turn up the lights

Nothing to report today - I got up, showered, and chatted with the HVAC guys before going into town to get allergy shots. Even though I didn't have heat last night, it wasn't bad - my nose was cold when I woke up, but it only got down to 63 in my bedroom and 65 or so downstairs, and then the greenhouse effect of my windows started to warm things up.

When I got home from the doctor and grocery store, I turned around and went straight back bc I realized the eggs I'd but expired a month ago. Luckily, the harried solo cashier just let me grab a different carton, no formal exchange necessary. I came home again, set up my new computer monitor, ate some peanut butter toast, and had a video chat about writing. And then I spent the afternoon doing some work but mostly messing around the house.

Happily, the guys got the new furnace going today and it seems to be working - there's still stuff to do, but I'm not going to freeze. While that momentous thing happened, I talked to Ritu for awhile, which was an overdue pleasure. And then I dragged [censored] to Garden Grove, where we had a tasty dinner that immediately made me sleepy.

And now, I'm going to go to bed - goodnight!

in the midnight hour

No blog tonight - I had an excellent writing day and also made perfect garlic smashed potatoes for dinner, but I was rewarded by having no heat in my house tonight due to the current stage of the HVAC project. Luckily it's pretty warm in here still, and won't get crazy cold outside tonight - but I hope tomorrow's continued work goes smoothly.

And now it's bedtime - goodnight!

now they're calling on the fire brigade

My HVAC project kicked off today... Luckily the contractor gave me two hours' notice before showing up, so I was showered and dressed in time to let them in. I still have heat tonight, which I'm basking in, but it's possible I won't have heat tomorrow. However, I think it will all be worth it despite the inconveniences this week.

While they were in the basement all day, I did a whole bunch of work - I got a new laptop in honor of Black Friday, and I spent the day setting it up. I've let the business side of writing lapse quite a bit since I haven't had any new releases, and I took the opportunity to go through a bunch of files, reorganize things, and make sure I have the right files/programs in the new laptop to start making progress on some year-end goals. It was fun and also bittersweet - I found partial manuscripts I'd forgotten about, and all told I probably have four books' worth of words that didn't become actual books. C'est la vie, I guess, but hopefully this one will succeed where the others didn't.

At some point, I made chicken and wild rice soup with mushrooms, which was perfect (and will be even better tomorrow when I don't have heat). And now I'm going to go to bed early so that I can take advantage of tomorrow - goodnight!

i miss you, but i miss sparkling

I had a pretty productive day, all in all. I dreamed of my book last night (and not in a nightmare kind of way), so I woke up, journaled a little bit, made some coffee, and wrote six pages. Then I showered before having a call with Heather (aka dear respected madam), who was in fine form.

After that, I made a late lunch (huevos rancheros), tidied up the kitchen, cleaned snow off my car, and went into town for allergy shots (which hurt). Then I came home, did a bunch of house stuff, did a bunch of laptop stuff, and took care of various online errands. At some point, [censored] left and I ate leftover tacos from Saturday night, which were still tasty.

And now, I really need to sleep - goodnight!

we'll paint it red to fit right in

I've had a busy couple of days. Yesterday, I made brunch for Aunt Kathy, [censored], and my parents at the v unfashionable hour of 9:30am in deference to their Midwestern preferences. Then, Kathy, Mom and I went to the town craft fair - I didn't really need crafts, but I bought a couple of things that I thought were cute/unique.

Then, we dropped Mom off at home and Kathy and I went into the other town to check out the stores that were open for small business Saturday. The town is really trying to make new businesses work, and I did get a cute top at a clothing store run by a high school classmate and a pendant at a gift shop attached to the hotel, so I think I did my part to support the local economy.

After that, Kathy left and I spent the rest of the day doing tings, napping, and picking up takeout from the Mexican food truck, which was braving the snow. It snowed a surprising amount overnight, and I didn't leave the house today as a result. I slept in, made breakfast tacos (delish), did some tings, and then finished getting the basement ready for my massive HVAC project. [Censored] was instrumental in this, and I still have some stuff to carry upstairs and a few things to cover with tarps, but otherwise we're good to go.

