Too much is never enough

I was reminded of my high school English teacher's favorite Rolling Stones saying (and am reminded of it again tonight) while shopping, preparing, and eating DH's and my Christmas Eve dinner. I have finally found a situation that proves that adage wrong.

DH and I like to have a special meal for ourselves over the holidays, and this year was no exception. We went to the Whole Foods in Gaithersburg, in my mind looking for live lobster. Unfortunately (and so DH later reminded me), WF no longer sells lobsters (just tails) What they did have, however, were Dungeness crabs and King Crab legs. We decided to get 1 Dungeness crab, based on the size of those monsters, and two smaller King Crab claws (weighing a total of 1.8 pounds). I freely admit that the primary reason I got the King Crab claws was because of watching the Discovery Channel's Deadliest Catch and being completely in awe of the crab fishermen in Alaska. It was a little more expensive than I expected (whoops!) but eh, it was Christmas.

Anywho, I steamed up the claws and Dungeness Crab, and DH and I got to work. After eating one (or two) Dungeness Crab legs and 1/2 of the Dungeness Crab body, both DH and I were in rich food overload. The Dungeness Crab was incredibly sweet, actually very delicious.

Then we started in on the King Crab legs. There were three segments to the legs, and it required kitchen scissors to get to the meat. I opened the first section of the leg, and pulled out a whole chunk of meet the size of most normal lobster tails. And the flavor - well it was richer than any other lobster tail that I have eaten. I mean mouth-puckering rich. I could only eat one section, and even then I could barely finish it. DH suffered the same problem - the meat was delicious, but so rich it was almost unbearable. One leg would have been more than enough for the both of us - and we had two-thirds of two legs left! What was I going to do with all that King Crab meat - not to mention the 4-5 Dungeness Crab legs we hadn't touched.

Tonight's dinner: Crab soup.

This is a Dungeness Crab - look at the size of that monster!


Here are the Deadliest Catch boys with their King Crab catch!

The end of the holiday season

Yeah! All my Christmas obligations are over and life feels free again! Somehow, I only get into the holiday spirit after the holidays are over. Which is fine.

Sadly, this is the most unexciting time of the year. I am trying to keep busy by reading more classics - right now I am in the midst of reading Catcher in the Rye for the first time, and I've just ordered Brave New World to re-read. I really have to go through all the books in my basement to make sure that I am not ordering books I already have!

Also, in the wake of former President Ford's death, I've found myself reading a number of articles about him and Betty Ford. My knowledge of Ford and his wife is mostly from cultural references to the Betty Ford clinic and old Simpsons and SNL sketches. I've been really surprised by some of the things that I have learned about them, however. The Fords were quite progressive, very supportive of women's rights and frank and open discussions of "taboo" topics such as addiction and mental illness. I was amazed to learn about the independant woman that Betty Ford really was, rather than just a "first lady."

DC is going to be a mess this weekend, but it's nice that we Feds were given Tuesday off. Maybe I'll order a Ford biography to honor his passing.

Edit Naturally, right after I publish this post I notice this article in the Washington Post about Betty Ford's resilience and strength. Awesome woman.

Why the NYTimes is the best paper in the US

I love the NYTimes. I read far more articles from the NYTimes than I do the Washington Post. Not just the normal news stuff, but the funny stories, the weird and informative articles, and the intriguing food and travel ideas.

Here's a sample of recent articles I have enjoyed:

Futurama fans may have heard of it, but ambergris (aka Sperm Whale vomit) is actually very valuable.

These are the questions that you should ask yourself before getting married (yes, DH and I asked and answered all those questions, and actually keep asking each other those questions frequently to make sure we are still on the same wavelength)

Looking to sell your home - here are some anecdotes on what not to do.

They just always have the most well-written articles. None of these stories is particularly revolutionary in and of themselves, but the writing is just so intelligent and interesting. Believe me, I read bad government employee writing everyday.

Plus, (grammar Nazi alert!) if one more person says "less" when they mean "fewer" (less people, less staff, less days) I am going to scream!

Yeah... it's cheap, but it's so damn funny

I'm sorry, but this might be the funniest netpic I have ever seen.



I can't stop laughing at it. I'm sorry.

When the going gets tough, the not-so-tough run!

There's stress at work, stress at home, stress everywhere! I can't deal with the amount of B.S. accompanying the finishing of my kitchen (what do you mean the dishwasher won't fit!?!?), so instead of confronting the owner of the business that we went through for this work about my dissatisfaction, I've decided that the best strategy for me is to simply avoid it for the time being! Yeah for avoidance!

To that end, I am going to spend my Saturday downtown in DC. I'm going to visit the National Gallery and re-visit their Italian Renaissance painting collection (perhaps even with a history book in hand), then I am going to eat the unbelieveably delicious miniburgers that they have at Matchbox for lunch, and then I am going to feel like I am in a warm and tropical climate by visiting the US Botanic Gardens.

Then maybe, if I am feeling really adventurous, I'll head out and look for a Total Wine and More store in Virginia to get some Christmas presents. Or maybe I'll even venture into Georgetown for a little window-shopping.

It's going to be a wild and crazy day, I tell ya! Screw confronting problems head on!

I know it's been a while...

So sorry for the extended absence. Times have been rough and Thanksgiving proved to be just as stressful as anticipated - if not more. I really didn't want to go into an extended rant on the blog because, well, we all go through tough times, and sometimes you post things you don't necessarily want the world to know about, but you write to get the frustration out. So made a decision not to post until I was on the road to recovery.

Tonight, I was set firmly back onto that road by a second-long scene in tonight's How I Met your Mother episode. It was really short - if you'd blinked you would have missed it. But that split second was the funniest thing I'd seen in forever.

Marshall. Delivering packages. Chased down the corridor of a NYC apartment building. By the fluffiest, smallest, puffiest white dog ever.

I was still laughing about it 15 minutes after the show ended. And now I am desperately searching for a clip of it on YouTube, but it was so brief I know I'll never see it again. I'll just have to wait until they re-air the episode around Christmas.

Trust me, it was damn funny.

Hangin' in there

I have decided that next year, DH and I are spending our Thanksgiving in Maine. I'm having lobster for Thanksgiving dinner, and am going to spend the night gazing at a roaring fire in a seaside bed and breakfast in downeast Maine. This year is simply pushing me over the edge.

The plumbing has yet to be installed in the kitchen; I'm told that they'll be here on Tuesday to put it all in, plus finish a couple of things that need doing (cabinet doors, heat vents, etc). Tuesday night and Wednesday all day and night I am going to be washing dishes, counters, pots, pans,... more or less every kitchen related implement that I own. I am not looking forward to it. Not having basic plumbing in my kitchen for 3 months has actually made me clincally insane. And no, it is not helpful to have people note that the first Thanksgiving didn't feature indoor plumbing either.

That stress aside, I am not really sure why I feel like I am clinging desperatly to the dangling threads at the end of this rope. DH and I rented a "Rug Doctor" today to clean the living room carpets, which have been lovingly decorated with puke stains by my cats. We knew that it was too late to hire a professional, and didn't really want to spend the money to buy our own steam cleaning vacuum, so we went ahead and rented this little thing. Damn it all if it doesn't do a real good job. It's not perfect - it didn't get out all the stains entirely, but that would have taken a miracle - but it was really worth the $50. We did the living room floor today the stairs and the upstairs hallway tonight, and tomorrow morning before we have to return it we'll hit our bedroom. I'm darn impressed, I really didn't think it would make that big of a difference, but it truly did.

