Seriously- look at this:



And this:



Does that not look like a little Vorlon encounter suit? Furthermore, I cannot tell you how many times I come downstairs after the BaldMan, put my mug on the machine, spin the rack with all the different K-cups, pick one, and open the machine to find it is the exact same kind the BaldMan had last! And we usually have 5 or 6 different kinds of coffee available at one time. I tell you, there is a Vorlon in there and he is messing with my mind! And my new dryer sounds like R2D2! I think we're being invaded!

Speaking of the new dryer- Well, the washer gave out last week. Just stopped spinning. It was a number of years old, cheap and we had already spent a bunch repairing it once, so decided to replace. Got one of those fancy frontloading things. Very environmentally friendly- uses a lot less water, and energy efficient. Decided to go for the dryer, too, as they are made to work together. I will admit that I had my doubts about the claims that they would get clothes "cleaner," but they really do. The BaldMan's chili shorts are noticeably cleaner than they were before, and it got some stains out of a few shirts that I thought were there to stay. Very cool, very sexy-looking- all electronic-y and flashy lights, and work better, too. Yay!

Chili- I took 2nd Salsa ($200) at Delaware Valley at the end of April. Not bad for the number of cooks there. 5th Red at the New England Regional at the beginning of this month. No prize there, but it does mean my Red is coming along. At all of the cook offs where there have had to be preliminary and finals tables this season, I have made the finals table. After the NE Regional, I talked to a former World Champion (who had also judged the finals table there) and he gave me some good advice. I made a few tweaks to the recipe, so we will see. Next up is NH State (VERY close to home) on June 7, and a new cook off on June 8, in Lawrence, MA.

Going to babysit Will on Sunday! Kryss has to work and we said we would come down and stay with the baby. The BaldMan is going to make dinner for us all. Probably a bolognese sauce with (hopefully) homemade pasta. Yummmm! The bolognese he makes is awesome! Takes a while to cook, but it is outstanding.

That's about it for now.

First cook off of the Summer season this weekend in NJ. A big and busy one, from what we have heard. This will be our first time at this one. Leaving shortly to drop dog at kennel, then off to NJ. Wish us luck on the GW Bridge and Cross-Bronx Expressway!! LOL Back Sunday.

Officially. At least in NH. Last night, at 8PM, they declared "ice out" on Lake Winnepesaukee. Now, I can believe it's Spring.

Newbery Comics had a sale today. A nice sale. 35% off all used CDs and DVDs. We went. Duh. Came home with 17 CDs. Found no good DVDs, but I think we made up for it in CDs. Got copies of stuff we have only had on vinyl, stuff to fill in gaps in our music and a couple new things. Most were used, but a couple were not. "New" music marathon today and tomorrow!

*wheeeee*

I had my six months check-up with the surgeon who did my colectomy in October this morning. Everything is fine. The blood work was "perfect." Even my blood pressure, which is never great at a doctor's office, was really good. He said I get an "A." And I know colon cancer is one of the more treatable and curable cancers, but, still, I consider myself one of the lucky ones. I will have more blood work and another colonoscopy in October, but, for now, we are calling it beaten.

However, it could have been worse. So I will take this opportunity to remind everyone that when your doctor says it is time for a routine test or screening (colonoscopy, mammogram, whatever)- get it done. NOW. It won't be any less inconvenient in six months or a year, but it could be far worse in terms of catching something in the early stages. And early detection is still the key to all of these nasty things. It is NOT cool to say that you've always been healthy and you don't feel like anything's wrong, because I can tell you, that's not always enough. I felt great, no symptoms and look what they found at a routine procedure. Don't mess with your health. Do it.

End of lecture.

(Movie reference for the blog title? Anyone?)

