Greg makes the most amazing roast turkey

A picture of the turkey is worth 1,000 words.

But tasting said turkey was 1000x better.

Ah, thank you Lord for sending me a husband that can cook like gangbusters.

Incredible? Why, thank you

Here I am fulfilling my Halloween destiny.

Darling, won't you ease my worried mind?

We've lost another of man's best friends. The Carratos lost their crazy-but-beloved dog Layla. Ah, 2012, why do you have to be so cruel when it comes to the pets?

This makes 5 since I've been paying attention: Django, Lita, Thor, Midge, and now Layla.

Last time I posted about this, I included a dog video to cheer you (and me) up. This time, I think I'll include a video just for Layla. This is the New Orleans jazz funeral march version of your namesake song.

(Note: to skip straight to the music, skip to 2:55...Clapton takes a while to set this up.)

RIP doggie friend.

Oh, and the rain starts tomorrow. In earnest.

Birthday for Batman

My good friend Rich is having his birthday today. Since he never misses a birthday blog post on my birthday (see most recent ones here, here, or here), I figure I ought to do the same to celebrate his special day. So...I just have to be snarky, curse a bunch, and throw in numerous pop culture references. Here goes!

First of all, despite being a raging social-phobe, Rich is a fabulous Halloween costume partner. In year's past, we've been The Captain and Tennille, something great that I'm not recalling right now, and Batman and Robin. Check out our f'ing fabulous selves here:

 

I was going to post a link to that Prince song from the original Batman flick with Michael Keaton, and then I remembered that Rich f'ing hates Prince, so that idea has been thrown out. So...then what? Batman Dubstep? OK.

 

 

Rich has saved my bacon a couple of times this year, and for that I am grateful (and he's helped me out once or twice too). It's distinctly possible that he distracted me from a very stressful situation by forcing me to go to a matinee showing of a summer blockbuster (it's also possible we didn't do this, as I can't imagine 2 serious market research professionals leaving work for a desperately-needed-yet-not-work-sponsored movie break). If in fact this happened, this is the movie we might have possibly (but not probably) seen:

 

 

Rich is headed to Scotland in a couple of weeks to see a concert, which is both ridiculous and fabulous. I can't wait to hear all about the adventure! In the mean time, let's close by gazing lovingly at my favorite Scottish lad (who I imagine Rich might like as well).

 

Happy birthday dude! Rock the fuck on.

 

Erin Leedy, World Traveler

Holy cow, my world map is looking better and better. 2012 has really fleshed this out—I added 3 new continents! And can really say I've been to the southern hemisphere now. (Note that I'm cheating for 1.5 weeks, as I don't hit Mexico until 10/1). 

That said, Where I've Been calculates that I've visited 9% of the world. That's it? Really!? It looks like so much more than 9% when you color in the entire countries of China and Brazil after having visited a city or two in each. ;-)

Perhaps next I will have to visit Russia, as that'll add a lot of blue to this map.

Now, how am I going to convince a client that we need to do some market research in Antarctica?

Everything, everything, everything, everything (East African remix)

Holy moly. Just wrapping up 11.5 days in East Africa, specifically Rwanda (Kigali) and Uganda (Kampala). What a life-changing experience. 

While it may not totally change what I do, it has changed my frame of reference. We in the West are so fortunate—so safe, so affluent, so healthy, and strangely, so grouchy. We have so much and yet we appreciate it so little and bitch about it so much. Going forward, I will try to appreciate all that I have more deeply. 

Here are a few images from my stay in Kampala, Uganda:

Headed to Brazil now, and feeling so fortunate to have been able to experience East Africa. I will try to share some of this with the kids, not only what I've seen but the renewed sense of appreciation for all that we have. 

e.  

No words

I visited the Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre today. No words can describe the feeling of being there. My heart feels for all Rwandans today.