The End.

Posted on January 11, 2013 by ennie

I was so inspired today that I needed to post to my poor, neglected blog.

All of you who are from CLE and are my age remember 107.9 The End and that it was the “Alternative” with a Capital “A” station that swooped in unexpectedly in 1992…the station spending 24 hours playing “It’s The End of the World as We Know It” by REM over and over…between classes at school asking people with Walkmans if it was still playing that same song…”What could it be!?!?!?”….then sadly disappearing in the same EXACT way in 1999, but this time not before a DJ locked himself in the studio for a couple hours that morning ranting about the injustices of the corporate culture of radio…24 hours of anguish as I listened to REM over and over wondering what was up to find the next day MY station was gone, and replaced by a station playing some of the more misogynistic “hip hop” of the day.

Fast forward to August 2012, me in an uncomfortable suit sitting in the lobby of Entercom-Seattle waiting for my interview. I researched the company before coming in. One of their 4 stations? 107.7 The End. “Classic Alternative” and new music. I’m nervous, obsessing over my resume, and what do I hear over the sound system?

That’s great it starts with an earthquake
Birds and snakes and aeroplanes
Lenny Bruce is not afraid

Um, are you there “god”? It’s me! Jennie!

The End was celebrating it’s 21st birthday in Seattle. In Seattle. And I nailed the interview. And I got the job. And I love it.

And today (casual Friday), just because I was feeling nostalgic I decided to wear my EndFest 1997 shirt to work.

No one could have prepared me for the attention I would receive. The senior VP of Sales & Marketing patting me on the shoulder, telling me I was rockin’ it “vintage”. My boss the VP of Sales making me stand up and twirl, followed by high five. The GM of Sales for The End coming over, sniffing and saying “Oh the memories! I love it! The memories! Thank you!” And the 25 year old junior salesman for The End, and a couple of production folks and one DJ from The End asking “Where did you get that shirt?! That’s sweet!”

To one or two of them I explained The End in Cleveland (I’m unclear on the technical connection…I know it exists but it’s surprisingly loose)…how it was cut off so suddenly and brutally in 1999. How I can’t find many photos on Google because it was before Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, affordable digital cameras…and film was EXPENSIVE to process for a broke college student. And that none of us really realized what a huge moment this was…how important…until it was gone.

Years later, now enjoying the truly precious prize of getting to pick up where I left off in my musical development that had truly begun in high school & college, I realize how significant that time was. I used to blow it off, saying “well, it’s just because I was in the middle of it that I thought it was so important.” No…it really WAS that important. I don’t like calling it “the grunge movement”. That’s only a piece of it. It was the Alternative Music Movement of the 90’s…it was distinct and varied in its content. It was a seismic change. And though some of our heroes/martyrs/kooks died or faded away, some are making comebacks, and others never faded…they just kept evolving, staying relevant, and are on the path of becoming “legendary.”

It was The End of the World as I knew it. And I feel fine.

xo
en

P.S. If you haven’t watched this, you need to. Illustrates the enormity, significance, and beauty of “my” music and how it has found its place in music history. And I have to say, fortunately, more often than not, when I hear new music by 20 year-olds that is obviously influenced by “my” music? It makes me happy. As long as they know where it came from 🙂

 

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Indian Meets Lebanese Meets Greek = Yummy

Posted on August 17, 2012 by ennie

In the fridge I had Greek Pita, some veggies, cilantro, locally made “Karam’s Middle-Eastern Specialty Tahini Garlic Sauce”* and ground beef. I also have an awesome spice collection. IRON CHEF! GO!

