Fog. Foggy Foggy Fog.

It has been foggy in the Minneapolis area off and on for the past few days. Apparently we've got some kind of stagnant air that is mixing with all of the moisture from the melting snow and causing some serious fog.

Earlier this week (maybe Monday, maybe last week Friday), while I was driving to work the skyline actually had a hazy, smoggy brownish tint to it. That was one of the "air quality alert" days, when the air was so bad for us that people with serious breathing conditions weren't supposed to leave their homes. Luckily, the latest round of moisture is also coming in the form of rain, so the atmosphere is being cleaned out.

And, happily, my sinuses haven't been as bad for the past day or so and my eyes haven't been burning or itching. Both very good things. Especially when the fog on the drive home tonight was so thick in a couple of spots that the visibility was only a half block or so. It was pretty and all, but I had no way to photograph it to share with you, so don't scroll down looking for one.

Tellyawhat, though... If you want to know what it was like, try this: Look out your window and imagine that everything is shades of black and white -- and that you can't see more than about 20 feet clearly. Possibly try doing this while looking through some sheer fabric. If you want it to seem really foggy, you could also try this using a white cotton sheet. Or, alternately, if you want it to be "fog at night" try a black cotton sheet. Do not try any of these while driving.

But, anyway, back to the weather. It's foggy. And it's trying to be wet (a little rain, a little drizzle, a lot of nuisance). And we're not predicted to see the sun again until Sunday or Monday.

How's by you?

Hold This

Wouldn't you think that, if every time you call a customer service line the automated message says "We're experiencing higher than normal call volumes," possibly the company* should learn from that and hire more staff?

Ever since Christopher and I "upgraded" to digital cable, we have had problems with it. And, what's really annoying about that is that we only switched over to it because, thanks to a sign-up special, it's actually less expensive than our "regular" cable was. Of course, with the regular cable, we could actually watch all of our channels. While, on the other hand, lately we've been missing a bunch of our channels. And those that we have are pixelating and stuttering like you wouldn't believe.

About two weeks after we got it, it was so bad that, when we called in, they couldn't get the box to reset and told us to bring it back for a brand new one. Possibly that should have been our sign to back out of the whole deal. But we decided to give the new box a chance.

It worked well for a few days. And the box is kinda small and cute and the remote's not too bad to deal with. And we've been really enjoying the On Demand TV shows. But the pixelation is causing us to lose some of our favorite channels because we just can't get them to come in.

So, for about the... I'm guessing 7th time... in the past couple of months, we called the cable company tonight. As luck would have it, there was a major cable outage in our area tonight, causing pixelation and momentary loss of both audio and video (over the course of 35 minutes on hold, I got that part memorized). The technicians (according to the recorded messsage) are working on it.

But, since we were basically down about half of our channels for the past week, and since I had nothing better to do while doing dishes and folding laundry, I stayed on the line until someone picked up. She was really sweet. Explained the whole "there's a major outage" deal, but then actually listened when I told her our continuing saga. And even tried a few minor work-arounds. I have no idea if they'll stick (we've had our box reset pretty much every time we've called), but before we got off the phone our channels were all back.

Here's the thing, though. While we were on the phone, she said that the phone queue was somewhere around 200 callers waiting to be helped. I can see how that would explain the 35-minute hold time before I got through. But, during my other calls, when there hasn't been a major outage, I've still been on hold for 20 or more minutes.

Wouldn't it seem like it would be better customer service to have more people on hand at all times, instead of making us listen to "we're experiencing higher than normal call volumes..." each time?

Or is it just me?

*Not usually one to name names when I'm complaining, I will say that this company's name starts with a C and rhymes with bombast.

Fantastical Movie Monday

In the past week I've seen not one, but two, fantastical films. And while I'd love to say that they were both fantastic, mainly I want to say that they were fantasy films. Quite good each in its way, but probably not "fantastic," per se.

