Plum Crazy

The Bells Are Ringing!

This 9/11, I would like all my few but faithful readers to wish my brother and co-blogger Jon and his new wife Judy congratulations on their wedding yesterday. It was a beautiful ceremony, and it was clear to all how much they love each other. So let's have a lot of joy amongst the sadness.

Congratulations Jon and Judy!

It's Two, Two, Two Holidays in One!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. And a special Happy Birthday to my Mom! Wish Mom a happy birthday, everyone.

The Flickring Strain

Oh no. Now I've been afflicted with Flickritis. Is there no cure? Anyhow, pictures from yesterday's Father's Day barbecue at my cousin Steve's house.

Those Plum Crazy Kids!

Well, you know what I look like. [Actually, looked like. I went back to my natural hair color (really dark brown) a few weeks ago, so I no longer have that Sigourney Weaver-esque reddish hair I was sporting for several years.] But you don't know what Jon looks like. Now you can see us both together again for the first time.

The Eagle Has Landed

Lesley has arrived in London. She landed around 4 am EST and got to the hotel about 2 hours later. Mom can now sleep and is going to do just that.

Tis Spring, Tis Spring

The boid is on the wing. Ain't it peculiar? Ain't it absoid? I tought the wing was on the boid.

At any rate, I think it's spring. The calendar says it is. My mental state says it is. The weather? Not so much, but I'm going to ignore that. Besides, it's supposed to be sunny and near 70 over the weekend.

I had a very strange dream over the weekend. Strange, yet hopeful. It starts out in Russia. Why Russia? I don't know, but it's a dream, so why not Russia? I'm there with this Russian man. He's my love. I'm leaving soon to go back to New York, but I know he's going to be joining me there.

Then I'm back, but something's rotten in the city of New York. It's quite post-apocalyptic. Some buildings are in ruins, although most are still standing. There are people still living, but they're scurrying around afraid. And the sky? Ah, there's the rub. The sky is ice. Well, not exactly. The sky is the sky, but there's a very thick layer of ice covering the entire city, blocking out the sun and light.

So where's the hopeful part? I'm getting to it. I'm standing there in shock, looking at the ice. Trying to figure out how the hell that happened. Afraid that if we try to melt the ice, there'll be a flood, drowning all of us. As I stand there, this massive airplane arrives from Russia, flying over the ice. It has this fabulous technology which simply vaporizes the ice in huge chunks, clearing it all away. The pilot of this plane? My Russian love.

The ice is gone. Sun, light, spring, hope has returned to New York City. Spring and hope have returned to me. It's been a very long winter. Over 2 1/2 years long. In fact, maybe even much longer than that. But spring is here at last.

This Is The Week That Was

Man, but it's been one helluva week. And not in one of those really good helluva week kind of ways. My father was in the hospital last week. Seems he's got myelofibrosis, necessitating weekly treatments for, well, pretty much the rest of his life. Right now the hematologist doesn't think he's a good candidate for a bone marrow transplant, which would cure it, although once he's got more strength back, I want a second opinion on that. Thankfully, though, it wasn't leukemia, and even with weekly treatments, he's got at least 10 years left. I am so grateful. I was really scared until the diagnosis came back on Friday.

So then the day he gets released from the hospital, which was last Friday, my mom comes down with an intestinal bug she probably picked up while visiting him at the hospital. She's more or less better by Saturday night. Then Sunday night, my father and I come down with it. Flat out for two days, both of us. We're both better today. In fact, my father was feeling well enough that my parents went home this afternoon. My mom had been staying with me while my dad was in the hospital in NYC, and then after he was released, he was staying with me too. We're all positively exhausted tonight, though. I spoke with them about an hour ago. On the up side, we were also able to eat relatively normal dinners, so hopefully we'll all be much better tomorrow.

Kudos to My Mom

My mom, who is a Type II diabetic, has now lost 22 pounds low-carbing it and has also been able to halve the amount of insulin she takes each day. Go Mom!

