Travel

Euro snippet #1

/ lintqueen / Leave a comment

So we were in Luxembourg (I’m sure one of those photos is of Luxembourg  ;-) having eaten at a really neat restaurant called Chiggeri where we had gratins with cheese-of-your-choosing (St. Something-or-other-for-me, Rebluchon for Jeff) — mmmmmmm — and had gone to get ice cream (actually we were after italian “ice”, but found something that wasn’t quite that) when we heard a band playing.  It was a swing band and the tune was familiar.  Very familiar.

It was Radar Love(1), by Golden Earring.  Truly surreal.  And pretty darn good, actually… translates nicely to a swing band.

(1) Ok, I admit it, I thought it was “Red Hot Love”… I know that it is was Radar Love, but apparently it’s filed in my head under Red Hot Love.

Whew.

/ lintqueen / 4 Comments

Ze photos.  Zey are up.

Commentary (maybe) to follow.

All passengers on board — departing soon!

/ lintqueen / 5 Comments

So a goodly part of this week and this past weekend (after the Aimee Mann show(1), which was fabulous) has been devoted to getting ready for the Europe trip, for which we depart on Friday!! We start in Heidelberg, as always, to pick up and pack the bike (and recuperate from the trip a bit), then moving on to Antwerp, where a good friends of Jeff’s, Carlo and Gabi live (that’s Gabi in the front of the boat, with her son, Tomas, behind her). We’re staying in the city center, and I intend on shopping most mightily. And eating frites. Lots of frites.

At some point during the Antwerp bit we’ll probably take the bike to Bruges for a day, as it is supposed to be lovely and it’s only an hour and a quarter away.

Then on to Spa, where we hope to be able to have Spa treatments, but at worst we’ll have spa baths. (Scheduling mishap on my part — I didn’t think to make reservations far in advance, which I’m normally quite anal about). Oh well. Worst worst case, we’ll do something like the Castle at Rochefort or Chimay (aka Trappist ale land).

On Thursday, the rest of the gang shows up. This year will be a big one, as it’s the 10th anniversary of EP, with folks coming from Switzerland, Germany, USA, Japan (1), Spain, Portugal, Italy, UK, The Netherlands, Belgium, France, Sweden and Ecuador! Needless to say, I can’t wait. I’m not as anxious as in years previous, as I feel like I know folks, and I’m quite glad to be seeing everyone again.

Post-EP we head for Luxembourg for two nights, after which I fly home and Jeff continues on to ride unencumbered for a week more.

The good news about the getting ready is that my comprehensive list (which I update every year with learnings from the year previous) makes everything pretty simple, even though the logistics of preparing for a motorcycle trip can be complex (you have all the normal packing issues, with the additional constraint of everything having to fit in a small waterproof duffel. Add to that the fact that the “gear” is critical — and also complicated — and the whole thing has the potential to be a nightmare.)

______

In other news, one of my cow-orkers (thanks thebrooomecloset for the terminology) has a cell phone that’s set to play Reveille (you know, the “I can’t get’em up, I can’t get’em up, I can’t get’em up in the morning” song). In general, I think phones should ring, not sing (particularly as they do it so poorly), and in specific, phones should NEVER do this.

(1) The Aimee Mann show was wonderful! Heather and Steve met Jeff and me at the Wellspring (I refuse to call it Whole Foods) to procure foodstuffs. Two loaves of bread, chicken salad, hummus, three kinds of cheese, three kinds of meat, strawberries, cherries and mini-desserts later, we headed out for the show. Product endorsement: I have one of those rolling cooler thingies (that’s not the exact model I have…mine was cheaper at Target) and it ROCKS! Also highly recommended are the chairs that have backpack straps (not the ones that come in the green bags… I don’t like those one bit, as they’re too tall) — they’re low, portable and have a great big pocket on the back into which you can stuff more goodies.

Anyway, she was great. At one point someone hollered “Free Bird” and she joked about wishing she knew how to play it, but then went on to play something else. Much later in the show (during the encore?) she was hemming and hawing (but in a cute way) about what to play and someone (perhaps even the same one) hollered “Free Bird” again.

And she started to play it! Or something like it. She was clearly making it up as she went along (geez! I wish I could play *any* instrument by ear!), so her version contained the hilarious lyric: “You can’t tame a bird” rather than the “And this bird you cannot tame.”

