I'm thankful for Thanksgiving. It has always been my favorite holiday. Even when I was a kid, Thanksgiving trumped Christmas.

It's a day centered around getting together and eating. It's a day for taking stock of what's good in your life. As Americans, we spend too much on "the pursuit of happiness" (thanks, George Carlin) and not enough on just being happy with what we have.

I'm thankful for waking up this morning next to the warm snuggliness of the woman I love. I'm thankful that she's always in my heart and I in hers, even when we're miles apart.

I'm thankful for my legs and my heart for getting me through the 5-mile race I ran this morning and the half-marathon I did less than 2 weeks ago. I'm thankful for the health and psychology that allows to overcome physical obstacles and meet my goals.

I'm thankful for the bounty from our CSA and our farmers market that rosepurr turned into a fabulous feast today and that has filled my belly for all these months.

I'm thankful for my job, which has been secure throughout this economic downturn and still has been the best job I've ever had.

I'm thankful for our cats, who entertain me and are great company.

I'm thankful for books and reading and great writing. They inspire and entertain me. They motivate me and raise my will when it's at its ebb.

I'm thankful for having the good taste to appreciate these things and the discipline to pursue them and keep them close.

I wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving.

[Posted for LJ Idol Season 6 - Free Topic - The Giving of Thanks]

I'm at work today. This is not as bad as it sounds. I like my job. Today, my boss is off. Actually, all the pains in the ass are off today, too.

Let me make it clear: my boss is NOT a pain in the ass, which is good. But I work with several people who are. Magically, they are all off today. Maybe they are at a pain in the ass convention. If there is such a thing, please let me know where so I can avoid it. :)

Bright sunshine comes in through my office window. Almost everyone - faculty and students - is gone so the place is quiet and there's really nothing to do but be here in case I'm needed.

So I'm doing a long overdue office straightening, email purging, and catching up on some work-related reading (as the afternoon wears on, the reading may get less work-related).

Tomorrow, I will get up early to run the Boulevard Bolt here in Nashville. Then rosepurr and I plan a walk around the beautiful Radnor Lake. Then it's on to turkey and all the fixings. Hooray!

The rest of the weekend I don't think either one of us even plan to get dressed. We're going to drink a lot of coffee, eat leftovers, read, and watch TV. Our apartment complex scored a deal with the local cable provider so we got a discount on cable. Before, we just had basic cable, which was pretty much the channels you could previously pick up with a basic antenna plus a bunch of religious programming. Now we have real cable. Which is why we spent Saturday night curled in front of the TV watching made-for-Syfy Kevin Sorbo movies.

Real cable is a dangerous thing.

"Girl, you're a beauty like I've never witnessed
And I've seen the Northern Lights dancing on air" - John Hiatt, "Icy Blue Heart"

( Moments of Devastating Beauty )

[Posted for Season 6, Topic 4 - "Moments of Devastating Beauty"]

Not a traditional Halloween, but fun in its own way. I ran a 5K late yesterday afternoon. I did about what I set out to, which is good. I didn't wear a costume, but a lot of folks there did. Which means did I get to outrun Kratos, Lara Croft, and Rainbow Brite. However, I didn't outrun the dead sorority tennis players or the Hulk or the Ninja Turtle. rosepurr got her hair colored pink and a bright star painted on her cheek and greeted me with a kiss at the finish line. YAY!

After a couple of free beers from the race sponsors, we went over to campus for a viewing of "Nosferatu," the classic silent film (1922). They had a 6-piece ensemble playing live with the movie. The group apparently just does soundtracks for silent films, writing and playing and touring. They were fantastic and the music added even more creepiness to an already creepy film. I'd seen it before, but it had been many years. I'm always amazed by how well it holds up. It's still eerie and mesmerizing and the pacing is extraordinary.

Then, because I was ravenous, rosepurr and I stopped off at Red Robin on the way home. Word of advice: Red Robin is deserted late on Halloween night. Which was kind of awesome. While we had a great time out and about, we were a bit people'd out. So we shut down Red Robin with peachy drinks and a Monster Burger with turkey patties instead of beef (a small effort at eating healthier).

