Category: Adventures in Gin

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Throw me a bone

After giving me the double kick in the nuts of closing down both the New York Sun and my favorite Thai restaurant in NYC last year, the universe offers up a handy made-for-Gil-Roth moment: the My Year of Flops writer reviews With Nails, the film diaries of Richard E. Grant.

Plus, the makers of the awesome Q Tonic were so happy that I offered some feedback on their product that they just sent me a 4-pack of the stuff!

It seems the cosmos has made a New Year’s resolution to be nicer to me! (I promise I’ll get around to reading The Wah-Wah Diaries.)

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What It Is: 12/29/08

What I’m reading: Re-read The Great Gatsby on the flight down to New Orleans, then started Kurt Andersen‘s second novel, Heyday. It’s a fun novel, rolling across America in 1848-9, but it makes the exact same idiotic decision as Michael Clayton (and a bazillion other books and movies): Part 1 opens in April 1848, and then flashes back 2 months and spends the next hundred or so pages catching up to that opening scene. And here’s the kicker: there’s nothing about that scene that necessitated putting it at the front of book. DON’T USE FLASHBACK UNLESS IT’S INTEGRAL TO THE STRUCTURE OF THE STORY!

What I’m listening to: Boxer, by The National and the eponymous debut of The Good, The Bad and The Queen.

What I’m watching: A bunch of Bowl games, and some Cajun cooking shows.

What I’m drinking: Nothing until my last night in Louisiana, when Amy & I met up with her cousin Wade & his wife Robin for dinner at Restaurant August in New Orleans. Then I rocked a Hendrick’s & tonic.

What Rufus is up to: Being a perfect houseguest with my pals Jay & Kristy and their two greys, Ruby & Willow.

Where I’m going: Nowhere! Not even the office!

What I’m happy about: Being home. And not having any snow to shovel.

What I’m sad about: Oh, another year, etc. . . .

What I’m pondering: Whether my GPS unit has a “no ghettoes” setting for calculating routes.

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What It Is: 12/22/08

What I’m reading: The new issue of The Atlantic, which has a bunch of great articles (as usual), including an entertaining one on the aptly named Rampage Jackson, a UFC fighter. I’m trying to figure out what to read on my trip to Louisiana; I’m just bringing the Kindle along and will settle on something. I’m thinking maybe Gatsby or Heyday.

What I’m listening to: Third, by Portishead.

What I’m watching: The Player and Tropic Thunder. It’s our meta-Hollywood weekend.

What I’m drinking: My associate editor got me some Bluecoat gin for a holiday present (I got her a spa gift certificate, since she could REALLY use some relaxation), so I oughtta have that.

What Rufus is up to: Not enjoying his first experience with snow.

Where I’m going: Off to Louisiana for the holidays with my in-laws!

What I’m happy about: Being done with the year-end 400-page issue.

What I’m sad about: Having to leave Rufus with friends while we’re away. Even though they love him and have 2 greys of their own for him to hang out with, I just feel bad about having to uproot him like that. Which is probably why I went 20 years between getting a pet.

What I’m pondering: Whether it’s actually a blessing disguise that NetNewsWire deleted the 20-something posts I’d been saving for months to read and/or write about.

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What It Is: 11/24/08

What I’m reading: Finished that Ring Lardner book last week, and have been un-booked for a few days.

What I’m listening to: Distant Hum, by Stella Schindler. I went to grad school with her c. 1995, but lost track of her after a few years. I haven’t looked up her up because, well, I forgot her last name. I kept coming up with “Kowalski,” and I knew that wasn’t it. When I met some old friends in Atlanta last week, one of them asked about her. One of them mentioned her last name, so I looked her up when I got home and discovered that she has a music career. I downloaded both of her records via Amazon’s MP3 store, and really dug this one. So, um, awesome.

What I’m watching: Home for the Holidays, our annual Thanksgiving week tradition. And Rushmore, which I really should own a copy of.

What I’m drinking: G&T with Plymouth & Q Tonic. Drank too often during the conference last week, so I’ll take it easy this week. Funny thing about Q Tonic: I bought a 4-pack of it in Whole Foods for $6.49. Subsequently, I’ve found it in a pair of higher-end liquor stores for $7.75 and $7.99. This may be the first product that’s ever been priced cheaply at Whole Foods.

What Rufus is up to: Eating a chunk of his food-scoop’s plastic handle, because the idiotic dog-walker left it upstairs with him after feeding him while I was away. He was also up to vomiting up pieces of plastic for the next few days.

Where I’m going: I may head into the city or Princeton to visit friends at some point.

What I’m happy about: No biz-travel till March! No office till December! And meeting up with old friends during my trip last week! All happiness-inducing!