She also was tres amused by the spinney flashy light things and asked the light-bearers (which sounds a whole lot more profound than “drunken concert-goers”) to do an “interpretive dance” to the next song. They did, which apparently surprised her — so much so that she started laughing three times at the beginning of “Deathly” (I think that was it, anyway), and had to scold herself: “be a serious artist now” :-D

NYC, part III (or II, if you’re not counting the Star Wars thing)

/ lintqueen / 6 Comments

Thursday I headed downtown again to meet my friend Buzzy for dinner and to see the show Alterboyz (real website seems to be hosed, oops). The PATH train took less time than expected so I went around the corner from the Christopher Street station and had The Best Manicure Ever. (If this sort of thing doesn’t interest you — which may very well be everyone but me — tune out temporarily, but I have to write this down so I’ll remember it for next time). Nails were trimmed to correct length, filed so that there were no scratchy bits (tough being that my nails are naturally flimsy and prone to splittage), and painted with base coat, two color coats and top coat. Whenever a little bit got on the ski (inevitable), the nice lady used the tip of her nail (dipped in nail polish remover) to clean it off. End result: perfect nails. Happy Gina.

Nails done, I headed back to the station to meet Buzzy. He and I wandered around Greenwich Village (I think) for a while, browsing (many cute stores) and trying to find a suitable place for dinner. We happened upon a little cafe, wherein I had a wonderful proscuttio and swiss with pesto mayonnaise on Italian bread sandwich. Mmmmm. Will look up place for reference, as it was really delicious (service kinda stank, but I wasn’t in a fussy mood, so I wasn’t incredibly bothered) — ah, wait, here it is Cafe Rafaella) . Then onto Alterboyz, which was fun. Some of the music wasn’t my style (hip-hop, I suppose it was), but anything where there’s five-part harmony is pretty fine by me, so most of it I liked. After the show we wandered around a bit more before Buzzy ever-so-gallantly took me all the way back to the PATH stop so I could find my way home.

Late Friday afternoon, I headed into town for some shopping in the “Fashion District” — not for clothes, mind you, but for beads and buttons and bits with which to make things. I found a wonderful stash of “old stock” (vintage but never used) Swarovski crystals, which called to me so loudly that I had to take some of them home. They’re stunning, but a bit tricky as the back is actually pointed (trivia: this is called a Chaton shape, as opposed to a Flat-Back, which are far more common. I dunno how I’m going to mount these…

Then I met compositeur and Buzzy for drinks at Splash (I’d link to the website, but it’s most definitely not work safe), a very happening gay bar. Drinks were two-for-one (and I can’t resist a bargain), so I had (tasty) cosmopolitans served by a half-naked barman. Since Perry and Buzzy are both from Raleigh and both love music there was plenty to talk about and it was great fun catching up with them both.

After dinner, I toddled down to Craftbar, the little sister of Craft (websites are down) where Jeff and I had reservations at eight. Dinner was very rich, and per norm, I think my eyes were bigger than my head, as the risotto I had for an appetizer, duck with figs I had for dinner and apple tart I had for dessert left me full-to-nearly-bursting. Jeff had a fried softshell crab for an appetizer, rabbit for dinner (don’t remember what was with the rabbit though) and ?? for dessert. Very lame description of the meal, I know, but honestly, the two cosmos and glass and a half of wine I had on an almost empty stomach made the whole thing a bit hazy. Good. But hazy.

Saturday I shopped. I found Mood Fabrics, which had an absolutely astonishing assortment of incredible fabrics and spent two and a half hours there just drooling. Silk satins, the most amazing variety of woolens (I found a beautiful green/turquoise herringbone-ish pattern that desperately wants to become a gored skirt), leathers, prints (on 60″ rolls!)…oh the wanting. I restrained myself (at least a bit) and only bought five pieces.

Then on to MJ Trims for buttons and clasps (just a few, really). Finally, I met Jeff at Spadium, the Korean day spa that we visited for the first time back in October. I <3 this place. The routine runs somethign like this: shower, dry sauna, steam sauna, hot tub, cold tub, scrubbing, face mask, more scrubbing, more face mask, massage, milk rinse, hair wash, hair conditioning, shower again. Here’s the amazing bit: showering is just about the only thing you do for yourself — everything else is done for/to you. I came out with all new soft-and-nice-smelling skin. And, whoa, Nellie! A BARGAIN! < $100 for the whole thing, which was several hours of pampering!