Today, we're busy bees. Which kind of sucks. I just want to lay around on the couch, preferably in nothing more than underpants, reading a good book between dozing spells. But there's laundry and other housework to be done, LJ Idol posts to read and vote upon, a Nanowrimo novel to begin (it would probably help if I had any ideas), and some attempts at rest before the new workweek (which is promising to be harrowing) begins.

Sigh.

Yesterday rosepurr created a Pandora station around Leonard Cohen. (We have tickets to see him in less than 2 weeks and we're very excited.)

We had no idea what Pandora would give us with Leonard Cohen as its criteria, but we shouldn't have been surprised. Every other song was one of his, interspersed with other strong songwriters like Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and Tom Waits.

A song came on I didn't recognize though the voice sounded very familiar. I asked who it was. rosepurr said it was Tom Waits, off an album entitled "The Early Years." (Forgive me for not recalling the song title just now.)

Then she commented that this is what he sounded like before he smoked every cigarette in the world. Twice.

I laughed a lot. rosepurr is delightful.

I know you're going to be shocked by this.

I went to the Southern Festival of Books this weekend. I know it's hard to believe. Me, avid reader and librarian, at a book festival. What's even more surprising is how many of my library colleagues and friends I ran into there.

Okay, that's hooey. There's no surprise at all in any of it.

rosepurr had Friday off and I took it. We made our way downtown. Michael Sims, normally a nature writer, has found a passion for Victorian literature and he's promoting an anthology of gaslight era stories about the bad guys. There are lots of anthologies of detective stories of that time, but the more sordid stories of the lowlifes and criminals then have been buried by history. He's doing a fine job resurrecting them.

We also attended a reading of Southern gothic novels by Ron Rash and William Gay. I have been hearing about Ron Rash for awhile now, though I haven't read his work; I was entirely unfamiliar with Gay. The acoustics in the room were awful. Rash was hard to hear. Gay was impossible to hear. rosepurr said listening to Gay in that room was like listening to Bob Dylan read the phone book on a drive-through speaker. Nice. But I did peruse and purchase books from both, and got them both to sign.

We also attended a panel of female thriller and horror writers. I think rosepurr enjoyed that one more than I did, and we did leave with a few more titles on our to-read list and under our arms.

Dangerous places - book festivals. My heart and mind are happier, but my wallet feels hollow.

We came home, had dinner, and unsurprisingly read well into the night.

Saturday morning, we picked up our CSA and got back to the house just as our friends yrmencyn and Jerrod arrived. They accompanied us back to the book festival. They attended different events than I, which was good because I got to hear about them. I saw Dave Cullen who wrote a book I want to read, simply called Columbine, a thorough account of that tragedy and its aftermath. It was fascinating, albeit tough to listen to at times. One of the audience members, an elementary school teacher, commented that she had read the book, but could only do 2 pages at a time. I understand that.

I also went to hear probably the biggest star of the festival - Buzz Aldrin, who has a new memoir out. He admitted at the outset that he doesn't enjoy public speaking, and it showed. I still have a great deal of respect for him - he walked on the moon, for God's sake - but the talk wasn't exactly captivating. I'll still read the book. They were sold out of copies so I didn't get him to sign, unfortunately.

Then we did some browsing and eating and coffee drinking. Finally, we went back for a panel by Kevin Wilson and John Pritchard. It was really them reading, which was wonderful, but the panel was dedicated to "Profane and Profound — Books of Distinctive Southern Characters." We all laughed out loud several times. Kevin Wilson only has one book to date, a collection of short stories called Tunneling to the Center of the Earth. Pritchard just published a sequel, called Yazoo Blues, to his earlier Junior Ray. They both got some of my money yesterday and they were kind enough to sign as well.

We went out for dinner and drinks after. It was a great day.

Today, rosepurr and I are lounging about, drinking coffee, checking email, reconnecting. Soon we'll start preparing for the week - doing laundry, dishes, straightening up, etc. I also want some downtime to read some of my new books.

