Threads All Over, Where to Start?
Lots of things on my mind this morning. From the gorgeous sun and the fun little ride down the hill, to my first Bowflex workout in the new house to the the super cool new juicer we got in the mail last night to all of the incredible changes taking place in our living space to the pending war in Iraq (they've pulled Embassy workers out and that means attacks are imminent regardless of the fact that the rest of the US and the World is against this line of action) to the funny joy of listening to kids learning how to play musical instruments from across the street to Layne's promotion to Billy's engagement to getting a phone and cable and DSL in the new house to the very simple and visceral joy of doing a wee bit of throttle twisting happiness on the way into the office to the pleasure of finally getting an appointment with my incredibly popular hair stylist and shearing off waaaaay too much hair (enough so that Paula did a double take).

So where to begin in all of this? Oh yeah, there's more too. Baseball is looming, pending over my universe and I'm excited about that as well.

Let's do the juicer first because that's just way too much fun. Paula and I have been researching juicers for about three weeks now and had settled on a particular model that a friend of her's has and likes an awful lot. Only problem is that it was generally unavailable on the regular markets. Enter Overstock.com which, not only had them in stock, but they were half off! WOOOOOT! So we ended up getting a Hamilton Beach Juice Fountain and, after Paula made me wait interminably while she cleaned up the parts, we buzzed through all the fruit we had in the house. Let me tell you, apple/pear juice is pretty damned awesome. Add some orange in there and its just about fabulous. Top it with a splash of Skyy Citrus and you're golden! We ended up going out and shopping for the house (our first big shopping trip together) and bought probably forty pounds of fruit, no lie. Oranges were 10 pounds for $2! So we got 20 pounds of oranges alone. And carrots, apples (two or three different kinds), pears, celery, tomatoes, bananas and a bunch of other stuff. And today is the Santa Cruz Farmer's Market so we're hitting that as well. I'm quite interested in making a speed Bruschetta soup with garlic, tomatoes, fresh basil, some red onion, olive oil and spices to kick it up. No worries about peels, pits or anything else. Aside from the olive oil and spices I'm tossing it all into the machine and getting pure juice/soup out the side. The pulp can even be used to thicken it up as well! And there are a few other recipes in the book that are most interesting and we're looking forward to trying them all. Spinach and lime? Sure! Whatever's clever, we're gonna try them all. And I'll report back in here with the winners. By the way, the machine breaks down into four washable parts (five if you don't line the pulp collector with a plastic bag) and they all wash up quickly and nicely (the cutter disc needs more attention than the others but that's because it gets fibers launched through it at wicked speed.

There's all kinds of other stuff to write about this morning but I've gotta get some food in me, the OJ isn't holding me for that long and then I've got to get myself focused on work today. There's plenty of stuff to do! But I'm sure I'll be back with news and other stuff as the day progresses.

Oh yeah, my uncle, Bunker, is doing much better. He's off the ventilator, out of his coma and requesting that his sister smuggle him out of the hospital. I was pretty sure a man as strong as him wouldn't go without a mighty fight! Great news and I'm sure a huge relief for my cousins and the rest of the family.

And one more thing before the quote. My mother wrote me today to let me know that she heard from my half brother again, first time in ten years or so since we lost touch with him. He's an Indonesian man who came over in an exchange program back in the 80's and ended up living with us for five years. Funny because his name is Wahyu (Why you) and my iPod is playing Shaggy's Why Me Lord? I love irony! Hehehe.

Today's Quote
From good old Tom (I-didn't-sleep-with-my-black-slave-maid-nosireebob) Jefferson advising his daughter Martha, 1787 - Determine never to be idle. No person will have occasion to complain of the want of time who never loses any. It is wonderful how much can be done if we are always doing.

Also, check out Carlene's Stilleto Philosophy for an interesting post about a new esteem destroying club called the Ugle People Hater Beautiful Person Community. I bet they're about as interesting as a box of rocks. Kind of like that incredibly shallow show, Am I Hot? or whatever its called.