Blizzard of '13 vs. Nemo

After thinking about it a while, I have decided that the Weather Channel's new policy of naming winter storms is just silly. What tipped the scales? Winter storm Nemo. In my frame of reference, Nemo is an adorable clown fish in one of the best animated movies ever made, Pixar's Finding Nemo. What Nemo is not is a major snow storm / blizzard featuring 70+ MPH winds, around 28 inches of snow and drifts over 4 feet tall.

I was actually away on business earlier this week and, along with what appeared to be half the population of New England, decided to push up my arrival so I could make it home before the storm. I actually couldn't get home on Thursday evening because all flights to New England were sold out. I got as far as DC, where I overnighted at one of my favorite hotels, the Hyatt Regency in Crystal City. Incredibly convenient to the airport, stylish, and my room had a view of the Washington Monument. If I had to get stuck somewhere, that hotel is easily in my Top 10.

I had a confirmed seat on the 6:30 am shuttle into Boston. It was rather like the last flight out of Saigon; I wouldn't be surprised if there were people clinging to the landing gear. We took off on time and landed a whole 1 minute early. My last minute car service was waiting (the service that cancelled on me later called to ask if I still wanted a ride - tacky), and I was home by maybe 9 am.

It was starting to snow, but there was still time to hit the grocery store (mushrooms, cauliflower and garam masala - I am not a bread and milk sort of shopper) before hunkering down to ride out the storm. It really didn't start until the afternoon, but when it came, it came with vengeance. This is what it looked like out my front door around 9 pm:

The plows passed through periodically through the night, so you can kind of pick out where the streets are supposed to be. I rather expected to lose power, because typically whenever the wind is stronger than, say, a sneeze, the transformers in our neighborhood start popping off like fireworks and we lose power. I pumped up the heat before going to sleep, just in case, but awoke to a warm, powered on house and even more snow. Of course, the worst of it was the blowing snow drifts. It had piled up to a depth of at least 4 feet on my back patio. The view out my sliders was like looking into the middle of an ice core:

It's a little tough to see, but trust me, it was even tougher to shovel. Which is what I mostly did yesterday. I shoveled the front walk first, since the snow was piled up to the point where I could barely open the door. Then, I had to shovel the back patio, so that I could get to my utility room in the event of an emergency. I could barely open the sliders wide enough to shovel out a little square to step out onto. By the time I had cleared the patio, the walkway was several inches under snow, so I re-shoveled that, then cleared a path to the side of my car.

When the snow finally stopped, around 11 am, and the plows came out, it was time to extract the car. Let me give Toyota a well earned attaboy here - the snow covered the entire front of the car, and I was plowed in by a 3 foot high, 4 foot wide snow berm. I turned on the car, hit the gas and *poof* out I went on the first try with no issues and, better yet, no problems with steering or control. Hooray for the RAV-4.

After all of that shoveling, I can barely lift my arms, let along go out looking for Nemo. Which is, of course, entirely unnecessary, since Nemo most decidedly found us. With hundreds of thousands of people still without power, and many coastal homes damaged or destroyed, one cannot say we got off easy. However, the decision to close roads to nonessential traffic and the advanced notice definitely prevented a disaster like the Blizzard of '78. Which, incidentally, wasn't named Dory.

Beat the Cold in New Mexico

Having recently returned from my last weeks in exile in Idaho (bloody freezing Idaho), I decided it was time for a change of scenery and went down to Las Cruces, NM for a few days. This was partly to thaw (it was a lovely 60-70 degrees) and partly to visit with a good friend who transferred down there, oh, 2 years ago now.

The easiest way to get to Las Cruces is to fly into El Paso, TX and then drive ~40 minutes west. By New Mexico standards, Las Cruces is pretty large, and is home to a university, which definitely improves the caliber of the food and entertainment options. There is also a NASA research center and a missile range. Unlike most facilities, this one actually has a museum open to the public. So, if you want to go admire the missiles, or see what they claim is the most intact V2 rocket left in the world, Las Cruces is your destination.

For logistics purposes, the missile museum is located ~25 minutes from downtown Las Cruces, traveling East on Highway 70. It's basically the only right turn you can take after you cross over the pass for a good 40 miles, so its hard to miss. It is a military base, so you have to stop by the visitor center. You can get a temporary car pass, but the weather was fabulous, so we just decided to walk the <1/4 mile to the museum.