I may have said this before, but Nashville keeps growing on me. It has taken time to adjust to living here, to get comfortable here, but it's starting to feel like home. With the Southern Festival of Books and the Americana fest, the Ryman, Broadway, favorite restaurants and a continually growing circle of friends, Nashville has gained a personality uniquely its own. It has become our friend itself.

Since I've committed myself to this year's LJ Idol, Week 0 demands an introduction. I'll keep it simple.

I am thndrstd. I am married to the wonderful rosepurr. We live in Nashville, Tennessee. We frequent a lot of concerts. Most of them wouldn't qualify as country, though some do. I'm a country boy who lives in a city now, and sometimes wants to return, but is enthralled by the trappings of civilization.

I am a law librarian. I practiced law for three years. I hated every minute of it. I went back to school and became a librarian. My worst day as a librarian is better than than my best day practicing. Some days, I love my job. Most days, it's a job. I don't mind going, but I look forward to leaving.

I read a lot. rosepurr is on the road quite a bit for her job, so I often come home from work, eat something, and curl up on the couch with our two cats and a good book. I watch very little TV. Nothing against TV - I used to watch a lot - but I don't now.

I call my journal "A Fistful of Awesome: The Good Life, Documented" because I have it really darn good. I avoid drama (which is part of why I'm not a lawyer anymore). My marriage is good. Our cats are only moderately feral. I had a pretty sheltered, uneventful childhood that has evolved into a pretty sheltered, relatively stable adulthood. That's not a complaint. My best times are yet to come.

Currently, the main things going on in my life is that I'm training for a half-marathon next month, which I hope to work into a full marathon next year. I keep thinking about taking guitar lessons. I am considering Nanowrimo next month, too.

And I want to write. Or at least so I say. It's complicated. Anyway, I'm using LJ Idol to get back on track with regular writing and to meet interesting people along the way.

Today, I came across this blog post that says your first entry in your blog should be a mission statement. I've never really had a mission statement for this blog. So, since this is a kind of reboot, I think it's time to draft one. Here goes:

This blog is intended to get me writing and keep me writing. It is meant to open myself up, share experiences that matter, and find and make friends who value intellect, writing, thoughtfulness and the leading of a deliberate life.

Hello, everyone!

So I have the rest of the week off. This has been planned for almost a year.

Last year, rosepurr and I went to the Americana Music Association Awards show at the Ryman. It was a fantastic night of great performances and sitting in the midst of famous people. At separate points in the evening, John Hiatt and Joan Baez walked past me, just inches away. Tomorrow night, we will again be in attendance.

The awards show is part of a four-day festival, full of producers, performers, songwriters, and other music industry types, attending workshops and such during the day and then hitting the bars for music at night. After the awards last year, rosepurr and I both had to go home to work the next day. She has an unavoidable training the next day so she will be doing that again.

But, since it's a relatively quiet time in my job, I just took the time off to sleep during the day and do some barhopping/music-listening at night. The last show of each night doesn't even start til midnight, and they're some of the bands I'm most interested in seeing - in particular, the Bottle Rockets and Reckless Kelly. This link provides a complete list of the evening shows. You buy a wristband for $45 and it gets you in all of them. Sadly, beer is not included in that $45, but it is available, of course.

Obviously, I wish rosepurr were able to take more time off to go with me. For instance, tonight she's still out of town for work, so I'm on my own. It'll still be fun.

Mondays are rarely kind or gentle. But for me at least they are rarely bad. I usually find other days of the week more repressive and depressing. Thursday, for instance.

Today really has been okay, but I had a great weekend and it makes coming back here that much more unsatisfying.

Not that there's much to say about the weekend. It was about getting caught up with rosepurr and having time together. We ran our usual Saturday morning errands. We napped. We watched 8 episodes of "The Middleman." (Alas, it lasted less than a season, but the complete series is out now on DVD and I am the proud owner of it.) We read. We ate. We had our friend Erica over for Sunday morning brunch. We read the Sunday NY Times.

It was a good weekend, even if it doesn't make for riveting reading.

But this Monday has been like a long root canal.

Sigh.

So, other than my occasional postings of books, which is easy thanks to Goodreads, I've been terrible about updating. No excuses or apologies for that really. Things have been really good for the most part. Work has been a bit rough lately, but in my job the few weeks before school starts are the worst of the year so that's not a surprise.