Also, the new oven was making a horrible rattling sound when it was on, which prompted me to call JennAir last week to schedule a service call. I don't know what I was expecting (I think I thought they were going to find a screw loose, tighten it, and then be on their merry way), but they sent a service guy out today who basically took the whole thing apart, replaced a cooling fan, and re-installed the whole thing. It took him like 2 hours, but the oven doesn't make a sound anymore. Again, I was duly impressed. I really didn't know if they would be able to make it soundless, I kind of figured it would always be a little noisy (it's a convection oven). But tonight I baked a pizza for dinner and I had to keep checking the oven to make sure it was in fact on. So that was good, too.

DH and I bought a rug from Target for the den, and arranged the furniture in there such that it looks not too bad. The dining room has its table back, which has had the leaves put in for Thanksgiving and is clothed for the occasion. Tomorrow I'll tackle the bathrooms (ick). Things aren't spiraling out of control like they seemed to be this afternoon. Actually, I had my first White-breasted Nuthatch visit my feeder today, which was quite exciting. I've had loads of Chickadees and Titmice and Snowbirds, and even a couple of Cardinals and Blue Jays.

So why am I still feeling so stressed. I haven't gone grocery shopping for Thanksgiving yet (+4 stress points), the kitchen isn't finished (+7 stress points), and ... wait for the kicker... I was guilted by my father into inviting my sister and her husband for Thanksgiving dinner (+100 google stress points, game over)

It's less stressful if I just leave on that note.

Meditative Thoughts

I can feel myself getting worked up into a frenzy, with the chaos at work, the stress of family drama for the holidays, the kitchen debacle, and general seasonal malaise all converging into a swirling vortex of frustration. So today I am listening to Gregorian Chants by some Benedictine monks to try and rachet down the stress levels. Combine with reading Siddhartha, I'm hoping it's enough to do the trick.

Listening to the chanting, it reminds me of visiting San Miniato al Monte in Florence, where in the late afternoon on certain days you could go into the church, down on the lower levels, and listen to chants by the monks there. It was nice and cool, the architecture and art are awe inspiring, and the musicality of the chants was so beautiful and relaxing. I am not a religious person by any measure, much less in the Roman Catholic tradition. And I know that in theory, the art and decor of the Catholic churches - at least as perceived by the Protestant strains of Christianity - is tantamount to idolatry and false worship. But there is something to be said for the peace and spirituality that being in such beautiful places inspires. It's actually one of the things I miss most about being in Florence; simply by walking into a church one was easily transformed from rolled-up stressball to person at peace. I think it would be interesting to do an experiment where one tested people's blood pressure before they walked into one of those churches and then right before they exited. I guarentee it would eliminate the need for blood pressure medication!

Unless they climbed to the cupola atop the Duomo, in which case it wouldn't really count.

Aw my Gawd - What's your accent?

I saw this fun American accent quiz linked today from Gene Weingarten's weekly chat. I took the quiz, and the results were dead on. Really incredible. I've frequently been told I talk like a Southern girl... which goes to show that no one knows what he/she is talking about.

What American accent do you have? Your Result: Philadelphia Your accent is as Philadelphian as a cheesesteak! If you're not from Philadelphia, then you're from someplace near there like south Jersey, Baltimore, or Wilmington. if you've ever journeyed to some far off place where people don't know that Philly has an accent, someone may have thought you talked a little weird even though they didn't have a clue what accent it was they heard.
The Midland
The Northeast
The South
Boston
The Inland North
The West
North Central
What American accent do you have? Take More Quizzes

New Fitzgerald fan!!!

Today I finished reading "The Great Gatsby," the first book I've read by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Let me just say what a tragedy it is that I didn't read this book in high school - it has to be one of the best books that I've ever read. It took me quite a while longer to read than I expected - it's not a long book, but the prose is fairly complex. It's really a fantastic book - which I highly recommend!

Tomorrow we're finally going to have the island countertop installed, which means that the sink for the island can be installed, which means that the plumber can finally come over and install the faucets, drains, and most importantly the dishwasher! There's a lot of detail work that's left to do (shoe molding around the baseboards, backsplash, painting, etc) but it will be at least complete enough for Thanksgiving.

Sadly the endless nights spent late at work have not yet come to an end. I thought that the light at the end of the tunnel was near, but no, it was not to be. But celebrate, it's a three-day weekend for me! Moreover, Friday Night Lights was awesome last night.

However, I must end on a desperate note. WTF is wrong with Virginians - or at least 58% of them - for voting for the "gay marriage" ban. It's bad enough that they allowed the Senate race to get that close - and I say that as a card-carrying Libertarian! (BTW - hooray for Kevin Zeese getting more votes in the MD Senate race than was the spread between Cardin and Steele - because that's when I feel like my vote counts!) Anyway, I just hope that the flip in control of the House and (possibly - damn Virginians) Senate at least brings a modicum of centrist policies back to our government.

And Rummy resigning, well that was just icing on the Congress cake.

Update time!

Wow! There was a lot of housework to be done at home and on the blog page. I updated a lot of stuff along that right sidebar there... see it?

First, I updated what I have been reading. The trouble with keeping that section up to date is that the hour long train ride each day really affords me a lot of time to plow through books. I've just recently ordered and received the five books you see there now from Amazon. One is a re-read (Siddhartha,one of my all time favorite books), one is a new-but-should-have-read-before author (The Great Gatsby), one is a pop culture history read (History of the World in 6 Glasses), one continues my love affair with Italian - in particular Florentine - Renaissance history (The Italian Renaissance), and one continues my love affair, period (Lord Byron's Major Works). It was actually really hard to choose books for this order. Despite the fact that I have over 100 items on my wish list, I never seem able to either trim it down or simply choose books in some kind of logical order. It's all momentary passion.

Next, I updated what I have been watching. I'm watching, still, one of the best "Amazing Race" seasons in years, still watching the wonderful "The Office" and the fun "How I Met your Mother" (Swarley!). This season I've stopped watching "My Name is Earl and "Lost," meh, they just weren't doing it for me anymore. I've started watching (and have become hopelessly addicted to) "Ugly Betty" and, unbelieveably enough, the unparalleled, wonderful "Friday Night Lights." If I had to recommend one of my shows to someone, it would definitely be FNL; I can't get through an episode without crying.

Finally, I updated my weather and news links. Since DH is home now, I don't have to torture myself looking at the weather (which is always nice) and the news (which is always terrible) from Palm Beach. That's certainly a comfort.

Ahhhh. It always feels so good to get some housecleaning done.

What it's like to be a busy girl

I don't know whether to laugh or cry about how completely nuts life has been lately. Staying late at work has become a norm rather than an exception (a norm to which I take exception), the kitchen is STILL not finished, and rather than continue to look at patchy and multi-color walls, I spent the weekend painting most of it just to have it look like it's all one color. DH and I are perpetually finding more little projects that we should tackle, and there just isn't a moment of rest. Add on top of that enormous family drama (on DH's side, naturally) about whether or not they are going to grace our home with their presence on Thanksgiving (never mind that we drive 4 hours every Christmas from my g-parents to their house without complaint)and we have the beginning of yet another house project: padding the walls in a room where I can spend the rest of my days mumbling "kitchen not done, kitchen not done"

I did have a very, very delicious dinner with a girlfriend at Matchbox Friday night, which I highly recommend. It was cheap, and the miniburger appetizer was to die for. DH and I spent Saturday doing much needed housework rather than driving up tp Carlisle for Dickinson's homecoming weekend, which was both a bummer and a necessary evil.

Thank Buddha I have this coming Friday off, and also have the following Friday off for a very exiting doctor's appointment, and the following Friday off for Thanksgiving. I won't spend a Friday in the office for the rest of the month... how nice.

Does "bah humbug" apply for Halloween?

