Travel: New York
Books: A Series of Unfortunate Events: Book the Second, The Reptile Room, by Lemony Snicket, The Final Solution by Michael Chabon

Monday: Flew in from SEA and arrived in Boston at like 7AM. Got like 2 hours of sleep on the plane. Went home and slept for 4 more and man, that did it. Woke up minutes before my noon and I felt WORSE than I had in days. Cold was back with a vengance. Emailed work and did all my work from home in sort of a weird sick daze. Took a call for our travel client, then a Kashi meeting, then a meeting on an RFP for an awesome Swedish company. Daily meeting about our problem client. Meeting about our own website. Answered lots of emails, but couldn't really "plow through" as I was so exhausted. Judi got home like 6ish, and I wrapped up at 7ish and cooked some dinner for us.

Health month has begun. It's going okay so far. I've been sick so it's been insanely easy. Got up and had a Lara bar (these things are going to save my life I swear to god) and a pint of water with some Emergen-C in it. Had another pint of water, some dry popcorn and a liter or so of unsweetened, uncaffienated green tea throughout the day. Dinner consisted of my Gai Gaprow recipe which is a wonderful thai basil and chicken dish that's super easy and super healthy. Had that over brown rice.

Did about another hour of work, then tried to read news feeds on my laptop on the couch and found myself falling asleep in the middle of a scintillating New Yorker article about Google. Read an interesting comment in Cameron's journal about research and presentations that I bookmarked for a future blog entry about marketing ideas that I have been wrestling with lately at work. Managed to play a round of Scrabulous against my fierce rivals gordonmerrick, lizenthusiasm, emmascully, Jayna, smapple, magneticwoman, Skaff and DMD. Gave up at about 10 PM and headed to bed, tucked in with Lemony Snicket 2. Lasted maybe 20 minutes. Passed out. SLEPT FOR FOURTEEN HOURS.

Tuesday: Woke up at ONE PM. WTF. Man I must be SICK. BUT, I think this is the day it broke because I found myself on top of things at work - FINALLY, for the first time since the 21st of december. Worked hard and nonstop through till dinner at about 8 PM. Meetings for Kashi, Hyundai, Problem Client, SXSW, and Partners. Picked up the Mirrors project for some new mirrors. Did some HR stuff. Did some resourcing stuff.

Health Month Update: Breakfast was non-existant because of the whole getting up at one PM thing. I weighed myself in the morning on a lark and I weighed five pounds less than the day before. HA. Right. Breakfast was a pint of water with Emergen-C and some quickstyle home made soup - low-sodium chicken broth, whole grain orzo, carrots, celery and a buttload of spices (thyme, rosemary, parsley, garlic). No mid day snack, though I was hungry. Actually that's not true I had a few unsalted peanuts, which are my standby during health month. Then for dinner I made Rick's Noodleless Pad Thai, which came off flawlessly. Added a smidge of water from the recipe on facebook, and used 8 dried thai chilis and a shallot to give it a bit more bite - worked brilliantly!

Worked for another hour or two after dinner and man, I was on fire, but I decided I was well enough to attempt this NYC trip tomorrow and my train was @ 6:15 (I am on it now) so I thought I'd force myself to go to sleep. I read and finished up Lemony Snicket 2 and tried to sleep. Tossed and turned - obviously a bit difficult to sleep a mere 9 ours after I slept 14 hours, but it is a testament to how sick I was that I managed without much difficulty. Fell asleep about 1, woke up at 5. Woo.

Tags: books, recap, travel
Current Music: "Stagger Lee (live)" By Cave, Nick & the Bad Seeds from Live in Perth

Books: A Series of Unfortunate Events: Book the First: A Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby
Movies: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Charlie Wilson's War, Juno, The Host, Zodiac
Travel: Seattle
Bands: Buffalo Tom, Thalia Zydek

In keeping with busterbenson's respect for me to attempt a bit more public openness, I am going to try and not lock these posts. Which will be rough. I won't be able to mention specific clients or something, and I'm moderately nervous, but i think it'll be okay.

So, for the uninitiated, I have been keeping a little note on every day for the last... 3 years? This will be the third year. This stems from my uncanny ability, back when I was young and sober and living in Alaska and only like 16 to literally be able to recall whatever it was I did for every day back to the age of like 8. This ability is gone, but I liked having it, so now I use the written record to help. Also, my grandfather, who homesteaded in alaska in the 1930's, did the same thing, along with being a prolific writer beyond that. I always envied him for it. So I am trying to keep the dream alive. I do, sadly, tend to bunch them up. I'm going to try and keep that to a minimum as well this year. Shorter bursts. Hopefully one a week. Luckily, though, I am blessed with a full, busy life, so sometimes that doesn't work out.

