Well, that sucked

I've been looking forward to the season finale of "Heroes" ever since I started watching late last fall. The attention to detail, the storytelling, the characters, all were very, very strong. Tonights episode was supposed to be the big culmination of everything.

And it fizzled like stale Pop Rocks. I'm so disappointed.

I don't want to give too much away for those who haven't seen the series and whatnot, but man - they should have ended the season with "Five Years Gone."

Boo.

Hippie chick, part deux; why ignorance is bliss

So, I took George the Saturn in to the shop today to get checked out.. and he received an estimate of about $800 worth of work that should be done in order to get him to pass the emissions inspection he failed. Which I am totally stressing out about. I mean, it was okay when I felt like I had the time to wait around for my perfect dream car to appear, but now I feel like I need to get my car either a) fixed so it can pass inspection AND pay the late fee I owe for not having it inspected on time or b) sell it ASAP as is for whatever I can get for it and find another car right quick.

I wasn't prepared to have to make a decision RIGHT NOW (I know that I don't have to make my decision RIGHT NOW, I just feel like I have to).

Of course, I should never have taken the car in, but there were some weird things going on that were better to have checked out. Frick! Ignorance was delightful bliss.

Hippie chick!

So, my reliable (car) friend George is getting on in age. He's 182k miles old, 12 years old, and, well, he's starting to make me nervous. We don't drive him on long trips, there's lots of lost oil and check engine lights and failed emissions inspections... and it just might be time for a new (to me) car.

For years... ever since they started making them again, I have coveted the new Beetle. I love them, I desperately want the convertible (really not practical for this climate) and it's a passion that hasn't gone away, despite my having said "if George can just last one more year, then I'll get a new car."

I know exactly what I want: Sunflower Yellow with the Black ragtop. Or I'll take the Salsa Red, black ragtop. I prefer the Sunflower Yellow, but both of those colors came out in 2005 I think... so getting one off a 3 year lease means I'll have to wait a little longer.

So, I'll probably wait a little bit longer. Maybe if my car can make it one more year...

Operation Kitten Calendar

So DH and I discovered "Operation Kitten Calendar" on Acceptable TV - a show on VH1 where they show 2 minute clips of shows and viewers vote on whether they should be brought back the following week.

It's definitely a must-see show... check out the episodes here:

Episode 1
Episode 2
Episode 3 - the best one!
Episode 4
Episode 5 - The Reunion Special

Sadly, I don't think that they are making any more episodes, which is really a shame. But check out the ones they did make... they're only 2-3 minutes each!

DH's new ring tone is the hilarious "Kiss my A$$" at the beginning of episode 4. Don't forget to visit www.kittencalendar.tv


P.S. This series is made by the same crew that did "Yacht Rock," which is another hilariously funny bunch of webshorts that predate YouTube, I think.

What did I do this weekend?

As you can see... not much

Damning with loud praise

Okay, this is going to sound weird, but I am having a problem with getting too much praise at work.

Perhaps I should put this into context...

I am currently on rotation in my dream office. For the first few weeks, I was pretty bored, partly because there wasn't really anything for my to sink my teeth into, partly because I hadn't built up credibility and trust in the group for them to hand me work, and partly because there was a great deal of uncertainty with how best to use me. I took on a project that I have worked on in my previous life in my home office - one that is vitally important to the credibility of the organization in the planning and budgeting process that no one else wants to do, but really, at the end of the day, doesn't represent what the office does primarily and what I want to do.

In any case, just to have something to do.. I took this project to it's logical end, with respectable results. They've never had anyone do this kind of work/analysis at this level, so it borders on the second coming of God from there perspective or something. At least, that's how they praise me.

As nice as it is, and as much good as it is doing for my reputation within several very important areas, I think it actually might be hurting me in the long run. I've not gotten too much of an opportunity to explore other projects in the office, both because I've been completely buried in the work that I have been doing, and because people know I'm doing this project, and are likely not to think of me in handing over additional work. I'm getting praise for skills that frankly I know are my strengths, and I'm not learning what types of skills they are looking for when they have an open FTE slot, and I'm not really getting the chance to develop those skills. I'm not learning about what weaknesses or deficiencies I have with respect to the needs that they have.

I've always fervently believed that praise is nice, but constructive criticism is better. It takes more time to deliver, more thought to form, and does more for me in the long run. I feel like a comet that only passes by Earth once every 100 million years - I saw this rotation as the opportunity of a lifetime, and I worry that it might become a glancing blow as I then am stuck in a different trajectory.