First there was "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" (not at all to be confused with "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium" from a couple of years ago), which is a Terry Gilliam movie about good versus evil. Okay, so it's not really about good versus evil, it's actually about this guy named Doctor Parnassus who has made a deal with the devil and the wager is coming due. But it's not really about that, either, because it's actually about the people around him who get wrapped up in it all. Maybe.

You see, it's a Terry Gilliam movie. Gilliam was one of the members of "Monty Python" and has directed a lot of pretty seriously odd movies. He directed "Brazil" and "Time Bandits" and "The Brothers Grimm" and "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen" and, yes, the incredibly ill-fated "The Man who Killed Don Quixote" which (in his first attempt) was completely shelved due to acts of God.

So, with all that in mind, you might not be surprised to know that one of the actors in "The Imaginarium" is Heath Ledger. And, since Ledger died before the movie was finished, the same character is also played by Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell. Don't worry. In the movie the fact that they all play the same character actually makes more sense than some things.

But, well, 2 out of 3 of us who went were all set for Gilliam, and we quite enjoyed the show. Unfortunately, 1 out of 3 of us hadn't ever seen a Gilliam film. Her vote for a movie for this week, after having survived Gilliam last week? Dinner.

Fantastical movie number 2 of the week was the latest incarnation of "Alice in Wonderland" as imagined by Tim Burton. Assuming you've seen at least one of the trailers, you should already know that Alice, in this version, is a grown-up in a very stately - and grounded - family. In fact, she finds herself chasing the White Rabbit as a way to get away from her own engagement party. And, from there, things get a bit... well... curious.

The one thing that all of us agreed upon after the movie was that we really enjoyed the way the movie approached the changes. There is an incredible blending of what we all already know about Wonderland, and what we still have to learn about it. There really aren't any new characters added in - and why should there be when the cast was so amazingly drawn in the books by Lewis Carroll (almost 150 years ago)?

I know it just came out, so I don't want to give any spoilers. Here's the thing: There were a few pieces of special effects that I thought were trying too hard, but overall it was really a good movie. Not a kids' movie, by any stretch (which I think some of the parents of small children in the audience realized about half-way through), it's definitely great for getting anyone's imagination going.

Overall ratings: "The Imaginarium" - B+ (Even for Gilliam it was a bit flawed in sections.) "Alice" - A- (Maybe it's because I had lower expectations, but - a day later - I'm continuing to find new reasons that I liked it.)

Giving It Up

No, for better or worse, I'm not giving up on my blog. And, although I always try to do something for Lent, I'm not going to talk to you about what I've done for that this year.

What I am going to do is borrow liberally from the Tiz and Ass blog, and "give up" fifteen (possibly new and interesting, possibly old and boring) things about myself. Now, Tiz actually started hers as a "Twelve Days of Christmas" event, and has gotten up to about 34 (or so) days at this point. But, since I'm starting out, I figure I'll kind of shoot in the middle and go for fifteen. So, I give you the following fifteen tidbits about my life:

1) I love watching "The Amazing Race." (I'm watching it right now as I type this.)

2) I would never want to be on "The Amazing Race."

3) I have not seen the movie Avatar.

4) Although I kind of feel like I should, I don't really want to see the movie Avatar.

5) I will turn 43 this summer.

6) In my mind, the age I most frequently think I am is 26. I don't know why that is.

7) When people ask me my age, I usually have to think about it - not to be funny or to pull compliments, but simply because I don't usually remember right away.

8) I lived in Paris for 9 months between college and grad school, teaching "American English" in a high school.

9) If I had a way to cover my expenses in the States, I would love to go back to Europe for an extended stay.

10) I have a large collection of musical cast albums (both Broadway and off-Broadway).

11) If, for some strange reason, anyone ever offers to make a movie of my life, I will probably ask them to make it into a Broadway musical, instead.

12) Christopher doesn't share my love for musicals, but I love him anyway.

13) I also enjoy watching football, which apparently confuses a lot of people.

14) Some days I really don't know what to do with my hair.