Surreal spa moment: when my nice not-much-English-speaking masseuse started humming Amazing Grace. I hummed too. Love that song.

Sunday was (mostly) a day of rest except for the six hours that I helped Jeff pull cables. Lessons learned:

    • It is more than a little difficult for someone who’s slightly dyslexic and fairly “spatially challenged” to correctly diagram existing cable layouts. All those cords, all the same color, all twisting and turning and getting muddled about…eeek. Problem exacerbated by the fact that the numbers were like: 01-02-02 12 vs. 01-01-02 12. Problem further exacerbated by the fact that if you don’t know *how* any given data will be used, it’s hard to ensure that the data are recorded in a useful fashion.
    • For someone who *likes* pulling cable, a “3- or 4-hour” project can easily turn into a 5+ hour one
    • If you’re tired and sick of something and you think it’s cause you’re bored, check your watch. It could be that you’re tired and bored because you’ve been sitting waiting for cables to be pulled for 5+ hours.
    • If you wait until past 9:00 on a Sunday night to eat dinner, the sushi place will be closed. Also, as a corollary, the sushi place is always closed on Monday.

Monday we went into town again and found an adorable French cafe, complete with real French (smoking and everything ;-) Best salad nicoise I have had in *eons* — possibly since I was in France après high school (I dearly wish I could remember where that one was… that the memory of it persists almost two decades later…mmmm). For reference, the café was called “Le Quinze” which, in context, I believe may have had something to do with some sport, as the walls were covered with posters of “le football” and (other?) sports.

We also found (after some about of circumnavigation) Pearl Craft, which I had high hopes for based on Pearl Art; however, it was sadly lacking in much goodness, and was, in fact, less fun than your average Michael’s. :-(

Then airport & home. (BTW, this was *quite* the logistical undertaking. From Jeff’s apartment, we walked to the Path station, from which we took the train to Newark station. Lotsa walking in Newark station (including two ramps that couldn’t have been ADA-compliant), followed by an Amtrak train to Newark Airport. Walking more, then onto the airport train to the terminals. Then security. Then more walking to the actual gate area). Whew. Made me really thankful that Jeff actually comes home on weekends!

NYC

/ lintqueen / 1 Comment

Though it’s substantially colder here than what I packed for (highs seem to be in the low fifties, when weather.com told me last week while I was packing that it would be the low- to mid-70’s), I’m still having a swell time.

Sunday was a long travel day, but upon finally arriving I cheered up due to the immediate prospect of Japanese food (all I’d eaten so far was a handful of cereal and a Cinnabon …mmmmm…. cinnabon). Across the street from Jeff’s building (warning: possibly the worst website ever) is a great little place called Komegashi, where I got a noodle thing (cold soba) with tempura shrimp and a dipping sauce I cannot remember. Lesson for the future: just because the food comes on a little platform with a little bamboo mat across it, please do not assume that there’s a “floor” under the platform. Frustrated with trying to dip noodles into the dipping sauce, I dumped the dipping sauce on the noodles, where it rained down through the bamboo mat, onto the table and very nearly onto my lap. Oops.

Despite my sadness at misinterpreting the structural integrity of my plate, the evening was cheery in the end because we stopped at BABO, a tea house and gelateria — right across the street from Jeff’s place on the other corner!!! Life is *gooooooood*! I had “meringue” and mint chocolate chip and they were both marvelous … this place has excellent gelato.

Monday I worked. The VoIP stuff is behaving well, so telecommuting from here is really not much different than telecommuting from home, though it’s strange to be able to look out the window and see NYC. Monday night I decided that we must go experience Indian food in a neighborhood that all the Chowhounds said was chock-a-block with good Indian food (and is even apparently known as “little India!). So we caught took the Path (train)(1) two stops to Journal Square, walked a few blocks, and found *wonderful* food at Rasoi (where they were kind enough to make my Chicken Tikka Masala *very* very mild!). I’d also read on the Chowhound boards that an Indian ice cream shop was a must-visit, so even though we were bursting at the seams, we stopped in at a little ice cream shop where the owner apparently just wanted me to experience the full breadth of indian ice cream!

