Cutest picture you'll see of two Bugs today

Sarah and I in our "matching" VW Bug Convertibles.


Too bad about the dog poo on her tire.

Happy happy joy joy

I love having a few small things to be happy about on an otherwise dismal Monday.

#1 - Today when I got back to my car after work it was warm enough to drive home with the top DOWN! I was so excited - even though there was too much traffic to pick up any speed, and the windscreen was home in the garage so my hair was blowing all over the place, it was completely awesome.

#2 - I've discovered two new funny shows on Adult Swim: "Metalocalypse" and "Lucy, Daughter of the Devil." Too funny, and both shows are from/by/with some of the folks I know and love from "Home Movies."

#3 - Last night's Simpsons poked fun at my rediscovered love - newspapers! Plus "Wiggum for President!"

Organizing and scheduling

Feelin' a bit ambitious today, DH and I established a calendar with regular chores assigned to one or both of us. I'm hoping that by having one of us responsible on a regular basis for some aspect of housecleaning, whether it be vacuuming the bedroom or the living room, taking out the cat litter and trash, or dusting the den and dining room, we'll clean the house more often.

Considering that we're hosting a little shindig next Sunday, today seemed like as good a day as any to start.

Today
My chores: Clean the kitchen (everything but the floors), vacuum the living room (which DH did for me today... while I was cleaning the kitchen).
DH's chores: Clean the kitchen floors; vacuum the master bedroom, upstairs hallway, and stairs;
Joint chores: Laundry

I've also scheduled when we're supposed to clean out the basement, change the air filters in the heater, and other big project type things. Pretty ambitious, I know.

I predict we'll adhere to the chores calendar for about 2 months.

Rediscovering newsprint

I'm definitely part of the e-generation. I don't text very often, nor do I IM all my friends, but I get the majority of my news from websites and TV, rarely reading a physical newspaper.

Last night DH had CNN and MSNBC on, watching the results of the Iowa caucuses. I generally can't stand politics anyway, since I live with the results of politician's decisions everyday at work, but in particular I can't stand the tone and tenor of the mainstream media's coverage of politics. The screechy voices, the ridiculous cliches and analogies and transparent pandering and biases. It makes me want to jump off a cliff or stab my eardrums out with a pencil.

This morning, I was interested in learning about what happened in Iowa without the annoying TV over-dramatization and hullabaloo. So I picked up a Washington Post before getting on the train this morning to read their coverage. It had been so long since I had bought a physical newspaper that I didn't even realize that the price had increased from 35 to 50 cents a paper.

During my 30 minute train ride I only managed to get through about 3-4 actual pages of the first section - but it was such a refreshing change. No loud screaming, no endless commentary disguised as a question, no crosstalk or interruption or immediate reinterpretation of what was said. Just an in-depth observational review of the events. It was actually a peaceful moment in politics. I felt more educated and informed about what had happened, what it meant, and what the ramifications were likely to be. Exactly what a newspaper should do.

I doubt that I can become a daily paper reader - I can't stand the newsprint on my fingers, and there's rarely enough news that I care to read in depth that doesn't get captured ably enough by the Economist. But for all the proclamations that the old fashioned newspaper is dead, well, I just rediscovered their value.

Go ahead, read a paper at least once a week. But remember, except on Sunday, it'll cost you two quarters now.

WooHoo

So, this post may make no sense because I've just had three glasses of delicious Cava from Trader Joe's celebrating my father-in-law's last day here! He retires from his DC job tomorrow, and it's the last night he'll be here!

Woot!

He's given us all kinds of warning, like he might take a job in the area again or some such thing, but I have hope that we're actually free! I don't know what we're free from, but I feel free.

That may be the Cava talking.

Anyway, I think that my top priorities, in no particular order, now that he's not going to be here and I'm not expected to be Betty Crocker and have dinner on the table by 6:30 anymore, will be:

* experiment with more alternative foods (beans, veggies, etc)
* maybe start exercising again (since I won't have to worry about making dinner as soon as I get home from work)
* maybe going to more work-related happy hours

I see big things happening. BIG!

P.S. I forgot to write the other reason why I had a little to drink tonight. Try and make sense of this: I am being nominated for an award based on the work that I did for my dream office while I was working there on detail - but I still can't seem to get a permanent job in that office. Does that make any sense whatsoever? They'll nominate me for an award... but no job? Does that make anyone else's head hurt? I can't figure it out?

They might be .... JERKS!

Stupid Giants.

Last night DH and I went to see the One Man Star Wars Trilogy at the Woolly Mammoth Theater. Before the show we had dinner at Rasika, which was literally right next door.

First dinner: AMAZING. The flavors were varied and complex, the setting was lovely, the service was solid, and timing was perfection. We had an eggplant appetizer, which was sublime. It was like a little eggplant club sandwich, with eggplant as the bread, potatoes as the stuff inside, and flavored with olive oil, peanuts and peanut oil, and I think Kaffir Lime leaves. Simply delicious - with hints of spice and sweetness and textures of crunchy, chewy, and silky smooth.

For dinner DH had a lovely Tandoori Chicken Tikka, which was good on its own. It was paired with a minty cucumber yoghurt sauce that just made it out of this world. Yummy yummy yummy. I actually liked what he got a touch more than mine, which was Lamb Roganjosh. Spicy, tomatoey, and tangy, it was solid, but not quite as nuanced as the other dishes had been. An order of garlic naan (lovely as well) and a date and toffee pudding dessert (also sublime) rounded out the meal. Portions were good - no stupid large serving that made you feel like exploding. The only low spot was the quality of the coffee, which was standard New Jersey diner crud. I know that even the best restaurants usually fail on this point, though, so I can't be too particular.

My one bad idea was drinking a glass of Valpolicella with my meal. My dish was quite spicy, and the wine had a lot of peppery notes. Not the best pairing. The wine itself was good, but I should have chosen something else.

Anyway, on to the show. We got to dinner shortly after 6, left the restaurant just at 7:45, and the show started at 8:00. Perfect timing! Absolutely perfect. The show itself was crazy funny.. somehow conveying the full story, the classic lines, the most unusual characters, and a few well placed comments in a little more than an hour. The guy was basically a lonely 10 year old acting out his favorite movies, and being paid to travel the world and perform his private personal show. Isn't life grand? DH's favorite bit was his portrayal of Jabba the Hut (which was seriously funny) and my favorite was his exaggeration of Luke's general whininess. I'm really really anxious to catch his One Man Lord of the Rings.

All of this wonderfulness, despite the fact that DH was on Day 1 of the flu. Today he thinks he may be near death. If he had ruined my night out, he'd have been a lot closer.

Stupid Giants.

Go Giants!

Today I am the biggest NY Giants fan in the world. Here's hoping that they beat New England and the '72 Dolphins keep their record as the only team to have an undefeated season!

Have you seen the Dolphins lately? That record is all I've got.

DH and I are going to the Woolly Mammoth theater tonight to see the One Man Star Wars Trilogy. Should be interesting... but now that I know that the NE-NY game is tonight, it's going to be really stressful not knowing what's going on!

Go Giants!

And now for something completely different (and hilarious and awesome)

So remember I promised you that my gifts to DH were hilarious and awesome. Here they are:

Gift #1 - The impulsive, but completely awesome gift.


A radio-controlled sailboat that really sails. It's almost as tall as I am!

Gift #2 - The hilarious


A model Porsche Cayman S

Since I won't allow him to have either of these in real life, he can enjoy model-sized versions of the real thing until such time as he can afford the real thing.

Merry Christmas!

Am I really that bad?

You know, I've made it perfectly clear that I'm not personally interested in having kids. No biggie.. I don't make it a practice to go around telling people not to have kids or whatever. My values, my life, ... your values, your life. As long as your values don't interfere with my life, all is good with the world.

I knew that DH's brother's wife was none too fond of me, and was probably a little hostile because of my personal no-child policy. Fine, the feeling wasn't not mutual. I didn't say anything when she excluded DH from his brother's wedding (when there were 6 bridesmaids and only 5 ushers!), I didn't say anything when she made not too subtly snide comments at family functions.

Now, I'm done. DH and I had been discussing a number of gifts we might have given celebrating their first kid - including a discussion of whether to fund a 529 with about $1k. I was going to stop and get a couple of bottles of champagne, buy a baby gift, whatever, since it's DH's nephew and all that. I had felt bad because I thought that it was unlikely she was able to have her baby shower before the boy was born since he was born 6 weeks premature.

