Wed, 30 Aug 2006

Iowa Pictures

Rust on the top of my brother's minivan

A senior picture style photo of Jacob with above-mentioned van

Croquet, the official Pleasants Family Sport

A tiny overgrown house

The ugliest apartment building ever (yes, people live there)

Across the street from my parents' house

On the flight to Chicago

Olive visited the office today

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Fri, 25 Aug 2006

On Hiatus

I am in Iowa until Monday, and as soon as I find some new camera batteries I will take some pictures of the corn state.
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Making up for missed days, again.

Playing with the photo editor

Twinkie Sushi

More fun with balance settings

Somewhere in Brooklyn

The Special Collections Library at Yale
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Fri, 18 Aug 2006

For Thursday and Friday

My summer project with the Met School

I grew these!
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Wed, 16 Aug 2006

(this one may have been taken by Andrew)
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Tue, 15 Aug 2006

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Mon, 14 Aug 2006

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Sat, 12 Aug 2006

Another weekend duo

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Fri, 11 Aug 2006

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Thu, 10 Aug 2006

Lilies

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Wed, 09 Aug 2006

Making up for missed days

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Sat, 05 Aug 2006

Two for the weekend

From Quebec City and La Chute-Montmorency
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Fri, 04 Aug 2006

Installation at the DeCordova Museum

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Thu, 03 Aug 2006

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Wed, 02 Aug 2006

A Picture A Day

I was recently scolded about not maintaining my blog. Michael suggested, thought, that at the very least I put up some photographs. That I think I can handle. So I am going to try to put up a picture every day. And I am making the rule for myself that if I put up a cat picture I have to put up a non-cat picture as well.

So here's picture #1. If I start slacking, feel free to chastise me.

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Fri, 03 Mar 2006

Freakin' Awesome

Last Tuesday I went to Boston to see Belle and Sebastian with The New Pornographers. I'm pretty sure it was the first time I've been as excited about the opening band as the headliners; it's definitely the first time I've wondered if you can make the opening band to an encore.

Some of the highlights:

Belle and Sebastian passed around a fruit bowl. I've never had blueberries at a concert before. And they were some pretty tasty blueberries!

Avalon has a bar in the ladies' bathroom. Maybe this is common at night clubs, but it was the first time I'd ever ordered beer in a bathroom.

Hearing Judy and the Dream of Horses live.

The drummer from The New Pornographers makes the best facial expressions. Plus he kind of looks like a hobbit.
Also, Chris from Belle and Sebastian looks kind of like the weird brother that someone let play with the band but turned out to be really good. He had a little bit of a Napoleon Dynamite's brother thing going on.

It may have been ridiculously hot inside, and the drinks may have been overpriced and weak, but we got three hours of amazingly good music. I am totally satisfied.
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Wed, 14 Dec 2005

This scares me.

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Sun, 13 Nov 2005

Yum!

I made this on Friday. It's easy and tasty -- what more do you want?

Ingredients

1 cup quinoa
2 cups vegetable broth
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup toasted pine nuts
fresh thyme

Directions

Throw everything except the pine nuts in a saucepan. Put those in the oven and toast them at 300 degrees. Bring the broth to a boil, cover, and let simmer for 15-20 minutes.

When the quinoa is fully cooked, throw in the toasted pine nuts.

I think I may just go eat this for lunch today.
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A lack of photographic evidence

I have been camera-less for over a month now. Why? It's a long story, but you can read about it here. It's been painful, really. So many picture-worthy moments. Like the hassidic man gazing out the window of the Verizon store. Or the view from East Rock in New Haven. I think today may be the day that I take the plunge and commit to a new camera. Hmm, I feel like I could almost do an extended metaphor here comparing camera-hunting to dating. Those disposable cameras? They're the one-date wonders. Right now I'm leaning towards the Canon PowerShot A620. It's not a digital SLR -- those sure are tempting -- but it's like the high-maintenance boyfriend. I'm hoping that the Canon will be the low-key go-anywhere kind of camera that still performs up to my standards.
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Mon, 07 Nov 2005

This is why copy editing is a good thing.

Ok, are they advertising for a gardener or a missionary? I can't decide.

Just in time for the holiday season . . .
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Fri, 04 Nov 2005

Fall = Soup Time

This one was inspired by a very tasty soup made by my friend Ryan (who, incidentally, I am going to see this weekend) and adapted to fit what was in my fridge.

