Last night was awesome.

I wasn't sleepy at 8:30pm. I wasn't sleepy at 9:30 or 10:30 or even 2am. Yeah. I never could fall asleep until about 3:30am and then I woke up an hour later.

I was quiet and boring all weekend and but I feel like I've been up dancing all night.

- - -

Last week during dinner Bob gave me a serious look. "I have bad news."

When people say they have bad news, isn't that usually a warm-up to "I crashed your car" or "I gambled away your life savings" or news that somebody died?

His bad news: my Gilmore Girls DVD wasn't available from netflix so they sent one of his movies instead. What's he going to say when he really has bad news?

They sent me a GG DVD later and I watched it this weekend. I'm new to the show and I love it. A million episodes to look forward to.

Looking north on Interstate 5

I'm having an unfortunate sleep problem. This has been going on every night for two weeks. About 8:30pm I'm so tired I can't keep my eyes open. I sit in bed with my book on my lap, checking the clock every 5 minutes.

As soon as it's 9pm, it's lights out. I fall asleep in two seconds.

I awake between midnight and 2am. I remain awake until about 30 minutes before I want to wake. I spend those waking hours fretting about random things: seemingly minor health issues, pending first fiction publication, zombies, the economy, aging, that scaly bit of skin on my ankle, bad breath, fiction writing, alien abduction and so forth.

I'm getting to the point where I'm so tired I'm either going to sleep through the night or go on a murderous rampage. I know what my first choice would be.

Bob and I had a fun weekend that included a number of long walks with steep hills. I have faith I will be able to button my pants for at least another couple weeks.

My mother-in-law is a zoo volunteer. On Wednesday night she took us to see the ZooLights. This was my first time seeing them and it was fantastic. I didn't take many photos but I liked these flying pigs.

Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough

On Wednesday I went to the DMV to renew my driver's license. My thinking was that the day before Thanksgiving was not going to be a mob scene at the DMV. I was right. Thirty minutes and I was driving back home.

But here's the thing that amazed me: I was the only person in the waiting area who brought stuff to read. Why would you go to the DMV without anything to read?



I took this photo because of the pumpkins. All the cute flying monkeys and giant rhinos but I took photos of the pumpkins. Also, I'm sending the zoo the following suggestion: aliens and a spaceship. Who wouldn't want to see that in lights?

Dinner preparations yesterday went okay. Not as smoothly as I would have liked.

One problem was this *&^% pie. I thought about doing the pie on Wednesday but I was feeling lazy and thought: how long can it take to throw some pumpkin in a shell and bake it?

Ha ha.

While I was going through my recipes I found the handout from my pastry class. It has almost a full page single-spaced narrative which gave me hope that I could make a decent pie crust if I just read the words. I have a lot of faith in words.

Bob and I went for a nice walk and he wanted to do some kitchen things so I did yoga and then when he was done I thought I'd get the pie out of the way and then tackle the recipes.

This pie crust recipe was the most high maintenance recipe ever. Do X and then let it rest in the refrigerator. Do Y and then let it rest in the refrigerator. All it has to do is hold baked pumpkin. How much rest does it need?

Meanwhile the filling was high maintenance, too. "Put the pumpkin in your food processor. Then heat it in pan. Then put it back in the food processor."

Nope. I'm already washing everything in this kitchen twice today. We're not hauling out the food processor for a freaking pie.

I FINALLY got the pie done and I still had all my other things to coordinate. Oh, also, when I quizzed Bob on the details on his acorn squash fries, he said he needed a 425 degree oven for 45 minutes.

"Yeah," I said. "Until one of us makes enough money to buy a house with two ovens, we're not having acorn squash fries on Thanksgiving."

So I substituted with a Mark Bittman that I can't find right now but involved roasting (cover your eyes AngelaWD) beets and tossing with olive oil, red wine vinegar, chopped toasted hazelnuts and gorgonzola.

