Jenn Martinelli Blogging in Boston

"This is America, and in America when something sucks you're supposed to be able to get your money back!" - Stan Marsh

We are finishing our dinner at Au Bon Pain at the Copley Place mall. It's nice if we can meet somewhere in the city and have some cheap food for dinner before we go home... Then we can just get to doing whatever chores we have, etc. Without having to mess with cooking and dishes, etc. Of course back in our etravagent days in Brighton, we'd regularly get take-out from Bugaboo Creek and The Stockyard and just generally be ridiculous. I wish I had all that steak dinner money back right now! Oh, well. Live and learn I guess.

I cannot heap enough insults on this organization, so I won't even really try. Please watch the ridiculous video they have up on their site. It's ludicrous.

I can't help it, I'm not rational in the face of this stupidity. I hope all these people have horrible lives full of suffering. Maybe they will do us all a favor and not contribute to the gene pool, though based on their obsession with marriage producing children that's probably unlikely.

Isn't the sad thing that people who are awful and stupid seem to not only have kids but to have too many kids, while people who know better choose to have few or none? In a few generations this planet will be a total loss. Glad I won't be here to see it.

People are disgusting. I, for one, do not pee on the toilet seat when I go to the bathroom in a public restroom (or at home either, just for the record). Apparently many women do. And even better, they leave it behind for the next person to find, perhaps by sitting in it. Now I don't know about all you other women out there - maybe you DO like to sit in other people's pee. I would guess that this is not the case, however. So why do you think anybody wants to sit in yours? I cannot comprehend what people are thinking when they do this. I guess they're not thinking, and that's my answer.

Hey, maybe I'm missing something. Maybe 90% of the women in the world grew up with some kind of toilet maid that came in and hosed down the whole bathroom every time they used it, I don't know. But I for one did not grow up this way, and therefore, have learned to go to the bathroom without peeing on the seat. (Hint: it's pretty easy since girls can sit down to pee.)

Until the rest of the world can learn this great skill, I advocate that every public restroom should institute some version of a self-cleaning toilet. Either like the public coin-operated kind put up by Wall in Boston, or the kind with the plastic seat cover that is destroyed and replaced every time someone uses it like I saw in an airport somewhere... maybe Cincinnati... maybe Knoxville... or else hey, maybe someone wants to invent a disposable toilet. Or lastly, maybe Americans should learn to use the bathroom the Japanese way.

Hey, want to take a little unofficial test from Mensa? I decided that regardless of whether I was Mensa material I wouldn't join because I don't feel the need to sit around discussing how intelligent I am with other people who are also self-important. But I took this anyway. Unfortunately, I took it at work during lunch and was very distracted and didn't do very well. Oh, well! I still know I'm a super genius.

Or, let's be realistic, even a condo. I just want to own something and make an investment instead of renting. I want not to have to worry about moving every year, and not to have to worry about whether landlords will take tenants with pets. I want to be able to paint and replace fixtures if I want to. I even want a fixer upper. Well, these people (a division of Countrywide) claim they want to help me. Not that I've spoken to anyone there, I'm just looking at their website. Let's hope so, folks. We'll see.

I really need to rejoin the Museum of Fine Arts. I love Gaugin. In fact, I once dressed up as a "Gaugin island girl" or something ridiculous like that for Halloween in college because I had no better costume ideas and happened to own a sarong.

Apparently, I picked the wrong job.

This is a hat I made for a friend's 2-year-old. It's the first cabled thing I made.

This is a hat I made out of leftover yarn from another project. It's crocheted.

This is a cute multi-colored hat I made with a mohair-blend boucle yarn. It's also crocheted.

This is a pink hat made out of this super soft yarn with the tagline, "touch it, feel it, love it". It feels like microfleece.

By the way, sorry for the pretty bad quality of some of these. Our good camera was being fixed when I took them and they've been resized using not the greatest software. I'll replace them all with better images once I have them.

Just a word to the wise: nobody wants to hear your asanine conversation. Oh yes, I am talking to you. I know that you must be having a great time talking to your stupid friends with the Beatles hair and the stupid bangs and the ridiculous hipster clothes. I know that you think that all of you are very interesting. However, I guarantee that nobody else on the entire train wants to hear your ideas about socialism or why everyone should subscribe to the raw-vegetables-only diet, so you should really keep it to yourself.

So March is almost over and so is Rob's springbreak, as well as Heather's. They are both feeling bad because they didn't go on any fun trips and they also didn't catch up on work or get ahead like they both wanted to. I say oh well, using your break as a break is OK. But nobody wants to listen to me.