( Recap since 12/27 )

Tags: books, movies, recap, rock, travel
Current Music: "Miss Abuse" By Bark Psychosis from Codename: DustSucker

89 flight segments, 270,000 air miles. 40 segments on the Acela. The US, Canada, Norway, The UK and Iceland. And that's my big beef. I got two new countries in that I'd always wanted to go to - Norway and Iceland - but I wish I had hit asia or something. That would have required a real vacation, though, I suppose.

It's also kind of shocking how many times I went to California - most of those trips to LA, SF and SD were separate trips. I think I made a total of like 14 trips out there, which mildly shocking and exhausting just thinking about it.

The other interesting thing, I think, is that I actually went to New York fewer times this year than last. I think that's a circumstance of having the apartment, which lets me stay there a little longer at a time for less money, and gives Judi a place to stay when she wants to come down. I sure don't feel like I was actually there for fewer days, but I can't actually confirm that.

Man, it's a good thing I like trains.

Domestic:
New York (30 times)
San Francisco (9 times)
San Diego (3 times)
Portland, Or
Seattle, WA (3 times)
Austin
Los Angeles (5 times)
Palm Springs, CA
Indio, CA
Cupertino, CA
Santa Barbara, CA
Fargo, ND
St. John, ND
Rolla, ND
Philadelphia, PA
Harrisburgh, PA
Hershey, PA
Anchorage, AK (2 times)
Fairbanks, AK
Wasilla, AK (2 times)
Eagle River, AK
Delta Junction, AK
Paxson, AK
Denver, CO
San Jose, CA (2 times)
Laguna Beach, CA
Hammonton, NJ
Atlantic City, NJ
North Adams, MA


International:
Oslo, Norway
Toronto, Ontario
Reykjavik, Iceland
Keflavik, Iceland
Blue Lagoon, Iceland
Minehead, Somerset, UK
Bristol, Somerset, UK
Taunton, UK
London, UK

Tags: travel, year in review
Current Music: "Swinging" by Black Box Recorder, From England Made Me

Bands: Perla, For A Minor Reflection, <3Svanvít!, Naflakusk, Eliza, Smoosh, Lights on a Highway, Jenny Wilson, Boys in a Band, Duke Spirit, Retro Stefson, Teenagers, Kimono, Singapore Sling, Computer Club, Loney, Dear, Trentmöller, Heavy Trash, Motion Boys, Gus Gus, Frost, Mental Overdrive, Amiina, Tied & Tickle Trio, Ms. John Soda, Benni Hemm Hemm, Lali Puna, Ra Ra Riot, Hafdis Huld, Annuals, British Sea Power
Travel: Reykjavik, Keflavik and Blue Lagoon, Iceland, New York, Los Angeles
Books: Spook Country by William Gibson, Adverbs by Daniel Handler, Lonely Planet Iceland

( Iceland Airwaves + Some Random Travel )

Tags: books, iceland, recap, rock, rocktourist, travel
Current Music: "Wayfaring Stranger" By Cash, Johnny from Unearthed

Movies: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Books: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Travel: Anchorage, Fairbanks, Wasilla, Eagle River, Delta Junction, Paxson, etc

The trip was a good time - way too short, though, especially in Fairbanks. It was awesome to get to have a weekend at home before returning to work, so it's a give and take, but it would have been nice to have a little bit more time there. It was awesome to see my sister, and awesome to have the free time to read Harry Potter!

Pitcures can be found here: http://flickr.com/photos/lizstless/tags/alaska2007/

( Recap of our trip to Alaska )

Tags: alaska, recap, travel
Current Music: Dave Chapelle's Block Party

So I know many of you were at a much more arty parade this weekend, but instead I hoofed it up to St. John, North Dakota, population 324 - 3 miles south of the Candian Border. It was St John Days last weekend - the celebration of their 125th anniversary. My great great grandfather founded this town in 1882 or whatever, and the oldest building in town is his old house. He also built his castle that I'm always babbling about just outside of town in 1904. We met with the historical society people - a nice woman named Becky that I've been working with for the past year to get funds to stabilize Coghlan Castle and begin restoration. They've finally negotiated a lease with the owner, and have been approved by the ND state senate for a grant. The grant will require approval from the National Register of Historic Places, which won't happen until 2009, so in the meantime they are trying to collect $30,000 to begin stabiilzation this summer.

