I personally can't wait for them. But not as they're distributed right now. The Kindle is in some ways such a huge step forward, but it's also a bit like the first person who thought of the iPod was, instead of Apple, IBM. And they made this beige monstrosity and tied it to a proprietary MP3 format they had the clout to make nearly universal.

No one minded when Apple did this with the iPod (well, most people didn't mind) because Apple creates such salivatingly beautiful hardware that everyone wanted one, and iTunes, too, was pretty much the best jukebox out there. So they tied up the MP3 market for a good long time with their hardware/delivery system one-two punch and made a lot of money. Eventually, Amazon got into the MP3-selling biz and Apple opened up their format a bit, and it seems likely that more sellers will move into the market eventually. Plus of course bands sell MP3s from their websites now.

The same formula will eventually happen for e-books, I think. But in the meantime, the Kindle is no iPod; it's kludgy to use and ugly to look at. It has well-noted hardware defects. So instead of saving up my pennies for it, the way I did for the iPod, I find myself impatiently waiting for Amazon to realize that they don't have Apple's hardware-design chops and open up their Kindle editions to other e-readers. Sony has a nice one. Asus will reputedly have a two-"page" design color one out soon. Apple and Microsoft are both rumored to be around the corner from debuting tablet PCs that will inevitably also serve as e-readers.

And I am *dying* for it to happen. Some books I'll always want as hard copies -- anything with beautiful pictures, all my beach reading, and books I love so much I really need their physical hard copies near me to be happy. But academic books, which wear out from re-use, I would LOVE to have as e-books, so I wouldn't lose all my margin notes every time my copy of Heart of Darkness cracks down the spine and I have to buy another one. And inevitably I know I'd pay for copies of other e-books just to be able to get the book nownowNOW and not a week from now when it arrives in the mail.

So, in short, dear E-book and e-book reader manufacturers: hurry the fuck up. I have lots and lots of money I'd like to give you if you'd just get your shit together.

I keep getting these good little shocks, such as: hey, we could compost now! (Yes, I was raised such that "composting" is a verb.) Or: "I hate that windowsill in the bathroom," followed by the years-of-renting-instilled feeling of loathing and helplessness, followed by the thought, "damn, I can change it if I want."

Sometimes the number of things we need to do to this house overwhelms me. Where will we get the money, time, and energy?

But other times, it delights me. I was ready to buy a house at nineteen; I already knew, and had known for years, what kind of house I wanted. I had to wait until I was thirty-one to buy a house, though, and it wasn't, of course, exactly the house I wanted, thanks to realities of money and the market. I waited a long time for this, though.

It's sinking in, but in stages.

A warm belly on a sleepy cat, proffered for ruffling while you read.

This house belongs to us. And we, of course, belong to FHA now, as do all our assets and every paycheck until we die.

The house needs some work (starting with that dumb porch roof, which isn't the right pitch for bungalow style), but the work it needs is all cosmetic, and it has brand-new plumbing and lots of electrical upgrades. It's also, hallelujah, in the city, not a suburban monstrosity, and comes with a mortgage we can afford.

I'm a homeowner! I was starting to think it would never happen. Kudos to our very patient realtor and our fantastic mortgage guy, and if you need either of these items in Houston, let me know, because I can hook you up.



And it has a front porch. Expect a swing and some margaritas to happen on said front porch, pronto.

Software (like iTunes) wouldn't ask you if you wanted to upgrade at the beginning, when you opened the software up. You opened the software because you want to use it right away, and upgrading takes time.

Instead, the software should ask when you've closed it down, or after a long period of time when it's been open but idle, not being used. At those times, you're not actively engaged with the software and might not mind running the updater in the background.

1. Yes, I cried during the acceptance speech.

2. I feel patriotic for the first time in eight years.

3. It wasn't until Obama gave his speech that I felt how really relieved I was, and how much eight years of fascism and anti-intellectualism and bigotry and reckless government had exhausted me and weighed me down.

4. I can't wait to see the First Puppy.

Link to full story

Elke Wisbey's brain damage prevents her from speaking, walking, or feeding herself. Her community raised the £17,000 necessary to buy her a MyTobii Smartbox machine, which uses lasers to detect which phrase her eyes have focused on and then electronically speaks that phrase for her. So at six, she can talk for the first time. She's mastering the equipment much more quickly than her family, and uses it to talk to them, play games, and browse the internet.

