My Thoughtful Spot

my view

As I sit and study, my usual spot is in the large chair with the matching ottoman. It's very comfy and a kitty can sit on my legs since my proper lap is occupied with books.

Here's my view:

This looks out over our little patio and into a street within the apartment complex. You'll notice at the upper left hand part of the archway is a large tree.

Here's a close up with an upward gaze. You'll notice the tiny little yellow flowers on the tree. A gentle breeze comes and the little yellow flowers float away in a colorful shower. Very peaceful.

Except that's not what I envision. These are the same kinds of trees that populate the Esplanade near the Clamshell of Boston's Charles River. Daniel and I spent a very hot 4th of July under these trees in 2002, which was our last 4th of July in Boston. We were there all day with friends, waiting for the nighttime fireworks show and Barry Manilow concert with the Boston Pops for a traditional Pops Goes the 4th.

I had just started a transplant surgery rotation and had been up all night doing a liver transplant. I just had time to go home and shower and I had to go meet them there. I think it was around 7 or 8am. Normally there is no place to park in Boston and the 4th of July was even worse. So I ran a couple of blocks carrying either lounge chairs or bags of groceries; I was afraid of not getting a wristband and not being allowed into the area close to the Clamshell with everyone else. I might as well have skipped the shower considering how gross I was when I got there.

It was the first 4th of July since 9/11 happened, and there were all kinds of military personnel there. There were Massachusetts state troopers in their gear, Navy guys SCUBA patrolling the Charles, and Army soldiers walking around carrying Geiger counters with gas masks strapped to their belts. There was very heightened security just to get into the area in which we were sitting and we were lucky to have arrived so early to get our spot.

We sat out all day. Normally, it would have been really nice. But Boston was in the middle of a heat wave and this particular day saw temperatures in the high 90s with similar numbers for humidity. It was sweltering. Give me a dry 112 any day. We subsisted on watermelon, water, and frozen lemonade being sold at outrageous prices.

And then came the little yellow flowers. They floated down gently enough, but when they hit your sweaty skin, they stuck. We were under constant attack -- there were hundreds of them. We couldn't escape... unless it was in a port-a-potty. I even fell asleep once. When I woke up, I was blanketed in yellow.

All in all, it really was a great 4th of July. I'll never forget the concert, hearing the howitzers go off in time with the 1812 Overture (which is really the only tolerable way of hearing that horrid piece), and seeing the longest fireworks show in the history of Pops Goes the 4th!

But most of all, I'll never forget those damned little yellow flowers.

backyard dreams

The summer collection from Pottery Barn arrived in the mail today. Leafing through it's pages, I found myself experiencing a strong urge to buy a home with a big backyard. Not to be a home owner or move into one of the final stages of adulthood. No, I wanted to buy a house so I could put Pottery Barn stuff in the backyard. I would also order some of the views in the backyard, if I could...

order... restored

Merry Christmas everyone! We all had a blast over Christmas... me, Daniel, Dawn, my friend Gabi, and the Christmas orphans from work.

Dawn arrived late Friday night. Actually, it was early Saturday morning. Her flight out of Houston was delayed like four hours or something close to that. So instead of arriving at LAX at 1am, it was more like 3:30am. I rounded in the hospital and removed an appendix later that morning. Then I came home and took a little nap to try to kick the cold I was (am) fighting. When I woke up, I had my second wind, and we started making Christmas cookies! This activity extended into Sunday. We would have been done *much* sooner if we had a second cookie sheet to bake on, but it's hard to justify that kind of expense when you only bake once a year like I do. We were a well oiled machine in the kitchen -- mixing dry ingredients for later, icing cookies, dipping biscotti. There is no way I could have made all those cookies without Dawn's help. So. Many. Cookies. We made:

• two batches of White Chocolate, Pistachio, and Strawberry Biscotti
• two batches of Chocolate Candy Cane Sandwich Cookies
• Lime Snowballs (with the famous lime oil)
• Maple Stars

I'm so glad I got the lime oil. It made all the difference.