Well listen people, I need you to give me some money. I don't need charity money, I can give you something in return. Would you like a lovely hat or scarf or blanket or throw that I knit or crocheted with my very own hands? Any size you want. I take custom orders. I'm working my way up to sweaters but for now can only offer these smaller items. They make lovely gifts! I will put up some pictures later today.

Anyway, March seems prepped to "go out like a lamb", so I guess the cliche is true.

Can Bush really truly be doing something useful with this policy?

Here is a quote:

Late last year, Bush signed the American Dream Down Payment Act to help families that can afford monthly mortgage payments but not the down payment or closing costs associated with buying a house. The legislation authorizes $200 million a year in down payment assistance to at least 40,000 low-income families.

Now, why do I think that this is going to be not helpful at all, and somehow end up meaning that I'll be paying more money for the same crappy apartment and not owning a house next year? Oh, wait, I know why. Because he'll be making me pay more in taxes and everything else in my life to finance this great idea. Nice move.

Not for fancy schmancy private functions, jerks.

Nice. I appreciate that you need to laugh about serious things sometimes but you know this guy is no genius doing this right now. Everyone's going to jump all over it, stupid!

It's true, folks. We are actually having spring-like weather here today. I can hardly believe it. Last year we went straight from freezing cold and rainy to heat wave with high humidity. On June 1, 2003 it was pouring and cold and I was wearing my winter coat to go downtown with Rob. By the last week in June it was in the 90's and we were desperately trying to find a reasonably-priced window air-conditioner.

Anyway, I was so shocked by the weather when I ran out to get a sandwich that I thought I was dreaming for a minute. It's about 60 degrees, really sunny, and breezy. I could handle this kind of weather indefinitely. I can't stand the hot summers and I'm not the biggest fan of the 10 degrees below zero winter days, but a good fall or spring day makes me so happy. Hopefully we will actually get a spring this year.

Maybe Jozwik can put in a good word for me with Mother Nature. I hear he has an in with her.

Just wanted to let you know that it works. Oh, and hopefully my trackback/writeback feature works too. Since Heather and I are apparently too stupid to get it to work in Radio.

First of all, is this really necessary? When you think about it, isn't it a little creepy?

Secondly, there is something going on with this in the Supreme Court. An atheist is arguing that making school children recite "under God" (which, in case you didn't hear about it already, was added by Congress in the 1970's) in schools is akin to a forced religious exercise. Some of the more "skeptical" justices questioned whether he (Michael Newdow) would also have a problem with children singing "God Bless America" in school, "In God We Trust" being stamped on US coins or "God save the United States and this honorable court" being stated at the beginning of the court sessions, as if to prove to him that his assertion was ridiculous. Well, let me answer that. Yes, I kind of do.

Does everyone not understand that the point of religious freedom and the separation of church and state isn't that you can believe in whatever religion you choose so long as you believe in something? There is no requirement that you practice any religion or belief in any higher being of any kind. That doesn't mean the opposite either - that you're restricted from such beliefs. But it DOES mean that you are restricted from forcing them on other people. What does everyone not understand about this?

Yes, I have just as much of a problem with kids being directed to sing "God Bless America" in public schools as I would with kids being forced to recite the Lord's Prayer or a bible verse or anything else religious. And no, it's not really necessary to invoke God on our coins and in our courts. The difference is who is doing it. If you, as a citizen, want to pray or talk about religion or even instruct people that yours is the right one, etc., that's fine, you're allowed to. But you're not allowed to if you are representing the government and coercing others to do it. Come on, people.

Oh, by the way - the Newdow guy is an Athiest and his wife (ex-wife I guess) is a born-again Christian. Yeah, their kid isn't screwed up at all.

There you go, that's the smashed finger, fresh from the window.

Heather had a very unfortunate incident yesterday. The window slammed shut on her finger and smashed it - and not only that, it was stuck in there for a minute and at first she didn't think she'd be able to get the window open and she almost passed out. Poor Heather!

Last night I was talking my parents and my dad's dorkiness during the 70's came up. He only made it worse by quoting the gold prices during the 70's and comparing them to current gold prices. Poor Keyrock.

UPDATE 2004/04/16: His dorkiness initially came up because he admitted to owning white patent leather loafers.

Rob and I met for lunch today, and afterwards he headed to the library to do some work (he's on his spring break, but no beaches in Florida for him... he's not the beach type) and I went back to the office. I gave him the only cash I had on me in case he needed it, $2. And as I was walking away he said, "I'm going to go spend your two dollars!"

