Life in 3P

New Mini-Blog

2008-02-24T11:10:00.001-08:00

I'm experimenting with some new blogging. Tumblr.com has a cool quick "mini blog" capability. I started mine at teatimelibrarian.tumblr.com. Also note the feed on the right shows my Twitter updates.

Alone with kitties

2007-07-22T16:12:00.000-07:00

David is out of town until Wednesday (with the car) so I am all alone with the kitties. It is really quiet without him around, which seemed nice yesterday but today is starting to seem sad. Yesterday I kept busy by making vichyssois and yogurt. Today I ate some of the yogurt (my first batch with the yogurt maker) and it came out quite well. Unfortunately, the vichyssois was not successful. It is sort of like strange mashed potatoes. I think it's because I only had two leeks and adjusted the recipe, but didn't adjust it well enough. Oh well.

We're going to my dad's retirement party next weekend. Read about his "retirement" job here.

Other than that, not much is new...

Spring!

2007-05-08T19:06:00.000-07:00

Spring is great... I am graduating with my library degree and can finally call myself a librarian, I am enjoying warm weather. On the other hand, last week was pretty miserable because the evil tree and grass pollen was giving me a very painful headache despite the claritin I was taking. Then, I took sudafed to relieve my stuffiness and boy was that a mistake... I didn't sleep for two nights and ended up feeling like a cracked out zombie at work on Saturday.

I waited all weekend to see a doctor since there are virtually no urgent care facilities in New Brunswick, which by the way calls itself the "healthcare city." Then on Monday after several extremely annoying encouters with an answering service I made an appointment with an allergist because his office was the only one answering their phone at 9 am on a Monday. I went to the allergist, started signing in, and was informed that I needed a referral from my primary care physician (would have been nice if she'd asked me if I had one when I made the appointment!).

Unfortunately, my PCP would not give me a referral since I had never been to see him, and he didn't have any appointments until Wednesday. My only option was to go through the entire list of doctors covered by my insurance in the area and find someone who had an opening, then change them to my primary care physician. Since I hadn't been to them before, most of them wouldn't see me. I probably called 20 places before I found a kind receptionist who fit me in. Three hours of work missed just to GET the doctor's appointment! Now I have flonase and all is well. I have to say, for what is supposedly good insurance, this was the most trouble I've ever had getting access to healthcare, and in the "healthcare city" no less.

Okay, I'm done ranting. I am enjoying many things about spring, like the freesia and peonies I have on the kitchen table and the flowering trees outside (they aren't the evil allergy causing ones-- they aren't wind-pollenated). I also am finally able to drive our new car with some degree of success-- It's a manual transmission. And I have two more evenings and my weekends free now because I don't ever have to go to class again-- ever! Really! After 18 consecutive years of school I will live without homework. Halleluja.

A video tribute to my kitties and how to make tea

2007-04-15T08:03:00.000-07:00

Don't worry, I'm not that obsessed, I did this for a homework assignment :)

Another assignment: a how-to video on Tea:

This is what I do when I'm not at work . . .

2007-03-25T14:32:00.000-07:00

Was I a cat in a past life?

Look at the love!

2007-02-06T19:34:00.000-08:00

I'm a married woman!

2007-01-23T10:50:00.000-08:00

New Computer

2006-09-30T10:14:00.000-07:00

Woooh. David and I got a 24" iMac yesterday. It was definitely time for a new computer for me and we figured we might as well have an HDTV screen while we're at it for our netflix selections since we don't have cable.

In other news... this weekend my goal is to get the wedding invitations ready for mailing. Also I need to do all of my homework for next week because I have to work all week as usual and won't have time to do it.

A letter to the drunken man on the NJ transit train

2006-09-04T11:59:00.001-07:00

To the man sitting one seat over and back from me on the 1:42 train from Penn Station to New Brunswick:

Sir, I am sure you thought it was a good idea to have those last four shots of tequila at the bar before you got on the train. You, and every passenger in the train car quickly discovered your mistake. The first time you vomited down the front of your shirt and onto the floor, I had some sympathy. As you continued to vomit for the next hour without ever attempting to clean yourself up or escape to the lavatory, my sympathy entirely vanished. Are you aware that you filled the car with the odor of alcohol and sour stomach acid? Are you aware that it was so overpowering I spent the majority of the ride breathing through a scarf to keep from gagging? Do you understand that for an entire 45 minutes it took all of my mental energy to keep this thought out of my head: "The fact that I am smelling this man's vomit means that I am inhaling small particles of said vomit."