Mostly, we just relaxed and hung out eating Mexican food. There are some great options, ranging from the traditional (La Posta de Mesilla) to local (My Brother's Place) to homemade (disastrous). Mesilla is so close it's practically part of Las Cruces, though it's technically a separate town. It used to be a stagecoach stop on the old Butterfield trail route, and has a very cute old town square.

I celebrated my new mobile status with a little hiking in the Organ mountains. We didn't go all the way up to Hermit Pass (there was some snow at the higher elevations and I didn't want to push that far), but enough to do more than sit and eat. One of the real highlights of the area is getting to see the sunsets, which are pretty uniformly incredible:

Since I was visiting a friend, I didn't have to worry about hotel costs, though I have been there before and give the thumbs up to the Staybridge Suites and a qualified recommendation to the Encanto (qualified because, while it's a nice hotel, the service can be a bit uneven and they don't offer a loyalty program). If you're not that into Mexican, there's also surprisingly good Asian food, it is a college town after all, at Katana down on University, Thai Delight in Mesilla, and Asian/Southwest Fusion at Aqua Reef. If you're really hungry, eat at Tiffany's - a Greek and Italian place walking distance from the Encanto. The food is good (esp. the baklava) and the portions are enormous. 

I did stay in El Paso the night before my flight at the Radisson's airport location. I prefer the Hyatt Place down on I-10, but it was booked (I'm guessing a conference?). The Radisson has some good points, such as the free cooked-to-order breakfast and the sleep number beds, so it's not that I object to staying there. The Hyatt is just a better fit for my taste and style. They also offer a more generous shuttle service, so I can return my car the night before. There's a little dive called L & J's near the graveyard off the freeway that is a favorite. Great food, but it can get a little noisy when there's a game going on.

In all, a great weekend. One of the best parts? It was the coldest week of the year in New England, and I missed most of it wandering around the warm southwest. Back to reality. It snowed yesterday. Only 2 inches or so, but enough to remind me its still winter. 

Oh! And I finished painting the office! I'm very excited. I like the light blue with the curtains (a dark chocolate brown). Now I just need to paint the hall and the other guest room so I don't have to worry about getting paint on the new carpet that I hope to put down later this year. Yay for finishing something.

Finally, on a sad note, one of my favorite cross stitch pattern places, Witch Stitch & Bits (http://www.xstitchgirls.co.uk/WSnB/), is closing at the end of January. They're having a huge sale (though the patterns were never expensive) and one of the partners is continuing independently, but its sad to see any of the site go, there are so relatively few of them.

Alas, No Death Star

Recently, a petition was submitted to the White House to build a Death Star as a "stimulus" project.  Not unexpectedly, the White House declined to add this initiative to it's 2014 budget request. On a more positive note, the response was largely humorous in a tongue in cheek way - start with the title "This is not the petition response you're looking for". Also, I have to grant they have a point about spending $850 quadrillion plus on a space station vulnerable to successful attack and obliteration by a one manned fighter... or the Millennium Falcon. I think they left a little too much room for ambiguity, though, in their stated policy opposing the annihilation of planets - what about large impactors? Earth was (granted a LONG time ago) smashed into by a Mars-size body, it could theoretically happen again...

This was my first week back at work after an extended period of time off (burning down use or lose vacation time) and everyone is sick. Its so bad that I fear the colleague in the cube across the aisle may actually be becoming a zombie. I have decided I really don't like sitting around all day. I'm not sure what I can do to address that, besides maximizing all possible excuses for getting up and walking around. It's a delicate balance - sitting at my desk makes me bored and unproductive but if I spend too much time away from my desk I will be similarly unproductive. Too bad I can't get one of those treadmill desks, but since our office supply budget has been cut to the point where I bring in my own staples, I'm not counting on that.

For many people, January is diet season, which means it's also the peak of pseudo science season as well. Sugar is poison! Raspberry ketone will make you lose weight even if you eat 5000 calories a day and never walk further than the refrigerator! Do a cleanse and lose 80 lbs! Oy oy oy. Here's reality - if you use some wonky fad to lose weight without making a more substantial change in lifestyle, you will gain back every single ounce plus more. In the interim, the resolutioners are crowing my gym and not wiping down the equipment (eww!). They also don't like the answer to "what's your secret"(there is no secret - eat healthy whole foods and work out regularly while enjoying treats in moderation), which tells me that they'll mostly be gone in another 3 weeks and life will get back to normal.

Oh, and I finally got the all clear for the elliptical, fitness walking and moderate jogging. WHOO!

