Scott Douglas’ Terse Bloviation

Blindness by Jose Saramago

One-sentence review: One’s second Saramago novel is an easier reading experience than the first.

I’m unsure whether to watch the movie adaptation. It might ruin the version that’s in my head.

I arrived at a friend’s place at 5:20 this morning to run. When we got back at 6:40 I had a parking ticket for an overnight violation. I called the ticketing people to see how I could dispute it.

Parking dude: An overnight violation doesn’t necessarily mean you parked there overnight. Basically, you can’t park there between midnight and 7:00 a.m. Does she know about it?

Snotty Scotty: I doubt it, given that there aren’t signs anywhere on the street announcing it.

Parking dude: Right, there aren’t signs. It was a city ordinance that went into effect in the 70s. Letters were mailed out then.

Snotty Scotty: That was before she was born, so she probably didn’t get that letter.

Stacey and good friends across the street and around the corner.

Ibex clothing.

A huge stash of tisane mixes from Homegrown Herb & Tea.

The new stove in the living room.

Friends to run with.

Enjoyable new music acquisitions, and occasional dips into old favorites.

According to Forbes, Stacey and I have lived in two of the three most livable metro areas in the U.S. Portland tops their no-doubt 100% accurate list, with Bethesda, Md. and Des Moines rounding out the top three.

To be honest, I haven’t done more than scan the beginning of the article, so maybe later on it clarifies that Bethesda is considered most livable for McMansion-loving/traffic-loving/former school class president/unjustifiably self-satisfied uptight overachievers whose preferred architectural style is silos.

It’s true, Maine has a slower pace of life than the D.C. area. Consider the following, found by Stacey this morning:

© The Portland Daily Sun. All rights reserved.
The Portland Daily Sun is published Tuesday through Saturday

New Year’s Day polar bear dip.

Most people like food and pretty pictures and knowing what day it is. Therefore, what more would they like in their (really big) stocking than a 2009 calendar that features fine-art food photography, seasonal recipes and fun food factoids, the latter scripted by moi? Learn more and buy the abfab calendar here.

To balance the puling below, I’ll write something nice. Stacey and I tried a couple of times to make vegetable broth, but the recipes we followed never turned out to be worth it, as they would call for a couple onions, carrots and other items that we would normally eat. But now, thanks to one of our way-cool neighbors, we know what to do. All vegetable scraps that we would otherwise compost go into a bag. When the bag is full, we put the scraps in a pot, cover with an inch or so of water, and simmer for a couple of hours until the liquid volume has been reduced by a third. Strain the scraps, bottle the broth and then put the scraps in the compost bucket. The broth is way tastier than what we made before or could buy, and the stuff made to use it winds up in the compost pile where it would have anyway.

Hi there. How have you been? You’re looking well. Have you lost weight?

What’s that? What’s up with me? Why, thanks for asking! The near future should include:

• A turkeyless Thanksgiving at the home of vegetarian friends.
• Final harvesting of brussels sprouts and sunchokes.
• My second race in the last 26 months.
• A weekend in Montreal.
• A few days with Zola Budd Pieterse for a Running Times story.
• Publication of the second edition of Advanced Marathoning.
• Continued daily sits in front of the lightbox to account for the fact that the sun, when it deigns to appear, checks out for the day at about noon.
• Continued vicarious pleasure in the well-earned success of Stacey’s great 2009 wall calendar.

How about yourself?