When I started, the annual membership covered 6-7 presentations at which dinner was served. In the first season, they were at Mediterrano, and they were wonderful. The speakers were good, the food was fantastic and there was a cash bar. Then they moved the meetings to what’s now the basement at SPARK. It wasn’t as nice, but they had good catering and offered free wine and beer. And then they moved to Conor O’Neill’s, which was better, but then they went out to a hotel at the mall, which was abysmal. Now they’re back to the hideous SPARK basement. And as for dinner, the last meeting I tried to attend, I arrived 20 minutes late and there was no food at all present. None.

Dinner wasn’t the only benefit, though: in the first couple years, I got a number of clients from cold calls off the membership list on the website. It paid for my membership, in fact. I haven’t gotten any calls in the past couple years, though. Today I went to the Ad Club website, and tried searching for my listing, typing in ‘Mitten Artworks’ – all I got was an error, not my listing. No wonder there’s no business coming through that way.

I wrote a note today to let them know their member search was broken. Apparently, they’ll fix it this summer and if it I want it sooner, then I should volunteer. Well, um, no – I don’t think so. I pay dues and those dues are supposed to provide me benefits. If I’m not getting dinner and I’m not getting exposure, then what, exactly are you doing with my membership dollars?

So, no Ad Club next year. Maybe I’ll join the Chamber, but the more likely path is that I’ll be a member of a coworking space and put my money to good use there.

I made an apple pie this week, too. It turned out kind of meh. I didn’t bake it long enough. The pan I have is a 9 1/2 inch, and I did think far enough ahead to make a recipe and a half’s worth of dough, but didn’t really think to let it go longer in the oven. On the plus side, there was a little dough left over, enough to make a dozen little jam tarts. They were yummy.

We installed a new garbage disposal yesterday. There had been a bit of a kitchen sink fiasco: apple peelings + wimpy disposal = clog, and then dishwasher draining into clog = a wading pool on the kitchen floor. Keith has been complaining about this disposal for a while (it was the cheapest possible thing the builder could have put in – just like everything else in this house) so we decided to go get a new one. The worst part was getting the old one out. The drain had come unsealed and dripped all over the unit, creating a lot of goo and rust and mess and smell. But a few googled pictures of how it was supposed to go in helped get it out. I was a bit worried the new one wouldn’t fit into the existing plumbing because it’s so much bigger. But a little fidgeting and fussing got everything into place. It’s awesome! It’s so quiet! We should have done this eons ago.

Back to the MacBook, I wondering how long it will be before I can bring myself to put stickers on it. It’s so clean and virgin now. I’ve been fussing and fussing with file syncers and various ways to share data between it and my home machine. Still not convinced I have it just right, but we’ll see.

So this year we tried to collect some for eating. Now, from this picture, you might suppose we could just reach up and grab them. But the apples in the picture are really high up – about level with the second story dormer. We shook some branches and got some to fall down, enough to make something with. First idea was apple sauce, but a quick taste suggested they were a bit tart for that. Apple crumble instead! (Recipe follows.)

Keith is delighted with this – it’s free pie from the front lawn as far as he’s concerned. I’m a bit more dubious, but feel better for using some of the resources on the property. Seems a shame to let such bounty go completely to waste.

Apple Crumble

• 12 small/medium sized apples, cored, peeled and sliced thin
• 3/4 c. white sugar
• 1 Tablespoon cinnamon

Spread the apples in a 13×9 pan. Combine the sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over the apples. Bake for about 15 minutes at 375˚.

Meanwhile, cut together

• 3/4 c. butter (softened is good)
• 1 c. brown sugar
• 1 c. rolled oats
• 1 c. flour

This should form a sort of thick dough, something like cookie dough consistency. (You can chill it in the fridge while the apples are cooking if it feels too mushy.) Take the apples out of the oven (after the 15 minutes cooking time) and using your fingers, sprinkle little pieces and bits of dough across the top of the apples. The dough will mostly cover the apples, but not entirely – there will be little crevices and breaks and that’s good. Bake again for 35-45 minutes at 375˚.

We each had a martini: I had something they called an ‘Ann Arbor Cosmo,’ a regular cosmopolitan with the vodka switched out for Patron. It was ok; different, I suppose. Keith can’t remember the name of his (something with elderflower???), but it was tart as all get out. Like a Sweettart candy. Both were ok; neither filled to the brim (Keith’s especially was well below full) and neither had any garnish of any kind (no twists, no nothing). They were each about $12 and came in a large glass (8-9 oz-ish).

We each had a sandwich: I had a sesame tuna sandwich, he had a fish sandwich. Both came with fries which were nice and thin and had some kind of seasoning to them – but not what you think when you hear ’seasoned fries.’ Way more subtle. They were nicely crispy and I enjoyed them – they didn’t need a ton of salt or anything.

My sandwich was good – I asked for the tuna medium rare and that’s exactly how it was prepared. The tuna was coated in sesame seeds and it came with some kind of coleslaw garnish – my only complaint here is that it could have used a little more seasoning, maybe even just some salt. I think the chef may have been counting on the slaw for some flavor punch, but the fish itself needed just a little something else. But it was not a bad sandwich, by any means, it was tasty and the bread was very good.

Keith seemed to enjoy his sandwich. He said the fish and coating were just fine, cooked properly – but there wasn’t near enough bread/bun to actually eat it as a sandwich. He ate one piece on its own and made a sandwich with the remaining piece. The bread was shaped something like a hot dog bun; it would have been nice to have two so each fish piece could have some bread.

