The world is spinning (why yes, yes it is)

It feels like there is so much going on, but maybe it's just me and I'm all wound up.

Tonight is the premier of The Amazing Race 9!!! Yeah! Rumor has it that this is the longest race yet - and going to more new countries that have never yet been visited! This is so exciting I might just pee my pants (no, I did not say "Pirates of Penzance"). Plus, new "The Office" and "My Name is Earl" and "Lost.". I sound like a total TV addict, but I'm not ashamed!

I had a long meeting with another program here that is very heavily engaged with a myriad of international organizations and countries. It's quite different from any other office I've considered, subject-wise (Tsunamis) but the opportunity is intriguing to say the least. I have a meeting with the dream office next Tuesday - so no decisions until then.

Things are busier in the office this week (thankfully), but not really any more productive.

I got my hair cut and colored on Friday - it's now a lot blonder than before (new and improved). I went ahead and made an appointment for the week after I get back from vacation for a deep conditioning treatment; being in the sun and water for a week is going to destroy to cuteness that is my new haircut.

Speaking of vacation (73 days left!).. I just realized that the book I ordered that I was so excited about a few days ago... well I already had a copy. I am such a dummy! D'oh.

Remember, The Amazing Race on CBS tonight at 9pm EST. Don't miss it!

How evil are you?

I saw this post on a friend's blog and I just had to take the test. Well the results are in...

I am

You Are 64% Evil

You are very evil. And you're too evil to care. Those who love you probably also fear you. A lot.

How Evil Are You?

Take the test yourself here.

What a day

What a day indeed. DH and I headed downtown to see the Hiroshi Sugimoto exhibit at the Hirschorn (good), but before we made it there we stopped to visit the US Botanic Garden (so many orchids - excellent) and had lunch at the new Native American/American Indian Museum's cafe, Mitsitam.

I had read Tom Sietsema's comments in several of his chats that this was the best place on the Mall to eat - boy am I glad I listened. The cafe is cafeteria-style; you grab a tray and choose from Great Plains, Meso-America, Pacific Northwest, South America, or Northern Woodlands food. I thought at first, "whoa." I was just going to get a chicken sandwich or something because nothing looked remotely familiar to me. Then I thought, "what is the matter with me?" So I walked around all the "regions." I went over to South America and asked the guy behind the counter what exactly was a "tamal?" He explained that it was corn masa and chicken and some other stuff stuffed and steamed inside a corn husk. Hmm, interesting. Eventually I went ahead and got a chicken tamal (unbelieveably tasty,topped with peanut sauce tool, with a side of red rice and beans (pretty good) and a roasted sunchoke salad (that was over at the Pacific Northwest station, also unbelievably tasty). The sunchoke salad was Jerusalem artichokes, cranberries (I think) and sunflower seeds in some dressing that I don't know. If I could make it at home, I would in a heartbeat.

The long and short of that paragraph is if you have the chance to eat there - DO IT. And don't wimp out on chicken fingers and fries or a turkey sandwich or something. Get something different! DH got a buffalo indian taco on frybread - which was also pretty tasty (I think mine was better, though)

We ended the day with a quick visit to the National Gallery to catch the last day of their exhibition of three statues from Orsanmichele in Florence (pretty interesting) and to run through the new Dada exhibition (I really wanted to see the Mona Lisa with a mustache piece - otherwise way too crowded). Finally, just as they were closing the museum, we left and metroed home.

Needless to say... our feet are sore. But it was a good day

STOP IT! Shut up shut up shut up

The NYTimes has an article today, "36 hours in St. John," in which it talks up the loverly, unspoiled and uncrowded nature of this little slice of paradise. All I can say is STOP. The more you tell people about this little nugget of loveliness, the more they are going to want to go there, and then they are going to ruin it for the rest of us!


Grrrr.

Sneaky but brilliant

I guess this doesn’t really count as subliminal advertising, but this CNN article talks about a fascinating way to get around the Tivo issue of people missing your commercials. KFC is putting in a secret message to get people to watch their commercial frame by frame – the message I guess gets them a free sandwich.

The brilliance of this plan is multifold – it gets people talking about KFC (like I am right now) regardless of how often (never) we eat there, so there’s the hype issue. It also gets people to watch the commercial – concentrate on it in fact, and the link between advertiser and commercial is solidified (quick – what company is behind the chimps at work commercials? Don’t know = failed advertising). They can track how effective the stunt was by tracking how many people redeem the coupon available via the secret message.

