A randomly unhappy post with a joke at the end

Had my quarterly hemo appointment last week, and things were ... well, the same. Is this good news? In the scheme of things, yes. But my fantabulous doctor -- and I do need to stress how great he is, because he has a great bedside manner without pulling any punches -- laid it to me straight: Sometimes people live with my condition for years, and sometimes it turns "ominous" (his term) quickly.

For what it's worth, I feel pretty good, and that's what matters, right?

Saturday night, Paul and I had dinner with Matt and Johanna. She'd just returned from spending more than a month in Europe and we'd just returned from New York. She brought us pistachio-flavored Cheetos and an electrocution machine and we brought them shot glasses and crayons.

We were reporting on our respective trips and Matt's upcoming business trip to Los Angeles. I said I wish I had more time and money to travel.

"You only live once," Johanna reminded me. A friend of hers died last year. He had saved a lot of money and had planned great things ... and then he was gone. I think her long trip to Europe may have had something to do with that "If not now, then when?" mentality. (Also, she's a successful author, so, you know, she can get away with spending months abroad.)

And after a couple of glasses of plum wine, it was decided: We're all going to Amsterdam. This fall. She has a travel agent friend who can hook her up with mad cheap tickets to Europe, and she's been to Amsterdam before, so she knows a place to stay. When Paul protested -- he has a dissertation to write, after all -- they promised to take good care of me if the three of us went alone. So now I have a pact to go to Amsterdam.

Yesterday, I found out -- and I really can't say any details yet -- I might have a good opportunity to travel elsewhere, and soon (like "oh my gosh, need to get a passport now" soon). And though Amsterdam is appealing, my loyalty is to hubby. So, frankly, I'm not sure what happens now or where I'm going to go.

I'm sure of one thing: I need to travel while I can. I don't know whether I'm going to get sick -- and if I do, whether it'll be in a matter of months or years or decades. I'm going to live forever! And so is Paul! And so are you guys!! But if I don't, I don't want a lot of regrets. I'm going to make a dent in my "To Do Before I Die" list while I'm still young and healthy enough to enjoy everything.

Wow. That was much more depressing than I intended, guys. To make up for it, I'll tell you a funny riddle because you've read this far:
Q. Who's a ninja's favorite composer?
A. Chopin.

Oh, don't lie to me, buddy. I know you're laughing on the inside.

Clueless Bob: The video

Last year, I posted the transcript of a TV commercial for Bruce A. Berman's book and CD on being your own boss. Just found out Johanna's bro-in-law posted the video on YouTube, so now you can see the commercial and judge it for yourself.

What do you think?

Conversations with a geek girl

My coworker, Chris, stopped by my office tonight to show off his new phone and its awesome camera. He was flipping through a half-dozen photos of his cats -- hey, he's a bachelor -- when he came across a pic of my Joe's great-aunt, who's named Strange.

Chris: "This one's Strange."
Me: "She's strange?"
Chris: "No, her name is Strange."
Me: "Oh."
(My mental lightbulb goes off.)
Me: "You named her after a quark?! That's so cool!"
(... long pause ...)
Chris: "Huh?"
Me: "Up, down, top, bottom, charm, strange?"
Chris: "Oh, a quark. ... No, actually, it's kind of a sexual reference."
Me: "Uh, yeah. That was my second guess."

I <3 NY

Maaaan, it's hard coming home and getting back to real life. Expect a couple of days of me blabbing and flashing photos while I come off of my vaca high.

Avenue Q was beyond funny, and it just so happened to be the 1500th show. Cool, huh? Jeff Marx was there, as were other original cast members and designers. The audience was given Q cupcakes. Paul bought a little Trekkie monster, and here's an impromptu, washed-out pic of Trekkie holding the Q cupcake. :-)

Besides Q, the American Museum of Natural History was fun, as was Toys 'R' Us in Times Square. The Museum of Modern Art had a few "Huh?" moments -- I guess I'm not elite enough to understand how a blank canvas qualifies as art -- but it was awe-inspiring to have my nose inches from Warhols and Picassos. The museum also was in the first week of an exhibition called "Comic Abstraction," which tied in nicely with my side trip to Midtown Comics. (Unfortunately, the latter was rather short because my feet were killing me after walking a bajillion blocks hither and yon.)

