curmudgeon told me to list 10 things I like that start with the letter N. The first couple will be easy, but after that? I'll definitely be giving my neurons a workout. Here we go:

1. New York City. I don't love everything about this place, certainly, but the movie Quick Change (one of my very favorites, which is finally out on DVD and which I watched again last night) reminds us that it's almost as much fun to hate New York as it is to love it. I've been here going on 11 years now, and I can't picture myself as happy anywhere else.

2. Novels. Big ones, small ones, fat ones, small ones, mainstream ones, mystery ones, classic one, skiffy ones.

3. The N train. True, we recently moved just far enough that we're closer to the R now, but the N runs elevated in Astoria, and I used to love those panoramic views of morning Manhattan you'd get, with the sun shining right on it from the east.

4. The Netherlands. True, I've not seen much of it beyond the countryside surrounding Amsterdam, but my week there with Laura in 2000 was one of the best vacations I've had.

5. Normandy. Site of another fabulous vacation, and of Laura's relatives' summer cottage (pictured in my user icon). The best aspect of Normandy, though, may be the apple brandy of its Calvados region!

6. Night and Day by Joe Jackson (1982). Only the second rock LP I ever purchased (the first was Synchronicity). I had to sneak it home because rock music was forbidden. But it was piano music! I still love this album.

7. The Naked Sun by Isaac Asimov (1957). Though it's the second robot novel, it's the first I read, and man was I hooked!

8. Nutella. On a nice cracker, or straight from the jar. Yum!

9. Just being nominated. It's a cliché, but it really is an honor.

10. Nevada. Because that's where I married my amazing wife.