Frankly, the amount you choose to drink is your business, but if you cannot hold your liquor, you should not get on a packed train where people cannot escape your vile, vomit-covered person.

Sincerely,
Camille J Thompson

New Kitty!

2006-09-02T21:39:00.000-07:00

David and I got another kitty Friday afternoon at the Sayreville Pet Adoption Center, the same place we got Morris. Her name is Greta. We were hoping she would be fast friends with Morris, and though it's only been a day, they have a very tense relationship. She started out completely calm and unafraid of Morris, but he has intimidated her with repeated hissing and yrowling until she's very catious when near him. She mostly chills in the bedroom and he peeks around the corner to observe her. I hope they just need a little more time before they'll be friends, and that this won't be a permanent civil war.

Bunnies

2006-08-28T22:59:00.000-07:00

Wassup from Utah

2006-08-13T12:27:00.000-07:00

Traveling from Newark, New Jersey, to Salt Lake City, UT, the following Occurred:

Trying to get breakfast at Ruby Tuesday in terminal A, we were served by one of only two employees present in the entire restaurant (including the chef). This doofy, buck-toothed man was trying, but it was hopeless. He had even stopped bothering to print receipts and was simply collecting cash from the customers. A scam? Perhaps, but he was working hard for that money!

The man seated in our row on the plane made us get up, then in the process of jumping over our empty seats, knocked my seat cushion entirely off onto the floor. Of course no apology was offered, he just sat back in his surfer dude-esque virtually destroyed baseball cap and clipped his seatbelt closed. A few minutes after the flight began, he unscrewed the cap of an empty Deer Park water bottle and spit a chunky brown fluid into it, which after contemplating the possibility that I was within 16 inches of a tuberculosis victim, I figured out was the remains of his chewing tobacco. Yum.

After arriving on time in Denver, we sat on the tarmac for over a half and hour and missed our connecting flight despite running halfway down the terminal at full speed. It was SO Jersey when the man in front of us on the plane stood up, stretched, and said, “Man, those people who are trying to make 11:00 flights are screwed!” Thank you mister trashy Jersey man with the the pinky ring for so kindly getting out of those screwed peoples' ways so they could get off the plane before you. And thank you for walking so slowly right down the middle of the jet way that it was impossible to get around you. You are a gem.

And in a very Seinfeld moment, when we went to pick up our reserved rental car it had already been rented to someone else. Of course, the offered us the use of an SUV for a mere $10 more a day, which we had no choice but to take.

Funny Story

2006-07-25T21:28:00.000-07:00

There is a mother and girl who often come into the library and while the mom uses the computer, the girl (who is about 8 years old) asks me for books about various things, like human skeletons or elephants or volcanoes. As I was walking home from work tonight with David I saw these patrons and waved hello. The little girl waved back and said, "Is that your Dad?" Wow. Either I look really young or David's beard ages him more than he thought.

Also, one of the regulars, an older man with white hair past his shoulders who looks unkempt and carries lots of plastic bags full of stuff, was sitting in the reference room while I was on the desk. I didn't see this directly, but my co-worker said he started to open the umbrella he had with him and twirl it around while staring at it in wonderment. My co-worker also said she saw him walking around town with the same huge gold umbrella open on a sunny day to shield himself from damaging UV rays. Haha.

Beauties in a Sea of White

2006-07-25T21:24:00.000-07:00

Mom, me, and Erin at the Macy's bridal salon in NYC. Look at all those amazing dresses! Thanks to my favorite saleslady Lilly I found the perfect one... but no one is allowed to see it until Dec 17!

Bad blogger

2006-07-25T10:52:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted anything for a while, so here's an update:

My jobs are going well. The public library patrons are special...

I repotted our fig tree yesterday and it looks happier already

It's hot and airconditioning is expensive! We went from a $35 utility bill to a $110 utility bill last month

Ummm, that's all I can think of right now.

