home for the holidays

forest kelpie, originally uploaded by Kaijsa.

I got back to Laramie yesterday just before noon, and I'm still so tired. The trip to Seattle was hectic and filled with hassles, but turned out well in the end.

Highlights include spending time with my nephew and the rest of the family, pinochle, Vietnamese lunch with SJ, day of fun with Melanie and Ed, drinks on Capitol Hill, finally getting my luggage, walking to breakfast at Portage Bay Cafe, pouring rain replacing snow, and sleeping in late.

By the way, the photo above is my favorite of Ed's kelpies. It's creepy awesome.

year end

Found this end of the year meme at the Pop Culture Librarian. Here's my take.

1. What did you do in 2008 that you'd never done before?

I feel like most of what I did this year was different. I guess I'd never gone ice skating, done a headstand, gone snowshoeing, presented solo at a conference, or watched The Wire until this year.

2. Did you keep your new year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Did I make any resolutions last year? I don't think so, but I did manage to continue being more active and spending more time outdoors. Resolutions seem like a lot of pressure, but I have plenty of plans. I'm going to start cross-country skiing in next week!

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Holly had twin girls! We aren't in close touch these days, but I'm so happy for her.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
No, and I feel grateful for that.

5. What countries did you visit?
I'm such a globetrotter that I visited Canada and saw some more of the US.

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
There are all kinds of things to want, but I have most of what I need. There are two things I would really like, but I'm keeping them to myself.

7. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory?
January 20th was Rick's 30th birthday party and the day I met Peter. I can't believe it's only been a year and he's one of my best friends. Craig and Shannon got married on June 14th. August 2nd was the day of Rick's and my amazing road trip vacation. I spent a magical day at Aspen Alley with friends on September 27th. On November 4th, we elected our next president, one with promise. December 19th was special.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
I made some amazing friends.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Maybe I'm lucky, but I don't think I had one.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
I was only sick once in 2008, and it wasn't too bad.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
For myself, a new showerhead. I also managed to buy some pretty kick-ass gifts, too.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Behavior? I think there was plenty of good behavior, but I don't know what merits celebrating. I guess all my people were pretty awesome this year and deserve a party.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
So many people, but luckily for me, nobody among my friends or family.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Ugh, what a terrible question. Obviously most of my money went to bills, but I most of my discretionary income went to eating out too often.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
The presidential election.

16. What song will always remind you of 2008?
Wagon Wheel.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? Mostly the same. Maybe a tiny bit happier, tempered by the realization three of my friends are moving away.
b) thinner or fatter? Thinner.
c) richer or poorer? The same.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Everything great in my life.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Blaming myself for things.

20. How will you be spending Christmas?
I spent it with my family, back home in the 206.

21 is missing. Time to take a breather...

22. Did you fall in love in 2008?
I fell down and broke myself in 2007 and keep doing it over and over.

23. How many one-night stands?
None.

24. What was your favorite TV program?
All my tv comes from the internet and DVDs. I enjoyed Gossip Girl, The Wire, and How I met Your Mother.

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
Nope.

26. What was the best book you read?
As Librarian Girl said, this question is too hard for a librarian. I read several books, but really loved Bridge of Sighs and Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You.

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
These were in short supply this year because I kept listening to old stuff. I got into Cloud Cult and Les Savy Fav.

28. What did you want and get?
An enameled cast-iron dutch oven.

29. What did you want and not get?
Ugh, let's not go into it.

30. What was your favorite film of this year?
Films! I need to write a whole post just on films. So, I can't pick one. Some goodies: Mongol, Tell No One, and Juno (yes, I liked it). I'm forgetting good stuff.

31. What did you do on your birthday?
I had a dinner party at Rick's. We cooked Thai food and he made me a tasty chocolate zucchini cake. Everybody drank wine and Peter hilariously demonstrated yoga poses. It was also pouring down snow! Photos!

32.What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
It's always about people. It would have been great to spend more time with the friends and family I love.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
I basically just bought the cheapest stuff that fit, then did the same thing the next month when I was a different size.

