Let the fruits (and vegetables) of summer appear!
Like a good Genovese girl, I have a basil plant in a pot in the backyard. It's a staple for me; if I only can grow one herb, it's Italian basil. The reason is simple: it's one of the few herbs which really doesn't hold up well when bought at the store and kept in the fridge. I've had a lack of counterspace my entire adult life, so that pretty much prohibits me leaving it in a mug of water on the counter...besides, Bella gets a bit too poss
So I'm finally able to move out on my own again, and am now 'broadcasting' from my new apartment! It's a small studio in downtown/Japantown San Jose, in an old Victorian. No, Don Tomato, it doesn't have A/C...it has a gas heater. That's it.
But this place is almost done. Most all of the boxes are unpacked; the rest will be done once my brother puts up a bookcase for me. Some stuff remains in his garage; other will be given to Goodwill/Salvation Army. But most everything I have fits in
"So, how are you, really? You sound entirely too stressed. This is not normal." Dad hit the nail on the head, as we were driving to lunch today.
Let's face fact: I'm a creature of habit, as we all are. I'm just one of those creatures who likes to plan ahead, organize as much as possible, so that when the poop pops upward, I know where things are, what can be done, etc. I see it as being prepared, so that I can work a ton and then have plenty of time to relax in between responsibilities
Today I have been at a 4-year public university, having a second interview for an Assistant Professor position. I'm not tired; I'm not fatigued. I'm...wilted. Why, you ask? Well, let me tell you the schedule for the day. Note that I got **location censured to protect my chances** yesterday afternoon, and rested up well last night.
7:30am--picked up by the department chair
8:00am--meeting with dean--all talk by her, whilst I sat and nodded and listened
9:00am--meeting with selection co
Well, after more than 3 years of waiting, plus another year of paperwork SNAFUs, it's now official. I am both an Italian and an American, as are my brothers and my mom. I can proudly wear the red-white-and-blue and the tri-colori and not get ripped for it. I can go in the short line when travelling through European customs; I can stay in Italy and other EU countries for longer periods of time (watch out, European UNRV members!), and grant-funded trips to EU countries, from what I hear, will n
First, if you've never heard of the Blues Brothers, educate yourself.
Well, for many years now I've been convinced that I'm a/the lost long Blues Sister. Yes, true, I never was an orphan growing up in a convent; true enough, Curtis and the Penguin were never my mentors in life. But the blues live within me. As does Rhythm and Blues. It moves my soul, makes me sway to the beat, and makes me want dress in black suit, white shirt, black tie, and Raybans. Ok, so I was born in the year that
*Shuffle into the room*
*Notice tons of dust on the blog*
*Pull out cleaning rag and wipe away dust*
There...that's better
So, uh, yeah, been a bit busy this year. Not that I have a ton of time to maintain this blog currently...and probably won't for another month. But at least I should make an effort, right?
Yeah, I hope so, too.
So, what and/or who has been taking up my time, you ask? Funny, that. In no particular order...
Boyfriend: Ok, that one is in a part
What is it about relationships that are so amazing, yet so unpredictable? I mean, you date for years and years...you make some connections, but nothing that sweeps you off your feet for the majority of the time. You put yourself into periods of drought...and then you meet someone who seems to understand you so completely, so quickly...well, things just seem to fall into place.
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My brother Matt proposed to his lady, a
I will readily admit it: U2 is perhaps my favorite band, and certainly in my personal Top 5 of music acts who have musically impacted my life.
I was ready to write a blog entry about what's going on in the Eastern Mediterranean and North African, making comparisons with Post-Franco Spain and pondering the future of these newly-freed peoples, and suddenly started playing my entire U2 collection. (iTunes is great for that, doncha know.)
Of course, in doing due diligence, I looked up the v
First...I find it a necessity, nay, a duty, to inform the public on this evil that has been brought forth.
Click here, if you can stomach (and liver) it
Yes, that's a combination of Budweiser and Clamato, being sold in one can, for general consumption and pleasure. For those who don't know, or have never heard of, Clamato: it is a mix of tomato juice and clam juice (as the name implies), often used in Bloody Marys.
Now, I admit that I despise tomato juice. I hate it with a passion.
Well, folks, the word of this week has been: culmination. I uploaded my finalized dissertation to UMI, which is the publisher that UT (and many, many other universities) uses, and it's currently under review. I mailed my final papers to the Grad School, and they were received today. All that's left is for them to finalize everything, bill me for my processing fee...and that's it.
I woke up this morning, and i felt...calm. In my mind, when I pay that final fee, then I'll be really done,
For the record: I'm a moderate Independent, one who is completely undecided. I didn't vote for either of these candidates in the primaries; Independents in California only had open access to the Democrat ballot, and not the Republican, so I gave no vote either way.
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I really enjoyed listening to this first Presidential debate. Some of the items were to be expected: Obama linking McCain to Dubbya, while McCain consistently saying that Obama was in
Fellow sports fans, have you ever noticed how a radio or television broadcast of a sporting event can be made or broken solely on the skills and prowess of those calling the game?