I know... oh woe is me, to have such petty problems. But when you get so close to something that you've been aiming for for 2 years, putting up with immense amounts of BS for just the opportunity to make an entree, knowing that you might not be getting what you need out of it is frustrating.

Frick.

Why I hate being alone in the house...

This morning I had the scare of my life...

As you may recall, DH and I had our house broken into (through the basement) earlier this year. This led to us activating the house alarm system, among other things, and probably made me more wary of every unfamiliar noise in the house.

I was in the kitchen making my morning coffee this morning when I thought I heard steps on the basement stairs (they're wooden and creaky). Since DH's father (who stays with us during the week) had already left for work, I totally freaked out... watching the doorknob to see if someone tried to turn it, thinking that someone had broken into the basement again and was trying to get upstairs. Then I realized that the alarm was on, and there are motion sensors in the basement that set it off. Since the alarm didn't go off, I tried to reason with myself that it must have been the cat on the stairs (Eliza - the cat - ran upstairs as soon as I came down, and she usually makes a tremendous amount of noise when she goes up/down the stairs.) But I was still freaking out... so I got all the stuff that I needed for work together very noisely and ran into the garage and drove away.

My heart was totally racing, I was so scared. There was no way in heck I was going to open the basement door to check it out... no way.

I did see Eliza on a dining room chair right before I left, so it was very likely her... but jeebus was I scared to death. I had to yoga breath on the train ride to get my heart rate down from heart attack speed.

Update! I got home first this evening, and the first thing that I did was go out into the backyard to see if any windows had been broken (they hadn't). Then I checked around the living room to see if any obvious stuff (the Wii) had been moved/stolen (nothing was), then I went to the basement to look around (all was the same as I left it). So I was afraid of a whole lotta nothing. Which is fine.

Name change and other things

So, I've decided to reinvent myself once again. When I started this blog, I had just finished re-reading "The Sun Also Rises" and fell back in love with the character of Lady Brett Ashley. I fancied my life as mirroring hers in some ways, which if you've read the book and know about my past, you could understand (I'm married now, so if you don't know me or know what I'm talking about I'm not going to go into it).

I've not been like Lady Brett for many, many years now (I'd say about just about 9 years), so maybe it's time to drop that alter ego in favor of something more reflective of who I am now. I'm just a girl working for NOAA, so I'm now "NOAAgirl." Nothing too radical, too allegorical, just me. And what I do.

Of course, I realize that being defined by who I work for is a little scary, but I actually really believe in most of the work that the agency is doing, and I'm quite proud to work here. There are problems, there is bureaucracy and ridiculous pet projects and all the ills that exist in the federal government, but at the end of the day, I can still feel pretty good about what I've done.

Plus, NOAA actually encompasses all of the things that I geek out about... nautical charts, fish, coral reefs, weather and hurricanes, severe storms and tornados, deep ocean research, etc. When I worked at NASA, it was cool and all, I mean, but I couldn't really love it. I mean, I was never going to visit the moon or Mars in my lifetime (probably not, anyway). But I love boating (nautical charts) and snorkling and diving and fishing (coral reefs and fish), and I totally geek out over hurricanes and love seeing footage of tornadoes (true fact: one of my dream vacations is two weeks storm chasing!). It's a good fit.

So, with that long winded explanation for absolutely no reason completed, I've changed alter egos. Not that it makes one whit of difference in the world, but whatever.

Finally, a new post!

Well, I certainly wish that there was a double meaning to the title of this post, but alas, not yet. I've been on rotation to my dream office for almost 2 1/2 months now, and despite a few cracks in the veneer (which there would inevitably be) I'm super busy and fairly happy. I wish I was getting involved a little bit more in the work of the office, but I think that I am proving that I have invaluable skills separate and distinct from what they already have, plus the background that would fit into the office needs well. Keep those fingers crossed!

DH is down in Atlanta this week at a leadership conference. We had to buy him a new suit at the last moment because the pants to the single suit he owns didn't fit anymore. Since I've known him, he's had that suit (nearly 10 years now) and he's worn it no more than 6 times - I think - in the 10 years we've been together. Two funerals, two weddings, a night at the opera and my Georgetown graduation ceremony. Hmmm maybe three weddings. He might have worn it to his brothers wedding, but since there were practically no pictures of family taken at the wedding, I wouldn't be able to remember.