34. What kept you sane?
Not a what, a who. Or plural who. Peter, specifically, but friends in general.

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
You know, I really don't care that much about celebrities. I adore certain musicians, but for their music, not as people.

36. What political issue stirred you the most?
It's hard to top Prop 8.

37. Who did you miss?
My friends. My family.

38. Who was the best new person you met?
I can't call one person the best. I met several lovely people this year.

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008:
I'm still learning it.

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:

It comes apart
The way it does in bad films
Except in parts
When the moral kicks in

If you do this, let me know because I'd love to hear what you have to say.

god yule

I made it to the PNW, after a bit of hassle caused by the weird snow storm in Seattle. My flight was canceled, along with several others, but I somehow made it off the huge standby list and onto the first plane that got out. It was a long, exhausting day, but it could have been much worse. I got to see my family and spend Christmas eve (Yule day!) with them.

My uncle finally convinced us to try out double deck pinochle, after years of us only playing the classic game. It was fun, but kind of a mind bender. My cousin Nick and I were partners, and managed to hit 500 first, though we didn't go out because it wasn't our bid that hand. Nick thought that rule was lame, and I told him it was like winning the popular vote but not the electoral college, so we should resign ourselves to being the Al Gores of card games.

I haven't managed to have any glögg yet this holiday, but will try to remedy this before leaving town. At least I'd like to get some to bring back to Laramie. My long-awaited luggage is due to be delivered tomorrow, so I'll finally have something to wear other than the clothes I flew in and the few things I bought the other day. We scrapped the plan to go to the Cascades, so I'll be in town for nearly another week. The whole point was to go play in the snow, and we seem to have plenty of that around here anyway.

Happy Christmas, everybody!

must read?

I agree everybody should read. Reading is good. But lists of stuff everybody simply must read kind of leave me cold, though the lists I just encountered kind of ticked me off. Esquire magazine has a list of the 75 books every woman must read and the 75 books every man must read. I don't know why we need different lists, if we needs lists at all. Here's what I've read from each list.

Women

• The Lottery (and Other Stories), Shirley Jackson
• Excellent Women, Barbara Pym
• The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath
• Beloved, Toni Morrison
• Madame Bovary, Gustave Flaubert
• A Thousand Acres, Jane Smiley
• Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston
• The Woman Warrior, Maxine Hong Kingston
• Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
• I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou
• A Tree Grows In Brooklyn, Betty Smith
• The Secret History, Donna Tartt
• Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi
• The Diary of Anne Frank, Anne Frank
• Frankenstein, Mary Shelley
• The Good Earth, Pearl S. Buck
• Fun Home, Alison Bechdel
• A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Mary Wollstonecraft
• Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
• Possession, A.S. Byatt

Men

• What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, Raymond Carver
• The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck
• Blood Meridian, by Cormac McCarthy
• The Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodor Dostoevsky
• Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison
• Dubliners, by James Joyce
• For Whom the Bell Tolls, by Ernest Hemingway
• Tropic of Cancer, by Henry Miller.
• The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, by Haruki Murakami
• Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad
• CivilWarLand in Bad Decline, by George Saunders
• Moby Dick, by Herman Melville
• Midnight's Children, by Salman Rushdie
• Labyrinths, by Jorge Luis Borges
• Native Son, by Richard Wright
• The Dharma Bums, by Jack Kerouac
• Lonesome Dove, by Larry McMurtry
• Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov
• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain

What's insulting about these is not how predictable they are, but how evidently men need to read books by men only, and women need to read books by women or books by men about messed-up women. Also? I like the dudes list better. Hmph!

hunting party

I cut down the tree, originally uploaded by Kaijsa.

Rick, Peter, and Elsa came with me to kill a tree to display in my home, as a trophy. I can't believe it only costs $10 to cut a tree in the national forest. What a bargain. We also got in a little snowshoeing, the first of the season. Rick got to test out his brand-new shoes, and I got to take my new-to-me shoes out for a spin. We didn't stay out long, but it was a nice time.

