Its all local

1. The time:
10:19 P.M. E.S.T. It is also the time I finished a first draft of program notes for the Little Women production at Cornell. Now I must attempt to cut them down. But I'm giving myself a few moments to blog first.

2. The weather:
Cold. It is supposed to get down to 42 tonight. We turned on the heat in the house for the first time this weekend, and so far we have been pleased. I'm sure we will be less pleased when we have to call the oil company again.

3. The big news story:
There are so many. Foley. Gas prices are rising. There was an earthquake in Hawaii. Oh, and locally, which I guess is what this Friday five is supposed to be about, John Hall, democratic candidate for congress in my district, and also reknowned singer/songwriter (remember "Detachable Penis?" - that was him), is closing in against Republican Sue Kelly. I was going to write "Evil Republican" Sue Kelly, but I figured that would be redundant. Oddly enough, the only Republicans I find myself slightly respecting nowadays are Arlen Specter and Colin Powell. If you think about it, it's easy for the dems to criticize the current administration, but not as easy for the GOP (why, I don't know). At least those two are doing it.

4. Your favorite hangout:
Sadly, my only hangout right now is in front of this computer. Maybe I need to start going to bars or something. Maybe then I'll write my dissertation...somehow. Actually, if one's favorite hangout could be a town, mine would be Cold Spring. Mike and I made our second visit there this past weekend and we took my parents out to breakfast at the delicious Foundry. mmmmm. mmmmm. good.

5. The must-have accessory:
Currently, it's a tissue, because unfortunately I have a cold. The good thing is that the cold is at its end, not at its beginning. This is also good because I can finally return to the gym so that I can turn that fat that used to be muscle two weeks ago back into muscle. I always wonder how it changes to fat so easily, but it takes so much time to get it back to being muscle. Unless, of course, you take steroids, which I'm just not up for.

But I suppose, since I'm in Westchester, the must-have accessory is a Mercedes, a BMW, or a Lexus, all three of which I'm also just not up for.

And the inventive number 6:
6. The current project:
Other than program notes and disseration chapter one, there is the never ending project of the house. We finished painting the paneling in the dining room last week, which took a Herculean effort considerin that we were sick. Next stop, I think, is to paint the disgusting walls in the living room in the hopes that they look somewhat better when they are done.