The service was good. The young woman serving us (an art history major who liked my Ze Frank/Magritte t-shirt) was attentive and very friendly and did a fine job. We were at the middle table of the 3 two-tops along the railing on the sidewalk; it was way too close to the other tables. Getting in and out was a trick, to say the least. Both our chairbacks were touching the other diners’ chairbacks through the whole meal.

As we ate, we watched the line for the Ark grow and grow down the sidewalk. By the time we left, it was down to the corner of Liberty, which meant we had to part the line to leave the outdoor seating area. The servers weren’t faring much better trying to get through. Now that the Pearl has cordoned off part of the sidewalk for seating, the line also left little room for other passers-by to make it down the sidewalk. This is an issue that they are going to have to address; it was kind of a mess for everyone involved.

All that said, it was a very pleasant evening out, the fare was good if not great, and I do give them extra marks for being a solid ‘good’ on their second day open. I’m curious to go back in a few weeks to see if they’ve worked out some of the details.

   Mothers of America
                                   let your kids go to the movies!
   get them out of the house so they won't know what you're up to

The full poem can be read at frankohara.org

Now. Go sign up for Startup Weekend.

There are a few other restrictions:

• Going Eastbound on Dexter: You may not turn left onto northbound Maple. You can go straight or turn right.
• Going Westbound on Dexter: You must turn.

Northbound Maple is backing up heavily at rush hour due to merging down to one lane. Eastbound Dexter doesn’t look too bad; I think people are avoiding it completely.

The AATA #9 is picking up and dropping off on the west side of Maple, just south of Dexter (the Plum Market stop).

Now then, I’m not going to draw maps, but to get around this mess, try Jackson Road for getting to points west, or Miller Road, depending on where you’re coming from/going to. And for the hyperlocal who live near the intersection on Dexter (and who are not thrilled about going all the way out and around to Wagner on Jackson or Miller), try going north on Maple and then west on either Hollywood or Abbott (if the traffic is too backed up at Hollywood). You can snake back down on Allison or other side streets to get to Dexter.

Jack is in seventh grade and is taking the required Health class. It includes the dreaded Subject One Does Not Speak About With One’s Mother, but apparently covers other stuff like exercise and nutrition and so forth as well. He was feeling chatty after school yesterday and was telling me that they were covering why people eat the foods they do. For example, your religion may ban certain foods, your culture may have its own foods, certain foods may be convenient, etc. I asked him if they talked about economics – why you might make food choices based on how much some foods cost. Nope. Never mentioned.

As I watch the economy imploding in front of our eyes (you can’t even trade dollars for euros in Amsterdam anymore, as the dollar is falling so fast), I daresay that foods of economy should have been covered. Oh wait, we’re in Ann Arbor, which is naturally immune from reality.

And on the flip side:

Sam was cleaning out his backpack this morning and pulled out a little cardboard box, hideously decorated with purple felt and red & green plaid Christmas ribbon. I hesitantly asked if he made it (normally he has a fine sense of color and would never perpetrate such a crime of clashiness), and he said no, he bought it with pretend money on their ‘business day.’ Business day? Oh yes, the kids are split up into groups and they each have a business. His group makes things out of duct tape and string and sells them.

I asked him when this ‘business day’ was and he said they do it every other week. On the alternate weeks, they have auctions of items kids bring from home. I didn’t know whether to applaud or cry. On the one hand, I think it’s cool that they’re teaching kids about basic business concepts in a hands on way, especially for Sam, as he takes to it like a fish to water.

On the other, what about the basics? Sam *hates* reading – he struggles a bit with mechanics, which doesn’t help, but mostly he’s bored to tears by the material. When I was in fifth grade, we read cool, engaging books like A Wrinkle in Time (I remember it vividly*) and The Phantom Tollbooth. But because of this ‘integrated curriculum’ idea where math is supposed to cross over into social studies and social studies into reading and so on and so forth, round and round, the books they read are these boring things meant to teach them about time periods or locations or whatever. I’ve read some of his assigned reading – dull and turgid, to say the least. (He approves of the current read-aloud book, however; it has cat warriors and describes in detail how they kill things. Not sure how that fits into ‘integrated curriculum,’ but at least he likes it.)

So is it ok that there’s no time to teach lively novels but there’s time for commerce? I don’t know. If nothing else, it seems to prove that schools are meant to create employees (and consumers), not thinkers.

* In fifth grade, we read A Wrinkle in Time, and being the kind of child I was, I read ahead in the book. When called on in class to give a summary of events in the previous night’s reading assignment, I went farther than I should have – giving away events to come in chapters that hadn’t been assigned yet. I didn’t mean to, but the teacher was so mad. I was mortified and horrified and embarrassed beyond belief. Skipping ahead had never gotten me in trouble before.

Luckily, Keith and I are off to SXSW in the middle of this stupid AAPS vacation schedule. I can’t wait; both for the geek heaven which is SXSW and for the warmth of Texas.

But for the moment, I’m focused on this week. I see lots of Rock Band and other Xbox goodness, and I think we’ll probably head out for some of the library events like teen game play day on Friday, and I’m sure there will be some movies thrown in there too. Wish us luck!

Ahmo’s also looks like it’s on the verge of opening. There are menus up on the wall, chairs and so on in place, and there was a big Sysco truck delivering whatever it is that Sysco delivers. My other inside source says they have great grilled cheese. I’m looking forward to another potential quick dinner take-out spot. That’ll make a nice threesome: Panda House, Little Porky’s and Ahmo’s.