Today I am thankful for:

1. A co-worker overheard me on the phone today, trying to get some answers for the data analysis project I'm working on, and came over to help. Turns out he used to work as a programmer on the very odd little module that produced the data that makes no sense. He was able to explain what the program thought it was doing; and suddenly the whole massive project has lurched forward significantly.

2. Woof cleaned the kitchen sink. Even though he's sick. Because I don't like doing it, and he loves me. (awwwwwwww)

3. We have almost a complete set of the newly-released Magic cards already!

4. I found a mini Baby-Ruth bar in my purse.

5. I noticed that the diamond in my engagement ring was loose and was able to take it to be fixed, so I didn't lose it.

6. Two kinds of soup in the fridge.

7. Clean sheets.

8. An invitation to Las Vegas, which is becoming one of my favorite places, from one of my favorite people.

9. All the bills for the month are paid already.

10. Possibilities.

This is my favorite spring poem.

Loveliest of Trees
by A. E. Housman

Loveliest of trees, the cherry now
Is hung with bloom along the bough,
And stands about the woodland ride
Wearing white for Eastertide.

Now, of my threescore years and ten,
Twenty will not come again,
And take from seventy springs a score,
It only leaves me fifty more.

And since to look at things in bloom
Fifty springs are little room,
About the woodlands I will go
To see the cherry hung with snow.

Memorial Day, May 26, Barbecue for Magic players at our house. We'll grill hotdogs, split open a watermelon, and throw down some games. Have you never played Magic, but always wanted to try? Has it been a few years since you played, but you'd like to dust off a deck for old time's sake? Most importantly, are you in the St. Louis area?

If so, you're welcome to drop by. Let me know you're coming and what you'd like to drink (Coke or Pepsi? Diet or Regular? Bass or Budweiser?)

The Queen's Croquet in Dayton, May 30 - June 1. If you're interested in trying Mensa out, the Queen's Croquet is a good place to do it. This is actually a private party, not a sanctioned Mensa event. If you want to attend as our guest, you're welcome to. Just get in touch with me and let me know. (You'll have to pay your own registration, though, unless you're related to me.) Dayton is within a day's drive of half the US, so give it a try.

It's a fully-catered event: three meals a day, plenty of snacks, and really good food too. The people who attend are laid back, play a mean game of Double-Deck-Elimination-Go-Fish-Hearts, and are generally fun to be around for the weekend. I know two families are bringing kids; expect under a hundred attendees.

While in Dayton, Woof and I plan to visit the US Air Force Museum. OK, I plan to visit it, for the fourth time -- and to bring Woof along, protesting. He does not yet realize the marvelousness that is this museum. From the Wright brothers' wind tunnel to the rocket sled, it touches almost all my geeky buttons.

St Louis Ren Faire, June 7 - 8. We're waiting until the last weekend; hope it won't be rained out! Anybody want to meet us there?

The US Mensa AG in Denver, July 2 - 6. This is the Annual Gathering, the big enchilada, nearly two thousand Mensans falling on downtown Denver like Christmas in July. Woof and I will drive out the weekend before to spend some time visiting friends and relatives before I get too busy to breathe (I'm on the planning committee, running a couple of programs, and presenting a workshop).

Hey, Denver is within a day's drive of the other half of the US -- if you can't make the Queen's Croquet, give the AG a try!

Sometime around the end of June, my daughter's baby is due. I'm going to be a Grandma! This is the benefit of having your children in your early twenties -- you get to have grand-babies that go home to sleep, while many of your contemporaries are staying up nights with their own babies. I love my daughters so much. I cannot imagine loving any child more than them. And yet I know that this baby is going to capture my heart....

Nothing's planned for most of July or August, except to work, weed the garden, get to know Baby, and celebrate family birthdays. I do hope to go camping at least once, though. Anybody got any suggestions for good camping occasions?

Last night one of the guys surprised us by bringing a couple of enormous pizzas to Magic night. This was great! But it means that the big boxes of chimichangas and tostitos are still in the freezer, so there's no room for the chicken legs.

That's the drawback to buying a 10-pound bag of chicken legs, even if it is on sale. They'll go bad if I leave them raw in the fridge. I think I can see one of them sneaking off with cigarettes and beer right now, looking for hubcaps to steal.