Buttery Butternut Squash Soup with Thyme

Ingredients, in order of appearance

2 red onions
1 bunch scallions
1/2 stick butter
1/2 butternut squash, diced
~5 cups vegetable broth
5 cloves garlic, peeled
1/4 cup/small handfull dried porcini mushrooms
6-8 stalks/branches fresh thyme
1/4 cup white wine
1 Tbsp honey
Salt & Pepper to taste
3/4 cup wheatberries (or barley)

Instructions

1. Saute the onions & scallions until they start to caramelize
2. Add the squash and saute for another 5 minutes, then add the broth, thyme, mushrooms, and garlic
3. When the squash starts to get soft, add the remaining ingredients
4. Simmer until the wheatberries are fully cooked
5. Add more salt/pepper/wine/honey/thyme/butter to taste

I'm guessing this would be a good soup for dunking bread as well, but I didn't have any at the time so I couldn't test that theory.
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Thu, 03 Nov 2005

A bad protocol decision

Yesterday I lost my phone. Mostly likely it was grabbed by a 7th grader who missed the lesson on why stealing other people's stuff is not cool. So today I thought I would go online and find out just how much it's going to cost me to get a new one. Cell phone companies aren't big on telling you the real price of phones. They like to let you know just how cheap it will be once you sign a brand-new two-year contract, but if you want to know how much the phone costs all by itself you have to log into your account. Which would have been fine, except they recently enacted a policy by which you need not only your account number and pin number, but also a user name and password. The user name you can pick yourself, but the password they have to send you. And they can only do this as a text message.

To sum up: To get a phone, I need a password. To get a password, I need a phone.

I suspect this is all a nefarious plot to get me to go to the mall.
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Wed, 26 Oct 2005

In the interest of circular linkage

I will send you here. This is Jeff's blog. It is entertaining. Now that I'm sending people to his site, though, he need to add more content to it.
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Fri, 21 Oct 2005

Your tax dollars at work

Yesterday I went to the DMV to get myself a Rhode Island Driver's License. I assumed that a valid out-of-state license and proof of address would be enough to do the transfer. Apparently, though, you need your social security card as well. Not just your number, but the actually flimsy little piece of paper.

Now, I know that I had my card at one point, but somewhere in the moving process I misplaced it. So today I went to get a replacement. Guess what's the only item you need to get a replacement card? Your driver's license. Hmm.

I love bureaucracy.
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Thu, 20 Oct 2005

Where I'll be this Halloween

Come see . . . Dabasement Bombers! Pushy Galore! Paris Killton! Cyndi Plopper! Veruca Assault!

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Mon, 17 Oct 2005

Iowans are really good at naming things.

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Fri, 14 Oct 2005

Something looks oddly familiar about this font . . .

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Rain, Rain, Go Away

As you fellow New Englanders may have noticed, it has been raining for the past 7 days, and apparently will continue to do so through Sunday. I am very unhappy with whoever decided that this would be a good idea. I don't mind a rainy day every now and then. It tends to serve as a good excuse to stay in bed or watch a movie. However, I would prefer my rainy days evenly spaced out, with plenty of sunny and/or partly-sunny days in between. Therefore, I have created this short petition. Please fill this out and send it along to whoever you are blaming for this nasty weather.

Dear god/local meteorologist/aliens/yakuzi/al-Qaeda/Donald Rumsfeld/other ________,

This weather sucks. Please make it stops. I promise that I will donate money to your party/kill the heathens/not talk about the abduction/support my local TV station/start going to church/buy more Japanese products if we can just have a little bit of sunshine.

Sincerely,

your name here

Thank you.
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Sun, 02 Oct 2005

Living it up in 16 bits

Today I bought Dr. Mario/Tetris for my Super Nintendo. This is me beating my brother:

Note the lovely "X" denoting "You lose, player two!"

Said brother was also kind enough to give me Donkey Kong Country:

Now I'm all set for another cold Providence winter.
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Fri, 16 Sep 2005

Today sucked.

No, really, it sucked. It started off with a certified letter stating that I was going to be sued by Miriam Hospital for a bill from November of 2003 that my VISTA insurance had never paid, despite numerous phone calls on my part to all involved parties. Today I had to argue with the representative from VISTA that labwork is indeed a part of an annual exam, and that a yearly physical and an annual are, well, pretty much the same thing.

Then things got a bit better; the two people I wasn't looking forward to interviewing didn't show up, and the pre-recorded training session I was supposed to watch turned out to be shorter than I though. I left work at 4 and went to my very first yoga class, where I stretched and relaxed and worked some muscles I didn't know existed.

But then they got worse. I left yoga feeling all loose and energized only to find that my car had been broken into. And not just broken into, but seriously brutalized. The passenger window was smashed, and the entire middle console, including my ghetto cd player set-up, vents, and heating controls had been completely torn out. With all sorts of gouge marks around the sides. Even better, the genious who did this managed to cut himself in the process, and now there are blood streaks all over the inside of my car. My AC adapter is gone, and so are most of my CDs, with the exception of David Bowie and Beck. And the turn signals don't work.