Anyway, thank goodness that the suit we chose needed no extensive alterations... other than a waist adjustment and hemming, it fit like a glove. And he looks pretty damn sharp in it, if I do say so myself. In the next ten years, he'll likely wear it only another 6 times (probably three funerals, maybe a wedding or two, and his graduation from his leadership program in June). Wow, that's kind of morbid. I should watch that.

Not much else going on really. The weather has finally turned, and I'm getting ready to buy our tickets for our July vacation. Frickin' airfare. I gotta figure what we're going to do.

Law of threes... great

So, I'm having a string of bad luck, it would seem. Yesterday I left my headlights on, so when I got back to my car, the battery was dead. Moreover, the jumper cables were at home, so I had to wait for DH to rescue me.

Tonight I burned the livin' f$@k out of my left hand. I was baking a pork tenderloin in one of my All-Clad skillets, and it was in the oven for about 35 minutes at 450 degrees. I took it out of the oven, and set it on the stove so I could saute it a bit more, and without thinking I grabbed the handle to shake the pan - without an oven mitt. I've had ice on my hand for the last 3 hours, and it still hurts like a mother.

I probably should just crawl under a rock for 48 hours until this mini-curse passes.

Frickin' A - typing with one hand sucks.

Wii love it

I have to admit that I was pretty skeptical about this whole Wii thing, but it turns out that it's pretty darn cool. I'm addicted to pool and golf, DH is addicted to tennis, and coolest off all, I'm typing this blogpost from the Wii. It comes with the capability of surfing the 'net through Opera, which is pretty darn cool.

This is taking a long time to type, so I'll just end this post abruptly. Wii is cool!

So I guess I know what we're doing on a rainy day

The forecast for this weekend is miserable, and it's really frustrating to have such crappy weather when I have soooo much yardwork to do. But c'est la vie, there's nothing we can do about the weather.

In anticipation of the crappy weather this weekend, and being inspired by our visit last weekend with Steph and John and baby Sarah, DH has decided how we're going to spend the rainy day: he bought a Wii.

This was no simple task. Reportedly he called around to over a dozen places, none of whom had any in stock. He discovered one last remaining system in a little game shop in a kinda icky shopping plaza. When I got home, he had it sitting out on the table, just waiting for me to comment.

I noticed that I had finally gotten my replacement passport first.

In any case we spent most of this evening creating Miis and playing the sports games that come with the system. They're fun, although I must admit that I am rebelling a bit against the whole "get off the couch and move" concept. Not because I'm lazy, but because I wanted to prove that this isn't the great fitness tool it's sometimes extolled to be (it isn't) and that you can be successful at winning the games without running around the room like a crazy person (haven't proven that one yet).

At the very least we figured if we got bored with it we could always eBay it for more than it cost us.

Not quite yet, but almost

Sometimes the news that I read makes me just want to check out of the "normal" life and go off on a sailboat, leaving the insanity that is "civilization" and society behind. I just cannot fathom how reasonable people advocate for decisions that are just so bad. This morning's trigger is an article in the Washington Post discussing the US Fish and Wildlife's internal discussion of whether to demote the manatee from "endangered" status to simply "threatened." Florida's Fish and Wildlife Service has already made that decision (which the article helpfully points out was push through by Jeb Bush appointees).

There may be actual scientific merit for the discussion; being a Fed allows me to recognize that these discussions rarely happen in a vacuum, and that there are lots of other Feds truly devoted to their work - particularly somewhere like Fish and Wildlife where it's pretty easy to believe in your cause. However, being a Fed also allows me to recognize that the current administration, and their political predilictions, do have great power in decision-making. The heads of all these agencies are Bushies; this adminstration has made it clear how they value "friendly" folk rather than necessarily qualified folk (Brownie at FEMA, anyone).

When you see decisions that don't pass the laugh test (manatees are certainly not common in Florida, the boating and development restrictions that have brought them back from the brink of extinction are working/have worked, and the last thing that Florida needs in an age of increasing hurricane activity and ecological sensitivity is more coastal development) being earnestly advocated for, it's just mind-boggling. Frankly, it makes you just want to strike out and see the world (for me, it's the ocean world that is my highest priority) before the dunderheads inside the Beltway make a decision that dooms us all.

Life -n- Stuff

So yeah, it's life. The weather is turning cold for some inexplicable reason (actually, there is a meteorological reason and working for NOAA, you'd think I'd know) and my newly sprouted lettuce and newly planted blueberries are at risk. Work is a total roller coaster; one day I'm twiddling my thumbs begging for work, and then next day I'm inundated with it.