15) I like my goatee, but I'm not thrilled at how much of it has gone white.

And... wow... There are 15 factoids about my life.

I have to admit that it got harder as I went along. And, as soon as I wrote number 15, I suddenly had a bunch more come to mind. So... Hmmm... Perhaps there will be future installments of this. After all, to stop would be giving up, right?

(Snow) Man Down!

When I looked across the street this morning, I saw an orange carrot poking up from the neighbor's yard.

No, I'm not talking about a miraculously early root vegetable crop.

Yes, this is the same neighbor I've written about before. They are the ones who had yard sale refuse on their yard for a month or so last summer. They had massive blow-up Hallowe'en decorations on the yard last fall. And, beginning in November, they started putting up Christmas decorations.

They started with an 8-foot tall snowman. It was a tall, skinny-ish style, fairly innocuous, the blow-up kind that's lighted from the inside. It wasn't exactly the style of the rest of the neighborhood, but it wasn't bad.

They added a 3-foot wide pale-blue lighted snowflake near the front door. That wasn't bad, either, and the faint blue light was kind of nice.

They added little walkway lights - candycanes... snowflakes... trees. Cute enough, although with the other stuff it was beginning to be a bit much. And as they flashed and twinkled in the dark, they were kind of... well... Let's just say I'm glad we close the blinds at night.

As the snow started to pile up, the walkway lights disappeared under the snow - all except for the faint flashing of the lights. The snowflake on the wall stood out a little more as the mildly-rundown appearance of the yard was masked by the blanket of white. And the snowman just stood there, happily waving. Until... well...

In about mid-December, something obviously happened to the snowman. One of his tethers must have broken, and he started tilting backward. It was just a little tilt at first. By around the beginning of January, snow was starting to attach itself to his side and he became a happily-waving listing snowman. A few weeks later, he was leaning backward, one arm above his head for balance as he danced in a perpetual limbo contest.

For a few days in mid-February, the snowman was flat on his back, covered in a good six inches of snow with his carrot nose pointing to the sky. Still inflated. Still lighted from the inside. Just not so vertical.

He sprung back up a week or so ago. Took a few days to get totally vertical, but he was patient and, by last weekend, was waving at passersby once again. And then, after a day last weekend when the tenants were outside clearing the sidewalks (for what may have been the first time all year), he disappeared.

Today I looked out and noticed a slightly-deflated carrot nose sticking up in the yard. The rest of the snowman out of sight in the yard.

Who knows? Maybe with the first gust of winter air next year he'll be back. (Although... if he wanted to leave all the rest of the kitsch behind, I don't know that we'd mind.)

Crossing Over

Multiple times, today, I was in situations where I saw strange things on the road. Allow me to explain.

First, there was the guy who was apparently trying to read the building numbers while driving down the road on my commute to work this morning. He kept swerving to the right, then back into the center of the lane. Swerve. Center. Swerve. Center. Eventually he simply moved into the righthand lane. I honestly assumed he was on the phone, but when I pulled alongside him, I saw him peering rather desperately out the passenger-side window trying (I'm assuming, I admit), to read the building numbers. Or maybe the building name. Or, maybe, just to check his teeth in the mirror.

On my drive home, tonight, there was the woman in the left turn lane ahead of me (at a very busy intersection), who waited through 2 full light cycles. She crept into the crosswalk during the first cycle (when I pulled up behind her). On the second round, she pulled far enough into the crosswalk that I really thought she was going to pull out as the light changed to yellow. Each time she moved forward, I did too, assuming that she would go and I'd be able to scoot around the corner behind her. Finally, on the third cycle she pulled far enough out into the intersection that she had to turn - or else the cross traffic would have hit her on the next light. On the fourth cycle, I made it through, as did the car behind me (who had also waited through the 3 prior cycles).