The salmon cakes were a HUGE hit. I thought they were a tad too limey and I thought so when I was doing the recipe so I did the 2 tsps. of juice but I think I had barely 1 tsp. of zest. If I make again I'd cut back on juice and just do a sprinkle of zest.

The other big hit, which surprised me, was the quinoa, wildrice, sausage "casserole". Bob made an epic leftover plate today using that as a foundation.

The pie was delicious even though it was a pain in the ass to make and nobody went home hungry. So success overall.

We got new recycling bins. Instead of sorting our stuff into three little bins, we dump it all into this big bin. Except for glass which goes in a separate little bin. I probably should read the instructions in more detail. Our garbage cans are so small, you could maybe fit a 12 year old in one. This thing is so big you could fit a 12 year old, me AND Bob in it.

Part I

Last week when I was at the airport, I went to LameAss Airlines to see about the potential problem with my plane ticket.

The LameAss guy shook his head and said, "Oh no. That's a problem. On an international flight the ticket must be issued exactly like it says on your passport. But I can't help you."

LameAss Airlines has been purchased by Ginormous Airlines. This is the second time that LameAss Airlines has allowed me to purchase a ticket to fly on one of their planes but when I had a question told me they couldn't answer it, I had to deal with Ginormous Airlines.

So I walked to the other side of the airport where everyone at Ginormous Airlines was on a break. I flagged down a lady and she listened to my problem and then flapped her hands at me like how could I be so silly. "One letter different? That's no problem. Don't worry about it."

"You're sure?" I said. "I don't want to arrive for my international fight and find out I have a problem."

Her smiled disappeared. "I'll ask my colleagues." She then goes back to where the Ginormous Airlines employees were sitting around and said, "One letter off on the ticket isn't a problem is it?"

"Nope," they all agreed. "No problem."

I'm doomed.



Looking south on Interstate 5

Part II

Here's the tentative menu for tomorrow

Matt's Salmon Cakes with Easy Remoulade Sauce

Cedar Plank Salmon

Mark Bittman Quinoa-Wild Rice dish (#24)

Bob's Acorn Squash Fries (I don't know where he got the recipe. I think he said a vegan resource which if you know him, is pretty hysterical.)

Jay Lake's Knot Rolls.

and Cooks Illustrated Pumpkin Pie using pumpkin I grew myself.

I'm going to do a computer free day tomorrow since I haven't done one in forever and I want to spend the day hanging around the kitchen.

Photo courtesy of kworth30. Thank you for CC licensed photos. The photo was taken in Jan 04. There is no snow on the ground right now.

This morning on the bus in I saw a spectacular sunrise over Mt. Hood and then saw Rudolph on the Made in Oregon sign as we pulled into downtown. I didn't think they lit his nose until after Thanksgiving.

I want to get a new raincoat. The one I have is at least 5 years old and has a broken zipper. I think I can justify the expense. I had Bob help me with this arm measurement that they want you to do for the Internet order and took my data back to the size chart and learned that with that arm measurement, I am an extra-large.

When it comes to clothing I find it hard to believe I'm an extra-large in anything except children's sizes. Then Bob and I tried again and then decided to just take a couple inches off and use that measurement. It's sure going to be funny when my hobbit-sized raincoat arrives.

I'm working on my menus for food I want to make this weekend. I'm loving this 101 ideas list from Mark Bittman. We're probably skipping the traditional Thanksgiving dinner although I'm still up for making it if things change. Otherwise we're having salmon and I have a giant hunk so I'll probably try a couple of different things. I'll crack into my pumpkin supply and make soup and a pie. I'm thinking about doing a pot of gumbo.

I'm talking about over the whole long weekend, not just Thanksgiving dinner.

This past weekend I made my second favorite bread recipe, the Cook's Illustrated sandwich bread. It's fantastic toasted with butter or Nutella. Or both.

I started this post this morning and then got busy so I'm finishing it in a big rush. Back to work.

We did our annual Bob's Red Mill trek this morning. Serving breakfast starting at 6am. (We didn't get there until 8am)

Misheard Lyrics

Bob and I went on an long walk this afternoon when the rain stopped.