Argh. In theory, I don't have any problem with Halloween. Heck, I'm all for the integration of pagen rituals into this increasingly fundamentalist society. It's the execution that I struggle with. As I sit here typing this, all I can hear is kids screaming their bloody heads off running all over the place, ringing the doorbell more times than is necessary. I like the nice, well-behaved kids who walk up to doors, say "Trick or Treat" (please, at least pretend people!), and then say "Thank you." I'm also very discriminating with the candy. Good costumes, good manners, and parents close by get more candy than sullen teenagers in "hobo" clothes or out of control kids screaming, pushing, and running everywhere. You might say I'm a bit of a Candy Nazi when it comes to door duty. Which explains, of course, why I'm so willing to hand over the duty to others.

Another thing. When I was a kid, someone in our group usually knew someone at the house - or they knew our parents. What I'm trying to say is that there was at least some sense of neighborhood connection (well, until I turned into one of those punk adolescents). I don't know any of the parents of any of these kids at all.

Agh! I'm getting so old! Get off my lawn. Damn kids don't know how easy they have it these days. When I was a kid we had to walk uphill to Trick or Treat in 3 feet of snow and got apples and pennies and were happy for it!

The good, the bad, and the very ugly

I don't know whether to be sad that the weekend is over or happy that October is flying by, because this month has just been unbelievable with its ups and downs.

Whenever anyone tells me that there is good and bad news, I always ask for the bad news first, because I figure that the good news will soften the blow of the bad. So that's how I'll present the weekend.

The very ugly:

DH went through absolute hell the last three days in FL. From being dicked around by his company over a mere $1500 for the broken lease (grrr), to being dicked around by people purporting to be be interested in buying my bike (grrrrr), to having the woman who was bringing over the agreement to break the terms of the lease show up a half-hour late, which had a domino effect such that DH missed his flight home. That's right - he's packed and ready to go and shows up at the airport 15 minutes before the flight took off (nevermind that the USAir website said the flight would be leaving 25 minutes late; naturally the flight left on time) - and then he's told that he's too late, and he'll have to wait for a flight two and one half hours later, that took 2x as long to make the trip because it connected in Charlotte. I thought DH was going to lose it when he called me to tell me that he missed the flight. It was just the capstone to the whole return from Florida experience. Needless to say, if they ever get in touch with him asking him to come back or whatnot, I have no doubt what DH's reply will be.

The bad:

I just found out tonight that my grandfather has had a melanoma identified (the same kind of cancer that took my mother's life) and is going to the hospital for the third time to have additional stuff removed to be sure that it has all been cut out. I was kind of surprised that my gramma didn't tell me 3 weeks ago when they first found it, but she said that my grandfather didn't want her to tell anyone. My gramma had called a few weeks ago, asking for my SSN to make sure that their beneficiary stuff was all in order, but when you're 80+ I figured that's just the normal course of things. Luckily, it does sound like, from the results of a bunch of scans and whatnot, that the cancer hasn't spread. Plus, his sister - ten years older than he - had lung cancer when she was 85, went through chemo and radio and the whole kit and kaboodle, and is still around.

The good:

Compared to all the other stuff, it isn't going to sound like much, but I did finish painting the trim in the dining room this weekend. Considering that it has been 2 years since we put down the hardwood floors and repainted both the den and the dining room walls, having finally finished most of that room (still have to paint a little of the door jam and touch up a few spots where the tape pulled the paint of the wall) is a pretty major victory. I wonder how long it will be before I get to the den's trim. Also, we bought two big pretty tropical palm-type plants for that room, which look pretty neat in there.

No kitchen work this week, since we are waiting for the countertop to be installed on the island. It's getting too close for comfort to Thanksgiving.

Ugh. I have had so enough of this

What a long friggin' day. What a long friggin' week. What a long friggin' month. I'm just so tired of it all.

Work: Driving me batshit crazy. This has been a bad month at work (albiet not as bad as some I know, but bad in its own relative sense). I really am starting to hate going in every day, the work itself is just blah. At some point I have to buckle down and start a job search. I really wanted to try and stick it out 3 years, and I still want to try and make it through 2... but I won't know if something better is out there unless I try and find it. I took the 730 train home tonight - the last train - and it is not a pretty sight. Nevermind that I have a bunch of work to do this weekend, whereas if we'd been able to focus a little more clearly on the obvious solution about 3 weeks ago we wouldn't be working over the weekend.

DH: They never connected with him about his counteroffer (calling him twice on an old number, apparently), the guy who holds the lease on the condo is being a super-douche (although, frankly, can't say I blame him. The rental market down there really sucks), and everyone down there just seems so... dumb. No other way to say it. Happily, he'll be home tomorrow, but the amount of drama that we've gone through in the last 3 weeks for this deal has really put a black mark on the whole experience. Sadly.

Kitchen: I'm at my wits end making the last few decisions. I can't find a faucet I like for the island. I can't figure out what I want as a backsplash. I have to pick a paint color at some point. This thing is not going to be finished-finished for T-giving, I just know it. Argh. It's been over two months, and I'm just over it!

Kitties are begging for food; I should probably go and feed them. I need a large drink. Unfortunately, with the kitchen stuff scattered all over the house, I don't think that I could find any drinkin' stuff even if I tried.

I hereby declare October the crankiest month ever! Thank goodness it's over on Wednesday.

Progress!

So many things happening, so little time in which to absorb them all!

Issue 1: The Kitchen

After work stopped for nearly 6 weeks because of the cabinet-in-the-island drama, it resumed today, with noticible, if minimal, progress. The island has been constructed, although it has no countertop, sink, etc. The chandelier over the table has been installed, and most of the cabinets and drawers have pulls! Evidence:


The Island


The Chandelier

Issue 2: DH's return from FL

Naturally, a mere 48 hours before DH is supposed to return home from FL for good, DH's employer realizes that perhaps they might want to keep an integral member on their small team for a bit longer to ensure that they meet a fairly significant delivery date. So they asked him to stay an extra 3 weeks. Can you believe it? We could have done our sailing thing if they had told us, oh, 2 weeks ago! Crazy. Anyway, at first DH was totally going to just give them the ol' "F.U." but I convinced him to counteroffer - let's see how much they are willing to pay to keep him down there. He delivered said counteroffer today; we'll see what happens!

Issue 3: Well, there really isn't an issue #3, but I like odd-number symmetry, so I had to add it.

Baby it's cold outside...

...and everywhere in this cruel world. There's been some very negative developments in the last week. Let's review:

- I was turned down for the job for which I interviewed.

- They've "lost" the cabinet I've been waiting 4.5 weeks for to get the kitchen on the road to completion

- DH and I cancelled our Veteran's Day sailing lesson for another time

- DH's new position will be in HERDON! for the next two months or so. That's like an hour's drive at least.

- DH has ruined my morning routine, which I now have to re-establish all over again

- The hard drive on my laptop is about to totally crash and burn

- I STILL don't have a plumbed sink and I have to do dishes AGAIN

To balance out the negative, just a wee bit:

- We had Indian food for dinner tonight. Nothing makes life better than good Indian food

- DH has scooped kitty poop TWICE since he's been home

I had hoped that there would have been more good to outweigh the bad, but whatever. The Indian food was pretty darn close to making things even, though,

It's almost official

DH will be home for good in less than 3 weeks (coming home for the last time Oct 28th). We're going to (likely) reschedule our Learn to Sail class for another time (possibly extend it into a vacation in, say, the British Virgin Islands, later next spring). Somehow, in the next two weeks, DH has to cancel his lease, his services, sell my bike, pack and ship all his stuff home.