I just got word that one of my grad school professors died. Ambassador Thomas Weston, who worked extensively on the Cyprus conflict, passed away. I had a class with him, and he wasn't a bad professor. Like most of the professors at Georgetown SFS that became professors based on their field experience rather than being professional academicians, he relied a lot on his personal experience as a teaching reference rather than grandiloquent theories. We heard an awful lot about Cyprus as a result. I think the class was Multilateral European Diplomacy or something like that. Anyway, he was too young (only 62), so that's sad.

On the bright side, my absolute favorite TV show ever, Friday Night Lights, just won a Peabody for excellence in television. If you haven't watched this show yet, you simply have no idea about the brilliance you are missing. Next week is the season finale - Wednesday at 8 EST on NBC. Don't miss it!

Guess it's Jersey this weekend for me to visit family and all that jazz. Yippee. I love Jersey. Argh.

Allow me to step onto my soapbox for a moment...

As it says in my profile, I adore sharks. Ever since I was a little girl, watching Shawn Weatherly, a former Miss Universe, freak out over being close to Great White Sharks on "Ocean Quest," I have been utterly and completely fascinated by these wonderful examples of perfect design. Sleek, fast, hunters that lived long before the dinosaurs evolved and survived long after.

The sad truth is that their existence is threatened by the one predator with the power to destroy everything on earth: man. From the demand for shark-fin soup (with horrifying consequences) in Asia, to the indiscriminate killing that results from gillnet, driftnet, purse seine, and longline fisheries where they are simply bycatch - not targeted, and in most cases not commercially marketable.

Because of the images that resulted from "Jaws" and media sensationalism that results from rare but captivating shark attacks, sharks have been demonised in the same way and with the same results as coyotes in the West. Science, people, and indeed even government policy is finally beginning to realize that sharks are a critical element of healthy ocean ecosystems, and their demise heralds the demise of the oceans as a whole.

This article in the NY Times is just one example of how the balance of the ocean's ecosystems has been upset by the removal of its apex predators. Fewer sharks = fewer scallops; a connection I'm not sure many lay people would make, but for the information presented in the article. Killing "big, scary monsters" means that there are fewer yummy scallops, which means your scallops wrapped in bacon are going to get must more expensive, if you can get them at all.

One of the reasons I love working at NOAA, even on the worst days when I curse the inefficiency or red tape involved in working in a huge bureaucracy, is because perhaps, in some small way, the work that I do will save my sharks. Please, when you are trying to decide what to buy for dinner, look at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch list and make an ecologically sustainable and responsible choice, or look at the Marine Stewardship Council's website to see what fisheries are being managed the best. Frankly, for all the crap the US gets with respect to the environment, our fisheries management policies and regulations, including monitoring and enforcement, are some of the best in the world. Buy US products - avoid European and Asian imported fish and seafood. Buy trolled or trap caught when possible. I know it costs a little more, but doing the right thing sometimes means making sacrifices.

This problem is getting more and more attention all the time; check out this month's National Geographic for great articles and depressing pictures on the state of the world's living marine resources.

The search is over...

Much to DH's delight, the search for Stephen Colbert's Americone Dream is now over for our household. I found it today while out for lunch in downtown Silver Spring. The Ben and Jerry's store had it behind the counter, so I picked up a pint (for $6!) to bring home to my true love.

Of course, I called him immediately to share the happy news, and his response was "isn't it going to melt on your train ride home?"

Jerk.

In any case, I haven't even tried it yet (I'll update when I do) but I did get it home a little softer than optimal but no worse for wear. I also updated these folks, who are mapping the spread of the Americone Dream across the nation!

I've done my part.. now where's that ice cream.


The Verdict: Pretty damn tasty

Relive your childhood on YouTube

So, while I'm not a fan of children, I do get nostalgic for things I enjoyed as a child. And, being a kid of the MTV generation, who was practically raised by the TV, ad executives everywhere will be happy to know that I have retained a cache of the catchy tunes from TV shows and commercials, probably where my knowledge of calculus and chemistry was supposed to go.

There have been a couple of those themes bouncing around in my head lately. One I was able to locate on YouTube, the other - which is probably way more obscure - is still yet to be discovered.

I present The Pointer Sisters (really?) singing the 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12 pinball musical interlude from Sesame Street, courtesy of YouTube. Simply awesome.



Now if only I could find that "Beet, beet, sugar beet" song, where they were showing the harvest and processing of sugar beets, life would be perfect.