And it was regarding the Star-Spangled Banner, which is one of the pieces I am working on out of the Alfred's Adult Piano method book 3. I've been really struggling with it, and getting a bit frustrated. It's kind of a neat arrangement, nothing extraordinary sounding. And my teacher keeps saying not to worry, we'll get it down, and that it is one of the hardest pieces in any of the Alfred's books. Still, I just couldn't seem to pull it together at all. I was sitting at the piano, working on what she assigned me for this week, which was basically to "partly memorize" the first two lines- what she calls "reading without reading". In other words, not to memorize (necessarily) to the point where you don't need the music at all, but so that you can kind of surface read the notes and just know what to play pretty automatically. So I was going thru it, and I pulled out the metronome to get the timing right- there are some dotted rhythms in there and they can trip me up sometimes. I was playing hands separate with the metronome, just to get all that right, and it hit me! Wham! The problem (well, one of them, anyway) is in the right hand. Just one move, from one measure to the next, and it isn't a big jump or anything, but I wasn't getting it. And I was thinking the problem was the left hand hesitating at that point. But, no, I can play the left hand part fine. The left was stumbling because the right was unsure. I usually just assume the problem has to be the left, because it's my weaker hand. So I pulled out that one section of the right hand for some concentrated work, and I think I've made progress on the whole section because of that. Whew! And here I was thinking I was going to be stuck on this one forever! Of course, that still doesn't solve the tremolo issues, but one step at a time, I guess.

The book I am currently reading has gone missing! I mean, really missing. I usually keep it in the living room, as that is where I sit and read. I went to pick it up yesterday and it's just- gone! I can't locate it anywhere. I pulled out furniture and looked under, moved stuff, dug under stuff, looked on my desk, the piano, the keyboard, in the kitchen, upstairs- I'm at a loss. Any suggestions? Damn! And I was enjoying it, too!

Weather is nice today. Well, gloomy and damp, and it has started raining, but it's at least warm. The weather gadget on my desktop says 61. And it hasn't snowed in days. I was reading just the other day that we have had the 2nd snowiest winter in NH since 1873-74, when we got 122 inches. We have 115.2 inches so far this year. I would be quite content if we did not break that snowiest record this year. I can see most of the yard again, and the ice has, once more, melted off the pond. Time for Spring.

Had me fooled for a couple days. I was beginning to think there was hope. Then this morning, what happens? I wake up and see everything covered with snow again! When is it going to end?!?

I discovered yesterday how difficult it is to write without commas. The comma key on the laptop here stopped working. It seemed like everything I wanted to type yesterday required a comma! Turned out to be "junk" under the keytop and easily fixed. Whew! What would the world be without a , ?

And I spent the day yesterday with baby Will. Kryss had a doctor appointment in the morning and was asked to come in to the bakery in the afternoon to interview an applicant. She figured both would be easier without a baby in tow, so she asked if I could watch him. Umm, duh! LOL He's just such a cutie! (And I am NOT at all prejudiced.)

The Journey tour schedule is out. This year with Heart and Cheap Trick, two bands I've never seen before. I am most likely going to the show at Mohegan Sun in August. They are also at Great Woods (sorry- I don't think of it as the Tweeter Center. It will always be Great Woods to me!), but I doubt I will go to that one. Just can't muster up the enthusiasm like I used to.

Other than that, I'm just sitting here, waiting for the snow to melt- again!

TV resumes tonight, and comes back slowly over the next few weeks. Not that we watch all that much, but it is "wind down" time. And I find I am even looking forward to "H" and the Sunglasses O' Justice....

So I'm sitting here the other day, on the computer, and I hear *scrabble, scrabble* behind the wall units in here. Now these are solid oak, 3 sections and go almost floor to ceiling. I yelled: "Jasmine! Get out from behind there!" She will sometimes go behind when one of the other cats is chasing her. I look over to the doorway, and there is Jasmine. Ok, so who is behind the wall units? And now I can hear not only *scrabble scrabble* but pitiful sounding meowing, too. I go over, lean across the speaker stand in the corner and look. It's Ginger, and not only is she behind there, but she's STUCK! Yeah, Fatso can't drag her butt out. Can't get enough purchase on the speaker stand to haul her fat ass up. I pulled all the stuff off the speaker stand, including the rather heavy speaker, and she still can't get up. For a minute, I thought I was going to have to unscrew the stand from the wall. I got her to get her front paws up so I could reach her, but I literally had to grab her around the throat to be able to lift her high enough to get a hand under her! Of course, she was not thrilled about that and started fighting me. I thought I was going to hurt her. But I got her out, no harm done. She sat in my arms for a minute or two and this cat is not a cuddler! I told her, she does that again, I'm leaving her there!

I'm framing this picture and putting it over her food dish!

Under the Eye of God by David Gerrold

Eh. There's a sequel. I am not in any hurry to track it down.

Finished the clean-up on the tank It looks so much better now.