So I'm cooking them all up tonight. I've got some in a casserole with rice, for dinner tonight. Four more are alongside the casserole, baking in barbecue sauce. The rest are in the soup pot.

There's TOO MUCH FOOD in the house. We should all have such problems.

It's easy to make fun of Paul Simon's "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover": Leave him the bill, Jill; Just take a hike, Mike; It's easy to do, Sue; Walk quickly away, May; and on and on. I had a lot of fun as a teenager doing that.

But it's not so easy to replicate Steve Gadd's incredible drumming in this song. He does a double-tap thing that's just, wow.

Sunday: We ate up leftovers yesterday instead of cooking, so tonight I'll fix what I had planned for yesterday: Bean enchiladas, spanish rice, dump cake.
Monday: Mini chimichangas and taquitos for Magic night, in honor of Cinco de Mayo.
Tuesday: Lasagna, broccoli (use frozen lasagna from the AngelFood box), sherbert.
Wednesday: Meatball casserole with peas and potatoes, fruit salad. (Bake banana bread and date bread while the casserole's in the oven.)
Thursday: Baked beans, hotdogs, broccoli, date bread.
Friday: Chicken legs on a bed of rice, broccoli, banana bread.
Saturday: Beef tongue with mustard sauce, sweet potatoes, green beans.

Note to self:
After getting the frozen Mexican appetizers in the oven Monday night, there will be room in the freezer for the 10 lbs of chicken leg quarters bought on Sunday. Break them out into separate freezer bags like this:
* 4 leg quarters by themselves, for Friday.
* Pull skin off 4 other leg quarters, put in freezer bag with 1 cup BBQ sauce mixed with 2 teaspoons chili powder.
* Remaining legs go in large freezer bag with chopped onions, chopped celery (including leaves), chopped carrots, 1 bay leaf, other seasonings.

It's been so long since I posted a just plain journal entry. Here are some of the things I could have posted about:

* bbwoof has been fighting allergies and a recurring bad cold all winter. Last week he developed an ear infection. He can't hear a thing out of that left ear, his left cheek is swollen, and he's in pain. He did go to the doctor, on Wednesday, who looked in his ear and gave him zithromax (he's allergic to penicillin). Unfortunately the ear is only slightly better. The swelling has gone down, it doesn't hurt quite as much, but he's still Not Well.

It's back to the doctor for him again on Monday, to try a different antibiotic.

* I saw many friends and ate delicious food on Friday, at transplantmom's party to celebrate Jenny's new lungs. Jenny looks so much better now. I am relieved and happy for them, but I will miss having transplantmom in town.

* But first, I had an Adventure of my own on Friday. Usually Woof drops me off on the way to work, but he stayed home sick that day. Instead of taking the bus, I drove in to work so I'd have the car for getting to transplantmom's party that evening.

It was drizzling, so I took an umbrella. I parked three blocks from work.

And was soaked -- drenched! rivulets of water running off me! -- by the time I got to my desk.

As I was waiting to cross the street, the storm broke. The wind tried to tear my umbrella out of my hands, twisting and bending the shaft. Rain didn't just fall, it was carried sideways by the wind, hitting my body with force. I ran to the shelter of the side of the nearest building, but the rain still drove hard against me. Finally I thought that I was so wet, I might as well just continue on to work. I held my tattered, bent umbrella over my purse to try to keep its contents dry, and walked on. Once the wind gusted so hard that I had trouble keeping my feet.

I walked into my building as wet as if I'd jumped fully clothed into a lake. Unfortunately, the security desk couldn't help me; their first-aid kit contained no blankets or towels or dry socks. And my hopes of finding someone with a towel in their gym bag were fruitless. Due to the new policies encouraging employees to telecommute, only one other person from my team had even come in at all.

Fortunately, he and his wife collect socks for the homeless. They have a box set up at their church, and boxes at their workplaces, for people to drop off socks for the homeless. They don't want underpants, or coats; just socks. He gave a pair to me.

I hung my own socks on the edge of the filing cabinet to dry, and padded in my homeless socks to the ladies' room. I took off my blouse and wrung it out over the sink. Then I did the same to my slacks. I patted my hair with paper towels. Then I put the wet clothes back on, and took several hand-fulls of paper towels back to stuff into my shoes.

