songbird's crazy world

the laptop has been delayed until 3/11. I'm using mom's machine tonight.

I have just returned from Boston -- again. This time I was in town on business. Flew out of Newark yesterday morning (yes, I know, Islip and JFK and Laguardia are all much closer to my house, but the fare out of Newark was unbelievably cheap -- so cheap that the relatively large fare for car service was justified.) I left my house at 4 for a 6:30 flight. What I like about flying out of Newark -- we flew right over Manhattan, at an altitude where I could see all the landmarks. It took all of 45 minutes to fly over the route that took hours and hours to drive last week. My meeting was in the financial district, a very lovely part of town. I got there incredibly early, and wound up kiling time in the local Au Bon Pain. There's something comforting about the familiarity of your favorite chain of coffee shops. My company reserved a room for me at the Omni Parker House , a hotel rich in history . So it was only logical that my colleagues and I have lunch there. I had a lobster roll -- an

acrylic on canvas...thanks to mom's trip to Michael's.

though one doesn't "really count." Becca is a junior. she's done well on the PSAT exam, she's currently preparing for the SAT and the ACT exams, and every day she receives dozens of notices from colleges all over the country asking her to apply. So this week, midwinter recess here in the northeast, my baby and I began to explore the possibilities. Monday. we packed the car and prepared for the long drive from Long Island, NY to Boston, MA. I chose to drive up on 95. It would have been shorter to take a route through Hartford to the Mass Pike, but I have become comfortable with 95, it's the route I take when I drive Jen to University of Rhode Island. to be honest, I'm not used to long drives by myself, I usually have someone else to share the driving, and New York to Boston was a bit daunting. It wasn't a bad drive. we left the house around 2:20 PM, left our town by 3 (Had to run a few errands before we got onto the highway) and were on our way. I put B

borrowed mom's laptop yesterday and placed my order with Dell. my new computer will be here by March 5....complete with wifi, a webcam, up to date software and bluetooth -including a wireless mouse- so I can have fun playing and still manage to get work done. meantime I'm posting from the phone again...

I will post the whole story tomorrow...but it was a great trip.

today I will be driving from Long Island to Boston. Becca and I are booked into a hotel in downtown boston for the next 3 nights. Tomorow we being the college tour process, visitng campuses and talking with students and getting a better idea of where my baby may want to apply. It's exciting and terrifying aall at once.

and not just some random, small, controllable zit. no, I was cursed with the mother of all zits...a huge red blob right in the middle of my chin. at least it's not on my nose...or Icould be mistaken for Rudolph. it's a huge zit, an ugly zit, even a slight bit painful. I'm going to be 49 years old on Wednesday AND I'M STILL GETTING ZITS! in a way I should be grateful that my skin still thinks I'm youthful enough to get zits. I'll go celebrate that youthful glow after Mr. Zit vacates the premises. zits have to be male...only a man can vex a woman as much as this zit is vexing me. and did I get any sympathy from my darling 16 year old? of course not. all she said was "I hope you're planning to take care of that thing before we go to Boston tomorrow."

My ex husband and I got engaged on Valentine's Day....well, sort of. He proposed on New year's Eve, but didn't give me a ring until Valentine's Day, so our announcements said we'd gotten engaged on Valentine's Day. Years later, the judge who signed our divorce decree must have had a weird sense of humor...because he signed the papers on February 14th. Despite the bitterness of a failed marriage and a very nasty divorce, I remain an incurable romantic. Even at my age -- I'll be 49 on Wednesday-- I hold out hope that my soulmate and I will someday connect. today I plan to pamper myself, maybe have a manicure/pedicure, buy myself some flowers, enjoy a day off from work. My wish for you all today...is that your dreams of romance come true.

so, you haven't heard much from me lately. I am posting this from my phone. and I have to be very careful, because if Ipress the CLR button too hard my whole post will vanish into the stratosphere. so excuse the typos. my laptop seems to have bitten the dust. it's been running slow, it overheats, it tells me my hard drive is nearly full amd that I am low on memory. I've had it for 4 years, and I understand laptops have a limited usseful life. I wanted to get it into the Geek Squad months ago. but for reasons I won't get into now, until the fios guy showed up yesterday mine was the only 'puter in the house with an internet connection...and kidlet needed access to turnitin.com. I don't know if my laptop is salvageable now. I have a killer cold. been sick since wednesday. of course I am sick, I am going to Boston on Monday. and my colds tend to morph into ear infections and bronchitis. one time Ieven had pneumonia. and ever notice that the week before v

Today I learned that Pete Werner thinks he owns the letters DIS. it would be laugh out loud funny if it weren't so pathetic. i even offered to contribute $10 to the dislive defense fund... I wonder what the Disney Comapny thinks about all this drama surrounding Pete's board?