So that's that. Our crazy Florida adventures have come to an end. Of course, this change opens up a variety of possibilities:

- a weekend trip to New York to see Madame Butterfly (or anything, maybe we'll repeat last year's experience and sublet an apartment for a long weekend)

- visiting our alma mater, Dickinson College, for Homecoming weekend November 4-5

- a weekend jaunt out to Skyline Drive for some leaf-peeping

- a day-trip to Philly, because we miss cheesesteaks

Sadly, all of these things are threatened by cold weather, which I abhor. C'est la vie.

I don't care if you hate football, you need to watch this show

Of all the crap out there this TV fall season, I've dropped a couple of shows and picked up two new ones. I'm so over Project Runway, and actually, I'm not feeling Earl this season either.

My two new loves are "Ugly Betty" and "Friday Night Lights." I could get over "Ugly Betty" real quick if they don't diversify the storylines a bit - and drop the weird secret woman storyline alltogether. Also, "Ugly Betty" directly conflicts with "The Office," which I am not giving up anytime soon, so I have had to watch all the episodes online (which ABC makes very easy: link here).

My second new love is "Friday Night Lights." I had no intentions of watching until I heard absolute raves about it on Television Without Pity, which does not give out raves lightly (hence the name -"without pity"). I didn't see the pilot during it original showing, but I caught a rerun on ABC family or something. The storyline was predictable and cliche, but the cinematography and the characters were so well crafted that I was in. tears. the entire episode. Just awesome.

I caught the original showing of the second episode (it's on NBC on Tuesday nights at 8pm, a death time slot). This storyline was not cliche, and the characters continued to develop depth and complexity. Again I was in tears from beginning to end. I don't like high school football. I don't like small town Texas life, where people drop in prayer every 5 minutes, I feel terrible for kids whose only chance of getting out of the narrow-minded small town hellhole vortex is sports and not academics. But this show is killer!

Unfortunately, as reported on by this CNN article, not enough people know about this absolute gem of a TV show. Unlike good restaurants and vacation spots, undiscovered shows are ruined by cancellation. Please, people, I beg you. Give this show a chance! Get caught up with the storyline by watching it online here.

New "doors" tour

There is an interesting article in the NYTimes today that reports the famous Ghiberti doors from the Baptistry in Florence will be on tour in America (after a lengthy restoration process) with stops in Atlanta, Chicago, and the Met in NYC.

Coincedently, I just finished reading about their fabrication and creation in "The House of Medici: It's Rise and Fall." Ghiberti and Brunelleschi (B was responsible for the magnificent dome over Santa Maria del Fiori, which in turn inspired Michelangelo's creation for St Peter's in Rome) were apparently fierce rivals over the commission for the Baptistry doors. It's a very interesting story. Hopefully I'll remember to get up to NYC when they are there next October. The last time I was at the Met was for another famous Florentine artist's exhibition: Fra Angelico.

Funniest thing I've seen this morning

Granted, it's early, but this YouTube video is a collection of hilarious cat antics. Many of these I've seen elsewhere, but all together I was laughing to the point where I had tears in my eyes.

My cats never do anything this funny.

You've screwed me again, Pennypacker!

Wow, this day started off strong and has ended with a real bang. I made a train with mere seconds to spare, had my interview this morning, was pretty busy all day...

And then it all came tumbling down. I have been trying really hard to keep the fact that I am even interested in another position, let alone applied and interviewed for one, as confidential as possible - using my home email address and such to avoid email missteps. And I think that I have had some measure of success in that - until I found out this afternoon that one of the people in the office with whom I interviewed non-chalantley mentioned my applying and interviewing with them in a meeting of 11-15 people. Moreover, THREE people at the meeting work in my office!!!! So there goes any hope of information control that I had hoped to have. I am royally pissed about it. First, that's really not anyone else's business what positions I may or may not be interested in. Second, there have been no decisions on either side - mine or the office's - as to whether the position is mine to have or if I even really want it (yes, I am actually not 100% sure I want the job, but without interviewing for it it doesn't even become an option). Third, once people know I interviewed they are certainly going to look at me differently in my office, questioning my committment and whatnot.

I could go on and on about this, but suffice it to say that I am NOT happy and am incredulous at how unprofessional that person was in disclosing MY information.

Then of course I miss the 524 train, the 549 train is cancelled, and the 613 train ran 10 minutes late. Also, it was 62 degrees in my house when I got home, because I forgot to turn the heat on. That, my friends, is really cold.

Argh! I am so over this week.

News Flash!

Wow! Some major news developments tonight. It turns out that the location that DH is working at just had a major gov't contract recinded, which means that DH is coming home. Just wow! No details have been finalized, but it is likely that by the end of the month DH will be back in MD 24/7 with me.

I have some very mixed feelings about this. On the one hand I am thrilled beyond comprehension that there are no more lonely nights, no more keeping tons of lights on when I am home alone for the false sense of security, and most importantly, no moe scooping kitty poop.

But we really did enjoy some of the activities we got to do down there on my weekends visiting: diving, kayaking, bike riding, etc. It was going to be nice to have a sunny, warm getaway during the winter months. Just a couple of weeks ago, they were asking DH whether he would consider staying an extra couple of months.

So right now there's a whirlwind of things that have to be done; DH has to find another job (not in the unemployed sense, but since he is on this rotation program at work, he has to find another temporary slot), he's got to cancel all the services down there like electric and internet, he's got to pack.... So much to do.

What a weekend!

Not me, I voted for Kerry

Ugh. I am exhausted. DH and I just finished a 2 hour bike ride along the northern end of Palm Beach. We rode from the Flagler Bridge all the way to the Lake Worth/Palm Beach inlet (getting drizzled on along the way) and once we were there, a couple of guys told us that there was a manatee in the water alongside the jetty.

Naturally, with manatees being one of my absolute favorite animals, I jumped back onto my bike and DH and I rode over to this secret path between two multimillion dollar houses to get out to the beach on the south side of the jetty. It must have been a 1/2 mile hike through and over the dunes to the jetty. We went about halfway and saw a dark shape in the water; it wasn't moving much, but it wasn't close to the rocks either. After watching for about 5 minutes, I was ready to just accept that we weren't going to see it take a breath (which would confirm beyond any doubt that we had seen a manatee). Suddenly, his brown little nose appeared at the water's surface, we heard a wet "whoosh" sound, and it went back under. YEAH! My first wild manatee sighting. If only I had brought my snorkel gear and swimsuit... I would totally have been in the water!

So with the excitement of the manatee-sighting we set back for Palm Beach proper - destination: Sprinkles Cafe, which has the best (and naturally, since this is Palm Beach, most expensive) Dulce de Leche ice cream I have ever eaten. Along the way I keep noticing that every other car is a Mercedes, driven by some middle-aged white guy who I just sense made his money in some shady fashion. We come up on a black Mercedes SLK roadster convertible (I think that they give them out when you buy on Palm Beach) and I peek in - thinking "here's another one of those Palm Beach MAWGWSM (middle-aged white guy with shady money) and lo and behold - it's Rush Limbaugh, confirmed seconds later by DH shouting to me "Hey, did we just pass Rush Limbaugh?"

So I guess you could say we saw two manatees today.

Happy Birthday DH!

Well it's DH's turn to turn 30! We're spending it in Florida with a VERY early start to the day. We were up at 6:30 for our scuba dive trip with Christie from Force-E. She was fantastic! We went out on "The Wetter the Better" with about 20 other divers and dove off of Palm Beach on "The Corridor," which is a series of wrecks in about 85ft of water (our deepest dive yet!), and the Spearman's Barge, which was a reef that ended with a wrecked barge in about 65ft of water. The water was warm, the visibility was good, and I was much more comfortable on this dive than the last two we had.