THE MEAT

  • 1/2 lb ground beef (80/20 chuck)
  • Healthy pinch of salt
  • half a dozen grinds of black pepper
  • 1/4 white onion, coarsely chopped
  • 1/4 tsp garam masala
  • 1/8 tsp cumin
  • 1/2 tsp hot pepper flakes
  • 2 cloves garlic, pressed

Mix this up with your hands and set it aside while you prepare THE SALAD, but also make sure to prep these items below to use later:

  • 1/4 onion, finely diced
  • 1/4 cup pine nuts, lightly toasted in a dry pan
  • 1 medium to small Anaheim chile diced
  • 1 tbsp cilantro finely chopped
After you’ve made THE SALAD:

Heat olive oil in a skillet till shimmering. Drop in your finely diced onion and sauté until it all begins to get translucent & slightly golden. Mix in the ground beef mixture. Cook, constantly stirring with a wooden spoon to keep the beef broken up. When the meat looks cooked through, stir in the pine nuts. When things start to brown, stir in the Anaheim chile and cilantro, remove from heat. You want to maintain the crunch of the peppers, and the bright, fresh hit of cilantro. Season with salt to taste.

THE SALAD

  • 1/2 large cucumber, large dice
  • 1/3 red onion, very thinly sliced
  • 2 small tomatoes, large dice
  • splash of olive oil
  • splash of champaign vinegar
  • salt & pepper to taste

THE FINISH

  • Warm 4 fluffy, Greek style pitas in the oven or microwave.
  • Set up your pitas as if you are making tacos (the Greek pita I’ve found do not break well into pockets, but I prefer the flavor and texture to Middle-Eastern pita). Squeeze on some Tahini Garlic Sauce (I found Karam’s, a local Seattle brand. I recommend, buy your favorite tahini dressing, and add garlic)
  • Spoon meat mixture evenly amongst the pitas
  • Squeeze on more of that awesome sauce
  • Either eat the salad separate, or spoon it into your pita

ENJOY!

xo
en

*In searching for a link to insert for that Garlic Sauce because I thought they deserved publicity, I discovered the restaurant that is behind it just closed a couple of months ago 🙁 They will be making the sauces still, but I’m sad I won’t get a chance to visit it’s home-base.

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My Olympic Moment

Posted on August 16, 2012 by ennie

a.k.a. “Late Night Olympic Brain Fart” – Inspired by Jack & Zoe and the NBC commentators for London 2012 Diving.

Male Commentator (Costas Wannabe):  And now we are set to begin round 2 of the Olympic Couch-Watching finals. This one is for medals.

Female Commentator (Serious, Somewhat Shouting, Southerner):  And as you may know, this is the event with the added complication of cats on laps. The couch-sitter, with one cat in a neutral position at their feet on a coffee table, and another on their lap, must re-cross their legs in the opposite direction, thus altering their lounging position, without disturbing the cats. Points are deducted based on the degree of disturbance, with cat departure resulting in disqualification from the competition.

MC:  OK. Now here we begin, with returning Olympic champion Jennifer Brosius, who as you recall left Beijing with the gold. She has settled onto her couch in a lounged-pike position, legs crossed right-over-left. Her grey cat on her lap, sound asleep, head buried in her hand, and a calico at her feet, chin resting on her big toe.

FC:  Now, it’s important to note that breed selection for each position is critical in competition this year, with the the level of difficulty increasing with the use of a calico at all, and then further should the calico be on your lap. This of course being a result of the devastating incident in Beijing for the Canadian team, whose competitor was the favorite to medal, but was blinded by the claws of an irate calico in the final rounds. Brosius has chosen to use a calico, but place her in the secondary position. Added degree of difficulty for sure, but not the highest.

MC:  Brosius has just grimaced, indicating that her left or bottom knee has begun to ache. She’s ready to make her move. Here she goes, carefully bending the right knee…pointing her toe and sliding it slowly out from under the calico’s nose.

FC: I hear a growl…I believe the calico is growling…this could be critical…

MC: She continues the transition. Great form…such grace, lifting her left foot…both feet off the ground now, moving her thighs slowly, hoping to roll the grey cat rather than jostle him.  Here she goes…his ears have lifted, this could be an indication of disturbance…

FC: She has slid her feet back into position…knees still bent. The calico’s head is up, but her eyes are cloooooossed….and she rests her chin on the other foot!!! What a relief that must be…some argue that’s the hardest part.

