But it sure tastes good.

And it smells like heaven.

It is in its bag, in a grocery bag, both of which are tucked into a bigger grocery bag. It is five feet away from me. And I can smell it.

The only risk I can see is my BiL becoming addicted to $40lb coffee.

I just watched a tv show I wanted. First time in 2 weeks. GA still makes me cry, ftr. Now I am going for a twofer with Hereos #2.

Forecast is for 60 today in NYC!! 60 on 12/23!

It's supposed to be in the 50's here for Xmas Eve. My 10 year old nephew says this will be his first green Xmas.

My dad got me caught up in a rather Proustian quest to male Coquilles St. Jacques like his mother used to make it. The funny thing was that when it came time to cook it, I think he managed to finagle everyone into food prep and only got involved in the making of the patties. I ate a bit of one, but it was a little to seafood-y for me, which was strange since scallops are one of the few things from the sea I'm usually okay with.

The discovery I made Thursday was that my finger isn't arthritic, but my ligaments have scarred into a position holding it more than slightly bent.

GP wanted me to go to a hand doc to get it unbent--the ligaments need to be torn and let heal extended, without losing the ability to bend.

I decided that I would skip the hand guy and tear them myself--that's what caused the pain in my Thursday night posting. Well, I got the finger straight--friend bent it a little further for good luck.

I left the finger too long out of the brace yesterday, and it started to bend again. So I had the friend hyperextend it again.

My god, that's some pain. But it's iced, and going back in the brace which now looks like crap, which means I'll have to go actually buy one (the GP tossed this one my way). I have more to do tomorrow than I planned.

Brace time!

WPIX's Yule Log, which is 40 years old this year, is now downloadable as a podcast.

I'm amazing my mother this morning with my adroit use of The Google. Watch me bring up weather information! Use the Back button! Watch me click on a link to a NYTimes story about Jews celebrating Christmas! Boy, is the bar set low here....

All my presents are wrapped now and under the tree for tonight. Finally found luminaria candles: the last two boxes at Albertson's, which is just unheard of. What is wrong with people? Another bad sign: no whole cranberries to be found. The produce guy said people had been asking all week. It's Ocean Spray, people. This is kind of out of the way, but it isn't podunk! (Actually, I wonder if the storms might be responsible for this sad lack.)

My parents are out doing last-minute errands. I demurred, mainly because I did not care to deal with the likely grumbles when they encounter the rest of the hoards. Mom will handle it fine (she loves a bargain, and last minute often equals bargains) but dad ...well, we parked him at B&N yesterday and that was a very good call.

Theo, while my parents can google, I'm afraid they are mystified by this whole non-email internet communication/community thing. I've tried explaining that I get updates and convo from even some of my closest friends via message boards and bloggy things like lj, but I suspect it still falls into the realm of somewhat foreign to them. Ah well, they'll hopefully meet some more foreigners soon.

It's probably cooler here than back east, but I can go outside in a light sweater, jeans and flipflops and it is quite comfortable. Maybe even a little warm, if there is any activity (which reminds me, I might change before diggging up the backyard for the luminarias.) Bless solar radiation at 4000 ft and a southerly latitude!

Interesting story from Haaretz:

Antiochus' decrees - a figment of Hasmonean propaganda? Or maybe he was being manipulated by secular Jews ("Hellenizers).

[link]

I think I got spam that should have been sent to someone here: Subj: Justin Timberlake as King Arthur?

Ooookaaaaay...

hee hee hee