In other news, homemade french dips and a corny Christmas movie (that wasn't at all about Christmas) with friends is a pretty damn nice way to spend an evening.

homesick

When I look at my little weather thingy on my homepage, It makes me sad to see what I'm missing in the land of my birth. Watching the Twilight movie this weekend made me feel this really acutely. All that rain and the lush, green landscapes and muddy yards made me physically crave home. The film wasn't a masterpiece, but I think the setting made me love it. I didn't want it to end because I so miss the sound of rain falling.

Returning to this image, check out the humidity in each city. At 92%, my hair would be curly instead of full of static electricity, I wouldn't wake up with a sore throat and a bloody nose, and my skin wouldn't be itchy and sore less than an hour after moisturizing. Best of all, I probably wouldn't feel like my contacts were sticking to my eyeballs by noon. Suffice it to say that I need some moisture in my life.

You'd think that almost three years into living here I wouldn't miss the gray skies and mist so much. But I really need the water, maybe more than ever. I need to see green grass and trees all year long and smell fresh, wet dirt. I need lakes and rivers and the sound. And most of all, I need to feel some rain.

home improvement

In the past several months, like many people, I've been trying to buy less stuff. In fact, shopping has become a hassle, and I've begun to dread it. As I've gotten smaller, I've had to constantly replace clothing. This is expensive and frustrating, and I wish I could just press pause. It's one thing to drop a couple hundred bucks a month toward building a wardrobe, but it's quite another to do the same to maintain the bare minimum amount of clothing that won't fall off and will look sort of presentable at work. Lather, rinse, repeat. And then I have to remember not to fall in love with anything, because I'm just going to have to get rid of it shortly.

But purchases for the home are different. I finally replaced my dead vacuum cleaner. I'd been holding out for no good reason, so when I was due to host Thanksgiving I realized I actually couldn't have people over to a house cleaned only with dustbuster. So I finally broke down and got one, and my life has improved.

The second purchase I made was a cast iron skillet. I've fallen in love with my enameled cast iron dutch oven, and cook everything in it, even though it's too big for most stuff. So I just went ahead and bought one. The thing cost $17, so it's not like I was needing to save up for it. For some reason it's been on my mental wish list for a year and I hadn't done anything about it. Tonight, I used it to cook up some leftover turkey and gravy.

Finally, I bought a new shower head. The one I had was terrible--it leaked and was clogged and rusted and barely allowed a trickle of water through. For months I've hated every shower I've taken, shivering because the warm water didn't come close to covering all of me at once, and more than once realizing too late that I didn't get all the shampoo out of my hair. Again, there was no good reason I couldn't get a new one, but I didn't until tonight. And you know what? I took an amazing, warm, comforting shower and can't wait to do it again in the morning.

Maybe one of these days I'll replace my folding chairs with real dining room furniture.

thankful

Rick's plate, originally uploaded by Kaijsa.

This Thanksgiving I hosted dinner. My four wonderful guests made the day really nice. This year I have a lot to be thankful for:
*a good job that shouldn't be affected by recent economic events
*amazing friends
*strong, functional family and an upcoming visit to see them
*signs that change--the good kind--is coming to our country

money

Money Grab, originally uploaded by Steve Wampler.
Used under a Creative Commons license

My credit union called me today about some suspicious activity on my debit card. Evidently somebody got a hold of my debit card number, so I have to wait a week for a new one. The same exact charge appeared on my friend's account, so it looks like there's some business in Laramie that had its data compromised. I don't know how to narrow it down, since we frequent so many of the same places--it could be the grocery store, the coffee shop, any number of restaurants, or even someplace on campus.

I think what has me so angry is the timing of this. I need to buy groceries and other stuff for Thanksgiving, and I had plans to drive down to Ft. Collins for some shopping this weekend. Now I have to write checks where they're still accepted and withdraw enough cash to get me through the next week. I hate carrying lots of cash, especially after somehow dropping $40 within minutes of getting it this past Sunday evening. Grr.

random

I'm watching a Daily Show from last week and right after John Stewart made fun of the American auto industry and its ads, Hulu showed a commercial for a big pickup. Funny.

Some friends and I drove out to Saratoga on Saturday evening and soaked in the hot springs. It temporarily made my knotted back feel better, but I think my broken-down mattress undid all the benefits.

