tis Friday

rejoice in your weekend, my friends. I'm taking Monday off, too. :)


Today's earrings: spiders, estrogen molecules

Bedtime reading: Howl's Moving Castle, Diana Wynne Jones

My new fact for the day

Lyres were originally made from turtle shell.


Today's earrings: turtles, shells

Bedtime reading: The Lyre of Orpheus, Robertson Davies

Funeral

A lot of people came. Standing room only. A lot of people got up to talk, too. My favorite was one of the widower's baseball buddies who said that he usually tries to talk people out of marrying that young, but once he'd met Mariana, well, it all made sense. "That was the best decision you ever made, bro." Awww.

After, there was a reception. I couldn't deal and bailed rather quickly.


Today's earrings: sapphires, aquamarines

Bedtime reading: The Lyre of Orpheus, Robertson Davies

This morning on the bus

I saw the new exterior of the Owl Tree. It's a black and white mosaic of snowy owl face in extreme close up. Pretty cool, I thought.

I should visit.


Today's earrings: frogs, men

Bedtime reading: The Lyre of Orpheus, Robertson Davies

At last this week ends

Mariana's husband's aunt came in today to clear out her desk. People cried. Looks like the memorial is set for Wednesday.


Today's earrings: flowers, other flowers

Bedtime reading: The Daffodil Affair, Michael Innes

Another low-concentration day

Having trouble thinking of things to say.


Today's earrings: diamonds, pebbles

Bedtime reading: The Daffodil Affair, Michael Innes

Too quiet

It's always quiet at work. Today, more so. A couple people missed work and some came in later than usual, so the big room was empty when I walked in. When people did turn up, everyone was subdued. L had called Mariana's family in Brazil to offer condolences. They are distraught, he said. Later, L & C called them again from work. C had been talking to Mariana's husband; he won't schedule a memorial until he knows when (and whether) her mother & sister can be here. It seems Brazil and the US are mildly displeased with each other and showing it by being snotty about issuing temporary visas to each other's citizens. L's liaising with the embassy here to get the paperwork in order.

The grief counselor guy showed up a little before two. K briefed him, or tried to. I heard her. Then we all pulled up chairs for circle time. Grief counselor guy called her "Maria." I corrected him firmly. GCG started an obviously rote spiel about losing a coworker. P walked out. (He said later it was because GCG hadn't even had enough respect to take off his hat. K did tell GCG that there were a lot of different cultures-of-origin in the office to contend with; I guess it didn't occur to GCG that "upper-class British" was one of the possibilities.) The hour seemed interminable, but at last it ended.

The ritual of having a ritual seemed to work, though. People began talking in normal voices again. We partook of the fruit basket A (our remote colleague) had sent.

This still totally sucks.


Today's earrings: scarabs

Bedtime reading: Decider, Dick Francis

This isn't right

I got to work at nine. Talked to N for a few minutes. She'd been to see Prince Caspian this weekend, and I offered to lend her my copy of The Golden Compass. Then I went to grapple with the USITC's bad excuse for a search function.

Around 9:30 or so, C came in, set her stuff down, and went right to K's office and shut the door. They were in there a while. When they came out C was crying and K looked like she was about to start. K asked us to gather round. Then she told us all that Mariana had died this weekend in a car accident. Jaws dropped. The only sound was C sobbing.

K went down the hall to spread the bad news. The rest of us went back to our desks and stared blankly at nothing. C told us that Mariana's husband had asked her to tell K and the rest of us, because he couldn't face it. Mariana had gone down to LA this weekend as a favor to a friend. The friend wanted company driving back, or some such. On the way back, near Kettleman City, someone came across the median at them. Both Mariana and her friend were pronounced at the scene. It can't have hurt for long, I guess.

We drifted about the office, no one knowing what to do or say. All I could think of was, "this is a mistake," and that didn't seem helpful. I wasn't especially close to Mariana. We didn't have interests in common. But you know how they always say, "everybody liked her"? In this case it's true. Everyone did like her. She was generally cheerful, reliably pleasant. She was kind to everyone who crossed her path. She was quite good at her job. Sometimes she'd stop at my desk to check out the latest pictures of "Jack-Jack." She and her husband were putting off having kids; she wanted to go home to Brazil to raise their children, I think he wanted to stay here near his family. She spoke three languages I know for sure, and probably at least two more.

About eleven, I couldn't take the sound of crying any more and went to go look at the ocean.


I just keep thinking:
This isn't right. There must be some kind of mistake. She wasn't hurting anyone.

Randomness is so fucking pointless.

Inside today's Snapple cap:

Children grow faster in the springtime.


Today's earrings: compasses

Bedtime reading: The Daffodil Affair, Michael Innes

Bay to Breakers starts too early in the morning.

It's not like I'd run if it started later, or anything like that, but I might watch it on tv. As it was, all the B2B fun I got today was sharing the platform at Montgomery station with a guy in running gear, complete with race number. Not much of a contact high.


Today's earrings: pineapples, peppers

Bedtime reading: The Daffodil Affair, Michael Innes

Seasonal Song

Spring is here, a-suh-puh-ring is here.
Life is skittles and life is beer.
I think the loveliest time of the year is the spring.
I do, don't you? 'Course you do.
But there's one thing that makes spring complete for me,
And makes ev'ry Sunday a treat for me.

All the world seems in tune
On a spring afternoon,
When we're poisoning pigeons in the park.
Ev'ry Sunday you'll see
My sweetheart and me,
As we poison the pigeons in the park.

- Tom Lehrer


Today's earrings: bees, birds

Bedtime reading: The Daffodil Affair, Michael Innes

The Mermaid

Who would be
A mermaid fair,
Singing alone,
Combing her hair
Under the sea,
In a golden curl
With a comb of pearl,
On a throne?