So I want to know, did you spend my two dollars yet, you crazy spend-a-holic? Don't spend it all in one place! Ha ha.

UPDATE 2004/04/16: Rob reports that he did, in fact, spend all two dollars in one place! How wasteful.

My friends did not get their house. Too many people put in offers. This city and this world are both getting too crazy. Is anyone even aware of a home sale where there was actually just one offer put in at a time and not fifty competing ones that the buyer gets to choose from? I don't think my parents have ever had competition and a bidding war when buying a house. If they did, they didn't tell me. It's just crazy. It certainly makes it much harder, and it's all just designed to screw you (the buyer) out of more money. Why don't you just set a price, then when you get an offer which is that price, take the offer, and that's it. Don't accept 20 offers at once. Geez.

Ok, you know those bumper stickers and whatnot that say, "Kill Your Television!" I think it might actually be a good idea if someone killed my television. It is too distracting to me. I get involved watching perfectly horrible shows instead of doing chores I should be doing and instead of doing other things which are actually more enjoyable like reading, listening to music, talking to friends on the phone, etc. So please, someone stop by and kill my television. I won't report you.

Also, Charlestown is a freaking mess. Yesterday someone was trying to escape (I think from the crime scene) in a stolen SUV and cops shot him. Guess where this was? Oh yeah, about 3 blocks from my house. Nice neighborhood. But wait, you say, isn't Charlestown an expensive city neighborhood? Aren't there a lot of nice townhouses there? Isn't it historic and nice?

1. Yes it's expensive but that doesn't mean anything. Everything is expensive.
2. Yes, there are a lot of nice townhouses. And yuppies live in them. And there are a lot of crappy apartments. And I live in one and other, less pleasant people also live in them. And shoot each other.
3. Parts of it are historic and nice. Other parts are total crap.

Since it's such a small place I'd say the end result is that even the nice places are too close to the crap places, so just steer clear altogether. Sorry, Charlestown. I'm sure you used to be a nice neighborhood in some respects but now you just have two polar opposites living there and I can't take it anymore. Get me out! Send me back to Somerville! Or Cambridge! I'd even almost go back to Brighton! Hard to believe, I know.

AJPP and Annie put in an offer on a house yesterday so I am thinking good thoughts for them today and keeping my fingers crossed. Oh, and also being very jealous. If they can do it, we can do it! This time next year I want to OWN something damn it!

"24.9 percent of American children live in poverty, while the proportions in Germany, France and Italy are 8.6, 7.4 and 10.5 percent. And once born on the wrong side of the tracks, Americans are more likely to stay there than their counterparts in Europe. Those born to better-off families are more likely to stay better off. America is developing an aristocracy of the rich and a serfdom of the poor - the inevitable result of a twenty-year erosion of its social contract." - Will Hutton

"When Time magazine conducted a poll in Europe in March [2003] asking which of three - North Korea, Iraq, or the United States - was the biggest threat to world peace, a whopping 86.9% answered the United States." - Immanuel Wallerstein

"There is no doubt that if we lived in a police state, it would be easier to catch terrorists. If we lived in a country where the police were allowed to search your home at any time for any reason; if we lived in a country where the government is entitled to open your mail, eavesdrop on your phone conversations, or intercept your e-mail communications; if we lived in a country where people could be held indefinitely based ... on mere suspicion that they are up to no good, the government would probably discover and arrest more terrorists, or would-be terrorists.... But that wouldn't be a country in which we would want to live." - Senator Russ Feingold

This site is crazy.

In case you need some stress relief. I think this is pretty funny.

Knitting, that is. Anyway, this is a really cute idea, I think. And they are supposed to be sold in Harvard Square! Maybe when I think I deserve a present, or when I sell something and make some money, I will get one as a reward.

Listen, everyone: you need some remedial lessons on some driving rules. Here are some basic rules that you should not only be aware of but also observe. I thought everyone knew these but based on recent experiences I have to believe that almost no one knows them...:

When 2 cars are stopped at stop signs at the same intersection:

If you are both going straight whoever is on the right goes first.

If one or both of you are turning, whoever isn't turning goes first, or whoever is turning right is first and whoever is turning left is last, or if you are both turning right, then whoever is on the right goes first.

