East, West

I'm back from the east coast. Great to see the family, especially the beloved nephews. Since I last saw him five months ago, the oldest has learned how to ride a bike and read, and he lost his very first tooth the last day I was there. How is this possible when it wasn't that long ago that he was a newborn peeing on me? (I wised up with the subsequent newphews.) I'm semi-helpless against becoming the aunt that kisses too much and dread the day they become too cool to have anything to do with me.

On the plus side, I got my fill of great pizza and bagels, two essential food items the Bay area has yet to master, and the understated classic, the Dunkin Donut old fashioned. Unlike the Krispy Kreme, you can eat more than one without risking nausea. Also the crazy thick accent of my people: lawge black cawfee, no shugah. On the negative side, what is the deal with the east coast insisting on doctoring your coffee for you? Can I not be trusted with a thermos of milk and sugar packets? I'm sorry to say that every cup of coffee I had from DD sucked because it was never made right. I was forced to go to Starbucks, where you are allowed to make your own. Anyone who knows why this is, please weigh in.

In a totally unrelated matter, I visited Rosie O'Donnell's blog for the first time today. Something in me refused to believe that she was really blogging in poetry but it's true. I guess it isn't really poetry, more like "this is 2 u from me 4ever" kind of writing, which is fine for a bathroom wall, acceptable in a text message but unbearable in a blog. Does Rosie not have access to a full keyboard and adequate time to write? Perhaps once she leaves The View due to brouhaha with ninny Hasselbeck she'll have time to write in complete sentences.

Finally, I talked about the groovy global micro-lending organization Kiva a few posts back and today I finally made a couple of loans. Micro is the word here--just $25 for each loan, one for a woman in Mexico who runs a stationery shop out of her home and one for a woman in Samoa who rents fales, open thatched dwellings, to backpackers on the beach. This is my lender page so you can see the ladies and perhaps make a loan yourself if you're so inclined.

Now I must try the new Haagen Daz coffee frozen yogurt. Their "light" coffee ice cream is delicious but at 20% saturated fat for 1/2 cup (as opposed to 55%, oh yes, HD regular coffee ice cream, aka 'stick of butter'), it cannot be a regular occurrence sadly.