And then I made fresh spaghetti to go with leftover sauce, watched the ultimately depressing Iowa State basketball game, ate leftover chocolate cake, did some online stuff, and decided to go to bed before I buy any more black Friday deals for myself - goodnight!

last train to clarksville

Happy Thanksgiving Day Two! Aunt Kathy, Drewbaby, and Sammie came down today for a day of merriment, which meant I had to get up and be somewhat presentable for the second day in a row.

But first, I made myself eggs since I forgot to eat dinner last night and was feeling it. I also did a wee bit of black Friday shopping online. And then I baked a chocolate cake to use some of yesterday's leftover cream cheese frosting - the cake was a new recipe, but it turned out deliciously. I probably needed to make a second cake since my leftover frosting situation is absurd, but this was a good start.

I also showered, cleaned the kitchen, and prepped the ingredients for a salad before heading out to my parents' house. Lunch was mostly yesterday's leftovers plus my salad, but the meal was perfect - v easy and tasty. Then we hung out, talked, drank some wine, and some of us played Ticket to Ride. Kathy, Drewbaby and Sammie hadn't played it before, so perhaps it's not much of an achievement that I won, but I will still take the victory.

Then we ate dinner - we had a baked potato bar, which was the perfect follow up to lunch. And then Drewbaby and Sammie headed north, and Kathy came to my house, where we talked to [censored] until bedtime. She's staying over and we're doing brunch + local craft fair stuff tomorrow, so I need to go to bed if I'm going to cook again for the third morning in a row. Goodnight!

chordal drift

Happy Thanksgiving! I had a pretty lovely holiday, all in all - I baked all morning, although I wasn't perfectly satisfied with the results (I think I need to switch back to the other gluten free flour blend I sometimes use). The chocolate chip chewies were v. tasty, as usual, but I thought my pumpkin cupcakes were a little too dense. Ah, well, c'est la vie.

After baking, I had just enough time to shower before going out to mom and dad's for dinner (aka lunch). my sister and her husband came as well, and we had approximately a million pounds of turkey, along with the usual suspects (mashed potatoes, corn casserole, green bean casserole, deviled eggs, gravy, etc.). It was a really lovely lunch, and it filled me up enough that I forgot to eat supper, so I would say it was a success.

After [censored] and I got back to my house, I sat around for awhile and dozed off briefly, before watching Iowa State men's basketball play in a Thanksgiving invitational (they pulled off a v. impressive come-from-behind victory after being less than impressive earlier in the game). And then I spent the rest of the evening doing some writing work, journaling, etc.

And now, I need to go to bed so that I can continue the festivities tomorrow - goodnight!

feelings doing somersalts

I had a decent day, all in all, but I spent too much time looking at my computer. I did a bunch of random stuff this morning, and then I had lunch (some roasted chicken+squash+onion+brussels sprouts that I'd frozen last month, which I will have to recreate because it has been a v. nice thing to have in the freezer for quick lunches). I also talked to [censored] about fences and toilets, as we do. Then I took a shower and took a walk downtown to pay my gas bill (v. exciting).

After that, I did some work, and then I made dinner (Grandma Barb's spaghetti sauce, even though I don't have a Grandma Barb). [Censored] and I both enjoyed it, and I spent a little too much time scrolling on my phone after, but c'est la vie. Then, I was going to bake, but I had something that I absolutely had to finish tonight, so I spent the last couple of hours cranking it out. I'll get up tomorrow and bake, I swear.

And now, since I have made that claim, I should go to bed so that I can make it happen - goodnight!

in my button-up shirt a natural disaster

I am feeling somewhat surly about the fact that I spent the day running errands instead of being more creative - but it was raining all day, so chances are slim that I would have been productive with my book anyway. Instead, I did some tings around the house, got allergy shots, and then drove to the next town over to get the groceries that I wasn't able to pick up in Des Moines last week. While I was over there, I had lunch at my favorite restaurant in that town (their cobb salad was particularly tasty today), and then I went to Walmart and Fareway.