I find out tonight that she had a baby shower a couple of months - MONTHS - ago. I've heard nary a word or invitation. Now, mind you, I wouldn't have gone. But I would have sent a card and a gift and whatnot. I am aware of my social graces and obligations. Frankly, I'm just insulted.

Here's your picture frame, your ornament, and have a nice life. Sorry kid that you had to have such a$$holes for parents. Clearly they've enough friends and family to care for you, so missing your only uncle on your father's side isn't much of a loss.

Don't get me wrong, I know this isn't about all me and yada yada yada. At this point, it's more about a lack of respect for your husband's family. Taken on it's own, it's not that big of a deal. Taken in the context of previous actions, and it's clear that we're not an important part of their lives. C'est la vie.

It sucks that I ranted like this right before Christmas.

Finished!

Phew. I have never been so happy to be finished Christmas shopping in my life. We've got everyone covered, I'm happy with what we've bought, and now we can just sit back and relax.

Except for the part where we're not going to be home for the next two days, but that's the holidays for you.

I bought something planned for DH, and something very impulsive and spur of the moment. I can't believe it... I don't usually go overboard for him ever, but I just had to do it. Update in a couple of days on what they are... I think they're both hilarious and awesome.

Definitely making next weekend a 4-day weekend though. I can't bear the thought of having no time off.

I'm an aunt... again

Yeah... because I did such a good job the first time around (snerk)

Anyway, in perhaps one of the most inconsiderate, inconvenient, attention-seeking moves ever, DH's brother's wife is apparently having her baby tonight. It completely throws all of our plans for this weekend and the holiday into turmoil. We've gotten a surprise invitation to their house for Christmas Eve, which we more or less have to accept at this point because there's no WAY I'm making a separate trip to Philly just to see this kid. (A boy, in the grand tradition of DH's family).

I mean, on the one hand I guess I should be grateful because we can get the "come see the baby" visit and Christmas knocked out in a single fell swoop. So there's that.

On the other hand, the nice dream DH and I had of spending Christmas Eve alone at home in front of the fire is gone. Blerg.

When God closes a door...

... he opens a window, right?

I got home tonight feeling pretty low. I'm finally starting to realize that this job I want in my dream office is simply not going to materialize. It's a demoralizing, frustrating, depressing realization, but it's something that I need to come to terms with. Long story short, I had a meeting with them today (acting in a consulting role) and I realized that the critical leadership link just simply isn't that into me. Well, not enough to make it happen, anyway.

So, struggling with that realization on the train ride home, I made a decision that my New Year's Resolution was going to be to find a new job. Seriously.

I got home and DH said he had some news for me. I hadn't shared how bad my day had been, so I just listened. Apparently, the program he is working for is likely going to need to shed some people (I guess it's being restructured) so "maybe we'll have the opportunity to move sooner than later." (a job change for him was going to be a catalyst to get us to move).

Turns out, he's interested in a 3 year position in England. He was interested in that position before, but the timing just wasn't right. Now it seems that things are coming together, and this might just be the right time to take advantage of an overseas assignment.

Pretty interesting stuff. It really turned my mood around, I can tell you that. Even if this England thing doesn't pan out (and a WHOLE lot of stuff would have to fall in place for it to happen) it's encouraging to see things start to evolve in our lives again.

Change is good.

My scary new obsession

So, the writers are striking, there's nothing worth watching on TV, and it's wintertime, when I am least disposed to spend anytime outdoors.

Luckily, I have discovered a new obsession. It is a BBC TV show (currently in production) called "Top Gear."

DH and I have Comcast Digital Cable, which means that BBC America is one of the channels available to us. Now, the BBC is renouned for its superior programming. We've watched the original "The Office" and the new "Robin Hood" on BBCA, as well as old favorites of mine like "Bargain Hunt." I caught a snippet of "Top Gear for the first time a couple of months ago when the three hosts were trying to buy a car for less than $1000 in Miami. I must have seen the same clip of one of the hosts being told he would be murdered if he ventured beyond a certain street at least five times before actually catching the whole program. I was only semi-hooked, though. That is, until I saw the episode in which they turned a car into a Space Shuttle. Watching that episode with DH is what really got both of us completely obsessed with the show.

All I can say is that I was not a car enthusiast (other than the deep and passionate love I have for my Bug) before watching this show, but I have certainly become a bit of one. I'm in love with the Bugatti Veyron (watching the show where Captain Slow gets it up to 250+ MPH was amazing). I have been introduced to the beauty of Alfa Romeos. Of course, I don't have the budget to support any of this love.

There's something else about the show, though. Cinematically, it's beautifully and dramatically filmed. We've just recently watched the episode where the three hosts (Jeremy, James, and Richard) crossed Africa, and some of the vistas were amazing! Likewise their drive through Northern Italy, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein. As someone who can appreciate the beauty of imagery, this show is simply a gourmet feast of it.

Plus, the challenges and general "cocking" about is immensely entertaining. British humor is so wonderful.

It doesn't hurt that Richard, aka "the Hamster," is the most adorable British guy since I don't know who. Yummy!

I thought weekends were supposed to be easy

What an unbelievable day. If it weren't for bad luck - I would seriously not have had any luck at all.

The day opened with me having a dentist appointment at 10:15am. My dentist is in Damascus - which is 10 miles away, but takes nearly 25 minutes to get there because most of the drive is on a slow, congested two lane road. I was quite excited to be driving the Bug more than 3 miles to the train station and, since it wasn't supposed to rain or precipitate or whatever it is going to do tonight, took it up to the dentist. Most of the drive I'm wondering why I go to a dentist that is so far away and resolve to find a new one.

I pull into a parking space, noticing a rather large pothole and larger sewer grate to the right behind my car. I get out of the car and am simultaneously trying to hold my coat, close my key (it's one of those switchblade keys) and then lock the car. Suddenly I bobbled my key and watched it make its inevitable series of bounces right down into the sewer. Not only that, but after the 6 foot drop down, it bounces right into the 3 foot diameter pipe (that was horizontal - I think it's a storm drain for the parking lot.

I couldn't believe it. My key was out of sight, out of reach, and I was 25 minutes from home.

I went inside my dentist's office (all of whom are watching me bend over the sewer grate) and tell the receptionist that a) I am here for my 10:15 appointment and b) I've just lost my car key in the sewer. Her response: Gosh, that happens at least once every couple of weeks.

I call DH to bring me my spare key (while I am in for my cleaning). I'm just in shock, really. I know one of those remote keys is like $200 to replace and I am dreading DH's reaction when he sees me.

To make a long story short, DH did get to the dentist office, and he and the dentist managed to lift the grate off (although it was really, really, heavy.) There was a little set of stairs built in to allow people to get down there - and my dentist went right down... crawled into the drainage pipe (the key bounced like 4 feet into the pipe!), climbed out and handed me my key. Needless to say, I thanked him profusely.

I obviously can't change dentists now. But I think I might park somewhere different next time.

The rest of the day could only have gone up from there, but it didn't much. I spent 80% of the day driving around God's creation looking for a nice frame to have engraved for my boss, dodging crazy people in mall and shopping center parking lot...

Oy vey. I'm staying home tomorrow in fear of what will befall me if I didn't

Best. News. Evar!

Okay, maybe not the best news, or even the second best news (winning a 300M+ Powerball would be the best news, getting my dream job would be second best,... you get the picture). But whatever, this is pretty f*%king awesome news.

My father-in-law. is. RETIRING!

As of Jan 3rd we're free! No more father-in-law living with us. The house will be ours and ours alone. We can have loud sex at 7:00 in the evening if we feel like it. We can eat dinner at 8:30 if we feel like it. No more trying to be concerned about the heat being high enough or the air conditioning being low enough.

We're finally free!

I'm waiting until tomorrow to shout it from the rooftops, but just know that I am beyond ecstatic right now!

Stupid Maryland

I couldn't believe it. This morning when I left for work there wasn't even 1/2 inch of snow on the ground. Yet, people were absolutely nuts! I slide once, and then almost had some guy coming down a hill slide into me (he spun a 360 right behind me as I passed by). MontCo, with their ridiculous tax revenue, couldn't even manage to salt or sand the roads before rush hour, so despite driving around for 40 minutes, I never got any farther than 1/4 mile away from the house.

It's just 1:00 now, and we have nearly two inches of snow. All I can say is that it's pathetic that a virtual dusting paralyzes this region!

By the way - thank God I kept my Saturn. If someone had almost slide into my beloved Bug, well I just don't know what I would have done.


