Shir, can you arrange to have a digital recorder in one or the other place?

Probably. The logical thing would be recording Ginzburg. But missing the chance to see him with my own eyes... I can always download podcasts from other universities, but this is the real deal.

Just heard a track from my album will be played on Adventures in Sound 91.7 Austin tomorrow.

May it lead to some sales. Also, WooHoo!

Now it turns out the funeral home person who puts in obits wasn't expecting this one and left for the day. Having not heard anything, I called and the guy said that "we were sort of expecting for them to wait for momma to pass." That was what I was sort of expecting too. I don't know what happened between 6 last night and noon today to make them schedule this thing tomorrow. I'm the messenger, but if this guy doesn't manage to get the obit in in the next few minutes, I get to be the goat. Also, other family members are coming to the funeral, which probably means my family won't leave tomorrow.

Also, we're going to have a hard freeze, and what I should be doing is processing basil and lemon grass; picking the remaining vegetables; and bringing in or covering my tender plants.

Gah, Ginger. Do you have any friends who could come and help you with the harvest and frost-proofing?

According to comments on a NY Times blog post, I am living an unhealthy, aberrant lifestyle. Woo!

What's the alternative? Quiet desperation.

Well, I'm sure you're in good company. Link?

(Is it the hippie/commie veganism? Or maybe just believing in things like "math" and "science"?)

ETA:

What's the alternative? Quiet desperation.

Hey, you can do both.

Is it the hippie/commie veganism? Or maybe just believing in things like "math" and "science"?

It's the veganism. This happens all the time on the NY Times Health Blog -- they publish a post of vegetarian or vegan recipes, and people freak out in the comments, getting all defensive about how they're not going to go vegan, and they like their meat, and vegans are all weird and unnatural, so there. This is the second year in a row that they've done a lead-up to Thanksgiving with a series of vegetarian recipes that they say could be full meals for vegetarians or side dishes for meat-eaters. Last year, I remember a few comments along the lines of "Anybody who came to my Thanksgiving table and wanted to eat stuff like this would be kicked out of my house."

Things like this make me really appreciate my family. I know several vegans who won't go home for Thanksgiving, because they've got family members who yell at them and tell them they're ruining the holiday by not eating turkey. At my house, every dish except the turkey is vegan. (Most of this is because I cook almost everything.) And since the time I started crying when I saw them cutting into the turkey when I was 13, my dad carves the turkey in the kitchen so that I won't have to look at it all dismembered.

Sometimes people are so WTF. I come from a clan with *strong* feelings on thanksgiving food. We still talk about the Stuffing Wars of '82, or the year someone bought unsalted tortilla chips. But there are now a couple of vegetarians in the mix, and we just...add some dishes. I'll admit the year they were doing the raw thing was a little eye-rolly, but basically everyone just said "we can do crudites, but otherwise you're on your own to make what you need". And reserved the right to give them shit, but everyone gets shit about everything in this group. I really can't fathom the kind of mentality you hear about in those kinds of stories.