I've been reading some brainless novels between more serious fiction, something for a book discussion group, and my lit review. Twilight was marginally worth the time; a recent Jonathan Kellerman mystery was not.

Thanksgiving's at my house this year. It's going to be a small gathering, but I'm still cooking all the standards. Cape cods will be the evening's cocktail. Rick's making pumpkin cheesecake, too!

Tawnya's dance party was really fun. Will spun all the 80s faves like Joy Division and Depeche Mode. On Saturday morning I had achy knees and hips that reminded me of the old days of the Oz and later, Neighbours.

I heard a nasty rumor that Flowers is gone. I'm sad that the best vegetarian buffet and stiff drinks emporium no longer resides on the Ave. Seattle continues to break my heart while I'm away--first the Roasteria, now this.

There are evidently no horrifying clothing options in stores these days. Why are all the dresses shaped like potato sacks? Why are pants showing up with pleats? And will the maternity top craze please die already? I need something to wear and I'd prefer not to look three sizes bigger than I really am.

cultured lady

After yoga tonight I went to A Midsummer Night's Dream, the ballet on campus. It was okay, but I admit I'm overly critical due to my background. Sloppy feet and arms make me cranky. I did mostly enjoy the modern dance performance afterward, though. I can't be sure, but I might have seen a filmed version of Ride the Culture Loop before. It seemed awfully familiar, but I could be mistaken. It was good.

One thing I didn't do was eat enough today. Why I think I can survive on coffee and vegetables is a mystery. By the time I got home tonight at 11:30pm I was ravenous, so I enjoyed an old favorite--toasted whole wheat bagel with goat cheese, avacado, cracked pepper, and sea salt. Now I'm still up because I ate too late.

Tomorrow night is jam-packed, too. After yoga, I'm going to hit the art department's open studio night before the cultural programs event, which is a violinist this time. Then I head downtown to my friend Tawnya's birthday dance party!

So maybe I should be sleeping in anticipation of doing all this stuff instead of rootling around the internet and watching various antics on the YouTubes.

busy bee

Life has been crazy lately, but much of that is my own making. I'm still doing yoga just about every day, though I gave myself this morning off because I was too exhausted and it's my late evening on the reference desk. There's been other fun, some of which I remembered to document.

Cass and I had a successful presentation at CAL, which was due in large part to our awesome audience. I'm totally sold on interactive presentations after trying it out at both WLA and CAL. And it was fun to hang out with Colorado librarians again. That said, I'm pleased to be done with conferences until January and presenting at them until March. This fall was a little over the top, though I can't really complain about getting my proposals accepted!

It's hard to believe it's midway through November already, especially when we've had some nice days mixed in between snow flurries. On Saturday, Amy and I went for a walk after yoga and it was gorgeous out. That evening, I hooked up with some friends for a Thai dinner party. It's the second time we've done one, but this time we had a few more people and more dishes to try. Jamie started us off with cosmos, which were tasty.

There was much chopping, cooking, and assembling

I didn't get any photos of our yummy appetizers, which were Mary Ann's pork spare ribs, Rick's fresh chicken spring rolls with some really yummy dipping sauce, and Jamie's cucumber pickles. I was more successful with the second course; here's the spicy shrimp and lemongrass soup Jennifer and Peter made.

Main dishes were my Swimming Rama (peanut sauce made by Rick) and Jamie and Tim's beef curry with noodles. I tried to photograph my dish, but I turned my back for a moment and this is what I saw.

Only a few sad spinach leaves and a trace of sauce left! I sort of gave up at that point, so you can't see how beautiful the curry was with the crunchy noodles, onions, and cilantro on top. Also, that beer (Tawnya and Will brought Thai and Indonesian beers) closest to the rice was my second one of the evening, so I was kind of looped.

To top off all of that awesomeness, Mary Ann made coconut ice cream for dessert, which we enjoyed with decaf coffee and more conversation.

