It's just one of those .... months?

Ugh. It has been one of those months. You know, when whatever you do, however you try to turn things around, regardless of how you try to stay upbeat and positive about the future, the reality of the day to day grind just beats you into submission.

My office is broken. Communication has completely broken down, the new leadership and their "people" don't trust the staff that has been there for any period of time, and they are making judgements indiscriminately. It makes those of us who actually perform at a high level and are effective at our jobs completely discouraged. It certainly doesn't encourage loyalty or any kind of respect, and before long, they are going to have to realize that they can't do it all alone. I look forward to that day - hopefully it's the day I'm walking out the door.

DH is having similar frustrations at work, not so much leadership-oriented, but just in trying to get people to respond to his inquiries about advertised positions within the company. So that's annoying.

It makes you just want to ask - What the heck is wrong with people? How hard is it - once someone makes the transition from petulant teenager to mature adult - to treat people with a modicum of respect? You don't have to like them, or even respect their abilities, but you do have to respect them as humans.

On a side, slightly ironic note, DH and I have been invited to my in-laws house next weekend to visit with them because DH's brother, his wife, and their new baby are going to be there. I think I'll pass... I'm coming down with something, I've got something else to do, and I just don't think we'll be able to make it. Or something.

That's it! I can't take it any more!

So today DH and I set about the long delayed, much needed task of recaulking the bathtub in our bedroom. We'd redone it once before, but somehow the anti-mildew properties of the caulk were just not working. So we scraped it all out, cleaned the area, shoved new caulk in the spot, and have to wait until tomorrow morning before we can use the shower.

Our master bath is in very sorry shape. I peeled all the wallpaper and ceiling border off the walls, as well as a gold-painted chair rail, so the walls are a hole-y mess. The color scheme is almond and the lighting is crap, so everything looks dingy.

So, even though we had planned not to do any major home renos this year, we've decided that we have to do the bathroom. Thing is, unlike the kitchen, we at least have another bathroom we can use in the interim. So it can't possibly be as inconvenient and frustrating as the kitchen remodel, right.

At least we now have something to do for the next few weekends - find a bathroom designer who can fit all the stuff I want (separate whirlpool tub and shower, namely) into the 8.5' X 7.5' space.

Crap.

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