MC: The grey cat has risen up! He’s no longer laying down!

FC: This could be a problem. There is definitely a slight deduction there, and if he turns around to settle in the opposite direction that will result in a further deduction that could move her down to silver, or even bronze at this point…but if he settles back in the same place…

MC: He’s settling in! He has NOT turned around…he’s stopping to arch…lowering…lowering…SHOVING HIS NOSE UNDER HER HAND AND IT’S GOOD!

FC: Amazing recovery for Brosius! China and Mexico will have to score at LEAST 8.5’s on their leg shift in order to knock her off the gold platform! China will certainly try…they have a score to settle after she knocked them out of the gold in Beijing, preventing their sweep.

xo
en 

 

Posted in Adventures at Home, Adventures in the Human Race, Kitties! | Tagged | Leave a comment

Though eeeeever so huuuumble…

Posted on July 2, 2012 by ennie

In the dining room amongst stacks of boxes, sun going down, kitty watching me from a pile of tissue. I’m unpacking some medium sized boxes, densely packed with dozens upon dozens of carefully, individually wrapped glass and china. I’m listening to “Snap Judgment” on NPR, in a zone…a trance…”storytelling with a beat”.

Smoothing out a piece of paper after unearthing another familiar precious object I hadn’t seen in 2 months, I stopped in my tracks.

Have you ever had that feeling in the morning when you’re in a fog, take a swig of delicious hot coffee and suddenly the warmth flows through you, the fog has lifted and you are in the present? 
 

That was it.
The feeling that this is real.
This is home.

For the past 3 months, I’ve been in a different place. I don’t know if it’s a defense mechanism, survival tactic…probably both. There was so much to do, so many emotions, so much to manage, excitement, decisions to make, strings to pull, feelings hurt, puzzle pieces to fit together, mountains to move, wells to shout down…it was all focus.

focus

FOCUS 

I had short-term goals broken down so I wouldn’t feel overwhelmed. I had lists, records, spreadsheets, push

push

push

push to get to the next step. And now we’re here.

Home.
Sweet.
Home.

And it’s kinda nice.

xo
en

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Boxes

Posted on July 1, 2012 by ennie

6/29/12
15 boxes (10 small, 5 medium)

6/30/12
17 boxes (roughly 7 small, 10 medium)

7/1/12
8 boxes (4 large wardrobes, 3 medium, 1 small)

Kitchen is functioning with only one box of pots & pans and one box of plastic storage containers left, bedroom has plenty of room for the mattress delivery tomorrow morning, and the dining room is 90% done.

AND

That doesn’t count all the work George has done. I have no idea how many boxes he’s unpacked, but the family room is nearly box free, you can walk through the office, the office machines are all up and running, internet up, cable up, TiVo nearly up…

We Rock.

xo
en

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Grinding Away

Posted on June 29, 2012 by ennie

Boring post for an uneventful day 😉 Read at your own risk…zzzzzzzzz

Unpacked about 15 boxes today in the kitchen. It would be one thing if it was just a matter of books, for example. You unpack a box of books, you put them on the shelf, you move on to the next box. Nope. Kitchen boxes are packed with bits and pieces that need a home in your new, unfamiliar kitchen.

Where is it most logical for this to go?

Where will it fit?

Should I just toss this?

Is there an alternate place this can go until I need it?

OMG I forgot I had this and it’s extremely useful!

OMG why am I bothering looking for a place for this! I haven’t used it in 10 years!

To The Craig’s List Pile It goes.

While the office is probably the most complex room to unpack for George, the Kitchen is the most complex for me. Believe it or not, I’m not done. But, I should be able to wrap it up tomorrow. And really, the dining room and living room should go quickly. The boxes can be emptied into the shelves and cabinets, and done 🙂

The kitchen is my first priority because it’s the hardest. But my second priority is to reduce the number of boxes in the master bedroom because Monday morning we’re having a mattress and box spring delivered. Yay for forced motivation!