Seriously, I can't remember a longer and more awesome meal. It took us a few hours to make it all the way through the food, so it was almost midnight before I went home and happily snoozed the night away.

don't stop believing

dancing in the streets, Capitol Hill, Seattle, election night

I had a nice time watching returns with friends here in town, but it was a super emotional event for me and I so wished I could have been home, in a city, surrounded by thousands of people doing stuff like this. It's amazing.

Friday, Saturday (too much weekend for one post)

I've been so busy lately that I haven't had time to think about what's happening in my life. I even stopped taking pictures obsessively, which everybody knows isn't like me. But on the 25th, I was on my way in the house after yoga and I realized how gorgeous the sky was and snapped a couple of shots.

Sunset over trailers, West Laramie

Days have started to blur into one another and I'm starting to work to the next two deadlines, always feeling like I can't stop or I'll get behind. The weekends are packed, too, though it sounds jerky to complain about having fun with my friends. On Halloween, a few of us went to the hockey game. The Cowboys won in a landslide, and it was a good time, even though the rink was filled with the stench of dirty uniforms and it was really, really cold in there.

Wyoming vs. Colorado School of Mines

Val was the first to notice that Wyoming is apparently now in Canada.

Oh, Canada; The Equality State

Because I needed pants that don't fall down all the time, I took a drive to Ft. Collins on Saturday for some shopping. The first stop was the New Belgium Brewing Company for a tour. Rick and I commenced drinking beer at 11:15am.

`````````````````Kaijsa tastes Abbey and rates it a 6

Then it was time for lunch. We ate at a Middle Eastern place that was just okay. I had misremembered there being an Ethiopian restaurant down there. Maybe there is, but not in that strip mall. By the time we got to the cheap pants outlet, I had a full stomach and the day was almost over. I managed to squeeze my falafal-stuffed self into cords and skirts a size smaller than I've been wearing. The pants fit today without crushing any major organs, so I guess I'm set for the time being.

By the time we got back to town, I was late to get ready for the art museum gala. It's weird that I've had a floor-length gown languishing in the closet for almost three years and within the space of a month have finally had two occasions to wear it. It was fun to get all dressed up and go hang out with girlfriends and sell raffle tickets for a diamond necklace. For our trouble we got free food, booze, chocolates, and priceless people-watching opportunities. It's not often you get to see black tie in Laramie. I missed some prime photo ops, for sure, and my intention to take some snaps of my friends for the fashion blog never panned out.

Can you believe the day didn't end there? After we were released from our duties, we headed downtown, where I got my drink on again. Shortly after that, we all convened to Peter's for a dance party complete with Jamison and pizza.

There's so much awesome in this photo

Finally, I crashed on my friend's couch and slept blissfully. The end.

I just started watching the fifth season of MI-5, a show I've loved for a long time. In case you're not familiar with it, it's a super-slick British spy drama, and it's very, very good. But the first two episodes almost did me in, and I don't know if I can continue watching it.

You see, the bad guys are mostly evil government officials using terrorism or the threat of terrorism to maneuver themselves into power and suspend civil liberties so they can basically rule the land without any pesky laws getting in their way. It's so much more terrifying than most television shows or movies because this could really happen. I'm not too worried about alien invasions or crafty thieves out to steal stuff. But people plotting to take over the government from the inside and killing/destroying anybody who gets in their way? My blood pressure rose significantly while watching.

I'm not sure if I'll drop the other discs out of my Netflix cue, but I am glad the next thing due to come to me is a comedy. If I can find time to watch it, it will be just what I need. Maybe I'm extra sensitive because of all the election drama, but I know that I can't remember the last time I reacted so strongly to a tv show.

In not-very-related news, my Nikki McClure "Vote" posters came from Buy Olympia, so I need to deploy them. I love her stuff, and still have a nice set of her posters that need to be framed, but I haven't found the right frames. In any case, I figured the free posters urging voting might make a good library display.

seasons change

about 9:45am today at Vedauwoo

Working the weekend throws my schedule off and I can't make it to yoga classes. Luckily for me, Meggie was game to be my walking partner yesterday afternoon and again this morning, when we went up to Vedauwoo for a short hike. It was a beautiful fall morning, and it was really nice to get out of town for a little while.