More pics of the handsome and charming Noah

2006-06-20T18:39:00.000-07:00

Other people's grocery lists

2006-06-19T14:20:00.000-07:00

I find this site with scanned images of found grocery lists bizarrely interesting: Grocerylists.org

Working at the university library

2006-06-18T17:41:00.000-07:00

Things that happened at work today:

A man wearing a baseball cap, sunglasses, and headphones with an unlit cigarette hanging out of his mouth was looking at lesbian porn as I restarted the computer right next to him and clearly stared at his screen to let him know he was being watched. He just continued to hum and click.

A skinny middle aged white guy came to the desk and said, "I just want you to know, before it gets out of hand, that there are some black men in the computer lab using profanity, and there are women around" Way to include totally irrelevant facts that make you sound like a backwards foo.

It was eventful. Oh Lrd.

I have the cutest godson in the world!

2006-06-07T19:09:00.000-07:00

Me and Noah celebrating Jamie and Shane's (aka Mommy and Daddy's)anniversary.

Our salty week on Long Beach Island

2006-06-03T12:55:00.000-07:00

David and I brave the chilly waves.

David goes it alone.

The beautiful new body Mom, Dad and I made for David

Mom, Dad and I going for a walk.

Experimenting with Google Pages

2006-05-22T20:33:00.000-07:00

My Google Page It's a really easy web publishing platform... you should try Making one too

He wants to be just like Daddy

2006-05-22T20:24:00.000-07:00

Meaning... he wants to lounge around in hula girl boxers unshowered all day. awww.

mmmmmm bivalvia

2006-05-21T15:08:00.000-07:00

David and I went to the Oyster Bar in Grand Central Station last night. It was really delicious. And then we saw people outside of a movie theater in Times Square protesting the DaVinci Code movie... some were yelling the Hail Mary, some were holding signs saying "The Da Vinci Code is a hate crime." Ohh whatever people.

Here Come the Police

2006-04-28T13:01:00.000-07:00

I went to get the mail about an hour ago and looked down the stairwell to see two police officers and a maintenence man mopping the floor. I could see two police cars and an ambulance on the street. When I went down the stairs, I noticed everyone was wearing rubber gloves, and they were saying that there had been blood all over the hallway. Inside an apartment, a paramedic was neeling over someone who was babbling incoherently. It was the lady who has always struck me as a little bit mentally ill when I see her. Her husband doesn't smile much either. The husband showed up as I was going back into the building with my mail and said something about nosebleeds, but I have a feeling that wasn't all that was going on. Oh, the special people in New Jersey. I'm going to keep my door locked all the time.

Ondaatje Pathfinder

2006-04-23T23:03:00.001-07:00

Want to see what I've been working on for the past 12 hours or so? Want to see why my eyes are about to fall out of my head? Well, look at my fabulous Michael Ondaatje Pathfinder project!

Been so long

2006-04-18T09:29:00.000-07:00

I am sitting on the couch listening to the radio and mentally preparing myself to go to work this afternoon. Yesterday I had a full schedule of appointments, but NO ONE showed up. Only one person called to cancel. What is up with this? I am trying not to take it personally, but it's starting to make me wonder what I'm doing wrong. Then again, most of the people who didn't show up were first appointments and therefore have never met me before.

I really need to work on my Irigaray/Phallocentrism paper before I leave for work. I think I have a good start, but it's due in slightly less than two weeks, so I need to get on it. I am such a horrible procrastinator!

I've been working on the wedding plans recently. The guest list is the current project. It is really difficult to narrow it down to 100 people because family members make up about 75 percent of that and it would be nice to have friends there! I also need to deal with the whole bridesmaid dress thing. Don't get me wrong, I am excited about getting married, I just don't like having to worry about who I'm offending by every decision I make related to the event!

On a sad note, my friend Becca has been evacuated from Chad due to the rebel activity there and will not be able to go back. She didn't even get to say goodbye to her host family or her students. Keep her in your thoughts.

Morris sets up camp under David's jacket

2006-02-19T16:56:00.000-08:00

Another weekend of food!

2006-02-19T16:48:00.000-08:00

Fried chicken and rosemary garlic roasted potatoes... yum!