For instance, I neglected to write about my fabulous fortieth birthday where my family and friends came down, gathered and ate at the always wonderful Loveless Cafe, providing stories, laughter, gifts and fabulous company. I like to joke about getting old, but so far I'm liking 40. Dad stayed an extra day and we journeyed up to Bowling Green, Kentucky, and a visit to the National Corvette Museum. We had a good time.

I also neglected to write about my recent trip to Washington, D.C. I was there for my annual law librarian conference. I got to see a bunch of old friends, which was wonderful, and made a couple of new ones. I have so many friends now in or near D.C. it was impossible to see everyone. I did manage to squeeze in a trip to the National Zoo, though, which was fun. I also got to see the Library of Congress where there was an opening reception full of drinks, fabulous desserts and the original library of Thomas Jefferson. *swoon*

But, this past weekend, I visited rosepurr. She is on an assignment in New Orleans. She usually comes home on the weekends, no matter where she is, but she opted to stay so I could come down and spend the weekend with her. We've both there before, but never together. Like Paris, it is a city for couples and romance.

August is not the best time to visit, with its raging heat and humidity, but it didn't matter. We visited some of our favorites haunts like the Gumbo Shop and Cafe du Monde. Walked down Bourbon Street on Saturday night. Ate fabulous food. Drank fabulous drinks. Went to visit Mardi Gras World, where they build & house the floats for the annual spectacle. Snuggled in a fabulous hotel room, the recently remodeled Roosevelt, owned by the Waldorf Astoria.

Saturday we inadvertently found ourselves in the midst of an annual event, the Red Dress Run. About 7000 people, men & women, show up in red dresses and run/walk/drink their way through the French Quarter. Sponsored by the local hashing group, it is truly a sight to behold. Fortunately, we also found fantastic Bloody Mary's at the same time. I want to gather a group and go down next year for both the run and the Bloody Mary's.

In short, fantastic. I knew it would be, and yet it exceeded my expectations. Time with rosepurr always does. :)

I've been sick the last couple of days. rosepurr brought home the crud that has been plaguing her office. I have stayed home rather than infect law students a week before finals because I'm nice (don't let that get around, though).

Boys and girls, despite what they tell you in school, sharing is rarely good. Especially things like ebola or the crud from the office.

Okay, this is nothing like ebola. I'm just weak and congested and irritable. Dayquil helps; Nyquil helps by knocking me out.

Up until I got sick though, it had been a very busy and pretty awesome week. I last wrote about hearing a Pulitzer-winning poet. That was Monday. Tuesday I spent an evening in Tullahoma with rosepurr. A nice dinner and some quality snuggling. Wednesday I saw Augusten Burroughs speak. (For those who don't know, he wrote Running with Scissors, along with other memorable memoirs.) I thought it would just be a reading, but instead he just talked for about 45 minutes before fielding audience questions. He was hysterical.

Thursday rosepurr returned home and we enjoyed couch snuggling while watching TV. We rarely watch TV so this was sort of an event - CSI and the first episode of Harper's Island.

Friday we saw Flight of the Conchords at the Ryman. Actually on tour and live. They were hysterical and, while I go to a lot of concerts these days, I don't usually laugh that much. New stuff, old stuff, didn't matter. They kept me rolling with their music and banter. Kristen Schaal, who plays their creepy groupie Mel on the show, opened with her stand-up, which was funny, too.

Saturday we had a very full day. We went for coffee, then to the farmers market. We went for a long hike at beautiful Radnor Lake. We came home for a late lunch. Then we went to the Nashville Rollergirls. Our friend Erica, like the rest of us, had never been to the roller derby. It was a blast! Several of the girls in our group are looking into joining. I don't know what would become of that, but we had a great time and are looking forward to going again in the future. We then adjourned to Past Perfect, which is becoming one of our favorite haunts in town, for drinks and food.

Sunday was Easter. We stayed home. We read. We caught up on Internet news. We did laundry.