Edited to add: Ooooh. It's 3:00 and we're up to a whopping 2.5 inches. I can't even imagine what kind of mess tonight's rush hour is going to be.

Electric Youth

Two stories I've read over the past few days have got me thinkin'...

The first was the log of the Bumfuzzle - a 34 ft catamaran that two people my age sailed around the world (a true circumnavigation). It was a married couple, 28 years old when they started their 4 year trek in 2003. They had had exactly one sailing lesson (probably similar to what DH and I did in Captiva this past year) when they took money they earned from commodities trading in Chicago and bought themselves a boat. Interestingly enough, their style of cruising made them the pariah of the "cruising" set - apparently a bunch of 60 year olds who feel they are the authority on how one should cruise around the world. Now I don't necessarily think that all of these guys' decisions and preferences would parallel my own (McDonalds and Pizza Hut and Taco Bell are not my preferred cuisine) but they had some serious guts to just go out there and do it.

One of the things I found most admirable was their utter lack of preconception (or rather, whatever preconception they had, they didn't allow it to limit them in their travels). Reading their logs and being somewhat aware of some of the dangers they faced (PIRATES! no, seriously) I don't think that I could have been as cavalier as they were. But the operative word in that sentence is COULD. When I was in college and studied abroad for a year, I did a whole lot of things during that year that wisdom and hindsight would probably keep me from doing again. But the thing is, it was exactly those times when I threw caution to the wind that I had the most fun. These guys did exactly that with the dire warnings of where they should and should not go (these people were in freakin' Sudan for a while! And Yemen! And Bali, three months after the nightclub bombing there!) The life they led (with the exception of their preferred cuisine) was simply enviable. I can only wish that when DH and I are able to cast off lines, that we are half as bold as they are and have 1/4 the fun.

Their next adventure is in a restored 1958 VW Bus driving from North to South America! Go them I say. I wish I had gotten some dough commodities trading so that I could live life free and easy!

The second story isn't quite as admirable - it is a story of a couple aged 23-25 who basically lived the high life by stealing identities of their neighbors and opening credit cards in their names. Again, it was story of another bold young couple, living it up throwing caution to the wind. Of course, this second story was totally funded with illicit gains, but it was still interesting to read.

Although, pathetic that with all the money they seemed to gather, they still shopped at Ikea.

Inspired by "the fire"

I don't need much of an inspiration to learn - and tonight Jeffro has provided the perfect inspiration. He posted a video on his blog that shows pictures associated with all of the things mentioned in Billy Joel's "We didn't start the fire." I watched the video - natch - and didn't realize that despite being a pretty big history buff, I didn't know like 20-30 of the references once the song was over.

So... here are the ones I didn't know, starting from the beginning (super-obvious ones, like "Brooklyn's got a winning team" I don't include, because I can deduce the reference (Brooklyn won the World Series in '55)

#1 Johnnie Ray: partially deaf, teen idol musician who was considered a precursor to jazz and rock music
#2 Walter Winchell: journalist who began the whole trend of invading public figures' private lives
#3 Panmunjeom: location where the armistice of the Korean War was signed
#4 Marciano: Rocky Marciano, heavyweight boxing champion (could have probably guessed from the picture)
#5 Santayana: George Santayana, Writer who wrote "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
#6 Malenkov: Soviet politician and buddy of Stalin's. Led the Soviet Union for a short time after Stalin's death and was opposed to nuclear armament
#7 Campanella: Roy Campanella, baseball player who was one of the first to break through the color barrier (move from the Negro to the Major League)
#8 Roy Cohn: lawyer involved with McCarthyism and the Rosenberg affair
#9 Peyton Place: A novel that is famous for revealing the sordid underbelly of small town life (I kind of knew it, but wasn't 100% certain)
#10 Pasternak: Boris Pasternak, author of Dr Zhivago (can't believe I didn't know that one!)
#11 Zhou Enlai: Former leader of China
#12 California baseball: I can only assume he's talking about the move of the Brooklyn Dodgers to LA
#13 Starkweather homicide: Charles Starkweather, a Midwest serial killer who inspired Natural Born Killers
#14 Space monkey: Literally, monkeys who were sent into space before humans were. (That's awful! I knew about the Soviet dogs sent into space, but didn't know about the monkeys!)
#15 Edsel is a no-go: I knew it was a car, but I didn't know its significance was that it was a spectacular failure.
#16 Syngman Rhee: First leader of South Korea
#17 payola: The illegal practice of paying to have a song played on the radio (without announcing such)
#18 Belgians in the Congo: The Congo Crisis, when Congo declared independence from Belgium and Mobuto rose to power
#19 Stranger in a Strange Land: Apparently the most famous science-fiction novel ever about a human raised by Martians on Mars (weird)
#20 Liston beats Patterson: Apparently a famous boxing match where Sonny Liston knocked out Floyd Patterson.
#21 British politician sex: Just what it sounds like. Apparently the then Secretary of War got randy with a showgirl, who subsequently lied about it to the House of Commons. Nice!
#22 Bernie Goetz: A NYC subway passenger who shot four guys who were trying to rob him. Got the nickname "subway vigilante."

22 references out of about 120+ total. I'm pretty darn proud.

P.S. Frick! I should have known that there was a Wikipedia entry for the song itself explaining all of the references. All that work searching one by one and I could have just linked to this page. So much for being smart. I didn't realize the significance of the "Studebaker" reference and the Rockefeller reference, but I remember the needles on the shore as a proud EXJersey girl

The problem with not being millionaires

Can't you hear it calling me?

You know, being millionaires would make life so much easier.

I believe that I am very susceptible to SAD - seasonal affective disorder. Basically, as soon as the sun starts setting at 430pm and the weather dips and stays below 65 degrees, I get unhappy. I was born a warm-weather girl, and start shriveling up inside when I can't romp in the sun.

So about this time every year I start dreaming about "quick" trips to my favorite island paradise or other warm-weather destination. My dreamy side starts thinking about spending days in the warm sun, snorkeling gorgeous coral reefs and chasing iguanas out of my pool. My schemer side starts thinking of ways to make it work - flights, places to stay, car rentals, etc.

Then my friggin' practical side kicks in and starts mental adding machine how much it would all cost. $600 for flights, $1200-1400 for even the cheapest accommodations, $450 for a week's Jeep rental, then another $500 at least for food, fun, and miscellaneous expenses.

$3k - just about what we just spent for Henry's new haircut. Sigh.

Ahhh. A night of guilty pleasure

DH and I took my grandparents back to Delaware today. I guess we were all feeling ol' Ben Franklin's timeless piece of wisdom "Both guests and fish stink after three days."

I am happy to be planning the ultimate in relaxing evenings. I'm going to reopen at least one of the three bottles of red wine leftover from last night, build a marvelous fire in the fireplace, and settle in to watch one of my favorite guilty pleasure movies: The Family Man.

Longtime blog readers may recall that I first posted about this movie on November 26, 2005. Shame of it is, I've watched it probably twice more since then. And, rather than just coming upon it and watching it through, I'm actually planning to watch it tonight, indeed planning an entire evening around it.

Well.... at least I'm consistent.

Thanks for Thanksgiving!

13 people, 5 bottles of wine, 3 crazy grandparents, 2 cats, and a totally denuded turkey.

It was a real fun Thanksgiving - thanks for being a part of it!

Eliza says she's thankful that the dishes are done!

Calgon... take me away

Well, having family visit is about as stressful as one might expect. Interestingly, my grandma isn't much of an issue; she constantly is cleaning and trying to do little things around the house, but that's not too bad or out of control.

It's been tough on my grandfather though. He's like 80% deaf, bored, and I think depressed. I don't think that he can hear what most things are going on around him, but sees people laughing and chatting, and doesn't know why. Of course, he's of the generation and personality-type that would never admit to it, much less go to a doctor for help. I'm encouraging my grandmother to speak with his doctor, but beyond that there's not much I can do. Try and keep him as engaged as possible when we're home, but beyond that I don't know what to do.

I'm the kind of person who just wants to fix stuff - to the point of trying to micromanage problems out of existence. I know logically that there is nothing that I can do to fix this, but it's having a emotional toll on me.

Luckily the holidays happen only once a year. It's the most wonderful time of the year.

It's beginning to look a lot like Thanksgiving

So major Thanksgiving milestone crossed off the list today... I bought the turkey! A 12 pound Butterball. For the past couple of years, I've been buying fresh heritage birds from Whole Foods, but after reading an article in this month's Cooks Illustrated, I learned that I was doing it all wrong.