P.S. YouTube is also an awesome place for finding the opening montages of 80's cartoons, like "Jem," "The Transformers," "Care Bears," and "Thundercats." I'll never forget those theme songs - which I guess means I'll never learn statistics.

Dreaming of sailing away

In preparation for the sailing class that DH and I are taking in July, I've spent a considerable amount of time daydreaming about the world of possibilities sailing would open up to us. I'd like to think that by the time we're 50, we'd be able to take a year or two and just sail from tropical port to tropical port.

In my search I came across this account of a solo sailor who sailed around the world, encountering storms, no winds, and even pirates on his travels. Reading his experience made me realize that a) no matter how much I love being on the water, I do not have the mindset that would keep me from going insane when sailing for 3 weeks out of sight of all land from Hawaii to the Marquesas and b) while I'm not a fan of having a gun in my home, you can be darn sure that if I were living aboard a sailboat, I'd be packing heat!

I really hope that DH and I have a strong enough relationship to be each other's sailing crew. I guess we'll test that out this summer!

Desperately seeking vacation

Ahhh it's that time of year when I am typically obsessing over vacation plans. Last year I was obsessing over the details of DH's and my 5th anniversary trip to St John, US Virgin Islands (with Jeffro and CC), the year before that was Key Colony Beach in the Florida Keys, and the year before that was Florence-Tuscany-Venice-Rome, Italy.

This year was a real challenge. We had already paid for the sailing class from when DH was in FL for work, but which we had to cancel when they shipped him back home, so we needed to reschedule that. But going to Florida to take the class didn't seem like enough of a vacation, and going to the BVIs was too expensive for what we would have wanted to do. Our vacation schedule (where we're supposed to "travel" one year and "vacation" the next) had us scheduled for London/Paris, but with exchange rates the way they are, that was just too expensive an option too.

We finally opted for an "active" vacation with some relaxation thrown in for good measure. So we're planning on a weekend on Captiva Island in FL for our Learn to Sail class, then onto Grand Cayman for a week of beaching and diving. The diving club we got our Open Water class and pool work done through has organized trips every month to Grand Cayman, so we are going to hook up with them in the latter part of the week, leaving us 5 days of beachtime between sailing and diving.

Unfortunately, we're not going until July, so pray that there are no early season hurricanes and that I can make it that long!

Yeah, it's been a while.. so what

I thought I'd add a filler post since it's been a while. Not much new is going on - this weather is crap and keeps me from getting things done around the house, plus we keep starting new projects before finishing old ones (case in point - bought a timer switch we saw on a home show that controls the bathroom fan, but still haven't sanded or primed the bathroom walls). I'm feeling great... absolutely no lingering anything from the "procedure."

Today we did go on a little search for Stephen Colbert's new Ben & Jerry's ice cream - Americone Dream. Sadly, we were unsuccessful.

Eh.. it's that icky cold and wet period before spring gets started. We have big plans for the garden this year:

- Plant blackberry bushes
- Plant blueberry bushes
- Plant tomatoes (for which we need to build a substantial trellis)
- Plant lettuce
- Plant radishes
- Re-landscape front yard
- Redo deck
- Re-seed/sod some grotty areas out front

Let's see how many of those things we actually accomplish before August.

It's the most wonderful time of the year

I am addicted to very few things: good Indian food, those New Zealand Green-lipped Mussels (Hoy Obb) at the Thai Farm restaurant, good espresso and cappucinos, etc.

However, Easter time is the most wonderful time of the year for me, because it is the only time when one can get Cadbury Creme Eggs, to which I am hopelessly addicted.

As a reward to myself for such a successful surgery experience (what do you mean I had nothing to do with it? I went, didn't I?) I bought myself a 4-pack of Eggs at the Giant across the street from my building.

So far I've only allowed myself one. DH bought me two on Monday, and I was such a little piggie I ate both of them that night, instead of waiting to eat them after Wednesday's procedure like I wanted.

Mmmmm. bwock bwock bwock said the Easter bunny!

Emotional response

I've always been a pretty emotional person - not when it comes to decisions or strategy or anything, but rather in my responses to certain events. As I was on the train this morning, reading about the underlying fundamentals that caused last week's stock market fiasco and the evolution of R&D in the American technology sector (yes, articles from this week's Economist) I realized that I was feeling very emotional.

