John having to flag down Old Guy and talk across the restaurant to get his attention. We saw another table literally get up and ask him for the check to his face. We won't be going back.
(1) comments
1. Conversations with John's Grandma
John's grandma is one of the most unintentionally funny people I know. Yesterday over dinner she brought up that she heard we got cats and that she doesn't like cats. and the conversation played out like this
Gma--who is going to take care of the cats when you go out of town?
Me--John will
Gma--You think HE can take care of the cats
Me--Well Grandma he has to learn sometime. I figure he'll learn with the cats for when we have kids.
Gma--You should've gotten a plant!
2. The Wierdest Dinner Ever
So John and I head to this Indian restaurant in Tallahassee (Wine & Curry). It's actually a restaurant /Piano Bar. Now I don't know how they stay in business because the two times we have been there the place was just empty. The first time, our service was awful, they were so slow which was wierd since it was empty. The second time well...
It started when we walked in and sat down the old guy (as he shall be called for the tale) seats us without menus and then takes a good five minutes to get them to us.
After we look over the menus we decide what we want. Eventually he crawls back to our table. There were literally three tables of people (each with two people) and yet it still took a while. I ask how many samosas come with an order and he says two. John and I converse for a second and we both really want samosas so we ask for two orders. Old guy looks at us and says, "No, that's too much, just get one." NOW I am just a lil shocked and John and I converse again and I spit out "No we really want two orders." Old guy relents, we order our entrees and then he says. "You will have water" and leaves our table. Drink options were not a choice this evening. The rest of the service was slow and terrible, culminating in John having to flag down Old Guy and talk across the restaurant to get his attention. We saw another table literally get up and ask him for the check to his face. We won't be going back.
Monday, November 28, 2005
We are owned
This weekend the population of my small household doubled in size. John and I are now proudly owned by two cats.
First I had no idea that the cat adoption process had become so complicated. As I looked up animals shelters the processes all involved an application (expected), a visit with the foster families? and then an inspection of our home. Apparently, cats are not kept in shelters in Tallahassee, they are fostered out to people who take care of them until they are adopted.
So I decided to take it to the newspaper, figuring someone had to be giving away some kittens. I did see an add for a woman looking for a home for two velvet black cats. In my head bells went off, my first cat, Samantha, was a velvet black cat and she came with her brother, Darren (who looked exactly the same). I called the woman and we talked. She told me the story of the cats. Here it is:
Annabelle Lee was a pregnant cat when some FAMU students left her behind in their apartment after moving out. I have to believe that the students thought that she would be found quickly or maybe they didn't know she was there. Either way she had the kittens in the apartment and was locked in there for a week, just drinking out of the toilet, until she was found. The landlord called cat-woman (what I am calling the woman we got her from) and cat woman rescued them. The kittens were in a sorry state but she nursed them back to health and found homes for all but one. SO now cat woman has Annabelle Lee and Domino (Annabelle's daughter) and wants a new home for them (they have already tried being adopted once and the situation didn't work out).
John and I get to her house Saturday and in total cat woman has six cats (three foster, three are hers). However, you cannot tell there is a single cat in this house aside from the toys. She had air filters everywhere and they really worked. So Annabelle Lee and Domino check John and I out play with us and give us the stamp of approval. The next day, yesterday, cat-woman comes over, checks out our house, gives us her stamp of approval and lets the cats out of the cage. Cat-woman was super and gave us a ton of stuff (a scratch post, some toys and twenty pounds of food). She said goodbye to the Ladies (as I have dubbed them) and was off.
The ladies then hid. They hid for twelve hours until they decided to wake me up at 12:30 because that, apparently, is a great play time. Annabelle Lee (yes she is named after the poem, no I didn't name them) is still under our bed and hopefully will come out soon. Domino, who looks almost exactly like Samantha, has taken over the house. They meowed all night (probably looking for their "lost" friends) and John and I didn't get enough sleep. I am so happy they are here though and will figure out how to post pictures just so I can put a pic of them up.
(1) comments
This weekend the population of my small household doubled in size. John and I are now proudly owned by two cats.
First I had no idea that the cat adoption process had become so complicated. As I looked up animals shelters the processes all involved an application (expected), a visit with the foster families? and then an inspection of our home. Apparently, cats are not kept in shelters in Tallahassee, they are fostered out to people who take care of them until they are adopted.