Thus stocked up, I came home and spent some time putting away groceries, dealing with last night's dishes, taking out the trash, etc. And then I spent the evening in a mix of journaling, scrolling, doing a couple of tasks, and otherwise being quite lazy.

But tomorrow is another day, and we'll see what I get done - goodnight!

i don't wanna go because i know the conditions

I got several tings done today, even though I inadvertently stayed up until two last night and so slept later than intended. But I did a bit of writing this morning (after talking to [censored] about fence and before eating some leftover chili for lunch), and I finished cleaning out my pantry. I also did some other house tings. And I went out to my parents' house to give my dad his birthday card (happy birthday, Dad!) and pick up some special paper to print some stuff.

The stuff I had to print was a bunch of star-shaped logos to put on a Christmas tree at the local festival of trees and lights. My secret society decided to decorate a tree this year, and I was able to take a logo that my mom had, edit it to improve the printing, and then cut it out, punch a hole in it, and put it on ornament hooks. I took the ornaments in to the fairgrounds tonight, where a bunch of people were in a frenzy of decorating. I didn't stay for the full finishing touches on the tree, but it was coming together nicely when I left, so that felt good.

Then I came home and made burrito bowls, even though I had intended that we would get takeout from the Mexican food truck. I also experimented with making a queso - the verdict was that [censored] and I don't like having too much tomato or other ingredients in the queso, but it was pretty tasty for a first attempt. And we ate while watching last night's SNL, which was as close to uniformly excellent as anything I've seen them do this year.

Then I cleaned up the kitchen, came upstairs, procrastinated for awhile, and did a bit of writing work to cap off the night. And now I need to sleep - goodnight!

scrollin' through a life i barely recognised

I didn't get enough done today because I got sucked into twitter reading about the fresh drama at Open.AI -- I've been staying off twitter, which has been good for my productivity, but it still sucks me in during moments of breaking news. I also slept until nine, which was v. nice but didn't help in terms of getting up and getting about my day.

However, I took care of various tings, washed my sheets, made fresh brown rice to go with leftover tofu stir fry for lunch, and did a whole bunch of organizing in my pantry to see what I have and what I need to replace. And eventually, [censored] and I met the parents for dinner - we went to our usual steak place, where I had a ribeye, and it was a v. nice evening.

But now, I need to sleep so that I can get more done tomorrow - goodnight!

love locked down

I have nothing to report - I got allergy shots this morning, then made a lightning trip to Des Moines to stock up on groceries and home goods. I made it home right before dark, and I spent the evening putting things away, eating leftover chili, and reading all the speculation in Silicon Valley over the firing of the OpenAI CEO. And now I need to sleep - goodnight!

a dreamer til the end

I need to go to bed immediately - I was writing just now, which was great, but now it's later than I had planned to stay up. Today was good, though - I did some work stuff this morning, then had a mural festival meeting, and then chatted with the guy who's embarking on my HVAC project while he poured concrete for my new A/C pad. Then I talked to my friend Durand, who is a delight. And then, after a brief nap, I made brunch for dinner, which [censored] and I ate while watching last week's SNL and various other comedy tings.

And now, I need to go to bed - goodnight!

skipping stones

I had an excellent day - it's amazing what can be accomplished when I manage to ignore my phone. I spent the morning journaling, writing, and reading a variety of tings. Then, I made myself lunch - I usually eat leftovers for lunch, but I had no leftovers, so I made a tofu stirfry with broccoli, red peppers, and onion, along with some brown rice. Yes, this is a v. unusual meal for southern Iowa, but sometimes I want tofu - and with the right seasoning (in this case, an Omsom sauce packet) and the right cooking method (lightly coated in cornstarch before stir frying to get some crispiness), it's pretty tasty. I doubt anyone will steal my leftovers, so I will get another couple of meals out of it, which is fine by me.

Then I did some tings around the house, had a meeting, did some more tings, and took a brief walk since the weather was so nice. And then I ran out to my parents' house to consult with my mom on some Christmas tree decorations for our secret society. When I came home, I made dinner (v. unusual to cook two meals in a day from scratch) - I was in the mood for chili, and I thought [censored] might appreciate those leftovers more than the tofu. So I made my favorite black bean chili, and it was delish. While it was cooking, I did some laundry, cleaned, etc. And after I ate, I had a conversation with someone in New Mexico who wants to plan a mural festival similar to the one we did here - I wish him well, and also am glad I don't have to plan another one anytime soon.