Monday February 16th is Presidents' Day -- a 3-day weekend for URI students, and the beginning of midwinter recess at our high school. Just before Jen went back to school last month, she and Becca made plans. Becca is going to visit Jen on 2/12 - that's this coming Thursday. I want Becca to see the URI campus from the perspective of a student (she saw the campus on move-in day, but that's different.) I don't think URI is on Becca's list, but seeing the school will give her a frame of reference when she visits other colleges. and the fact that there's a Jason Mraz concert at URI thursday night...has nothing to do with the timing of the visit. ;-) so the plan was for both girls to come home to Long Island on the 13th. then Becca and I were planning to drive Jen back to school Monday night, because on Tuesday we are headed to Boston to check out several schools. so two days ago I made the hotel reservations...one night in Rhode Island, two in Boston. Jen came

Becca made high honor roll this marking period. but of course she did, she does every marking period. of course I am proud!!!

no, I wasn't ignoring what you said when I sat down. I heard you complain about my sitting next to you, I just chose not to respond at the moment. please be advised that I paid the same fare you paid, I have just as much right to a seat as you do, and that you do NOT have ownership rights in the seat next to yours. I know the seats are small and that it was a bit uncomfortable for you to have me sit next to you. it was no picnic for me, either, my leg was pressed into the metal armrest. but sitting like that was less uncomfortable than standing would have been, especially since my sciatica is acting up today. and if it was THAT uncomfortable for you, you had the option to stand up. I certainly wasn't going to do so.

the advertisement program on blogger is ....well, amazing. the other day I posted the lyrics to "American Pie". today i saw this ad on my blog: Buddy Holly's Plane Crash View offical reports, photos and complete video interviews. www.DesMoinesRegister.com

Suzanne's decluttering purge reminded me of the pack rat queen, my late mother-in-law Grace. Grace and Emil bought their Long Island home in 1960. over the next 30 years they raised 2kids, as well as numerous dogs, cats, etc. they sold the house in 1990 and moved to southwest Florida. they actually started looking at Florida properties in 1986, and started sorting through their stuff and packing for the move in 1987. seriously. for 3 years there were packing boxes all along one wall of the living room. in 30 years Grace never threw ANYTHING away. they decided to buy all new furniture, since their existing furniture was old and worn out. you'd think they'd have a garage sale or something to get rid of a lot of their stuff. you'd be WRONG! they took EVERYTHING with them. every pot and pan. every dish and cup. old mops and brooms. every plastic souvenir from every vacation they ever took. brand new clothes, price tags still attached, from stores that went out of

my back yard this morning, as seen from the kitchen window This message was sent using the Picture and Video Messaging service from Verizon Wireless! To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/picture . Note: To play video messages sent to email, QuickTime� 6.5 or higher is required.

and not because I am an Islanders fan. not that I'm much of a fan...though I do remember their glory days in the 80's (4 Stanley Cups...and a victory parade right past my dorm room at Hofstra). no, Ihate Rangers games because they play in Madison Square Garden. the Garden is directly above Penn Station. And I commute through Penn 5 days a week. there's not much extra traffic in Penn when the Knicks have a game...even in the best of times they don't attract a suburban crowd...and these days they don't attract much of a crowd at all. during baseball season a lot of fans pass through Penn on their way to the Stadium or Shea. but they don't linger. but Rangers fans...they get off the train at Penn and wander through the station in search of food and beer before heading upstairs to the game. I am so tired of tripping over guys in blue or white jerseys...

My birthday is in 2 weeks. Even more so than New Year's Eve or Rosh HaShanah, my birthday makes me feel very introspective about my life. Maybe it's because I see an actual number -- this year I'll be 49 -- and it puts my life into perspective. I was on the train this morning and directed my iPod to play Barry Manilow's "Greatest Hits of the 70's" -- that's when I was in my teens, going through junior high and high school and starting college. When I think about the girl I was then, her hopes and dreams, and I look at my life...well, this is not what I was expecting. there's lots of good in my life, for which I am grateful. my daughter Jen is becoming a lovely young woman, full of warmth and humor and a gift for getting along with people. After floundering in high school she has found direction and motivation in her life, and it thriving in college. Becca is doing well in high school. she has always been self-motivated, and though she took a

A long, long time ago... I can still rememberHow that music used to make me smile. And I knew if I had my chance That I could make those people dance And, maybe, they'd be happy for a while. But February made me shiver With every paper I'd deliver. Bad news on the doorstep; I couldn't take one more step. I can't remember if I cried When I read about his widowed bride, But something touched me deep inside The day the music died. So bye-bye, Miss American Pie. Drove my Chevy to the levee, But the levee was dry. And them good old boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye Singin', "this'll be the day that I die. this'll be the day that I die." Did you write the book of love, And do you have faith in God above, If the Bible tells you so? Do you believe in rock 'n roll, Can music save your mortal soul, And can you teach me how to dance real slow? Well, I know that you're in love with him`cause I saw you dancin' in the gym. You both kicked off yo

I never, ever spend my pocket change. If I'm paying cash, I always use bills.It's a habit I picked up years and years ago, when I had to take my clothes to the laundromat and city buses only accepted coins in the fare box . I don't have a change purse. I tend to throw my change into the bottom of my pocketbook . When the bag starts to feel like I'm carrying around a rock collection, I put the coins into a jar on my dresser. Every once in a while I empty the jar and count up the coins -- my bank gives you a free gift (a small token) if you can predict how much money you have in coins before the coin counting machine adds up your total. this is what was in the jar last night: Anyone want to guess how much money that is? It's $106.49. I am fabulously wealthy today.

just wanted to remind everyone that all the soup kitchens and food pantires are really hurting in this economic enviroment. our synagogue is sponsoring a "souper" bowl today, people are encouraged to donate non-perishable items to help stock the shelves of the local kosher food pantry. with all the wealth in this country -- even in these hard times -- no one should have to go hungry in America.