Random stuff (much of which involves food)

[badseed1980]

1. I'm meeting C after work today, briefly. He picks up a farm share every Friday at MIT. They're getting a lot of kale lately, and he and his wife both hate it. I love kale. This is a most convenient arrangement. :) We're going out again on Tuesday night, probably for dinner and a movie.

2. I believe I am going to make some sort of fruit salsa/pico de gallo for the birthday shindig I will be attending tomorrow. Blame the Pioneer Woman. She had a mango-pineapple pico on her blog recently, and it made me think about how much I'd like something like that. But we'll see what fruits look good in the store.

3. I have a three-inch zucchini! OK, that sounds REALLY bad, but...seriously! There are actually a couple of them that are that big already! And my tomatoes and chilies already have blossoms!

4. I wish I could get some idea of the actual value of that vintage dress I bought. I'm not planning on selling it, but I AM curious, mostly because it really is in such good condition. I've done some research and I THINK it's from the late 1950s, based on the zipper and the waistline, but can't be positive. I can't find any info on the label, either. Meh.

5. I'm still mulling over the idea of trying some mystery/crime novels, because I dig the Law and Order shows so much. No idea where to start, though. I might just try walking into Kate's Mystery Books and asking Kate for recommendations for character-driven, modern mysteries, and name a few of my favorite non-mystery authors.

6. My coworker, N, who's one of the three researchers on my team, is going to a different part of our department soon. Sad! She's pretty cool. Anyway, they'll be opening up her position. She's also a senior researcher, but unlike me, is getting paid as one. As would whoever gets that position (which, technically, otherwise, is the same position that I have). I've brought up this bizarreness to my manager, and it turns out it had already occurred to her. While she's not exactly sure how things are going to work (they need to get official permission to open the position, for one thing), she "has a feeling good things will be happening" for me soon, and will stay in touch about that. Sweet. Have I mentioned that my superiors in this job are pretty much awesome?

7. More food. I am possibly going to make the luscious little Aphrodite Cakes again for N's goodbye party. She's a foodie, and would appreciate such things. Or I might try a lavender-rosemary shortbread. Maybe with a little lemon? Who knows? Either way: NOM.

Comments

[woodwardiocom.livejournal.com]

I'm still mulling over the idea of trying some mystery/crime novels...

Note that Kate's Mystery Books is closing on August 1st...

For the classics, there's the Sherlock Holmes stories, which are very readable and fun. (Recommended entry point: Study in Scarlet.)

For Boston-area tough-guy detective novels, try the Spenser books by Robert B. Parker. (Entry point: Promised Land.)

I am terribly fond of the Nero Wolfe novels by Rex Stout, which are about a fat lazy snarky detective and his wisecracking legman. (Entry point: Prisoner's Base.)

If you want something more like a L&O police procedural, I'm afraid that's not what I usually read . . .

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

Oh wow, is it? Aww.

Yeah, I do need to get some Holmes. I read kid versions of those stories when I was young, and I've been wanting to get Shadows Over Baker Street, after reading and loving "A Study in Emerald." But I need the originals too!

[leenah.livejournal.com]

and see, i'd thought kate's had closed ages ago - i'm no longer on that side of boston, so i rarely see anything there.

i'll drop you a msg w/ links to sherlock holmes online. lots of it is as project gutenberg, e.g.

i like ian rankin's Rebus novels, set in modern edinburgh. i also like john mortimer's Rumpole series.

hmmm. yeah, i am an anglophile, proving it yet again by my preference for brit novels. OH, and if i had access or could get it, i want to see the british version of Life on Mars. that looks FINE.

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

Got that e-mail. Thanks, Lena! I've heard good things about Rankin.

[unferth.livejournal.com]

I hear good things about the Donald Westlake "Dortmunder" books, although they're crime-caper rather than mystery. I read the first one and was somewhat amused; I hear they pick up later but haven't been inspired to pursue them further.

Sharon McCrumb's "Bimbos of the Death Sun" is a murder mystery set at a sci-fi con. Entertaining, although having read some of her other books I'm not sure how much is loving satire and how much is "look at these nerds!" humor.