2013 Goals & Resolutions (plus an Unexpected Hobbit)

I debated the whole resolution thing this year. It seems to me that if you want to make changes in your life, you should just go ahead and do it, and not wait for the new year. Still, January 1 is a natural time to reassess what you're doing in your life and as I looked over mine, I was inspired to make some additional changes. These are partially resolutions, but more accurately goals - things I want to do, or to do differently this year:

• Renovate my master bathroom - its ridiculous that I've lived in this house going on 7 years and I've never once used the master bath because I despise it so. I'm fortunate to have a less despicable guest bathroom, but still...
• Finish my assorted house and crafty projects - I swear I'm like that dog from Up, I start a project and it's going well and then something pops up...SQUIRREL!!!... and I get distracted and things don't get finished. Case in point, my 3rd bedroom - I spent two weekends prepping the walls (spackle, sand, repeat), painting the trim and windows, etc and in the 4 months since, I have yet to get around to painting the room. Doh.
• Purge closets (and house) of accumulated *stuff* - until I moved in here, I moved every year or so, and when you have to pack up and schlep your stuff with that kind of regularity, you have regular chances (and motivation) to declutter and streamline. Suddenly, the unfillable vastness of my condo, more than half empty when I moved in, is getting full. I don't need all this stuff, it's time to downsize

I also want to keep up assorted things I've been working on the past year, such as working out regularly and maintaining good eating habits. I also need to make time to do things I like, and not feel guilty if that means doing things alone. Most of my friends are married, and several have children. I'm willing to do kid- or couple-friendly things most of the time. But not all the time. This week, I put my foot down - I am NOT going to go see Monsters Inc in 3D. I'm glad some adults think it's cute, I'm glad it so kid friendly, but I am not paying movie theater prices for something I can watch on netflix if I want to just because it's 3D, which is how I wound up in the Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey instead.

Most people apparently went for the standard showing, which was all but sold out, while the 3D showing was only about 30% filled. I got a great seat and even sprang for a small popcorn. I'm not going to pretend that the 3D was a mind-blowing marvel, but it was fun. The film was good, Martin Freeman plays Bilbo brilliantly, the special effects were fabulous and Thorin was unexpectedly hot. I know that Jackson pulled background material from the LOTR appendices, but he made events contemporaneous which Tolkien actually described as happening up to a century apart - so I'm on the side that says they fluffed it out to 3 films (instead of 2) for financial rather than artistic integrity reasons. The highlight, of course, was Andy Serkis' Gollum and the Riddles in the Dark scene was tremendously well done.

Post movie, we did all go out to dinner, where the childless spent 2 hours complaining about Monsters Inc while the parents were too distracted by the logistics of children and Chinese food for much conversation. Overall, I'd say I had the better time and I'm fine with sitting in a different theater (you're supposed to be sitting quietly in the dark anyway) while sharing our post-movie meal in the future. Of course, if we all agree on the film of the week, I'm also happy to join in for a shared movie experience.

Anyway, actions speak louder than words, so it's time to go tape over the trim, put down some plastic and paint the office.

Weekend Trip to Old San Juan, Puerto Rico

As we get to the solstice, the days up here in New England are incredibly short. The sun doesn't rise until well after 7 am and it has set by perhaps 4:15. Is it any wonder that a majority of people around here have some kind of Vitamin D deficiency? My friends and I decided to push back our winter blahs with a quick trip down to Puerto Rico, where the warm sun, palm trees (and a reasonable amount of rum) restored our spirits.

At the moment, Puerto Rico is a US territory (though they've recently voted to pursue becoming a state), which means that it's incredibly easy to travel there if you're from the US - English and Spanish are both official languages, they use the US dollar and no passport is required. The high season for tourism there runs from late November to around April, and during that time several cruise ships are based out of San Juan, with a number of additional ships stopping there each week. For a moderate sized island (the smallest of the islands in the Greater Antilles), there is quite a lot to do, but since we ladies only had 2 days or so, we decided to stay in Old San Juan.

Why choose Old San Juan instead of a beach resort? Primarily because it offers the most variety in the smallest area on the island. You can get to the beach easily (and cheaply, $0.50 each way by bus), but if you aren't in a beach sort of mood, you can go to a variety of historic monuments, or museums, or art galleries, or take some retail therapy in the shops which range from tourist traps to nice boutiques.

