Amber & Best Double-Whammy Guest Stars Ever

First, Jessica Walter makes a cameo in my episode of Columbo.

Then, Robbie the Robot.

Amber & No Alarms and No Surprises

I am still feeling very positively about 2011, despite some threats to burst my optimistic bubble.  The largest threatening pin popper was a disastrous rug thing that happened to a friend involving a dog with digestive problems.  Something like that can really set a tone, you know, even if it doesn't happen to you directly?  But, it can also result in the aquisition of new appliances, which is a shiny silver lining if ever there was one.

But, I'm still a bit shaken that my friends at Apple also have attempted to break my new year stride by failing to wake me up at the desired time for three days running.  (You will recall my regular alarm clock is ILL.)  Now, the first day, I thought I had managed to sleep through my only (accidentally) purchased ring tone.  It is sort of soothing, and I have been known to sleep through even greater challenges.  And the second day, I thought my phone was broken.  But last night, I discovered this article in the New York Times which pointed the finger of blame on some kind of very belated Y2K issue.  And Nick sent this confirmation that the phone should have worked today.

Well, it didn't.

But unlike the folks who wrote in to the Times to complain about missing flights, jobs, morning talk shows, etc., I had set a back up in the form of...

(Photo by Jimmy)

Woody.

Not surprisingly, that one worked like a charm.  Very reliable, that guy.

Amber & New Year, New Waffles

2011 is already off to a fabulous start.  Yesterday, there was plenty of petting kitties, then La Palapa brunch with friends, and then cider at DBA.  And, there was the acquisition of what may prove to be the most life-changing piece of technology introduced to my household since the Swiffer Sweeper:

a waffle iron.

Making waffles is a process, and it will take several batches before I get them toasty enough and spread all the way to the edges.  But, that's reinforcement of key life lessons.  Everything is a process.  We are constantly changing.... and breakfast is the most important meal of the day.

And, just like life, investment in your foundations can reap buoyant, soul-lifting rewards: you can make lots of waffles in advance and freeze them and then enjoy them for quick toaster breakfasts during the work week.

2011, I already love you.

Amber & Articulate Intelligence

My alarm clock is sick.

It told me so itself.

Add the extra L for extra illness (illlness).

Amber & Oh. Em. Gee.

I am not sure I have ever seen anybody more ridiculously cutie.

Or with a curlier belly.

Thank you, video chat, for making documenting Pickles so entertaining.

Amber & Art

If there is one thing you know about me, it's my answer to the question, "Do you like art?"  Why, of course, I do!  I can't get enough of it.

So, imagine my surprise when I came home tonight to find a stack of this postcard on the sharing table in my lobby.

On the front, as you can see, there is Art.  Really, really great art.  Art that really makes you think.  I immediately was thinking, "Why are these doggies and kitties so colorful?  Why is that one kitty wearing a mask?"

On the back is information about this event, Art Dogs and Cats of NY Exhibition & Benefit, which is a benefit for  a group of local animal rescue groups.  It also has a really descriptive name.  And it is sponsored by a pet store in between where I live and where the rest of my New York universe lives.

I sure am excited about all the art I will be viewing.  I need to get me down to the Upper West Side and check out the exhibition.  Like, right now the art is making me think.  Like right now, I am thinking, "When am I going to be motivated to take the local train to the 80's to see kitty art?"  and "What is that mousey guy doing with that robot kitty?"

I love art.

Amber & Oh, My Queen

Thanks to the tornado (which I witnessed outside while picking up farm share and running a fever of 102), I had no Internet yesterday.  Time Warner's lady robot who answered their phone when I called yesterday from my sick bed, desperate for amusements, described it as a "storm-related outage" and assured me that the technicians knew how important my cable was to me and were trying to restore my service.  (She also didn't understand my responses when I said "yes, please."  Robots do not appreciate courtesy.)

But, it came back in the middle of the night with a vengeance, in the form of a dedicated foe of evil, defender of the weak, champion of truth and justice.

I loved Isis.  I remember very little about the show, except that it was on at the end of Saturday cartoons and that she would invoke various Egyptian gods to give her powers.  I would get the TV listings from the paper and then highlight the shows I wanted to watch so I would know to change the channel when needed at the right time.  And, I always changed to channel 3 for Isis.  I seem to remember some episode about an archeological dig?  Or maybe that was just the backstory in the opening credits?  I remember, though, that I loved it.  And so it must be good, right?

After all, she's a snappy dresser and a part of my heritage.  And she predates this other part of my heritage by about ten years.

I wonder if she will scare Nick, Diana, and Kevin as much as that younger heritage.

Amber & Guest Bloggers

Nick found this little guy over here where he is actually in motion!  I wonder what he is typing.  I hope it's compelling content for today's post because I sure didn't have any.

Amber & Mysteries of Life

How is it that this guy,...

