Last night, trudging down the hill on the Common, a group of what I believe to be GBTQ young men of color passed me walking up the hill. I was dressed, you know, how I dress in these cold temps. (I have a new, brown "Kenny" coat that is nearly identical to Sue's, except longer, complete with faux fur lined hood. You can barely even see my eyes!) The guy furthest away leans across his pals, snaps his bare fingers at me and says, "You WORK your way to the T in your coat." I'm going to use my new vocabulary word: I baltered.*  I stopped, threw my arms as high as I could in my many layers, & shook my bootie. They erupted into laughter. I either bolstered or annihilated all my street cred. Well, at least it was done anonymously.

* balter

(bol'ter) v.

To dance gracelessly, without particular art of skill, but perhaps with some enjoyment. [MIDDLE ENGLISH]

Things I witnessed today: A) a man riding a motorcycle. I cannot IMAGINE what inspired that necessity. B) an old, large, floppy, heavy bed pillow blowing down Market St like a tumbleweed C) adults in full-on winter gear whimpering like children while waiting for the bus. Interestingly enough, wasn't me. I am wearing my ski pants & New England burka, but wishing I had worn my 20 # boots.

Michelle Rediker @ KRice's house in NH

Paris for Prez!!!

OMG!!! I never thought I'd ever appreciate ANYTHING Paris Hilton did. I thought she was simply a vaccuum, a waste of air and other valuable resources. But this is downright funny, and I love that she's bitch-slappin' McCain! I hate stupidity in politics, and the Obama/Hilton ad was right up there. And, like, Dude, she almost sounds like she knows what she's talkin' about. Maybe she'd make an ok actress. And you know where ACTING can take you!

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

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Bush Tours America to Survey Damage Caused by His Disastrous Presidency

Bush Tours America To Survey Damage Caused By His Disastrous Presidency

Our Trip to the Big City Part I

Dear Val~

I will expound upon the details of the first part of our trip for you.

Yankee Stadium: We came up out of the subway and there it was. Yankee Stadium in all it’s glory. We took some pics, some with Sue in the foreground. Then it dawned on me. The tide of pedestrians was running perpendicular to the stadium. Hmmm. What we thought was YS was actually the NEW Yankee Stadium, not quite complete!

We went in to the current YS and walked around a bit. We only stayed along the 3rd base side though. Either construction or the crowds made it seem like we couldn't get all the way around. Maybe the heat and humidity just made us lethargic and killed our curiosity. We couldn’t get into the memorial park as they close it at so many minutes before the game. We did find a food court that beat the pants off Fenway, and I’d even venture Petco. I had sushi, yes, sushi @ Yankee Stadium. Sue had Chinese food.

The seats, although at the top of the world were fairly good. We had a good view of the base lines, but not foul territory where some action did occur. Too bad! We did get a fantastic view of Johnny Damon’s collision with the outfield fence, though. That was BRILLIANT!

There was a woman behind us in Sox garb who engaged with Yankee fans. Everytime she left her seat, she was pelted with peanuts. None hit us, but they did people along the aisles. And they pelted a woman in Sox garb who I don’t think did engage. Luckily, we were not wearing our Sox garb. I was wearing my patriotic and entirely too big Rosie the Riveter shirt with the American flag backdrop. Sue wore a Life Is Good shirt. This is why I hate moronic sports fans. You should not be afraid for your safety when visiting another team's playground. Period.

It rained off and on, but it felt good. It was quite warm, but not too hot, but very steamy. Then the rain began in earnest. I had brought my LLBean raincoat, and Sue had a sweatshirt, so we left our seats and went in. They called the rain delay. We walked around a bit more. We found seats behind the left field just to the side of the Sox bullpen and got comfy. The score was close, yet it seems like Yankee nation left. The stadium was mostly Sox fans. When it looked like they were going to resume, they were playing fight music and inspirational movie clips to try to pump the Yankees up for a comeback. There was some idiot, up in the rafters, along 1st base line, dancing up and down row of seats. I was thinking, "Man, it’s STEEP up there. And NARROW. That idiot is gonna fall..." and he did, and he rolled/slid/fell about 10 rows!!! I swear to god I thought we were going to watch him fall to his death once he got to the bottom of his section. But at last, he stopped. It was frightening, but funny. Man, I would LOVE to see THAT on video!

The game resumed. We saw Coco make that catch, and to us it certainly looked like he caught it. I texted my cousin’s son who was watching with my Dad at my uncle’s to find out why Coco was so mad. We had no doubt he caught it.

The Sox won. Yeah! Good trip. We got some souvenirs that are... appropriate. ;) You’ll have to see when you come over.