We stayed at the Sheraton Old San Juan. This property is on the waterfront, just across the street from several of the cruise ship piers. The location of the hotel is unbeatable, as you are easy walking distance to restaurants, bars and many historic buildings and museums. Or, if your foot is broken and you're not up to that much walking, mere steps away from the (totally free) tourist tram, which stops by both of the forts and numerous other sites around old San Juan. On the down side, we were staying on a consolidator rate. Some hotels don't count that against you, but this Sheraton put us in just about the worst rooms imaginable - right over their function room where loud music kept us up two nights out of three. By loud music, I don't mean I faintly heard the bass line, I mean I could clearly hear Psy chanting "Heeeeeeyyyyyyy, sexy lady" while I brushed my teeth and the bass was so loud it was rattling the lid on the ice bucket. Major thumbs down also to the disinterested and unhelpful staff, but, location, location, location, right?

Some highlights of our trip were the fortresses, San Cristobal and El Morro, as well as the old city center. We first went to San Cristobal, which was built to defend the land approach to San Juan and is all about defense in depth. Its fun, it's historic, it's wonderfully located, with great views of San Juan and El Morro. Oh, and in December they allow local craftspeople to sell their wares in the main parade ground of the fortress.

We sat out an afternoon rain shower and then went out to dinner at Raices. We had heard that this place, while touristy, was fun and had great food, which was entirely correct. It does cater to tourists, it is a theme restaurant, and there is a floor show. The food was very tasty, but the real standouts were the drinks. A lot of tropical rum-based drinks are made with mixers and are so overly sweet that you lose any sort of distinctive flavor in the drink - these drinks were clearly freshly mixed and quite tasty.

The next day, we went to El Morro. This fortress guards the entrance to the harbor and, when protected from land attack by San Cristobal, was nearly impregnable. It has six levels, each defended by multiple cannons, plus a dry moat. There is a smaller fort across the harbor entry, which helped create a crossfire to destroy hostile ships. It's not at all as intimidating as the main fortresses, but anyone who wanted to seize it either had to brave the crossfire to attack by sea, or traverse the leper colony on the land approach. Probably a hard sell for any commander.

Post fortress, we toured the Bacardi Rum distillery and strolled through the old city downtown. We got to see (and managed not to stumble over) the old blue cobblestone streets, saw the old cathedral and did a little shopping. There is a beautiful old convent, among other more colorful things, that has been turned into a beautiful boutique hotel that is well worth a visit even if only to gawk at the lobby. Once we finished wandering around, we went out to dinner at Punto de Vista. Unlike Raices, this place has a definite hole-in-the wall vibe, and the food is authentic and tasty. The mojitos are a little weak, but inexpensive and plentiful. I developed quite a taste for mofongo on this trip. I was a little concerned at first, as plantains are in the same family as bananas, which occasionally disagree with me, but no issues. We also had fried plantains, which I loved.

On the way back, I was interested to learn that, although Puerto Rico is in almost all respects a domestic destination, people flying back to the mainland are allowed to shop duty free. Hooray for tax free rum! I will also say that the Miami airport has significantly improved, at least aesthetically, since the last time I flew through. The Admirals Club at the upper D gates is huge, and has multiple showers. San Juan is only a short flight away, but for longer trips, say from Peru if I can convince the girls to go to Maccu Picchu next year, they could come in handy.

Oh, and while we were prepared to greet the end of the world in warm style, it appears that unlike some internet prophets, the Maya actually understood how wheels work and instead of the world ending on the 21st December, we instead started a new Long Count. Score: Maya 1, Doomsday Prophets 0.

Terrible Movies: A New Holiday Tradition

This past weekend, some friends and I participated in a new, but beloved, holiday tradition of ours - Terrible Movie Night! Now, before the Christmas police get all up in arms, I call this a holiday tradition because we also get together for Terrible Movie Night on Columbus Day, the 4th of July and Superbowl Sunday. I guess it's maybe stretching things to call that last a holiday, but it happens to fall at approximately the right time of year for a quarterly (ish) event. Also, most of the movies we watch are actually only terrible if the audience is made up primarily of scientists and engineers. Indeed, many are entertaining and with great special effects... and absolutely dreadful science.

Exhibit A of entertaining but scientifically disastrous is the movie 2012. You know it's really just an excuse to smash and destroy things digitally when they haul out mutant neutrinos (now with special microwave properties!) to explain the end of the world. When you throw in an audience that included an atmospheric physicist, an astronomer, a geologist and assorted engineers, it's like MST3K, only live, and nerdier.

