Updates from a really crappy blogger

It's true, I don't seem to have the same drive to blog lately. Maybe it's because my life just isn't that interesting. Maybe, over a three year span, I have basically expressed every opinion, musing, and soap box tirade in my repertoire, and I have nothing left to offer. Maybe I spend too much time sitting at the computer. Maybe the evolving nature of my professional life has made too many of life's funny stories off-limits as blogging potential. I would try to explain that last one, but I can't think of a way to do so without revealing that which must be kept off-limits if I want to keep working in this town. Plus there are some professional ethics involved. Stupid ethics.

But here are a few things I can report.

On Sunday, I will be standing up in front of the largest crowd I've ever spoken before, upwards of 2,000 people. Including the governor, the speaker of the (state) house, and the senate majority leader. I was chosen to pinch hit for somebody else, because the organizers of this event have decided that I'm the sort of person who can be asked at the last minute to stand up in front of a bunch of people, deliver a serviceable if not terribly dynamic spiel, and not freak out. We'll see if they're right. Let's hope so. Because I don't really have time to complete a Toastmasters course before then.

Things to do before Sunday: Pick out some clean clothes. Rehearse script. Shave legs.

Enrico's thumb is growing back. Thanks for asking!

And, I have decided (and Enrico has agreed) that we will try a variant of the 100-Mile Diet for the month of July. Our variant will actually be a Washington state diet, with two key exceptions: coffee and olive oil, those twin elixirs of life! I just received a shipment of flour that I ordered from what appears to be the only producers of flour from wheat grown in Washington, so we can make our own bread and pasta for the month. I'm going to have to give up sugar, but at least our state makes plenty of honey. And thank HEAVENS, lots of alcoholic beverages. I'm planning a field trip to a farm that produces open-range meat, dairy and eggs. If anybody knows of a source of lentils and dried beans grown in Washington, please, let me know. Washington state is supposedly the biggest producer of lentils in the country - they grow 'em by the bucket out in the Pelouse - but damn if I can figure out how to know whether I'm buying local.