The extra batches of cookes were for caroling on Sunday night, which we did at a friend's house. We arrived and set up "the bar" area in their kitchen. We descended like a plague and took over their kitchen. We could make about 15 different holiday themed drinks. They looked like girly drinks, but they were strong! We had all the garnishes and everything. We sang outside in the 60 degree Southern California winter's night for about 90 minutes and had a great time. Then we went back to eat and drink!  We had a great time, and hopefully this will be the first of an annual tradition. We used to go caroling every year when we lived in Boston, but it has been a difficult activity to transition to California. The neighborhoods are usually gated and if they're not, then you might want to think twice about going there. This area was an older part of a little town, full of quaint houses on large lots and very safe. Many people weren't home and no one gave us figgy pudding, but it was fun anyway. When the evening was over, we took back the liquor that was ours, the mixing utensils and the martini glasses. Party in a box!

Our intent for Christmas Eve was that it be calm and peacful, because the old Polish tradition says that how you are on Christmas Eve is how you will be for the whole next year. So no fighting or pouting or anything bad. I have been in bad need of new contacts for about a month now and thought this would be a good time to re-order them. Turns out my prescription is expired. LensCrafters had appointments open, so I went in. I had to. They wanted to dilate my eyes. I usually say no becuase I have so much to do, but I had no excuse. Okay fine. I forgot how blurry everything is after that. (Does that mean my year is going to be blurry?) I was going to stop and get gas on the way home, but I realized that I wouldn't have been able to read the prompts on the gas thing. I was also supposed to get tuna and bread. I could handle the bread. Bread is big. Here's my credit card... where do I sign? But I was not going to buy tuna because I wouldn't have been able to see if it looked decent or not.

I got real sourdough bread from Boudin. But there isn't a lot of parking in front of the cafe. So I swung around and parked near another restaurant. There was some kind of sign right in front of where I parked, but I couldn't read it. I can only guess it said "Parking only for xxx restaurant" because as soon as I wiggled my way through the plants on my way to Boudin, some man started shouting "No! No!" followed by some unintelligible words in very broken English. I'm pretty good at Spanglish, but I could not make out what he was saying. "Maybe he was talking to someone else," I thought. "I am obviously not a native Spanish speaker, and he must be talking to someone else." I couldn't see his face, so I had no idea. I went in, bought my bread and went on my merry way. On the way out of the parking lot, I saw the same man hanging on what I think was a walkie talkie out of his car. And he glared at me as I drove by. I could see that much. Eh. I'm sure he got over it. Gimme a break, Amigo. It's Christmas Eve.

Daniel made a wonderful Vigilia, which is meatless in the Polish tradition. He made a beet and vegetable soup, served with my sourdough bread. Then we had homemade pierogi stuffed with saurkraut, herbed salmon, and... something else really yummy. Later off to midnight Mass at 11pm and then we came home and crashed.

Chrismas day was perfect. I got a Red Sox jacket, long sleeve World Champions t-shirt with bling, a stylin' short sleeve t-shirt (also with bling), World Series pint glass, a really nice rollerball pen, a bunch of movies, season 10 of The Simpsons, Cranium booster packs, tons of teas and candy! Daniel was a master in the kitchen:

• Cocktail: Crimsontini with cranberry juice and some other yumminess I don't know
• Appetizers: various cheeses, Parmesan Puffs on Toast Points, Caprese Salad Bites
• Soup: Polish Hunter's Stew with venison and preceeded by an ice cold shot of vodka
• Salad: Butter lettuce with pine nuts and cranberries with an amazing vinagrette
• Intermezzo: trio of sorbets
• Main Course: Roast Pheasant with Purple Plum Sauce, Chestnut stuffing, Sweet Potato Hazlenut Gratin, Wilted Spinach with spiced butter
• Dessert: Passion Fruit Creme Brulee

We were *stuffed*. And happy.

On Boxing Day, we cleaned up and relaxed. I made some thank you cards for the gifts we received and decided that the American version of Boxing Day should be National Thank You card day. Watched more Christmas movies, ate leftovers, watched Simpsons. Then we took Dawn to the airport. :-(

Our Christmas celebrations are continuing... today is only the third day of Christmas! We're going to see the sights at Disneyland tonight. Hope you all had a safe and beautiful Christmas!