It's not a negative response by any stretch of the imagination. I think that it is finally hitting me that now that I have had the Essure implanted, I'm really going to be free from having children unless I truly and positively choose to have them. Well, free in three months, anyway. I started feeling a surge of energy, like there was a curtain moved away from a sunny window or something, and I was realizing that now, whatever dreams I might have, I can run after them with abandon.

I don't know why I am having this reaction, and I don't know why I didn't really feel this way before. I am certainly pro-choice, so I never felt shackled by the weight of a potential pregnancy before. I guess its the pro-activeness of this particular decision - to permanently prevent pregnancy - that really lit a spark under me.

It's so liberating, so inspiring, so emotional. I want to run to all corners of the earth and receive whatever it has to give. I feel like Maria von Trapp spinning herself dizzy on the tops of the Alps.

I was worried that I would feel sadness or regret, thinking that I've now excluded a possible experience from my life or, since I know myself to be an emotional person, the fact that I now really won't have children would suddenly make me want to have them (some kind of psychological wanting what you can't have type thing). I feel none of that. I feel wonderfully free, and most importantly, I feel utterly devoted to myself. That sounds so self-centered, but it's true. I feel like I can seek and discover whatever I want, unfettered.

It's truly a wonderful feeling.

It's all over but the dancing!

So, it's about 2pm the afternoon after having Essure implants popped into my tubes and I'm feeling okay. A little crampy, but nothing worse than that.

I woke up this morning at about 530am, when a plow noisily drove by the house spreading an inch of unnecessary sand/salt on our street. Thanks MoCo! Total overkill for the flurries! I got showered and dressed, as did DH, and we left the house at 7am for my 830am appointment (I was told to be at the outpatient surgery center by 730 for prep).

When we got to the center, some way too wide awake chick chirpily greeted us and handed us a bunch of forms to sign (financial stuff, patient info stuff, etc) Within minutes I was asked to change out of all my clothes, put on a gown, and get ready for the procedure.

I was a little surprised when they told me I was going to be under general for the procedure. If the Essure springs weren't able to be implanted for some reason, they were going to do a tubal, so maybe that had something to do with it. The nurse tried to stick an IV needle into the back of my right hand, but missed the vein repeatedly, which hurt like heck! Finally, the very nice (and Indian!) anesthesiologist came over and stuck the needle in back of my left hand (my right hand is still sore from the ordeal). The doctor, running a perpetual 15 minutes late, came in and found out that I hadn't been given Topol? (sounded like "turtle" too me, but it was an anti-spasm thing that was supposed to calm my tube in prep for the springs).

I walked into the op room, layed down on the op table (damn was it ever cold in there) and got the shot of Topol, which made my hand with the IV really sore (it felt like the little veins were swelling up). Also, they had that hand at a really awkward position - straight out from my body - which combined with the cold made me pretty uncomfortable. It wasn't for long, though, as Mr. Indian anesthesiologist turned on the juice, and I was asleep.

I woke up with DH by my side and some fairly intense cramping (like super bad PMS). They assesses that I was good to go, the doc showed me some pictures of the devices in my tubes (so cool, I wish I could have them in place of baby pictures to show all my friends) and shortly thereafter DH and I were on the road home.

After any kind of anesthesia, I usually throw-up once and feel a hundred percent better. When I got home, I was pretty uncomfortable from the crampiness, couldn't find a good resting position, tossing and turning; it was pretty bad. For about an hour and a half I tried to get a little food in me to a) get something in my stomach so I could take an Advil and b) get something in my stomach so I would be prone to vomiting and just feel better. I ate half of an English muffin and a couple of spoonfulls of oatmeal, and happily I was puking within 5 minutes, after which I felt so much better that I napped for about two hours.

Now, I feel a little crampy discomfort, but definitely feel like I'll be at work together. Not to mention I'm hungry, and I need to find something real to eat.

The final countdown

This is it! Tomorrow, barring any unforeseen events, weather catastrophes, etc, I will be walking around with a spring in my Fallopian tubes!

So how do I feel tonight? Pretty good, actually. This probably has more to do with a good day at work and whatnot, but whatever. I'm a little nervous - well, more anxious really, just to get this whole ordeal over with.

To get to this point I have had:

Two consultations with the doctor who will perform the surgery, including signing two waivers that I understand that this is permanent, yada, yada yada.

One doctors appointment (that lasted approximately 2.5 minutes) where he swabbed my bajingo for "cultures" to ensure that I did not have chlamydia or gonorrhea (I've not been on any tractors, so I think that I am safe there).

One doctors appointment for a "blood test," which turned out to be a pregnancy test. Lasted 30 seconds.