The very easy bread I made on Friday and have been enjoying all weekend long.

The final result of my homemade broth-- plain Pho!

David Makes a Snow Angel

2006-02-15T12:27:00.000-08:00

David took advantage of the wonderfully huge snowstorm last weekend

More Cuteness from Morris

2006-02-15T12:19:00.000-08:00

Saturday Food Extravaganza

2006-02-04T19:22:00.000-08:00

This is my attempt at a Pho Saigon-like broth. Pho Saigon is the place I go in Fredericksburg to get Vietnamese noodle soup. I tried making it with canned broth the other day and it was awful, so I'm trying this. I adapted my version from the recipe at: Vietworld Kitchen . It smells right so far. I used a chicken carcass instead of beef bones because that is what I had on hand... We'll see how it comes out.

David's Chili for the superbowl cookoff tomorrow. It includes buffalo, beef, green pepper, hot sauce, chili powder, onion, tomatoes, kidney beans and other random stuff. We're cooking it in the crockpot overnight.

Delicious-looking apple pie. I used grandma's crust recipe and a filling recipe from allrecipes.com.
Crust (makes three):
2 C all purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
3/4 C vegetable shortening
about 1/4 C water

Sift the flour with the salt. Blend the shortening into the flour. Add water until it just comes together. Roll out on top of a towel covered in a dusting of flour until you can see the towel through the crust. Repeat for top crust. You will have a ball of pastry left over that can be refrigerated or frozen for another crust.
Filling:
5 Apples peeled and cored
1/2 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons butter
Blend sugar through flour in a small bowl along with half of the butter. Toss with apples. After placing filling in crust, dot with remaining butter.
Cook at 350 for about 45 minutes. I turned it up to 450 for 5 minutes at the end to get the crust nice and brown.

This is pretty much the sum of my day today. Yaaay food. Oh, and also we went to the Asian Food Center and got lots of tasty treats for later. We had some fresh pork buns for lunch from their prepared food counter that were very tasty. The pork bun is sort of like southern bbq.

Just looking for a drink of water

2006-01-29T17:23:00.000-08:00

Morris plays in the sheet fort

2006-01-25T18:55:00.000-08:00

Meow

It's Friiiiday

2006-01-20T12:31:00.000-08:00

I had an appointment this morning, but my doctor was sick so I ended up sleeping until 1 instead. I really need to get a second job so that my time is filled up. I just found a listing on Craig's List for a job teaching English as a second language via the internet to students in Japan. It seems like a good opportunity, so we'll see.

Yes, I am obsessed with my kitty

2006-01-19T15:45:00.000-08:00

Look at those vicious claws!

Resolution: Write

2006-01-19T15:15:00.000-08:00

I need to exercise my lingual abilities, so I am resolving to write every day about SOMETHING. Recently I haven't had much to do because my program isn't starting classes until this coming Monday. David and I have had lots of nice time together-- walking to the grocery store, enjoying humorous encounters in the Rite-Aid/liquor store. We also did some apartment improvements. We both have an unstoppable addiction to buying books and needed yet another bookcase, so we ventured to Ikea and came back with: a giant bookcase with a nicely hidden file drawer in the bottom, a $20 desk, a set of drawers for office supplies, a water pitcher, spice shelves, a plant stand, and multiple wall-mounted reading lights. I am enjoying having my own workspace and getting all of the books off of the floor, out of their piles, and onto the selves where I can see them. We also framed more of my photographs and some original Chinese brush paintings we bought in Fredericksburg. It is much more homey in the apartment now, and looks more "finished" than it did before.

I am now enjoying the newly improved apartment by staring at the cat who is peacefully sleeping in the wing chair and sipping some hot water with lemon, cinnamon, and honey. I just gorged on tortilla chips and salsa as well (a habit anyone who has lived with me knows has been part of my afternoon routine for quite a while). There is just something about those crunchy, greasy corn chips drenched in sweet/spicy tomato salsa. MMMM... I miss the Nana Cocina chips from Virginia though, I haven't found anything as good in New Jersey. But I digress... I've been reading too many food blogs.