By the end of the day, I was mostly dry. My shoes and my pockets were still damp. But at least it had stopped raining, so I could walk back to my car in peace.

Sunday: Went over Grandma's finances with my brother, got caught up on reading LJ, and went grocery shopping.
We ate up the leftovers for lunch. For dinner -- beef fajitas!
Monday: Pizza for Magic night
Tuesday: Breakfast for dinner: Waffles, canned fruit cocktail, fried eggs, and some really lovely peppercorn bacon.
Wednesday: Beef soup with vegetables and barley (make soup in crockpot with beef ribs). Maybe bake something for dessert.
Thursday: Going out with semperfiona?
Friday: Going to tempestmom's dinner?
Saturday: Bean enchiladas, spanish rice, dump cake.

One of my earliest music memories is of Petula Clark singing this song on the Ed Sullivan show.

It's hard to imagine now, half the country spending an hour every Sunday night watching the same show. I miss Ed Sullivan!

Sunday: Second Seder at transplantmom's house. Very good company, very yummy food.

Monday: Magic night at our house. Pizzas for the guests, matzah pizza for me.

Tuesday: Eat out at China One Buffet. This is our favorite Chinese buffet, and tonight is its last night. The owners have sold the business and are retiring. We will go there and have our last serving of the Best Hot and Sour Soup in St Louis, and those tasty little chicken meatballs that are a specialty of the house, and we will be very sad that we cannot eat there anymore.

Wednesday: Meatloaf, baked potatoes, green beans, tossed salad

Thursday: Matza brei, cucumber salad, fresh fruit salad

Friday: Oven-fried chicken, baked sweet potatoes, broccoli, tossed salad

Saturday: Going to Sarah and Gary's house for dinner. During the day, plant the rest of the garden with alataristarion's help.

Yes folks, following last week's time-twisted theme of updates on the wrong days, I am happy to present to you... ta-da! Oldies Monday on Tuesday!

Here's one of my favorite songs from one of the greatest albums of all time: Tapestry by Carole King. This performance is not the 1971 duet with James Taylor, though. It's a concert performance from ten years ago. Carole is accompanied by the great voices of Celine Dion, Shania Twain, and the amazing Gloria Estefan.

I haven't been a meme sheep in a long time -- I'm past due for one!

From caersidi, it's the 8-question Book Meme:

1. Which book(s) do you irrationally cringe away from reading, despite seeing only positive reviews?

Most romance novels -- with "Christian romance" being especially cringe-worthy. However, I do not think this is irrational.

2. Borrowing shamelessly from the Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde, you are told you can't die until you read the most boring novel on the planet. While this immortality is great for a while, eventually you realize it’s past time to die. Which book would you expect to get you a nice grave?

I was about to say The Last of the Mohicans, until I remembered the entertainment value that lies in mocking James Fenimore Cooper's literary offenses.

I think I'll have to go with James Joyce's Ulysses.

3. Which book have you pretended, or at least hinted, that you’ve read, when in fact you’ve been nowhere near it?

There are books that I may claim more familiarity with than I actually have -- books I've only skimmed, maybe even tried to read a chapter or two but gave up on (like The Last of the Mohicans). But I can't think of anything I've claimed to have read when I have, in fact, been no where near it!

4. You’re interviewing for the post of Official Book Adviser to some VIP (who’s not a big reader). What’s the first book you’d recommend and why?

This is the most difficult of the eight questions, because so much depends on the VIP's job, and the reason why s/he has an Official Book Advisor.

For example, if the VIP is a singer who wants to become better educated, I'd start with the complete plays of William Shakespeare, and I'd want him/her to read it out loud.

On the other hand, I'd start with the Koran if the VIP is an oil company executive who wants to get a better feel for the culture of Saudi Arabia; while Paris Hilton would be told to read Nickel and Dimed: On Not Getting By in America.

5.A good fairy comes and grants you one wish: you will have perfect reading comprehension in the foreign language of your choice. Which language do you go with?

Oh, Russian, please. Who needs soap operas when you have Russian novels?

6. A mischievous fairy comes and says that you must choose one book that you will reread once a year for the rest of your life (you can read other books as well). Which book would you pick?