The trip was a surreal experience. As far as I can tell, all my relatives on this side of the family are over 70, and man, midwesterners are so chill, it's eerie. Everyone smokes. Wood pannelling is totally cool. The most expensive bottle of wine I could find in the county was $11. There was a sign in my motel room that said "Do not clean your birds in your room. We have provided a bird cleaning room for you." Beers in bars were $1.50, though, and that was awesome, and the internaitonal peace garden was totally cool. And so was the St. John parade, which had some really dope shriners, horses and kids.

Good times.

Tags: north dakota, st john, travel
Current Location: boston
Current Music: daily show

Travel:Austin
Books: The Devil in the White City, by Erik Larson
Bands: Til We're Blue or Destroy (three times), Haircut party, Pipettes (twice), Oh No! Oh My!, Pony Up, The Panda Band, Frightened Rabbit, Twilight Sad, Bird featuring Mark Burgess of the Chameleons, The Mountain Goats, Blonde Redhead, Calla, Voxtrot, Har Mar Superstar, Headlights, Lonely Dear, Andrew Bird, Tokyo Police Club, Matt & Kim (twice) Clem Snide, The Ooolas, The Prototypes, Thomas Dolby, Cloud Cult, Sondre Lerche, Jesu, Ladyhawk, Shit Disco, Evangelicals, Okkervil River, RDJ2, Menomena, Deerhunter, Do Make Say Think, Thurston Moore instrumental, Magick Markers, Thurston Moore Songz with Special Guests, Monotract, Black Helicopter, Pagoda, Sunburned Hand of the Man, Robin Hitchcock, Gruff Rhys, The M's, Christian Scott, Mando Diao, Ponys, Sloan, Walkmen, Apples in Stereo, Til We're Blue or Destroy

( SXSW Music Festival recap, all 5,000 words of it )

Tags: austin, bands, recap, rock, sxsw, travel
Current Music: "We've Got Everything" by Modest Mouse, From We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank

Shows: Bobby Tinsdale, AD MIles, Jonathan Katz, Jen Kirkman, Eugene Mirman, Lifestyle, Appomattox, 8MM Fuzz
Movies: Superman 2: The Richard Donner Cut, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, An Inconvenient Truth, Syriana, Herbie: Fully Loaded, Far From Heaven, The Departed, The Good Shepherd, Notes on a Scandal, Children of Men
Books: Still reading Pynchon
Travel: NYC, London, Minehead, Somerset,
( Recap of December )

Tags: atp, barbarian holiday, movies, new year, recap, rock, shows, travel
Current Music: "My Dick" by My Dick Band, From Myspace

US:
New York (38 times)
Atlanta (6 times)
San Francisco (4 times)
Chicago, IL (2 times)
Los Angeles, CA
Milwaukee, WI
Warren, NJ
Paramus, NJ
Framingham, MA
Austin, TX
Portland, OR
Palm Springs, CA
Indio, CA
Hoboken, NJ
Newark, NJ
Philadelphia, PA (2 times)
Atlantic City, NJ
Nashua, NH
Leominster, MA
Columbus, OH
Pawling, NY
Anchorage, AK
Wasilla, AK
Eagle River, AK
Manchester, NH

International:
Tokyo, Japan
Ceret, France and several cities nearby
Barcelona, Spain
Figuerres, Spain
Andorra Ville, Andorra
Minehead, Somerset, UK
London, UK

Tags: 2006, travel, year in review
Current Music: "Playhouses" by TV On the Radio, From Untitled 2006 TVOTR Album

Bands seen:

Friday: Tarpis Tula, Islaja, Charlambadies, Fursaxa, Prurient, Bardo Pond, The Dead C.

Saturday: The New Blockaders & The Haters, Hair Police, Matt Gustaffson & EYE, Blood Stereo, Sun City Girls, Dinosaur Jr, Sonic Youth, Magik Markers

Sunday: Dinosaur Jr, Bark Haze, My Cat is an Aien, White Out & Nels Kiine, Monotract, Aaron Dilloway, Awesome, Color, Wolf Eyes, Iggy & The Stooges, Alexander Tucker, Six Organs of Admittance, No Neck Blues Band, Sunburned Hand of the Man

Movies: Miami Vice, The Devil Wears Prada, Little Miss Sunshine, Cars

Um.. God, okay, I only left london an hour ago but let's see if I can do this.

( Recap of my All Tomorrow's Parties weekend in the UK )

Tags: ashley, atp, aug, london, recap, rock, sadotter, sis, travel