So I decided to take it to the newspaper, figuring someone had to be giving away some kittens. I did see an add for a woman looking for a home for two velvet black cats. In my head bells went off, my first cat, Samantha, was a velvet black cat and she came with her brother, Darren (who looked exactly the same). I called the woman and we talked. She told me the story of the cats. Here it is:
Annabelle Lee was a pregnant cat when some FAMU students left her behind in their apartment after moving out. I have to believe that the students thought that she would be found quickly or maybe they didn't know she was there. Either way she had the kittens in the apartment and was locked in there for a week, just drinking out of the toilet, until she was found. The landlord called cat-woman (what I am calling the woman we got her from) and cat woman rescued them. The kittens were in a sorry state but she nursed them back to health and found homes for all but one. SO now cat woman has Annabelle Lee and Domino (Annabelle's daughter) and wants a new home for them (they have already tried being adopted once and the situation didn't work out).
John and I get to her house Saturday and in total cat woman has six cats (three foster, three are hers). However, you cannot tell there is a single cat in this house aside from the toys. She had air filters everywhere and they really worked. So Annabelle Lee and Domino check John and I out play with us and give us the stamp of approval. The next day, yesterday, cat-woman comes over, checks out our house, gives us her stamp of approval and lets the cats out of the cage. Cat-woman was super and gave us a ton of stuff (a scratch post, some toys and twenty pounds of food). She said goodbye to the Ladies (as I have dubbed them) and was off.
The ladies then hid. They hid for twelve hours until they decided to wake me up at 12:30 because that, apparently, is a great play time. Annabelle Lee (yes she is named after the poem, no I didn't name them) is still under our bed and hopefully will come out soon. Domino, who looks almost exactly like Samantha, has taken over the house. They meowed all night (probably looking for their "lost" friends) and John and I didn't get enough sleep. I am so happy they are here though and will figure out how to post pictures just so I can put a pic of them up.
Sunday, November 20, 2005
"If I have a little money saved up, I buy books. If I have a little left over, I buy food"
I have been in New York since last saturday. I spent the whole week working on this massive oppoisition to summary judgment AND being reminded why I moved to Florida. Yes, I love my friends but being away from New York is good for my mental health and well being.
While I am here I am on a quest to find a "good" book on the Nuremberg trials. A book I can assign that won't bore my students to death. It has been too difficult to find one book. Any suggestions? The problem with the book thing is that book publishers will not send a professor a desk copy unless the professor assigns the book. I don't know which book I want to assign so I am paying for this out of pocket. Hopefully my class is continuing and this is a one time expense issue that I am going through. Either way I have picked up three Holocaust related books; a book on those that aided Holocaust victims (to make me feel better), a book on Holocaust perpetraitor (and "how" it happened) and one book on the trials. However the book is more on psychology than law. I need a book that explains the law.
I also got a book on Rwanda, that I have read but have never bought, and another book by Barbara Kingsolver. If you have never read her book The Bean Trees, you should. It is amazingly written and heart wrenching (and in my opinion waaaaaaaay better than the Poisonwood Bible).
I have so much reading I have to do. It is crazy and exciting.
(0) comments
I have been in New York since last saturday. I spent the whole week working on this massive oppoisition to summary judgment AND being reminded why I moved to Florida. Yes, I love my friends but being away from New York is good for my mental health and well being.
While I am here I am on a quest to find a "good" book on the Nuremberg trials. A book I can assign that won't bore my students to death. It has been too difficult to find one book. Any suggestions? The problem with the book thing is that book publishers will not send a professor a desk copy unless the professor assigns the book. I don't know which book I want to assign so I am paying for this out of pocket. Hopefully my class is continuing and this is a one time expense issue that I am going through. Either way I have picked up three Holocaust related books; a book on those that aided Holocaust victims (to make me feel better), a book on Holocaust perpetraitor (and "how" it happened) and one book on the trials. However the book is more on psychology than law. I need a book that explains the law.
I also got a book on Rwanda, that I have read but have never bought, and another book by Barbara Kingsolver. If you have never read her book The Bean Trees, you should. It is amazingly written and heart wrenching (and in my opinion waaaaaaaay better than the Poisonwood Bible).
I have so much reading I have to do. It is crazy and exciting.