When I got off the phone, [censored] had arrived, so we caught up for awhile before I came upstairs. And now I really need to sleep - goodnight!

she's a butcher with a smile

I didn't get enough sleep last night, so I'm going to go to bed ASAP and try to rectify that. But I did get settled back into the olde Iowa today. I cleaned my coffeemaker, which I'm sure is what enabled me to do some excellent writing / brainstorming on the book. I ate some squash/chicken/Brussels sprouts dish that I'd previously prepped and frozen, which was a delicious lunch. I got allergy shots, which were less fun but still worthwhile. And I stopped by the office of something I'm on the board of to help the director with a technical problem, bought groceries, and fully unpacked from my trip. Oh, and I did two loads of laundry as well.

So, all in all everything was good, although I would have been even more #inittowinit with more sleep. On that note, it's bedtime - goodnight!

I've got my spine I've got my orange crush

I made it home after an entirely smooth and uneventful day - I had breakfast at my hotel, packed, did a bit of writing, checked out around noon, and was able to get an Uber just before the imminent shutdown of the streets around my hotel for the APEC event. I got through security in a flash, had a bit of sushi before the flight, read/journaled all the way to Denver, and survived a long layover by doing some book brainstorming.

The flight to Des Moines was boring and a few minutes early, so I was in my car at the moment that my plane was originally supposed to land. And now I'm in bed and hope to stay here for many hours - goodnight!

time after time

I had an excellent day in the city of sin - my writing workshop was great, and I'm feeling more unblocked than I have in a long time. But I didn't sleep well last night due to the timezone difference, and I was so "on" all day that I'm pretty wiped out. So I'm going to go to bed, have a leisurely morning, and then hope I can get out of the city before everything gets too crazy with security shutdowns for the apec summit. Goodnight!

i've been sitting here for ages, ripping out the pages, how'd i get so faded

Today was great and I feel like I made some solid progress on the plot / development issues with my book. My brain didn't want to wake up at first (probably because I only got four hours of sleep after last night's family time extravaganza - I was not hungover, but I was incredibly tired). But then I got into the groove and the book started humming, so that was a delight.

I also caught up with some writer types, and I got a full report on the Vegas writing conference that I missed from Veronica. She and I had an early dinner together at Aliment, and my steak salad and french fries were exactly what I needed (as was, of course, hanging out with Veronica). And then I retreated to my hotel and journaled a bunch, and I have a pretty clear sense of what I want to get out of an intense plotting session tomorrow.

And now, I need to sleep and try to catch up on last night's deficit - goodnight!

no squealing and remember that it's all in your head

Shhhh - I'm secretly in San Francisco. I decided to come at the extreme last minute to do some writing stuff related to nanowrimo, and I'm hoping it will unblock the last blocks with the plot of my book (which I have made good progress on this month, but it's still not there).

However, the fact that I came at the extreme last minute meant that I didn't have time to let anyone know that I was coming, other than my writer friends. Happily for me, though, the people I did reach out to today mostly didn't have plans. I spent the whole morning/afternoon traveling, which was a drag since I woke up at 5am to make it to the airport on time. But my flights were perfectly smooth and I didn't have to get a suitcase from baggage claim, so that felt winning.

Within forty five minutes if landing in SF, I met up with Lauren (aka Subz) for a late lunch in Burlingame. She was in fine form and I could have talked to her for ages, but we parted ways and I took an Uber to SF to check into my hotel.

I spent the evening running errands, eating a funghi pizza at Delfina, taken a nap, etc.  I took a brief nap, and that could have been the end...

... But instead, despite the lure of staying in bed, I went out. I met up with Vidya, Claudia and Adit, and we had a couple of bottles of wine at Linden and Laguna, followed by a punch bowl at Hazies. We've still got it, I guess, but we'll see how i feel tomorrow.