David and I finally decided on a wedding venue, date, and reception area. We will be married on Sunday, December 17, 2006 at the Alumni Executive Center at the University of Mary Washington. The ceremony will be in the bright marbled hallway, and the reception will be in the ballroom. It should cozy, and holiday-infused. We're hoping to have beer/wine/Champaign, a raw oyster bar, a sushi bar, and various other nibbles. We are more certain about the food than the ceremony, though we think we'll have a pastor from the church David's parents attend as the officiant. Her name is Emily and she seems very open and nice, though we perplexed her by asking her (a Presbyterian minister) to perform the wedding ceremony of a Unitarian and an Agnostic... it should be interesting. We also foudn a live Jazz band we like and will have a dance floor. Whoohoo... things are finally taking shape.

For all you Morris fans out there...

2005-12-10T20:47:00.000-08:00

I declare Morris the cutest cat on earth.

Holiday Season Makes People Nuts

2005-12-10T20:31:00.000-08:00

I have whitnessed a man fighting back in the War On Christmas and I am disturbed. I went with David to Target today to pick up cleaning supplies (we ran out of floor cleaner due to David's wonderful obsession with keeping the wood floors shining). While we were in the store, we heard a father talking to his son about Christmas and how Target was an abomination because it used "holiday" in its marketing instead of "Christmas." He said, "It's total bullshit, if there was no Christmas there'd be no holidays and no one would be shopping." This man seems to forget that the majority of the world is non-Christian, and that he lives in an area with a significant number of Jewish people who will celebrate Hanukkah during these holidays. His poor son was totally embarrassed because people were staring at this man making his insane proclamations that he no doubt learned from listening to too much Bill O'Reilly. And nevermind that he was IN the Target buying things with his hard-earned cash-- supporting the devil, I say! When "happy holidays" becomes an offensive phrase, we're in trouble. Let's all take a minute to once again morn the death of sanity in this ridiculous country of ours.

And everyone seems to forget that if it weren't for the pagans , who celebrate the winter solstice this time of year, we wouldn't be giving gifts at all, and Christmas might be held at a completely different time. I am so glad I don't have television so I don't have to hear excessive banter about the "war on Christmas." Did everyone forget that the entire world is NOT CHRISTIAN. Speaking as a heathen, I have to say I've always found it offensive when WASPy people feel victimized because their God is not being adequately recognized. PLEASE! How about considering the privilege one gets by being a white, anglo-saxon, protestant. I try to be aware of my own priviledge and recognize that many others aren't born with the automatic advantages with which I was born.

Morris

2005-10-24T20:20:00.000-07:00

Our new family member: Morris the cat. I adopted him from the Sayreville Pet Adoption Center . He is only two years old and is a perfect lap kitty. Finally I have someone to act as a surrogate child until I have human babies! He's adjusting well to our household and has finally gotten comfortable enough to meow for food; I think that's a good sign.

Broken Heart

2005-10-18T17:31:00.000-07:00

My father had a heart attack on Saturday. I was not surprised like everyone else seemed to be. I have expected this moment for almost ten years, ever since his youngest brother died of a heart attack at age 40. I only hoped he would live through it, and he has. A third of his heart was damaged and he was in the Intensive Care unit for three days. He looked pale and swollen and exhausted when I saw him on Saturday after they'd put the stint in his heart. When I left yesterday he looked more like himself. My mother was with him when it happened and she is traumatized.

Dreaming in Tangerine

2005-10-11T18:49:00.000-07:00

Our apartment was too white. We wanted something more vibrant, something to bring us through the winter full of energy to face the grey outside. Besides, Halloween's coming, subconsciously it must have had something to do with pumpkins. Now we have a tangerine-themed apartment. So, we're going all the way with it. I'm having my Gates photos enlarged so we can frame and hang them. After seeing those flapping squares of orange fabric, the color will never look the same to me again. Maybe that's another reason we ended up with this wall.

Our new wall.

NYC Gates 2005

Gate against the sky

Flowers from David

Starting a New Blog

2005-10-11T18:35:00.000-07:00

Since beginning my Human Info. Behavior log, blogging has grown on me. I intend this blog to be a record of my everyday life experiences, ramblings, and whatever else. I think of myself as a somewhat creative person and am trying this out as a venue for expression.

Let the fun begin...