We went to the apt of my old co-worker-turned-housemate Julie and her gf, Jessie. Jessie has a dog, Sparky, that I would take care of occasionally. Sue would get Sparky all hyped up running around the apt, and jumping up on my bed. I adored that little dog. She’s beige, ears look like a Papillion. She’s just a cute little moffet. We haven’t seen her since about July 2001. She went NUTS! BERZERK! We are sure she remembers us. Amazing. So, we had a nice reunion with Sparky, and Julie & Jessie, and met their new dog, who is an adorable little rescue dog.

It was about 9 p.m. by this time (thanks to the rain delay). We went out for dinner at a BBQ place around the corner from their place. It was fantastic. It had started to rain again, and then we realized, duh! We were missing the fireworks! But they were on tv. I don’t really feel like I missed anything because I didn't think we'd be able to see much thru the rain. We went back to J&J’s, chitchatted, then took a cab across the park back to our hotel. It was a fairly inexpensive ride, which was nice. Yeah!

Our trip to the Big City, Part II

Hey J&J~

Was gonna e you guys today to tell you we had a fantastic time in NYC. On Sat, we did just wander. We went to Brooklyn, Dumbo, and found Superfine restaurant. It was closed for lunch, but we thought it looked, well, super cool!

We walked across the Brooklyn Bridge, and enjoyed it quite a bit. Our timing was impecable. The minute we stepped foot in Manhatten, it started to rain. So we hopped on a train and went to the East Village for a late lunch, around 2-ish. We ate at Counter, (you probably well-versed in these places) which was awesome. Despite the late hour, Sue had some brunch meal. I had a flight of wine that was yummi and a walnut lentil panini that was outstanding with handcut fries. Sue had a white Sangria, which neither of us had had before. Quite good. Oh, and the waitress was adorable.

We went back to the hotel, napped, showered and went back to Brooklyn to Superfine. Ummmm. I don't know what was going on, but man. We were treated like we were Madonna and Guy Ritchie. I don't think I have ever been fawned over like that before. I must have been having a really good hair day. When we left, the hostess even chased us out to make sure we knew how to get back to Manhatten. Superfine was Super Friendly, and we will DEF go back. We ate at these little stools above the bar, overlooking the whole restaurant. It was HIGHLY entertaining, and this way, the bartenders talked to us the whole time we were there. One was Lola, as in LolaRockNRolla, independent filmmaker. She described her work as "campy, John Waters-y type stuff." She was a riot, and now I'm really intrigued by her work. You know me and movies. This looks like stuff I would TOTALLY get a kick out of. Oh, and we bought Superfine tshirts. They have a blonde dreamily leaning out the driver's side window of a '80's Chevy Monte Carlo... VERY much like the one I grew up with!! Of course I had to have one (t).

Oh, and the food.... I have to say... we LOVED it. We split a warm endive salad with grilled calmari (YUM!!!). Sue had a grilled pizza with sage, coat cheese (I think) and proscuitto. I had the grilled pork chop (to DIE for) with garlic mashed and cole slaw. Unfortuneately for those arouind me, I live for garlic. :)

Then we went to Henrietta Hudson's. It wasn't as fun as usual. Seemed like no one was there at first, then it suddenly got really crowed, and it took a long time for people to start dancing. That happened at about the time we had to leave, as we had to get up early for....

SUPER SHUTTLE!!! Wow. After that ride, we're no longer afraid of the Fung Wah. OMG. We were the 2nd pick up out of 4. Do you remember me once commenting on having been on a simulator ride somewhere, of F-1 racecars? I said I'd been on more hair-raising cab rides thru Somerville? This was unbelievable. Speeding thru the city, cornering and not rolling over... it was unbelieveable. Flying out, well, in terms of speed, to the airport. We were in the wayback, in the seat that can accommodate 3. The seat to the far right, however, was completely crunched down. At one point, we were zipping along, BOUNCING BOUNCING BOUNCING, and I got the giggles. I said to Sue, "You know, this reminds me, it's been FOREVER since I've been horseback riding." She replied, "Well, at least we know now what happened to this seat," looking at the one to her right. I think there were several points where I was afraid for my life. Who knew we'd get a thrill ride in NYC, too, without having to venture to Cony Island!

It was fun.

We did want to kick ourselves, or Sue wanted to kick me, after we left and realized I didn't get any pics of you two and the pups!!! Duh. She even suggested we show up unannounced on Sat just to have a photo session. ;)

Next time. Really. I think we need to go back in the winter sometime so that I can do the museums then. For some reason, I can't get myself inside when the temp is above 70. Even if it's raining, but like I said, our timing was impecable!

And... we owe you!!! Sometime when you come to Boston... maybe we'll force you to a Sox game next summer. ;)

~m