whoa

It's been more than a year since I stopped blogging. Honestly, the only reason I'm here now is because I was setting up my links on Google+. Maybe I should start up again. Why not? That seems to be the pattern. Write, complain about not writing enough, threaten to dismantle blog, stop writing. Repeat. We'll see.

This picture is from our visit to the Chihuly exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. More of my inadequate photos can be seen here. Better photos are available on the MFA site here.

fall go boom

I fell off the daily blog wagon. But hard. There are reasons. There are excuses. There is the freedom that I need not explain any of it to anyone. Suffice to say that things are changing in my life. And the daily blogging doesn't fit in the way I thought it might when I started in January. I may be back occasionally. sanguinary blue may go dark at some point. But I do not need to be obligated to an egomanical and desolate soap box anymore.

See you around. Maybe.

cheating

I admit it. There are a couple entries in the 2010 sanguinary blue that were not written on the day they were posted. I've 'fessed up. What's my punishment? Shall I write a phrase repeatedly on the blackboard?

I will not cheat on my blog again.

I will not cheat on my blog again.

I will not cheat on my blog again.

I will not cheat on my blog again.

I will not cheat on my blog again.

Yah, right.

time to purge

There are 11,311 messages in my personal email box. Oh don't worry. Only 4,749 are unread. Hey, don't I get credit for at least opening 6,562 of them? Among the unopened are daily headlines from the New York Times, real estate listings, Sirius satellite radio program updates, LinkedIn connection updates, and messages I send to myself from work (recipes, reminders, topics to blog about, links to articles, etc.).

This is in contrast to my work email box, which ebbs and flows depending on a variety of factors, but rarely gets above 100 and rarely holds anything that hasn't been read within hours of arrival. The box was getting a bit big (75), but today, I managed to chip it down to 16 messages (and all of them read). It was not easy. The reason the messages were there was because something needed to be done with them.

Oftentimes, that something is a series of things (make a call, update a task, create an appointment, build a spreadsheet, create a file, you get the idea). Sometimes, it takes an hour to put away a single email.

Obviously, I don't make such time for my personal email. Probably twice a year, I plumb the depths and do some serious deleting. Time to do that again. If only I had time.

moonlighting

Not sure what I was thinking when I agreed to writing for my company blog. I should have known better than to believe I could write one entry a week in any less than six or eight hours. Why can't I go faster? Gah.

So, now with no time to write my own entry, I'm again cheating with a peep. Tonight, I'll do my best not to think about the fact that one of my favorite jazz singers is going to be a few hundred yards away from my home this Wednesday, and unless Ted has some great secret up his sleeve (i.e. tickets), I won't get to see the performance. Feel like wailing like a big baby. I WANNA' GO! I WANNA' GO!

But that wouldn't be dignified. And would hardly help the situation. I hope you enjoy our fair city, Mr. Elling.

two-timing

It could be called 'feast or famine.' I went a full year with only two blips on the blogosphere radar. Then almost like a switch was flipped, daily posts have magically appeared. Almost like a resolution. (By the way, I don't make resolutions.) But now, there's more. As of today, I'm also writing for my company's blog.

Interestingly, writing blog entries for work feels much less like a chore than writing blog entries for sanguinary blue. Perhaps because it's so easy to find things to talk about when it comes to the wonderful company where I work. It's much more complex to write about my own life in a public forum: there is a lot of internal editing that stops the presses before they even run. Meanwhile, ask me about my favorite chutney or the beautiful gardens or the amazing chef who taught class last night, and off I go to the races!

* Photo by Katie Ring, Stonewall Kitchen photographer

it's slipping away...

The muses are gone. Even the part-time one, who inspires meek anecdotes and easy YouTube embeddings. I'd hoped that this lovely lady sketched by Deeleigh over at Well Rounded might be enough to stir the lazy muses from their slumber. Alas, not. Or not yet -- not that I have it in me to wait around for it.

It's easy to say that available free time has decreased now that I'm well into a real, full-time job again. Especially given the depth to which my subconscious is submerged in my new industry (I have dreams about huge kettles full of cooking fruit, tiny jars packed with delectable condiments, and Excel spreadsheets brimming with pricing formulas. Every day. No, really... every day. Without exception. For coming-up-on half a year.) But I managed to shake the muses loose with reasonable frequency when previously employed in a real, full-time job. What's different this time?

There's no answer to that question, because the muses, well, they've taken leave. Even the second shift one whose sole responsibility is making excuses.

It's not for lack of topics.

* Family... ah, family
* Friends (present, past, former [different from 'past'], and maybe even future)
* A new president
* The wild (and barely tolerable) winter weather
* My rapidly growing dissatisfaction with our living quarters
* The single song I play repeatedly despite having a library of over 20,000 songs
* Poems that make me ache
* Cute cats
* Messy storage units
* A highly successful venture into making meatloaf
* Problems whose aching manifests as bouts of hives
* The sweetness in the world
* The overload of everything in the world
* The year of the landmark high school reunion
* A thick skull that remembers less and seems to only grudgingly adapt
* The imminent demise of one of my favorite size acceptance blogs
* Newly updated lists
* File boxes that look organized from the outside
* Unread books gathering dust
* The burden of truths that can never be shared

This could go on forever. Not actually writing anything interesting or insightful. Just listing the general topics. I've got this one song on repeat on my iPod so as not to wake up Ted. It's 58 degrees in here, and despite my fluffy slippers and layers of long fleece, my toes are cold. And once again, I've escaped the potential for a full night's sleep by rambling about nothing until the calendar turns.

