Sunday morning: Catching up . . .

1. I am my grandmother.

One of the things that makes me sad is that very few people here ever met my "sainted Portuguese grandmother." I think artisticphoenix may be the only person here who really knew her.

Mr grandmother was a simple, good-hearted woman who loved everyone she met.

She fed everyone she met.

Those were the same two things for her.

I have always known what an impact she had on me, but it really was incredibly evident yesterday morning while I was in the kitchen, cooking for theresat and l3arcelona, who are visiting this weekend. I was making cheesy eggs, bacon and home fries, while at the same time starting the Portagee Stew Beef (which rocked). I was making the stew beef, because they had liked the bacalhau (codfish, onions and potatoes in olive oil) so much the night before.

Yes, food is love.

2. One of the reasons I was cooking such a big breakfast was so we could stock up for a road trip to Lake Placid. It's a bit under two hours from the house, and I really ought to go more.

It was pretty cool to be there during the Olympics, especially because there are a number of local people competing. It's a neat place to visit. The ski jumps are right next to the road, and although we didn't get to the sliding facilities, you can ride a bobsled or a skeleton and do all sorts of other cool stuff. You can skate on the Olympic short track that's right in front of the hockey rinks. We hit the museum, which was way cool, particularly because I am such a huge fan of the 1980 US hockey team.

Main Street in Lake Placid is just jammed with really neat shops, including an Olympic store, where all the Vancouver stuff was at 25 percent off.

Lake Placid also hosts two of the best brew pubs in the state --Great Adirondack Steak and Seafood on Main Street and Lake Placid Pub & Brewery on Mirror Lake Drive, next to the National Sports Academy.

Both are amazing places, and I will write more about them.

3. You would think, having more time during the "work" day, that there would be a "Liam Style" post every day and twice on the odd days.

But, no. I am job-hunting hard, and while that does not take up the whole day, I am trying to use the time to accomplish things I would otherwise be unable to do during the day.

Plus, I am working hard at keeping "Working Press" updated, although I am a day or two behind right now.

I also have a couple of other blog projects (doesn't that sound wicked cool?") in the works. I will keep you posted.

4. Thanks to jarien, I now know how to better understand Google Buzz, including how to turn it off.

5. So it turns out some "superthriller" novels are based in fact:

Associated Press

Washington - In 1974, far out in the Pacific, a U.S. ship pretending to be a deep-sea mining vessel fished a sunken Soviet nuclear-armed submarine out of the ocean depths, took what it could of the wreck and made off to Hawaii with its purloined prize.

Now, Washington is owning up to Project Azorian, a brazen mission from the days of high-stakes - and high-seas - Cold War rivalry.

After more than 30 years of refusing to confirm the barest facts of what the world already knew, the CIA has released an internal account of Project Azorian, though with juicy details taken out. The account surfaced Friday at the hands of private researchers from the National Security Archive who used the Freedom of Information Act to achieve the declassification.

6. So anyone go to Estrella? How was it?

7. So what are some good nights for gaming this week? Who wants to come visit? When?