brain on flu

I just finished reading 'Twilight', the mega-best seller that was recently made into a movie (which I have not seen), since I heard (ahem) that the movie was good, and I figured I might as well read the book since it's always better. I hadn't counted on the fact that it would take longer to read the book than it would have taken to watch the movie, and that those would be hours of my life that I'll never get back. The plot turned out to be almost unreadably trite (girl hates boy, girl loves boy, boy saves girl from someone who wants to eat her), with characters I couldn't care about. Edward is a perfect high school god who natters on about how dangerous he is, and Bella ... smells good? Look, I'm no literary snob, I can enjoy almost anything, I loved the Harry Potter series, but Twilight was a real challenge even for my flu-dazed brain. The vampires weren't remotely scary, even the ones that were supposed to be scary, and I speak as one who is easily scared. There was no creepiness. It was like reading Sweet Valley High, except that the cool dude was technically dead. I just don't understand how this book made it to the top of the NYT bestseller list.

Anyway. Now, for a really good vampire novel, may I suggest Fevre Dream (GRR Martin), or Sunshine (Robin McKinley).

from cough syrup to turkey

This Thanksgiving, despite the best-laid plans, I caught the flu and wound up flat on the couch for about three days. My diet consisted basically of this:


so we canceled all of our plans to visit friends and relatives. However, Mike rose to the challenge and managed to cook an excellent meal:



(Yes, we did eat the pumpkin pie first.) He basted the turkey fanatically and it came out amazingly well.

Meanwhile, I mustered just enough energy to read comic books and watch DVDs. :)

Spain, again?

It seems like a long time since I've updated this blog. In fact, one might suppose that I've been in Spain this whole time, considering that now I'm posting fresh pictures from Mallorca. (Mike and I went to a small conference there - probably <100 attendees.) The hotel was beautiful, with a private beach and 3 squares a day (I should say 'rounds' given the number of calories I consumed).






The hotel sort of staggered down the cliffside, so about 10 stories up from the beach was a rooftop accessible from one flight of stairs off the road.








We explored a bit of the town (Illetes),








but came to the conclusion that there's nothing wrong with being pampered in the hotel. After all, our room had a balcony overlooking the Mediterranean Sea.














not to mention the hotel's 18-hole miniature golf course. Which we did play through completely.















We also went to Munich, but I don't have many pictures from there (it was raining), and all I remember is the beer. Oh, and the biophysicists.

Okay, time to leave work and make food for hubby wubby (his last class today ends at 9:30pm). This weekend I'm moving in with h.w. . Wish me luck!

P.S. Anyone going to be in the NYC/Philadelphia area for Thanksgiving?