OH BLOG. You have been neglected. I'm sorry!
Let me make it up to you by telling you some things about my life.



SEPTA is on strike, which means they're "getting there" even less than usual. This is kind of a pain in the badonkadonk as I take the subway to Temple five days a week. Temple has been running a shuttle every half an hour or so but it fills up really quickly so taking it generally means a lot of waiting. I've been waking up really early to get on the shuttle, spending the day on campus, and walking home. It has been working OK but it means that Max and I have fallen into the most absurd schedule.

It's hard for me to get up early if I don't go to sleep at a reasonable hour but he works from four until midnight and I don't get home until around four so if I am asleep by the time he gets home, we never see each other awake. We've worked out that the best way for us to spend time with each other and get enough sleep is as follows: I sleep from about eight or nine (pm) until midnight, at which point I wake up and hang out and watch TV with him for a few hours. Then we sleep until about six, eat breakfast and hang out for a little bit and then Max goes back to sleep for awhile and I go to school. I know, I know. Whatever.



This news is considerably more exciting, which is that I am a homeowner now! Or, I will be soon. Kind of. My parents bought a house in South Philly and Max and I will be paying them... well... rent, I guess, but it feels bigger. My name is on the papers at least! Closing isn't until November 30th and then we move in December 29th/30th (I will be juggling moving and the MLA conference!) We are a little nervous about moving to South Philly but I think it will be worth it. Goodbye, two room & bathroom apartment! Hello, three bedrooms, one and a half bath, kitchen, living room, garden & finished basement!

I just read back over this and realized how many exclamation points there are. OH WELL! I am having a pretty awesome day.

Oh, also, I like that people still look at puppy to puppy even though I haven't updated it in forevah.

I got a phone call from the DA's office today, "regarding the robbery that occurred August 20th on Spruce Street." This came as a bit of a shock to me for two reasons. Reason number one: I was being driven through the Rocky Mountains on August 20th. Reason number two: I have no recollection of being involved in any type of robbery in August, except if you count how Krysta's boyfriend stole her from me and took her to Minnesota (you probably don't).

At this point I need to back up a little bit, because I was robbed in August... in August 2006. That's three years ago, for the mathematically uninclined (that's not a word) of you. It wasn't on Spruce Street but it was on 43rd near Spruce. But it was three years ago! so the event didn't exactly pop into my head.

When the confusion was settled the woman from the DA's office informed me that the case is going to trial on Monday and she'd like me to testify. I have class on Monday so I don't think that I can make it (which she said is fine) but I think Montana, who was with me, is going to go.

The weird thing is that the police told Montana and me that the man was in custody (we ID'd him)... and that was the week it happened, August of 2006. Why they waited three years to take the case to trial, I have no idea.

GO PHILADELPHIA.

I grew up in a pretty small town on the Appalachian Trail (this is not the backwoods moonshine Appalachia you imagine). I believe there are eight hundred something citizens now but when I was in high school it was closer to seven hundred. There is a one-room schoolhouse museum and art gallery that operated as a school until 1969, the local church hosts weekly town picnics for the hikers, the local jazz club is world-renowned and has been operating since the end of WWII. It is a haven for aging hippies, artists, and musicians and it is the closest thing to a perfect town that I can imagine. Just ask Teddy Roosevelt:




(Now the Deer Head Inn)

Have I mentioned that all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all of the children are above average?

Seriously, though, it is pretty good there. I like to tell the story of when Krysta and I watched the (volunteer) firefighters help a cat out of a tree. It's always reminded me a bit of Pleasantville, without all the negative connotations. I mean really. What other town would dispatch the fire department to help a feline in a precarious position?



GOOD MORNING PINE STREET! A neighbor's cat escaped out the window to the roof, somehow, and both animal control and the fire department helped kitty get home safely.

Philadelphia, I am really glad that you did this today. Firefighters, I hope you still have a job at the end of the year. You too, librarians.

Max came home from work yesterday and said he'd spoken to a woman who has lived in Philadelphia for a few decades.

"This has happened before," she told him. "The last time there was a budget debacle the city didn't maintain Rittenhouse Square for a year. It was really overgrown, people stopped going there. It was one of the best things that ever happened to Center City. It was this beautiful wilderness. It became more like a neighborhood, and less like Center City.

"But the problem when a library closes is that another library doesn't open up in its place."

THE WORST

When I worked at PCI (one of the branches of the Free Library in Philadelphia) I made most of the signs for upcoming events, etc. There is a big window that faces Rittenhouse Square where we hung all the signs. I stopped working there in May 2008 but we live really close and I like to walk by from time to time to see the new signs, and to think about how they are just not as good as the signs I used to make.

Well on my way home tonight I saw the worst sign ever.



Everyone, please write/call/do whatever you can do. Seriously. There is some good information on the Free Library's website: www.freelibrary.org