When someone is stopped at the end of a driveway or parking lot exit waiting to turn out onto the road, and someone else is waiting to turn into the parking lot:

Whoever is on the road goes first since the other person is effectively stopped because you are supposed to come to a complete stop at the end of any driveway before turning into traffic. It doesn't matter who is turning which direction, the person on the road goes first.

If you are at an intersection at a red light and there is a sign that says, "No Right Turn on Red" then you are not allowed to make a right turn while the light is red. Got it? You are especially not allowed to if someone is crossing the street and has a walk signal. And you are most especially not allowed to if you are also planning to lay on your horn and yell at that person.

If you are driving and you come to a crosswalk either at an intersection or in the middle of the road where there is no stoplight or signal of any kind you yield to pedestrians. That means as you approach it you look to see if someone is crossing or is about to cross the street, and if so, you slow down so they can cross. It does not mean that you keep going at your normal speed of 45 mph but just swerve to avoid hitting the pedestrians.

If you are pulling onto a highway, you accelerate. You do not stop and wait for there to be no traffic. You may be waiting for 10 hours. And you will almost definitely be rear-ended.

If it's night time, please use your headlights.

If you are going to make a turn, there is a magical thing called a "turn signal" or, in Massachusetts, a "directional" which will let people know ahead of time what you are going to do. This way, you will avoid not only getting cursed at, but also causing accidents.

If you don't know any of these rules, then I need to resurrect the idea of the Pickup of Justice. More on that later.

"Just because I have a unique dialect from my native homeland doesn't mean you can make fun of me!"

You might want to look up this word.

It was warm enough to wear just a vest and a sweater outside on Saturday. Now it's 24 degrees. I know that it takes forever for spring to get here in Boston, but it still makes me sad.

I am very very tired this morning. We stayed up late last night trying to finish getting the livingroom clean so we have at least one sane room in our stupid apartment. I think it's basically done but I'm sure Rob will disagree for some crazy reason. The fishtank is clean, everything is put in its place, the cabinets are organized, everything has been dusted and wiped and vacuumed. The only mess that's out is a couple of loose books on a table and a PC that's open because Rob was cloning our Tivo drive. (So that's not my fault!)

Anyway, we had a pretty good weekend. Rob has spring break this week as well as Heather. Too bad we're all so broke or we could have taken a fun trip. Maybe next year.

So Rob and Heather and I have a bet going on the NCAA playoffs. At first I was doing the worst, but today my luck has turned around... for now. I picked Xavier to win today and they both had them out. The bet is that the two losers split paying for the following for the winner:

1 dinner out at the place of their choosing

2 DVDs (or a similar value boxed CD set or something)

1 magazine subscription

1 ticket to Verakai (Cirque du Soleil show in Boston this summer)

1 movie ticket and movie food

That's a pretty good bet. Last year or even maybe last several years Heather has always beat us. But it's not looking good for her this year... she picked Gonzaga to win! Ha ha!

Why, oh why, can we never catch up? We don't have kids, we don't do a whole lot outside of work and (for Rob) school, but damn it, we can't even keep our laundry clean! It's so frustrating! If anyone has a suggestion, or two, or a million, I'd love to hear them. Besides "win the lottery and hire a maid and a personal chef and a chauffeur and a dog-walker". Please, if I won the lottery I'm quite sure my problems would be solved.

Oh, and also, I have something to say to all those people that say money can't buy you happiness: it can if all your problems are money-related, stupid. It can buy me happiness very quickly! Send me money, please! You know that Save Karyn site? I'm about ready to set one up. I have less debt than her, and it isn't all from shoes and Gucci purses. People will want to help me, right? SIGH.

Thursday night we saw "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind". Rob won a free pass for 2 to a sneak preview of it from Entertainment Weekly. Cool! It was probably pretty much what you'd expect from the previews. Overall I liked it. It was a little sad and weird but pretty good. We'll have to see if Rob Reed does a movie review.

Meanwhile, for more info, which will give away stuff about the movie, click below.

Read the rest

Look at this wicked cool stuff on my baby brother's site. It's all new stuff so please visit and enjoy. I am jealous and want to be in school doing cool drawings. SIGH. Good job, Bri! You rock!

OK, so when I was in college I noticed that I had this problem where I was kind of sensitive about my eyes. One of my biggest fears was that I would get a papercut on my eyeball. I don't know how it started but I kind of obsessed about it and sometimes just having a lot of paper around would be stressful. I have since moved on but certain bitches like to remind me of it and make fun of it all the time. All I can say is that what goes around comes around.

In other words, don't come crying to me when you get a papercut on your eye. It is just the universe punishing you.

