things

i've been quiet here, but things are happening.

first, today is my actual weeding anniversary (not that fake one like last week). also, lots of other things. i've been trying to help an uzbek friend apply for a u.s. visa (or at least find out if she is eligible to apply), cleaning our apartment, losing a game of new england and a game of carcassonne, attending a weeding in north jersey in which our friend married a rabbi (they had been living in sin for the past year---yes, apparently rabbis do that too), watching occasional episodes of the office, and not studying my new arabic vocabulary like i should.

of course, none of that is blogging. but i got big plans. big plans!!!! i'm involved in a sorta secret project that is related to what i posted here the other day. someone else is doing most of the work, and so it is coming together at a nice efficient pace. the unveiling of said project, at least as far as linkage from this site, should be soon.

yesterday, i got my second "is this you?" email from someone. this time it was from a friend from norway. i met my norwegian friend on july 15, 1992, spent a day with him and other assorted norwegians in rome and then exchanged addresses in the train station as we parted company at the end of the day. i kept in touch with him for years as a pen pal, but these days we exchange occasional notes via email. i have not seen him in person since the day i met him almost 12 years ago. anyway, yesterday i got back from the weeding and found an email from him with a link to this site asking if this was me. apparently he found the site by googling my real name and the name of the college i went to. (i've been effectively google-bombed, i think, by people linking to me via my real name) this site is the first blog he has ever read. his note was a nice surprise