Do the Yak

It's been a while, but fortunately the reasons are good -- mostly a relaxing vacation in Florida WITHOUT going to Disneyworld, which we will avoid untinl the kids can drive themselves there. We signed a purchase-and-sale agreement for a house in the Leafy Suburb. Hubby's nephew had an extremely cute baby -- were they always this small? Getting more deeply into web redesign project at work. More news as events warrant...

I found this web site on old computers, I have no idea how, and actually found a few that I’ve used way back in the dawn of time. This one was my introduction to the wonderful world of Apple. I used it doing clerical work in a summer job, oddly enough at the place where I find myself working today. I remember thinking it was kind of fun and I liked the bright stripy apple. Then right after I graduated from college, I started using this , courtesy of dear old Dad, who got it from his employer for home use before any other kids on the block had one. It came in handy because I was living at home trying to figure out what to do with my life, and one of the things I was trying was writing for the local newspaper. Of course there was no such thing as a modem, so I would write a story (delighting in the cutting and pasting as I clacked away on the metallic keys, wishing like hell Id had one for all those English paper I’d written) and then print it out on a dot matrix printer, natch. I’d dri...

Impressions from last night’s Oscar show: First, of course, is fashion. I have a general question: whatever happened to cleavage? For those too young to remember, this is the visible cleft between decent-sized boobs that are nuzzled together mid-chest by an article of clothing. Now the dresses are open all the way to the navel, but the boobs (far smaller in today’s anorexic world than, say, Liz Traylor’s of Marilyn Monroe’s) have gone into hiding on either side, so all we get is an eyeful of sternum and some ribs. This is not recommended for anyone sporting scars from open-heart surgery. The only egregious fashion error was obviously Charlize Theron’s. Did she somehow not notice the large dead black bat perched on her left shoulder? I fear we peaked in the fashion ludicrousness in 1986 with Cher . Jake Gyllenhall is gorgeous. Salma Hayek is gorgeous. Ralph Fiennes is super-gorgeous. Jon Stewart isn’t all that funny but he cleans up OK. Philip Seymour Hoffman looked better in characte...

Like me, Sarah is probably the youngest kid in her class (we both have August birthdays). She is also one of the smallest physically. You might think this would result in some shyness, which I had plenty of as a kid, but no. When I brought her to school in late morning after a doctor’s appointment the other day, her class happened to be on the playground, and they caught sight of her getting out of the car. Soon I heard one or two voices, and then more and more saying, “Sarah’s here! Sarah’s here!” So we walked over to them, and I swear, they clustered around her like paparazzi around Britney Spears. They were EXCITED to see her and FASCINATED to hear what she had to say. She appeared to be... good Lord... POPULAR. I on the other hand was standing to one side, mouth slightly ajar, thinking how this was SO NOT ME as a kid. Then during school vacation week, Sarah went to an informal day camp sponsored by my husband’s workplace, so she didn’t know a soul and had never been anywhere near t...

So what have we been up to lately? Well... homing in on a house purchase, in my childhood hometown no less... dealing with sick kids... planning a Florida getaway... The house is not a sure thing yet; we’ve agreed on a price and had some inspections, but no purchase-and-sale signing yet. Then there’s the small matter of finding an architect to design a renovation and addition, getting various permits and approvals, construction, etc. Why do things the easy way? Buy a house in move-in condition? Au contraire! We like dumps that we can reshape in our own special way. And Ben loves to hang out with guys in the building trades and throw around phrases like “bullnose tile” and “soldier coursing.” Me, I just want a decent kitchen, a clean bathroom and a soundproof room for the kids and their growing collection of small, brightly colored bits of molded plastic. Then we’ll move in and deal with the culture shock of living in a leafy suburb where everyone knows your name and the exact value of ...