The good news? It's covered by insurance. The bad news? When I switched to Rhode Island insurance I raised my deductibles so I wouldn't be paying quite so astronomical an amount for car insurance. Instead, I get to pay the first $1000 towards fixing this mess. Which, coincidentally, is about what Miriam Hospital wants me to pay them. Although, at this point, being sued feels like nothing.

The scrabble set wasn't touched, though, nor was the box full of glazes; that has to count for something. And Erin was kind enough to come over with a bottle of wine, which has done wonders to mellow out the stressfulness of the day.

I'm just hoping that from here, the weekend can only get better.
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Sat, 10 Sep 2005

A much-needed tune-up

I cleaned the chain, adjusted the handlebars, tightened all the nuts on the fenders, and fixed whatever was wrong with the gears (although I'm still not sure what was wrong, or how I fixed it). Now my bike is in (almost) tip-top shape, which is excellent, given that it is my preferred form of transportation in this age of $3.00/gallon gasoline. And it's keeping me in pretty good shape, too. There's a lot of hills in this city. Riding up them on a 3-speed is no joke. Hopefully I won't wimp out come wintertime.

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Fri, 02 Sep 2005

My new fun toy

Making homemade soymilk rocks.
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Wed, 31 Aug 2005

Back from the wilderness

I'm feeling too lazy to put up a photo gallery with captions, so I'm just going to post a few pitures from my adventures at the North Carolina Outward Bound School.

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Tue, 16 Aug 2005

Things I will not miss about 75 Raymond Street

• Biking up and down Dean Street
• The hourly sirens
• People getting arrested outside my window
• The dark scary basement
• The evil pokey thing on the way to the basement
• Turning out of my driveway
• Grimy gray carpeting
• Our landlord

Mon, 08 Aug 2005

3 New Photo Galleries

Friday night I went to Boston and waited out the rain in my car -- I took these pictures to keep myself entertained.

On Friday and Saturday I played with taking pictures in dark but interestingly-lit spaces; these pictures are the result of that experiment.

Sunday I went to breakfast in my pajamas (for the second day in a row, actually). And then went to Thayer street in my pajamas. And then Purgatory Chasm, Worchester, and Woonsocket. What can I say? Sarah and I were running away from the daunting task of packing up our apartment. Luckily we had the camera with us, and were able to take these entertaining photos along the way.

And, for good measure, here's a picture of Batman, nicknamed Mr. Stretchy and now Yoga Cat.
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Wed, 03 Aug 2005

Right. The bird story.

So I was on my way to the studio on Saturday, hoping to catch up with the wood firing crew and get some of my pieces in the kiln, when I saw a grey bird in the bike lane. I realized pretty quickly that this was not a pigeon, but rather a cockatiel, and therefore not the type of bird you expect to see wandering around outside. I parked my bike and tried to approach him, but he flew onto a nearby branch that I couldn't quite reach. I stood on the sidewalk whistling at him for a while (and receiving a quite a few honks from passing cars) but he wasn't charmed by my repertoire of wolf whistles. And then he flew across the river.

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Mon, 01 Aug 2005

The end of Team Raymond

Every time I move I do a combination of proactive, helpful things like getting rid of clothes I never wear and time-consuming mini-tasks. Right now I am working on uploading all the CDs I can find into iTunes. This also means listening to a lot of music that I have neglected since, in some cases, 10th grade. It's an interesting walk down memory lane. The first thing I copied was Jethro Tull's Aqualung -- something I know I haven't listened to in years. It reminds me of driving to Minnesota in my friend Ryan's dad's car to go to the renaissance festival. We kept accidently going 95 and having to remind ourselves to slow down. I also remember that Ryan managed to spill gas on himself on the way back and the whole car smelled kinda funny after that.

And then there's the Ani albums, with a whole slew of memories from freshman year at Iowa.

I'm also trying to decide whether I should take a class this fall. Glass blowing and jewelry making sound pretty awesome.
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Woolly Fair at the Steelyard

This is the what it said on the cute little scroll I won from playing the 4 Meter Lamb Toss:

The Sheep Dog
            What to do.
Don't Panic. The Sheep Dog can be inserted into some pretty funny situations. Remember the time Donna dry-mopped the bar with the fattest pup? She didn't even know it was one for the drunk what she was. Then I heard her wash it all off the dirt and we all fall down. I'm a clean one now, hoo boy. But Donna. Donna drunk that pup.

I have no idea what that all means.

Other highlights of the evening included the Unimog ride, which was actually Nick Bauta's WWII truck driven around the bumpiest parts of the Steelyard grounds, and Lewis and Clark, a band from Pennsylvania which cannot be googled.

