January 28, 2002. -10 is nothing! This morning it was -15. Brr. I think this explains my less-than-frequent updates here; I've been wearing mittens to keep my fingers from freezing together, and mittens make for difficult typing.

Today is Dave's birthday! We went to Cap'n Newick's, a local seafood restaurant that gives you free dinner on your birthday. I gave Dave some Marx Brothers related items, a cribbage board, and a tube of caper paste. (I wasn't just trying to make a surrealist still life; those are actually all things I knew he'd like.)

In unrelated news, last month I commented on a woman who lives on my street and takes the same bus home that I do, but who refuses to speak to me or acknowledge me. She has suddenly started smiling at me, so I don't know if she realized that it was strange to ignore me completely. Then, last week, she said, "Is it cold down where you are?" I have absolutely no idea what she was talking about. (I answered "Yes!" because, even though I don't know what she meant, I figured the answer was definitely that yes, it's cold where I am.) I live on the same street she does, and while I may be further "down" the street than she is, it's only by about four houses, so it's not like I'd be in a different climate or anything. And no, she's not very tall or anything; in fact, she's several inches shorter than I am. So I have no idea.

In more unrelated news, my new book obsession is Affluenza. I got the link from reading Aimee's site, and went out and bought it (and yes, I recognize the irony of running out to buy a book about overconsumption). I read a lot of it during lunch and on the bus ride home. I definitely recommend it. So far it's putting forth some very interesting research about how the culture of consumption has gotten out of control in this country and causing everyone to get into debt. And it does all this without being preachy or condescending.

January 19, 2003. I'm not sure if you can see this too clearly, but this was the temperature when we got up this morning:

Can you see it? It says -10. It's nice to know that humans aren't the only creatures who rely on body heat for warmth; this was what the cats did as soon as I told them the temperature:

and they stayed like that all day. Dave and I, since we're apparently insane, decided to go for a walk. And yes, it was very cold, but also very pretty.

January 14, 2003. Hello! Nothing much to report here in Maine. I think maybe I've been going into semi-hibernation. It snowed every day last week, adding another two inches daily to the 28 inches or so we already had. I love the snow but all of that whiteness outside does make me want to stay inside with a cat on my lap and a cup of cocoa in my hand. Plus now it has suddenly gotten unspeakably cold, and I swear in my half-asleep state this morning the weatherman on the radio said it was supposed to stay this cold "for the next couple of weeks."

Sorry I haven't been updating much, but, like I said, I think the snow makes me hibernate, and suddenly things that wouldn't normally be too thrilling become the highlight of the week. And I'm not sure you all want to hear about how we had really good Thai food takeout on Saturday, or how I finally broke down and bought some Mrs. Meyer's lavender-scented cleaning products,* which I haven't used yet. I got some all-purpose cleaner from Caldrea a while ago, and really liked it. I'd be curious who came first, Mrs. Meyer's or Caldrea, since they both have the same "all your cleaning products should have one scent" philosophy. The Mrs. Meyer's is a little cheaper than the Caldrea, so we'll see if it's as good. The Caldrea did last me forever. Though maybe that's more from the fact that I don't scrub quite as often as I should.

There, see? Did you really want to hear about cleaning products? Didn't think so.

*Mrs. Meyer's link found via Shannon. I like how when I googled for "Mrs Meyer's cleaning products," Shannon's site came up before the Mrs. Meyer's site.

January 4, 2003. Snow!

It's sort of a dark picture, but I didn't think to take a picture until about 3:30. And yes, in Maine, in the winter, it starts to get dark at 3:30, and the sun has almost set completely by 4:30. We got about 10 inches of snow last night, piled on top of the 20 inches we already had. Fun!

January 2, 2003. Happy New Year, everyone! I hope you all had black-eyed peas for good luck yesterday.

In completely unrelated news, why do some websites have sound? I honestly can't think of a good reason. I'm not talking about, say, websites that peddle music and allow you to listen to a sample of a song you might want to buy. I'm talking about unexpected, startling, sound. Sound for no good reason. The other day at work I went to my dentist's website to get the phone number so I could call and make an appointment, and I was greeted by the jarringly loud sound of drilling. Never mind that it's competely inappropriate and crazy-making for my dentist to have, on his website, the sound of the instrument that sends people running. But when you're at work and trying to look up a quick phone number, and suddenly your computer is emitting a high-pitched dentist-drill noise, well, it's just wrong. I think I have to quit this dentist based on this alone. That and that he's not even that great a dentist.