More on that after the delivery. I shan’t bore you more. Productive day. Here’s to a productive tomorrow!

xo
en

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The Move-In

Posted on June 29, 2012 by ennie

I’m sleepy. We got up around 6:15 a.m., finished packing up the apartment and kitties and headed over to the house 🙂

We knew we had a lot of stuff. For one, we moved into a slightly smaller house. Additionally, we went from having a 2 car garage to no garage. Finally, after living in a house for 10 years, with only really 2-3 weeks to do real house cleaning and pre-packing, there was no way we were going to get rid of everything we SHOULD have gotten rid of. Add to that the fact that we didn’t know what we would be moving into, I couldn’t make educated decisions about many of our possessions. For example, anyone need a lawnmower? Ha!

Yard is small enough that I’m tearing up most of what’s left of grass and expanding the garden 🙂

So I was feeling pretty overwhelmed and downright scared at the prospect of so much coming over. Had a couple mild panic attacks throughout the process, especially since they brought 3 small trucks instead of one big one. GAH

Mixed results on the delivery. Sadly, had some of my best wood furniture scratched pretty severely. But the absolute worst part is that our TV may have been damaged. It was originally packed by a 3rd party TV guy. He put special indicator stickers on the sides that would turn red should it be tilted too far, or receive impact. Yep, both tripped. AND I found out that a second 3rd party TV guy was supposed to contact us and arrive today to supervise the TV move and uncrate it. Yeah. No contact. AND no one told me I was supposed to expect him. Hopefully he’ll be here tomorrow. Fortunately I am married to one George Burgyan, tech extraordinaire.

After some seriously deep diving into boxes, George reached his goal of getting his desk and the internet working, and I reached my goal of getting enough unpacked so we can sleep comfortably in clean sheets, and get ready for the day tomorrow (clean towels for showers, with all appropriate toiletries). So now, after being somewhat productive, a lot of the tension has subsided. We’re  sitting now on our velvet futon, discussing storage options and game plans, watching Deadliest Catch while the blankets for the night tumble in the drier and the kitties smell every square inch of their new house.

George’s “Janky” setup ROCKS. Computer monitor + Roku & speakers = win.

Tomorrow, free the square footage from the cardboard!!!!!!!!!!!!

xo
en

Posted in Adventures at Home, Adventures in the Human Race, Change, Seattle, WA | 1 Comment

Big Move Tomorrow

Posted on June 27, 2012 by ennie

Warning, aimless hand-wringing ahead…

We will leave the apartment for good early in the morning Thursday, and the big truck will arrive between 10 & 11 pacific.

I’m really having mixed feelings. Full of angst. I have to say, it’s likely just leftover stress of how the loan process went. Don’t EVER use Bank of America. Ever. I’m not the only one who will tell you that. I wish someone would have clued me in (lots of people are telling me now…other loan officers, underwriters, title companies, and even our relocation service). I haven’t talked much about it here because honestly, it was so mentally, physically and emotionally draining going through their process, I just didn’t want to re-live it and waste my blog pages on anger and stress of that level. Maybe after some time has passed.

But also, there are so many things in my head I’m worrying about.

  • How are we going to fit things from our big Solon house into our slightly smaller Seattle house?
  • The boxes of stuff are going to be overwhelming…how long is it going to take us to get these all unpacked?
  • We were in a hurry when packing, and the movers actually did the packing. It’s likely a lot of stuff came that should have been just tossed. I’m actually HOPING that’s the case because there were SO many boxes. I hope we have the clarity to eliminate a good chunk of them rather than just storing them.
  • And most of all, the kitties. How are they going to do? This has been so much scary change for them. I’m so afraid of the stress making them ill, or them getting into something they shouldn’t…or getting out…hell.