My contribution to the evening was to mix up Mania's lemonade, which consisted of:
A whole bunch of mint
9 lemons and 2 squeezy fake lemons
1 pound superfine sugar
A gallon and a half of water
Ice
And a bottle of vodka

I also rescued a cockatiel from the trees around the Woonasquatucket river, but that's a whole different story.
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Mon, 25 Jul 2005

New Image Galleries

So it has been suggested that I should put more pictures in a navegable online format instead of leaving them on my hard drive to collect binary dust. Thus, for your viewing pleasure, I now have 2 more photo galleries to share; this one of a semi-recent trip to Mass MoCA, and this one of pictures taken around the Steelyard.

I was also thinking, after checking out a few other people's blogs, that it would be nice to find a way to repair the writebacks on here that wouldn't just attract more gross spam. I could always go for a totally new blog generator, but I like the very DIY aspect of this one. Of course, DIY is only valid if I actually bother to do anything (note that this is post #2 in the past 4 months). Maybe I'll go on a blogging spree. Or not. Depends on the weather, I think.
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Sat, 02 Jul 2005

You know you're a Scrabble nut

When you're playing scrabble online at 7:00 on a Saturday morning and you get excited because GIJoel from Word Freak logs on.

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Fri, 28 Jan 2005

Catster

If there was ever any doubt that I am destined to become a cat lady, well, doubt no further. I just put Olympia on Catster, the site for people so fascinated with their cats that feel the need to give them webpages. Of course, Olympia's a whole sub-directory on my blog, so I guess this was inevitable. As you can guess, it's friendster for cats -- I think Olympia has about 30 catster friends now. It's kind of ridiculous.

Of course, it was Sarah who told me about Catster in the first place.

Here's her personal page.
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Sat, 22 Jan 2005

Waiting for the snow to start

Our friends at the weather channel are predicting between 12 and 20 inches of snow for this weekend. I'm not terribly concerned, though; I figure a good snowstorm is a fine excuse to sit around and watch movies and knit. I'm almost finished with half of a pair of fingerless gloves -- not very useful for the upcoming blizzard, but very exciting. They're lime green with a fuzzy orange border.

The one thing I want to do before it starts snowing is take this box full of old clothes that's been sitting in the dining room over to Savers. The funny thing, of course, is that some of those clothes were probably purchased at Savers (or Goodwill) to begin with. At any rate, I'll be glad to get them out of the house.
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Thu, 16 Dec 2004

Meet Batman

This bossy little goober joined our household in August. He's a little hair-sucking freak, but he sure is cute and sweet.

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Don't let the cat out of the bag . . .

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Tue, 14 Dec 2004

Warning: this post contains language unsuitable for children

OK, I don't usually use my weblog as a venting ground. But I feel the need to share some of the ridiculous behavior of my downstairs neighbor.

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The System Is Down

Last night on the way home I stopped at a red light on Dean Street -- not an unusual event by any means. Except that the light didn't turn green.

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Tue, 30 Nov 2004

Mary Jane Pleasants

So I'm in Indiana, unexpectedly. We found out Friday morning, the day after Thanksgiving, that my grandmother (my dad's mother) had passed away during the night. Her memory had been been fading over the past couple years, and last year at this time she moved out of the house that my grandfather built and into a nursing home. The last time I saw her -- last December -- I'm not sure she remembered who I was. She died after spending Thanksgiving with her family and talking to all of her seven children on the phone; it seems almost like she decided it was time to go.

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Fri, 29 Oct 2004

It's a four-job life

Last Friday and Monday I was a substitute science teacher.

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Sun, 24 Oct 2004

An Update

It's been a while since I've added anything to my weblog. I've probably had 10-20 ideas for entries, but somehow I never get around to actually writing anything. First things first, though -- it's time for an update of what's going on in my life.

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Sun, 15 Aug 2004

The Unstrung Harpsichord

While doing some much-needed room cleaning, I came across these limericks written way back in high school with my friend Sarah Hagge. They of course deserve to be immortalized on my weblog.

There once was a dog and a carriage The love-stricken dog proposed marriage      When the carriage was silent      The dog became violent At that act of utter disparage -R.P.	Young Florence had very fine knees And she always said thank-you and please      Her smile was delightful      But her tresses were frightful For her beehive, it really had bees. -R.P.
As Madeline sat on her bed An idea came into her head      "If one day I go wild      And string up a young child I will bury it under the shed -S.H.	There once was a lady quite fair, And whenever she ate a ripe pear,      The meb would start flocking      For her manner was shocking But she fought them all off with her hair -R.P. & S.H.

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Wed, 28 Jul 2004

Garlic Broccolini

I saw the bunches of broccolini at the asian market last night and had visions of garlicky goodness.