Dorothy Sayers' "Lord Peter Wimsey" books are fun. I kind of overdosed on a short story collection a while back, and as a result bounced off the first novel, but I'd still say they're worth a try.

Oh yeah, and the Randall Garrett "Lord Darcy" stories are good stuff. Alternate universe, magic, detectives.

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

I'm not even sure if "mystery" is really what I'm looking for. I want "crime occurs, is solved by someone who gets into the head of the scary psycho committing the crime." Not sure exactly what category it falls under. But very psychological, and interaction between the criminal and the person who catches them would be a bonus.

[unferth.livejournal.com]

Ah. Hmm. Yeah, none of the ones I mentioned really fit that. (I should have read more closely in the first place, since you mentioned "modern" and "character-driven" as goals.)

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

Well, it still gave me an opportunity to further clarify what exactly it is that I'm looking for (to myself as well as you). That's useful!

[saffronrose.livejournal.com]

Mira Grant's FEED. Check out the summary on Amazon, and then buy it at Kate's, if that's what you'd like.
Politics, mystery, zombies, bloggers...intense. She doesn't pull punches, and the pace is fast. Smartass & snarking.
As Seanan McGuire (her birth name), check out Rosemary & Rue, and A Local Habitation. Fae, mystery, alternate worlds, San Francisco, smartass main character.

Both names are getting excellent reviews, and she's up for a Campbell Award this year at WorldCon.

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

Interesting! I've heard of Rosemary & RueK, I think. :)

[roaming.livejournal.com]

Let us know if you need a ride to the "shindig." We can arrange a pick up, you're not that far away.

Nyla of Griffin Grove has an amazing mango salsa recipe. I have it. I'd make it but it hinges on mangos being perfect. But the first time I had it, up at GG, I just sat in the hammock thinking I'd died and gone to heaven. Now I make her make it for me every time I see her. I've made it. . . and somehow it doesn't taste like it does when she makes it. Fae magic!

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I will either need a lift or public transportation directions!

[roaming.livejournal.com]

I'll ask Tom what works best. He's the "chauffeur." Some people are coming to Alewife and we're shuttling back and forth from there, so anyway you can get on the Red-Line is the most ideal. If not, and you have too much stuff to schlepp, he'll come get you. You should email us your address again (though he might remember).

[saffronrose.livejournal.com]

#4 Find a local costumer's organization, or a really good theatrical group, and ask there. Here, we have GBACG, who do all periods of costuming, and are really up on their research.
#5 Good move--DO ask Kate.
#6 Here's energy toward something good happening for you!
#7 I vote for lavendar lemon shortbread, with or without poppyseeds.

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

Ooh, good suggestion. I actually know a few people who are a lot more up on history of fashion and clothing than I am, and I might bend their ears at a party or something. :)

[paigemom.livejournal.com]

I'm more of a "cozy" fan, so I'm not going to be much help in your quest.

However, if you ever decide to try non-gritty, non-violent amateur detective series that may or may not feature animals, let me know.

[sabrinamari.livejournal.com]

Write up a list of everything you do and everything you've done in the last year for the company. make an appointment with the decision maker for that job. Go and buy a book on negotiating. Read "Six-Figure Women". Don't wait for them to discover that you deserve this job---you are much more likely to get it if you ask for it and make a good case for giving it to you.

Don't depend on your manager's impression of vaguely good things to come---go and get what you want.

People get what they settle for, and women are raised to settle for very little. Leadership knows this, and even the kindest leaders bank on it.

Ask for what you are worth!

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

Actually, it's more like they KNOW I deserve it, and seem to be already trying to finagle the right way to go about making sure I get it. I think the manager would have been less vague if the departing coworker were not sitting there with us. I'm planning, on Monday, to find a time to meet with her and the person requesting that the position be opened, and find out how we're going to do this.

These are the people who started fighting for me to get a promotion and raise years ago, without my even mentioning it! It's just that the budget has been so severely restricted (we had layoffs last summer), that NO one has been promoted. This will be only the second person who's left who we're actually going to replace.

[sabrinamari.livejournal.com]

Good---I am rooting for your promotion and your raise!