He said: “Today, you are the lucky ones. We will try all the ice creams. I will prepare for you a tasting…” and proceeded to lead me through tiny tasting spoon after tiny tasting spoon of indian eggless ice creams. Sometimes I knew the flavor (lychee= ick; pista=pistachio=mmmmmm), sometimes he could translate (gulkand=rose petals=WEIRD!!! Like eating perfume), and sometimes he knew the indian name and not the english translation (chicku=very odd), so I just tasted and enjoyed (or, in a few cases, not). The flavors that I was accustomed to (chocolate, english toffee, etc.) were very rich and quite good, but the fun was in trying the ones you wouldn’t find at the Harris Teeter.

I don’t know quite what I did to deserve such fine treatment, but when I finally decided on a large with english toffee and mango (thereby blending the familiar and comforting with the exotic and strange), he proceeded to add another two flavors to “make it look good” for me! I think I ended up with pistachio (it’s green at any rate) and some variant on the rose one. Because I was so full, I ended up taking most of it back to the apartment, where it awaits me (perhaps a snack this afternoon…)

Tuesday night we had a run of extremely good luck. After taking the ferry over to midtown, we discovered that there was a free-with-ferry-ride bus that would take us to 42nd (we had tickets to Spamalot on 44th). It was getting a bit late (already lmost 6 and the show started at 7) and I was getting a bit panicky about dinner, so we’d decided that when the bus stopped we’d just get off and find some quick (and hopefully cheap) eats to tide us over until after the show).

By some stroke of incredible good fortune the bus stopped right in front of (I think) Gray’s Papaya, the best “cheap eats” in all of NYC, according to many of the articles I’d read. Two hot dogs and a fruit smoothie for $2.75!

Then there’s Spamalot. LMAO! ROTFLOL!! And extremely surreal too, as Hank Azaria and David Hyde Pierce and Tim Curry spoke lines that I’ve heard (both watching the movie and recited by friends) hundreds of times. (caution: maybe some spoilers here, though I don’t think they really count, as all the reviews talk about the same thing, and we’re really not talking major plot twists here. Or even major plot, for that matter.) There were many references to other musicals (West Side Story, for instance) and performers (Liza Minnelli, I think) that all somehow got worked in to the somewhat re-directed plot about finding the grail and making a musical (!). Everyone could sing (which, I suppose, was to be expected, being that it was a musical and all, but I was still surprised when Tim Curry (as Lancelot) started really belting out a number (but then I realized that Rocky Horror Picture Show was also a musical!). Hank Azaria had many of the intrinsically funny and quotable bits, like the taunting French Knight, Tim the Sorcerer and the main Knight Who Formerly Said “Ni”). This worked exceptionally well, as Hank Azaria can do silly accents like no one’s business. One of the songs (“This is the Song that Goes Like This”) was a parody of the overwrought lovesong that’s found in most musicals (particularly those by Andrew Lloyd Webber) and contained one of my favorite verses ever:

And then we change the key!
Now we’re into E
That’s awfully high for me
But everyone can see
We should have stayed in D

I would see it again tonight if I could just to catch the bits I missed.

Post-show Jeff indulged me and we took the subway(2) to Serendipity (as featured in the John Cusack movie by the same name), where I had a frozen hot chocolate (honestly just a really good chocolate milkshake, but it was fun to go there, having seen the movie).

(1) I have discovered my personal trick to riding subway trains: stand perpendicular to the direction of the motion, preferably with a pole in front of you, though one to the side will also work). The reason this works (for me) is that most of the “jouncing” on trains is side-to-side as the train slews and careens on the track. By placing my feet shoulder width apart and orienting perpendicular to the motion, I absorb most of the back-and-forthing through the motion of my hips, which are quite accustomed to rocking side to side. When the train does abruptly brake or lurch forward, you still have that pole in front of you to grab onto to *and* my arms are stronger in this direction than they are when extended out to the side (or worse, over my head!). This discovery was a major revelation and has contributed greatly to my ongoing train comfort.

Interestingly, it doesn’t work for Jeff. My suspicion is that his hips don’t know how to rock-and-roll (he suffers from the curse of the white boy) and so he’s not effectively absorbing the motion.