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Tue, 27 Jul 2004

Birthday Boy O'Keefe

It was Tim's birthday yesterday, and we all conspired to give him a little surprise party. I made the carrot cake, Robin made the card, and Matt made the "Evil Genius" stencil. It took a while to come up with the ideal decorating scheme for the birthday cake. There are, of course, so many entertaining aspects of Tim's personality that we could have used, but a lot of them don't translate well to cake. "Evil Genius" is a reference to the game "Call to Power," a Civilization derivative that Tim and I play when we can find the time for a 4-hour geek-out session. The game assigns personality types to your leader based on your game behavior, and the game picked "evil genius" for Tim. I gave the cake a basic cream cheese frosting, and then we dusted cocoa powder over Matt's stencil to make the letters. There are plans in the works for a matching t-shirt.

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Fri, 23 Jul 2004

Drive AS220: A New Way to Give

Download a pdf of the Drive AS220 reply card! Please send completed cards to: AS220 115 Empire St. Providence, RI 02903

Dear Friends of AS220, It's hard to believe, but it has been nineteen years since AS220 first opened its doors as an open forum for the arts in Rhode Island. Over the years, we have seen our simple mission grow into a flourishing reality, touching thousands across Rhode Island and attracting attention around the country. As we continue to take our mission into the neighborhoods of Providence and throughout the state, our commitment to artists has evolved to bring art opportunities to youth through classes, projects, and collaborations with other organizations. And now, we are excited about further expanding and diversifying our programs, providing opportunity for Rhode Islanders to create art, exhibit and perform. An Opportunity for You Most of AS220's earned income goes right back into programs for the public. Likewise, foundation support is earmarked for public programs. Your financial support underwrites the whole of AS220- the open stage, numerous galleries, community art making, affordable live and work studios, and programs for youth.

New Ways to Give AS220 has several new ways for you to support the organization.

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Thu, 22 Jul 2004

AS220 Membership Survey

Please take a couple minutes to fill out our new survey. Your feedback will help us improve our new membership campaign.

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Mon, 19 Jul 2004

Fools Ball Image Galleries

My primary responsibility as a VISTA at AS220 has been the organizing of the Fools Ball. These image galleries document not only my most recent accomplishments in web design, but also the outcome (in the form of happy party-goers and a festive AS220) of 5+ months of hard work.

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Tile Mosaic, Ames Jewish Congregation

In the fall of 2003, the Ames Jewish Congregation (the synogogue that my family has attended for over 20 years, and whose religious education program I have been a part of both as student and teacher) commissioned me to create a mural for the front entryway of the synogogue. My design included a portion that I would create here in Providence, and a portion that religious school students would create under my direction.

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Sun, 18 Jul 2004

Ceramics Class, CityArts!

I have been involved with CityArts! since I came to Providence in 2001. Since then,I have assisted with a number of classes, including juggling and drumming, but my interest has always been ceramics.
For the past two years I have co-taught a ceramics class with fellow artist Heidi Born. Our focus has always been to give students an enjoyable art-making experience while teaching them the fundamentals of working with clay. The projects we have done include the following:

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Wed, 14 Jul 2004

Coconut Curry Vegetables

I've been hanging out on the 3rd floor of AS220 pretty frequently lately, and we've been trying to initiate a new trend of communal cooking and eating. The kitchen up there has the potential to be a wonderful community space; I know we've been doing a good job lately of at least making it smell inviting. Yesterday we got off to a good start on the communal cooking idea -- Christine brought in some broccoli and a salad, and we made this curry dish.

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Sun, 11 Jul 2004

Pasta Fantastico

Matt says, "every time we cook something it's the best thing we've ever cooked." This is the latest success story.

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Mojolicious Tempeh

It's actually two recipes in one. The first is something my mom likes to make for bar mitzvahs and other special occasions; the other is my own invention. I cooked it up for Matt & Erin and they were quite happy with the results. Try it with sangria.

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Mon, 05 Jul 2004

Musings from the grammar-obsessed

Remember that old joke about how if pro is the opposite of con, then the opposite of congress must be progress? (hah hah hah) We've been giving a lot of thought this issue, and while we haven't fully figured out how these prefixes work, we've certainly come up with some fun observations:

1. Contest (accent on test) & protest: definitely not opposites. In fact, isn't protesting something a way of indicating that you'd like to contest it? A contest (accent on con), on the other hand, is something else entirely (I'd like to contest the results of the contest). And then there's detest--like I protest the war because I detest war.

2. Conduct and product: Especially given that a duct is an "enclosed passage or channel," I'm not sure what to make of the relationship between these two words.

3. A new version of the joke: if con is the opposite of pro, does that mean the opposite of Constitution is Prostitution?

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Wed, 30 Jun 2004

Silly kitty

No, I'm not giving birth to my cat. She was just having a great time playing under my skirt.
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Halloween 2003

I just developed the film from a crappy disposable camera that's been floating around my apartment for the past year, and I found some pictures from Halloween. My best friend and I had decided that we would both dress up as rock stars; we took a trip to Sal's and came up with some pretty stellar outfits. We came up with a whole story to tell anyone who asked. The tricky part, though, was that she lived in Iowa at the time--we had to be an estranged rock duo.