...who seems to be pretty much the same (still tiny pee clumps, but all he wants to do is play), manages to hit the Shift+Command+8 keys every time he walks across the keyboard?

Is his eyesight that bad?  Or does he like the world more abstract?  Zoom:

Unzoomed:

Amber & Emergency Evacuation

My commute was two hours long this morning.  WTF, MTA?  I switched to the F at 49-50th Street only to have it stop in the tunnel.  For 30 minutes.  The automated robot voice kept saying we were stopped "while the train crew is investigating track debris."  But then the real live conductor came on and told us that there was a problem with the emergency brake.  I didn't pull it.  I swear.

Anyway, about 20 minutes into the stall, they announced we could leave the train through the front car and walk along a little ledge onto the platform at 42nd Street.  This was a scenario I had not planned for. I mean, I am ready if the Cloverfield monster comes, but I am not ready to go meet those little bug guys on their turf.

Luckily, after this traumatic experience, which also involved me discovering one of my significantly-located shirt-button-holes was too large and was venting my chest on its own, I had my new Eileen Fisher catalog to comfort me.  It's 72 pages on lovely over-sized paper with close ups of fabric.

Thank you, catalog porn.

Amber & More Marco, Much More Polo

Remember the incredibly fun Visual Marco Polo?  The paired down version (like the iPhone app version) is Status Message Tag.

See?  A passing Baudrillardian reference in this blog post (and maybe a bad hair day?) inspired Erl's Skype message.  And then I responded with mine.  And then (USA!  USA!) Alison made hers.  Tag, you're it!

Also note Kevin's.  He is stuck on glue.

Amber & Some Things New, A New Thing Old

I feel like I am constantly in a struggle with the Entropy of Clutter in my home.  It's hard to carry out myself and the trash and the recycling--especially since the refuse area is down five flights of stairs, around the corner, and in an alley out behind the building frequented by what I like to think of as sleek-tailed squirrels.  And, I seem to accumulate stuff: direct mail samples, Fresh Direct boxes, books of to-do lists, cat fur, etc.  It's crucial to do a weekly Junk Round Up to make room for new, magical space-occupiers.  For example, I'd much rather have this weird sushi wind up robot that Nick gave me than a stack of Con Ed billson my desk.

(Seen here with Big Nose Felted Guy, another keeper from Nick.)

That's two pieces of inari on the left (my fave) and two pieces of tuna on the right.  And I can't show you because I got my phone before they invented video for iPhones (drat to early adapting), but the two sushis sort of bicycle up and down and round and round when you wind it.  Why?  Because it's amazing.

Gifts are not always keepers, but this new Ganesh statue that Diana brought back for me from India sure is.

(Like the mechanical sushi, Ganesh is not as blurry in real life.)

And that reminds me that my blurry-making phone is actually another place to collect wonderful, and muladhara chakra comforting, things.  Like this Ganesh application.

 (See how the bell is all lit up? You can pick it up and ring it. That is mostly what the app does.)

And, Jimmi referred me to this absolutely essential app where you can gong a mokugyo or the metal gong on the left and induce nagomi ("harmony").

(I won't spoil what "With Cat Mode" is.)

And, speaking of cats, this guy came to live with us a few weeks back.

(He's actually laying on a pile of books to return to other people, on the theme of getting rid of old stuff to make room for the new.)

This new buddy is actually an old artifact from the Boxing Day Heritage Booty.   I molded him from greenware, painted his eyes, paw pads and nose, and then glazed the heck out of him in ceramics class.  Proof?

Every great artist signs her work.  In 1981, I was apparently trying something new with my R's.

Amber & Awesomeness

Sigourney Weaver, cats, lasers, and intertextuality run amok.

Amber & Keywords

A bit too literal, Google.

Amber & Anniversaries of Births

Today is the 46th anniversary of my longest-running favorite program, Doctor Who.

To celebrate last week, Jimmy brought down a copy of the latest episode which just aired on the BBC, Waters of Mars, and some delicious papri chaat for lunch.

(Photo from the fantastically inspiring MidtownLunch.com, a midtown worker's best friend)

Jimmy and the Doctor AND Indian street food made for the most enjoyable lunch hour ever in the office.

Kevin may not have been so interested in the penultimate episode starring my most crushingest crush, David Tennant, but he sure was interested in some chaat and the fresh, hot naan that came with it.

Jimmy brought to my attention that is also Harpo Marx's birthday.

This clip from the British Queer as Folk is perfect for today, merging, as it does, things Doctor Who-related and birthdays.  (Also, the show's creator was also the person responsible for the revival of the Doctor in the 21st century, which explains what K-9 is doing at a gay birthday.  Thank you, Russel T. Davies.)



Bloody brilliant, as they say.