(2) Subway signs LIE!!! Walking towards Spamalot, we passed a subway entrance that said you could take the R train from there. Upon leaving Spamalot I consulted my directions to get to Serendipity and noticed we could take the R to 60th & Lexington, get off, walk two blocks and we’d be there. So I directed Jeff back to the same subway entrance…

…where we walked down two flights of steps (which I still have to do one foot at a time, thanks to the bum knee), through, I dunno, *three* subterraneancity blocks, *down* another flight of stairs, down two rather steep ramps, through another block or so, then down an elevator (thank heavens we found the elevator) to reach the platform! The sign should have read something like “get on trains N and P right here or you can walk underground for a mile and get on train R”. Wow.

Tonight we see Star Wars. :-)

weekend update

/ lintqueen / 7 Comments

Thursday night my friend artykim and I drove down to Myrtle Beach for a “Girl’s Weekend” with Mary Jean (my roommate from high school) and three of her friends from Shelby (where she grew up), Linda, Susan and Becky. Kim and I yabbered the whole way down (except for the bit where we were slurping down our McFlurries — I <3 road trip food) *and* scored product goodness BIG TIME at a Walmart in, erm, Conway?, South Carolina (1).

Once at the beach, we proceded to get on with the main order of business, drinking. Two appletini’s and a bunch of catching up later, we fell into bed, exhausted, and slept for 10+ hours!

Friday, after a muffiny breakfast (and much needed coffee), we went for a golf cart ride around the resort, including a cruise by my most favorite house (which was on the market last summer when Jeff and I were there… for a measly $650,000ish :-O We also saw alligators (cute in a really ugly kind of way) and many many birds (most of which either Kim or Mary could identify, which was nifty).

Post-carting, Kim and I were bound and determined to get some beach time in, despite the fact that the weather was none-too-good to start with and the pressure was falling. We trundled off towards the beach (Mary was kind enough to drop us right at the beginning of the boardwalk for conservation-of-knee purposes) and, upon assembling the proper equipment (lovely, if heavy, beach chairs), started the beach-intensive portion of the vacation. We finally gave it up when the sky had darkened, the wind had starting blowing rather fiercely, we’d gotten a bit chilly, *and* Mary and Becky came down to the beach to fetch us as they’d seen the wetness coming.

Then the rain, rain, rain came down, down, down.

Eventually (feel free to insert “gabbing” during any unaccounted for periods of time in the narrative), we went to dinner at Bovine’s, a steakhouse, which is situated next to Devine’s, a seafood house, in the next little town over from Debordieu. We thought about writing the owners and telling them they should open a bar-b-que joint next door and call it Porcine’s, but then we remembered that we were in South Carolina and their idea of “bar-b-que” would not be the pulled pork which we knew and loved (we’re all North Carolinians, except for Kim, who has attained semi-native status at this point).

Back at the ranch, we made a giant vat of frozen lemon drop mix(2) and played board games. The first, called Sequence, was basically Tic-Tac-Toe with more variables, and the second, Taboo, is my favorite game ever. I have *many* words, which is a distinct advantage in Taboo.

Saturday (upon waking, late-ish, unsurprisingly, and seeing the rain, rain, rain come down, down, down) we decided to go shop, see a movie, have dinner and go to a dueling piano bar (really). We headed down to the outlet mall (where I scored a cute shirt and *fabulous* 50’s style dress [on UBER CLEARANCE!! 30% off the 40% off of the “Off Fifth” outlet price — yah me!] for a few hours, then on to Broadway at the Beach, a bizarre mash-up of mall, amusement park, restaurant row, bar strip, mini golf and movie theatre, where you can take the whole famdamily for a day’s fun (or so it would seem).

The movie was Monster in Law…it was ok, but not good enough I want to bother looking up a link for it. Then on to Landry’s, a pretty decent seafood restaurant (had fried oysters, which I’d have never known I’d like had it not been for ferociousbcycad, as I thought I hated oysters thanks to my one experience with raw (ew!) oysters with thebroomecloset… not his fault. His ex-girlfriend’s fault. ;-) Finally we rounded out the evening with a visit to Crocodile Rock (a dueling piano bar). Embarrassing admission: I *love* dueling piano bars.