Monday I drove rosepurr to the airport for a week of training in Dallas. I've been home alone with our increasingly codependent cats, trying to rid myself of the crud.

Tomorrow I'm going back to work - despite the crud, despite my cats' neediness, despite law students who will hate me forever if they figure out I infected them in time for finals.

Blarg.

So rosepurr and I were reading The New York Times yesterday morning and I had to share this story with her. It made me smile.

I hope it does the same for you.

Have a great week.

Am I allowed my crankiness today? Probably not.

This morning, I got up ridiculously early to drive rosepurr to the airport for another week in Dallas. Watching rosepurr leave always make me feel a bit like a deflated balloon. Then, the cold eats into my skin and makes me irritable. It could be much, much worse. We did get a little snow over the weekend - enough to cover cars but nothing compared to other parts of the country.

I came to work an hour early. On Monday, for crying out loud. It would be silly to go back home, to wait around until it was time to just leave again. I got into the office, got a cup of coffee, and have been checking email - work and personal. I planned on reading for a bit, but 45 minutes are gone. The Internet is a black hole.

It's Spring Break, which means this place is nice and quiet. There's good and bad in this. My workload for the week should be less, but it's a great opportunity to catch up on the detritus that accumulates over the semester. So it's a wash.

Grumble, grumble, grumble . . .

So today sucks.

Okay, not really. I've been busy all day and it's gone quick.

But today sucks because it wasn't part of the fabulous weekend I just had.

I flew down to Dallas Friday morning. rosepurr is there on an extended assignment for her job. I took the day off. I've never been to Dallas before, but the whole time I kept wondering if I'd see J.R. while I hummed the theme song:



We weren't really into downtown Dallas, though. We were in this swanky hotel. We enjoyed 70 degree temperatures and drinks on the 25th floor watching the sun set and the skyline come to light while enjoying a Bloody Mary (her) and Scotch (me).

The hotel has, I believe, 6 different restaurants and numerous shops right in it so there was really no need to actually leave. In fact, since neither one of us had a car there, we would have had to get a cab. So we didn't leave. We lounged about our room, reading and watching TV (including the Oscars). We had sushi and greasy burgers and more drinks. We snuggled.

In fact, we only left the hotel once. We met up with some old friends and made our way to the Dallas Museum of Art. Currently they have the King Tut exhibit. It was awesome, full of learning goodness.

Yesterday I flew back home. The plane rides to and fro were uneventful. I came home to very affectionate kittens and quiet. I lay on the couch reading and then napping (I had to get up at 5 to catch my flight - did you realize there's a 5 in the morning now? What evil bastard came up with that idea?) and then more reading.

Rich food, drinks, and laying about with books and sweetie makes for a wonderful weekend.

Getting up this morning, forcing myself to go running and then coming in to work provided a clear demarcation that the weekend was over.

Sigh.

Been bad about posting. Too busy living, I guess. And I don't want to get on the computer when I'm not at work.

Valentine's Day was fantastic. rosepurr and I went to a wine tasting Saturday and then we went grocery shopping. We cooked a huge surf and turf dinner for ourselves - steak, shrimp, scallops - and opened a bottle of wine, one of my new favorites, Petite Petit. Rosepurr likes it; I love it. Our friends at our favorite wine store, Vinea, hooked us up.

As she mentioned, rosepurr doesn't really celebrate Valentine's Day. It didn't stop me from bringing her roses and decadent chocolate truffles.

In short, domestic bliss.

Since then, work has just been work. I got a break from it yesterday when I went to the doctor for a physical. Yes, even the rectal exam was better than being at work lately. Sigh.

Rosepurr flew to Dallas yesterday morning. I miss her, but I'm taking a couple of days and hanging out down there with her this weekend. Never been there. It is Texas, though, so I'm hoping I make it back. HA!

Tonight, I'm off to a Blue Note 70th Anniversary concert with a friend. Should be fun. But first dinner! The friend who hooked me up with the tickets has never been to Five Guys. I've eaten light all day so we can remedy that.

Right now in fact . . . Huzzah!

Last night, as rain poured down, rosepurr and I saw the Punch Brothers. Formed by Chris Thile, who is perhaps the best mandolin player in the world, the Punch Brothers is a more experimental group of outstanding musicians. Here's a description on Wikipedia.