Many many are the reasons why I hate the USPS. But right now I will only dwell on one reason. Their inability to deliver packages. Sometimes people ship packages via USPS instead of UPS or some other more reliable service because the USPS will leave packages at your home if you're not there. At least, that's why I often use them. Anyway, I ordered a few small things on eBay recently and basically wasted my money because I never got 3/4 of them because of the stupid post office. With maybe one exception none of them required a signature, yet seemingly for no reason at all, the mail carrier would not leave them at my apartment. I got a slip for each one that stated nothing more informative other than they had a package for me. There is a part that you can fill out to ask them to redeliver and to leave it at your house. I filled that out and put it back in my mailbox. It was ignored. So then I taped it to the outside of my mailbox. The mail carrier ripped it (and when I say it I'm actually talking about multiples, not just one) off and shoved it back in the mailbox. Then I called the post office to ask them why they wouldn't deliver my packages and the guy I talked to looked at the package he had there and said he didn't know why, that there was no signature required. So I asked him to redeliver it and he said they would "try" but that often the carrier won't leave a package if they don't think it's a "secure" place to leave it. Listen stupid USPS, you're no frills. Stop trying to look out for me. I am telling you to leave it! It's not insured so you don't owe me anything if it's stolen. I'll sign whatever form you want, just give me my goddamn package! Idiots! And did I ever get another package? No, I did not. Thanks for nothing you morons.

UPDATE 2004/04/16: So eventually I got everything but I had to go to the post office to pick it up because, once again, they refused to deliver it for no reason.

But I just found some more info online and wanted to point out that again, overeating is not mentioned as a cause. That's all. See more info here.

Maybe our cat can have two diseases now. (He's already diabetic, for those who may not be regular readers.)

Heather has this friend from school who we (Rob and I) think is crazy because he's always insisting that if your dog overeats you should force it to vomit by giving it hydrogen peroxide, otherwise he claims it will "get pancreatitis."

Well, unrelated to his insistence on this, our cat Oliver vomited with a little blood in it this morning so I was looking up information about pets vomiting online and I happened across this:

Pancreatitis

Another illness that can affect the pancreas is pancreatitis, in which its powerful digestive enzymes, rather than being sent to the intestines, spill inside the pancreas itself. When this happens, they begin digesting tissue in the same way they would pet food.

A number of infections, including feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) and toxoplasmosis, can cause pancreatitis, but most of the time vets don't know what is behind it, says Dr. Hibbs. It is most common in middle-aged, overweight pets, and it often begins right after a fatty meal or snack. Pets with a sudden onset of pancreatitis will vomit violently and have diarrhea, and their bellies may be very tender. Pets with a milder, long-term form of this condition won't appear quite as sick, but they will have similar symptoms for months or even years.

The treatment for pancreatitis depends on how sick your pet already is. If she has a mild case, your vet may recommend putting her on a 24-hour fast, followed by a week of small, bland meals. After that, she should be okay, says Dr. Hibbs. In more serious cases, your pet will need to be hospitalized, put on a fast, and given intravenous fluids and injections of antibiotics.

I think it is interesting that it says the condition may often begin after a fatty meal or snack but it doesn't say that it is caused by it, or that it's caused by overeating. I know this isn't very scientific but I just was happy to see some contradicting information.

I don't think I can ever see this movie. Ever. Heather and Rob Reed can watch it and I will leave the house and go do something else not scary.

I saw this awful woman the other day yelling at a Friendly's employee outside the Friendly's in Charlestown. I didn't hear the entire exchange, but she was following an employee to her car yelling something. As the girl was getting into her car she finally yelled back at the woman, "She's not your kid!" to which the woman (who had been walking away) turned back and screamed, while gesticulating wildly, "Well she should still talk to me with respect! That's how I raise my kids!" Yes, I'm sure your kids are fantastic based on that display, lady. They are either just as awful as you in the same exact way, or they are terrified of you because you beat them and yell at them about talking to you with respect. Way to go.

Hey everybody, this is my new improved website. At first it may not seem to be tremendously different on the surface but it is much better in functionality, as you will learn if you come back often. My superstar boyfriend Rob revamped this site for me. It is no longer Radio Userland but Blosxom instead.

Lucky for all of you, with this site I can do tons of cool things. You'll notice new items in my side bars and a cool new search tool for starters. Also, I can post to my site from anywhere that I can get an internet connection! So that should lead to more frequent posts. Hopefully I will still be able to have a life outside of my weblog. Ha ha.

Come back often!