Monday, November 07, 2005
Just a good weekend
I have been rather busy of late--I need to get some projects done before I head to New York and moving is still a pain BUT I had the most lovely weekend...
My friend Keith came down from Atlanta. It is so nice to have the room for a guest and so nice to have a guest that I hadn't seen in three years. Keith is like a younger brother to me, I adopted him when he landed in my brother's fraternity. I loved the fact that him and John got along so well. And John's grandma cooked for us which was just great. There were times when the two guys were hanging out that I felt like I didn't need to be around and frankly, I felt totally comfortable going to sleep while they watched ultimate fighting (which is a digustingly brutal sport, but way more honest than boxing).
We headed down to Railroad Square for First Fridays, which I had never been to. Railroad Square is Tallahassee's artist niche and I love it down there. On the first friday of every month all the galleries are open and they serve wine and cheese and snacks. There are these two artist, whose names I can never remember, who are just churning out some incredible stuff. One of them lets his little girl participate and instead of making the work look like a child's scribbles....it just brings out a level of honesty. They are almost picasso esk with tons of things going on in the canvas (think Guernica and a little bit added) and the scribbles don't look like intrusions. It is so tough to explain. On a good note the artist are charging what there work is worth (which a lot of artist don't). Since they are charging that I can't afford it....sigh
I had a new friend with me and she bought a friend and that made it even cooler. Ooh on another note someone painted this AMAZING painting of the White House. I think they used oils and acrylics but the entire painting was done in pitch black. It was such a powerful statement.
The rest of the night we spent home watching TV and hanging out with our friend Eric who is insanely funny and lovingly wonderful and all around makes me feel glad that I live here. It is interesting, he remains me a lot of Omar (in that he makes fun of everything, not in that they are both large Filipino men) and I sometimes think that is why I feel so comfortable around him. I guess we see bits of our old friends in our new friends or else we wouldn't want them to be our friends....comprende? Either way E is a crack up and when I left the guys to crash I did it with a smile.
Saturday was grits and bacon and eggs, with a little cooking tutorial from Keith. We went to Big Lots and picked up my (by my I mean belonging to me and John) new entertainment center and bar (both pieces for wonderful prices). Once I finish putting the damn entertainment center together the living room will be mostly done because Keith was nice enough to put together the bar. Always wonderful to have an engineer around. The three of us then went to the FAMU games. Going to FAMU games is really about the marching band so we left after half time and went to Barnhill. If you don't know Barnhill is a southern buffet, but a good one. I had candied yams, fried catfish, collard greens, cheddar biscuits, mashed potatos, green beans and sweet tea. SOOOOO good. We worked it all off dancing at Atlantis which was a great time. The new friend came and while some other folk didn't, the four of us had SUCH a good time. I really really felt like I could live here forever. They played Salsa, merengue, bachata, reggaeton...my feet still hurt. The drinks leave something to be desired but I don't care I haven't danced like that in such a long time.
And since I danced liked that Sunday we went to another buffet for brunch. I am not detailing what I ate but it was damn good and kept me so full that I only ate corn for dinner that night. Keith motored out, John and I picked up my new computer (the experience being a story in and off itself). Stopped by to see the grandparents and then went to the parents for dinner. Dinner is always good and I began teaching the new puppy how to fetch. New puppy (JC) and I have some differences (he is a cocker spaniel and I am afraid in a few years he won't be good with kids) but he is a really beautiful dog and you can tell he is smart but he is definatly a puppy (9 months old to be precise). Came home, got some work done and since I got 4.5 hours of sleep the night before I went to bed way to early. I have to make myself stay up later tonight because waking up at 4:44 a.m. is not cool.
The weekend however was great.
(1) comments
I have been rather busy of late--I need to get some projects done before I head to New York and moving is still a pain BUT I had the most lovely weekend...
My friend Keith came down from Atlanta. It is so nice to have the room for a guest and so nice to have a guest that I hadn't seen in three years. Keith is like a younger brother to me, I adopted him when he landed in my brother's fraternity. I loved the fact that him and John got along so well. And John's grandma cooked for us which was just great. There were times when the two guys were hanging out that I felt like I didn't need to be around and frankly, I felt totally comfortable going to sleep while they watched ultimate fighting (which is a digustingly brutal sport, but way more honest than boxing).
