Portland Maine and Sloe Gin Fizz*

I haven't been posting much in the past month. One reason for that is the ol' mad-scramble-to-finish-one's-dissertation-before-the-fall-term-begins. Another reason is the endless trouble we had with Verizon, our local phone and DSL provider. We needed, on three separate occasions, a technician to come and fix something. On none of those occasions did the guy show up on the day he was supposed to. The last incident was the worst--Verizon just kept canceling the appointment (without informing us, naturally). Each day, when we called to ask why our phones still weren't working and why they were blowing us off, they told us, "You probably just have a phone off the hook." Thanks. On one occasion, they actually hung up on Watoosa, leaving me to cower from the ferocity of her rage. I could go on, but suffice it to say that I've never seen a utility company that provided less utility, nor have I ever had a worse experience with customer service. So don't do business with Verizon. Ever. We now have cable internet and phone service, but it meant going about two weeks without either one. Thankfully, that's behind us.

Life in Portland, though, communication utilities notwithstanding, has been great. And I've reproduced two great pleasures from our life in California. The first is cycling. Alas, Portland doesn't have mountains to climb like my route in Santa Barbara, and so my calves are no longer frighteningly huge. Still, I've enjoyed biking along the coast. We live near the Back Cove (the city of Portland sits on a peninsula, just like Boston), so I start there and follow the trail around it and into the city. From there I work my way through downtown and over the Casco Bay Bridge into South Portland and Cape Elizabeth. That area has lots of beautiful houses and rugged coastline. It also features two lighthouses: the Spring Point Ledge Light and the Portland Head Light. The latter is supposedly one of the most photographed lighthouses in the country, and it's easy to see why. Its other claim to fame is that George Washington dedicated it, shortly after his election as our country's eighth president (you read me right; check this out for proof). So while I miss biking in California, I still have some good ride options here.

The other great pleasure we've now reproduced is grilling out ("barbecue," as the benighted locals call it). I bought another Weber kettle grill, but I got a slightly larger one, so that now when we cook for four I won't have to do it in shifts. We had some new friends over on Sunday and cooked up a flank steak with chimichurri marinade (which I think is now my favorite for beef). Then we did swordfish on Wednesday night. I can't tell you how jazzed I was to see that we could get fresh, local swordfish here on the East Coast (plus, all the seafood here is much cheaper). Tonight we do steaks, with pork chops on tomorrow's menu. I think Watoosa is going to make more of her sangria, too, so if you want to hear what she is like when she's loopy from wine give us a call late this evening. It's, uh...entertaining.

*Title explanation here, for those of you who are less hip than I.