If you guys haven't been to Nintendo World, it's pretty cool. I was in fangirl heaven! Downloadable demos, multiplayer DS and Wii stations and plenty of shopping. There are a few exhibits upstairs of old Nintendo gear, including every style SP ever made, a Famicom -- I'd never seen one in person -- and a display of old NES gear, such as R.O.B. But the piece de resistance was a GameBoy damaged during the first Gulf War that still works (YouTube video here).

Ah, so much catching up to do! Tomorrow, I'll tackle all the cool restaurants, including rice pudding and Martian cuisine. Yes, really.

NYC, day 1

Whaddya know? We made it to New York!

We left Memphis late Saturday morning -- a couple of annoying little things put us behind by three hours or so -- with no real destination. The plan was to drive in the general direction of New York as far as we could go and worry about a hotel when we were sleepy. This footloose approach to travel isn't in my blood; I at least like to have a general outline of the 5 Ws (and one H!) in mind when I'm on the road.

Memphis to New York is about 17 hours in theory (16 hours in practice), and we drove about 13 and a half hours of that Saturday. Ended up crashing at a Comfort Inn in Mechanicsburg, Penn. Sunday, we took a short side trip to Hershey, Penn., for the sheer kitsch factor of going to a place called Chocolate World.

It's strange that you can't pump your own gas in New Jersey. What's up with that?!

I did most of the driving from Memphis to Mechanicsburg and about half from Mechanicsburg to Manhattan. Despite my motion sickness, I wanted Paul to navigate New York. And I'm glad I did. Yikes.

Our hotel room is beautiful but insanely small. I feel like I'm stuck in a sliding puzzle, having to navigate around our bed and luggage to get to the bathroom. Paul barely fits in the shower. (I find that funny, but he doesn't think it's amusing.) My only other complaint is the room is really hot, and we have no control over the thermostat. We slept with the window open last night! :)

The clamshell feel of our hotel is negated by its fantastic location. We are a block from Wicked and a couple blocks from Rockefeller Center. Very cool.

The housesitter said the cats are doing fine, but I sure do miss them. It's strange to type on the laptop without Joe plopping herself on the keyboard and erasing half of what I've written. Eh, I shouldn't worry. I know they're being spoiled out of their fluffy little skulls.

Time to grab the guidebook and pick a couple of things to do today. Times Square (and thus Midtown Comics, et al.) is within walking distance. Maybe we'll head that way this morning.

Sittin' on the dock of the bay

I had to drop Paul's car off at the Amtrak station last night so he'd have something to drive home this morning. I'd arranged with my parents to meet me at the train station after work. I needed somebody to take me back to the house, and I wanted to see them before we leave for New York.

I'd skipped my lunch break, and by the time 4:30 rolled around I was restless enough to slip out of the office early. But with an hour and a half to kill, I wasn't quite sure where to go.

I ended up at Tom Lee Park, right on the banks of the Mississippi. And when I say "right on the banks," I mean it. There aren't any fences to obstruct the view, so you literally can walk from the park into the river ... not that I'd recommend it.

With no real plan, I sat on a bench and watched the barges go by. It's pretty interesting, if you've never had a chance to see it. They move fast, considering their size. I was able to catch the sunset, with the sun shooting orange and red rays from behind the thick clouds. My cameraphone does not do it justice.

When I lived Downtown, my community was across the street from Tom Lee Park. I kick myself when I think about living Downtown. We were in a great location with a fantastic view, but we were too busy to take advantage of all the restaurants and clubs and attractions within walking distance. Kids were flying kites in the park yesterday. Yuppies jogged by in twos and threes. A dogwalker here, a family of camera-laden vacationers there. And I kept thinking, "We had all this for the taking, and we gave it up." Gah.

I really take Memphis for granted sometimes. Yeah, we have more than our share of corrupt politicians, and the crime is semi-high. (Okay, so as the newly dubbed research analyst, I read the crime reports, which probably give me a bit of a skewed view.) We don't have decent, cheap public transportation, and we now have two large arenas shuttered because few people support teams and nobody goes to sporting events or concerts. But the traffic isn't bad and the cost of living is cheap. Do I stay and delay plans for that master's degree? Or do I go out of town and face a barrage of new problems in an unfamiliar place?

Maybe the trip to New York next week will settle it for me.

Know of any other great locales – here or elsewhere – to grab a breathtaking sunset? I've seen a great one outside Denver with the sun going down behind the mountains. Also caught a nice one in Pennsylvania's Amish area a while back.