internet diet

With the beginning of my new job, my internet use has come to an almost complete halt during the daytime. As a result, I spend my late nights catching up on my 'net surfing, which leaves even less time for blogging. And sleep. Sorry.

We had friends come in for the 4th, which meant a thorough house-cleaning. I had to stash most of the contents of my old cube under the dining table. Owen had a "brilliant" time at the annual birthday barbecue we go to, mostly because of the fireworks we got to see. There were also a bunch of other kids about his age there, and he had a ton of fun playing with them. Especially once they realized the Nerf rocket launcher could also be used as a water gun.

Even though it opened last weekend, we finally got around to checking out WALL-E. I really liked it. Owen, being the sensitive boy, got very upset about where the people were. (Later, I explained the storytelling convention of looking in the background movies about what's already happened in the movie). Then, he sobbed at the end of the movie. He did laugh at the right places, and he really did like the movie, using old cellphones in the places of WALL-E and EVE.

Tip of the day: An old pizza box makes a good surface on which to shuck corn. A bonus: since you're not supposed to recycle pizza boxes anyway, you can then close it and throw the whole thing out; the mess is contained. Presto!

future posts: Avon Calling, 80s clothing-redux rant & Prom, Iron Man, Zeer.com

catch the magic

In gearing up for the Harry Potter onslaught, I'm re-watching movies #3 (my favorite) tonight and #4 tomorrow night, and will hopefully see #5 over the weekend. I re-read books 5 & 6 last month, too.

Neil Gaiman keeps letting people know about Stardust, which should be in theaters later this year.

Over 4th of July, our friend Dan had his annual BBQ. Once again, the numbers are intimate, about 20 people. I think for his 30th (or 29th?) birthday, there must have been 300+ people there, and amenities included a DJ, a band, bar with an ice sculpture shot slide, and port-a-potties. Crazy. One of the best though, was the year ('96? '97?) people got up on the mic, (we think--the memory is vague) Scruffy from the Dropkick Murphys played bagpipes against some drumbeats (amazing), and f-14s flew overhead towards the end of the night. (BTW, if someone reads this who was there, please correct me if I'm wrong on any of these points!) Anyway, again, happy birthday Dan. You rock!

The fireworks in Dorchester lasted at least until midnight, and people were still lighting them off until Sunday night.

Lorie from NYC stayed with us, and I kidnapped her to sleep overnight at my parents' house with Owen. We went blueberry picking (TreeBerry Farm in Scituate), lunch at Haddad's in Brant Rock, and a jaunt to Scituate Harbor. We did a lot of driving around, too. It was awesome to hang out (sans Owen) with Rob & Jude, go out to an excellent dinner at Petit Robert, visit the Dig offices, and cap off the night at JJ Foley's. Lorie left the next morning. Sadly, her guy Pete couldn't come up because he has to save his vacation for San Diego Comic Con, where he & co will be doing their Comic Book Show. Woo-hoo! We missed him, but we know how fantastic ComicCon is, too.

Last bit of news: Tak's comic, Secret Asian Man, should (fingers crossing, wood knocking) start running daily on Monday in the Patriot Ledger and other papers all over the place.