rivka

Here's the "If I could..." edition. You guys ask good questions.

kazoogrrl: If you worked at Colonial Williamsburg, you would be what kind of historical reenactor, and why?

If we are fantasizing that I would have any skills I might need to obtain such a position, I'd like to be in the dressmakers'/milliners' shop, preferably focusing on fine embroidery. When we were there in November, there was a woman sitting in a sunny window embroidering the most stunning piece of white-on-white lace. I really enjoy fine needlework, but I don't have much time (okay, any time) to work on it. It would be pleasant to have a lot of time to develop those skills and share them with others, in a mellow and conversational setting.

If we're thinking about positions I might legitimately be qualified for, I'd probably wind up doing historical dance performance. Which is funny, because I'm about the least athletic or graceful person ever, under ordinary circumstances. But I've done quite a bit of English Country Dancing, and I love it, and I'm good at it.

pameladean: What are three things you'd do to your house if you could?

0. Buy it. I would love to own this house instead of renting it. But I know that's not what you meant, so I'm making it #0.

1. Put decking on the porch outside our bedroom, so that it can be walked on without damaging the roof surface. I understand why our landlord never did that - that short short railing would create a massive liability risk, and you couldn't put a real, safe-height railing in because the historical preservation people would throw a fit.

2. Insulate the kitchen and the pantry. They're just kind of hanging off the back of the house, with nothing underneath them and nothing around them, and they get so cold in the winter that for a while the olive oil congealed.

3. Rip out the 70's-era paneling and dropped ceiling in the third floor guest room. Then, eventually, we could convert it to our bedroom and turn our gorgeous current bedroom, with its floor-to-ceiling built-in bookshelves, into a study for the whole family. Right now our desks are crammed into the dining room instead.

moobabe: If you could do anything (job/hobby/etc) that you can't or don't do right now, what would it be?

Homeschool. This is in the works for a year and a half from now, when Alex is scheduled to start kindergarten. Michael and I hope to both work part-time and both share in the homeschooling. I'd kind of like to get started sooner, although I recognize that the older Colin is when we start the easier things will be. (Oops, here I am bringing in kids/parenting again, and violating the purpose of the meme.)

duanekc: If you had unlimited time and budget, would you travel? Where, and why? With or without family? Are there places you would like to see just by yourself, or is traveling without family unthinkable?

Oh, gosh. I haven't traveled that much, and I have a long list of places I'd like to go. I would love to go on safari in Africa. I'd like to see Egypt and Petra. I would like to do a rain forest/beach/snorkeling trip in central America. I would like to go on a cruise. I would like to cross the US and Canada by transcontinental rail. I would like to visit Vietnam. I would like to take the kids to Disneyworld.

I don't like to leave my kids for longer than a few days - at least, I can't imagine doing that until they're much older. So although I see definite advantages to familyless travel that'd be pretty far in my future. I think it will start being feasible for us to do significant travel when Colin is about the age that Alex is now. I have this family adventure travel site bookmarked, and it is a frequent stop for fantasizing.

castiron: What craft skill (where craft could be anything from sewing to blacksmithing to origami to small engine repair) would you most like to learn?

Quilting.

johnpalmer: Is there any one thing that you wish you had blogged about, but even if you were blogging, it's been *way* too long, so you can't blog about it now... but oh, it was *important*, and you really wanted to say something about it!

What was it? What did you want to say?

I wish I had finished my series on physician-assisted suicide, because it's a topic that I think many, many smart and ethical and well-meaning people are misguided about. I may be getting back to doing some writing on that in the near future.

Someone has hacked my old blog and, apparently, taken it over.

They posted something today. It's about HIV, but it's not written by me. They have edited the page to take down some of my information - like the e-mail contact I was using - and they've added some random links to the bottom that make me wonder if they're planning to turn the blog into a link farm. They've also removed the Haloscan comments, unless those disappeared for some unrelated reason.

I don't know how to log into the blog anymore - Blogger's interface has changed enough times that I don't seem to have the capability to access the Dashboard anymore. And whoever did this probably reset the e-mail account and everything in any case. That's what I would have done.

What do I do?

LJ, you've helped me with this before... someone writing in Spanish linked to Respectful of Otters from their blog, and appears to have said several things about me, including con la cabeza sobre los hombros y el corazón en el lugar correcto, which I take to mean "has a head that sobers up a guy, and a heart like a well-aimed Luger."