Amber & Due to An Earlier Incident

Just when I thought the MTA had gifted you with all the celebrity, confusing service and squishedness you could handle for a weekend, I rode the train on a Saturday.  Silly rabbit.

The purpose of my journey was to pick up my first CSA winter share of the season and then celebrate the season in fellowship with Diana and Kevin.  To begin my trek, I walked down to 168th Street since it was posted in my stop that the train wasn't going north of there this weekend (which turned out to be false-- at least on my way home).

At 168th Street, there was a bulldozer driving up and down the train platform and then crossing over a make-shift bridge and unloading boulders onto a weird flat train.  This was an ominous start to what turned out to be a two hour ride (including no D service below 34th Street and a stalled A on the F line at Second Avenue).  That is the little bulldozer thing whizzing by on that train unloading thing at seemingly unsafe speeds while I waited for the downtown A.

Then, on the way home from a delightful day (which included beef stew and persimmon pudding), I went to Brooklyn.  There was no D service running from Grand Street, so I walked to the F at Delancey.  But then, there was no uptown F.  So, I had to take the F to Jay Street in Brooklyn to transfer to the uptown A which was running on the F track into Manhattan.  (Maybe you should get out a subway map just to follow along to see what an incredibly indirect route this really was.)

At Jay Street, though, I was rewarded by celebrity in the form of the Kristen Schaal who plays "Mel" on Flight of the Conchords and is a very funny Daily Show commentator.

(I chose the photo with the bird, Diana, since you liked that birdy page in Elle.)

This is Woody and me doing our impression of Kristen and her boyfriend making smoochie on the platform.

Anywhow, then the train came, and Kristen, her boyfriend, and I all got on.  Things were going swell, although mostly local, until 103rd Street when, as the conductor described it, "Something just hit our train."  Note the train did not do the hitting.  Anyhow, we sat on the train with the doors closed until a train crew arrived to check to make sure we hadn't run anyone over or a terrorist hadn't thrown a sticky bomb (I'm picturing a Wacky WallWalker with a dirty bomb in its backpack?) at us.


Once they opened the doors, there was a mass exodus.  But, as the lady next to me said, "How else would I get home?  The bus?  Puhleeze."  We even had one very angry fellow patron yell at us, "What are you bitches doing?  The train is broked.  Get your asses off."  Our decision to wait it out upset him.  But, another train wouldn't come since we were in its way.  And I just am not aggressive to fight an entire train's worth of folks for a spot on an uptown bus.  And who wants to go 70 blocks on a bus?  Puh-leeze.

Anyway, we started moving again after they determined that it was a soda can tossed off the platform at the incoming train.  And then we went express!  Whoooo!

So, two hours and 14 minutes later, I am home.  Still?  The persimmon pudding and the company of friends were worth the over four hours total time spent on trains underground.

Amber & Self-Avatar-It

I know what I look like. But, I can't seem to make an avatar that looks like me. CRD made this one of the two of us in the style of that show all the kids love these days.  The coffee is the only real give-away that it's me; the body type is 100% me, but the nose is not-quite-exactly-Amber.

I made this one.  I got to pick from lots of different faces and noses and eye shapes.  I still don't think it looks like me.  It has the right hair and bangs, maryjane shoes, brown eyes, and $35 jeans, but it's still not quite right.  It just doesn't look like me.

It sure is hard capturing my essence in pixels.  Maybe because there's no avatar setting to coat yourself in cat fur?

Amber & Breaking News

I am taking a moment out from my anti-antibiotic biological reactions to bring you this hot news item. Although I don't really care so much about all the controversy at that award show, it did lead me to do some research and discover this great song by Beyoncé called "If You Like My Hand Then You Should Have Put A Ring On It."

Now, I know. I know. You got the criticism; I am aware of it. But those are some awesome dance moves and that is one physically fit lady. And she has a robotic hand thing!
I totally want one of those. Heck, I already wear leotards all the time to amortize the cost of the dance equipment I bought for that tap class in Wisconsin and because I like to pretend I am Ruby Keeler while making Excel workbooks.

After I saw the video and compared favorite dance moves with CRD, he pointed out THAT was what that whole SNL skit with Paul Rudd, Justin Timberlake and Andy Samberg and that chubby guy in leotards was all about. Who knew?

And then Nick was all, "Did you know it's an hommage to that Bob Fosse choreographed Gwen Verdon dance number called 'Mexican Breakfast?'" Apparently, really recently (2007) someone dubbed a contemporary song over the original score and dance fun ensued. Here is the current song with those original dance moves.



Remember folks: you learned all about it here on Amber & first.

Amber & Home Office

This is what it looks like when I work at home.

The three essential devices for a productive work day: a Blackberry, a laptop, and an impromptu cat environment made more enticing than the keyboard.

Amber & Leon Learned

FYI: MacBook keyboard are not vacuum-proof.

Farewell letter that come after T.