Last night we went to a vintner's dinner at a local restaurant. Perfect wine pairings. local wines /local produce. just as an example the roasted pepper fontina cheese soup was slightly smoky - an thed grenache that it was served with just enhanced the smoke. I was careful about how much I ate. but I still seem to be bogged down. so far I have gotten out of bed.

Damn Internet ate my post again!!

I seem to have an advisory of especially angst-ridden freshmen. I have been fielding anxious emails and phone calls from parents (not to mention that 7:45 a.m. meeting last week) since school started. I want to help; I'm glad to help. But I'm also finding the time drain really difficult. I really hope that this is all normal adolescent girl stuff; several parents are worried about serious depression. Sigh.

I feel your pain! I'm dealing with this with college freshman. I swear the tutoring I do is more like a counseling session than tutoring. I spend more than half of the time calming them down and cheerleading, then we might get some work done on their actual paper. Maybe. I've already had four sessions this morning, and I'm pooped. I've got two more this afternoon, plus an 1 1/2 long class to sit through. I enjoy it, but it is draining.

I'm not sure, but today seems to be my day for attracting fire. Early this morning I was awakened by sirens - the fire engines from the station two or three blocks from home was rushing to a fire about two blocks further away. Then, at work, the fire alarms went off and we got two fire engines ... for what turned out to be a false alarm. Is it me? or just Monday?

I have another beef with catering. The chips in the bag lunches are baked what kind of shit is that?!!??

Enforced healthiness - truly evil.

The chips in the bag lunches are baked what kind of shit is that?!!??

I'm not a chip-eater, so bear with me. Are baked chips gross?

Chips are meant to be greasy, fried, salty and generally bad for you. Baking them makes them less so - supposedly healthier for you, but not as good. (Maybe they're less unhealthy because you don't eat as many.)

Huh. Apparently the Scythians gave rise to a race of garden gnomes

There is a "beating your swords into plowshares" joke here and I just can't find it.

I have finally uploaded SF pictures. Better late than never, I suppose.

That's a damn good looking haircut!

Aimee - complete list of Amtrak stations in Ohio:
Alliance, OH ALC
Bryan, OH BYN
Cincinnati, OH CIN
Cleveland, OH CLE
Elyria, OH ELY
Sandusky, OH SKY
Toledo, OH TO

Any of these within taxi distance of Sydney?