It was one of the most amazing musical experiences I've had. They played on campus at the hall for the music school. I'd never been there before, but it's a fantastic venue for a small intimate concert. The crowd, lots of younger people clearly interested in music, was great.

These were five of the finest musicians I've ever seen. They were laughing and clearly enjoying playing with one another. Chris Thile reminded me a little kid. My boss (who was in attendance) said today Thile reminds him of Calvin from "Calvin and Hobbes." I can't help but agree. The enthusiasm and joy they have is infectious. I wanted to take up the guitar right then and there (but not the mandolin – Thile is just so damn good).

Thile with his beautiful mandolin jumped around like a guitar hero, even during the slower moments of his 4-part symphony-like composition, "The Blind Leaving the Blind." We own the album and enjoy it, but seeing them live and seeing the interaction of these great musicians and their playing was definitely memorable.

In short, it was an awesome night. I snuggled into my sweetie and enjoyed beautiful music. We came home and slept to a different music, the sound of heavy rain outside.

Magnificent.

While I am no longer in the competition, there is still some great writing to be found in LJ Idol. It is still the MONTH OF DOOM and 10 (yes, 10!) of these wonderful writers will be going home this week.

Good luck to all of them, especially my friends.

Please take the time to vote here. And definitely please make sure to read the entry of my sweetie, rosepurr here.

So we survived Christmas. Hooray! Actually we did more than survive it. It was really good.

rosepurr had our separate Christmas on Christmas Eve, which I wrote about previously. Christmas morning we flew to Albany, New York. My dad picked us up and we drove the hour south to where I grew up. We went to my sister's house and dispensed gifts and filled up on cookies and ham. My nephew Owen got Rock Band from my dad so I lived out my guitar hero dreams while he pounded away on the drums. rosepurr was first my groupie, but then she joined the band and sang. Fortunately, it worked better for us than it did for Spinal Tap. :P

Friday morning, my friends Drew, audiogeek and his sister Lori joined us and Owen for a hike. The snow had been melting, but there was still plenty to make it feel like winter. rosepurr's giddiness over the frozen pond was infectious. After the hike, we went back to my sister's for pizza, drinks and games. That crowd doesn't need much to provoke silliness. It was a good time.

Saturday, rosepurr and I went shopping with my sister mrsbowlert and my niece Abby. We saw some cute stuff, but it was mostly a lot of window shopping. Then we stopped off at a pizza place for - you guessed wrong! - NOT more pizza, but soup and canoli. Mmmm, canoli. Then rosepurr and I visited with Drew, his wife Linda and their two ridiculously cute children. We got back to the house I grew up and stayed up til 2am talking to Dad. Which was wonderful, until 5am when we had to get up to catch our plane.

Planes departed and arrived with no delays (Thank God for Southwest!). Nasty bumpy turbulence coming down yesterday in Baltimore, but otherwise things went fine on the travel part.

This was probably the best Christmas I've had up that way in quite some time. The best part, though, was sharing it with rosepurr. It's good to have her spend more time with my family and friends and the area of the world that is such a part of me.

Yay, Unshelved



And thanks to baxaphobia for finding this:



Today has been a wonderful Christmas. rosepurr and I are celebrating our Christmas together today, just the two of us, before we head to the Great White North to see my family and friends. We outdid each other on the wonderful gifts for one another. Among other amazing things, I got footie pajamas and flannel-lined jeans (both wonderful for the trip north), a flowering tea set, two wonderful sweaters (one from rosepurr, one from her mom, also good for the north), and gift certificates for a massage and a hair cut. I'll let rosepurr describe what I got her, but I think she's happy.

The best part, though, is that it is a cold, rainy, gloomy day outside and I get to stay indoors all day with my wonderful spouse and our two affectionate kittens. I'm looking forward to the days off from work, seeing people in NY, giving more gifts (which, as I get older, I find is more satisfying than receiving), and just relaxing.

In NY, I will likely be without the Internet so this marks a hiatus until Monday.

Happy holidays, everyone!