Can anyone help me out with the rest of the translation? ( full text behind cut )

Because it's asparagus season now for so much of the northern hemisphere:

Smoked Salmon-Asparagus Pasta (adapted from The Joy of Cooking)

1 bunch asparagus, woody ends trimmed off
4 oz peppered smoked salmon (not lox, but the thick meaty stuff)
8 oz heavy cream
3 Tablespoons butter
1/2 pound pasta (I use thin linguine)

Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil. Drop the asparagus in and blanch it for a couple of minutes - two minutes if it's pencil thin, four minutes or so for thick, mature stalks. Then fish the asparagus out with a sieve and put the pasta into the water to boil.

Cut the salmon into bite-sized pieces.

Melt the butter in a skillet. Put the asparagus in and turn until coated with butter. Add the cream and the smoked salmon and warm over low heat until the pasta is done. Divide the asparagus evenly into two bowls of pasta and pour the smoked salmon cream over the top.

Serve with Lipitor (or the statin of your choice).


Also: final Respectful of Otters hit count for the day - 7712. Sheesh.

Can anyone translate the part of this that's all about me? (The post is reprinted below for convenience; the link is to provide context.)

Who's Being Respectful Again?
Por hoy, me chupan un huevo los cuatro posts que tengo pudriendose al sol, porque Rivka volvio a postear.

Yo se que esta embarazada, y que quedo bastante mal desde que sus compatriotas confirmaron en las urnas que quieren un presidente de ultraderecha que los haga llegar con las minimas paradas (privatizacion, teocracia) al infierno en una cesta. Pero estuvo posteando por un mes despues de la eleccion, y entonces entenderan que sea legitima mi preocupacion: le habria pasado algo mas?

Lo que sea, parece que fue temporario. Tres meses mas tarde, recordo que tiene un weblog e hizo tres posts politicos, que si bien son macanudos, me dejan deseando por mas posts de los solo podria haber escrito ella, de los que mas me alegran el dia (claro que habitualmente no por el tema, sino por el tratamiento).

I just made a much more personal post than usual to Respectful of Otters.

Now I'm freaking out, for reasons which make no sense. I've talked about this stuff on newsgroups and in LJ for years. What makes my blog feel so different?

I'm going to be on the radio tonight, talking about my criticisms of Washington psychiatrist Justin Frank's "analysis" of George W. Bush.

I'm told that you'll be able to hear the interview live over University of Illinois - Chicago radio, and it will subsequently be archived for a week or so at the show's website, Collective Interest. The interview should take place at 8:30pm Central/9:30pm Eastern time tonight (June 23).

Never done a live radio interview before, although I've been interviewed on tape for a TV documentary. This should be terrifying interesting.

Anyone have a good reason why I shouldn't panic?

My vacation has officially begun!

I don't have to be back at work until May 10. My boss doesn't know I'm not leaving town, and my work voicemail and e-mail both have an outgoing message explaining that I won't be returning messages until the 10th. I've cleared my desk in the clinic and in my research office. I'm on vacation.

This is exciting.

I have some plans, but I don't know how vigorous I'll be about them. I thought about planning out my week to make sure that I actually did some special things, instead of just goofing off online - and then I figured, what the hell. There's no harm in "wasting" the week, if I really wind up being so tired that I don't want to do anything at all.

But here's what I want to do:

- I want to see Goodbye, Lenin with minnaleigh. (Fortunately, we've already got that scheduled for tomorrow afternoon.)

- If I stop wheezing and coughing sometime soon, I want to go hiking. My allergies have calmed down in the past couple of days, and hopefully the cough will leave with them.

- I want to put in some serious time towards finishing my current cross-stitch project, so that I can start the new one.

- I have a couple of home projects in mind. I want to put together a candle arrangement for the nonworking fireplace in the living room (shame I didn't do it before it got too warm for candles, but at least this way I can ensure that it will be done by fall). And I want to make a little chalice I can use for meditation.

- I want to go back to the Baltimore Museum of Art to see the mosaics.

- I want to take a book to City Cafe and sit there all morning, reading and drinking tea.

- I want to dust off the short story I started writing, a while back, and see if I remember how it's supposed to go.

- I want to sleep in every single day.

- I want to start putting the red bedroom to rights for our Spanish exchange student.

- I want to post a lot to Respectful of Otters.

- I want to have lunch with wcg, just like we used to do when we worked in the same city.

Hmm. Maybe I should've taken off more than a week.

respectfulotter's syndication feed is on the fritz again. If you've been relying on it for your otter-related news, you've missed some posts. They are:

Almost Like Pure Heroin, which is about the siren call of homosexuality.

Earning A Doctorate In Spin, which is about the latest research on hormone replacement therapy.

There Must Be A Pony In Here Somewhere!, which calls attention to a delightful skewering of libertarianism.

Otters Explain It All, in which I answer questions people typed into Google, as found in my referrer logs.

Share, and enjoy.

... respectfulotter is now operational. Yay!