I wonder whether or not this is going to catch on – directing people to a website via the secret TV commercial message ensures a double dose of advertising avenues. I really think that this might catch on. It has elements of “the hunt” or “solve a mystery” that, like the myriad mysteries of Lost, easily get people engaged by relying on their curious nature.

I can’t wait to see how far this may spread.

Not a bad day

So today wasn't as bad a day as has been. I had a late meeting that resulted in some pretty decent work, I set up two meetings for rotations (one with my dream office too! swoon), and I met with a guy about a slim but not hopeless job possibility.
I feel productive.

I got home and there, on the kitchen table, is a book I ordered about St John. Yeah! Plus, only 78 days until I leave for vacation (in the 70s now, the 80s flew by!). We found a local coffee roaster that isn't half bad. DH has agreed to go to the Sugimoto show at the Hirschorn with me Saturday. The Amazing Race starts up again Tuesday and My Name is Earl and The Office are back next week too. I'm enjoying The World if Flat by Friedman - such that I've almost missed my train stop twice.


I'd better not say anymore - I don't want to jinx my happy demeanor.

When nobody keeps score... everyone is a winner

This article in the Washington Post discusses the change taking place in some local schools to do away with the traditional testing for gifted students (as well as doing away with the Gifted and Talented label) and seek other ways to identify students with potential - basically trying to find ways to diversify the G&T pool.

Sadly, I think that the impact of these kinds of changes - made I am sure with the best of intentions - not only dilute the effectiveness of G&T programs as a public school recruitment benefit, but also work against the diversity goal they set to achieve. Parents of children who they believe to be gifted will see that a school does not have a G&T program (or at least what they would expect) and will move to send their kids to private schools and lessons and whatnot (those that have the means, anyway) Take them out of the pool, and you have reduced diversity in the other direction.

This trend is reflected in dozens of ways throughout our society: gated communities, private security, private doctor practice memberships, etc. There have been dozens of articles and books talking about how those with the means buy services traditionally provided by the community, then fight against funding those same services for the general population (healthcare anyone?) through taxes. Take away G&T programs from public schools - and those with means will "buy" them
through private means - then validate their fight against property tax increases that support public schools by thinking "my children don't go there."

I remember a very idealistic teacher of mine in high school who thought that the way to integrate society was to build neighborhoods with a mix of housing options - high with low density, high with low income. Sadly, just as politics in this country has become so polarized, I think that the battle of the classes is heading in the same direction. Those with the means will buy their way away from the "unwashed masses." The rich will get richer, the poor will stay the same.

Pretty kitties

Rather than spending another blog post ranting about how bored I am at work... here are some pictures of my kitties




Cute Henry and Eliza on the bed


Piggie in a blanket

Capturing the Olympic Spirit

I love the Olympics - really. NBC's coverage of these games has been abominable - the color commentary has at times been mean-spirited and sickeningly pro-American. The ego-fueled spats and disputes between speedskaters Chad and Shani has overshadowed the grace and civility of Joey Cheek. The vacuous hype surrounding Bode Miller and Michelle Kwan has detracted from coverage of those actually achieving their dreams.

I was losing my faith in the Olympic spirit. I remember watching that one swimmer (from Senegal, I think) who out of the blue won a gold medal in one of the major events. I also remember another swimmer who could barely finish the race - but the crowd stayed and cheered its hardest when he touched the wall. I love watching the parade of nations, when countries with 1/500th the GDP of California send athletes who train in warzones, in poverty, in the most unimaginable conditions, and they compete alongside the training-spoiled lucky ones who come from rich countries with $$ generous sponsors. Because at the starting line - they are, for one moment, equals.

In any case, I saw this article and was touched by it. Kudos to the Norweigans - who I think are leading the medal count by a long short - who unwittingly forgoed yet another medal by helping a Canadian team reach its dream.

That action is the epitome of what should underly the Olympic spirit. Not just the drive to win (after all - there are 3 medals) but respect for athletes and their sport and the desire to see all do the best that they can!

Work alternatives

So here I am, little to nothing to do at work. I'm blogging; reading every intriguing article in the Post, NYTimes, Economist, and on CNN; and still I am left with idle time.