- Alfred, Lord Tennyson


Today's earrings: mermaids, aqua-blue swirls

Bedtime reading: The Daffodil Affair, Michael Innes

Logic puzzle

Today my job required a little research, a little typing, and a series of increasingly complex Venn diagrams. I'm still not sure that I've documented all the contingencies...


Today's earrings: squirrels, leaves

Bedtime reading: The Daffodil Affair, Michael Innes

Verses

I'm a little teapot, short and stout

Here is my handle, here is my spout.

When I get all steamed up then I shout.

Tip me over and pour me out.

I'm a clever teapot, yes it's true

Here's an example of what I can do

I can change my handle to my spout.

Just tip me over and pour me out.

Today's earrings: coffee cups, teapots

Bedtime reading: The Daffodil Affair, Michael Innes

Plentitude

I just now discovered that "plentitude" means "a full supply," while "plenitude" means "the quality or state of being full." And "plenitude" is a word. Who knew?


Today's earrings: frogs, coins

Bedtime reading: The Daffodil Affair, Michael Innes

Trivial Pursuit

Went to a Kaboom-watching party, but the fog came in, so we played Trivial Pursuit instead. Turns out I know more about the 90s than I realized.

We had the cheese platter. :)


Today's earrings: ants, dopamine molecules

Bedtime reading: The Daffodil Affair, Michael Innes

Floralia

Just missed it.


Today's earrings: flowers, other flowers

Bedtime reading: The Daffodil Affair, Michael Innes

Back to work

Nose re-applied to grindstone. I think they missed me.


Today's earrings: mice, typewriter keys

Bedtime reading: The Daffodil Affair, Michael Innes

Farewell, New York!

Spent the day traveling, and now I'm home. It's good to be home.
I have tomorrow off. It's good to have tomorrow off.


No earrings today d/t air travel.

Bedtime reading: Tales of the City, Armistead Maupin

Constructive

I did nothing all day while the contractors loaded in the new kitchen cabinets. Early afternoon, the Lead Contractor Dude came and said, "I got a question."
"Um, OK," I said, "I don't know how much help I'll be."
"I thought she said her sister designed this."
"She did. There are four of us."
"Oh. Well, we seem to be short one 24" cabinet and have two extra 30" cabinets."
We stared at the plans. We re-counted the cabinets. We stared at the plans. We stared at the cabinets. We put in a call to K, who was in a meeting and would call back.
Finally I said, "Would any of the cabinets already attached to the wall fit the description of the cabinet we're missing?"
A lightbulb went on over his head. The specs for the cabinet over the sink had changed, and been penciled in, but they'd followed the old specs instead of the new. A feeling of general enlightenment and relief filled the kitchen. K called back and had a productive conversation with the Lead Contractor Dude, incidentally solving the mystery of the two extra 30" cabinets.
I went back to doing nothing.

At eventide, everyone came home and S hung doors while K placed shelves and Tiger and I got in the way. I took pictures. Then we all went out to dinner.


Today's earrings: squirrels, kangaroos

Bedtime reading: _L. Frank Baum_, Katharine M. Rogers

Another Pleasant Valley Sunday

Lazed late. Hung about. The guys went canoeing. After lunch we bundled everyone into the car and drove to Princeton, where we had dinner with Aunt C. She seems tired. Tiger displayed his expanding knowledge of the Roman alphabet and cardinal numbers. We drove into the city and have arrived. K has just offered me a cookie, and so I must go.


Today's earrings: owls, liberty dimes

Bedtime reading: _L. Frank Baum_, Katharine M. Rogers

Sweet

R came and mowed the lawn this morning, driving Tiger into a worshipful tizzy. K and I dragged the poor thing off to the store. We got books and stickers, but all he wanted was to see R, so we came home without going to the library. S took Tiger and R off to the zoo. Happiness!

They came back and R & Tiger played on the jungle gym while K&S worked on stuff and I lay on the living room couch and read about L. Frank Baum. I had just got to the part where the biographer talks sneeringly about the Populist Parable theory of _The Wonderful Wizard of Oz_ when I dozed off. Naps = good. (Though K did tell me later that I'd been snoring.)

The boys made apple crisp and chocolate chip cookies, consuming a fair amount of raw sugar in the process. R's father joined us for dinner. We ate; Tiger oscillated.

Now I'm going to go read the part of _Witches Abroad_ where someone drops a house on Nanny Ogg.


Today's earrings: moose, chocolate molecules

Bedtime reading: _Witches Abroad_, Terry Pratchett

I sank my fingers in the soil

Today we went to the farm, and I finally met the mythic Farmer Dave. He is most tall. First we set watermelon seeds in trays, then K went outside and hoed at thistles while Tiger and I moved dirt around in the big bin in the greenhouse. We planted imaginary orange roses. Later we met red chickens, black chickens, three-day-old chicks, four bunnies, and a number of tractors, some with incomprehensible attachments.

On the way home K dropped off some paperwork at the local day-care center. Tiger and I stayed in the car. I took the opportunity to read him TS Eliot's "The Naming of Cats." I don't think he really understood the poem. Eliot has that effect on lots of people.


Today's earrings: pigs, peas

Bedtime reading: _L. Frank Baum_, Katharine M. Rogers

IM IN UR APARTMENT CRASHING ON UR COUCH

Cherries were blossoming along the Harlem River Drive today. When I arrived the remodelers were engaged in drywalling, rather than floor refinishing. I slept gratefully through their labors. Then K appeared, and (mindful of floor refinishing on the morrow) we collected Tiger & S and fled to the countryside. I have seen the new catsuit; it is too adorable for words.

p.s. this is my 300th post.


Today's earrings: llamas, bronze triangles

Bedtime reading: _L. Frank Baum_, Katharine M. Rogers