On the way home Bob randomly said: "What's up with that Madness song? 'Our house, in the middle of the street ... ' Was it really in the middle of the street?"

I said, "In the middle of OUR street."

He thought for a few seconds and then said, "OH. Like the middle of the block. I get it."



But that reminded me of my favorite song lyric of all time. I've probably already blogged about it because I love it so much.

It's from the classic Warrant album Cherry Pie from the song, Uncle Tom's Cabin and it goes like this:

Me and Uncle Tom were fishin' it was gettin'
Pretty late
Out on a cypress limb above the wishin' well
Where they say it got no bottom say it take
You down to Hell

- - -

They were fishing in a bottomless wishing well!?!?!?

I just hope I get to meet Jani Lane someday so I can ask him about it.

I Couldn't decide on a title so we have three:

Stephenie Meyer is Saving The Economy

or

I Can't Believe I Set My Alarm to Go See a Movie That Made Me Laugh Out-loud. At it.

or

I Switched Teams: Go Jacob

I don't even know where to start with this.

I am a veteran of the first-show-of-the-day-on-the-day-the-movie-opens-but-not-midnight-showing going back to 1983 when Episode VI was released when I was in college. I was not a person who ditched class but I retrieved my car from the far-reaches of dorm parking and snuck off without telling anyone what I was doing. I drove to downtown Santa Barbara at 9am and waited in line with five other college students who I'd never met before but who became my best friends for the next couple of hours. There was only a handful of people in the theater but I think that fact that I was supposed to be doing something else made the movie even better.

Since then I've seen lots of stuff. I saw Episodes I - III on the first day. LOTR I-III the first day. Both Narnia movies. Probably Golden Compass. Probably the second Matrix movie but not the third. I think one of the Harry Potters. I'm sure there are others.

I have never seen anything like I saw this morning.

Backing up a second. I ended up getting home later than expected last night. I thought about driving by the theater to check out the Twihard action on my way home but I was tired and hungry so I skipped it. I got online to double check that the 6am shows were still on. If I understand Fandango correctly: the 11-plex that's a couple miles north of us sold out eight midnight shows. Before I went to bed there were still three midnight shows on sale and a 3am show.

I was going to a different theater, downtown, which had sold out three midnight shows and added 2 more. These are just the two theaters closest to where we live.

By the time I had eaten and wound down last night I was in bed late (for me) but I set the alarm. When it went off it was dark and rain was beating against the window. I couldn't do it. But I woke up again 45 minutes later and decided to go for the 7am. I grabbed my shopping list (for after) and zoomed downtown completely prepared to be watching a movie with three other lame people.



The parking lot was full. I have seen this parking lot full one other time -- a Friday evening when Bob and I went to see something, possibly Kill Bill. At 6:50am the cinema parking lot was full. Well, there were two spots and I took one that was next to a post so I had to climb out through the passenger door.

There was one TV crew there and one morning radio crew. I put my money on the counter and the kid said, "What did you need?" Really? Hm, 7am. What are the choices?

The lobby was nuts. There were people, excuse me, women and young girls buying t-shirts and jewelry and taking their pictures next to cardboard cutouts of Bella and Edward. My show was in one of the big theaters and it was at least one third full. I'm still having a hard time believing all this.

All the trailers were for romantic movies. There was a Nicholas Sparks thing, a Michael Cera thing which I guarantee the trailer showed the best parts no need to go see it, something with Romeo and Juliet and a letter, Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin. There was a trailer with RPattz and the theater went silent.

If I ever get my hands on a time machine I'm going to go back in time and destroy everyone responsible for the notion that all visual entertainment must be accompanied by an emo soundtrack. WTF? Someone points to a YouTube clip of a hamster trying to crawl out of a paper bag. Cue: angsty guitar music with breathy vocals. Every trailer. argh! Every quiet moment in the movie. argh! Can we just watch something without someone trying to beat us over the head with the emotion they want us to feel?

So what did I think of the movie?