I'm thinking, what can I do with this time? I've contemplated just leaving work - going around the corner for a coffee for a couple of hours, or just going home completely. I've got Tom Friedman's "The World is Flat" here in my bag; I could just break that out, brew a cup of tea, and read that for the rest of the afternoon. I could listen to my iPod and read along with the lyrics online. I could start writing a novel. I could start jobsearching (I already have, really). I could watch the PandaCam.

What the heck else can I do with so much time on my hands?

Profile Update!

I want to be the man in that picture - so awesome!!!

So I decided to update my profile description of myself - mostly because I don't want Gingerbread Lattes any more since we got our home espresso machine. I made myself a French Vanilla mocha for the ride into work today - mmmm, tasty.

One of my dreams - which everyone tells me that I am crazy for having - is to dive with Great White Sharks. They amaze me. Because that is a rather important part of me - I thought it was important to share.

DH always teases me about the molesting marine life thing... I don't really touch anything; but sometimes I do follow fish - like barracudas - around at a fairly close distance. And I do sometimes stick my finger out at fish trying to touch them. Sometimes.

Ramblings of a bored girl

I was all excited... I had a pretty substantial project (I thought) to work on today... but then I got it done in about 2.5 hours, and now I am bored again.

Maybe it's me.

I'm trying to stay upbeat about my job. I have several internal irons on the fire trying to get rotations somewhere interesting, but I have also passed the personal deadline I gave myself to start looking again. Luckily, the resume has been updated; now I just need somewhere to send it.

The plus side of all this boredom is that I get to daydream a lot - and then I have time to research how to put my daydreams into action. For example, DH and I have batted about the idea of going to London and Paris for vacation next year. With all this time on my hands, I can start thinking about the things that we might like to do - sites we might like to visit and whatnot. That way we'll have the most thoroughly researched, extensively planned vacation possible. We don't have a set goal for our 2008 vacation yet... and I think we're waiting until 2009 to travel to New Zealand (hey! I need to accrue some damn vacation time). Fortunately I'll apparently have plenty of time to think of somewhere for 2008 in the meantime.

Home again, home again, jiggity jig

What a weekend! DH and I visited my grandparents in Delaware Saturday - last weekend we canceled our trip to Jersey because of the threat of snow,which never materialized; this weekend we hit a snow squall on our way to my grandparents. We bought three Powerball tickets - clearly we lost. Sunday we drove up to Jersey, had lunch with DH's grandma and then visited my friends' new baby.

I am not a baby person. I think that all new babies and I have come to an agreement that I don't know anything about them, they don't know anything about me, and things are probably going to stay that way. It's a really precious little baby - and luckily my friends haven't turned into baby maniacs! They're actually quite down to earth about the whole thing. Whoda thought those kinds of parents still exist?

I held the baby once, it screamed, and I passed it off!

Today DH finally used his Christmas gift and bought himself a 30G Video iPod. I'm so happy! I probably won't seem him now for the next 48 hours while he loads it up with music and whatnot, but that's okay.

Must see t... uh museum exhibition

Yesterday was the opening day of the Hiroshi Sugimoto exhibition at the Smithsonian's Hirschorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. I love photography as an art form, and I am really excited to see this exhibition. The NYTimes has a nice little article with some of Sugimoto's background.

He was menacing, with a face only a mother could love

This has to be one of the more amusing articles I've ever seen. I've already written about the NYTimes article about the bio-clean-up people (eww), but now the Post has an article that talks about a study that shows that ugly people (kind of a subjective reference, but okay) are more likely to commit crimes.

I think the article simply misses a key point - if they are basing their study on convictions, then perhaps pretty people simply disproportionately get away with their crimes. Halle Berry hit-and-run, anyone?

Only two things in life are certain...

We finally filed our taxes last night... after sitting on them for a couple of weeks DH and I sat down and double checked the numbers and e-filed away. Of course we only filed our federal taxes... we still have state taxes to work on, but they are never very hard.

Sadly, all our refund is already obligated... vacation, SCUBA lessons, and paying for our new couch. The good news is that now we don't have to touch the savings account for those things - so yeah us!

So now I have three personal countdowns going...

84 days until vacation
11 days until the Amazing Race starts its new season
~7 days until we get our tax refund

Once I settle on dates and an office for my rotation, I'll have to add that to my personal countdown list. It's good to have things to look forward to!