It was an odd musical mix, though, as it apparently was Harley Bike Week at Myrtle and the bar was filled with hundreds of Harley guys and gals. The mix was heavy on the Southern Rock (Alabama, Skynard) and heavy metal/hard rock (Aerosmith, Poison). I did get them to play “Blister in the Sun” which was fun, and they did play some of the “classic” piano bar songs (“Piano Man” etc.), so it wasn’t all music I don’t entirely adore. That being said, the combination somewhat singable music, a fun bunch of girls and jello shooters served in giant faux syringes(3) turned out enormously well. We got home at 2:00am (it was an hour’s drive), and I had to pack, so I went to bed at 3:00am.

I got up at 8:30 to get ready to go to the airport (an hour away) for my 11:30 flight to DC for my 2:45 (delayed from 2:00 :( flight to NYC to the cab ride (Midtown tunnel closed due to construction…had to route up to the Queensboro Bridge) to the Path train to Jersey City (where Jeff’s place is). Arrived at 6:30, exhausted.

So, I’m in NYC telecommuting this week. And I think that catches me up.

(1) There’s this self-tanner, Jergens Natural Glow, that apparently works, even for the perpetually pallid such as myself (and one of the shades is “Light” as opposed to the “Black Hole Sun” shade that most self-tanners come in). It’s been in a bunch of mags, on TV and is hyped all over the ‘net, so I was determined to try it.

You can’t get it in the Triangle. It’s sold out at CVS, Eckerds, Walgreens and Walmart. Yes, I called them all. The CVS on Garrett was supposed to be getting a shipment last Wednesday, but when I called them to confirm, they told me they’d gotten notice that the warehouse was sold out.

They are selling on eBay for 1 for $11.00 (plus shipping and the ever-so-popular “handling”) or two for $20.00.

So, you can perhaps imagine my joy (even if you’re not a product junkie like I) when, upon stopping into Walmart for Visine (Tim & Kim have doggies and the essence-of-doggie in the car, though faint, was still making my eyes flip out a little), I actually remembered to go check the self-tanner department (as demarcated by a giant yellow awning hanging from the ceiling, covered in beach balls and deck chairs) and found *six* bottles of the much sought-after lotion. Kim bought one. I bought the other five, figuring that even if it doesn’t work on me, there’s always eBay… :-)

(2) This was a great idea in concept: big plastic bucket full of stuff, which you add vodka to, stir and freeze. The execution, however, was flawed, as it didn’t taste anything like a lemon drop, particularly not the yummy ones that Steve makes. It was sooooooo bitter (not sour, really) that I had to add four Sweet-n-Lows and two spoonfuls of sugar before I could drink it!

(3) Thereby solving the number one problem of jello shooters — how to get the jello out of the little cup. These you just squirt into your mouth — whee!!!

/ lintqueen / 5 Comments

I’ve been dreading posting to LJ, ’cause I’m, well, honestly, a bit compulsive and obsessive (I know, all you guys that know me are shaking your heads in astonishment now) and there’s so much that I’ve not commented on, it now seems like a thoroughly daunting process to even *try* to catch things up with any degree of clarity, consistency or completeness.

I suppose I should just give up my anal-retentive desire to have a *complete* update and just start talking again, eh?

Christmas was lovely. Michigan was cold and remote, but beautiful. There are many tractor dealerships there. Jeff’s family is tres normal, which is pretty nifty. Our visit with Paul and Kate (outside London) was wonderful. I had my first real Christmas pudding, complete with booze and flames! The dollar being so low compared to the pound made After Christmas 50% Off Sales nearly meaningless. Huff the hedgehog was even cuter in person than he is in photos. I think I’m only a little allergic to him (but that might still be too much). Department stores in England have *fabric* and *yarn* and *notions*. London was cold and windy, but fun. Harrods still does a great tea and if you try to eat all the wee sandwiches and pastries you will not want dinner until waaaaaay too late to get dinner (say 10pm). Wagamama is the best noodle place ever. Plum wine mixed with fizzy water makes something vaguely cider-like. Germans celebrate New Years in a very raucous fashion. Fireworks (even the biggish ones) are apparently completely legal there. Even if you take a regional jet like Ryanair between London and Germany, you still need to remember that you’re crossing borders and you’ll have to do the whole customs thing (no, I wasn’t smuggling or anything, it was just a lot more rigmarole than I was expecting for an hour long flight). I took some pictures (which aren’t adequately labeled. Sorry).

(ok whew.)

