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Tomorrow (6/26) is Veronica’s birthday; she’ll be a year old! I can’t believe how fast this past year has gone. Everything we’ve been through – the highs and lows, the scares, the medical issues, the joy and amazement – it’s all a blur to me now. I guess that’s how life is.

This weekend my father, sister, and two nieces came to visit from South Carolina. Veronica reveled in the attention and was a complete ham all weekend! Today, she’s exhausted, and to be honest I’m a little spent myself! It was really fun to have them all here and see them react to her (it was the first time my sister and nieces have been able to see her in person).

For her birthday, the baby got numerous toys, including a cool Baby Einstein book and a TMX Elmo, plus dresses, sneakers, and cash from Grandpa. And daddy went out and bought her an inflatable wading pool! That got some strange looks from the neighbors in the back yard this weekend, I’m sure.

OK let me get this straight…we are supposed to pay $100 for this plastic tote bag, all too similar to the ones my Granny used to hold her shopping, knitting, etc. when I was a small child, just because it’s Prada? Really? Seriously? Excuse me for a moment.

<Loud guffaws, followed by choking.>

Ahem. OK, I’m better. So apparently the fashionistas of the world really are completely deluded. A hundred bucks is the magical price point for regular folks to get hold of designer goods, as long as said goods are made of plastic, like the silly Mark Jacobs and Ferragamo “jellies” that are inexplicably for sale now. My theory: occasionally the fashion consciousness of a nation is suddenly gripped by a bout of stupidity so extreme, that people pay good money for designer accessories made out of petroleum. This is one of those times.

Don’t get me wrong. I have no problem with plastic tote bags – I love them…when they come from the Woolworth’s of my childhood and cost $2.00, or even when they run $10 from Claire’s Accessories, or Target. And jellies? Well, I wore them the first time around. I don’t think I ever had a pair that cost more than five bucks. Nowadays I’d just pass on them (uncomfortable, slightly dangerous, very smelly); but I don’t begrudge someone going for that retro footwear vibe. Unless, of course, they paid $100 for the retro. That’s just stupid.

The comments on this particular Amazon deal are pretty telling (my responses in italics):

“This is a fun bag that is worth the “splurge.”"
$100 for a bag is not a “splurge.” It’s a decent price for a well-made, practical and stylish handbag – which this is not.

“The bag does have leather trim. Also, you can’t beat the price for a real Prada!”
Um…yes, you can. You could have a purse that’s all leather for the same price. Hell, you could have a “real Prada” nylon handbag for the same or less, just look around Amazon’s Friday sale a little more!

“Yes, it’s a plastic bag. However, it’s a really neat plastic bag.”
If you can spend $100 on a plastic bag because it’s “neat,” I have some really cool freezer-size Ziplocs you might be interested in.

“I’ll bet that prada is laughing all the way to the bank…”
Well, here’s a comment I can agree with.

Seriously, people…snap out of it.

Warning: this post definitely contains spoilers. If you haven’t watched the series finale of The Sopranos, and you care about not knowing what happens, don’t read this. You have been warned.

I, like much of the TV-viewing public (at least those who subscribe to HBO), watched the series finale of The Sopranos last night. And what did I think of it? Weird. It was weird, OK? I feel like this show sort of reached its zenith in that season where Ralph owned the race horse, and then Tony whacked him, and it’s been on a downward spiral of shark-jumping (with a few exceptions) since then. Last night confirmed my suspicion that yes, the glory days are gone. It’s time for The Sopranos to be over, and for all of us to move on to something else. So far, I don’t think the something else is going to be HBO’s newest David Milch project, John from Cincinnati, but that’s another post.

Anyway, my husband and I were sitting and watching The Sopranos last night, and we were about 40 minutes into the thing. I turned to him and asked, “Is it just me, or is this the most boring, anti-climactic series finale in the history of series finales? Nothing is happening!” and right after I said that, Phil Leotardo got shot in the head. In broad daylight! In front of his twin grandchildren! And then, in one of those patented, awful Sopranos moments, his stupid wife got out of the SUV and left it in neutral, and the thing (luckily, off-camera) rolled over his damn head. First I thought “Ew!” but then I thought, “Yeah! Finally some shit will go down!”

I was wrong. That was the end of it. The rest of the show was as dreary and boring and uninspiring as the rest of it, except for those horrific few minutes of head-squashing. Maybe that’s the point, really. Is David Chase (who both wrote and directed the finale) saying to us that even though Tony is a mobster, a lot of his life is just as mundane and stifling as yours or mine? There are days when nothing much really happens? Oh sure, maybe now and then he orders a guy whacked, or attends a big funeral with a bunch of Italian-American caricatures, but for the most part, it’s a grind like any other?