What's the point?

And so with that, I suspect that sanguinary blue will likely come to an end. Not following Paul's suit. I've floated the idea before. Now I just need the overly pert motivation muse to kick me in the ass so I'll actually take the site down.

I'm elsewhere in the ether. One way or another, I can be reached if need be. Good night.

i heart m & h

Go read them.

what if...

... sanguinary blue went dark?

if i had a band, i'd name it 'how soon is now'

In some general web-surfing this morning, I found a Wikipedia category called "List of bands named after other performers' songs." I knew some: Godsmack, Beat Surrender, Radiohead, Hello Goodbye, Deacon Blue, Shakespeares Sister, Death Cab for Cutie, and a few others. But admittedly, I hadn't heard of most of them. Cool. That page also led me to discover the categories "List of bands named after places," and the ultra-cool "List of band name etymologies."

'Kay, Wikipedia -- not perfect, but sometimes pretty fun.

Oh, and I'm more inclined to name a band "I Sleep on My Heart."

i knew better

Ever work really hard on something and make the irrational decision to skip the second-to-last step because it seems frivolous -- even though you know deep in your soul that if you don't take that second-to-last step and the last step doesn't work as anticipated, you'll regret it?

I just spent hours writing an elaborate post that required much research and included both intelligent analysis and clever reference links. Somewhere in the middle of that process, the internet editor I was logged into logged me off. So when I clicked the pretty "post" button -- without having copied and pasted the entire entry into Microsoft Word as a safety precaution -- it simply told me I didn't have permission to post.

Attempts to go back to the last page failed. Refreshing the page failed. The only thing in my paste buffer was the last link I'd copied.

Gah.

I could replicate it in less time than it originally took me to write and research it. Obviously, I'm more knowledgeable now, and my browser history will show me all the sites and pictures I need. Of course, whether or not I'm capable of replicating the level of logic and wit is another thing altogether. Regardless, even if it took me only half as long to rewrite it, I'd be going to bed as the sun rises. So, it will have to wait for another day. Probably not Friday. I mean, today is Friday at this point.

::grumble, grumble::

wordle

Found this cool application which takes whatever text you put into it and turns it into a word cloud. I went with the John Hollander piece.

conundrum

Got a decision you just can't seem to make? Let random strangers from the internet make the decision for you at i can't decide. What a riot.

Here are the results so far for my quandary:


The choice I posed to the faceless masses was moot, as the CCGC had already been chosen -- despite my predilection for the MWP. The best part of this website? It gives me an ID number, so I can return to check on further voting. Sweet!

rust

Things I haven't blogged about:

• One nephew's birthday (the one that closed the door on teenagehood for him)
• One niece's trip to the other side of the world (well, I am still waiting for all the details and pictures from her because she's actually still there)
• Spring on the Seacoast, the opening of the windows, and the omnipresent scent of blooming
• My search for a new job, and the dragged out investment pertaining to it
• How the ball of the pull chain on my banker's lamp sits everso lightly on one cat's head while she sleeps on my desk
• Some cool new software I got after a visit to the Children's Museum
• My recent fascination with making stewed tomatoes from scratch (and, of course, the recipe)
• My father's inquisitioning (an ongoing process, and enjoyable for me)
• My shrinking mother (not what you might think)
• The beautiful moon the last couple nights
• The music I'm listening to these days (now that I've weaned myself off Michael Buble -- at least temporarily)
• The Manchester Wolves
• Another nephew's trifecta of accomplishments
• Another niece's ivy league frustration
• The travails of being a small business owner
• How much I love my family (actually, I have blogged about that; just not lately)
• American Idol (not once this season, and neither have I voted at all)
• A new size acceptance rant (tentatively titled "BMI is a Crock," sprinkled with screen captures of click ads from everywhere, and started before BFB posted this one yesterday)
• Top Gear (my new favorite TV show), and a bit of a crush on Richard Hammond especially now that I know about the crash
• Playing Scrabulous, Scramble, and Who Has the Biggest Brain on Facebook
• The sucky suckingness of having rheumatoid arthritis at the tender young age of 42
• Our new across-the-hall neighbors and renovation in the now-vacant apartment above us, and the consequent activity, noise, aromas, and dust that accompany them
• My plan to make billions of dollars from an old family recipe (maybe I don't need a new job after all)
• Another cat's insane obsession with SmartFood
• The fourth cat's obsession with the third cat (he just thinks she's so pretty and he always wants to play, but I sense she finds him a bit cloying)
• A love of This American Life, which I used to listen to on the radio and now I listen to on my iPod, and the near-desire to spend money on additional cable channels that would allow me to watch the show version
• Other stuff

Someday, I'll blog again.

whoa. deep.

absence

Someday, I'll come back to blogging, Twittering, IMing, emailing, and other such electronic communications. Someday.