There's no question that I learned the game of baseball by listening to Giants' broadcasts on KNBR radio, whether I was at the game or at home. Later, yes, our television announcers fell into greatness, but growing up Hank Greenwald called play-by-play on the radio on our games, plus the national games were called
It's happened to all of us...we're in a public place, and over the intercom system plays a song that, for whatever reason, strikes a chord immediately with us. Oftentimes it's a song that transports us back in time.
Yesterday I spent the afternoon at the Giants game, where they not only beat the Padres 3-1, but in doing so they swept the series. In one of the middle innings, in between frames, they played
. I could picture David Byrne's sweaty head herking and jerking all over the plac
Ever since my third year of college, with all of my classes being upper division in type, and with many academic writings to peruse, I have clamored for retraining of academians. And again I renew my plea.
When I become Ruler of the World, every academian will take writing courses (in the language or languages in which they publish) approximately every 5 years. In these courses, the 'students' will re-learn and refresh themselves on the proper writing styles of their genre. The first cour
This week has been utterly brutal. Actually, the last few weeks have, and it wasn't until Thursday that it all came to a head.
I teach an 8am class 3 days a week, on a campus that's 25 miles away. For us 'round here, well, that's not much of a commute, and I really don't view it as being far away. But an 8am class, that means I need to be on campus by 7:30 to get last minute stuff done, which means I have to leave the house no later than 6:45. Originally I thought I had to leave the hous
Thanks to last year's baseball excursion, I had a $300 voucher to fly anywhere in the continental US on American Airlines, and decided a while back to use it to go down to San Antonio and Austin. Outside of a trip back here 2 years ago to defend the dissertation--when I was so focused on that one element that I didn't do anything else--I haven't been back since I left 4 years ago. There are a lot of people here that I came to care about, and I wanted to visit them. And, well, Austin is an out
At the very last meeting of my Monday night class last semester, we got talking about food. One student was having issues with lasagna...loved to eat it, hated to make it because she didn't really know what to do. Evidently, she was raised on Stoffer's, not on fresh. I said I often make it when I have people coming over, and she asked for the recipe. I chuckled...my 'recipe' for lasagna is done on the fly, much like my 'recipes' for minestrone, spaghetti sauce, chili, and a few other soups.
Life has been busy lately, but somehow I've managed. I've had to get creative in order to make ends meet...it doesn't involve a street corner, but it does involve applying my talents in new ways. I have decided that I need to be called a 'consultant.'
Why, you ask? Because for one, I live not in the city, but in the suburbs, and evidently all those minimally-employed or unemployed professionals who are looking to rectify their economic situation call themselves as such. I've been told th
The last couple of weeks have turned out to be more action packed than usual. Usual for the beginning of the academic year, that is. Ironically I've been writing more in my hide-away journal, which is the one I write in when I need to work something out in my head (usually emotionally), as well as creative elements for work. Ah, yes, work.
It turns out that many of my colleagues and co-workers know how much work that I do, have noticed the quality of said work, and my lack of full-time em
WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!
So, at 8:04pm PDT, there was about a 5.0 earthquake centered approximately 6 miles from my place. It were funnnn!!!
Ok, it wasn't fun...well, not 'not fun'...kinda thrilling. See, if you're born in 'earthquake country,' you know what to do in an instant: find a place to take cover (under a desk, in a doorway), make sure you have something on your feet, and ride it out...it doesn't last long. But this was the first one in my life that I really, real
There are certain words in Old Castilian that occur in my dataset which I have traced their etymology...and they are Arabic borrowings. Not unusual at all; because of almost 800 years of Moorish rule, and the close contact between the Romance-speaking Iberians, the Jewish shopkeepers and the Arabic-speaking Moors, there's about 10% of the Spanish, Portuguese, and Catalan vocabularies which is Semitic (mostly Arabic) in origin.
So, I have about 8 words in my dataset which are Arabic in origi
When it rains, it pours. It's rained something like 5 out of the last 6 days, and will continue to rain another 6 out of the next 7. One lady I see often in the gym is starting to complain about it, seeing as how the precipitation is causing her to do all her exercise indoors rather than go for a walk. Personally, I do like walking in light rain; it brings this cool, cool water down right when you're getting a bit too warm. As long as it's not blustery or pouring (and we rarely, if ever, get
I decided that I'd go out for sushi tonight...and being that I live in Japantown, well, I knew it'd be good. Oh boy...I oopsed big time.
I'm allergic to shellfish. It's an interesting food allergy...comes in a variety of forms. Usually, the afflicted person is more affected by either crustaceans, mollusks or cephalopods; for me, crustaceans are evil. It also afflicts the poor soul in a variety of ways: the worst being apoplectic shock, others are covered in hives, and those like me are
Let me tell you, folks, I had plans! First, a great steak dinner (NY Strip steak, medium rare, with sauteed green beans and a great pinot noir), followed by meeting up with neighbors for either one of two ideas: 1) hang out in the backyard bar area and be stupid drunk; or 2) go to the Japantown festivities and be stupid drunk. Either way, I had 2 bottles of Asti chilling, plenty of other potent potables to quench my thirst...to be surrounded by friends (both 'old' and 'new') to celebrate the b