Speaking of Twilight in general, I don't think I've ever been so thoroughly entertained by something that I think is so awful.

I enjoyed it but I laughed at it. A lot.

When Jacob took off his shirt the first time, every woman in the audience gasped. Jacob is so way better than Edward. I'm totally switching teams.

The One Where I Wasn't My Best

Well, this wasn't the best weekend of my life but not the worst either. I managed to get my act together today and took care of some business and did a bit of writing.

Yesterday I noticed some sunshine and I thought it would be smart to get my butt outside and rake but, of course, I found something better to do. That, naturally, involved sitting on the couch.

Today I figured I'd get out there for at least an hour but it was gray, drippy and 48 degrees. I made a pot of soup and roasted some beets instead.

I've got another busy week. Tomorrow is my long day and I don't get home until almost 8pm.

Tuesday I've got a regular work day and then leaving at the end of the day for work travel and won't be home until late Thursday night.

Then Friday I have the vampire movie.





I've been preoccupied with other things and I sorta forgot about the vampire movie. Especially since I thought the last one was so mediocre. I hadn't planned my whole life around seeing it the first day until I saw the schedule.

Back when I was all excited about seeing Jedi movies and Hobbit movies, I wished they had early morning showings. I can't stay up until midnight to watch a movie but I could get up early.

I could see the vampire movie at 6:01am. (If I go at that hour it's six-oh-one I want.)

I really don't feel that strongly about the movie but I sort-of want to just because I can. And my two strongest reasons for not going would be because I'm getting home late Thursday night and because what kind of dork goes to see the vampire movie at 6:01am?

But I'd really like to see what kind of dorks go to a movie at 6:01am. Plus I could put it on my dork resume next to: naming my laptop after a vampire, (this was my first laptop and it was named Lestat) going to science fiction camp, and dressing up as Nefertiti for Halloween after I read The Egypt Game back in the 70's.

We'll see how I feel on Thursday night.

Is There Something On My Face?

A few years ago I used to get skin treatments at this day spa across town.

They sold some special line of make-up which I managed to avoid for awhile. I thought make-up was cool when I was young but I don't really have the kind of face that's improved by intense applications of spackle.

I needed some new foundation and I never know how to pick a color so I asked for some help. I specifically didn't want a powder-based product and I really meant it which is why I left with a powder-based product. But you see, this wasn't your ordinary powder-based product. This could be used together with a yummy smelling water-mist spray that you gently applied after you powdered your face and this would "set" your foundation.

Even now it's hard to believe I went for it. I make fun of other people who buy stupid things because some retail genius convinced them they needed it. Yet there I was, paying an absurd amount of money for scented water in a spray.

The thing is, I became addicted to it. I loved that refreshing spray. I quit going to the spa for many reasons but mostly because I got tired of organizing an entire day around driving across town so I could sit in a chair and "relax" for two hours. I found a company with a similar product but I quit buying stuff from them, too. (Long story omitted.) A couple weeks ago I used the last of my magical mist.

Last time I was in Target I went through the beauty supplies because I figured every company must now sell lightly scented water in a spray bottle for your face. That's free money. Why wouldn't you? Couldn't find any.

So there's a marketing idea for someone who has the initiative to make products.

Meanwhile, the point of this post that I've been leading up to is that I want my job to be naming skin products. There was an entire wall of products and they all have names like: "anti-aging replumpifier with toning beads," "rejuvenating line eraser with relaxing agents. And aloe" and "super oxidizing radon scrub with cinnamon enhanced century diminishing injectors."

I don't know what half that stuff means but it sounded really good. I wanted to try them all.

Pumpkin Crop 2009



I screwed up and didn't get a good photo of my entire crop. I already gave a couple away. I also had a surprise and hearty volunteer crop of acorn squash. We've eaten at least three and given away about eight. And we still have that many left. They are yummy.

I still have some pumpkin in the freezer from last year. I took a bit out last weekend thinking I'd whip up some soup for myself for lunch. But then I never got to it and had to do something with the pumpkin.