I know I've griped lately about the changing seasons, but I'm actually feeling pretty good about it now. Autum has always been my favorite season, but I think it's been hard for me the past couple of years because Wyoming's is so much shorter than Western Washington's. Maybe we're having an amazing year, or maybe I'm just getting used to living here, but the days have been really lovely and I've had a great time walking outside and just enjoying the cooler air.

Another great thing about fall is sweaters. I'd almost forgotten how addicted to cashmere I am and how nice it is to drag it all out again. Most of my clothes are too big for me, and I'm trying to weed through things and get rid of them so I can see what I have and what I need. It feels like a fall thing to do.

lolz

I don't normally post this stuff here, but I thought it was appropriate, considering my weirdly satisfying yoga obsession. I think I'll keep going to classes every day for the time being, but probably will settle into a more reasonable routine at some point. I guess I just need this right now.

Reasons? It's something I'm choosing just for myself and don't have to take anybody else into consideration. It fills time, something that's become more important lately than ever before. It's also a time I can be completely silent, which is not my normal state of being. And it's a fairly healthy choice to make, considering many of my other hobbies (knitting, reading, watching films) are mostly sedentary.

But speaking of healthy, I'm finally getting excited about this horrible cold weather because I remembered this weekend that I have snowshoes! Who wants to go out this weekend?

football

check out the pathetic turnout by Wyoming fans

Those who know me won't be surprised that I'm not a huge football fan. Baseball is much more my thing, though not having television and living outside Seattle's radio market made it harder to follow the last couple of seasons. I also like basketball, though again, no television. But football is fun to watch, especially in person, and I decided to go to the Wyoming homecoming game against Utah this past weekend.

Wow, that was terrible. Peter and I only lasted until after the third quarter because it was so cold and windy. We probably would have stayed anyway if Wyoming was actually performing. I was kind of joking when I said we'd lose by 40 points, but I was almost right (40-7). In retrospect, we should have spent the $28 each on drinks and skipped the whole thing, but I wanted to go to a game. Foolish.

Still, it made me remember that back in high school, I actually did go to games and pay attention to them, and I didn't even go to a Friday Night Lights kind of high school. UW is playing Oregon State for homecoming this weekend, so that should be pretty exciting. I have to work this weekend, but Saturdays on the reference desk tend to be crazy slow, so I'll probably be catching the play-by-play online. Of course, Washington is 0-5 (0-3 in Pac-10), so this game could be as bad as the one I saw last weekend. I hear my old high school team is doing okay, though.

brrr

It snowed today! I slept in a bit, so the light dusting we got in Laramie was mostly melted by the time I peeked outside. I didn't have much planned--just yoga class in the afternoon--but all of a sudden my amazing friends called and the whole rest of the day was scheduled.

First, Addie, Peter, and I drove up to the snowies. We thought we might take a short walk the Lakes Trail, but it was so cold we cut things short as soon as we got up high enough to see the lakes. The snow was a few feet deep in spots, and the frigid air and freezing wind made it clear winter is here. After snapping a few photos, we headed back to the car and drove back to Centennial for lunch at the Bear Tree. Green chili pizza, yum!

We got back in time for me to get to yoga class. Sundays are yin yoga, which is good for me, but a challenge for me to concentrate. Holding the poses so long makes me feel really vulnerable and my mind totally starts to wander. I do have to say that for maybe the first time ever, I totally relaxed during shavasana. Maybe it's because I used a blanket to stay warm.

After class, the plan was to work on human subjects training modules, but it turns out I was a couple of units ahead of my research partner. He caught up, though, so next time we'll be able to work through them together.

Then I rushed back downtown to meet up with Tawnya for some soup and a hot beverage before the Sunday evening movie. It was Mongol, which I knew nothing about and totally enjoyed. I'm sure Ghengis Khan was a bit less endearing in real life, but because I'm no scholar of Mongolian history, I could totally suspend my disbelief. Also, the Wyo actually had the heat on for the first time I can remember. Win.

new tag cloud

I read that wordle does blogs now, so you don't have to cut and paste text. Here's a new one for this space.