*how* much for shipping?

Every year for the past few years, I make Christmas cookies. There was a temporary suspension when I lost the recipes, but Dawn miraculously found them and I'm back in business.

And, every year, there is one ingredient that I don't have -- lime oil for the lime snowballs. It always works out because we substitute lime juice and it tastes fine. There is always so much going on in December that the cookies are often an afterthought, and by the time I remember I'm going to do them, it's too late to order the lime oil. Except this year.

I found some on a website and it was $6 for an ounce. Yeah, that's crazy, but I only need 1/2 tsp anyway. So that'll be good for 12 years. I go to check out, and the shipping is $7. What??? I'm paying more for shipping than I am for the acutal *thing*???

Man, they had better turn out freaking awesome with that stupid lime oil...

no drama zone

I was sitting in the work room with about seven or eight other people and I overhead someone recounting tales of Thanksgiving drama at their girlfriend's house. I then mentioned that our house is a drama-free zone year round, but especially during the holidays. If you're not nice, you can leave, and it doesn't matter if we share some genes.

Then we started talking about girl drama vs. boy drama. There are several female medical students on the service, so I was not outnumbered for once. As a group, we decided that boy drama comes like spikes, and they're very severe. But they're quick and they usually have long periods between them. And they often set off or worsen girl drama.

Girl drama is a constant low level of drama that is at varying degrees above zero, often perpetuated by the girl because they like drama. I have observed this phenomenon myself in many other girls, which I can't stand (and may be why I don't have many female friends). Girl drama can also have spikes, which is freqently associated with the boy drama spikes. Then there is a slow decline back to the baseline level. The problem is that to the boy, the drama is over. But the girl remembers the boy drama well after the boy has forgotten it. And that can cause aftershocks of their own. :-)

apple anyone?

After much researching and deliberating, we took the plunge and decided to go Apple. Our iMac arrived in the middle of last week, but we didn't have time to set it up until yesterday. These are my favorite Daniel quotes during the set up:

• Upon opening the ultra sleek box with a minimum of cords, "I think I'm in love."
• "Where's the CPU?"
• When we were about to turn it on for the first time, "We're about to hear that sound we haven't heard in over ten years!"

me? cook what?

Daniel is out of town for the weekend visiting his parents. Since he does all the cooking (and I'm generally not allowed in the kitchen), I usually get some Rubio's or Corner Bakery for my meals. As I was taking him to the airport on Friday, he mentions some leftovers that I need to eat while he's away. Ok, no problem. Pop in the microwave, right? No. I was informed there were raw hamburger patties that I needed to cook first.

So last night I get step by step instructions. Heat saute pan over med-high heat. Place patty on pan and cook each side for three minutes. Check if it is cooked through by cutting into it. It was a little pink, so I left it on. Checked again in the cut I had just made... looks brown now. So I assemble my burger and take a bite. It's totally pink. What the hell? Well apparently, you have to make a new cut. Fine. So I get out the other pre-formed patty. Except that a piece has broken off. Great. Now I have to handle raw meat. Nurse? Where are my gloves? So I roll the raw flesh in between my palms, make a ball, and flatten it out. Cooked it for a lot longer. Looked kinda like a hockey puck, but it wasn't pink on the inside this time. It was good. Dinner finished at 8:45pm.

Let me tell you, I have a lot more respect and appreciation for Daniel and everyone else who cooks every day. I think if I had to cook every day, I'd either use gloves or become a vegetarian.

out of exile

About ten days ago, our old apartement was ready for us. The owners of our apartment complex have slowly been remodeling and we had to move out for a bit until our old apartment got fixed up. I didn't do much (any) of the work, since I was on call during the move back in. But Daniel says the move was worth it. He loves the granite countertops, I love the tile floor in the bathroom and the wood in the kitchen and entryway. New cabinets. New carpet. New paint.

There are little things to adjust to here and there; the drawers are slightly different sizes, there is no longer a space between the frige and the wall for the trash can, no more drawers in the guest bathroom. But overall, it's good to be home again. Even with all the changes and new smells, the kitties knew they were back home, too. After a few hours of being worried, they starting acting normally again. Much better than the day and a half of not eating or peeing when we moved out!