Meanwhile, I made a pot roast in the slow cooker on Sunday. As I've written before, I'm not much of a pot roast person, but I make it because it's easy, especially when I'm going to be gone all day. And Bob likes it.



These tomatoes look like planets or something. My amateur photo skills don't do them justice.

Last night as soon as I got home from work I threw together some stuff that I thought might turn the pumpkin into a soup quick and easy. I also got out some salad stuff and the loaf of bread I made over the weekend.

Bob came in the door from work and looked that the gorgeous pot of orangeness and said, "Oh. So we're having beef sandwiches tomorrow then?"

"You can have a beef sandwich," I told him.

So I make the soup, and cut a hunk of bread and make two nice slices for his sandwich and left some wedges that I could butter with my soup. Then I turn around and he's taken my wedges and sliced them further and is making these ginormous plates piled with every speck of leftover pot roast, vegetables and gravy.

I looked at the plate and I said, "I would never eat that much in a million years."

This story isn't very good now that I'm typing it but the point is that he wanted beef sandwiches. We were having beef sandwiches. Even I was going to have a beef sandwich with my lovely bowl of wonderful soup.

Later when we got in bed I told him: "That beef sandwich made me mad."



I finally had some time this morning to organize the last of the tomatoes. I'd brought them in and they were piled around in bowls and trays. I sorted through everything I had and composted all the ones that had gone ooky. Then I took the ones that needed to be dealt with right away and I'm slow roasting them now with some onion and garlic and spices. The kitchen smells fantastic. This will be turned into a sauce which I will eat a little of and give the rest away since tomato sauce doesn't agree with beef sandwich man.

Problems Around The House In Various Stages Of Being Dealt With



Tree Next Door: Oct 09 09

Problem: Violent leak from ceiling vent in remodeled bathroom.

Stage of Being Dealt With: Had been identified as problem area earlier but no leakage had ever occurred. Then we got 1.5 inches of rain in 36 hours and water streamed from vent. Have raised level of urgency in getting fixed.



Tree Next Door: Oct 17 09

Problem: Low pressure in kitchen sink faucet.

Stage of Being Dealt With: Fixed



Tree Next Door: Oct 22 09

Problem: Funny smell in kitchen sink.

Stage of Being Dealt With: Obvious things have been done but results only short term. Probably some sort of plumbing/drainage nightmare lurking in our future. Will ignore until something worse happens then raise urgency level.



Tree Next Door: Oct 30 09

Problem: No warm air coming from heating vent in living room.

Stage of Being Dealt with: Just noticed and fiddled with vent. Needs to be removed from wall for further investigation. Have put tool kit in living room to help inspire me.

Lloyd Center Transit Stop

On Wednesday I attended a meeting all day. At first I wasn't happy when they gave us a 90 minute lunch. I would have rather gotten the work done and finished early (Which we did, but that's another story.)

I had brought a sandwich and it was sunny and 60 degrees so I went outside and found a sunny bench. Nothing like a bright fall day when you know winter is right around the corner. Now we've got big rainy storms blowing through so I'm glad I got my fix.

Another busy day. This morning I noticed an appointment I thought was at 2pm is at 12:30pm so I need to get my bootie in gear.

Read the Title of the Blog

That's my filing pile being measured by my Star Wars ruler in front of my XFiles poster. I'm not sure if the photo makes the filing look scary enough. That's a full day and a half's worth.

I'm not blog posting or novel writing in an national daily participatory fashion this month, in case anyone is wondering. I'm still doing my writing contest with my classmates and I might write more about that some other time.

One of my two steps forward three steps back things involves my retirement plan from the old firm. I wasn't going to write about it because it seemed bad form to whine about my retirement plan when people don't have jobs. But then it's sort-of a joke to call the money I've been squirreling away the past 20 years which is now worth only slightly more than if I'd lit it on fire a "retirement plan."