We headed down to Railroad Square for First Fridays, which I had never been to. Railroad Square is Tallahassee's artist niche and I love it down there. On the first friday of every month all the galleries are open and they serve wine and cheese and snacks. There are these two artist, whose names I can never remember, who are just churning out some incredible stuff. One of them lets his little girl participate and instead of making the work look like a child's scribbles....it just brings out a level of honesty. They are almost picasso esk with tons of things going on in the canvas (think Guernica and a little bit added) and the scribbles don't look like intrusions. It is so tough to explain. On a good note the artist are charging what there work is worth (which a lot of artist don't). Since they are charging that I can't afford it....sigh
I had a new friend with me and she bought a friend and that made it even cooler. Ooh on another note someone painted this AMAZING painting of the White House. I think they used oils and acrylics but the entire painting was done in pitch black. It was such a powerful statement.
The rest of the night we spent home watching TV and hanging out with our friend Eric who is insanely funny and lovingly wonderful and all around makes me feel glad that I live here. It is interesting, he remains me a lot of Omar (in that he makes fun of everything, not in that they are both large Filipino men) and I sometimes think that is why I feel so comfortable around him. I guess we see bits of our old friends in our new friends or else we wouldn't want them to be our friends....comprende? Either way E is a crack up and when I left the guys to crash I did it with a smile.
Saturday was grits and bacon and eggs, with a little cooking tutorial from Keith. We went to Big Lots and picked up my (by my I mean belonging to me and John) new entertainment center and bar (both pieces for wonderful prices). Once I finish putting the damn entertainment center together the living room will be mostly done because Keith was nice enough to put together the bar. Always wonderful to have an engineer around. The three of us then went to the FAMU games. Going to FAMU games is really about the marching band so we left after half time and went to Barnhill. If you don't know Barnhill is a southern buffet, but a good one. I had candied yams, fried catfish, collard greens, cheddar biscuits, mashed potatos, green beans and sweet tea. SOOOOO good. We worked it all off dancing at Atlantis which was a great time. The new friend came and while some other folk didn't, the four of us had SUCH a good time. I really really felt like I could live here forever. They played Salsa, merengue, bachata, reggaeton...my feet still hurt. The drinks leave something to be desired but I don't care I haven't danced like that in such a long time.
And since I danced liked that Sunday we went to another buffet for brunch. I am not detailing what I ate but it was damn good and kept me so full that I only ate corn for dinner that night. Keith motored out, John and I picked up my new computer (the experience being a story in and off itself). Stopped by to see the grandparents and then went to the parents for dinner. Dinner is always good and I began teaching the new puppy how to fetch. New puppy (JC) and I have some differences (he is a cocker spaniel and I am afraid in a few years he won't be good with kids) but he is a really beautiful dog and you can tell he is smart but he is definatly a puppy (9 months old to be precise). Came home, got some work done and since I got 4.5 hours of sleep the night before I went to bed way to early. I have to make myself stay up later tonight because waking up at 4:44 a.m. is not cool.
The weekend however was great.
Wednesday, November 02, 2005
Okay
I've been very busy the past few days moving from our tiny one bedroom one bath to a three bedroom 2.5 bath apartment. I love this new place. It is right by a lake and has so many neat stores within walking distance. It is so nice to actually have an office that is its own room. It can also serve as a guest room (hint hint to all you poets out there).
I also have some contract work I need to get going on but today is my birthday. So how am I celebrating....I am geek so I am letting myself prepare the syllabus for my first two days of class. I am also letting myself forget about moving for the day. I've decided the world will not end because the kitchen in the old place has to be clean.
And that is it. Life is good and for that I am truly thankful.
(4) comments
I've been very busy the past few days moving from our tiny one bedroom one bath to a three bedroom 2.5 bath apartment. I love this new place. It is right by a lake and has so many neat stores within walking distance. It is so nice to actually have an office that is its own room. It can also serve as a guest room (hint hint to all you poets out there).
I also have some contract work I need to get going on but today is my birthday. So how am I celebrating....I am geek so I am letting myself prepare the syllabus for my first two days of class. I am also letting myself forget about moving for the day. I've decided the world will not end because the kitchen in the old place has to be clean.
And that is it. Life is good and for that I am truly thankful.