At about 830, when we were on our way out the Palm Beach inlet, I thought about where I had been 24 hours earlier. It was raining, hard, and I was soaking wet and cold waiting for a MARC train to take me to work. I must say that things improved rather rapidly in the course of 24 hours.

Happy Birthday DH!

BTW, we did see a turtle munching on an old barrel sponge - which was very cool

Heavy reading

Lately I've been devouring (figuratively) books... I don't know whether I just happened to pick a few easy reads or good reads or what... but a week ago I ordered 5 books from Amazon and I am already starting on #4.

I've already mentioned La Bella Figura, which was as very fun to read. I also read Severgnini's other book, Ciao America. which was also fun. More interesting was that he wrote the book while living in Georgetown for a year. Having him mention the Safeway, Volta Park, and many other little G-town landmarks made the book that much more relatable for me. I think that he didn't quite get Americans as much as he thought he did (but then, is that even possible) but still it's a fun little insight into a foreigner's perception of, well, us.

Finally, I've just finished re-reading Camus's The Stranger. It is one of a long list of books that I was "forced" to read in high school that I have wanted to revisit as an adult. It was a stunningly easy and fast read, so much so that I was worried that I was breezing through it too quickly. Being older, taking the time to think about what was going on in the main character's mind - how he could think and philosophize the ideas that he believed - gave me a renewed appreciation for the book.

I am now reading book #4 from my most recent Amazon order: Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms. I am a huge Hemingway fan (the title of this blog is a famous line from The Sun also Rises) and a huge fan of Italy, so this was a natural choice. I'm only about 30 pages in, but I cannot wait for the train ride home and the flight to FL on Friday to really sink my mind into the book.

The last book on my "list" is The House of Medici: It's Rise and Fall. Considering the types of books I've been reading lately, I can't figure out why I didn't enjoy undergrad history classes, or indeed even high school English and history classes, a lot more than I did.

Alright alright already, I'll post it

Yes, you may have heard, my undergraduate alma mater Dickinson College was recently ranked number 1 in a "survey" done by Men's Fitness Magazine (article here).

Truly, I find this very strange. We did have a requirement to take so many semesters of fitness classes and "Truly Living," which had its own variety of pseudonyms; the Dining Hall was generally nutritionally friendly; and the Kline Center (the gym) has been radically enhanced since I graduated. Still, I find this just a little weird - particularly considering that such a significant percentage of the population studies abroad for at least one semester, removing us from all of these supposed benefits.

Of course, it could be exactly that factor which makes the difference. Studying abroad - particularly on the continent in Europe, where meals are more than just an opportunity to get your daily caloric needs satisfied - is really what radically changed my own eating habits. I became much more attuned to the benefits of fresh food as close to its original form as possible, as opposed to the chemical, sodium, preservative, sugar laden garbage that the US seems to celebrate. European refrigerators are generally much smaller than ours, they shop more often for fresher ingredients (when's the last time you got to visit an open air market with truly local produce, meats, and baked goods?), and they take the time (again, in general) to make a meal from scratch rather than pop something in the microwave.

Actually writing all of this makes me feel incredibly guilty. For the longest time I tried to live as close to this ideal as possible - meals from scratch, no pre-processed or pre-packaged junk, etc. But not having a functioning kitchen for such a long time has really knocked me for a loop, and I do find myself eating a lot more "microwaveable" meals than before. Of course, I carefully read labels and buy stuff from Trader Joe's, so I am avoiding the chemical, salt, sugar, preservative mess that is Lean Cuisine or Swansons or "insert generic TV dinner brand here."

So I guess I really did learn some valuable life skills from college... but it was purely accidental.

And that's how I ended up with 17 new panties...

I went shopping at Target today, and one of the things on my list was a package or two of new cotten undies. I started looking in this one section, where I couldn't find any in my size... so I grabbed a package of 3 that were the next size up, because I really needed some new undies.

Then I walked around to another section, and found two packages of four undies in my size that I really liked, so i threw them in my basket. I thought that I had taken the first package out, but I guess I forgot.

Then I found a sale rack, and again, couldn't find any in my size that I liked.. but I saw a package in the next size up that were okay. I looked at them, and I thought that I put them back... but I guess I dropped it in my basket.

I didn't realize until I got home and started emptying the bag that I hadn't left the two packages that were a size too large behind (no pun intended). Whoops. It's too embarrassing to return undies, so I guess I'll just keep them.

Besides, a girl can never have too many pairs of cotten undies!

Sometimes I'm not the sharpest tool...

You know, today I am totally vegging out, staying warm and snuggled in bed and whatnot. I'm watching WAY too much TV. And I'm watching the worst possible show.

I love the National Geographic Channel's "Seconds from Disaster." I've watched their episode on Chernobyl, on the collapse of a shopping mall in Hong Kong/Singapore??, the United flight that cartwheeled and crashed in Sioux City (where Charlton Heston played the pilot in the made for TV movie based on the flight), and some other stuff.

Today, they are analyzing the Air Florida crash that hit the 14th Street bridge shortly after take-off from National Airport. And just like those great friends of mine from high school who thought it was a terrific idea to go see "Executive Decision" right before I flew to Europe (the same summer that TWA 800 and Valujet crashed, I might add), watching this type of show when I am afraid of flying is probably not the best idea. Layer on top of that the fact that the majority of my flying in the near future will be from National, to Florida, and over the coming winter months - well let's just say that I could have picked a better show to watch.

La Bella Figura...

I just finished reading Beppe Severgnini's La Bella Figura - a Field Guide to the Italian Mind. It's an amusing little book that attempts to explain Italian idiosynchrisies to a foreigner (why Italians don't generally think of a Red Light as an absolute command to stop). It's a quick read (I started it yesterday morning and finished on the trip home on the train tonight). Coincedentally, he was just interviewed yesterday on All Things Considered on NPR, which you can listen to here.

I know that his explanations of Italian life and their attitude towards work would just upset poor CC, though.

My next book is Camus' The Stranger, a decidedly different type of reading altogether.

Learning to ... sail?

For DH's 30th birthday, I am giving him a one-day sailing lesson in the Florida Keys with the Offshore Sailing School. It's been a dream of ours to sometime bareboat charter a 30-40 ft sailboat and sail from island to island in the Virgin Islands, and this is just one step in the right direction. Actually, I hope that we'll enjoy sailing enough to want to take more comprehensive training. I've been sailing once before, and I seem to remember enjoying it then.

Unfortunately, the sailing lesson will have to wait until I visit him in November over Veteran's Day weekend. But at least it's something to look forward to.

The laziest post ever

So, I have a very frustrating situation at work... but I don't feel like typing out the whole drama again... so I'll just cut-n-paste from emails that I have sent to DH and Jeffro today.

To: DH
Today, 3:13pm

Hey,

So I'm a little disappointed, but I think that they have already found someone else to fill the opening position in the office. The girl who is leaving was talking to the girl in the cubicle next to mine (who is supposed to be coordinating the effort) and it sounded like they were talking about someone who was a good fit and arranging with the HR rep to make it happen.

I'm so totally bummed, but whatever right. When God closes a door
he opens a window or some such crap.

Argh. Oh well... I knew that it was never a sure thing, but I did
think that it was as close as I was ever going to get. Maybe things will
work out for my Jan. rotation with the Fish folks. If not, I don't know
what I am going to do - but I won't know about that until July of next
year anyway, which is a long time in which to consider my other options.

Argh x2. Eavesdropping sucks.

From: DH
Today, 3:25pm

That does suck. Are you sure it wasn't you they were talking about?
If not you, then I'm sure something else will work out, as you say.