Now we are slowly bring our junk up from the garage. I'm not using my scrapbooking stuff until I've gone through it and reorganize it. I think that is the only way I'll be motivated to do it! Sometimes I think that being a pack rat is more trouble than it's worth. Because, really, I've never looked at my class notes from high school. What could I possibly need them for? Time to toss... a lot.

practice

My brother Steven wanted to come over and watch our TiVo'd episode of Rome. (We succeeded in hooking him a year and a half ago when it was on the first time. We do that... try to hook friends and family into liking the same tv shows we do.) He also brought over the PS2 and the game Resident Evil. See... they're not gaming. Responsible adults don't "game." It's practice. Practice for the Zombie Apocalypse.

They have even assessed our new apartment for safety should such an apocalypse occur in our four weeks here. This apartment is much worse from a zombie standpoint. In our old apartment, there were only two windows that opened onto the walkway outside. Most of the other windows opened to the outside and we were on the second floor. The main problem window was in the guest bathroom. If they broke into that one, all you'd need to do is close the bathroom door and barricade it. It's a pretty small bathroom, so not many could fit in there to break down the barricade. The other window goes to the main bathroom and it's not large enough to let a person through.

In our new, temporary apartment, there is a large-ish window leading to the dining area. There is a little gap between the walkway and the window, but zombies could crawl over each other to bridge the gap and break the window. And there is a slightly smaller window in the kitchen that leads to the walkway. So a lot of zombies could come through each window at a faster rate.

No, I'm not kidding.

He also brought over Call of Duty. "Because killing German soldiers is almost as fun as killing zombies."

temporary upheaval

When I finished my call this morning, I returned to a different home. Yep; in the 30 or so hours that I was away, Daniel and my brother Steven moved us into a different apartment in the same complex. We had been in the same apartment since we got here in the summer of '03. Shortly after we arrived, the managment started remodeling all the units with new paint, flooring, cabinets, appliances, and fixtures. When they asked us if we wanted a new one, we said no, thank you, it's not worth the hassle. So the rennovations proceeded all around us, and we were happy in our apartment with the ten year old carpet and dishwasher. It's really not that old. We had much older when we lived in Boston.

Last summer, when our lease came up to be renewed, they told us that they wouldn't renew for the whole year. It was no longer an option if we wanted a new apartment; the contractors were ending their work, and ours was one of the few remaining units that hadn't been done. So we had to get one if we were to remain in this complex. We had a few options at that point. A) We could choose to move to the same floor plan at another location in the complex. But we like where ours is. It's on the inside of the development, away from any road noise, and it has a nice view. 2) We could move out entirely and say "Screw you... here's what we think of your customer service!" But we only have one car and Daniel walks to work. So that would necessitate buying a car. Nah. I like being the only couple in Orange County who exists with one car. Or D) Temporarily move to a different apartment in the development while they spend 4 weeks remodeling our place and then move back in. We chose D.

This move has made me realize a few things:

• We have way too much junk. Especially scrapbooking stuff. If I scrapbooked every day until I was 100, I would still have left-over supplies. I may have to do a RAK soon.
• I have too many clothes that I don't wear. Not because I wear scrubs all the time, but that I wouldn't wear at all. Those gotta go.
• Gotta get rid of shoes that are out of style.
• How the hell did I accumulate so many health and beauty products? I mean, really, how many containers of deodarant does a girl need??? (well, I do sweat a lot, but I can only use one at a time...)
• Our towels have bit the dust. Time for a new set for when we move back in.
• Kitties don't like being moved. At. All. They are totally freaked out.
• People who find their true calling in life work with an expertise and precision that is awe-inspiring. We hired these two guys to help move the heavy (and I mean hea-vy) pieces of furniture. I didn't get to witness this, but Daniel said that the way they manipulated corners and estimated weights and weight distribution with little to no effort was astonishing.

Daniel declined to provide thoughts on the move because he said they would probably constitue libel against our apartment company. Needless to say, it has not been a pleasant experience. But it's done and the dust is still settling. As soon as it settles, we'll have to move back...