Saturday, September 06, 2008
Here's my new prediction (I just made it up, but I seriously think it's quite plausible): if McCain wins the election, there will be a boom in babies being given the first name Maverick. (But hopefully not the name Maverick Stew.)
Posted at 12:41:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
[Edit: Hmm... apparently it's a real (but rare and recent) first name! Watch this space to see if my prediction comes true.]
Friday, September 05, 2008
I was just helping Dean building the new stand in the basement (I did the glubeing) and we used the word "maverick" about 100 times in the past hour. It's so fun. Also we got all confused about whether it's "mouthful of stewed maverick," "spoonful of maverick stew," or any of all possible combinations thereof.
Posted at 11:31:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
(What the heck, the real quote is "mouthful of stewed maverick"??? That's the most unbelievable/ridiculous one of all the choices!!)
Of course, we've been using the word "maverick" nonstop since last Friday, but not quite so every-other-word-ishly. The most memorable instance was when I proposed the maverick idea that we go to The Merry Table for breakfast Monday morning, after we'd already been there for dinner the night before. It was a bold, maverick move, but we did it, and it was a great way to end our trip to Portland. And we didn't repeat any of our dishes, except my excellent coffee.
Maybe I should add "mouthful of stewed maverick" to my Weird Foods I Especially Want To Try list. Hahahahaha.
Posted at 9:41:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Okay, the blind lady that I visit has called the election. She says it's going to be McCain/Palin, thanks to the introduction of Palin to the race. Also, she claims her election predictions are usually very accurate. (I think she's registered as a Democrat, but I'm not positive.)
Posted at 5:04:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Today I was leaving REI in West Hartford and so was a UPS guy.
UPS Guy: Don't you live in Newington...?
Me, totally surprised: East Berlin.
UPS Guy: [Names the road I live on.]
Me: Wow! Good memory!
Him: Oh, you know us UPS guys...
I almost always forget what someone looks like about two seconds after I look at them (a weakness I share with David; we've discussed it), and here this guy recognises me, out of context, nowhere near my home. People like that amaze me. I wouldn't have recognized him even if he was standing at my front door holding a package.
I finished Elvissey last night. Only one more Womack to go.
I think I have a slight thing about my own hands. I keep randomly noticing them (as if they're someone else's) and admiring how they look. Or, really, more the position I'm holding them in, or weird little things like the way the tendons move under the skin or the little blue bulgy vein at the base of my thumb. When we were at Arabica in Portland I was sitting outside by myself while Dean picked up the drinks, so no one else would snag the last table, and I kept staring at these hands through the front window. I really liked the way they were folded. Then I realised they didn't belong to the person inside; they were my own hands, reflected in the window. I'm weird.
The Man From UNCLE is finally being released on DVD, in October!!!
Oh yeah, and Solstice sunglasses store once again has the best customer service ever. The arm on my second pair of Best Sunglasses Ever snapped off last week (yes, just like the ones I replaced two months ago, but this is the other pair, so they're about a year old), and once again they gave me a brand new set to replace them, no problem.
Thursday, September 04, 2008
Posted at 8:35:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
I still didn't write about the rest of my Portland visit (I will), but here are a couple of photos of my Milo in Maine jellyfish t-shirt. Obviously, it's pretty much the best t-shirt design ever. (It was a little hard to get a photo that showed the whole jelly; this was the best I could do. It's even cooler looking in real life!)
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
I wore my new jellyfish shirt to the scuba store today to try on the gear, since it's black and close-fitting like a wetsuit. And maybe it'll make my new gear attract jellies! The gear isn't 100% ready yet, but we had to measure how long the hoses should be and stuff like that. My new BC looks nice! It's a Wave Jr. like I rent in Hawaii, but the new model, which is black and silvery grey, so it doesn't look kid-ish.
Posted at 1:33:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
I have a giant headache tonight. The scuba store guy talked INSANELY LOUDLY but he was nice and I don't think my headache is really his fault; I might've gotten one even without his booming voice in my ear. Anyway, I have a little more to write about our Sunny Maine trip (Saturday and Monday) but I'll Part Two it tomorrow or soon.