TO: DH
Today, 3:49pm

Hey babe,

I was pretty sure it wasn't me - but about 2 minutes later the girl
who is "coordinating" things started asking me what I felt like I had
accomplished in my month here. I was joking around a bit, and then I
caught that she was trying to get me to "read between the lines" and
make sure that I had a list of accomplishments for my month here to show
when the position got circulated.

So now, needless to say, I am totally confused.

ARGH ARGH ARGH!

TO: Jeffro
Today, 4:04pm

Is it possible to have a complete emotional 360 complete itself in the space of 5 minutes?

You know how I really want the position that is opening up in this office... well I just heard the girl who is leaving and the girl who is supposedly coordinating the hiring for that position chatting about what I thought was the person that they were going to bring on. They talked about getting in touch with the HR person, the quality of that person's connections, etc. So I was sure that they had already picked someone else out and all that.

Then, literally like 5 minutes later, the girl who sits next to me (the one who is coordinating it all) asks me whether I feel like I have accomplished anything in my single month here. I tell her half-seriously that I wasn't really expecting to "accomplish" much considering that it was only a month, but that I had really just enjoyed the different discourse and focus of the office as opposed to my home office. She then kind of restated the question, saying that I should really try and figure out what I had worked on that might push something forward, etc. I then asked " Am I supposed to be reading between the lines, because I get the sense that I should be" and she replied "well, I just want to make sure that you are prepared if that position should get listed" at which point I felt like a high school girl getting used and abused by her college boyfriend. What should I believe, what should I be doing, are they just toying with me or do they really like me.

I thought that you would find that compelling.

ARGH!


There was a lot of frustrated "argh"ing this afternoon, needless to say.

Kitchen Update - Day 34

It's been a while since I posted a kitchen update, but in fact it has been a while since there has been any significant work in the kitchen. Right now we are waiting for the plumber to install the plumbing in the main sink, the new island cabinet to be delivered, the new island countertop to be measured and installed, the new island sink... well you get the picture. Redesigning the island is seriously going to put a Thanksgiving completion date at risk.

Anyway.... the pendant lights have been installed and the handles have been installed on most (not all) of the cabinets... here's a few pics:

Here are the pendant lights:



And here are the cabinets' handles (check out the glass doors!)

So precious

Last night I went out to the movies with a friend of mine and saw the absolutely delightful Little Miss Sunshine. There are just no words to describe how sweet this movie is - there is a reason that it is the highest rated film of the top 50 films out right now on Rotten Tomatoes (93% fresh).

And, it cements my belief that Steve Carell is the funniest man on the planet.

The funniest thing afterwards was that my friend and I went out for coffee and a snack after the movie, and within 20 minutes of sitting outside at the Cosi in Courthouse, a yellow VW bus went buzzing by (horn thankfully silent). About 40 minutes after that... a guy on a moped went wizzing by. It gave us a nice after-movie giggle.

It's that time of year

I know it's not intellectually cool to like to watch TV, but I really enjoy a few shows and am so excited that the Fall season has started!

Of course, Project Runway is virtually over, with its last episode of the season scheduled for October 18th. I'm kind of over this season already... so whatever.

The Amazing Race 10 premiered on Sunday, September 17th. It was both an awesome and awful episode: awesome because they went West-East rather than East-West (Seattle to China for the first leg), but awful because the delightful Arti and Vipul, the show's first Indian-American racers, were eliminated. Sniff sniff. There really isn't anyone else for me to cheer for right now... everyone else kind of rubs me the wrong way. We'll see as the season progresses.

Of course... the big news is the season premiere of The Office tonight, as well as My Name is Earl. I love Earl because of Joy - she was robbed at the Emmys. The Office, well I think that I have said all there is to say about that. I just can't wait to see what happens!

I'm also hooked on CBS's How I Met your Mother. Neil Patrick Harris's character (although he'll always be Doogie Howser to me) is laugh-out-loud hilarious, and it's a cute show with a cute premise. I really want NPH's character to end up with Robin, though, because their chemistry in the laser tag episode was really fun to watch.

I know that there are tons of other shows out there, but these are my favs. I'm scared to get into Lost again, because I just really don't want to waste my energy being frustrated with a show that wasn't as good last season as it was the previous.

Set your alarms for 8:00 tonight and tune in to NBC!

Amazing grace

This is Bindi Irwin, daughter of the late Steve Irwin. I watched the Steve Irwin memorial on Animal Planet last night, which was an amazing and appropriate tribute to his life. Watching his friends and father talk about him was emotional, but Bindi's speech was simply incredible. Her poise, grace, maturity, and spirit are a tribute to her father and her mother.

All I can say is that I was Bindi's age (8 years old) when I lost my mother, and I absolutely could not have stood up in front of 5000 strangers and delivered such a performance. Simply amazing. Here's a link to her speech on YouTube.

Also... the pain on Terri's face while watching her daugher speak is heartwrenching. Warning - on a scale of 1-5 tissues, 1 being Katic Couric's departure from the Today show and 5 tissues being the combination of Love Story, Terms of Endearment, and Steel Magnolias wrapped into one sobfest... this clip gets 5 tissues out of 5. Heartbreaking, regardless of what you thought of Steve himself, he was clearly deeply loved.

What planet am I and which should I rule?

I saw this cute little question-quiz over at Basilea, and took it. I was suprised at the accuracy of the result:

You Are From Mercury

You are talkative, clever, and knowledgeable - and it shows. You probably never leave home without your cell phone! You're witty, expressive, and aware of everything going on around you. You love learning, playing, and taking in all of what life has to offer. Be careful not to talk your friends' ears off, and temper your need to know everything.

What Planet Are You From?

One problem with the above... I totally left the house today and forgot my cell phone. It's sitting on the bed, probably confusing the cats.

This one was pretty on target - except the not thinking about the future thing. It seems like all I do is think about the future, and the past, and what's going on now. I really think way too much!

You Should Rule Mars

Mars is a planet that shines brightly and loops wildly around the solar system. You are perfect to rule Mars, because you are both energetic and independent. Like Mars, you seems attractive and bright to others - but you're difficult to pin down. You are a great thinker, but you only think in the present and ignore the future. Full of enthusiasm and inspiration, you are into your own thing... and rather insensitive to others.

What Planet Should You Rule?

Whirlwind drama in a stormy life

Wow! If I don't post constantly, so much stuff happens, and then I feel obligated to share it with the world in one whirlwind post. I'll have to think of a gimmick to get it all out effectively. How about Jeopardy-esque questions & answers?


The Jeopardy round

The answer is: His comedy is better when he stops pandering to his audience.

The question is: Who is Jon Stewart?

The background is: DH and I saw Jon Stewart at the Merriweather Post Pavillion on Saturday night. The warm-up guy - Mark Barbiglia or something like that - was laugh-out-loud hilarious, with a very subtle political edge to his comedy. Jon Stewart spent the first half-hour of his stand-up routine with what was basically a Daily Show redux. Making fun of George Bush and Dick Cheney felt like pandering to the crowd, which was responsive to that line of humor, but it was also cheap and easy. The show improved when Stewart moved away from the direct Bush adminstration bashing (come on - the audience is more intelligent and deserves more than the easy, cheap shots) and explored other strange truths about society and its condition. Particularly funny was his stab at the moderate center - who are too damn busy, you know, living and working and stuff, to get passionate about the cause of "Be Reasonable." Anyway - DH was happy, and it was a cool night.

The Double Jeopardy Round

The answer is: The progress of this room is moving forward, however, a major redesign of an element threatens a Pre-Thanksgiving completion date.

The question is: What is the kitchen?