The Lord of the Rings. I do this most years anyway.

7. I know that the book blogging community, and its various challenges, have pushed my reading borders. What’s one bookish thing you ‘discovered’ from book blogging (maybe a new genre, or author, or new appreciation for cover art – anything)?

I hadn't realized how little input the average author has over everything except the text of a book -- even the name. I hadn't realized that most authors have little control over the cover, the layout, the blurbs, how it's marketed.

8. That good fairy is back for one final visit. Now, she’s granting you your dream library! Describe it. Is everything leather-bound? Is it full of first edition hard covers? Pristine trade paperbacks? Perhaps a few favourite authors have inscribed their works? Go ahead – let your imagination run free.

First, I'd want more room. Our guest room, living room and dining room are already lined with book shelves and they're overflowing.

Next, I'd like to have all my books catalogued already.

There are some books I have that I'd want to have rebound in very sturdy leather covers, because they've been read so often they're falling apart.

Finally, I'd like to have some of my reference books and light reading put on a couple of eBook readers; I'd keep the original reference books but give away the originals of the light reading, so I'd have room to buy more books.

Because Woof and I both worked late several nights last week, we ended up eating out more than we'd planned. No matter -- I'll just re-use some of the menu ideas for this week:

Sunday: Hotdog casserole, a Woof favorite. It's just cream of mushroom soup, worcestershire sauce, tabasco sauce, chopped onion, chopped hotdogs, mixed together with cooked spaghetti noodles and maybe some cheese, then baked until the top is brown and it's all bubbly. Sheer comfort food.

Monday: I'll serve pizzas for our weekly Magic night.

Tuesday: Woof has to be on clear liquids tonight for his colonoscopy on Wednesday morning. (It's not a biopsy, just a routine baseline.) He'll have mugs of chicken broth and some lemon jello. I'll probably get some fast food after work, or else eat leftovers.

Wednesday: Chicken breasts in cream sauce, wild rice, broccoli, chocolate mousse.

Thursday: Breakfast casserole (sausage/eggs/hash browns/spinach); fruit cocktail.

Friday: This will be a busy night. First, there's the monthly Mensa meeting tonight, followed by a light reception. Then at midnight there is a Magic: the Gathering pre-release tournament, a chance to get some of the newest cards. We'll probably get sandwiches from Subway on the way to the tournament. Finally, on our way home on Saturday morning we'll need to stop and pick up this month's AngelFood co-op box. And I really want to plant the tomatoes.

Then we'll sleep away the Saturday.

Saturday: Tonight is the first night of Passover. We'll go to the seder at my Mom's house. Must remember to bring several bottles of wine!

Was I thankful last Thursday? Of course I was! I just, uh, well, didn't get around to posting about it...

( Actually, last Thursday was a Difficult Day. Do you want to hear the gory details? )

OK, here's what I'm thankful for today:

1. It's not been as difficult to reconstruct that spreadsheet as I'd thought it would be. A colleague took really good notes at the presentation, my memory's working pretty well, and the pulls from the data warehouse are running much quicker than they were before.

2. The first robin of spring.

3. I was busy and not feeling well and stressed out yesterday. bbwoof came home from running errands with a surprise bag of fried chicken and dirty rice, so I wouldn't have to cook dinner. *melts with love*

4. Despite the downturn in temperature, we did not actually get a freeze this weekend. My newly-planted garden is safe.

5. Our trivia team came in third place last night!

We'd actually tied for second and went to tie-breaker questions. I knew what had happened on that date exactly 147 years ago. Alas, the other team also knew that it was the anniversary of the first shots fired in the American Civil War, the Battle of Fort Sumter. So we went on to the next question, in which we under-estimated the population of France by 18 million people. A couple at the other table had a daughter currently studying in France. Their answer came within less than 100,000 of the population, so they got second place honors. We still had a great time.

6. Louisiana crunch cake for breakfast, nom nom nom.

7. My daughters are people I like, in addition to love.

8. I did not catch Woof's cold.

9. A nice snug warm house.

10. No cavities!

Is it summer yet?



(This video cuts away from the Beach Boys concert for a bit in the middle, to home movies of Paul McCartney goofing around at Brian Wilson's birthday party. It's all good.)

