This is Just Odd: President Putin lifted up the shirt of a little boy and KISSED his belly! Yikes!

Made Me Giggle: For the last half of my ride into work today, I was driving behind a PT Cruiser that had its back wondshield wiper on...and driving totally mindlessly. Mind you, its not raining. Usually this type of driver would drive me bonkers. Clearly this woman had tried to turn on her turn signal or for some other reason had hit the lever for the wipers and never noticed that her wipers are on. How can you drive 3 miles and not notice? Fool!

I Scream, You Scream...: The entire Food Section of today's Globe is dedicated to my favorite food...ICE CREAM! I have not tried Lizzy's yet (although Marshall, my fellow ice cream conousuer highly recommends it) but I love PICCO. I think I will try to get to Lizzy's over the LONG weekend. (Did I mention I am taking next week off!?!)

Craig's List Posting: Redhead seeking new spine and associated muscles. Current spine is causing constant pain from neck to arch of back and said redhead is ready to lose her mind (a bad state). Preference for backs that accomodate a 5'2 frame, but at this point all offers are considered. Call 800-STRETCH.

Laughing Liberally: Last Friday I went to see Mandy Dandy doing her comedy thing at a fabulous show called Laughing Liberally. It was six liberal comics telling jokes, making social commentary, and making me laugh so hard I cried. Not only was this 3000 steps better than the racist, sexist, sometimes simply not funny comics that Mandy sometimes performs with (excluding Mandy), but it was a perfect mix of VERY funny and fabulous insights into the world in which we live. Those of you in NYC and the other places the show is traveling, I HIGHLY recommend it!

Eleven Days in the Office: I am in the office for 11 days this month-- five of which are next week. That means I was in the office six days in the other 3.5 weeks. I have been "at work" (i.e. MIT Reunions, post-Reunions and a conference at Harvard) for another eight days, plus two weekend days. So I am working a normal number of days, but I have been switching my auto reply for email and voice mail constantly. No wonder I'm tired!

Internet Help from the MIT Class of 1951: I was reading the book that the class of 1951 put together for their 50th reunion (5 years ago) and was tickled by this "computer help" from one alumnus to another. (New Hampshire themed because the alum lives in NH...)
Log on- Make wood stove hotta
Log off- Don’t add no more wood
Monitor- Keep an eye on the stove
Download- Get firewood off the truck
Ram- The thing that splits the wood
Hard drive- Getting home in the winta
Prompt- What the mail ain’t in the winta
Window- What to shut in the winta
Screen- What to shut during black fly season
Screen saver- Duck tape
Byte-What the black flies do
Bit- What the black flies did
Megabite- What the BIG black flies do
Chip- Munchies for TV
Modem- What you did to the lawn weeds
Dot matrix- Old Dan Matrix’s wife
Cursor- someone who swears
Upgrade- Steep hill
Server- Waitress
Mail Server- Male waitress, damn few in NH
Network- Mendin’ holes in the fishnet

A Meme from Em (hey, that rhymes):
I AM: Excited for tonight...a special evening for Em that has been in the works for four months.
I WANT: a weekly massage.
I MISS: Shelby and Rebecca.
I HATE: mean people.
I HEAR: many people complaining about Bush, but worry that we'll still elect another Republican.
I WONDER: what the next few months will hold for me.
I REGRET: being mean to my mom.
I AM NOT: quiet, disorganized, or tall.
I DANCE: with enthusiasm, well, and not often enough.
I SING: poorly, but often.
I CRY: when I am frustrated.
I AM NOT ALWAYS: tolerant of people that annoy me.
I MAKE WITH MY HANDS: a very loud clap (just ask me to demonstrate some time).
I WRITE: less than I speak.
I CONFUSE: a lot of my spelling.
I NEED: a vacation. (But I am taking a week off in early July for Em & Nat's wedding and to go to Cleveland to see my family and friends.)
I SHOULD: exercise more.
I START: planning lots of things.
I FINISH: almost everything I start.

Batwoman Is a Lesbian!: DC Comics announced that Batwoman will be a lesbian in the new comics being released. Awesome! One of my favorite quotes from the article reads, "Wouldn't ugly people as heroes be more groundbreaking?" asked one poster. "You know, 200-pound woman, man with horseshoe hair loss pattern, people with cold sores, etc.?"

More Amazing MIT Students: Four MIT students, calling themselves the Technomads, will attempt to travel a quarter of the way around the earth, from London to Mongolia, in vehicles with no more than one liter of engine power. They are getting lots of press and it is an extraordinary undertaking...the kind the world needs more of. Definitely read about them and consider supporting them if you can.

MIT Wins Alex Doonesbury: I love it! The daughter of the cartoonist who does Doonesbury was admitted to MIT, Rensselaer, and Cornell. There was a contest to see which school she should go to and MIT students hacked the system to flood the voting. Since the rules never said you couldn't hack (and they seemed impressed with MIT ingenuity) Alex has just registered for MIT.