This story obviously warms the cockles of our hearts, but it also makes me wonder why technology like this isn't automatically covered for people who are disabled in the area of producing speech. Isn't speech more or less a human right? It seems to me as necessary as breathing, almost. What's glossed over in this story is that for six years, Elke Wisbey could understand what was being said to her, but had no way to make her own desires known, or even show the outside world what was going on in her head.

I know that for people with speech issues, it's often frustrating to try and prove to the non-disabled world that they really have cognition, that they feel and think, and it seems like barriers like this are part of the problem. In fact, even when they get access to speech enablers, there are people who question whether they are "really" speaking (I've already seen comments across the net to this effect about Elke Wisbey, although it's obvious from the article that she is in fact using the technology in a purposeful way).

I'm thrilled Elke can speak now -- I would just like to see everyone similarly situated also enabled in a similar manner, preferably through government funding.

Your thoughts?

...And that says it all.  I have a Mystery Itchiness on my legs from the knee down, dating from when I shaved them.  This doesn't usually happen.  WTF?  Anyone had this?  Any advice?  Cort-Aid doesn't seem to help.

I forgot to update and say that I'm fine.  First I had a scorching depressive episode, though.  I really think my hormones may be out of whack.  Wonder if I should go on the pill, or what?  I guess it's time to go to the gyno, although I'd rather just shove bamboo under my fingernails.

I'm working on an essay right now (for a given value of "working") and Stick the cat is perched on my shoulder like a bony, neurotic parrot.  Occasionally he sticks his freezing, wet nose in my ear, which is shivery and oddly endearing.  He's purring and sounds like a lawnmower, this close.

Does anyone else get oddly cheerful in the face of tremendous overwork?  Sometimes I think I'm at my best on the edge of catastrophe.  There's a weird calm there: all you can do is focus on the next thing, then the next thing, then the next thing.

Yesterday, I got an unsolicited and unfair zit.  Today, I am in a really, really terrible mood, and I've had to work really hard not to bite someone's head off or just throw all my work on the floor and crawl into bed for a week.

In conclusion, I think I might be getting ready to have an extra period.  FUCK.  I'm going to have to go to the gynecologist if that happens, because it will be the second time in three months, which means I can't ignore it and say "it's probably stress."

Dear ovaries: shape up or I am going to cut you right out of my body.  Thanks.

01) Are you currently in a serious relationship?
Yes

02) What was your dream growing up?
To have my own house and dogs -- still working on it.

03) What talent do you wish you had? 
I wish I were a really fantastic dancer.

04) If I bought you a drink what would it be?
Screwdriver, or a really dry chardonnay.

05) Favorite vegetable?
Tie between asparagus and artichoke.

06) What was the last book you read?
Hard Times, by Charles Dickens.

07) What zodiac sign are you?
Scorpio.

08) Any Tattoos and/or Piercings?
Just ears.  I'd like to get a couple more.

09) Worst Habit?
Procrastination and--not unconnected--staying up too late.  Why do you think I'm doing this meme?

10) If you saw me walking down the street would you offer me a ride?
Honestly, not unless I knew you.

11) What is your favorite sport?
Figure skating.

12) Do you have a Pessimistic or Optimistic attitude?
I'm an optimist who tries to control her optimism by talking a good pessimistic game.

13) What would you do if you were stuck in an elevator with me?
Play "would you rather" and, if all else failed, hangman.

14) Worst thing to ever happen to you?
I got pregnant at sixteen and it changed my relationship with my parents forever.  Not in a good way.

15) Tell me one weird fact about you.
I love it when people play with my hair.

16) Do you have any pets?
Three evil cats.

17) What if I showed up at your house unexpectedly?
I'd die of horror when you saw the amount of cat hair on the sofa.

18) What was your first impression of me?
That you were worth getting to know, and that getting to know you would take time.

19) Do you think clowns are cute or scary?
Neither, but if I had to choose just one, then scary.

20) If you could change one thing about how you look, what would it be?
I wouldn't turn down perkier boobs.

21) Would you be my crime partner or my conscience?
Partner in crime, unless I thought what you were doing was seriously ethically wrong.

22) What color eyes do you have?
Green.

23) Ever been arrested?
No, but I was taken home once in the back of a police car.

24) Bottle or can soda?
Can.  Bottle soda tastes like plastic.

25) If you won $10,000 today, what would you do with it?
Pay off credit card debt.

27) What's your favorite place to hang out at?
The coffee place nearest my house.  I like to pretend I live there.

28) Do you believe in ghosts?
It depends on whether you ask me in the middle of the night.