I had about a half bucketful of plants left over. Took about an hour and one post on an aquaria forum, and they will be off to a new home tomorrow. The internet is a wonderful thing.

I spent most of today cleaning up the 55 gallon planted tank. Figured it was a good thing to do on a snowy day.

It needed it. It's needed a good cleaning/pruning/rearranging for a long while. So I got in there and cleaned up the glass quite a bit, pulled out most of the plants, wood and rocks. Of course, all that stirred up quite a bit of junk that just clouded up the water so that I couldn't see a thing. At one point, I put my hand in to pull out one of the plant covered rocks (which I couldn't actually see in all that muck) and got a handful of angel fish! I don't know who was more upset- me or the poor fish! We both seem to have gotten over it.

I'm not finished, but I have to let the filter clean up some of the muck I stirred up, and let the rest settle before I do any more. I couldn't even see enough to know where the gravel needs smoothing, never mind trying to replant in any sort of decent arrangement! Tomorrow I will vacuum the gravel as carefully as I can to pull out as much of the settled gunk as possible, then replant, clean out the filter again as I'm sure it will collect a whole lotta gunk overnight, and see how it goes. Hoping it will look better- cleaner, anyway.

I did get rid of a bunch of the overgrown plants. That tank is mostly Java fern (http://www.plantgeek.net/images/plantpics/mpteropus2.jpg)
Bronze cryptocorynes, mostly wendtii or pettchii
(http://www.plantgeek.net/images/plantpics/cpetchii.jpg Best shot I could find, tho this is the green variant. Mine are more bronzy-purple in color). A couple Anubias nana- mother and daughter
(http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/People/h-anubias.jpg)
A red tiger lotus that has spawned at least 6 or 8 daughter bulbs, a few of which I have sent to other planted aquaria folk
(http://www.myfishtank.net/reviews/data/21/1499Lotus_Baby-large.JPG)
Some Java fern of the Windelov variant
(http://www.theaquariumwiki.com/Image:Microsorum_pteropus_Windelov1.jpg)
A bit of Java moss that is growing nicely on the big driftwood
(http://www.aquahobby.com/garden/e_dubyana.php)

I really need to get some different plants in there. More leafy, finer leaved, maybe some red. Just for the contrast in color and texture.

Poor fish. They are now stuck in a mostly bare tank till tomorrow!

When Christ and His Saints Slept by Sharon Kay Penman. Also a big book- 700+ pages, and written in a rather formal style, which I always find slower reading. I finished it tonite. It was rather good. In a nutshell, it is an historical fiction about the conflict between the Empress Maude, who was designated by her father, Henry I of England, as his heir and her cousin, Stephen, who on Henry's death, took the crown for himself. I was familiar with the broad history before reading the book and began to think that perhaps I might want to pick up a history book on the time and conflict, just to get an idea where she turned off into fictional territory. But Penman conveniently provides an author's note at the end that details most of that. And also indicates where there may be conflicting accounts of some bits, and why (usually convincing) she chose the ones she did. And it is never implied that this is anything but a work of fiction based on historical fact. And she adheres to the facts very closely. Her fictional embellishments are mainly in the form of detailed conversations and filling in gaps that history has not recorded. There is also one main character that is completely fictional, but he fits in the story very well, and his existence is certainly plausible, given the facts. It was an enjoyable read, and I even learned a few things I did not know while reading it. It seems she has several books set in the same time period (she seems to have a fascination with Eleanor of Aquitaine, but who can blame her?). I will have to look them up.

Feb. 15, 2008, 1:05 PM, 8 lbs, 22 inches

He's beautiful, healthy and so far, a very content baby! Mom is doing fine. Tired, of course, yesterday, but just so happy! I was there with her the whole time, and she did great! We are heading out to see them again in a short while. Here's a few pictures:




Kryss, Kleber and William





William and me





Baby Will

Yep, finally! She left a msg about 3:30 AM that she was having the baby. Just waiting for the BaldMan to finish getting ready so we can head for the hospital. More news later....

Yay!!!

And what's going on? Well...

The weather is still pretty weird and rotten. More snow yesterday, topped by sleety/icy stuff and then it RAINED! Poured, in fact. And we got plowed in at the top of the driveway again. It was raining so hard yesterday, neither of us wanted to go out and try to shovel a path. This morning, it is a frozen solid wall. So "we'll be comin' round the mountain" to get anywhere for while, it seems.