Location, location, location

In the past few weeks there has been a lost of buzz about zillow.com, a website that ostensibly will replace real estate agents by giving sellers and consumers a realistic valuation of a home. I tested it own on our own home, and thought that the estimate was probably betwenn $40k to $80k low, based on sales prices in our neighborhood, particular location details that make our neighborhood desirable, etc.

Well, now the Washington Post has come out with an article pointing out the various faults in the underlying assumptions that Zillow.com's valuations are derived from. Interesting read, although those of us who obsess about home prices and valuations probably already knew some of it.

I think that the biggest danger is that consumers don't question something like this. A formula, no matter how complex, cannot account for the various emotional and subjective factors that go into the pricing of a house. For example, it could never recognize that the house behind us - which zillow.com values at about $30k more valuable because of its location on a cul de sac - is poorly placed on its lot, such that they have a miniscule front yard and a ginormous backyard, and that the cul de sac itself is very tight, making parking on the street near impossible and making the houses look a lot closer together than they might actually be. No computer program can properly account for this type of detail, yet it is exactly those types of details that make one house more desirable, i.e. more $$$, than another.

Google-addict!

When I am bored, as I frequently am at work, I love to Google. Really, I believe that the people behind Google are mad-geniuses! I love that I can type in a string of words and get exactly the result I am looking for - whether it be a recipe using chicken and mushroom soup, the 80's sitcom with theme music lyrics that included the words "standin' tall, on the wings of my dreams," (that's Perfect Strangers - to save you the google), or just some obscure bit o' info that's nagging at me (like the name of the town in Thailand with the Tiger temple featured on the first season of the Amazing Race - Krabi).

As a life-long, self-proclaimed nerd who would go to the encyclopedia to look up something - then end up reading through that volume to see what other things I could learn about - Google might just be the single greatest tool ever. That and Wikipedia, which I also love.

I also love to Google people - it is disturbing how much information is out there about us! I love to think of people that I knew years ago and try google-ing for them. Once in a while I am looking for an old friend who I've lost contact with and want to reconnect with, but sometimes it's just the curiosity that killed the cat.

My google pages: Married name, maiden name, married and maiden name.

Not that all the entires are me - but some are, and some are really embarrassing pages in German that I made while an undergrad. Great.

I also love that google is now its own verb. There is no confusion when telling someone to "google it." As someone who loves making up new words to describe or fit a situation - a love definitely imbued by learning German - it's a neat little linguistic evolution.

So cute

I'm sorry, I saw this picture on the Washington Post website.... and these dogs are just so damn cute.


DH prefers hedgehogs to Pomeranians

Happy Valentine's Day, I guess that's what you really want to hear

So today is Valentine’s Day, and like most other “days,” I’m less than enthused. I don’t know what it is, but birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, etc – days where you are supposed to feel or do something special for others – just feel so forced and unnatural. Am I too cynical?

I think that the key word is “supposed” – it’s the expectation and inferred obligation that I think I naturally rail against. I love doing nice things for people I like all the time, whether I am taking them to the airport, making a special dinner, giving them a little something special I picked up somewhere… whatever. It’s the rebel in me that I never grew out of – once I am told that I should do something or that I am supposed to do something, I immediately want to not do it. It doesn’t matter whether it is picking up my clothes off the floor or giving someone a Valentine’s Day card (cards are such a rip-off and an absolute waste of time and money… don’t even get me started).

It works the same in reverse too though… if someone gives me something on Valentine’s Day or something along those lines – it’s tainted with the stench of obligation. That person had to get me something; it was expected of him/her. Ick. Much more meaningful to me are the little things done at random – when not expected or asked for.

I know, I’m weird. But DH is a lucky man – he never has to worry about forgetting an anniversary or birthday or Valentine’s Day. He just has to worry about the other ~360 days! 

Just to be clear: I am not anti-Valentine’s Day or whatever; I just am not into the whole obligation to demonstrate your feelings via red roses, chocolates, and jewelry aspect of February 14th. As far as I am concerned, DH should be inspired (not obligated) to demonstrate his feelings like that every day!

You only want to date other people

DH and I just finished watching the first season and most of the second season of NBC's The Office (not to be confused with the BBC's The Office) and all I can do is wonder why I hadn't watched this sooner.

This may be the most hilarious website I have seen today.

Vacation within a vacation

Here's a neat/strange/weird article in the Washington post about hiring a shaman at Caneel Bay on St John to help balance your inner energy. Hmmm. On the one hand, I think it sounds cool and a little alternative perspective on life never hurt. Crying when I blow into a conch shell... that's a little much, even for me - which is saying a lot!