I’m probably being too harsh, really. There was certainly some material for discussion going on in last night’s episode. Just the abruptness of the ending itself is grist for a long debate on the significance of it all. And there are other questions – wtf is up with Meadow? WTF is AJ’s problem? What about that slimeball Paulie? Don’t you just want to murder that selfish bitch Janice?

Rest in peace, Sopranos. Rest in peace.

Last Friday, I was feeling kind of “oogie” and unsure of what I wanted for dinner. My husband stated his desire to have some leftover in the fridge, so I ended up ordering a pizza for myself – that’s just what sounded good. So I ordered from Papa John’s online, and got exactly what I wanted, which was pretty strange, as it turned out. I got a thin crust, with sausage, mushrooms, banana peppers, onions, and anchovies. I know…strange! Those anchovies were the saltiest thing I think I’ve ever eaten, but they tasted so damn good on that pizza! No, I am NOT pregnant again. I would do it again, but I think this time I’d just get a side of anchovies. Something that salty needs to be eaten carefully, and in moderation.

This site (ht to kottke.org) generates a random pizza for you. It’s silly, but it got me thinking about a few things. The pizza it made for me, btw, included “Goat Cheese, Swiss Cheese, Minced Garlic, Pine Nuts, Shrimp, and Prawns,” on whole wheat crust with red sauce.

My first thought is, “so this is what people use Google Pages for.” Ah-hah! I have one set up as a placeholder, with no idea what to do with it. I guess now I have one example. (Funny how blogging has just taken over the personal webspace; I remember long ago I used to maintain all sorts of personal websites, devoted to everything from my love of Bruce Campbell to a memorial to my mother. Nowadays a blog takes the place of all of that, I suppose.)

The other thing is, this little script obviously needs some refinement. Goat cheese AND swiss cheese? Should I assume that’s in addition to the normal mozzarella on most pizzas? I’m down with trying the goat cheese, but I’m not so sure about the swiss. Garlic and pine nuts are both a-0k with me, as are shrimp. Not sure I’d eat shrimp on a pizza, but I’d at least try it. But prawns? Prawns are shrimp (and soylent green is people)! Does “shrimp and prawns” mean a double-order of shrimp?  Or prawns?

Am I overanalyzing this pizza? <– rhetorical question

I have posted previously on my love for my sexy MacBook. Technically, I bought it for my freelance work, and I’ll be using it for a deduction on my taxes, but I have to admit I use it for my personal stuff as much as work. There’s nothing better for editing movies and photos (I have some awesome footage of my daughter from last weekend to upload soon). I also got a game for it, The Sims Life Stories, which to be honest I’ve only played once so far. (Jeez, who has time?) This past weekend I finally bought Parallels, and started installing a Windows XP VM. Once I have it up and running, I anticipate using my Windows PC even less than I do now! Maybe it really will become a gaming-only machine.

Unfortunately, the extra copy of Windows XP that I had available (from a no-longer used Dell tower that I bought a few years ago) was only SP1. So I tried to download and install SP2 from Windows Update. What a hassle! I think I really screwed the thing up, as it’s not behaving right at all. So today I bit the bullet and ordered an OEM copy of Windows XP SP2 from eBay, in order to start over again. And since I was already in the upgrading mood, I bought more RAM. The black MacBook comes with 1gig to start, which is generally enough, but when you’re running VMs, especially Windows VMs, it always helps to have more. I got a great deal from MemorySuppliers, 2 gig of RAM for only $130! As I recall, that’s cheaper than it would have cost me to upgrade when I bought the laptop!

I’m also in the process of setting up my home office again, with much help from a professional organizer (who just happens to be a friend!). Once I get it set up, I’ll be able to hook up any of my laptops to this phat 22-inch LCD that my husband got a great deal on from Office Depot (somehow he got this thing for like $200). He tried it out, but the game he plays obsessively (Battlefield 2142) won’t support the widescreen resolution he wanted to use properly…so he went back to the old 19″ that he’s been “borrowing” from me for the past two years! Is he crazy, or what?

In more unfortunate developments, the office thing is sort of on hold while I figure out how exactly to reconfigure it. It’s a large spare bedroom that I’m using, so I’m going to set it up as a combination office and craft room. I plan to have two walls full of shelving, and multiple work surfaces. However, figuring out exactly how to do that is challenging. I’m trying to plan an elfa system from the Container Store, but they are overdue getting back to me with a plan/estimate, so I’m stuck. I don’t want to just go ahead and get ClosetMaid stuff from Home Depot until I’ve seen the estimate from Container Store, so now I must wait. And while I wait, I shred…and shred…and shred. Wow, I had a lot of useless paper laying around.