scarf for karen

Classic Elite Miracle, 50% alpaca, 50% tencel

yarn lust

I've sworn off buying any more yarn for awhile (other than, of course, using the gift cards that Mom and Patti were kind enough to give me over the holidays...), but if I were still buying yarn, I might buy these:

hot dogs & politics, or, when your mayor never quite declares but does finally undeclare that he will be making a run for the presidency

bridge, 2.25.08

next nys governor?

It looks like David Paterson's rise to the governorship of New York State is inevitable, if not yet official.

I'm kind of ashamed to say that I didn't know much about the man, or his role as Lieutenant Governor this past year, until today, and I still don't know much. There's the obvious. He's black. He's blind. He would be the first black governor of New York (and only the fourth in the country). He would also be the first blind governor anywhere in the country. These are both pretty wonderful things, and major break-throughs in the ever ongoing fight for equality in all walks of life.

But beyond the historical aspect of his potential governorship, he would probably be a better governor than Spitzer. It seems that, despite being really, really smart, he actually gets along with people. He's got that big liberal heart, in that he apparently advocates gay marriage, stem cell research, and environmental awareness. And he's not only a Columbia College grad, but also an adjunct professor at the Columbia School of International and Public Affairs (Paterson - I handle library reserves - come talk to me!).

I'm taking this from the following sites, which are, of course, limited in scope and biased in content. Please let me know of any specific pieces you found informative, as I'd like to know more of the man who might be king, of this state at least.

New York State lieutenant governor page
Governing.com

politics as usual & other miscellaneous happenings

More on the Spitzer debacle:
A Fall From White Knight to Client 9
Eliot Spitzer's Monumental Fall From Grace

Here's to hoping Salon's Robert Shapiro and the New York Times' Ron Klain are correct in their primary season analyses.

In a shout out to Kayley, my bestest friend way back in Oakland in the late '70s -- I knew California rocked but I didn't necessarily know the California Supreme Court rocked. Apparently it does.

If you find yourself wondering, sometimes, why we need to continue to fight for gay rights, take a minute to listen to Sally Kern, an Oklahoma state legislator, waxing poetic about the absolute evil of the homosexual agenda, about how gays are worse than terrorists, and about how gays are now, apparently, going after 2-year olds -- off the record, of course, or so she thought.

William Kristol, part of the conservative bloc on the NYTimes Opinion pages, thinks that McCain would do well by asking Clarence Thomas to be his running mate. Given that he accused a black woman of instigating a "high-tech lynching" against him when she dared accuse him of sexual harassment (after all, what's a little pubic hair on a soda can between friends?), can you imagine his response to a negative presidential campaign ad?

On a more humorous note, the Worst Publishing Week Ever.

oh my broken heart

I've been reading headlines on and off since Arielle called me at work a few hours ago shrieking, "Thank God I reached you! Find a TV! There's something going on with Spitzer and a prostitution ring!" My ever eloquent response? "Huh?"

And that's kind of the thing. There's not really any other first reaction to have.

God, I was so excited when Spitzer first declared that he was going to run for governor. I mean, here was this guy, this Spitzer, this brilliant, liberal guy who was gonna take Albany back from all the corruption that had been plaguing New York State politics forever. Here was this guy who was gonna herald in a new age of progressivism, of equality, of standing up to the religious right and the political right and the hardcore blowhards who would do anything to subjugate large portions of society to their so-called moral high-ground. Here was this guy who wasn't gonna take shit from ANYONE, and who was more than willing to knock a few heads together, and who won the governorship with 70% of the vote.

And he had a rough time of it, a rough time acclimating to the world of politics as opposed to the more clear-cut world of the attorney general job, prosecuting the bad guys with an iron hand. As I mentioned last summer, Spitzer clearly had a lot to learn about this political thing, about playing the political game. But it seemed he was learning, albeit more slowly than his supporters might have wanted.

And now this. To go down over a prostitute just seems so sad, so pathetic, so unseemly, so, dare I say it, Republican. So very Larry Craig, so very David Vitter. On the other hand, both Craig and Vitter remain in Congress, so perhaps Eliot'll be alright.

Except it's an election year. An incredibly fucking important election year. Oh Eliot, my Eliot, what in the hell were you thinking??

gulliver

Gulliver was the sole reason I ended up with Nova. When Elizabeth and I went to the ASPCA back in March of 2000, it was Gulliver we both fell in love with and wanted to bring home. The people there convinced us to take Nova as well, Gulliver's smaller, quieter, more reticent sibling. When Elizabeth and I parted ways the following year, Gulliver headed west with her and Nova stayed here with me. Given my adoration of Nova, I of course continue to believe that I got the best end of the deal, especially given the ASPCA's duplicity, in that these two cats weren't even related. But it's nice to know that Gulliver had a good life, and it's nice, too, to finally have a picture of him, sent by Elizabeth after our recent catch-up coffee after not seeing each other for seven years.

song of the day

"let's pretend we never lie and tell our truths
and then let's cry real tears this time"
-Brand New Love, Serena Ryder

quote of the day

"You honor your reservations; you go to your meetings so we can clean the rooms; you're relatively quiet; and you drink more than the American Legion."
-hotel official, on hosting the ALA's annual conference

And in the same vein, you may already be familiar with my superhero, but did you know she now comes in a deluxe version? Oh yes.

dowd continues unabated

And the rest of us continue hating her.