Still waiting on baby William. That is one stubborn kid! LOL Kryss thought her water broke a few days ago, but, no, just her bladder emptying suddenly and pretty completely. Doc says that's not unusual in women who have "big babies." Well, I don't know if size is genetic, but Kryss was almost 9 lbs when she was born! And when she went for her regular appointment on Tuesday, her blood pressure was elevated and they caught some protein in her urine, so he sent her for a more complete urinalysis, liver function test and was monitoring her bp for a couple hours. But, again, all tests came back normal and the bp settled pretty quickly, so he sent her home again. He is having her come in for bp checks every other day, tho, just in case. Don't want preeclampsia developing without catching it. So it's still a waiting game. Her official due date is the 17th, but maybe we will have a little Valentine's baby? Well, so far it seems not, huh?

Oh and I have been asked if I want to be in the room when she delivers. Her husband mentioned it- I guess it is common in Brazil. I said that as long as she is ok with it, yeah, I'd love to. I was- umm, a bit preoccupied with other things when the girls were born and don't remember/didn't really see a lot. And I'm not the squeamish sort. But I did want to make sure it was not going to bother her. The last thing you need at the birth is a crowd hanging around! But she said that her husband is the only other person (other than medical personnel) who will be there and she is fine with me being there, as well. So we left it open, as it is a 45 min to an hour drive for us, and depending on time and how fast her labor goes, I may not make it. I did tell her not to wait for me, tho! LOL

Piano- The Chopin Raindrop is coming along, slowly but getting there. I have most of the left hand to work on now, and start putting together with the right. The tempo is getting easier to maintain. So all that counting really does help. Picked up the theme from the New World Symphony by Dvorak, also. It has the same dotted rhythms as the Chopin, which my teacher said: "You are an expert at, now, right?" Uh, sure, if you say so! And a little Clementi Prelude in D Minor. Oh and the Diabelli "Walking" (one of the variations, but I'm not sure exactly which piece), but that arrangement is pretty simple. Enough to keep me occupied, I guess.

Steph had to take poor Mo back to the vet for tooth infections, again. I guess he was pretty bad this time. Bad enough that they tested him for leukemia, liver and thyroid problems, but nothing conclusive came up. There are still several things it could be that have no real definitive test, or it could be just age. He is 14, after all, and only he and Tux have lasted this long from that litter of 4. So they cleaned his teeth, extracted the bad ones and sent him home. Still pretty sore, I guess, and has trouble with the dry food, so he's getting canned for now, which is a special treat. And she said he cried this morning when she had to open his mouth to give him meds. Poor baby! But, I guess the receptionist said he is a sweetie- no matter how much pain he was in, he just purred and wanted everyone to pet him! But that's Mo- he is a sweet cat.



He's much thinner these days, but still a pretty cat.

We are heading for the Sturbridge, MA area for a People's Choice only cook off on Sunday at a brewpub. The guy organizing it would like it to become a full competition cook off, but is trying this to see what response is like. Kind of nice, as there will be no pressure of trying to serve PC and cook competition and all that this time. And we are staying over on Sunday night, so it won't be a long (ish) drive back after.

I think the rest of the world is still out there. I am actually going to venture out of the house tomorrow, to check. Well, to get some cat food, but still.... :D

I know- it's winter, and it snows in winter. But, seriously, this is getting a trifle old. At least, it does not appear we will get as much as predicted. But I am really, really ready for Spring.

So, no baby yet. She is at the point where it could be five minutes from now, or five days, or... Everyone is just waiting, waiting. Tho I must admit, with the weather the way it is, I don't blame Master William for NOT wanting to deal with it! LOL Then again, if things go as they often seem to, this is exactly the weather he will decide to be born in, right?

I spent a couple hours yesterday really cleaning up the 90 gallon cichlid tank. I pulled the backing off and cleaned the back glass, inside and out, which has not been done (especially the outside) in long time. Really scraped the inside glass all around good and clean, pulled the plants out and cleaned algae and gunk off them, changed out a good portion of the water, so I could vacuum the gravel really well. It looks really good right now. Next big task will be the 55 gallon planted tank. That needs a good cleaning, too. And a real pruning back of the plants. The Java fern has pretty much taken over most of the tank. It should be pruned out, and some different plants put in. Of course, that would mean actually getting the plants, but that's a whole 'nother thing.