What I’m sad about: The biz with Rufus. People goof on me for being a micro-managing control freak, but in things are where they are for a reason. You move stuff out of place and things can go wrong. Leave something that smells like his food in reach of a dog who’s sitting around bored all day because his owner’s away, he’s gonna end up chewing on it. So I’m sad about the fact that I have to trust other human beings not to mess something up. But I’ve been sad about that for a few decades now. On the plus side, my associate editor is doing a great job of handling our Corporate Capabilities profiles for the big year-end issue.

What I’m pondering: Whether I’ll really get all of my to do list of house-stuff taken care of in the next few days.

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What It Is: 11/17/08

What I’m reading: You Know Me, Al, by Ring Lardner. A pal gave this to me for my birthday a few years ago. I haven’t read it, but I noticed that it’s available on Manybooks for my Kindle, so I loaded it up for this trip. Oh, and I finished Book Two of Montaigne’s essays, which means I’m heading into the home-stretch. Zowie. But I was too busy this weekend to write about it, so Monday Morning Montaigne is on hiatus this week.

What I’m listening to: Radio Retaliation by Thievery Corporation, La Radiolina by Manu Chao, and OK Computer by Radiohead. But not Radio Radio by Elvis Costello.

What I’m watching: Ricky Gervais’ standup special, the first half of Dog Day Afternoon, and The Savages. Gervais was a hoot, but I found it even funnier that I have no idea who “he” is, in relation to his two best-known characters.

What I’m drinking: G&Ts with this Q Tonic, a high-end tonic I picked up. And boy, are they awesome. Down with corn syrup!

What Rufus is up to: Probably pining away for me by now. And it looks like he convinced one of my neighbors to adopt a greyhound when her husband retires and they get a new dog.

Where I’m going: Atlanta for the AAPS meeting. In fact, I’m in Atlanta right now!

What I’m happy about: I had The Realization about the novel I should write. Now I gotta get writin’!

What I’m sad about: Being away from Amy & Rufus.

What I’m pondering: Whether I was tempting fate by time-stamping this post for Monday morning right before getting on a plane Sunday.

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What It Is: 11/10/08

What I’m reading: Finished The Spy in the Ointment last week, and haven’t started anything new, although I dip into “Have You Seen . . . ?” occasionally.

What I’m listening to: Ten Short Songs About Love, by Gary Clark.

What I’m watching: Tried Sweeney Todd, but got bored.

What I’m drinking: Wet by Beefeater G&Ts, but I picked up some Plymouth this weekend. While I was at the liquor store, I noticed that an allegedly high-end gin — New Amsterdam — I was wary of when I first saw it a few months ago is now on sale for the rotgut price of $18.99 for 1.75 L. If you’re at the same price point as Gordon’s and Gilbey’s, you are officially a cheap-ass gin, regardless of your stylish packaging.

What Rufus is up to: Another greyhound hike in Wawayanda, with a post-hike feeding frenzy!

Where I’m going: Atlanta next week for the AAPS meeting. I’m hoping to meet up with some friends from grad school while I’m down there, but that’ll entail blowing off a biz-type dinner at some point.

What I’m happy about: My wife is still alive in the NFL Loser pool that I flunked out of in its first week. Oh, and greyhound racing got banned in Massachusetts!

What I’m sad about: That I haven’t taken care of my mammoth landscaping plans or gotten a fence put in the backyard yet.

What I’m pondering: Jesse Jackson – crocodile tears or just a moment without charlatanry? The question is moot!

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What It Is: 10/13/08

What I’m reading: Samaritan, by Richard Price. Because I miss The Wire.

What I’m listening to: Body of Song by Bob Mould and Angel Milk by Telepopmusik.

What I’m watching: 30 Rock, season 1, LSU/Florida (ugh), and a bunch of close NFL games.

What I’m drinking: Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. I’m still on my one-drink-a-week routine, weirdly enough. Which means I haven’t had a G&T in more than 2 weeks.

What Rufus is up to: Attempted rape at the paws of a savoy down at the local farmers’ market on Saturday. Oh, the shame! He also got to take a short hike to Ramapo Lake, and stopped in at the Garden State Barkway to get his nails clipped, so on balance it was an okay weekend for him.

Where I’m going: Nowhere this week. I really oughtta get into NYC sometime.

What I’m happy about: My mom’s busted wrist healed well enough for her to go on her hiking trip to Utah this week. And that official VM pal Paul Di Filippo had his new book launch with comics legend Jim Woodring out in Seattle!

What I’m sad about: Only three weeks left in the presidential campaign! No!

What I’m pondering: Why this exists.