The rum punch part doesn't sound too bad though.

Winter wonderland

So - we've shoveled our driveway and sidewalk out from under 12.5 inches of snow, and found time to make (literally) a new friend.


Here's our friend ready for vacation

Snow total update - part deux

Well, we went to bed with 3 inches of snow on the ground... none on the street.

This morning we woke up with almost 12.5 inches of snow on the ground and lots on the street.


Here's the pretty snowscape.

Snow Total Update

Here's our latest snow total in Germantown, MD.

3 inches.

WEAK!

But it's cold out there!

This is it?

At 8:20, after canceling plans to visit friends in Jersey due to the threat of 8-14 inches of snow - this is all we've got.



Pathetic.

Olympic fashion - cont.

Found some images of good and bad fashion during the opening ceremonies thanks to Getty!

Here are those god-awful looking outfits worn by the Germans


Spiffy outfits worn by Monaco's team


Latvia was one of those great burgandy/khaki combos I liked - but who was wearing the cream/lime green combo?


Ohhhh - It was Slovenia. This pic doesn't so those outfits justice.

Fashion at the opening ceremonies

There are two things I love doing while watching the opening ceremonies of the Olympics - guessing which country is next in line for the parade of athletes, and judging the teams' outfits.

NBC ruined my first little game by showing a running tally of which country was coming up, but no one could ruin the fun of being a fashion judge!

The three worst teams, in my humble opinion were: the Canadians, with those weird shaped hood-collar things; the Chinese, with their strange long coats that made them look like evil doctors or chefs or something; and, worse than anything I had ever seen, the Germans! What were they thinking with those heinous orange, chartreusey-lime greeny color combinations. Ugly!

The best dressed team, again in my humble opinion, was I think the Latvians.. They had beautiful cream colored coats, lime green gloves, hats, and scarves, and brown pants (at least from what I remember. It looked really sharp! I'm desperately searching for some images of all the teams from the ceremony (I should have taken notes watching the ceremony last night - duh!). There were also a couple of teams wearing cream and deep red/burgandy with nice looking hats - which I thought was sharp looking.

If I remember correctly, Armani designed the Italian team's outfits. They looked like astronauts with those shiny coats - ick. Not a fan.

Overall, I thought that the opening ceremonies were really good. The 80s pop music accompanying the parade of nations was a little weird (and the commentary by NBC was abysmal). I liked the opera music, liked the fireworks display and loved how they lit the cauldron. The spiraling fireworks effect was really cool. The Ferrari thing was a little weird, the dove thing was pretty weak, and a lot of times the choreography looked a little disorganized - so Italian. I loved the people who did the guy who was skiing, then ski-jumping, whatever. That was pretty cool.

I think that the Italians did a really good job - and closing with Pavarotti was pretty classy too - although it sounded like he was really pushing his limits singing Nessun Dorma from Turandot.

Will it snow, will it snow, will it snow?

So they are calling for anything from 4-12 inches of snow for my area, depending on who you listen to (if you listen to anyone). This throws a pretty severe kink into our plans to go to Jersey to see my girlfriend's new baby. Nice job!

Tonight is the opening ceremonies of the Olympics - which I love! I love watching the parade of nations and trying to name which country comes next - yes, this is because I am a total geek.

Today I spent my day at the Baltimore Aquarium - the NOAA PMFs took a "behind the scenes" trip up there today, which was a pretty awesome way to spend a Friday. We got to go on the catwalk above the shark exhibit, and loving sharks the way that I do there was nothing cooler that we could have done. We got a spectacular presentation about NOAA-NAIB (National Aquarium in Baltimore) joint conservation and outreach efforts... like the marsh grass/wetlands restoration projects going on around the Chesapeake Bay. I think that when they have one of those Marsh Grass planting events I am going to volunteer for that - it was really cool.

Also - they have a new Australia exhibit that's way cool! Recommended!

Best of all, I got a lead for another rotation opportunity , which if it worked out - it would be totally cool! Fingers crossed!

And I said what about...

Breakfast at Tiffany's is one of my favorite Audrey Hepburn movies, along with Roman Holiday and Sabrina, and they have just released an anniversary edition of the movie on DVD. Although the extras sound intriguing, I don't think I would buy it; I'm pretty happy with the version that I already have.