And now, I can't eat or drink anything after midnight, and have to get up early in the morning to make my way down to the outpatient surgery center. Oh what fun.

I'm sure when I am typing my entry tomorrow, I'll be all bleary from the anathesia and crampy from being violated, but it's all worth it!

This is really turning out to be a borderline pornographic blog, what with the bajingo-talk and Harry Potter naked butt pic. Hmmm, I wonder if I could charge for access?

My family values

This post is partially sparked by this Washington Post article that discusses the trend that richer, more educated people are choosing marriage (and kids) and that poorer, less-educated people are choosing kids, but not marriage.

DH and I certainly fall into the general trend discussed by the article. We're both college-educated, career-oriented, and solidly middle class. We lived together for a while before getting married, but we always knew that marriage was the end state for our relationship.

We diverged from the overall topic of the article as the discussion moved towards kids, but I don't think we're different than the overall trend not discussed in the article, which is choosing not to have children at all. We didn't always think we would be child-free, but once we realized that having children didn't align with out own life goals - both as individuals and as a couple - it was an easy choice.

Easy choice to make, but not an easy choice to defend, I should say.

I often wondered if there was something wrong with us, or with me, because we didn't want kids. In fact, we were fairly hostile to the idea, seeing kids as what people do when they don't know what else to do. For us, there was far too many things left to do to even think about anything else. Our values and life goals simply didn't allow for kids and we weren't willing to sacrifice them to satisfy what "society" seems to predestine.

We're happy to admit we're selfish; I love my DH so much that I don't want to share him, or his attention, with anyone else. We hear friends of ours who just got married talking about kids, and we're incredulous because our immediate reaction is "but you just got married, and there's so much in this world to see and do. Don't you want to enjoy each other first?" Of course, I have to immediately recognize that I am projecting my own values onto their lives, and since I don't want to be a hypocrite, have to shut up.

Regardless of what one's personal life values and goals are, the brilliant thing is having the choice. I acknowledge that I am fortunate enough to live in a time and a society which, for the most part, does accept that women are more than breeding machines.

Are my feelings based on my class? Probably. I am sure that I am much more aware of what's out there to see and do, and place much more value on seeing and doing those things, than the average high school graduate with no college degree. Another place, another time, another upbringing, and who knows what my values would be.

On non-motherhood...

I have debated on whether or not to blog about this, but then I realized how few women were informed about this option (even I didn't know about it until CC told me last year while we were on vacation!) and I feel like if women are googling for a non-tubal ligation option for permanent BC, they might come across this entry.

On Wednesday I am going in to have Essure implants, well, implanted. I'm 30 years old, married for almost 6 years, childfree and loving it. DH and I have no plans to ever have children and no desire to be parents. We've used almost every BC (birth control) method imagined: pills, the patch, condoms, and the sponge. I've no desire to have an IUD, since my image of them is tainted by its checkered history, and hormonal BC is just too disruptive; I have no libido, gain weight, and probably am a little depression-proned when I am on it. The recent scare about the dangers and risks of being on the Patch marked the end of hormonal BC for me.

So, after research, confirming it's covered by my insurance, and many long talks with DH confirming that we definitely we're okay with taking this option off the table (in theory, if we change our minds, we can adopt or go through IVF, but I'm highly doubtful we'll change our minds) I've scheduled the procedure for Wednesday.

I'm so excited - both for the peace of mind that it will bring and for all my female friends. I've had several friends who, when they learned what I was doing, begged me to give them the name of my doctor and update them on how things went. So that's what I'll do this week on the blog - add some posts about how I got to this decision, what the technical bits of my experience are, how the surgery itself goes, etc. I'm hoping that other women out there in googling for information will find and be informed by my experience.

My one guilty pleasure in all of this; if I ever get really pissed at my MIL for asking "when are you guys going to have kids" I'll tell her about the procedure and revel in her frustration! Yes, I'm evil. Aren't you glad I'm not having kids.

Yeah, I'll admit it, I'm curious and I'd pay to see it

So, not meaning to be late to the party of anything, but I've just finished reading "Equus," and I'm not ashamed to admit that my interest in the play was sparked by the brouhaha over the actor who plays Harry Potter starring in the play's London revival. After reading the play, I think it sounds like he might be a bit posh for the role (the character is supposed to be pretty low-brow) but damn, what a body.


Now, I'm certainly not ashamed to admit this either. I'd pay mad money to see him in the play.