29) Favorite thing to do in your spare time?
Read, poke around the internet, and make plans for the future.

30) Do you swear a lot?
Fucking A.

31) Biggest pet peeve?
People who are really invested in their own coolness.

32) In one word, how would you describe yourself?
Reflective.

33) Do you believe/appreciate romance?
Not really.  It's nice in theory, but it tends to boil down to cliches.  If someone did something unusual and surprising and thoughtful, I would think that was romantic.  A dozen roses, though, meh.

34) Favourite and least favourite food?
Favorite: for junk food, chocolate, and for healthy food, asparagus.  Least favorite: is horseradish a "food"?  Because I think it's really gross.

35) Do you believe in God?
I am taking God under consideration.

36) Will you repost this so I can fill it out and do the same for you?

I'm running in place lately and feel sort of pleased about it, although it also means I hardly hold still enough to really notice anything.

Done in the last week:

• A sonnet, a blank verse poem, first drafts of two "regular" poems, two revisions.
• A big swath of grading and two smaller chunks of grading.
• Started another book of poems: Ellen Bryant Voigt's Messenger: New & Selected Poems.  I'm trying to get more poetry reading done by viewing it less as a sort of vatic experience and more as something that will sometimes be pleasurable and sometimes just be hard but will always be necessary to my life as a writer.  We'll see how this works.
• Cleaned the bathroom.
• Swept the living room floor.
• Replaced some of the things the hurricane killed, like salad dressing, ketchup, and so on.  The little-known casualty of a hurricane is every single condiment in your refrigerator.
• Made a new budget.

Still to be done:

• A villanelle, another form poem, a revision of the manuscript.
• Blog posts for the class I'm TA-ing -- I'm behind on these.
• A paper in a class due in the next two weeks.
• Track down a hard-to-find and expensive book for one of my classes.

Today, by the way, I did not one single thing.  Coming off a three-day work jag where I slept maybe ten hours total over three days, I slept twelve hours, well into the afternoon, and then watched a lot of TV episodes on my laptop in my pajamas, nursing a headache.  Thank heavens.

To the right (and down a bit) are my goals for the next three-ish years. I don't expect to accomplish all of them (lose all that weight? probably not -- same with pay off all credit card debt), but I'm hoping to get through quite a few. A lot of them are actually "fun" goals, things I always mean to do and then never get around to. Some of them are a reflection more of the instant in which I made the list than my real personality -- note all the cooking goals. I'd like to like cooking, but honestly, I don't. Still, I'm going to try to cross them off. Why not? It won't kill me, and maybe I'll like it better than I think I will. Also, I'm tired of eating the same six meals over and over.

Here's what I've managed so far.

Spend the weekend in Austin: did it, loved it, will do it again, blogged it already.

Ride bike to coffee shop 25 times: did it once, need to get my tires checked so I can do it some more.

Find one new favorite non-caffeinated, sugar-free drink: Crystal Light fruit punch, baby. It's like kool-aid, only a little better. This is an oddly important one, because I really hate the water here, and I need some kind of hydration system that doesn't involve straight water or (my preference, but unforch bad for me) straight Diet Coke. I'm not sure this is totally sugar-free, actually, but it has very little sugar, or maybe it's all Splenda, and in any case, close enough.

Go to an arts festival: Eh, did it in Austin, remember why I don't do these as much anymore: overpriced jewelry, mediocre pottery, mediocre art. Still, it's a fun way to spend an afternoon if you keep your expectations low. Am I a huge snob?

Read 10 memoirs: Have read three: Something I've forgotten already (must not have been that good), Plan B: Further Thoughts On Faith by Anne Lamott, and Dog Years by Mark Doty. Plan B was fun; Dog Years is amazing, and everyone should read it.

Read 100 new books of poetry: Have read one: an early book of James Wright's poems. This is a hard one for me because I almost never read a book of poems all the way through and thus "finish" it. Although actually, I've finished Source by Mark Doty, so I should add that to th list. Only 98 more to go! Uh.

Things I would like to get done soon: publish a poem or two, get a better couch, fix up the bike. So those may be next.