#1 - You're not supposed to buy a fresh turkey from the store. Federal regulations mean that the bird can be as close to freezing - even partially frozen - and still labeled "fresh." Ice crystals form in the meat, breaking it apart and destroying the flavor. In this case, frozen is actually fresher. (thanks also to Alton Brown for this little factoid, but Cook's Illustrated had it too)

#2 - Integral to turkey flavor are two components: fat and salt. Although the Cooks Illustrated article preferred a certain brand of kosher turkey, I couldn't find it in any of my grocery stores (I hit 3 different ones). So I bought one from their merely "recommended" category, rather than the "highly recommended."

#3 - I am philosophically opposed to the factory farmed and bred livestock industry (indeed, the whole tenor of the agricultural sector in this country has us eating lower quality food, albeit for cheap), which made it difficult to buy such an obvious industrial bird. I got over it for just one day.

#4 - The reason that the bird is so reliably flavorful is because it is injected with salt and chemicals to bind the salt to the meat. Again, I'm not really a fan of having my food industrially flavored. I got over it for just one day.

It's tough being an American, adhering to American mores, when I've lived and traveled in parts of Europe that are deeply wedded to traditional agricultural practices. Then I remember that it is Europe that brought us Creuzfeld Jakob Syndrome (better known as Mad Cow disease), is currently recovering from foot and mouth disease, and is now dealing with bird flu. So the paragons are not infallible.

But what I wouldn't give for some true French Brie... unpasturized of course. And true Italian prosciutto, or Spanish Jamon.

Is having a clean house really worth the effort

I have been cleaning nonstop today (well, virtually. We did go to the grocery store; no we haven't bought our turkey yet). DH and I have:

- Steam-cleaned the carpets in all but two bedrooms (the rug doctors you can rent from the grocery store, IMHO do a better job than the guy we hired three years+ ago to do it for 10x the price)

- Re-set up the blue room (this will be my grandma's room, so it had to be spit spot perfect). We rearranged the bed, added a dresser and mirror, and took out the chest of drawers and desk.

- Cleaned the kitchen. Actually, this is still in progress; I am going to clean the ovens sometime, but it takes 4 hours, so I hesitate to do it tonight.

- Rearranged the linen closet. If my grandma saw it the way it was, she'd be doing it herself.

- Cleaned the two guest bathrooms. Again, this is still in progress.

I still have a huge! to-do list. I want to sharpen my knives, chop some wood, clean the fireplace, dust the den, etc...

I hope you people appreciate this!!! :)

Guilty pleasure... revealed

I've revealed my guilty pleasures before - at least in terms of movies (Family Man, 50 First Dates, etc). Jeffro has been quite open about his guilty pleasure: the Goo Goo Dolls.

This morning, I realized that I hadn't admitted to perhaps the most shameful guilty pleasure I have.

Celine Dion.

I know, I know. But before you throw assorted rotten fruit and vegetables at me, let me explain.

Woman's got a voice. She's undeniably confident. She's pretty clearly happy with her life. She's a powerful woman, much in the model of an Oprah or a Condi Rice. She has fun and laughs and seems to be approachable.

I saw her on the Today show this morning, laughing and chatting with the gang there, and I just loved her. Sure, some of her schtick is corny, but considering where she came from (a family of like 14 kids or something ridiculous like that) and what she's become purely through her singing talent, I think it's pretty darn admirable.

There. I've said it. The truth will set you free.

The "Power of Love" is a great song.

All cats... all the time

I just realized that my last five or so blogposts have been about my cats - well, Henry specifically. This one is no different, except that it has to do with Eliza.

We let the cats outside for a brief time this afternoon - Henry on a leash, because I didn't want him getting his surgery site in dirt or anything. Eliza went about her normal routine of chomping on some grass.

Suddenly, she darted about ten feet and pounced on a bird. She didn't quite know what to do, but she kept trying to get at it with her mouth, in addition to pouncing. I yelled at DH to get the cat - because I had Henry still with the leash on the deck and didn't want him getting into trouble while I was trying to get the bird away from Eliza. DH ran over and picked Eliza up and brought her into the house.

The poor little bird sat stunned, but alive, on the ground. I got DH a pair of workgloves, so that he could move the poor little sparrow from the open yard into the bushes, where he could recover without getting picked off by a hawk. DH picked him up, and away the little bird flew over the fence and into the trees (although he almost hit the fence on his flight over it).

I was rather surprised that Eliza had any hunting skills left, considering she such a lazy, fat cat. Of course, if she really had skills and wasn't just curious, that little bird would probably have been dead.

Free: One cat to good home.

I love my little kitty, but he's driving me up the wall. Henry found a way to tear his lampshade collar (made out of a material similar to hospital gowns or something like that), shimmy it off (not over his head, but down his body like he was taking off a skirt), and then bite and break two stitches that are holding his little surgical site (there are 6 others still holding). We've brought him to the vet both yesterday and today for check-ups due to his badness, and while he's okay and doesn't need to have the stitches replaced, he can't be permitted to get to any more.

On top of that, he's lost some weight and developed a heart murmur. He's only eating half of what he should be to maintain his weight, and in general he's just being a royal chore. The stress of taking care of him is definitely affecting DH and me - we're snapping randomly at each other about the dumbest things.

I love the little stinker, though. He's sweet when he's not being a troublemaker. I'm just so anxious for this episode to be behind us.

Weekends... I've had better

Ugh. I'm so depressed. I gave myself a three-day weekend, taking a much deserved Friday off and planning to completely veg the days away.

Vegging out and destressing are not options when you have a cat recovering from surgery, I've discovered. I spent most of the day concerned about him not eating, not drinking, and not going to the bathroom. He finally managed to eat some food (after I started force feeding him with a syringe) and go to the bathroom late Friday night, after which I slept in until nearly noon on Saturday.

Saturday ended up being more of the same, trying to get him to eat, drink, and eliminate. It's turned into a near obsession, with us falling over ourselves to cater to his whims. Add on top of that my father spending the night between DC-area jobs (he didn't get to our place until nearly 130am) and it was a sleepless night. Henry thought that the best way to get our attention was to bang himself into the door repeatedly at 4am. Sadly, he was right. I probably spent an hour or so sleeping on the bed in that room (well, not really sleeping) while the nocturnal cat walked all over me, pounced on whatever part of my body I moved, and rubbed his head on my and purred loudly into my ear.

Sunday was a capstone day; DH's grandmother had called on Friday night, concerned that no one was going to host Thanksgiving and that she might not have anywhere to go. I had planned to coordinate with my grandparents this weekend, and they expressed a preference to come to visit DC for the weekend. So that's that. Despite my vow last year never to host Thanksgiving again, I'm hosting again this year. So for the next two weekends it will now be non-stop work to get the house in order for guests on the holiday.

Wanna come?

Henry is an internet star!

Normally leaving Henry home alone in his condition would make me a total nervous wreck. Is he peeing? Is he eating? Is he in pain or suffering?

DH was a genius and set up a little system with the camera in his Mac Powerbook that took a picture of Henry every minute and organized them into little photo albums for each hour. It gave both of us great peace of mind to be able to see Henry sleeping or looking out the window. There were quite a few times when I laughed out loud at whatever the camera had captured.

Anyway Henry is doing okay. He's sitting here next to me with his giant doughnut collar off, resting atop a pillow. With the collar off he can finally curl up into a tight little ball like he likes to.

I'll try and take some better quality pics of him soon and post them for posterity.

He's back!

We've got Henry back home! He has had his whole butt area shaved - which is pretty funny - and he's got some gnarly looking stitches in his delicate area, but most important is he's home.

Poor little guy has to wear one of those awful lampshade collars for two weeks until they take his stitches out. He's constantly licking the collar (which looks more like he got his head stuck in a country-quilted doughnut than a lampshade); hopefully he'll get used to it soon.

We've got his room all set up for him - except he doesn't like being secluded in there by himself, so he keeps knocking against the door. I let him sit downstairs with DH for a while watching Stephen Colbert. He seems happy.

Oh yeah - poor thing's got an opiate-based pain patch on his side. So he's probably just as high as he is happy to be home.

Spoke too soon...

Sad news folks... Henry is back in the hospital tonight with another urinary blockage. He's going to have the surgery tomorrow that will hopefully prevent this from happening again, but we're pretty upset nonetheless.

We'd noticed he was straining this morning, and DH came home at lunch to see whether he was able to make a little pee chunk in his litter. By the time DH got home from work tonight, Henry was still eating, but not peeing, so we called the vet and they had us bring him right in.