Last year, for no particular reason, my daughter asked me where you could find a really good Reuben sandwich in St. Louis. I didn't know, but decided that finding the answer would make a pleasant hobby.

So since then, I have been on a Quest. A Reuben Quest.

Oddly enough, The Scottish Arms in the Central West End has the best Reuben sandwich I've found so far.

The Scottish Arms is a nice little niche restaurant. It's Scottish cooking adapted for an American clientele. You won't find black pudding here, or Carrageen moss. But it's decorated with blue and white flags; they serve exotica like cock-a-leekie and fried Mars bars; and you can watch Scottish Football League games and rugby matches on the big screen TV over the bar. The waiters wear kilts of dubious authenticity, but they sure do look cute.

I like the place, and so does maiabee8, so we went there for her birthday on Saturday together with josiosings.

I was surprised to find a Reuben on the menu. There is nothing remotely Scottish about a Reuben sandwich. Invented in an Omaha hotel in the 1920's, a Reuben is an amalgamation of Midwestern and Jewish cuisine at its finest. Take two slices of rye bread and fill them with an inch of finely shaved American-style corned beef, a few slices of Swiss cheese, a nice scoop of sauerkraut and some Thousand Island dressing. Now toast the sandwich -- better yet, fry on a griddle in real butter -- so the cheese starts to melt. Serve with a crisp pickle spear and fried potatoes. Oh my. (fans self)

The Scottish Arms almost achieves this ideal. The bread is thick-cut rye with caraway seeds. The meat is thinly sliced and piled high, the cheese is nutty and nicely melted. The sauerkraut has a lovely tang.

But the bread is only lightly toasted, and there is not nearly enough dressing. maiabee8 suggested that I try it again, this time asking for some extra dressing on the side. That would mean returning to a place with handsome men in kilts, large pots of tea, perfectly fried fresh chips with curry sauce, and fresh raspberries with double cream. Oh, please don't throw me into that briar patch.

The RuebenQuest continues!

P.S. Back in February I had a Reuben sandwich at Penn Station that I neglected to write up at the time. Now I only have vague memories of a good sandwich and delicious fries. You know what this means: I must return to Penn Station as well. How I suffer for my Art.

Sunday: Alas for plans to attend Parties today -- Woof is sick, so we stayed home all day. (I did get out to go grocery shopping, though, while he napped.) It was an eat-up-the-leftovers kind of day.

Monday: We host the weekly Magic night. I have some pizzas in the freezer, ready to heat and serve. Hope Woof will be up to playing.

Tuesday: Hamburger helper dinner, with ground turkey. Also, green beans. And pie!

Wednesday: Breakfast casserole (sausage/eggs/hash browns/spinach); fruit cocktail.

Thursday: Retro Night: Beanie Weenie, cheese biscuits, crudités, Jello. I have a dentist appointment in the morning, just a cleaning and check-up.

Friday: Chicken breasts in mushroom sauce, wild rice, broccoli, chocolate mousse.

Saturday: Chicken legs adobo, white rice, spinach, tropical fruit salad. This will be a big lunch, since we're going to a Trivia Night in the evening.

When things got broken, lost or stolen, my Dad used to say, "It's only money."

Sometimes this drove me nuts. I'd worked hard for the money to buy that, and I can't afford to replace it, what does he mean "it's only money"!

But sometimes I really understand what he meant.

Today, while bbwoof was still fast asleep and I was in the shower, a fire broke out in the alley behind our home. A few days ago, someone had set an old sofa out for bulk trash pickup. This morning, someone set that sofa on fire. (I suspect either kids playing with matches, or someone flipping a cigarette out their car window.)

While we were in the house, not paying attention, a very hot fire blazed up right next to our garage. The vinyl siding melted, the PVC downspout slumped down, and smoke singed the eaves.

It could have been very bad. The whole garage could have caught on fire, with the car inside it. Fire could have spread from our garage to the garage next door, or to the house itself.

But kids playing outside called for help, neighbors called the fire department, and the fire was out by the time I was dressed. The siding is damaged, but the wooden structure is solid. The vinyl siding? It's only money. It's only stuff. Nobody was hurt, nobody is homeless.

And for that -- after the initial freaking out -- I'm very grateful.