I Feel So Manly

Gosh, my first (minor) plumbing repair. My toilet was running and running for the last 20 minutes, and jiggling the handle (my usual method of fixing the problem) just wasn't working. So I decided to see if I could fix the problem. I took the top off the tank and discovered there were a couple of loose screws on the thing connecting the big black ball to the other thing (the other thing is apparently what controls the flow of water into the tank). Whipping out my trusty screwdriver, I tightened those bad boys just a bit. No more running toilet. And yes, it still flushes.

How do you like my knowledge of technical plumbing terms too. Big black ball. The other thing. Yeah.

Help Me!

I hate these end of the year contract negotiations!!!!!

We Need a Holiday

Tonight is my office holiday party, so I'll be out late. I'll be a dancing fool queen, belle of the ball, life of the party. I love to dance. I hope the DJ doesn't suck. But still, I'm ready to YMCA, Electric Slide, Macarena, and just plain boogie on down. This will put a crimp in my blogging, though. So for today's viewing pleasure, I leave you with another of my father's painting. This one, 2 Tone Chrysanthemum, is currently hanging in an exhibition in Pennsylvania, and the original has already been sold.

Incidentally, if anyone is interested in buying any of my father's work, just e-mail me at the address in the right column. Originals (where not already sold) generally go for $250 - $350 plus S&H. Standard prints are $10 plus S&H, and giclee prints are $50 plus S&H. For those who don't know what giclee is, it's a higher quality printing process using archival quality inks, which provides better color accuracy than other means of reproduction.

A Picture

A photograph my father took of a war buddy of his in Korea.

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

My brother just returned from a trip to Iceland. He had a great time. He also took some great photos, one of which is so amazing I am posting it for everyone's viewing pleasure.

[click for bigger image]
Rainbow in Mist

I Shiver, Quiver, and Try to Wake

The internet isn't getting rid of me today. I'm sitting here with a sore throat, a fuzzy head, and the sniffles. So what is there for me to do but blog, surf, and catch up on the Dark Shadows episodes I have TiVoed? Laptops and wireless connectivity are fabby things. I'll also be on AIM: plumcrzy222

The End of an Era

Today marked the last day Iwould be in Manhattan regularly. Starting Monday (I'm taking tomorrow off), I will be not just living in New Jersey, but working there too. Although I expect my quality of life to improve (I will have a 10 minute walk to work, rather than a 45 minute trip on public transportation from the Upper East Side to Midtown), I am still sad. I have spent the last 12 years of my life living and working there. I loved Manhattan. I still love Manhattan, but times have changed, and so have I.

Things I Will Miss About Manhattan (an incomplete and unordered list)

The world at your doorstep
Hailing a taxi when I have large packages
The excitement
Four drug stores within 3 blocks
Five supermarkets within 3 blocks
More movies than Picasso had paint
Being just a subway ride away from Yankee Stadium
Being able to get any kind of food delivered at just about any hour
Amazing architecture
Stumbing upon little hidden gardens when you least expect it
The fashion
Not having to go to malls

Things I Will Not Miss About Manhattan (a complete and ordered list)

Waiting for the other terrorist shoe to drop
The traffic
The idiot drivers who won't pull over for an emergency vehicle
The noise
The smell of piles of garbage
Mike Bloomberg

Ah, Manhattan. I will not say goodbye, simply I'll see you later. Besides, I'll be back to visit. Often.

Lack of Broadband Access Sucks!

Blogging is seriously affected by the lack of broadband access at home. Sure, I now have actual working phone service, but am not going to sign up for a dial-up account for the 5 days until I get a cable modem reinstalled (Sunday). Blogging from work is not easy. Sure, I was here late tonight (for other reasons), but I don't plan on making a regular habit of it. However, on the up side, I have been catching up on my reading. In preparation for the fifth installment of Stephen King's Dark Tower series, I am in the process of reading every one of his novels that is peripherally related (and that's quite a few of them). Part of that exercise means re-reading The Stand, and this time I'll be reading the revised, uncut version with the extra 100,000 words. Woo hoo!

Never Order Utilities Over the Internet

Even if your utility/telephone/cable company offers you the option to place an order for new services via their website, forego it. Trust me. It won't get processed properly. Even if you get a confirming e-mail telling you that the order has been placed and can find the order status on their website. Let's run down the list:

PSE&G - Couldn't process the order because they couldn't locate the address in their systems.