Last Night: I had to miss last night's Whybunt game (the softball team for which I am the coach...I mean captain...I mean social chair...whatever!) because Emily and I had tickets to see Caroline, or Change. I had hear about this play about 3 years ago and was THRILLED when I saw it was going to be closing out the season of SpeakEasy Stage Company (for which Em and I have a subscription). First of all, the Whybunts, that won only one game two years ago and two games last year, won 22-5 last night! Granted, I wasn't there (although I did the line up and fielding) but I have been told there were double plays and a grnad slam! I can't wait until game 3 next week! What makes it worth missing the fabulous game (and of course drinks at the Muddy Charles, where a pitcher of beer is $6) was that the play EXCEEDED my high expectations! The play is set in 1963 in Louisiana and involves a Jewish family and the family of their black maid. Almost the entire play is presented in song, the set was AMAZING, the cast (including the young man who plays the 8 year old son) were fabulous, the story was compelling, and, of course, the company was great. AND, Em and I had wonderful pizza and homemade ice cream at PICCO (Pizza and Ice Cream Company) before hand. Yum!

Outraged!: As a woman who is not so fond of child molesters and vertically challenged (short), I am indignant that a judge gave a man convicted of sexually assulting a child 10 years probabtion rather than 10 years in jail because he is "too short" to survive in jail as a man only of only 5'1. WTF!

Outraged!: As a woman who is not so fond of child molesters and vertically challenged (short), I am indignant that a judge gave a man convicted of sexually assulting a child 10 years probabtion rather than 10 years in jail because he is "too short" to survive in jail as a man only of only 5'1. WTF!

New Dining in My 'Hood: Apparently the ower of Limoncello's in the North End is considering a second location in Davis Square (about a mile from my house for those of you unfamiliar with my 'hood). Also, there was a great review of a new place near my old 'hood of Inman Square...a Persian place. Gotta try it!

Won't Be Mrs. Epstein: Sorry Mom and Dad, I won't be marrying the young, Yale-educated, rich, Jewish manager of the Red Sox. Theo has proposed to his girlfriend (and I assume she said yes). So, my beloved readers, I'm still on the market....ideas?

A New (to Me) Restaurant Site: Woo woo! A new way to explore, and order from, area restaurants. I already found some new places to try. Yeah!

Thoughts and Prayer: In the last 24 hours I have heard some wonderful news, and some less happy news. My friend Eva got engaged this weekend! I have not talked to Eva since she even started dating this man (although I knew about him through her blog) but am thrilled for her! Visit her blog for a fabulous story of the engagement (and lots of flower pictures). However, I also talked to another friend who told me his sister is in the hospital with complications from her MS. I wanted to send out my love, support and prayers for her, and ask you to do the same. I hope she will have a full recovery, but it never hurts to have lots of people talking to their Gods and Goddesses with prayers.

Back from Istria: I'm back! As I reported to several people via email, I had a fabulous time. Of course, when you travel for work, with 29 people you have never met before, there are some people you prefer to others, but overall it was a great group of people. Most were between 65-80 years old, although one couple brought their daughter and son-in-law who were probably in their late 30s and two other women who were in their 40s. The weather was spectacular (quite a contrast to the weather in Boston). The scenery was so beautiful, including the Adriatic, cathedrals, Venice, castles and so much more. I am still working on formatting and labeling, as there are more than 300!!!

Some of the highlights were:
- getting a glimpse into not only the very ancient history of the castles and cathedrals, but the recent history of the end of socialism and creation of former-Yugoslav states into countries.
- a quick, but beautiful, trip to Venice
- food food food (their vegetarian stand-by is gnocchi with truffles...need I say more)
- drink drink drink. Not only do they have wine with lunch and dinner (often on a personal label from their own vineyards) but everywhere we went we were trying "moonshine". We drink about 6 times a day!
- cooking school. We went to a vocational school for cooking on the last day and had a BLAST! We cooked a great meal, but more importantly, we laughed and laughed!

Overall, a fabulous time.

Embarassing: Ok, this is sad, but I FORGOT about my blog. Mind you, I have read OTHER people's blogs, but it never crossed my mind to, oh, post on MY blog. And now I am leaving the country tomorrow! I am going on an alumni travel program to Slovenia, Croatia and one day in Venice. I am very excited. You should see how much STUFF is on my dining room table to pack. When I travel on my own (or event for work when I won't see the same people over and over again) I pack SO light...sometimes too light. But I have to look cute for 8 days! During the day and for a dinner! Yikes! Thankfully we stay in the same hotel every night (everything is a day-trip) so I only have to drag my suitcase (well, Kathryn's suitcase) a couple of times. Anyhow...very excited.

In other news, my upstairs neighbors moved out, which is very sad. Although I will not miss hearing their 4 year old running around, I was more than happy to hear the feet, in exchange for having friends upstairs. (Not to mention someone to bring in my mail when I travel and generally "look out for me".) I met the man who bought the place, and he seems nice enough...in fact very nice...but not the same. He is an MIT grad...maybe I can solicit him (for money, you pervert!)

And finally, my event was AWESOME! Alumni and my bosses were so pleased...as was I. Of course, everything wasn't perfect (my standard) but I must admit my hard work...and sleepless nights...paid off. Yeah!

Ok, now I am going to bed. See you soon!