Saturday was the Independent Animal Rescue Painted Chair (and More) Auction. IAR is the rescue group that we foster cats for, and every year, they take donated furniture, give it to artists to "art", and then auction off the results. I have pictures that I am captioning, so I'll post the link tomorrow when I'm through with that.

Last night Val and I went to see Death Cab for Cutie and Portastatic at Cat's Cradle here in Carrboro. This was our first rock show since we moved. I mean, together, walking to the venue and all. It was really good (both band web sites above have some full MP3s). I hadn't been to a real club show in a long time, so that was cool, and both bands were really good live. The show was sold out, but it didn't feel to crowded or crazy. Cat's Cradle also has gone smoke-free, a rare occurance for any indoor North Carolina establishment.

I miss going to shows. There are some really good ones coming through here in the next few months, and I am slowly aquainting myself with the local scene, but it was so easy in the Twin Cities, because I knew the venues and the bands and all that. I really do like it here, though and the music scene is STRONG, and maybe even more diverse than the Twin Cities. Can I say that?

I know I didn't document it on the site, but I officially finished my first knitting project. My other stripey hat is still a work in progress, but this one with earflaps is a modified version of a pattern in the oh so popular stitch'n'bitch book. I got the yarn from the Scrap Exchange for $1.50.

The Scrap Exchange is also where I had a very successful (in my mind) interview for a new job last Thursday. The place is pretty well explained on their web site, but for those of you in the know, it's basically like a non-profit Ax-Man, with more emphasis on arts education and reuse/recycling. All of the stuff they sell is donated to them for free, and they turn around and sell it cheap to fund their operation. There is a warehouse full of surplus, a retail store (managing which will hopefully be my new gig), and a classroom and a gallery space in the back. Some of the highlight items(my opinion) in the store when I went for my interview were:

fire extinguisher handles, guages and nozzles
nice bike pumps
sticker remnants from keyboard/keypad overlay production
wires
metal bits

So, hopefully they'll call me back this coming week and offer me the job. I'd go back to a full time day job. I haven't done that in over two years. Scary. Nice thing is, their retail hours are 11-5 M, Tu, W, F, 11-6 Th, and 10-5 Sa. Closed Su. Are there sweeter hours than 11-5? No, there are not. And I wouldn't be working all of those days every week as there is support staff to schedule around with.

Keep your fingers crossed for me. I mean, when convenient, not all the time.

I did make gravlax for this past weekend, but no Swedish pancakes. We had bagels and cream cheese with the gravlax instead. Yum.

Saturday we went to the zoo in Asheboro. I went with Val's class, "Cultural Institutions" (or something like that), which goes on these "field trips" to museums and zoos and the like. It was fun. It's a HUGE zoo, and there are a wide variety of animals there. I still have to get my pictures off the camera, but we saw African elephants, white rhinos, lion cubs, polar bears, chimps, gorillas, and a whole mess of smaller creatures as well.

On Sunday we went for a hike in Chapel Hill, then to SuperTarget?, and then our friends Stef and Brad came over in the evening for a little grillin'. We had some more salmon, and grilled veggie and Boca Italian sausage skewers. Then we played Scrabble?, but the night wore on and we abandoned the game before it officially ended, Which was fine because Val was the clear winner after spelling something that was placed just right and it earned her 66 points in one turn. I can't remember what the word was. Must've blocked it out.

I forgot to mention that I bought 4 pounds of salmon last weekend (Sep.25-26). We marinated (sake, soy sauce, garlic, sesame oil) and broiled some last weekend, and then I poached another slab this weekend. Mmmmmm. Poaching is easy, especially with salmon. You'll get all kinds of recommendations from people, but all I do (and this is from the Joy of Cooking, so, you know it works) is put a large salmon fillet in a 5qt. pot, add just enough water to cover the fish, and throw in some salt. I've done it without the salt and that's fine too, just depends on how you like your saltiness. So, you put the pot on the stove and crank it up to high. When the water is boiling, you turn off the stove, and move the pot off to an unused burner. Set the timer for ten minutes. After ten minutes, drain the fish and slide it onto a plate. Now, you can eat it right away, but it's also really good chilled for a few hours in the fridge. I always prepare a big slab so that there is some extra for bagels and cream cheese, but you can have it hot or cold with just about anything.

The remaining salmon is destined to become gravlax, also excellent with bagels. Even better with Swedish Pancakes.

So, that kitten Lilly that got adopted? Yeah, she escaped from her new home through a faulty screen on a SECOND STORY WINDOW, fell to the bushes below, and ran off to hide somewhere. She was gone for a week! Val was out of town last weekend, and I got a call on Saturday from the adopters saying that Lilly had gotten out the previous Tueday. They had been putting up flyers and such, but they were getting worried at that point because there had been no sign of her. I went over to the house on Sunday to check out the scene and help out if I could, but we didn't find her. We walked around and talked about all the possible places that Lilly could be hiding.

I had posted to the animal rescue message board asking for any advice, and one of the superstar cat foster people said she once had several cats get out (due to a robbery!?!) and it took her 6 months, but she got them all back. One of her tips was to put out tuna or other smelly canned fish. I went back over to the house on Tuesday afternoon, and I came up with the idea of taking a can of tuna and just punching holes in the top of it with a screwdriver and setting that out. They said they would try it, and I went off to work. Val went over there later that evening, and they had put out the tuna, and she was talking with the adopters when one of them noticed Lilly outside, making a bee-line for the tuna can! She was out there, just licking the can in frustration, so Val headed out and talked to her long enough to get close and scoop her up. Val called me at work, and everyone was so happy, and so relieved. Lilly was a little banged up, probably from hitting the bushes, but she was happy, and hungry and glad to come back inside.

Lemmesee, where was I...? Oh yeah, the message boards. Not off to a rocking start, but they seem to be working. The big plus is the archive of info and nonsense that you just don't get from a chat room. And the info can be arranged and rearranged. I think it's cool, anyway.