The strangest thing I noticed, though, was something I see more often than I can explain. Twice, today, I watched people jog out into the middle of the street because the "Don't Walk" signal had started to flash. But that's the thing that I didn't understand: They only jogged to the middle of the street. So, as the light was starting to turn, there they were in the middle of the road. Why don't people like that jog all the way across the street? Why stop in the middle when the cross traffic is about to pull forward? I don't get that.

Tuesday Two-fer

I'm not quite sure how I missed yesterday's posting. Especially since I have so many things to tell you about. With that in mind, I'll try to keep both of my top topics short (-ish).

First topic: Movie Monday - The Princess and the Frog.

I finally got to see Disney's The Princess and the Frog last week. I have to admit that, although I wanted to see it, I didn't feel like I HAD to see it. But, wow, it was fun. And there's just so much going on in it.

The main character is Tiana, a young woman (we actually see her as a little girl, too), who lives in mid-1900s New Orleans and has been dreaming of owning her own restaurant ever since she helped her father cook Jambalaya when she was little. She has the place in mind, and she's doing everything she can to make that dream come to life. Her best friend, on the other hand, is a spoiled little rich girl whose father buys her everything she wants - but whose heart is in the right place.

Into New Orleans comes an African prince (a ukulele player named Naveen) who is more playboy than royal. His manservant would like nothing more than for the prince to settle down and start paying attention to the fact that he has no money. The prince is, in fact, going to a ball to meet and be married to Tiana's best friend.

Of course, this being Disney, there is a darker side of the story. The manservant makes a deal with a voodoo master to step in as Naveen, as Naveen becomes the titular frog. Of course, if you've seen anything about the movie, you know that when Tiana kisses Naveen to "cure" him, she - instead - becomes a frog.

The story really takes off at this point, when the two of them befriend an alligator and lightning bugs on their quest into the bayou for someone who can break the spell. It's a rollicking journey filled with great music, good friendships, some stuff that would have given me nightmares as a kid, and - eventually - a mostly-happy ending. (That's not a spoiler - after all, it's a Disney movie.) Overall: A (so much better than I expected it to be, honestly.)

Second topic: Twin Cities Restaurant Week - D'Amico Kitchen at Chambers

Okay. Since I want to keep this relatively short, let me just hit the high points... It's "Restaurant Week" in the Twin Cities. A bunch of restaurants are doing great "prix fixe" menus at amazing prices just to entice people in to try them out. (You can find the whole list at mspmag.com .)

On Sunday night, Christopher and I went to dinner with our friend Darci (you've heard of her in the past) at D'Amico Kitchen at the Chambers Hotel. The space is kind of austere and not overly inviting, I have to admit. But we were seated fairly close to the fireplace, and we were there early enough to watch the sunset change all of the colors outside, so that kind of mitigated the interior. Except for the chairs. Really uncomfortable things with too-low arms and low, slanted backs, which are too tightly packed at the table to allow you to turn even a bit to see the person next to you.

But... Anyway... the food...

The food was amazing. We started with appetizers (Crispy Pancetta, a Beet/orange/chevre salad, and Saffron risotto balls). Entrees were Braised short rib over buckwheat polenta, Butternut squash ravioli, and Hanger steak with roasted radicchio - and we split an order of Parmesan Risotto. Desserts were a Gelato trio (Key Lime mascarpone, Salted caramel, Chocolate Amaretti), Spiced chocolate cake (with olive oil gelato and amarene cherries), and a Frangipane crepe. There was wine, too, and an after dinner drink with some kind of "root vegetable" flavored liqueur in it.

Let me just say that nothing flopped. All of the food was amazing. We've decided that we need to go back for Happy Hour sometime just to have the Parmesan Risotto again. And the best part? Since it was Restaurant Week, this was all basically $30 per person (not including drinks and extras).

So... There you go. A movie and dinner, all in one. If you're near a theater that's still showing The Princess and the Frog, I strongly suggest going to it. And, if you're in the Twin Cities, I'd strongly suggest taking advantage of it.

Either way, I suspect you'll be in for a treat.