• Got caught up on Fringe via Hulu, and decided it's not quite as good as the X Files, but pretty good (but omg, they have to stop using those floating bubble letters to announce the locations -- so distracting and annoying!).
• Saw Eagle Eye with a friend (his choice -- I wanted to see Appaloosa,  and still do).  I recommend waiting and renting Eagle Eye.  It's the kind of movie that's not bad to watch as you're making earrings or something, but not good enough to pay $20 to see in the theater.
• Tried a new Indian food place.  Verdict: too expensive, but mmm, good curry.
• Had leisurely lunch on Sunday with Cthulu at one of our favorite cafes and basked in the perfect weather and lovely fall sunlight.
• Cleaned the living room.
• Completely ignored my email.

It was a nice  weekend.

Jezebel came up with a list of 75 must-read books (mostly by women). I thought it might be fun to see which ones I've read (ones I've read are crossed out). Feel free to copy if you're in the mood for another book meme.

• The Lottery (and Other Stories), Shirley Jackson


• To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf


• The House of Mirth, Edith Wharton


• White Teeth, Zadie Smith


• The House of the Spirits, Isabel Allende


• Slouching Towards Bethlehem, Joan Didion


• Excellent Women, Barbara Pym


• The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath


• Wide Sargasso Sea, Jean Rhys


• The Namesake, Jhumpa Lahiri


• Beloved, Toni Morrison


• Madame Bovary, Gustave Flaubert


• Like Life, Lorrie Moore


• Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen


• Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë


• The Delta of Venus, Anais Nin


• A Thousand Acres, Jane Smiley


• A Good Man Is Hard To Find (and Other Stories), Flannery O'Connor


• The Shipping News, E. Annie Proulx


• You Can't Keep a Good Woman Down, Alice Walker


• Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston


• To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee


• Fear of Flying, Erica Jong


• Earthly Paradise, Colette


• Angela's Ashes, Frank McCourt


• Property, Valerie Martin


• Middlemarch, George Eliot


• Annie John, Jamaica Kincaid


• The Second Sex, Simone de Beauvoir


• Runaway, Alice Munro


• The Heart is A Lonely Hunter, Carson McCullers


• The Woman Warrior, Maxine Hong Kingston


• Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë


• You Must Remember This, Joyce Carol Oates


• Little Women, Louisa May Alcott


• Bad Behavior, Mary Gaitskill


• The Liars' Club, Mary Karr


• I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou


• A Tree Grows In Brooklyn, Betty Smith


• And Then There Were None, Agatha Christie


• Bastard out of Carolina, Dorothy Allison


• The Secret History, Donna Tartt
• 
  The Little Disturbances of Man, Grace Paley


• The Portable Dorothy Parker, Dorothy Parker


• The Group, Mary McCarthy


• Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi


• The Golden Notebook, Doris Lessing


• The Diary of Anne Frank, Anne Frank


• Frankenstein, Mary Shelley


• Against Interpretation, Susan Sontag


• In the Time of the Butterflies, Julia Alvarez


• The Good Earth, Pearl S. Buck


• Fun Home, Alison Bechdel


• Three Junes, Julia Glass


• A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Mary Wollstonecraft


• Sophie's Choice, William Styron


• Valley of the Dolls, Jacqueline Susann


• Love in a Cold Climate, Nancy Mitford


• Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell


• The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. LeGuin


• The Red Tent, Anita Diamant


• The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera


• The Face of War, Martha Gellhorn


• My Antonia, Willa Cather


• Love In The Time of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez


• The Harsh Voice, Rebecca West


• Spending, Mary Gordon


• The Lover, Marguerite Duras


• The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy


• Tell Me a Riddle, Tillie Olsen


• Nightwood, Djuna Barnes


• Three Lives, Gertrude Stein


• Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons


• I Capture the Castle, Dodie Smith


• Possession, A.S. Byatt

So Cthulu and I went to Austin for part of the weekend in order to escape our normal responsibilities and dirty house we don't feel like cleaning and all that, and to do that whole "romantic getaway" thing couples are supposed to do, although I'm not sure other couples define "romantic getaway" as "eating crepes and Mexican food and going to the art festival" but whatever, YMMV.

Here are the things we did, and my thoughts on them.

1. Hawthorn Suites Ltd., Airport
This is where we stayed. The cool hip hotels were all sold out, which is fine, actually, because I kind of like anonymous, quiet hotels. Downside of this place: they are remodeling right now, so the lobby area, while functional, is obviously under construction. Upsides: $100/night, really nice sheets, pillows and blankets, very clean, very quiet, and has a little living room, plus microwave and tiny fridge. Oh, and free wireless. It's criminal that some hotels charge extra for wireless. Finally, this place is not on the main drag, but it's very easy to find the main drag from here, and it's not far away. So, yay Hawthorn Suites. We liked you! We will come back.