The story, if I can remember it, goes like this:
We started out as a folk duo; we both played guitar and Bess did all the vocals. But then on a trip to London one spring we discovered David Bowie and glam, and our lives changed forever. We ditched the acoustic stuff and bought an electic guitar and a bass--Bess played the bass. All we needed then was a drummer--little did we know that would be the downfall of the band. We found a great guy, really talented, and thought we were on our way to stardom. But then there was the love triangle to sort out, and then he discovered the groupies. Before we knew it he was living the rockstar lifestyle, and we had to deal with the hangovers and crying girls. One day he just didn't show up to practice. And Bess and I were so worn out from touring that we blamed each other for the downfall of the band--we fought for a couple weeks straight, and went on some ugly drinking binges. I knew I had to get out of there if I wanted to save my music career. So I moved out to Providence and pulled things together; Bess stuck around in Iowa and reverted back to her folksy roots. We started talking, patched up the friendship, even jammed a little. And for Halloween, we decided to break out our old outfits one last time. We might tour together again, but not as a rock band.

I also found this picture of Matt.
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Fri, 25 Jun 2004

Tom's radio piece

Tom Sgouros asked us a while back if we could think of any modern-day pop music analogues for Andrew Marvel's poem To His Coy Mistress. The poem is essentially about not putting off pleasure--after all, we won't live forever. It's a pretty racy poem, but because it's written in pretty poetic language it often ends up in 9th grade English textbooks. At the time, we were discussing how, over time, even the most scandalous art becomes cannonical and we forget the controversy it created. We were wondering whether in 100 years Li'l Kim will be part of a lesson plan on early 21st century music.
Anyway, the rest of us lost track of that discussion thread, but Tom kept thinking about it--recently, he put together this radio piece based on some of his research.
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Mon, 21 Jun 2004

The distribution of wealth

Every morning I check my e-mail and read the headlines from the New York Times. And it seems lately like every day I read something that profoundly disturbs me. Today I read about how George Bush has spent $85 million dollars on discrediting John Kerry.

Now, I know that in comparison to, say, the amount spent on the Iraq war, 85 million is not that much. But in comparison to the annual budget of AS220, or my annual salary, it's a lot of money. So I came up with this idea: what if a candidate were to forgo spending any money on fancy television ads, and just put a small text announcement in the newspapers or online saying that they've decided to take that 85 million and spend it on education. I just consulted the calculator, and for that amount of money you could hire about 2000 teachers.

Andy Rooney of 60 Minutes also has an interesting viewpoint about campaign spending, and I think he's onto something. After all, with the national budget deficit where it is, don't we want a president who can spend money wisely?

John Kerry isn't any more miserly. He's spending $100 million on his campaign. I guess in an ideal world people would be able to do their own research and determine what candidate best fits their ideals. And candidates would have a presence in our mental space not because they spend millions on airtime, but because they are active and involved individuals (if you want to be on TV, why don't you do something newsworthy?). In this age of information proliferation, it's not that hard to find out what someone is up to.

I feel like I'm giving the American people too much credit. Sound bytes work really well as pacifiers for a lot of voters. All it takes for some is the reassurance that Bush is a religious man, and they'll ignore all the reasons why he's incompetent.

Unfortunately, the idea of voting for the least bad canditate just doesn't get me excited about politics. I was never into popularity contests in the first place.
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Sat, 19 Jun 2004

Good Morning!

I'm looking at the picture of Olympia that Matt put up as the background image on the AS220 kitchen computer, and I kind of wish I was home so I could snuggle with her. I locked myself out of my apartment yesterday, and I've been waiting for that confluence of roommates being home/ride to my house so that I can retrieve my keys and tend to the animals.
In the meantime I am hanging out, waiting for Sarah (potential VISTA visiting from Pennsylvania) to get back from the URI lab so we can discuss whether Loui's and the Salvation Army are in our future.
I just answered the "what's in your bedroom" question on Orkut and realized I sound like an old lady (yarn, books, and my cat). I swear I'm not really an old maid. Even if I am pretty domestic. On a completely unrelated note, we've been discussing the sequel to Fox's The Swan. We think the next season should be devoted solely to transexuals. Not just because it would probably be a big hit (reality TV, beauty contests, and alternative lifestyles are so in right now), but because it would be pretty cool for Fox to pay for people's sex changes.
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Sun, 13 Jun 2004

Very pink

So I took a nap on the beach today. It was great--warm but not too hot, a nice cool breeze, the waves crashing on the beach, sand tickling my legs. Except that I was stupid and didn't put on sunscreen, and now I'm hanging out in my underwear nursing my bright red arms and back. Anyway, I'm feeling sorry for myself. That's my weblog installment for the day; hopefully I'll have something intelligent and insightful to add later.
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Fri, 11 Jun 2004

Life After Fools Ball

I took a break from my weblog in the weeks leading up to the Fools Ball, and it's taken me a while to get back into keeping it updated. I've also started working on a new weblog project--that of the Stinktank.