I left my money in the firm's plan when I left, intending to move it eventually but it was fine where it was. But the company that held the funds decided to discontinue small business retirement plans. I received a giant blob of papers and instructions that I needed to make a decision right away. So I made the phone calls, did the homework, filled out 37 pages of forms, got my husband's notarized signature, my firm's guaranteed signature and mailed it off all in plenty of time.

I phoned the fund company this week to follow up (10 days later): "We've no record of your paperwork."

Now I'm on a deadline so I had to drop everything and start all over and then overnight the paperwork which is what I should have done in the first place. As of today it seems hopeful that this might be resolved. But too early for cartwheels.

Meanwhile, I had a bit of news from last weekend that I never shared. My husband and I are in possession of plane tickets to Amsterdam in March. [LameAss Airlines] was having a killer deal and we'd sorta been talking about it so we made some calls and then bought the tickets right away because it had to be done last weekend.

After I got my confirmation I realized there was a typo in my name. It's not major but I didn't want something like that to fubar our plans so I contacted the airline right away and explained the problem and asked if there was something I should do.

This is the [slightly edited] response I got:

Dear Mr. Rentz,

Thank you for contacting us through [out website]. We are sorry for the delay in responding to your message.

Once the tickets are issued, the name on the reservation cannot be changed.

Again, thank you for writing. We appreciate your selection of [our lameass airline] and will always welcome the opportunity to be of service.

First of all, computerbot OR foreign help desk: Pamela is a woman's name. Try a little harder.

Second, I'm sorry. Did I miss something? Does that response qualify as "be[ing] of service" by any definition of that phrase?

Further research with no help by LameAss Airlines indicates that it probably won't be an issue but if it is, it will be a ginormous pain-in-the-ass issue. I'm going to be at the airport in a couple of weeks and I'm going to see if I have any luck at the counter. I just don't want to be prepared to board an international flight and have someone tell me that my ID doesn't match the name on my ticket and to go home and better luck next time.

Ten Years Ago Today I Started Working With Co-Worker

Last week when we went to Idaho, co-worker and I sat next to each other on the aisle. We didn't talk to each other except once before the flight took off when I told him about a story idea I had and asked if it would be more interesting if it was set on a spaceship. I had interrupted him from reading that dazzling piece of literature known as the in-flight magazine. He gave me an annoyed look and said he didn't care where I set my story.

Meanwhile, this man sat down behind me who did not stop talking from the minute he sat down. It was amazing. He talked about work. He talked about weather. He talked about looking for a job and needing some classes but he didn't really like to study. He talked about going to the gym and working out but said he didn't really like to exercise. He also didn't like to get up early. He said he was married and I felt sorry for his wife.

After the plane landed but before we deboarded, I pulled my backpack from the overhead bin and accidentally bumped co-worker with it.

He said, "Watch out or I'm going to sue you."

I said, "Go ahead. I'm not afraid of you."

All the people around us went silent, including talking man. I guess they didn't realize we know each other and talk to each other like that all the time.

My New Glasses

I tried to find some stylish way to display my glasses together but all I accomplished was getting my fingerprints all over them so we're going for the side-by-side view.

I finally got my eyeballs checked. I think it was in August. I spend so much time looking for my glasses that I decided to buy some extra pairs so I can have one in my backpack and one by my bed and one by my desk, etc.

A long time ago I read this post about buying cheap eyewear online.

It's been a long time since I bought glasses but I do remember them being absurdly expensive. Especially if you wear the graduated lenses or whatever they're called. I can't find the folder right now and don't really want to look up the proper terms. I bought bifocals from the eye doctor place and even with insurance and the doctor office discount I still handed over a wad of money.

If you read the article linked about about eyewear mark-up, it's a little disturbing.

I tried the bargain method using eyebuydirect.com and I just bought plain old reading glasses with the scratch-free coating and those two pairs, shipping and all, were $68 together. They are a tad "plasticky" and possibly not the most stylish but $68 for two pairs. I'm happy.

The sun is shining so I'm going to run out and do some work. Then I've got cooking projects.

I have got another insanely busy week ahead up-to-and-including every day next weekend. I'm not going to have time to pull my socks up until next week.