Verizon - Got e-mail confirming the order, got order tracking number, could locate order status on their website. However, service was not turned on when the e-mail said it would be, and when I called to check on the status, they couldn't locate it in their system.

Cablevision - Got e-mail confirming the order, but when I called to add a service, they couldn't locate the order in their system.

I got the electricity turned on fine. The phone will now be turned on Wednesday afternoon. I'm rescheduling the cable installation.

Oh, and the movers didn't show up on Thursday, because they didn't have a move order for me despite my having told the salesman the date and time. Had to reschedule for Saturday. At least they showed up then.

Homeowner Once Again

Closed on the new apartment this afternoon. Will be moving in tomorrow. Yee ha! I'm officially a homeowner again. Although it was kind of fun having all that money in my bank account for 3 days.

Anyway, too tired to blog much right now. Undoubtedly tomorrow will be the same, assuming the cable company shows up and installs my cable modem.

What a Weekend

Saturday I spent most of the day packing for my upcoming move to Hoboken, land of Frank Sinatra. My living room is pretty much filled with boxes now, but I can sit at the computer and walk to the bedroom and bathroom.

On the upside, I did see a good movie last night. I went to see "The Eye", a horror movie from Hong Kong. It was creepy in that Japanese horror movie kind of way. You know, the creepy build up of terror interspersed with sudden shocks. But it wasn't quite scary enough to be a nightmare-inducer. The ending was a little wimpy, but overall, if you enjoy movies that slowly creep you out, then I definitely recommend this one.

Today was spent mostly at the hospital visiting a relative. He has Crohn's disease and is now suffering from a partial obstruction of the small intestine. They are keeping him in the hospital for observation. That and treatment, because he's in a good deal of pain. So all the packing I planned on finishing today didn't get done. Ah well, a friend of mine is going to help me out tomorrow. The movers are coming at 10 am on Tuesday morning. I'll then be homeless for a week, bunking in with a friend of mine. Fortunately he has wireless broadband and my work laptop has a wireless card, so I won't be Internet challenged.

The only other bright spot is that it rained all weekend, so I wasn't scared by the big yellow thing in the sky.

Father's Day

I want to wish a Happy Father's Day to my father and all the other fathers of the blogosphere and beyond. I thought I might commemorate this day with some memories and thoughts about my father.

It's a lot of fun when you're a kid to have a father who is a graphic artist. Other fathers did "serious work." My father played with magic markers and colored pencils. I used to love it when he would take us to work with him. We would color and play on the Lucy. The Lucy was a fabulous machine with a seat that would move forward and backward, enabling an artist to enlarge or reduce artwork to trace. But to a kid, it was like a carnival ride. At Daddy's office. Wheeeee!!!

I attribute a lot of my success in the work world to my father. He never treated me like there were things I couldn't do just because I was a girl. Because of it, I don't work that way with men. I am able to compete with them without any self-imposed non-level playing field. Hey, I'm now CFO of Technology at my company. When I started working there 9 years ago, I was a junior financial analyst. I'm doing something right.

He made me the Yankees fan I am today. My grandfather, may he rest in peace, used to take us to Mets games. But my father used to take us to Yankees games. I liked the Yankees games better. They were/are a much more exciting team. I still remember the Yankees of the late 70s, and Thurman Munson is still my all-time favorite Yankee. I loved going to the games and seeing him play.

He taught me to appreciate modern art. As a youngster, I saw nothing all that impressive about it. It lacked some of the technical magnificence of the earlier artists. But he got me to think beyond the technique to the concepts expressed in the art. He was right. He was also right that Jackson Pollack's splatter and drip paintings are a lot, lot harder to create than they look.

It wasn't all fabulousness. He was a workaholic. I didn't get to see him nearly as much as I would have liked. He also had a bad temper when I was very young, and I was scared of him. I give him credit for working on that. It couldn't have been easy. Although he still yells at their cat sometimes for doing silly, cat-like things. And he's not the easiest guy to talk to, being kind of reserved. I get that from him. But all in all, he's my Dad, and I love him.