I'm sad because the poor little guy has been through so much in the last two weeks, and now he'll be healing for yet another two. I should be happy, because it's a problem that can be fixed and he'll live a normal lifespan (maybe another 7-10 years).

I'm glad we caught it before the problem did any damage to his kidneys. He's at our local vet tonight, rather than up in Urbana, so we don't have to drive all the way up there.

Quick update: the vet called at about 10pm, letting us know that Henry probably wasn't blocked, but rather suffering from urinary tract spasms that kept him from urinating. She asked if we wanted to continue with medical treatment - but we said that we were likely going to opt for the surgery anyway, so keep the surgery on schedule for tomorrow. Poor little kitty!

I've got good news and bad news...

I'm the kind of person who always wants to know the bad news first.

Bad News:

Hours logged at work on Saturday: 7.5
Hours logged at work on Sunday: 7.5

Good News:

Henry seems to have turned the corner recovering from his drama. He's acting playful again, peeing well, and is sleeping in our bed again.

So there's that to be happy about.

A big project is due at the Department of Commerce on Wednesday... so here's hoping that Wednesday marks the end of crazy working hours for me.

Henry's home!

Yeah! Henry is back at home. We picked him up last night from the animal hospital and was he ever happy to be home. He kinda smells a little different - Eliza has been sniffing him and then hissing, but once Henry gets his old smell back I am sure she'll calm down.

Henry is on three meds - one antibiotic, one anti-spasm, and Prevacid. I think the Prevacid makes his pee-pee less acidic and therefore less prone to forming crystals.

He seems pretty happy. I wish he was eating a little more (although he ate a whole bunch of ham tonight.) Also I wish we saw him drinking more - we bought distilled water to keep him from having too much magnesium. We fully intend to spoil him rotten.

Our bank account is going to need more time to heal than Henry. Total vet bill came to $1200. Plus his follow up appointment next week. Plus the surgery we're likely to have done to avoid any future $1200 surprises.

Kitty update redux!

So DH and I drove up to Urbana tonight to visit Henry in the hospital. He seems to be doing much better. The catheter was taken out this morning, and they want to keep him for another 24 hours to ensure that he is peeing without problem and to monitor his hydration and appetite. We brought him some food from home that we know he likes, and he chowed into it right away - well until he decided he wanted more love from us.

The good news is that we'll likely bring him home tomorrow after work. The bad news is that we'll have a healthy vet bill to pay then too.

Oh well.. you gotta do what you gotta do.

Kitty update!

Henry gettin' high on some Greek oregano in the Herb garden

So DH and I took a nice ride in the NBC up to the animal hospital to visit lil' Henry - who's there until at least tomorrow! He looks so small and helpless in the little cage with all these tubes running around him and whatnot (the catheter in his pee-pee and an IV in his little shaved front leg). We visited for about 30 minutes, talked with the vet on duty about his condition (who advocated for the surgery), and gave Henry some lovin'.

He's got a little "Use Caution" sticker on his lil' ID card. Apparently he's been jumping at people who get close to his lil' cage and bit a couple of them (including last night's vet twice!). He's got a lampshade on his neck to keep him from getting to his catheter.

On the way home I was pretty teary, which is not an unusual state for me. I asked DH if he was upset (he said hardly a word the whole way home, which isn't a terribly unusual state for him) and he said "yes." Thank God we were at a stoplight or I would have crashed the NBC. It killed me.

I think both of us were more upset today, seeing him stuck in the cage and not being able to take him home, then last night. I don't think either of us realized we weren't going to be able to take him home right after they unblocked the obstruction.

Oy! What a finish to the weekend.

Oh Henry what a night...

Lil Henry loving his tree

I've barely had any sleep, so if this post is less than coherent I'm sure you'll understand...

Last night DH and I had a really fun time at Mykonos Grill with Jeffro and CC (holy cow is that fish roe appetizer and spanakopita good!). We went upstairs, getting ready for bed, when we noticed that our little boy cat Henry was making lots of trips in and out of his litter box, then licking his little red rocket after not making any pee.

Sadly, this is a classic sign of a problem lots of male cats have: a blocked urethra due to crystals in his urine. And it's an emergency; if he doesn't get unblocked quickly, he dies.

So off to the emergency vet we go (these things always happen at midnight on a Saturday night!). Henry has been to the emergency vet in Rockville, but our experience there was so traumatic (lots of people in the waiting room, lots of drama and stress) that we decided to take him to the Greenbriar Hospital in Urbana. It was certainly less busy - there was only one woman in the waiting area when we got there, and she left shortly thereafter - but it was no less trying. There was only one vet and one tech on staff and they were dealing with some rough cases.

Happily they got Henry unblocked and he's resting comfortably recuperating from his ordeal. We got home at about 4:45am (I wish they had told us they would need to keep him for up to 24 hours before we waited 3 hours to make sure he was okay) and hopefully we'll be able to pick him up today.

Poor little kitty. Poor other animals in the hospital.

Finally! A little relief...

The past ten days or so I have been working ridiculous hours - I worked 9 hours on Columbus Day, and the past two nights I haven't gotten home until well after the clock struck 9pm.

Today - at least for one day - it ends. I may just be able to catch an early train home.

That doesn't mean that tomorrow won't change things, and I'll have to work late again, but today I'll get home at the very least on time.

Hooray!

The end of an era... for now

I'm so sad.

This morning was the second morning that I drove to the train station without my NBC's top down.

The first was Friday, which I thought might have been a temporary fluke. It was about 52 degrees... a little too chilly for even the heated seats to compensate for.

This morning it was 46 degrees. The afternoons are warm enough to get the top down, like when I am driving home, and the weekends too. But I have to start admitting that winter is coming, reluctantly like CC, and in the immortal words of Dwight Schrute: "[a] convertible is a ridiculous choice in this climate."

At least it's German with decent gas mileage.

Lazy weekends are the best weekends of all...

The last three weekends (at least) have been nonstop action for DH and me, so this weekend we decided that all we wanted to do was veg out... which we have more or less successfully done.

We went to a happy hour birthday celebration for two coworkers of mine Friday night, which was a little drama. I had my first (and probably last) Appletini (I totally got it just because of Zach Braff's character on Scrubs). It tasted way too sweet... like a Sour Apple Blow Pop. Meh. I like my G&Ts better.

I washed the NBC yesterday. It was a little chilly, but I had a lot of dead bugs on my hood that I just had to wash off. I told my dad that I wanted some high-end car wash stuff for Christmas, and he laughed. Considering that I've washed the NBC more times in 4 months than I have the Saturn in 9 years, I don't see what's so funny.

DH is finally finishing up the last section of the deck! That's pretty exciting!

Finally, I've been playing "Viva Caligula" on the Adult Swim website. It's sick - but it's pretty funny. Those darn commercials worked on me!

Nuts and networks

Here's a post about two completely unrelated topics...

This afternoon while driving home from the train station I almost had an incident. It was about 6:00pm and the wind had just started to kick up out of the west. The top of the NBC was down, and the trees started to blow violently above me, with leaves fluttering everywhere. Suddenly, I heard a loud 'bang' as if something small and hard had hit my car - MY CAR, MY BELOVED CAR. I looked up, and no sooner had I directed my gaze skyward when I felt a sharp hit on my exposed arm.

An acorn had fallen or been blown out of the tree and onto me. With the top down, I was unprotected from these falling projectiles.

I was snapped out of a momentary trance by the sound of another acorn hit - this time it hit the windshield. I panicked! What if these little things were like hailstones? Could they possibly dent my beloved car? Thankfully the light changed and I quickly drove away from those horrible trees. I inspected the car carefully when I got home to ensure that there were no visible dents.

On a completely unrelated topic, I was asked to start up a Facebook profile by a girl I had met in Italy several years ago, which I did and promptly paid no further attention to. But then, DH started a Facebook profile to keep in touch with some guys who had left his work and gone elsewhere. Now I find myself with 6 "friends" and part of 4 networks and 1 group. Tonight I reconnected with a girl I met in college who I had been fairly good friends with.

It's interesting, because I'm not usually an early adopter of these new-fangled intertube things... the Myspaces and the Friendsters and whatnots. I kinda like the Facebook thing, though. I might actually try and use it for its intended purpose.

The challenge with it, of course, is that not many people who are my age know or use Facebook, so I don't know how far I'll be able to take it as compared to, say, a 24 year old who grew up with this kind of stuff. It's interesting... but I realize I am turning into the kind of person I made fun of as a kid... you know, the one who couldn't set the VCR clock.