So what have I been up to?
I've been doing a lot more cooking--check out my recipes section for new additions. I've been taking advantage of the cast-iron pan on the third floor to work on my Omletteer superpowers.
My other new superpower is shelf-building; I helped Matt build a kick-ass CD shelf for his new studio, and a bookshelf is in progress.
Tonight Erin and I are throwing a birthday party for ourselves (I went out to dinner on my birthday, but never had a real party). Tomorrow I want to get my bike fixed and check out garage sales.
I love the summer . . .
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Peanut-Coconut Noodles

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Andre the Giant has a posse -- 7'4", 520 lbs.

In 1988, Shepard Fairey moved to Providence from South Carolina to attend RISD. At the time he was already into punk and skate culture, but it was the sticker scene in Providence that played an integral role in his artistic development. Fairey goes so far as to say that it changed his life--and he's right. In the summer of 1989 he put up the first Andre the Giant sticker. Today that image--the stenciled black-and-white face, the crude handwriting, the enigmatic message--can be found around the world. You've probably seen one, maybe in the airport, maybe in a bathroom. In fact, once you start noticing the stickers, you'll realize how widespread they are.

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Mon, 03 May 2004

No comment.

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Mayday! or, How I Won the Kentucky Derby

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Mon, 26 Apr 2004

Blast from the past!

I just got a writeback from a guy I went to college with. I haven't talked to Keef (aka Keith Rutledge) since we graduated, so it was awesome to get a link to his weblog. So I'll return the google-juice favor: keef.org
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Sun, 25 Apr 2004

Two new ones for the collection

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Wed, 21 Apr 2004

The stress begins . . .

There are now only 5 weeks left until the AS220 Fools Ball, and there's a lot to get done. I'm in charge of decorating, which is great fun--it reminds me of doing theater in high school and trying to get a lot done with limited time and money. It's a lot of stress and long hours, though. I'm a little bit terrified. A lot rests on my shoulders right now, and while I know that I've always worked best under pressure, it's often hard to explain that to nervous co-workers. I'll survive, I hope.
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Sun, 18 Apr 2004

Notes from the Creative Economy Symposium

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Lying in bed with Olympia in my arms and looking forward to tomorrow.

It stopped raining finally. By the time we pulled in to Brattleboro on Thursday the sky was blue and the sun was shining. Later that afternoon, after the Creative Economy Symposium, we drove along the rural backroads to Mass MoCA in North Adams, Massachussets, and later on took rte. 2 back towards Providence. It was late enough in the afternoon that warm sunlight was shining through the trees as we drove through the river valley. On the way out of town we had an amazing view of the Berkshires.

Tomorrow is Sunday, and it's supposed to be 70 degrees. My goal is to bike to the Coffee Exchange so I can post this article and to pick up ingredients for my vegetarian cooking workshop tomorrow. Meanwhile, it's 2 AM and my cat is curled up next to me, and I think I'd like to cuddle with her for a while before drifting off to sleep.
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I miss New Pioneer

Brattleboro's a cute litle town. I was up there on April 15th for a Creative Economy Symposium My favorite part by far, though, was the co-op.

My first experience shopping at co-ops was probably Wheatsfield Grocery in Ames, Iowa. Mainly what I remember is that they had a little play area for kids near the front window with one of those thermometer signs for tracking fundraisers--I think it may have been in the shape of a carrot. When I was in high school I took a lot of art classes at the Octagon, which was right next door--I would go there before figure drawing and buy fruit leathers and mango spritzers.

When I moved to Iowa City I started shopping at New Pioneer Co-op. They served some of the best sandwiches in the world. Like the Brad's potent pesto tofuwich: "Spiced organic tofu steamed with caramelized onion and Smoked Provolone, topped with sunflower sprouts and tomato. Served on Sourdough with sun-dried tomato spread and spinach pesto". Yum. I spent a lot of money on eating lunch there with my friend Ryan my freshman year (we enjoyed bonding over good food and french grammar). In the summers the Farmer's Market was help across the street, so I could very easily pick up fresh produce, horseradish cheese, and bulk olive oil all in one trip.

Providence doesn't have a real co-op. It has Whole Foods, which is good, but it doesn't have the bulk section and it doesn't have the same feel as a co-op. The good news is that Urban Greens (a buying club) and some students from Brown are working on starting one. It's about time. I know it takes years to reach the point of having a deli counter and having a wide selection, but I'll be happy if I can start buying my spices in bulk again.
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Wed, 14 Apr 2004

Meet Olympia

You can't resist her, she's too cute

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She came from the locksmith

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Boggle? Boggle? B-b-b-boggle?