Today I am thankful for:
1. maiabee8, whose birthday is April 4.
2. Being able to repair the front porch, and make it better than it is.
3. Spring! Spring! Spring!
4. A really great guy who loves me.
5. Getting back up to speed with MS Access.
6. The weekend is almost here.
7. Really good soup for dinner.
8. My sister-in-law.
9. Thai Kettle Chips.
10. Green eyes.

Every year, Spring manages to surprise me. Day after day, I expect it to burst out -- put all I see are buds and mud and a few sad crocuses. Then, suddenly, one day the forsythias and daffodils and magnolias all pop out at once!

For the last few days, all the lovely new flowers have been well-washed by the rain. It might make you think of this song, a #3 hit for the Cascades back in 1963. Listen to the rhythm of the falling rain:

I got a good start on the gardening yesterday. The front porch now has two hanging baskets of pansies, and the three urns are full of mixed flowers. I bought the strawberry plants, rhubarb, and herbs, but have yet to transplant them.

Last night I was a last-minute addition to my brother's trivia team -- and we won! Hurray! Woof stayed home, since he doesn't enjoy trivia nights like I do, and made himself a hamburger and cherry pie for dinner.

Sunday: Saw my godbaby and her new little sister. Then we went shopping for a new wireless router and ended buying some office furniture too. Pizza with friends for lunch, grazing on leftovers for dinner.
Monday: Chicken nuggets for Magic night.
Tuesday: Going to see a staged reading of Wit, then out to dinner at India's Rasoi with Mark and Jen.
Wednesday: Buffalo chicken strips, rice with tomatoes and peppers, buttered cabbage, fruit sherbet parfait.
Thursday: Plomeek soup, biscuits. The carpenter is coming by this evening to finalize the contract for the work on the front porch.
Friday: Salad, cabbage-noodle kugel, roast beef in the crockpot.
Saturday: Take maiabee8 out for her birthday.
Sunday: My sister-in-law Jen is running her first marathon, and we're cheering her on. We'll help with the Congratulations Party that evening, if she's up for it. Also invited to a fortieth birthday party for two very special friends. Party Day!

State of the Becky:

Still need to do my taxes. Still need to do Grandma's taxes. Still need to finalize arrangements for the blood drive I'm chairing at the Mensa convention this summer. Still need to write my presentation for the Leadership Development Workshop. Still need to finish writing the three classes I promised ysabetwordsmith. Still need to send out a pile of thank-you notes to people who have donated to my brother's campaign for state office. Still need to put together that neat new Magic deck Woof designed for me. Still need to write my update post for the Content Strike. Still need to do several loads of laundry.

Putting in lots of unpaid overtime at work (a big executive VP is unhappy about the way our project is going). Dealing with bad cold, bad knee, and whatever it was I did wrong to my back last weekend. Trying to make nutritious packed lunches and home-cooked dinners to keep the household budget low, full of time-consuming chopped vegetables. Keeping up my relationships with family and friends. Not to mention a husband plaintively telling me that he's going to bed now, all alone.

AND I'M GOING TO TAKE TIME BEFORE GOING TO BED TO FILL OUT MY GORRAM THANKFUL THURSDAY LIST.

Because that's just how I roll.

Today I am thankful for:

1. Being able to attend the Mensa convention this summer.
2. My brother might be able to make a difference in the lives of Missourians. I am proud to help.
3. The fun and friends I've made playing Magic.
4. The wonderful LJ Community of Users.
5. Plenty of clothes to wear.
6. Full-time employment at an interesting job.
7. Ibuprofen.
8. Delicious potato salad.
9. Family, friends, people I love.
10. A warm and cuddly Woof waiting for me in my warm, comfy bed.

I owe you all a good, thoughtful wrap-up of the Content Strike, and some thoughts on where we go from here.

But first, my weekly menu and schedule update. What's happening at our cozy home on Winnebago Street this week?

( Fooooood! )

( Garrrrrrdennnnnnnnn! )

Also laundry and grocery shopping. But that's not nearly so exciting. ;-)

Who doesn't know "Those Were the Days", Mary Hopkin's phenomenal debut single of 1968? It was one of my Dad's favorite songs.

But did you know that the melody and general theme came from a Russian gypsy song from the 19th century?* Here's the song that became a worldwide hit:



And here's the original (