Young people these days wouldn't even understand that comment.

This is what I raced home for?

Today - Columbus Day - is supposed to be a Federal Holiday! Not for me it wasn't! I drove - DROVE - my little Bug down to Silver Spring in the hope that it would be a short day and I wouldn't have to worry about catching the train.

It certainly wasn't an auspicious beginning; I walked into the lobby of our building only to discover that the power was out, only one elevator was working, and when I got to our floor, there was no air conditioning, no computers, not even any lights. Ridiculous. This was at 9am. The power did come on about an hour later, and instead of leaving around 2 as I had hoped, I didn't end up getting out of the office until 7pm! Not cool.

The way things were going, I was worried I wouldn't make it home in time for "How I met your Mother" and "Heroes." HIMYM was pretty funny - Danica McKellar is so cute. Heroes was less than I expected, very boring and lots of unnecessary repetition and filler. I'm not over it yet, but I'm close... so very close!

What an educational weekend!

DH and I visited the Annapolis Sailboat Show Saturday and learned some very valuable lessons:

1. A LOT of people go to these boat shows, and most of them are rude and inconsiderate.
2. I really like small sailboats.
3. There is a HUGE difference between a 27 and a 31 foot sailboat. HUGE!
4. Boats are not ridiculously expensive to buy, they are ridiculously expensive to equip, operate, maintain, and house.
5. It's great to be short when you are interested in sailing.
6. I am very intimidated by anything longer than 33 feet.

Also, Happy Birthday DH!

My feet are resilient!

Destination: Catoctin Mountain
Circuit: Falls Nature Trail to Hog Mountain Trail to Hog Rock to Blue Ridge Overlook trail to Thurmont Vista Train to Wolf Rock to Chimney Rock and back to the Visitor Center.
Start time: 12:00pm
End time: 5:30pm
Distance walked: ~8 miles
Highest elevation: 1610 feet
Starting elevation: 930 feet
Shoes: Brand new Vasque Hiking Boot
Socks: Inner layer: silk liner socks, Outer layer: Smartwool medium cushion

Day after condition: Well, I'm wearing three-inch heels today without any discomfort, my blister is nothing but a little pink spot on the back of my heel, and I haven't felt any muscle soreness despite the fact that I'm terribly out of shape and haven't hiked that far I think ever.

Nice. And I wasn't even wearing Himalayan Walking shoes.

The great hiking boot search of 2007

After the pain and agony of the blister on my heel from last week's hike, it was time to replace my 12+ year old hiking boots. So DH and I set out on our search this morning with a goal and budget in mind.

Our first stop was to Hudson Trail Outfitters in Gaithersburg. They didn't really have much of a selection, although what they did have was quality stuff. I tried on three pair of boots from the same brand (Vasque) - a high top, mid top, and low top. I was pleased with the fit and feel of the mid top - but really wanted to compare a couple of brands to see which offered the best fit.

Next stop was Dicks Sporting Goods, also in Gaithersburg. I really expected that they would have a nice range of brands at less-than-boutique prices. Boy was I wrong; I might as well have gone to Sports Authority or Modells. They had maybe 2 brands in the type of shoe I was looking for, including the shoe I had just tried on at HTO. Nevermind that the same show was priced 20% higher at Dicks either. Now... if you looked at the men's selection, it was pretty extensive. DH asked one of the shoe jockeys whether they had any better selection for women, and the guy let us know that what we saw was what they had. Total bust!

I really, really, didn't want to go all the way down to REI in Rockville, but frankly, I had no choice. The traffic on Rockville Pike was as bad as expected, same goes for Montrose Road. I hate it down there. Anyway, we went in and while their selection was still pretty limited (man... if I was male I would have been so much better off!). I tried on three brands - a Merrell, a Keen, and the same Vasque I had tried on before. At least this time, I could compare the fit. The Keen (mid-top, light duty) fit terribly; the arch was in the wrong place for my foot, it was too square, too much heel movement, so it was right out. The Merrell was a real light duty mid-top... more sneaker than boot with lots of movement. It was super light and really comfortable, but lacked the structure and support of the Vasque. I literally walked around the store for 30 minutes wearing both pairs of shoes, and spent another 30 minutes with two salespeople talking about the pros and cons of both. Vasque: a little heavier, about 30% more expensive, not a topline sole but sturdier, waterproof and Gore-Tex'd, and likely to transition if we got into heavier duty hiking. The Merrell was lighter, very comfortable in a sneaker kind of way, cheaper, but not waterproof and really only good for light trail hiking.

I finally ended up buying:


Vasque Ion Mid Women's multisport.

If we end up doing all the hiking we anticipate doing (this fall we're hoping for Harper's Ferry, Shenandoah, and other, local hiks) plus with trips we're hoping to make to Costa Rica, New Zealand, and back to St John, I'll be glad that I bought the more solid boot. In particular, I expect to be glad that I have the waterproofing - because I just know as soon as I bought a boot without it, I would have stepped into a great big puddle or something.

I did also buy a pair of Smartwool medium weight wool socks (so did DH) and silk liner socks. Those things really work; I wore the liner, socks, and boots to go grocery shopping at TJs, and my normally very sweaty feet were dry as a bone.

So we're set for tomorrow. I also bought a small first aid kit, some moleskin, and granola bars at TJs! Bring it on Catoctin!

He gets new toys... I get bubkus!

So I came home today and was going about my normal routine, which included running upstairs to the bedroom to change out of my work clothes. I noticed DH acting a little suspiciously; all this week he's been home early because of "network outages" at work, and now he's trying to block me with his lil' body.

Lo and behold I get the bedroom and there, on the desk, is what he's trying to sort of hide from me.



A brand new 22 inch rectangle shaped monitor! We he admits was ordered and delivered from New Egg that day.

Now, to be fair, he had told me he was interested in buying a new monitor over the weekend. We went to Best Buy to simply look at it (he had no intentions of actually buying anything there) and I told him he had my "permission" to go ahead.

Typically, it takes him weeks, even months, to go ahead with a purchase. So seeing the monitor sitting on the desk was quite a surprise. He wasn't in trouble or anything, but clearly he knew that I was going to be a little shocked.

Then! I spied with my little eye something else new on the desk.



Now I don't remember being told about an external hard drive! Hmmmm... isn't it easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission.

Of course, we probably won't be able to get away for a little Thanksgiving trip - but DH will enjoy his nifty new monitor and external hard drive! ;)

Owie... and lame!

DH and I drove up to Catoctin Mountain National Park to go hiking today. Happily the weather was considerably less humid than yesterday, and we had planned to hike to Cunningham Falls, then up to Hog Rock, Thurmont Overlook, Wolf Rock, and Chimney Rock.

Well, we got as far as Cunningham Falls before we realized that the pain in my heel wasn't simply my shoe being too big without thicker socks (at that point I had three layers of socks on) but rather the padding on the heel of my left hiking boot had worn away and all that was left was the support structure. I had a blister the size of a half-dollar forming, and by the time we got back to the car (about a 1.5 hour hike round trip) changing into my sneakers wasn't going to help.

So, we aborted our hiking plans and instead resolved to buy me a new pair of hiking shoes.

To add insult to injury (literally!) the "falls" were a trickle of water over some fairly big rocks. If I had poured my water bottle over the side, it would have practically doubled the water flow. I guess the lack of rain has diminished the amount of water flowing. Pretty lame.

Weak!

I love my car!

Yesterday, DH and I drove to the Leesburg Outlets to do a little shopping, and of course we drove the NBC. It was a little hot driving there... but we took back roads through the country that were so pretty, then took White's Ferry across the Potomac over to VA.

The ride home, however, was spectacular. DH drove home; I was feeling a little hot and tired. We drove the back roads home, and the sun was setting over these very pretty horse farms. The air had cooled and it was just so wonderful. We drove through the mini-town of Poolesville, and there was a restaurant by the side of the road with an outdoor patio; everyone sitting at those outdoor tables was watching my car drive by! And watching the sun set over the farms and rolling hills, I felt like I was living a car commercial.

It was awesome. I love my car.

I am a weak woman

Today, I saw a post on TWOP that YahooTV has the newest episode (first of the season) for my beloved TV show, Friday Night Lights. I wasn't going to watch, because it's a streaming feed that gets a little jerky at times, but I simply couldn't resist.