Plus - my Henry looks just like Cat.

Gene Weingarten and I think alike

This weekend, after seeing the Super Bowl commercial for ??? where the one guy is so serious about backyard football that he takes down a girl (a pretty rough tackle) - I mentioned to DH that it would have been much funnier if they had left off the last two seconds that show her tackling him back. DH duley noted that the feminists would have been up in arms if violence against women had been the punchline of the commercial; and while I agreed that that was probably the case - I still thought that it ruined the humor moment of the commercial.

I'd forgotten all about it until reading this little blurb in Gene Weingarten's weekly chat:

Sunnyvale, Calif.: Gene-

I want to point out a fatal flaw during one of the most touted Super Bowl commercials that I believe people are overlooking. You're the only person I "know" who could potentially appreciate my point.

The Careerbuilder.com commercial with the monkeys was terrible and I'll explain why: The joke was basically ruined by the monkey adjusting the chart. At that point the punchline became the fact that the monkeys don't care if profits are down, they are going to pretend they're up in order to have an excuse to party. To me that's pretty lame. If the chart had been left as is, the joke would have been that the monkeys are smart enough to wear clothes and read a chart, but too stupid to read it correctly. This is a classic absurdist joke about the limited intelligence of animals. Kind of like the old Toonces the Driving Cat sketch on Saturday Night Live where the cat can drive but he's terrible at it. That's funny stuff. I saw the commercial as a wasted opportunity.

Gene Weingarten: I completely agree, and had the same thought when I saw it. There was another ad that did the same thing. The one where a guy is such a backyard - football fanatic that he slams a woman into the ground and taunts her as she is lying there, inert. Startlingly funny. Then they ruined it by having her reappear at the end, taking HIM down. This ad was about men being jerks. The second part -- politically correct -- ruined it.


I totally agreed! Independently too. The commercials this year were almost all uniformly ruined by trying to take the joke just one step too far. Like the one with the bear, the beer, and the two guys - where one guy swipes the beer peace offering, leaving the other to be attacked. It totally should have just ended with the guy running off with the beer and a menacing stare by the bear - not the spoon-feed-me ending that it did have.

No fair!

The Ponte Vecchio - as seen from the Uffizi


This morning, as I was getting ready to leave for work, I noticed that evil lil' miss Katie Couric was in MY city - Florence, Italy. She was reporting from the Ponte Vecchio, and generally giving a bad name to Americans everywhere by showcasing a whole bunch of college students studying in Florence - all of whom were naturally screaming and hooting.

It reminded me of the time I was in Rome when I was studying abroad - a group of us at the Vatican one Wednesday morning to see the Pope. He was amazing in that he spoke a variety of languages to greet the individual groups that were there that day. When he called every other group's name, they would stand up and clap. When he called out a group from Ohio, they got up and screamed and hooted and did the Arsenio Hall "woof, woof, woof" complete with arm action. Our group was four Americans and one Italian, and we Americans just hung our heads in shame at the obnoxious display.

Ugh. Get out of my city Katie!

Let's go out to the movies

This weekend was so crappy, weatherwise, but it gave me the awesome opportunity to enjoy a whole bunch of great movies. I watched Citizen Kane Saturday afternoon (thanks to Comcast On Demand). Interesting, although I don't know whether it truly is the best movie ever made. Orson Welles is stunning though. DH and I watched the end of Bridge over the River Kwai Friday night (missed the first hour, but we had seen it before). Alec Guiness was incredible - it's a shame that all he is remembered for is Star Wars. I also caught the last bit of Thirty Seconds over Tokyo sometime this weekend (don't remember when). Van Johnson was really really good looking, and I just love this movie - one of my favorite WWII movies (along with Mrs. Miniver and Best Years of Our Lives.

DH and I rented The 40 Year Old Virgin Saturday night. We used the Comcast On Demand movie renting thing for the first time, and while we were a little worried that it wouldn't work (like the signal wouldn't be strong enough or something) but it turned out okay. The movie itself was surprising. It was as crass and low browm as one would expect, but it wasn't stupid. I was surprised that they didn't really play Steve Carell's character like a total boob - that he was fairly socially aware and not like a complete innocent... he was just a guy who hadn't had sex. It was better than I thought it would be, and I was surprised by how intelligent the movie was - considering the title and central story.