On a more frustrating note, Samantha Power resigned from policy adviser status on the Obama campaign after calling Hillary a monster during a newspaper interview earlier this week. Yeah, yeah, she pretty much shot herself in the foot with that one, honestly, but that's what happens when you bring on actual academics instead of political players, and it will be to Obama's credit if he continues to do so.

posole

I've been making posole lately, or some self-invented variation thereof, after coming across a bag of dried Giant White Corn in amidst the piles of Goya beans at my local grocery store.

1 lb. bag Giant White Corn
water
chicken or vegetable broth
1 1/2 heads of garlic
4 chicken thighs, skin removed
1 tablespoon butter
cayenne pepper
black pepper to taste
2/3 cup white wine
a couple tomatoes
1 avocado
1/4 red onion
limes

I never think far enough ahead to soak beans or, in this case, strange-looking giant dried out kernels of corn, overnight, so instead, here's what I do. I empty my 1-lb. bag of whatever into a pot, cover by an inch or so with hot water, bring to a boil for a couple minutes, remove from heat, and let soak for an hour or two. Then I can get started with the recipe.

Drain and rinse the corn, put back in pot, cover with a mixture of water and broth, put on stove over medium/low heat, let simmer for a long time, probably an hour or two, adding water as needed to keep the corn covered. Peel a head of garlic, lightly smash the cloves, and toss those in as well. The kernels never get soft, per se, but rather seem to maintain a rather odd texture no matter how long you cook them. I like this texture, slightly chewy, slightly crunchy, as do the people I've served this to. (I'm pretty sure they weren't just saying this since they both had seconds.) I added more chicken broth as well as a bouillon cube. The first time I added a packet of Goya seasoning, but not the second. It was good both ways.

Peel and chop the remaining half of a head of garlic. Heat the butter in a saute pan and brown the chicken thighs over high, then turn down heat and transfer the thighs to the corn pot. Add the garlic and maybe a quarter teaspoon of red pepper flakes to the saute pan with the butter, cook until the garlic is golden, then add white wine and cook till reduced by half, scraping up the chicken bits. Add all of this to the corn pot, also. Let simmer until chicken is thoroughly cooked, then remove thighs with slotted spoon, remove the chicken meat from the bones and return to pot, season with black & cayenne pepper.

Dice the tomatoes, the avocado, and the red onion, mix in a bowl with juice of half a lime, a pinch of coarse salt and fresh ground pepper to taste. Serve over posole, with a Negra Modelo and extra lime wedges.

henry the hexapus & other animalistic oddities

Marine biologists were astonished recently when they found an octopus that failed utterly to live up to its name. Isn't he just the cutest thing you ever saw?

Okay, maybe not. Actually, I think this video that Dave sent me awhile back is probably the cutest thing I have ever seen. Take a gander, if you will, at the swimming sloth. Dave claimed he saw this and it brought me to mind. I'm still not sure how to react to this.

And then there was Gail Collins' piece that mentioned a mallard, though it wasn't actually about a particular mallard, rather about presidential hunting season, so to speak. Definitely worth a look.

Last, in this catch-all critter post, dear family friend Jeff Rundell sent an email a month or so ago that I've been meaning to share: "I am reading about Noah's Ark in Wikipedia. Just after they say that about 2/3 of Americans believe in the ark, they say that 12% think Noah was married to Joan of Arc!" I can't help but wonder if that's the same 12% who think they've seen alien space ships.

Well, almost last. I've come to the unavoidable conclusion, after being cooped up in this apartment for days on end, miserable with the flu, that what I really need in my life is a cat. So after work tomorrow, it's on to the pet store for litter box, food bowl, food, etc. And then on Saturday it's on to the ASPCA to see if there isn't a little fluffball just waiting to come home with me.

fever

I've been down for the count these past few days, sporting a fever of, at its peak, 101.8, alternating between the chills and the sweats, overcome with head aches and body aches and painfully tingly skin and scalp and eyes. I was trying to explain the skin thing to my mom this afternoon and it sounded like she thought I was being weird, but this skin thing is something that's always gone hand in hand with a fever, at least for me, and I guess I'd assumed everyone else shared this experience too. Do you?

This is the first time I've had a fever in years, I think. Colds, yes. Hangovers, yes. Aches and pains, yes. But no fever, and no tingly skin. It's been a weird couple of days, holed up in my little apartment, shades drawn so as to avoid direct sunlight in my southwest facing living room.

One nice thing about the last couple days is that I rediscovered how nice a hot bath can be, especially one involving Burt's Bees Apricot Baby Oil or alternatively, an odd fizzy lavender thing that my mom gave me awhile back, in the form of a lion's face and hiding a toy deer at its center. The lavender fizziness made for a lovely bath, but I'm not sure what to do with the toy deer, other than leave it where it is, on the windowsill in the bathroom.

Still, it was a relief to wake up this morning to a normal temperature, and to feel the inclination to eat something, and to, you know, maybe start joining the outside world again. I went for a walk around the block, and I went to the grocery store, and I came home. That was enough of the outside world for today.