The second movie of the night was the honestly, truly dreadful Star Wars Holiday Special. This is easily the most horrible thing lurking in the back of the Star Wars franchise closet. How bad is it? Well, it originally aired in 1978 and has never, to my knowledge, re-aired since. It is not available on DVD, VHS, or indeed any other sanctioned media. Finding a copy took months and a trip to a very sketchy back alley in Boston. It was worth it, though, because this turkey is really, really, incredibly terrible. Some of the gang were convinced that, had it gone on any longer, their eyes may actually have started bleeding. As a warning to those tempted to go out and find a copy of their own - this is not a "so bad its good" kind of movie. It is pure, unadulterated badness.

One of the reasons we limit Terrible Movie Night to two features is so that we can also throw in a pot luck dinner. This time around, I seized the opportunity to do some baking. I love baking, and I love eating baked things, but when you live alone, it's just a caloric nightmare to make a batch of cookies, cupcakes or whatever just for you. It's an easy thing, though, to put aside a small baggie of goodies (one cupcake, and 2 of each kind of cookie) for personal enjoyment. Leftovers went to the office today, spreading the joy, etc.

After a day of recovery, we are still willing to proceed on to our next movie night. We're trying to decide what is highest on our must see (and ridicule) list - perhaps the inanely classic "The Core"? Or maybe one of the lesser known titles in the immortal Attack of the Killer Tomatoes cannon (say, the delightfully surreal Killer Tomatoes Eat France)? Who knows where our journeys into the underbelly of cinema will take us next, particularly given our current list of nominations runs to some 3 powerpoint slides (yes, we are THAT geeky). So far, The Star Wars Holiday Special is the undisputed leader in the "worst movie ever made" contest. No prize but bragging rights for the winner.

In other news, the year is winding down and it is almost time for another fabulous December tradition - the Girl's Weekend. Of course, most of the girls are married and two now have children, which makes the weekend that much more of a treasured event - a few last days of sanity before the full bore holiday madness descends. We're heading to San Juan, Puerto Rico this year. I haven't actually used Living Social for a hotel before, but Lil found a great deal for us, so here's hoping it goes well.

Spam is not free speech

The internet is very possibly the greatest technology invented in the 20th century (yes, including manned flight), but as it has evolved into the worlds largest shopping mall / school yard there have been some undesirable additions. Spam isn't the worst of these, but it is symptomatic of the worst: the commercialization of EVERY aspect of people's lives.

The worst kind of spam, IMO, is spam text messages because, bluntly, I should not have to pay for someone's stupid insurance advertisement. Or a political one. Which brings me to ccAdvertising, which not only is trying to get spam filters declared illegal (as an infringement of their free speech rights, because they apparently can't read), but had the nerve to declare "it is proper that recipients bear some cost of unsolicited political speech sent to their cell phones". Yes, America, it has come down to this - some people are so sleazy, they actually said this in a public document. It can be seen (and for a short while commented on) via the FCC. 

Now, it happens that I actively hate advertising. It's emotionally manipulative, it's crass, it's shallow, and it's annoying. Obviously, I'm not one of those people who watches the Super Bowl to see the commercials. I can accept, though, that many people are weird enough to confuse their personal identity with what brands they use. I cannot accept, however, being harassed on my cell phone (or, indeed, on my landline) by advertisers. I pay for these services, so I should be able to control who uses them - pretty basic principal. If I pay for a car and someone drives off in it without my permission, it's theft. I see use of my phone lines without permission in precisely the same way. 

Which brings me to the whole "violation of a company's constitutional rights" thing. Newsflash, the first amendment doesn't guarantee absolute freedom of speech - it prohibits Congress (the federal government) from restricting individual rights. Specifically, it says "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances". It doesn't say that advertising under the guise of speech can be forced on people against their will by a private company. Nor does it say that a private individual cannot refuse to listen to your speech (which is, in essence, what spam filters and the Do Not Call list do). I can only hope that there is enough sanity left in this country that this odious, vile, thieving excuse for a company is soundly slapped down.

Also, companies like Amazon (and, yes, Google) need to think about how they profile people. For example, 8 years ago now, some friends and I were pulling together some gifts for a friend that included some of her favorite books - romance novels. I am not a fan of the bodice ripper genre. Never was. And ever since, Amazon insists on recommending these dreadful books for me. I've gone in and told their algorithm that these stupid books were gifts, told it I wasn't interested in any of its selections, etc. yet these things are apparently ineradicable. So, I've started tagging all of Amazon's steamy-novel-filled adverts as spam. I love to read, and am a very regular Amazon customer, but they would get a lot more business if they gave me recommendations that there was a snowballs chance in hell that I might actually, well, enjoy.