The episode does a fantastic job of getting us reacquainted with our favorite characters and yes, I cried. There's one storyline that I'm not sure I'm a huge fan of, but we'll see how it plays out before I make a final judgment. I mean, FNL is the greatest show on TV right now, but even the near perfect 1st season had some missteps (El Accidente - the Bobby Reyes storyline, and the racial tension storyline in Black Eyes, Black Hearts had a less-than-satisfying conclusion).

Anyway, just try not to check it out. WWRD?

On being in love...

DH and I will have been together for a whopping 10 years this November, and tonight, like most nights, there's something little that happens that makes me laugh, realize how well our lives have been integrated into one anothers.

Tonight, it was DH telling me that he was going upstairs to get the kitty food bowls to bring down and throw in the dishwasher. I had just loaded it up with tonight's dinner dishes, and it should have been a 3 minute dash up the stairs, grab all the bowls, and then back down the stairs. Ten minutes later, still no DH.

I spring upstairs to see what's up, and as I get to the top of the stairs I hear the sounds of ceramic bowls clinking together. I peek in the room and see his desk chair literally spinning. A-ha! I had caught him! He came upstairs to play on the computer, not to get the kitty bowls. I laughed and told him I caught him, and we laughed a little together, tossed some loving insults back and forth, and he ran downstairs with the kitty bowls and I jumped on the computer.

There's really nothing in this world - for me - so reassuring as spending your life with someone with whom you're completely enmeshed. We finish each others sentences, know what the other is thinking before we even say a word, make fun of something that happens with nothing more than a look. We have built our own history, our own vocabulary, our own set of cliches and silly references and inside jokes.

He knows my insecurities, my neuroses, my hang-ups, my obsessions. And he still loves me (that's a big one). My successes make him happy, rather than making him insecure.

So, because I saw the spinning chair and we both laughed, because he's outside right now taking out the garbage and watching the TV that I left on - which annoys him to no end - and because he'll yell and scream at the TV tonight and I'll yell at him to stop getting so mad about a game (and then he'll laugh at me when I cry during Friday Night Lights), I'm inspired to right this little post about how happy I am to have him, how the past ten years have flown by, and I can't wait for the next ten!

Tragedy of epic proportions

My NBC! It's been....


rained on!

Look at those raindrops, carrying their paint-oxidizing poisons!



And the top! My god, not the soft-top!


I've been a very, very bad Bug-mommy.

Shows that wreck me: Friday Night Lights

So Ray and I just finished watching the Pilot episode of Friday Night Lights (many thanks to CC and Jeffro) and I am a total emotional wreck. Knowing the storylines that follow this episode, where the characters go and what develops... and the innocence of the Pilot.... man, what can I say. I'm just wrecked.

Do yourself a favor - go out and buy the DVD of the first season of Friday Night Lights, pour yourself a glass of wine, and keep the tissue box nearby. This show takes the utterly ordinary and draws an extraordinary portrait of small town Texas life and football that will leave you breathless.

Or, tearless, since you will certainly have cried for at least 15 minutes an episode. It's so cathartic!

Darnitall!

I have been studiously avoiding driving the NBC when it was raining or forecast to rain; I want to keep the car as nice as possible for as long as possible. On top of that, I just washed the car for the first time this weekend.

This morning, the forecast called for rain this evening, with a slight (30%) chance of rain this afternoon.

It's 4:00, and this is what the local radar looks like.


I just wanted the rain to hold off until 6:15-6:30, so I could get the NBC in the garage before the heavens emptied. I don't think I am going to get my wish.

Curses! I knew I should have just driven my Saturn!

RIP LP

I was so sad to hear that Pavarotti died this morning in Italy. He's simply one of the most moving, emotional singers I've ever heard... and he's particularly good at enunciating while singing Italian, so I can understand what words he's singing.

I cry when I hear his Nessun dorma (on my iPod), I weep when I hear his Ave Maria, I laugh when I hear his La donna e mobile (on my iPod).

I remember watching him sing at the Opening Ceremony of the Torino Olympics - and even though it wasn't as strong as he was in his prime, the beauty of the tone of his voice still rang through.

Ciao Luciano. Maybe now I'll remember to pronounce your name like Bruno taught me.

Home, home from the range...

Ugh. I've just gotten home from the NOAA Leadership Seminar at the Airlie House in Warrenton, VA. The conference was pretty good; I staffed the coordinator and thought that logistically speaking, it went better than anyone should reasonably expect a conference to go. People seemed incredibly pleased with the organization and the content of the program, and the environment in general (which was lovely).

I drove the NBC to and from, picking up a co-worker along the way. I finally think that I am starting to get it. I'm still stalling, but now I'm stalling when I forget to hit the clutch when I make a quick stop and not when I am in a stop/go situation. The Beltway was JAMMED this afternoon and I managed not to stall for the entire trip.
The car isn't very fun with the top down in 90 degree weather with heavy traffic, but tons and tons of fun with the top down in 70 degree weather with little to no traffic and an empty highway.

I've got lots of stories - if I remember to tell them all! Right now I am thrilled to be home!

The kitchen saga... the light at the end of the tunnel

So today I finished painting 99.9% of the kitchen (there are a couple of spots I need to touch-up). We decided to paint it the same yellow as the living room, which is admittedly a lot of yellow. We need to add a colorful backsplash behind the stovetop and some nice red curtains for the windows, and also we want to paint the door to the garage, but I'm fairly happy with the result.

In any case, I'm happy for now... there's a deck out back that needs to be finished!

Here's a meh pic...

Good news... better news... best news...

Yeah! What a happy weekend!

The good news is that I am finally painting the kitchen. As of this morning, I'm about 1/2 way done! All I have left is actually painting 1.5 walls and second coat on the other 2! Yesterday I primed all the other walls and I painted the area behind the hood/stove a bright tangerine. I'm not sure that it's going to be the final look... but it's final for now. I should be done painting the kitchen by the end of the day!

Better news.. last night I officially replaced the flower in my NBC! It was a big step in allowing myself to accept this car into my heart. We've driven a rough road together, and there are still some rocky patches ahead (I've got to get better at this stick thing) but when we're good, we're great!

Cool discovery - when I unlock the car in the dark, with the top down, the only light that shines spotlights the flower vase. Isn't that cool? Here are some not so great pics (this is my summer flower - I plan to get flowers for every season)




Best news... I got the title to my NBC in the mail from the Maryland MVA yesterday! It's mine (and the credit union's), all mine (and the credit unions)!

My first car mod!

I'm so happy, even though I haven't had the chance to drive my NBC for almost a week because it's been raining. Tonight I finished my first car "mod" - I added a license plate frame. It's cute and looks really good on the car. Here's a not so great pic (hey - it was dark outside!):



Aren't the ladybugs cute?

I hate being sick!

So today I am home sick.... suffering from some kind of godawful sinus infection or something. I lost an entire weekend day worth of work (I was painting the kitchen! Finally!) and couldn't help DH with the deck (although he seemed to be doing quite well on his own).

I hate being sick, and I've said it often enough - that I am the worst sick person in the world. Whiny, sniffley, cranky, tired.

I hope this doesn't last too much longer. It's just wrong to be sick in the summertime.

Shameless manipulative schlock

I have to admit it... I am addicted to shameless, manipulative schlock - at least when it comes to movies. I've already admitted to my three guilty pleasure movies: Family Man, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Dates, and 50 First Dates. Tonight I caught another one of those terrible, guilty pleasures: City of Angels.

There's something about a movie whose sole purpose is to dissolve me into an inconsolable pile of sobs and tears that I just can't turn away from. It's terrible.

And what's the deal with Nick Cage? Two of my guilty pleasure movies involve him in a doomed romance with cute, tousled-haired blonds. And I hate Nick Cage... he's so weird, and odd looking.

What's wrong with me? And the freakin' Goo Goo Dolls, and Sarah McLaughlin. God! It's just so wrong.

It's official!

Today, I spent way more time than anyone should have to spend at the DMv (1.5 hours) to register, tag and apply for a Maryland title for my lil' Bug. I've been driving her lately rather than George, trying to get more practice with the stick. It seems to be working, although on my way from the DMV to the dentist and back I stalled 3 times, but I'm feeling more comfortable with the stick every day - if a little nervous at times when I don't know what to do exactly.

In any case, we'll put her new Maryland tags on her tonight, and if I think of it I'll try and find a Michaels so I can get her her new flower.

I think she's mine once the PA tags are gone... I'll introduce her properly with some spiffy new pics in a later post.

Quick post!

