5.19.2009

It is finished: the 2009 Session is over.

And I couldn't be happier about that. Over the last eight days of session - Monday to Monday - I averaged 15 hours a day at work. I maxed out all available comp time, and now I'm looking forward to using every single hour of it this summer, in addition to a bunch of vacation time during the next 8 1/2 months until the 2010 session starts...

Now. Time for some sleep, family, friends, rowing. All the good stuff. (I'd say eating, too, but that part I've managed just fine throughout the last months.)

5.13.2009

Quote of the Moment: Politics as Art

"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it, misdiagnosing it and then misapplying the wrong remedies." -Groucho Marx

5.12.2009

Confusing the Senses.

Sometimes I like things that confuse a person's senses. For instance, I love how peach candles smell like they taste good - the candles should be candy and you should be able to eat them.

But some things that confound a person's senses I'm still unsure of. I mean, do we go too far? I recently purchased some lotion with cocoa and shea butter in it; it smells like hot chocolate, and I'm not altogether sure that's a good thing - especially when confronted with the mental image of licking your own forearm after application to see if it tastes like it smells...

And then there's the whole fusion/postmodern cuisine/molecular gastronomy thing in eating. You take all sorts of food elements, completely change those elements up [and sadly, the only word I can think of besides "change it up" here is "recodify," which just goes to show I'm far too long at work these days..."Why, yes. You must recodify that food element in Minnesota Statute..."], infuse it with some other stuff, and then bake it or shape it into something else, so that looking at it and tasting it are completely different experiences: your eye "deceives" you, and the taste is not what you'd expect. I am not sure if I like this whole concept At All. I believe I will have to eat my way through a lot more of the cuisine form to determine my opinion of it, but at first glance: it's weird.

5.11.2009

Manic Monday

The best way to start out a week is 1) eat two pieces of cake with strawberry frosting for breakfast (Happy Birthday, Amanda!), and 2) row.

Not-so-good ways to start out a week: 1) fall into the river when the temps outside are about 40 degrees (sorry, Paul), 2) go to work (which I can't really get out of, but you know what I mean), or 3) if you must go to work, never leave all week (or 8 days in my case - 8 more days and I *pray* session will be over; don't laugh: miracles do happen).

5.01.2009