2. Curra's Grill
We got in Saturday night and used the free! wireless! at our hotel to find a place to eat. Citysearch recommended Curra's, and they were right. Curra's is very affordable Tex-Mex (lots of dishes are $7 or so) with great queso and salsa, warm chips, and a wonderful patio. It's very low-key and not at all fancy. Its food is not high-end or anything, but it was a nice place to relax outside after our drive. We went back the next day to grab some dinner before we left town because we were wearing our swimsuits still (more on that later) and knew that we wouldn't feel too underdressed here. If you want to try their specialty, order the Cochinita Pibil, which is basically very spicy barbecue pork with fried plantains. Delish.

3. Magnolia Cafe
We went here late Saturday night because the Internets strongly recommended it and I wanted some mimosas. Cthulu had a root beer float and I had mimosas and one gingerbread pancake with blueberries. Verdict: meh. There was a long wait, and I'm not sure why. The interior was supposed to come off as "funky" but instead just looked sorta disjointed. The mimosas didn't have great orange juice in them. The root beer float was average. And the gingerbread pancake, which I thought sounded really yummy, was in fact dry and kind of gross and not at all sweet. The gingerbread pancake might have been better if it was served with whipped cream and powdered sugar instead of butter and regular pancake syrup. Maybe we just ordered the wrong things, but we weren't impressed.

4. Old Pecan Street Cafe
I already knew I loved this place, because we ate here the last time we came to Austin. Still love it. This is where we ate lunch on Sunday. C. had the fettuccine, I had the grilled salmon. Both were delicious, as was the steaming hot bread they serve with the salads. We ended with strawberry crepes. I can't emphasize strongly enough how perfect the crepes are at Old Pecan Street Cafe. I've been there twice now, and each time, the crepes have left me speechless. They have just the right cold/hot, tangy/sweet combinations. We ate one, and then, to our surprise, ordered a second one and ate it up completely too. This is on my "do not miss" list for Austin.

5. Old Pecan Street Festival
It was hot as hell outside, but this festival, which is mainly an arts festival, was still fun. I never wind up buying anything at an arts festival, but it's entertaining to look, and I wind up talking cameras with all the photographers ("how did you shoot that? oh, I had a Fuji once too!"). This was fun for people-watching and dog-watching. I took a lot of dog pictures. The food also smelled delicious, but we were too stuffed with crepes to eat any of it.

6. Barton Springs Pool
After a couple of hours at the festival, we were hot, sticky, and sick of art. So we went to this very cool natural pool in the middle of Austin. The spring that feeds the pool keeps fresh water pumping in and maintains the (huge) pool's 68-degree temperature. This means that you have to choose a temperature-adjustment method. Cthulu, who is a "rip the band-aid off" type, threw himself in all at once and nearly suffered a heart attack. I am a "remove the band-aid one centimeter at a time" person, so I went down the pebbly steps one at a time, suppressing shrieks as I went. After we got in, the water was heavenly, and the hot sun kept it from being too cold. This was the perfect way to spend a hot afternoon. A+.

So we have both electricity and cable now, and it's as if I've re-entered the 21st century. For a while, I wasn't sure what to do with myself. The answer arrived soon, of course: watch hours and hours of a) crime procedurals and b) trashy reality TV.

Between that and obsessive Facebooking, I almost feel back to normal.

Here's what I've discovered from my time away from the internet and electric appliances: I would make a lousy pioneer. Also, candlelight is awesome and romantic only if you can turn on electric lights any time you want. Have you ever tried to floss your teeth by candlelight? Find your cat? I don't recommend it. I guess the pioneers did this shit during the daylight hours, but whatever. I'm just glad the lights are back on.

If we ever have some worldwide catastrophe and descend into a pre-industrial state, I am so fucked.

So, I survived Ike, although we haven't had power since about midnight the night the storm started. We lost power before a drop of rain fell. Then our street and front lawn turned into a lake.

The lake drained, but still no air conditioning, internet, cable tv, refrigeration, or laundry. H-town is under some weird curfew for no apparent reason, so even getting errands done after work (like finding an open laundromat) is a huge challenge.

I had no idea how inconvenient going through a hurricane would be. So far? Very.

We got a bunch of supplies for Hurricane Ike, so naturally I am now eating the granola bars 24 hours ahead of the hurricane's actual landfall. For dinner!

48 hours from now, it may be like the movie Doomsday in our apartment.