Praise then darkness, and creation unfinished

I was supposed to have a session with Emilie this morning, but she texted and left very apologetic voicemail explaining that she couldn't make it. I worked out anyway, and that went well.

After exercising, I tried a couple of errands (one of which worked), then went down to Excellent Dumpling, in Chinatown, for lunch. Thanks to a conversation when papersky was in town a few weeks ago, I went ahead and ordered my old favorite sweet ginger duck on rice, even though it hasn't been on the menu for the last couple of years. The server didn't blink. The recipe has changed slightly: they no longer have the red-tinted preserved ginger, but used a generous quantity of fresh ginger root, which suited me.

I'm still trying not to climb too many stairs, and the Canal Street A train station isn't accessible, so I decided to go up to the Village. Since it was a nice day (a bit chilly, but bright), and I was warmly dressed, I walked instead of taking the bus.

On my way up Sixth Avenue, I passed a statue with a gorgeous example of not even trying to translate: "National Hero of Uruguay/Protector de los Pueblos Libres." General Jose Artigas probably is an Uruguayan national hero, but the Spanish is "Protector of the Free Peoples". I don't know/remember enough South American history offhand to know if that plural refers to specific events in the early-19th-century revolutions against Spain, or if it's idiom and the English should be "Protector of the Free People." Or, if we're trying for the same idea in both languages, maybe "Defender of Freedom." [ETA: "Protector de los Pueblos Libres" was in fact Artigas's title at one point, making this not quite as odd.]

Further north on Sixth Avenue, I saw some small white crocuses. Then I stopped in at Grom for gelato (this is indirectly because of something rushthatspeaks's housemate posted to her blog recently. Based on one sample, Grom isn't up to Suite 88, but it's a lot handier for me, and they do understand cinnamon. I walked a few blocks beyond the subway, to Jefferson Market Garden (behind/south of the library), to look at the daffodils that cattitude had told me about. Just a few, but fully open and bright yellow. (There are also lots of snowdrops and some fritillaries.)

I took the elevator down into the West Fourth Street station, went through the turnstile, and about halfway down the ramp started running because I saw an uptown A pulling in. My knees wouldn't put up with that every day, but they were fine with it this afternoon, despite the workout, stairs, and nice long walk. Somewhere around West 3rd Street on my way north, it did occur to me that while I'm used to the idea of having to go out of my way to avoid stairs, this was an extreme case. The last time I did this one, I took a bus from Canal Street to West 3rd to catch that train.

I came home to find that the DSL was finally back, but no dial tone; a few minutes later someone from Verizon called, and asked me to check again. We now have a dial tone, and DSL, on that line, finally. *whew*

( gym stuff )

I had already decided to donate to the Minneapolis Public Library's John M. Ford Book Endowment, because it's something beneficial I can do in Mike's memory now (I signed my organ donor card, but hope that won't be relevant any time soon, and by definition I won't be around to know about it). Then papersky offered, among other incentives, that for a donation of $100 or more she'd put the donor's name into a book:

If your name works as Greek, Latin, Carthaginian or Lizardman, then into Our Sea, otherwise into Half A Crown.

Or, if you prefer, I can translate your name into Greek, Latin, Carthaginian or Lizardman.

I asked her to translate my name, and noted that while "Vicki" is Latinate, I had a preference for Greek. She noted that the Romans wouldn't have used "Victoria" as a name for a human, but the Greeks did use Nike. The name Jo came up with is, she says, not an actual Greek name, but it sounds entirely plausible: Rhodonike, Victory of Roses.

[I don't know if Jo's offer is still open: her most recent auction update post said at least through this past Monday. But the library will still be happy to accept donations.]

I just commented to paidmembers asking bradfitz to translate his post into English, or if that was too difficult French or Spanish. SMS abbrevs are all very well in their place, I suppose—though I manage to convey the necessary information to adrian_turtle without them—but they're annoying when one doesn't actually have a 160-character limit. They're doubly so when, having so limited zirself, the poster is then sending me to a separate URL to find out what's actually being offered/promoted.