And now I must sleep - goodnight!

if your dreams don't scare you they're not big enough

I had more going on today than I usually do - I wrote in the morning, but then I talked to Tanya, who was as delightful as always. Then I ate a cobb salad for lunch and tried to buckle down on work with mixed results. I had another call in the afternoon, and then I went into town for a library board meeting. It's a nice (and entertaining) group of people, and we had a good conversation even if the state completely screwed library funding, so we'll see what happens there.

Then I sped home, made a quick dinner (leftover fried rice and leftover broccoli + two fried eggs), and then went back into town for a meeting of my secret society. The meeting was good and I won the giveaway tonight, which was exciting since I never win. And then I ate some lemon meringue pie while discussing local politics (mostly chickens) with the ladies.

Then I came home, messed around a little, and did a bit of writing. And now I need to sleep - goodnight!

and then they put you on the day shift

I had a lovely day, all in all. I spent the morning doing various desk tings (including a little bit of writing stuff), and then I spent the rest of the morning making lunch. I had intended to prep some of it last night, but I was feeling lazy then, so I had to cook this morning so that [censored] and I could eat. I made the fixings for cobb salads, which took a bit of prep, but it means that I now have four jarred cobb salads in the fridge waiting for future lunches. I feel like I'm almost past the season where I'll be in the mood for a cobb salad, but it tasted good today.

Then I cleaned up, did a bit of work, and went into town to get allergy shots. They reacted as usual, but not terribly, so I'll take it. After my shots, I grabbed a couple of groceries, came home, and wrote for a bit. But I mostly let myself get sidetracked by other things I needed to take care of, which was fine with me.

When it was time to think about dinner, I decided to experiment with a chorizo fried rice recipe. It came out of J. Kenji Lopez-Alt's THE WOK cookbook, which I got last year for Christmas. He contributes to one of my favorite online recipe sites (Serious Eats), and I follow him on Instagram, so I knew it would be good. I usually don't modify a recipe on the first attempt, but I decided to add some shrimp, increase the amount of rice, and scale up the soy sauce / sesame oil accordingly.

After I'd diced the chorizo, shrimp, onion, green pepper, and scallions, and defrosted the frozen corn just a little bit, I turned on my induction burner as hot as it would go so that some I could heat my skillet (note: I bought a wok but I haven't fully seasoned it). It turns out the turbo burner on my induction stove is perhaps faster/hotter than gas, because my fried rice produced so much smoke that [censored] and I had to open a bunch of windows (and the front door, and briefly the garage door) and I was coughing as I finished cooking. But that level of heat produced some absolutely delicious fried rice. There were some lovely smoky bits, some perfectly crusty lattices of rice, and yet none of it was overcooked.

So this is a hard one, because from the taste alone + the ease of making it, I would absolutely add this to the rotation. But the smoke level was definitely carcinogenic (not to mention pervasive through the house). I think I'll try again at a slightly lower temperature point and see if 20% less flavor yields 80% less smoke.

Ssssanyway, after [censored] and I enjoyed our rice (and cleared out some of the smoke), we watched a bit of TV (including an interview the Please Don't Destroy guys from SNL did with Jimmy Fallon), and then we watched three episodes of OUR FLAG MEANS DEATH. It continues to be absolutely absurd, which means I love it.

And now, I need to sleep since I have a million tings going on tomorrow - goodnight!

mixing up the medicine

I was pretty productive today, all in all - I had a meeting in the morning, and then I did a variety of writing/finance/house tasks all day. I took a break to make an omelette for lunch, which was perfect (onions, mushrooms, Brussels sprouts, goat cheese, plus leftover roasted potatoes). And I spent some quality time in the basement, which is close to ready for my overly complicated HVAC replacement.

Eventually, [censored] and I had dinner - I made salmon teriyaki last night, and I made fresh rice and roasted broccoli to go with the leftover salmon tonight. [Censored] and I ate and then watched Nate Bergatze's latest comedy special - he hosted SNL a couple of weeks ago and was hilarious, so I'm glad to see his other work is getting picked up.