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
Posted at 11:20:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
We're back from Maine! (As of last night.) It was a great trip, although I slept for about ZERO hours the first night there, so I was really tired on Sunday. The pillows at the Regency aren't very shoulder-friendly, for my shoulders at least. I had a really nice time napping (not actually asleep, but just lying there listening to my iPod) in a driftwood tree at Laudholm Beach in Wells, though. And yep, the whole reason I picked the Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve to visit is that it's in the same town as the Maine Diner. Actually it's about two inches away from the Maine Diner. I couldn't really find out that much about it ahead of time (there was a complete dearth of information, for some reason... the place is mysterious), but my instincts were right, and it was quiet and beautiful. We walked for a few miles on trails and beach, and into the sandy watershed around the Little River. Lots of great textures and patterns in the sand, interesting seaweed and lowtide revelations. The weather was perfect: sunny and blue, but not at all hot. Pleasant breeze, with no huge cringe-inducing wind. Just, nice. Relaxing.
The Maine Diner was great too, of course. We both got repeats of what we had last time (Eggs Florentine for Dean, best-lobster-roll-in-Maine for me, shared warm Maine blueberry pie à la mode for both) but I also got a small bowl of Award Winning Seafood Chowder (which, ordered as a pair with the lobster roll, was technically called a Jim Nantz) this time. It was the best chowder ever! ("Voted BEST Chowder at Ogunquit Chowderfest 7 years.") It had all kinds of stuff in it: lobster pieces, shrimp, clams, potatoes, unknown sea creatures. Anyway it was great. We sat at the counter this time (right next to the pie cage), since we would've had to wait about 20 minutes for a table otherwise. (The Maine Diner is popular!) It was fun at the counter; we got to watch all the behind the scenes stuff. I was very tired, so I was just sort of taking it all in. I was also jittery and weak from hunger since it was 2:00 and I hadn't eaten anything yet all day, other than a beautiful latte (supposed to be a dry cappuccino, but wasn't) with foam art from a coffee shop in Portland. That's the first time I've ever been served foam art. It was tasty, as well as pretty.
Oh yeah, we walked around Old Port a bunch before we drove to Wells, because we went over to Browne Trading Market in the morning and found out that it didn't open until noon and was going to be closed for Labor Day. So we had to kill about an hour until it opened and go then, or we wouldn't be able to go at all. We'd planned to walk around Old Port on Monday but decided to combo Sunday and Monday instead, and that worked out great. Portland is such a nice city. Dean even got a shirt at this cool men's store called Haberdashery Hill. They had incredibly soft Milo in Maine t-shirts, too, but only in men's sizes, so I was highly teased. I have a kids' Milo in Maine jellyfish shirt I got at Whole Foods last week and I love LOVE it. It fits me perfectly, but I'm afraid it'll shrink if I put it in the dryer. I'm obsessed with Milo in Maine.
We had dinner at The Merry Table creperie, which was also a play-it-by-ear move because I'd planned it as a breakfast place for Monday. The wait was too long at Fore Street, so we checked it out instead, and it was perfect: cute, welcoming, with the nicest waitress ever, a sign written in the Lawrence Lei bookstore font, and outdoor tables on a closed-to-traffic brick-paved side street, under a black moonless sky. (While we were eating, a Caribbean-style band tuned up then started playing a few doors down, so we were highly entertained watching them and all the passersby who were drawn to the sound of their songs.) Dean ordered Gratin de Asperges and a Poireaux crepe (braised leeks, wild mushrooms, Swiss) and I had a Nicoise salad w/cured salmon (they were out of tuna, but the salmon was even better!) and a Lobster Newburg crepe. (Note: Dean is CRAZY about JK Scumpy's hard cider!!) The incredibly sweet waitress gave us dessert for free because service was snaily due to a mixup on her part, but we wouldn't have even noticed it was slow if she hadn't pointed it out! I chose the summer fruit dessert crepe, which had strawberries and blueberries and peaches and plums, all delectably syruped together along with yummy fresh whipped cream on top and crunchy sugar inside the crepe. Everything was delicious, even the coffee. It reminded me a lot of Luxembourg.