The thing I didn’t expect at all is that I’m feeling a little sad leaving the business district & waterfront (the neighborhood is called Belltown, and we’re right on the Port of Seattle). We’re definitely still “city” where our house is. So much is walkable, the neighborhood and surrounding areas are awesome, and we’re really a very short drive into Belltown. But I got attached to my little walking radius here. The Seattle Art Museum Olympic Sculpture Park on Puget sound where I took all my sunset photos, the Public Market area, and just the general buzz. I just want to make sure this area stays a part of our lives.

Ah well. Enough groaning. Just had to get that out. I’m going to get my kitchen tools back, my bed back, my clothes, and some QUIET! I’m getting a better kitchen, a great garden that need some love, a new neighborhood to explore…

And now that the stars are aligning on the house, hopefully the stars will align with the job situation and all of my angst will be gone. Right?

So a toast to the last night at the apartment! A Thirsty Dog Raspberry Ale from Akron, one of the last bottles left from our 2012 Winking Lizard World Tour.

xo
en

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906 N. 83rd Street, Seattle, WA 91803

Posted on June 26, 2012 by ennie

Keys.

Now I feel comfortable showing photos 🙂 These were lifted from the real estate listing, so ignore the furniture and rugs you see. I’m sure I’ll be adding more over time 🙂

Front of house…looks a little smaller than it is. It’s long rather than wide. Beautiful irises, roses, lavender and sage in the front yard. I’m going to turn the remaining “lawn” into a kitchen herb garden.

The lower portion of the back of the house is the family room, an really nice addition with skylights. The blue building to the left is a big “garden house” or as we say in Ohio, a shed. The fish-eye lens again makes the house look a little smaller than it is, but it’s also making the grassy area look bigger. Ha! I may leave the grass, or I may create a vegetable garden. Without deer, I may have better luck than in the past.

If the photographer had turned to the left, you’d see a gas fireplace surrounded by buttercream painted woodwork and built-in shelving. Lots of built-in shelving in this house. Going to be doing a free-standing bookshelf liquidation as soon as they arrive…ha!

If the photographer turns to his/her right, you’d see another high window, with a low, built in book shelf going the width of the room. Keep turning, and the back wall has windows and an nice glass paned door looking out on the deck.

They took the island & pot rack, but we’re definitely going to replace them. Yep, that’s a Viking stove. To the left of the photographer is a fridge surrounded with custom storage shelving.

Nice sunny dining room. The whole first floor has great high ceilings.

Hard to get a good picture of this room because it’s oddly shaped with a slanted ceiling. This will be George’s office with a small futon for guests.

Behind the photographer there is more room, with a slanted ceiling. Nice closet along the left wall.

We have a claw-foot tub!

Ignore the bed put there for staging. This is a nice work room. Out that doorway and to the right is a nice, surprisingly bright laundry room. Down the hall behind the photographer is a 3/4 bath.

And the studio! Or at least that was the purpose of it. Sprung floor and everything (dancers know what I mean). This is going to be a workout room/my office. There is a door exiting to the outside. It’s the basement, so there are stairs up to the back yard. Nice light.

I can’t wait to share the neighborhood(s) with all of you. We’re in a really neat, eclectic area 🙂

xo
en

Posted in Adventures at Home, Adventures in the Human Race, Adventures in Tourism, Change, Seattle, Uncategorized, WA | 2 Comments

Battle Stations…

Posted on June 24, 2012 by ennie

OK. Waking up extra early tomorrow to begin my full-court-press on our lender to get our paperwork so we can finally be done and in our new house by Tuesday. Would go on more, but I’m a blend of sleepy and stressed right now. I’ve not spent a lot of time talking about the details here because I  don’t want to bore ya’ll, but honestly, this has been the most stressful, anger-inducing, insanely frustrating business transaction I have been through in my entire life. You would not believe the inane conversations, the shouting into a well, cat herding…unbelievable. When this is over, I think I may collapse and sleep for a week.

Wish me luck.

xo
en

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