The background is: Well, we've decided to redesign the island, taking out the 24 inch cabinet in the center of the island, replacing it with an 18 inch cabinet, then installing a new sink and faucet and countertop. This is really going to stretch work until November... because the cabinet is going to take 4 weeks or so, and then the countertop is going to take another 2 weeks. Argh. On the bright side, yesterday they installed the three pendant lights and most of the cabinets handles, as well as most of the outlets and the electrical connection for the cooktop. Disjointed progress, for sure.

Final Jeopardy

The answer is: This is preventing me from updating my blog at night.

The question is: What is a sporadic internet connection at home?

The background is: Last night, I got home to discover that the internet was not working; worse than that, for some reason the cable modem and the airport weren't powered? Very confusing. Since there was electrical work done in the kitchen yesterday, I believe that maybe one of the circuits is off or something, which I don't think that I should try and fix (I wouldn't want to electrocute the electrician). Moreover, I tried to move the cable modem to another room with cable hook-up... but the only room in which I was able to get online was in my bedroom. Very strange. I don't think that it is a physical cable from the wall to the modem - I tried it in the living room, which has a newer cable than the yellow and the blue rooms, and it didn't work there. I am starting to suspect that it might be an in-the-wall kind of thing - but then again, I can't believe that there is a direct cable line to the master bedroom, and the other rooms are all off of some other line. Who knows... I do some experimenting when I get home to try and figure it out.

The good, the bad, and the very ugly

The good:

- DH is coming home this weekend
- The kitchen has countertops
- My rotation is very cool work
- The last two days, I climbed the stairs to the "opposite" side of the tracks and the train was using those tracks! Yeah shortcuts!
- Almost forgot!!!!! The Office Season Two DVD - instant classic!!!!!!!

The bad:

- Stinky kitchen and lots of trash that has now been heavily rained upon
- Bedroom and living room messes, not to mention lots of dirty dishes that I don't feel like doing.
- The grass needs major mowing and the yard needs major tending to.
- It's raining and I get to drive in it
- Eliza was outside in the rain
- The sink has no faucet, drain, or garbage disposal. Also, no dishwasher

The very, very ugly:

- DH's flight is going to be very, very late (1.5 hours and counting)
- DH's return flight is very, very early Monday morning
- Kitty litter that needs scooping
- The realization that I have to wash the dishes in the laundry tub again

Have I missed my chance

A Spinner Shark

Such a bummer! The Palm Beach Post reported:
A 55-year-old man was bitten by a shark while swimming off the beach at Singer Island this afternoon. The bite is a small one, and the man, identified by police as William Carol, is expected to be OK, said Palm Beach Shores Police Lt. Steve Langevin. Carol, of Singer Island, was swimming about 2 p.m. when the brown shark, believed to be a spinner shark, bit his left hand, Langevin said. He was treated at St. Mary's Medical Center.

DH and I were just at the beach on Singer Island over Labor Day weekend.... and the water was murky and sedimenty. I didn't even see a shark (there - we saw one while diving) and this guys gets the perfect bite. Just a small one, enough to leave an interesting scar but no permanent damage.

It was my dream... and someone else is living it. Boo!

Update... Kitchen Drama, day ???

Well, it's pretty exciting, and pretty stinky, but today I have countertops. Well, mostly. Only around the perimeter - a redesign of the island means that that bit is going to be delayed 6-8 weeks. But! I have a kitchen sink! And a cooktop! No dishwasher though.

Here are some pics!

An overview pic

Another overview pic

The "desk" area - the two pendant lights on the shelf will, one day, hang over the island.

Look how big that kitchen sink is! No faucet or plumbing though. Bummer.


That is a full-size gallon jug of water in the sink, Insane!

Insomnia... or something

Ugh. I realize now how much I dislike weekend nights home alone. During the week my FIL stays here, so I don't feel quite as vulnerable, but on weekend nights when I am home alone, I'm pretty sure that the reason that I can't fall asleep until 1:30 am is because I'm trying to be hyper-vigilant for strange sounds. I leave extra lights on, and check that the doors are locked a couple of times. It's crazy.

Anyway, I know that everyone in the media is going nuts over the whole 9/11 anniversary thing, and I generally dislike the over-exploitative media manipulation of the whole day. However, I had two experiences that actually truly made me reflect - non-cynically I might add, which is a tremendous achievement for me - on what 9/11 really should be about.

I was at Jeffro and CC's place Saturday night, and drove home about 1130 pm-ish. The ride back is 395 south of Reagan National and up the GW Parkway. Well, Saturday night they had the Pentagon all lit up, which on my route one drives 3/5's of the way around. One wall section, the wall I presume the plane struck, was bathed entirely in a deep blue light, and the courtyard had a dozen or so spotlights shining up into the sky. It was an eerie, beautiful sight and the somber colors and simplicity of the lights really made me think as I was driving by. Driving on the GW Parkway is a real treat, because it's nothing to look over to the east and see the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Capital Building. I don't really know what I was thinking specifically, but I just thought about the events without the baggage of the following 5 years of political drama and, well I'll just stop there without getting onto a longwinded soapbox about the state of affairs in this country.

The second thing that made me think of 9/11 - again in a kind of pure, non-cynical restrospective way - was the re-airing of the documentary made by the two French brothers who had been the new firefighter, but ended up being front and center for all the NYC 9/11 events. That documentary seems especially nice because it is free from making judgements and political statements about where the failures were that allowed everything to happen and of course all of the following fiasco. The guys who were at the WTC, and the Pentagon and on that plane in PA, they didn't know or care in those moments about all of the peripheral stuff. That documentary was focused only their story, and really lets one reflect on those events without being baited with political and media sensationalism.

Anyway, I live and work near Washington DC now, and I don't necessarily feel any more or less scared of something major happening than I did on 9/10/01. And while I have fairly strong opinions about much of the stuff that has come to pass in the wake of the attacks, moments like the two above allow me to step back and feel sorrow about the suffering and tragedy in the lives of the individuals who were directly impacted.

How Jersey are you?

Well... according to this quiz:

You Are 70% New Jersey!

 

You are definitely Jersey. Well done, my friend. You are most likely from this great state, and you fit right in. Odds are, you love being Jersey!

How New Jersey Are You?

Fairly respectable showing, considering I haven't lived in Jersey for ~12 years. Can't say that I love being Jersey,though, considering that this blog's address is "EXjerseygirl.blogspot.com"

Whittling it down even further... I took the "How South Jersey are you? quiz. The results:

You are 85% South Jersey

 

You will live here forever. You are sooooo South Jersey. Its ok, most people don't move farther than a few miles from home. Go you! You spend your days at the Wawa or down the shore. You think you get ripped off by North Jersey and they give you a bad name! Congratulations!

The South Jersey quiz

Even more damning.

Is there a new "The Office" on yet?

Comcast on Demand (such a nifty lil feature) has a "The Office" Season 2 retrospective, a longer version of the commercial that they have been running as a preview for the new season - can I just say that I cry every time I see that preview, and a 30 NBC fall preview that intersperses previews of the new shows with scenes from a pseudo-episode of "The Office."

I am completely addicted to Steve Carell and "The Office." I might even go to "Little Miss Sunshine" by myself because I am such a huge Carell fan.

I cannot wait for the season premiere! This might be a good TV season. Of course I am looking forward to the new seasons of "The Amazing Race" and "My Name is Earl." I might even watch an episode or two of "Heroes" and try and catch up with what's happening on "Scrubs."

More than anything though, I must find out what happened with Jim and Pam. Because if I see that commercial one more time, I'm gonne cry a river. Not that that's hard for me or anything.

P.S. The snippits of "The Office" on the Comast On Demand Fall Preview thing are funnier than all the webisodes put together. You can check it out on YouTube here.

Time for an update!

Wow! It's been almost a week since my last update... I must be slipping.