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I dream of Spring

It's been raining for the past three days, and I'm sick of it. I'm ready for real spring. I want to go camping, ride my bike, sleep in the grass, wear sandals, drink beer on the porch, plant tomatoes, put away my jacket, open windows, have a barbeque.
Right now I'm fantasizing about packing up a tent and some sleeping bags, gathering some good friends, and driving off to New Hampshire or western Mass. We'll pick up some veggie burgers and vegetables, and we'll sit around a campfire sharing a bottle of wine and enjoying a night sky not tainted with city lights. We'll curl up in sleeping bags and wake up with the sun, then make eggs and coffee. Maybe we'll take a hike and find a nice secluded place to stretch out in the sun and splash in a stream. We'll drive home tired and stinky but blissful.
I crave the sun, and green grass.
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Tue, 13 Apr 2004

Burlington
On Sunday, February 1st my friend Mary Bue had a gig at the Radio Bean in Burlington, Vermont--so on Saturday we packed up her piano and some clothes and headed north.

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Mon, 12 Apr 2004

Creamy dill-vegetable soup

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Sometimes I hate telephones, sometimes I love them.

I spent about a half an hour today trying to call Africa. My best friend is a Peace Corps volunteer in Niger, and she seldom has access to a phone. She's in Niamey today at a hostel that actually does have a phone, and even a computer with internet access.
Calling internationally always involves a lot of dialing--first the AT&T number, then the phone card number, then the actual number. I did this about 20 times. These are some of the messages I got:

All circuits are busy to the country you are dialing

Your call cannot be completed within the country you are dialing

beepbeepbeepbeep beep beep beep

Meanwhile, all I really wanted to hear was Bess's voice.
I did get through eventually, but we only talked for 4 minutes before getting cut off. I only had 13 minutes on my phone card anyway--hardly enough. We can easily talk for over an hour.
Bess and I haven't lived in the same city for a while, so when she was still in the states we had a lot of long phone conversations about everything and nothing. It's been a challenge these last few months to write a letter when I really want to just babble about everything going on in my life to the one person who really understands.

I need to go visit her in Niger.
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Mon, 05 Apr 2004

Iowa Signs

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Sun, 04 Apr 2004

Home is a well-stocked refrigerator
The grid system, the smell of manure, the wide open spaces--I know I'm back in Iowa. The drive from Des Moines to Ames is a straight line, and the road is empty this time of night. There's a few lights in the distance, but the landscape is mostly fields. I'm home--I think.

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Frankenixon, Continued
Last night I went to my third Frankenixon show--this one in their base camp in Des Moines. I had my camera with me, so I was able to make this nifty little photo gallery.

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Fri, 02 Apr 2004

Supercow!

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Mon, 29 Mar 2004

New Signs from New York

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Sun, 28 Mar 2004

Harlem

On Saturday, March 27th I went to New York with my friends Matt and Mary. The purpose of this trip was twofold: to see Accidental Nostalgia, a play by Cynthia Hopkins that was workshopped at AS220 and performed at Perishable Theater last December, and to visit Harlem. The theme for this year's Fools Ball is the Harlem Renaissance, and I've been doing a lot of research not only on the era but also on contemporary Harlem. In my reading I kept finding interesting parallels between Harlem and Providence, so it seemed only appropriate to visit the actual location--wander around a little, visit landmarks, and take pictures.

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Wed, 24 Mar 2004

Roadkill
Another one bites the dust . . .

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Roaches

Prairie Ave, Providence
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Sun, 21 Mar 2004

Yad Vashem

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Mon, 01 Mar 2004

Messages in the wall

In my room it was Marco #1, in the dining room in was Bob, and now . . .

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She's officially a Jewish cat

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Fri, 27 Feb 2004

Frankenixon!
I met Frankenixon when they came through town last winter--they're a Bifi Records (out of Ames, Iowa (my hometown)) band, and their tour manager is a friend of a friend. So when they played in Cumberland, RI, I made them chili and offered them floor space in my tiny apartment (they opted to keep driving, understandably). On February 25th they came back to Rhode Island and put on a great show at AS220.
Frankenixon consists of Evelyn on piano and vocals, Joe on guitar, Ben on bass, and Westin on drums. They have a new CD, Amorphous, that they recorded in San Francisco last summer in a 10-day period. They played a few new songs off that album, and also a couple from their previous album, Depth Perception.
After the show, the band, Matt, and myself all headed back to my house to hang out for a while. Having moved last August, it was much easier to offer them a place to sleep this time around. After a good night's sleep, we took them to Loui's for breakfast and then showed them to the Whole Foods. They will be touring until March 20th, and then will be back in Des Moines for a while. They will (hopefully) be back in Providence over the summer.
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Mon, 02 Feb 2004

Pesto-Olive Lasagna
it's yummy.

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