dinner.

K: There's not much food in the house. What do you want for dinner?
M: Actually, I have a craving for McDonald's. [Hugs Kate. Pause.] I can't see your face, but I'm imagining the cringe. Maybe we can walk there.
K: OK, we can go to McDonald's.
M: Really? Great. [Pause.] We don't have to walk, do we?

Later that same night...

K: I am so full.
M: Is there any ice cream?
K: Yes.
M: Do you want some, too?
K: Yes.

the five-finger forehead, and more.

Find an extensive collection of bad DVD cover art, here. Oh my, I do hate these.

has it really come to this??

Take the What High School Stereotype Are You? quiz, by Angel.

I'm sorry, but how can you resist that face?

death by cramping.

If you're like me, a slightly claustrophobic five foot eleven with legs up to your armpits (or even if yours just go up to your ass like everybody else's), I know you'll appreciate this vital information: secrets of coach seat layout. (Link via Metafilter.)

In other news... we've been back for a few days, and I'm starting to get the swing of being home all day with little to no responsibilities. I'm not entirely bored, but neither am I entirely content. Perhaps it's the living room full of boxes I'm trying to ignore, or the fact that until today we were coffeepotless, or la cucaracha I caught in the kitchen a couple of weeks ago, but I'm starting to think job again.

Or I was, until last weekend when we attended (yet) another wedding, this time with several of my ex-co-workers. Somehow all of those Xerox tales of woe and Engineering mishaps weren't so funny this time round. Anybody wanna come play with me??

city politics.

Here's an interesting essay on Cooper Union and the Chrysler Building.

we're panamaniacs... we don't talk back!

Greetings from Panama... we're just back from a day-long tour of the country and have 6 minutes left on the connection at the port to make a quick report. I'm typing on a Spanglish keyboard so forgive any typos.

We are married. We are sunburned. We've seen two oceans today. Costa Rica sucked. I had an allergic reaction to my sunscreen. Cozumel was fantastic and so was Grand Cayman. We are the youngest people on the trip. We are married. We are sunburned.

I've read two books so far and I've started needlepointing. I know what you're thinking, go have sex with your husband. Well... okay. In 3 minutes. The Neal Pollack Anthology of American Literature -- totally worth digging through the Strand to find it for 4 bucks.

Okay, that's all for now. I promise a more complete report in a few days. Adios!

roll camera...

Here come the pictures (gasp).
From Loria, the first few aren't from the wedding.
From Karen's Jesse (05-APR-02).
From Karen's Jesse (06-APR-02).

tough love.

Last week was not a good week. On Thursday, March 28th, we got the terrible news that Marc's grandfather (and, of course, my at that time very soon-to-be grandfather-in-law) had passed away, quite suddenly, without illness or fanfare. Marc's family had been spending most of their time getting themselves more and more excited about the wedding, and so the death hit like a hammer.

My memories of Grand-Pa Tommy (their spelling of grandpa...) are somewhat sparse, since he suffered a speech-impairing stroke a few years ago, before I had much of a chance to get to know him. But I recently received a birthday card from him (apparently he was known for his affinity toward Hallmark) that made me cry. Granted, it's been an emotional couple of months, but the way he underlined "such a special granddaughter..." well, you can probably fill in the details.

Anyway, as heavy and miserable as everyone felt preparing for the funeral, they really turned it around for the wedding. The wedding became a major affirmation of life for at least half of my family. It was really wonderful to see everyone cheerful and friendly again. And as for Tommy, I think we knew that he'd wanted to be there so badly that he'd probably made it. After all, he never missed a party, and this was, without a doubt, a party.

you are so married!

I'm back from the whirlwind matrimonial tour of 2002, and I couldn't be floating any higher. With the possible exception of my extreme exhaustion, all seems right and happy and just full of love. On Saturday evening, we gathered 131 of our closest friends and family, had an extremely Catholic ceremony, and rocked the night away. Miraculously, I managed to escape the evening without vomiting or losing my voice, thanks mainly to six fabulously beautiful women who followed me around from 6 PM on Friday through early Sunday morning.

I'll follow with pictures at some point. Right now we're in wedding purgatory, waiting until Friday to hop on a plane and disappear for a couple of weeks. Poor Marc's at work, while I really need to do my taxes and wash last week's dishes, yuck.

Thanks to everybody who came, kissed, danced, primped, bustled, and ate. I hope you had as much fun as I did!