The ending was a little weird though... the singing and dancing to Age of Aquarious was a little awkward.

Who let the dogs out?

There's only one thing more exciting about the Puppy Bowl on Animal Planet



The Kitty Halftime show!

Everybody's working for the weekend

It's almost here... like a light at the end of the tunnel. Friday can be the most wonderful feeling - especially around 5:00.

No plans, just gonna sit home and enjoy not working (rather, not being at work, because as we all know I don't have any work to do at work).

Maybe get some housework done, file those taxes, the mundane.

But thank God it's Friday.

Always on the cutting edge

I always joke with DH that whatever we get into, or whatever hobby we pick up, it always seems that right after that there are a bunch of articles about how popular that particular thing is (like the NY Times article about coffee).

Well, CNN has an article about the "Top Places to take your Sweetheart" and on the list...St John, USVI of course. Where we've just bought our tickets to for our vacation. Where we got married 5 years ago.

I feel like a teenage Japanese girl... always setting the trend. Hee hee!

(not really, but it's funny)

Why I have hope...

To those sincerely depressed about the state of politics and government in our dear nation, I give you two doses of hope.

One, remember that the conservatism of the '50s was followed by the liberal lovefest that was the '60s.

Second, this post on the Manolo's Shoeblog. I've linked the picture comparison above.

Hope, sweet hope.

Now what am I going to do?

Well, I've gone ahead and booked a trip on Delta to St Thomas, connecting through Atlanta, for what I think is a reasonable price. The problem is that now I have nothing left to plan. That was my distraction, my goal, my reason for being - and now, I am a victim of my own success. Tragic.

I'm also a little sad that we're not connecting through San Juan. I loved seeing those little iguanas sunning themselves beside the runway. Oh well.

I can't believe I got through the whole day

So, it should be noted that for an entire day I did virtually nothing of work value. I asked no fewer than three appropriate people (my boss, my cube-neighbor, and the assistant to the director of my office) whether there was anything that I could work on for them since I was "light on work."

Perhaps tomorrow I'll be more direct and say "I'm bored to death - work me before I walk."

Has anyone ever left a government job for not having enough work to do?

More postings = no work

There is a inversely proportional relationship between the number of blog postings I am able to pump out and the amount of work I have on my desk. As you can probably tell, all these postings this morning mean I have virtually no work to do.

It's driving me crazy! I want to work. Sitting at my desk all day doing nothing but surfing the 'net is not fulfilling. It's boring.

I have to give myself a deadline, by which if I haven't lined up solid rotations or gotten a substantive project I will start throwing my resume into the pool. Hmm, this sounds familiar, like I might have said it before.

Two people with whom I want to speak about rotations are back next week. I hereby declare my personal deadline of February 17th - if by that date no progress has been made it's resume time. Not an appealing prospect.

... and this is what I'll be hunting

I've decided that other than snorkeling at least one new beach and learning to SCUBA dive, I am also going to catch some lobster on my vacation. DH and I have pictures from previous trips of lobsters hanging out beneath ledges - and I can't fathom (hee hee, funny pun) why we didn't just grab them and bring them home for dinner.

It's legal, so long as they are not egg-bearing females and within the size and bag limits. So watch out sea bugs! Get in my belly!

100 days and counting

The beach above is where I got married...


So, there are only 100 days left until I leave for vacation.. I can remember when that number was well over 300. Somehow, moving into the double digits just feels so cathartic.

Right now I am in the midst of playing the airfare game. I have saved searches on Kayak.com, orbitz.com, travelocity.com and frequently check aa.com, spirit.com, and united.com. I should be content with the $422 round trip on AA from DCA/SJU/STT and back (I love landing in SJU -San Juan- there are usually tons of iguanas in the grassy areas bordering the runway). DH wants to try and fly over from SJU on one of those 9 seat puddle jumpers, which I am thoroughly against as I am not a good flier.
There is also a $386 fare on Spirit Air which I should totally jump on as the base fare ($336) is a really good price (flies through FLL -Ft Lauderdale), but Spirit makes me a little nervous because they only have one flight to FLL from STT a day; there's no buffer, whereas AA has tons of flights going through and if something happens to mine, I'll have other options through other airports (like MIA).

Finally, I know that there are usually very good airfare sales to the Caribbean in February/March that run until June/July (because this is the traditional low season for the Carib) I just have to be patient and vigilant - probably more of former than the latter.