Meanwhile, here's proof that my mother done taught me right.



Well, at least it's proof that I'm capable of restraining myself most of the time. Because there are times I just want to verbally streak in blue proportions.

tweet!

Dear Twitter,

You're really cool. I mean, really cool. Like, um, one of the coolest kids on the block. Like an ice block, get it?! Ha, hah... um, huh. Anyway. So you're not really new, but newer than other older stuff like Blogger, which is also cool, in an older sort of a way (and I know you're related to each other, or at least you're connected somehow, but I don't know if a few more degrees gets you to Kevin Bacon or anything).

I saw you on some other people's blogs and stuff last year, and thought "wow, cool." I don't know why I didn't Twitterize myself then because I can always stand to be made a little cooler. But I have now. Actually, last month! I started Tweeting. How cool it is to send 'tweets?' So anyway, sometimes I tweet. Well, kinda' sporadically. OK, I'm not wicked consistent with it. But it's always fun when I do!!! And I completely plan to tweet more. I'm going to become a tweeter, er, twitterer of epic proportion!

So, this it a tribute to you, Twitter. You rock my world and make it ultra-cool (like hip cool, not cigarettes or anything gross to do with tobacco). Cool like Inc. Magazine. I couldn't say it all in just 140 characters because you're too cool to condense. You know, like condensation, which is what happens when something that's warm gets, you know, cooler.

I hope that my rockin' and wicked articulate-slash-eloquent dedication to your coolness holds me in good stead with the Head Twitterers in Charge, and that they/he/she/it don't think I'm trying to, like, suck up or anything. I really just wanted to tell my vast audience of the awesomeness of Twitter coolness.

sticking to plan is hard

I wanted to blog every day. Sometimes, life conspires against goals. This week has been like that. So, no real entry for me again (does it still count as meeting the goal if I phone it in some days?). Here is a picture of my nephew, Ryan. I was hoping he would be a guest blogger today, but this mouse's plans went awry. Maybe some other day. I had it all planned out in my mind. I'd have him interview me. He'd decide what questions to ask and type each one into the web editor. I'd type in my answer, and let him pick which pictures to add. Maybe this weekend.

presto change-o

New blog layout. I've just changed the template thus far, which is just the background graphics and colors, along with better archive functionality. Oh yeah, and it finally killed the Snapshots thing that caused the old blog to take about 92 minutes to load. I'll find some time to make serious changes to it over the next few weeks. Updating links, adding features, other bloggy stuff. Until then, I'm off to bed. Early! Because I got home early from work! Yay, paid time off! Yay, sleep! Yay, weekend!

miscellany

It's the Christmas season, which means I'm revelling in the spirit. Thanks to my friend, Rina, who's let me use her house as my Christmas Central, and five trips to that house later, all of our wrapping was completed a few weeks ago. That leaves me stress-free, so I can be chipper to watch sentimental old movies, enjoy all the lights and decorations, and listen to my insanely huge holiday music playlist. I love Christmas!

The blog's been quiet for a while. I'm still trying to balance three jobs, one of which keeps me working until past midnight five days a week. Other life things have cropped up in amongst the schedule, and the blog is one of many hobbies that suffer. There are two things in particular I just had to share today, so I'm squeezing in a little time to get them posted before heading out to the next series of tasks.

My friend, Chris, invited me to her Facebook community today. When I looked at her profile, I found she'd created an avatar of herself a la South Park. How freakin' cool is that? So, naturally, I had to go find the website and make one for myself. Knowing my proclivity toward certain characteristics in previous avatars, I made two versions. One that I'll show at a later date when I'm feeling particularly kooky. The other fits my standard (look right). Bonus that I got to add an iPod and a computer!

The other thing I wanted to share is a website/campaign that rallies against one of my least favorite people, MeMe Roth (I'm not linking to her site her because she doesn't deserve the traffic). Now, it's not keeping with the holiday spirit to dislike someone, especially so vehemently. In general, I attempt to focus on the behavior, not the person (parenting advice I learned years ago and never needed to implement because I have no kids!). But MeMe strikes me as someone who totally and utterly embodies the bad behavior she purports. At the tip of the iceberg is her claim that obesity is tantamount to child abuse. As a pacifist, I could slug her in the jaw for that.

Anyhoo, MeMe has taken it upon herself to attack Santa Claus because he sets a bad example ('cuz he's fat, doncha' know). Seriously. I mean... SERIOUSLY. The woman is shameless. Thankfully, there's DVA Advertising and Public Relations -- a company who decided to create a campaign encouraging the integrity of Santa's image. Check it out! My favorite part is the "graphic standards manual" for Santa. And the best part is the petition, where every signature translates to a pound of food for America's Second Harvest. Take THAT, Ms. Roth.

Santa rules!