Yeah! Another NBC first... I drove my car to the train station this morning! This was the first time I drove by myself on open roads (neighborhood roads don't count). Man was I crazy nervous/scared. I kept repeating out loud to myself "You are in control of this car. You can drive this car. I am driving this car." to keep myself psyched up rather than out. I even made a left turn across fast oncoming traffic (my worst fear - that I would stall out in the middle of the turn). I parked it far away from all the other cars, and didn't stall out pulling into my parking spot. As a matter of fact - I didn't stall out at all!

It took about an hour for the adrenaline in my system to work itself out. But I did it! Now, for the ride home... which will likely be much more challenging.

Update: I drove home without a hitch! Stop and go traffic the whole way - including a stop-and-go, uphill, two-lane-into-one merge! Again, shaking the whole way, near tears when I got home, but I did it. And, I even enjoyed racing up my little windy road!

The humbling of lil' miss NBC-lover

While DH and I were on our sailing vacation, our Alabaman companion who was also learning to sail remarked how jealous/envious/impressed he was that I seemed to pick up the basics and mechanics of sailing so quickly (I got only one question wrong on our keelboat test, and it was because I filled in the wrong circle - I knew the answer). Anyway, I told him that I am an instinctive learner... if something makes sense to me I pick it up really, really quickly. On the other hand, if I don't pick something up quickly, it takes a really really long time for me to learn.

That is the case with driving a stick shift. DH and I ran up to Lowes and Whole Foods to pick up some thing we forgot this weekend, and I stalled pulling into the parking spot and twice on the way home. I was near tears, I was so frustrated. It's not that I haven't learned how to drive, because I can drive the car. It's that I'm not picking up the technique to drive perfectly after only a couple of times out on the open road, with the stress of traffic upon me.

I think that DH enjoys this immensely - seeing me humbled like this. It's tough, but I am trying to stay determined to stick it out! (No pun intended).

How many grocery bags fit into the trunk...

... of my NBC?

Answer: 4 - if I left the boot cover and boot cover cover and weird solar panel thing in the trunk. Probably 6 if I had taken those out before we went to the store.

Yes, I broke my first commandment today by taking the NBC to Trader Joes. I freaked out halfway there because I was wearing inappropriate shoes and my foot was slipping off the pedals (no traction left on my old sneaks), so DH had to drive the rest of the way to the store - but I did drive home. I stalled abot 4 times - but remember I haven't driven the car for two weeks! At the end of the drive home I was doing okay, but whenever I get nervous I have a tendency to rush and try and get into first gear... but rushing = stalling.

I guess I'll just have to get more practice. I love driving the car though, when I'm not nervous about stalling, or when I'm not noticing that I'm driving 20 miles over the limit (oops!)

It's a miracle!

Or at least that's how it feels to me. Today, about 4 days late, the signed, notarized title to my new VW NBC arrived in the mail. I don't have the spirit to detail the drama of the week in getting this title back from box o' rocks, but allow me to say that I was completely mentally prepared to not have this resolved for weeks.

Thank the good Lord Almighty! I almost have my new car! I am not committing to it until I get through with the Maryland MVA (aka DMV).

Housecleaning

It's been a while since I updated the little info bits on the side menu. Over the summer, I'm not really watching any TV regularly. I watched some Top Chef over the weekend, which I have a passing interest in based on the TWOP recaps that it's not the normal reality competition show, that these people are being nice and supportive of one another. And I've found it to be interesting in that respect.

I finished my semester-long lecture on Oceanography 101 long ago. I haven't been listening to very much lately. Meh.

I just bought three books at Borders the other day. Right now I am reading The True Story of the Mutiny on the Bounty. Well-reviewed, I'm less than 50 pages into the story - which starts from the end of the story with the round up of the mutineers in the Pacific island, but so far I am definitely inspired to sail around those islands sometime in my life, based on the vivid descriptions of Tahiti and the surrounding islands.

I probably should remove the "Presidential Management Fellows" link since I have technically fulfilled most of my obligations and have converted to a full-time employee at NOAA, but I have a couple more events to do associated with them, so I'll leave it there for now.

Not that this was supposed to be an interesting post, but whatever.

Hello Mr. Postman... uh....Postal Inspector, sir

So this afternoon DH calls me at work and says "Erika, there's a call for you from Mr. So-and-so who is a postal inspector from PA and he wants to talk with you about the VW."

"Oh boy," I think, "I guess I'd better call him back."

I called, left a message, and a couple of minutes later he calls me back at work. Thankfully, it isn't really a big deal, for me anyway. The NBC isn't going to be repo'd by the government or anything, he just wanted to ask me a few questions about the deal:

- Was I related to the guy I bought it from? Ha! Very funny, but no. Turns out the guy I bought it from (box o' rocks) told them he was going to transfer the lease to his sister. Whoops.

- Did I get a good deal? This was a tough question; the PI was concerned that the "victim" would question why the car didn't generate any profit to cover his/her losses. I answered honestly; I would have paid several thousand dollars more at a dealership, maybe a little bit more in a proper private party sale, but I thought that the price I paid was about what a dealer would offer if the car was traded in, which is why I bought it.

- Follow-up question: "Would you have paid $1k more for the car?" Probably not.

- "Did I offer him any cash/money when getting the car or did he ask for any money when I went to pick up the car?" No... money went straight to VW; I didn't give him a dime.

After those questions were answered (as well as some others: did I know him before O bought the car, how did I find out that there was a situation with the car, yada yada yada) the nice Mr. PI and I chatted a bit about box o'rocks and what was going on. Turns out that the big charges are wire and mail fraud (the money-laundering thing equals small potatoes in comparison to mail/wire fraud) for which he'll likely be convicted in about 6 months (apparently he confessed some of his wrongdoing to stave off being caught, so I am not sure whether they are investigating to make sure that he confessed all of it or what). His wife apparently doesn't know half of what was going on; the PI told me that none of that part is technically criminal, but if she knew she would likely have divorced him in a heartbeat (after I shared that she was mighty P.O.'d when we were there). Also, interestingly enough, the guy is more or less a pathological liar, combined with being a complete idiot. Very interesting.

All in all it was a very congenial conversation that didn't make me nervous at all. I told Mr. PI that I was happy to supply any emails or anything about the car. I also asked if the Federal marshalls were going to be calling, and he said "Nah, I'll share this info with them and likely they won't care"

Honestly, I wasn't nervous at any point. I'm kind of glad that he called, actually, because otherwise I might have always wondered about that dangling loose thread of "The Feds!" and now, I have nothing more to worry about. Cool.

Thank you... whoever you are

Someone asked me recently if I was watching Discovery Channel's "Shark Week," knowing that I was a keen fan of the beasties. I let them know that no, I was not, because they persisted in portraying sharks as viscious human predators rather than the unfortunate victims of man's quest to dominate and rape the oceans of their riches.

I have no idea who Gilbert Arenas is (I think he plays for the Washington DC NBA team, whose mascot/team symbol I don't know since they changed it from the Bullets - hehehe) but he apparently has a blog, which I learned about on the Washington Post's Celebritology Chat with Liz Kelly, and on this blog he posted the following missive about sharks, with which I happen to agree:

"There Are No Such Thing as Shark Attacks
I know this is random, but I just want to clear this up for people out there.
There are these things called shark attacks, but there is no such thing as a shark attack. I have never seen a real shark attack.

I know you’re making a weird face as you’re reading this. OK people, a shark attack is not what we see on TV and what people portray it as.

We’re humans. We live on land.

Sharks live in water.

So if you’re swimming in the water and a shark bites you, that’s called trespassing. That is called trespassing. That is not a shark attack.

A shark attack is if you’re chilling at home, sitting on your couch, and a shark comes in and bites you; now that’s a shark attack. Now, if you’re chilling in the water, that is called invasion of space. So I have never heard of a shark attack.

When I see on the news where it’s like, “There have been 10 shark attacks,” I’m like, “Hey, for real?! They’re just running around? Sharks are walking now, huh! We live on the land, we don’t live underwater.”

He gets it right... so why does the Discovery Channel have to continue to garner ratings (which I've heard haven't been so hot lately) by using the pseudo-Jaws music and focusing on the rare cases when a man-shark interaction results in injury or death to the man? The opposite result - and Asian hunger for shark-fin soup - is emptying our oceans of these majestic creatures that have been in existence in some form since the time of the dinosaurs. I'd like to see them show the documentary that came out recently on the impact that the longline and shark-finning fisheries are having on shark populations (name I can't remember right now)

Man, if they just made soapboxes a little taller, I might not be able to get up on them so easily. Cheers to you Mr. Arenas, whoever you are, for your keen insight into shark attacks.