Anyway, since I last posted, DH and I went SCUBA diving off Boynton Beach. The visibility was poor, the current was swift, I panicked and bailed out 2 minutes into the dive, until the divemaster calmed me down and descended with me. But, best of all, we saw a 6 foot long nurse shark swim right by us. She was absolutely incredible - so beautiful. It made it all worthwhile.

DH and I also spent a lot of time at the beach, riding bikes, and generally trying to dodge the crappy weather. It was nice to be together, and despite all of the activities that we enjoy doing in FL, it will be really nice to have him home.

Here's a pic of how he decorated his apartment to celebrate my b-day:


Here's a pic of the birthday "cake" DH got me - a Key Lime Pie:


I flew home Tuesday morning and started a month-long rotation assignment with the International and Interagency Affairs Office with NESDIS, NOAA's Satellite and Environmental Data Service. I originally interviewed with them for a PMF position, but was passed over. In any case, I kept in touch with some people in the office, and it eventually led to this position. I'm really excited - finally I'm doing stuff I wanted to do. Working on international policy and agreements! It's very cool. I'm quite happy - although it's only my second day.

When I got home Tuesday night... I had kitchen floors and a new fridge! It's so exciting. There's a pause now while the countertops are fabricated. Ugh.

Here's some pics:

An overview... so much maple... so pretty


Pretty...


Oh! New fridge!

TGIF, TGIIF, TGIGF

Thank God it's Friday, Thank God I'm in Florida, Thank God it's Good Fish!

The flight itself was uneventful - it was pretty bumpy and we flew way west to get around the storm, but otherwise not particularly interesting. The funniest thing (which I am kicking myself for not having gotten a picture of) was the train of wheelchairs lined up in front of the jetway for the preboarding crowd. There were, no joke, 7-10 wheelchair bound women lined up to be boarded with assistance. It was the funniest thing I had ever seen! Hilarious. That must have been the oldest flight by average age of its passengers that I have ever been on.

Anyway, when I landed in Florida, that was when the good stuff began. DH was waiting for me inside the airport (usually he just picks me up outside the baggage claim) with a bouquet of my favorite flowers - stargazer lilies. When we got back to the condo - he had hung streamers and balloons and a "Happy Birthday" sign from the ceilings and walls - it was so sweet. (I took pics, but forgot the download cord-thingee) I totally collapsed into tears - the stress of the day and traveling and kitchen drama from the last few weeks and whatnot just let loose.

In any case, we relaxed for a little while and allowed me to get my composure back (never mind that I looked like Tammy Faye Baker after one of her infamous crying jags, with mascara running down my cheeks) and we went out for an AMAZING fish dinner at Sailfish Marina. We both had the Yellowtail Snapper special, which was sauteed with lobster and portobello mushrooms. It was phenomenal (as were the pistacio encrusted scallops with mango-raspberry sauce). Yummy. I had a very good glass of Sonoma Sauvingnon Blanc, but it was clear that I was a total lush because I was totally tipsy from that just one glass.

We got back to the condo, watched "The Office" and I passed out asleep around 9:45. I was tired, what can I say?

All's well that end's well.

TGIF, TGIIF

Thank God it's Friday and Thank God I'm in Florida. Yesterday, for the most part, was a terrible day. I woke up late yesterday morning, and I had to prep the kitties for my absence - meaning vacuuming up any old food on the floor, getting them lots of new food and water, scooping poop, etc. Of course the kitchen guys were there, although they were running a little late as well.

The first drama of the day was that it appears that the island as designed is a bit too big for the space. My contractor noted that there wasn't really enough space around the island between it and the cooktop. We moved it around a bit and it stuck out into the table space a bit. So that was a big issue. They were laying the floor yesterday, and it just caused a lot of trauma. The designers came out and worked it a bit, but I asked that everything with respect to the island just be put on hold until I get home Tuesday - because I was in a rush that morning and didn't have time to look at it enough. So naturally I was completely mentally preoccupied with that drama for the morning.

The train was running late, which was fine, but I had a ton of stuff that I needed to get done that morning before leaving for the airport. I got some of it done, but not all of it. My boss and some people on my staff took me out for lunch, which was nice. However, I wasn't paying too close attention to time; my flight was running about 30 mins late according to the USAir website, so I thought that as long as I left work by 1:00, I could get to the airport in time for the now 2:35 flight.

I did get on the Metro when I thought I needed to, but I couldn't shake the feeling that I was running way late. The Yellow line took forever, and I was thinking "what if the flight leaves at its original time - 2:10?" If so, I was really in big trouble.

I got to National at 1:45ish, ran into the airport and glanced at the screen. What I caught was "West Palm Beach, Gate 39, 2:05." It was 1:50, and I hadn't gotten through security yet! I totally panicked, ran to the security line, and RAN in my 3 inch heels down to the END of the terminal to Gate 39.

When I got to the gate, there was a group of pilots and flight attendants standing there, and there was no plane at the gate. I kinda knew that the plane was coming in from another flight, so I thought maybe this was the crew waiting for that plane. SO I asked "Where is the flight for West Palm?" One pilot looks at me and said "Oh, it left already."

I almost died right there... and the flight attendant looked at me and said "Oh (Pilot's Name), you are such a jerk." I realized that he was joking, and I almost burst into tears I was so stressed. They told me to talk to the gate agent - who told me that the flight was leaving from gate 38 at 2:35. "But the monitor said gate 39 at 2:50?" I was so confused. "Are you sure that you were looking at Departures?" she said.

Oh my God - I ran back down the ENTIRE terminal to gate 38, and passed more monitors on the way - which I looked a little more closely at and realized that yes, I had indeed been looking at arrivals and not departures. I got to gate 38 and asked the gate agent there when we would be boarding - he said not for another 10 minutes. Phew. I was safe.

That's enough drama for one post! I'll chat more about the good stuff next!

Things you should know about August 31

Famous people sharing my birthday:

Gaius Caligula, Roman Emperor
Commodus, Roman Emperor
Chris Tucker
Deborah Gibson
Richard Gere
Van Morrison
Itzhak Perlman
James Coburn
Buddy Hackett
Hassan Nasrallah
Fredric March

Notable events that took place on August 31:

1535 - Pope Paul II deposed and excommunicated King Henry VIII
1842 - US Naval Observatory authorized by an act of Congress
1888 - In Victorian London, Jack the Ripper claimed his first victim.
1895 - 1st pro football game (QB John Brallier paid $10 and won 12-0)
1897 - Thomas Edison patented his movie camera (Kinetograph)
1907 - England, Russia and France form Triple Entente
1951 - 1st 33 1/3 album introduced in Dusseldorf
1963 - "Hot line" between Moscow-Washington, DC installed
1980 - Poland's Solidarity labor union forms
1987 - Michael Jacskon's "Bad" video premieres on CBS TV
1990 - East and West Germany sign a treaty to join legal and political systems
1997 - Death of Princess Diana

End of Day 9 - Mood: exhausted, stressed

Well, the ceiling has been painted, the oven has been installed, and the island is taking shape (it even has two trash bins in it!) The couple of little things I noticed last night have been fixed (cabinet door not shutting properly), and I think that they are going to be able to do the countertop template on Friday, and they are going to install the floor tomorrow. That ought to be interesting.

Thankfully, I'm on my way to FL for the weekend, to DH's condo, which has a functioning kitchen. I'm so excited about having a kitchen sink again I am beside myself. Tonight I washed the dishes that I had inside of a giant black trash bag in the laundry sink in the basement. It worked out okay - although it was pretty disgusting. Anyway, I even washed the blackberry crisp dish - so that's good.

Here are today's pics:


An overview - painted ceiling!


Look, trash cans!


Check out the oven!


The island