The biggest thing on the horizon is that I have to have knee surgery (ACL reconstruction) on the 22nd, as my knee went “flippy” twice over the holidays (this is twice more *after* the original injury on 12/2). I am more than a little ookie about this, but honestly, I’d rather get this over with (pay for the pain up front, as it were) than continue to have my knee give out (“pivot shift” is the technical term for the badness) while doing completely normal activities like shifting position while sitting (I kid you not). Ick.

The good news is that my doctor, Dr. Higgins, seems to be very well-regarded in his field. And I trust him (which is worth a great deal in and of itself). I’m getting an allograph (contrast: autograph, from one’s own tissue), which means I’ll get a dead guy’s knee bits. Sorta ookie about that too (which is funny, since I am an organ donor!). Though it’s outpatient surgery, they want to keep me overnight for observation — and apparently as long as I don’t stay more than 23 hours it’s still outpatient! Odd. I go over to the hospital on Thursday for my “workup” (which sounds like something the mafia would do to me …) . (It’s a good sign that he travels with the Duke basketball team, right? They wouldn’t trust those knees to just anyone…)

Things are further complicated by the fact that the movers *were* scheduled to come the 15th-17th to load Jeff’s stuff on the truck, after which it was going on a merry journey of time-killing while he looks for his pied-a-terre in NY. Apparently the stuff can live on the truck for up to a month with no charge (and, in doing so, probably see more of the country than I have!), which is a very good thing, as he hasn’t even looked at places yet.

With my surgery now scheduled for next week (and they couldn’t do it this week), Jeff had to scramble to see if the movers could switch their pick-up to the week of the 21st. Of course the only day they had open was the 22nd, so we’re hoping the timing of the surgery itself and the desire of the moving dudes to come get his stuff don’t directly conflict. We’ll work it out one way or another, because if nothing else I can drive myself *to* the hospital…it’s just driving home on Wed. that will be out of the question.

And this weekend we went up to Maryland to go to Jeff’s friend Carolyn’s daughter Charlotte’s First Birthday Party. Then, on Sunday, we IKEA’d. All very good, if a bit exhausting, and it was a good distraction from the urgently logistical mess we’re in at the moment.

Not thinking about my knee. Ew.

What’s going on?

/ lintqueen / 5 Comments

(1) I have from now until JANURAY 4th off!!!!  (I only found out yesterday that we get the third as the “New Year Holiday day” — Hooray! — and I have too many vacation days left to roll to next year, so I have to burn them).  Am planning on sleeping, reading, sewing, seeing friends and generally relaxing which I understand is Good For You (and which apparently which I didn’t do enough of this year), *except* for the following:

(2) This weekend is the Annual Norman Family Dysfunctional Christmas Shindig so we’re heading for Charlotte.  In addition I’m “doing Christmas” with my Dad (aside from the ANFDCS) and my mom and Grumps.  Busy, but have high hopes for familial harmony.

(3) I am doing family things *this* weekend because on the 23rd, I am heading to Michigan (!!) to meet Team Bacon (actually I’ve met most of them, but I’m meeting the second sister for the first time) and see East Tawas (a place so small that you had to drive a half hour to buy underwear when Jeff was growing up) for two days, then to London (to see the friends Paul and Kate who have the hedgehog http://www.lintqueen.com/craft/misc.shtml) and then to Germany to meet up with the BMW riding group for New Years.  This being the first time that I’ve actually “done my own thing” for the holidays (though perhaps exchanging my family stuff for a two-day snapshot of someone else’s  ;-) I am ecstatic (with a tinge of guilt around the edges).

Happy happy!!! Call or email if you want to do something next M, Tu, Wed or the 3rd, 4th.  :)

COMING TO NYC

/ lintqueen / 4 Comments

Last minute fun on the agenda… next Thurs. morning (that’s Sept. 30th for those of you playing along at home) I’m heading to NYC for 2.5 days of funfunfun (leaving early Saturday evening).

So… holler if you
(a) live there and want to get together (particularly if getting together would not conflict overmuch with work)
(b) know nifty places I ought to go (definitely on the agenda:  MJTrims for sewing bits).  Also interested in the “BIG SALE” places (are there any BIG SALE yarn places, I wonder?) and any Good Eats.

Wheeee!  (BTW, for me this is WAAAAAAAY spontaneous!)