Four books down on the reading list. The current one is going to take a while, I think. 700+ pages in hardcover. And I've just barely started. But so far, it seems decent enough.

Just working on 2 things in piano right now. A thing called A Classy Rag in the Alfred's book, and the Chopin Raindrop prelude. The rag is a little different. Lots of diminished 7th chords, so it sounds odd in spots. I need to work on speed a bit on that one this week. Started putting the left hand to the Raindrop, just a few measures and s-l-o-w-l-y. Counting all the way. I think I have the right hand going pretty well, until I have to start putting the left hand in there, too. But it is starting to come together, as long as I keep focused and count steadily. My teacher says I am doing pretty good at that, so that's a good thing. Just can't rush it, but then when we started this, I knew it was going to be a longer term thing.

I seem to have picked up a cold from- somewhere. Superbowl party, maybe? I really haven't gone anywhere else recently. I really felt lousy last night- couldn't breathe and just tired, tired, tired. But I did manage to sleep, so I feel (basically) better today. Still stuffy and my sinuses are unhappy, but I'm not dragging like last night, which is a good thing.

Ok, back to your normally scheduled programming....

Yeah, I know not everyone is a sports fan. Still, the Superbowl is one of the big ones of the year, and I do like football, so feel free to ignore if it's not your thing

The game was very, very good. And not only because it was ever so satisfying to see the Patriots lose! It was just a good game. Not a runaway win for NY, by any means and certainly not the season capper the Pats wanted. But you know, I think the Pats may just have been a bit overconfident and starting to believe their (and the press') hype. They went into the game with the attitude that they would win, because that's what they've done all season. But, as those same press pundits are so very fond of saying, "anything can happen in the Superbowl." And the Giants went in knowing they were going to have to play their butts off to win. And they did just that. They did a great job of penetrating New England's offensive line and putting pressure (not to mention sacking!) Brady all nite long. And he's just not used to that. He never got his feet under him to get his rhythm going, other than one touchdown drive. He got rattled and threw too many incomplete passes. NY didn't have a lot of power drives, either, and Manning didn't play a spectacular game, but he did what he had to, consistently. So, no Perfect Season. Aww, too bad.

Game highlights: Watching Tom Brady on the ground so many times. And The Play of the Game: the do-or-die third down pass by Manning, after he somehow got away from a pack of Patriots (they had him by the jersey and couldn't stop him!) then threw a pass to David Tyree, who was pretty well covered by Rodney Harrison. Not only did Tyree manage to jump up and grab it, but he was holding onto it with both hands over his head against his helmet and managed to hang on while Harrison brought him down on his back and across Harrison's body. I have no idea how Tyree held on, but he did and the whole game changed right there.

Ok, halftime. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Good show. They did American Girl, Free Fallin', Runnin' Down a Dream, and I Won't Back Down. All good, familiar songs. As someone at the party I was at said, "It's nice to have a halftime show where you know all the songs!"

The commercials. As usual, some good, some bad. Favorites? The Audi "Godfather" ad- really well done, and that new R8- sweeeeet! The Budweiser Clydesdale ad followed the last few years' theme and got a "Awwwwww!" from just about everyone. The Bud Light fire-breathing ad was hysterical! Poor kitty! The FedEx carrier pigeons were pretty good, too. The squirrel in the road tire ad was not bad. The battling Macy's parade balloons was ok (Snoopy and Baby Stewie going after the bottle of Coke, only to lose it to Charlie Brown!). Justin Timberlake was lame- oh, what a surprise! The Planter's ad was- funny at the moment, but kind of disturbing, too. The Tide talking stain ad was ok. As usual, a mix of good and bad. Some of the admakers just try too hard. I know, it's big exposure and costs mega-bucks, so you want a spectacular, but, really, if you have make people think too hard about the commercials, they are just going to go get another beer and more nachos.

Well, not exactly identitiy, just address. A nice delivery girl showed up at the door a few minutes ago, with food. Which I didn't order. There is a similar street in the next town, except they are a Lane and we are a Drive. Stuff gets sent to one or the other of us by mistake occasionally. Not sure if that's where she was supposed to be, as she wasn't, either! I just know I did not order any food. But, heck, it really smelled good! Looked like subs, smelled like parmesan cutlet or something similar. And now, I am HUNGRY!!!!! LOL