And now, I need to sleep - goodnight!

i'm gonna shake it like the thunder tonight

I was way lazier than I intended to be today - this is always the consequence of coming back from a trip, but I really thought I would be more productive than this. But I did get some excellent writing done this evening (if I do say so myself), helped [censored] with something, and inspected the amazing job that [censored] did fixing my gazebo while I was gone. I also took care of a variety of tings around the house. And I made myself some roasted potatoes and brussels sprouts to go with some pulled pork that I had in the freezer, which felt much more industrious (and healthier) than the pizza I had intended to order.

But now, I need to go to bed so I can do all the things tomorrow - goodnight!

cheers to the 2010s

No blog tonight- I made it back home after an interminable drive. It took longer in this direction, mostly because I didn't have the same blizzard pressure and so stopped and sat down to eat lunch and dinner (as well as grabbing breakfast and coffee before leaving Denver). I also got coffee from the world's second slowest Starbucks in York, Nebraska (the world's slowest is one in Kerrville, Texas).

But my trip was uneventful, other than seeing the immediate aftermath of one extremely terrible accident on the other side of I-80. And now I need to sleep - goodnight!

hanging by a moment here with you

I had a wonderful day in Colorado - so wonderful that I almost regret cutting my trip short, but I decided to get out of here tomorrow so I can spend the weekend dealing with my basement HVAC situation. I woke up this morning, showered, grabbed some coffee, packed, and checked out in time to meet Morganne for lunch at The Kitchen. We've known each other for ages (she was on my team in 2008), and I always love catching up with her. And my halal chicken sandwich was absolute perfection, so that was a good way to end my time in Boulder. I actually mostly hate that city and have finally accepted that to be the case, but Morganne and the Kitchen are wonderful.

Then I drove to Denver, with a stop at H Mart to pick up many packets of rice noodles for pad Thai + better jasmine rice than I can get in Iowa. When I got here, I checked into my hotel, spent literally seven minutes here, and then took an Uber to LoHi. I met up with Alex at Lady Jane (one of my old haunts) - she was on my team for three days a million years ago, but we've stayed in touch, and I was delighted to find out that she recently left our mutual former employer under similar circumstances to mine (voluntarily and long overdue). We caught up and compared notes, and it was great.

Then I was supposed to meet Katie for dinner, but she is sick, and I'm v depressed that we won't see each other this time. But I had a plan b (who didn't feel like a plan b because they hadn't responded to me until last night and didn't expect me to be free). I ended up at Bar Dough with Andy and Nina, which delighted me - I missed seeing them when I was here in May, and they are some of my favorite people here. So we caught up, and Andy's stories about what I left behind didn't stress me out too badly, and it was so great. Then we came back to Wildflower for a nightcap, which I highly recommend.

And now, I must sleep so I can face the long dark of Nebraska tomorrow - goodnight!

sending out an sos to the world

I had a lovely day in Boulder, although I've screwed up my sleeping schedule by napping from 9:30-11pm and then sending emails for the last hour. But I got up this morning, made myself presentable, and went to Boxcar (one of my old haunts) for a latte and some writing time. My lunch date cancelled due to having COVID, so I was on my own - and that meant going to my favorite paper store and the Boulder bookstore, since I was, as usual, convinced that a new notebook would solve all my plot problems.

This equipped, I went to Postino, where I had lunch and wrote for awhile. Lunch was tasty, but it would have been tastier if they hadn't gotten half of my order wrong. I liked what they brought instead, so it was no big deal, and the glass of zinfandel I had with it went a long way towards making everything better.

Then I went to a happy hour that I organized for myself - and I was pleased to see Alisha, both Tomases, Steph, Morgan, Morganne, Morganne's baby, Midou, Caroline, Stacey, Isaac, Dave, Alice, Vicky, and a couple of other random stragglers. It felt like an old pre-pandemic work happy hour, and I gave them permission to use my name and likeness to throw future happy hours for themselves even when I'm not around.

Then, Caroline and I had dinner with Sara (other Sara) at River and Woods. I had my beloved poutine, which was delicious but made my stomach hurt, which is why I crawled into bed as soon as I got to my hotel. But now I need to go to bed for real so that I can accomplish all the things tomorrow - goodnight!