Gosh, this is borderline porno on this blog, isn't it?

P.S. I just realized that DH and Harry Potter have the same butt. Lucky me!

P.P.S. Hmmm. One thing more, then I'll stop. Where's the twig and berries in that second photo? I mean, wouldn't they show in that pose? Maybe they're taped off to the left? Hmmm.

How I 90% ruined "date night"

DH and I don't do a whole lot. Oh we go out for dinner, either with friends or just the two of us, once in a while. We order Indian take-out every so often. Once in a very great while we might go see a movie. But sadly we've gotten to the point in our lives where we're just as happy hanging out at home as we are doing anything else, and the effort involved in getting ready to go out, parking and driving and yada yada yada (not to mention the fact that people, in general, are total boors).

So last night was a big deal; we had plans to see Todd Barry at the Arlington Cinema and Drafthouse. We went out for dinner first at Thai Farm, where I had my favorite mussels (Hoy Obb) and a glorious Thai Farm Duck. DH had the even more glorious Honey Shrimp (which were a religious experience in seafood form). Anyway, after an incredible dinner, DH and I drove the 45 minutes to Arlington and waited 30 minutes in the freezing cold to see Todd Barry.

Now, I had plenty of opportunity to buy tickets online, but I didn't do so, figuring that we'd likely punk out of going for some excuse or another. DH had bothered me on numerous occasions to order tickets, but I kept checking online and it seemed that they were still available, so I thought it wouldn't be necessary.

And that's how I ruined date night. We waited 30 minutes in the freezing cold on one of the rare occasions that we go out and do something, and the tickets had been sold out.

This is the second time I haven't ordered tickets for something online that I wanted to do (the first time was to see "Lunch" during the DC Fringe Festival, where we got in by the skin of our teeth after I "offered" to sleep with the writer/director/someone connected with the play) and I can assure you that it will be the last time.

Of course, I consider myself only 90% at fault. There was nothing stopping DH from using his better judgment and ordering tickets himself.

Housecleaning to the 80's

In order to be really effective at cleaning (not just arranging, I mean really cleaning) the kitchen, I need loud music, and lots of it. I turned on the TV, which with our digital cable comes with an assortment of themed music channels. I switched on "The 80's" and, about 4 minutes later, they played "Sweet Child O' Mine" by GnR. Awesome.

I ran downstairs to grab DH's Appetite for Destruction CD (I only had the cassette as a kid) and ran back up to the kitchen. Seconds later, the wildly overplayed but still awesome "Welcome to the Jungle" was blasting and I was a cleaning fiend!

The thing that surprised me the most was, considering that I hadn't listened to the entire album for at least 10 years (maybe I listed to it in college, but I don't think so), I still totally knew the words to most of the lyrics. Especially songs that don't get any radioplay, like "It's so Easy" and "Think about You"; the only way I would have known those lyrics was from the 100s of times I must have listened to the album when it came out. When my friends were listening to New Kids on the Block and New Edition and whatever fluffy pop music was the thing in the late 80s, I was listening to GnR and stuff like that. I was a weird kid.

Funny enough, I remember listening to "It's so Easy" with my childhood best friend and roaring with guilty laughter at the blatent profanity. Hey, I was like 11-12 years old. Profanity was brand new to us then; I don't think that it was as commonplace as it is to kids that age nowadays. Certainly not the F-word. Anyway, it's a funny memory.

My Valentine's Day

It's sleet, not snow. And ice, not road

Ah, what can I say. It was a typical, but no less wonderful, Valentine's Day. Woke up at 4am to see whether or not the Federal Government was going to shut down, which would have allowed me to turn off my alarm and sleep in. Stupid government - only "allowing" a 2 hour late arrival. When I turned my alarm off at 630 and peeked out the window, our road was utterly impassable. Heh. There was no way I was going to risk my neck to get to work.

I turned my alarm off.

So I spent the day working from home (at least one agency is telework friendly), shoveling 5-6 inches of sleet. ice, and snow off the driveway and sidewalks (so heavy and backbreaking), and just chillin'.

As for Valentine's Day-type activities, well I made a small dinner of gnocchi with olive oil and cheese and topped it off with the most unbelievable Blackberry Crisp, made from blackberries picked last August and kept frozen until now. Amazing.

DH and I will top off the night with me watching my favorite show, "Friday Night Lights," him watching his favorite show, "Lost," and both of us collapsing into bed because we know our backs and legs are going to be really sore and killing us tomorrow.

From the shoveling, you people with sick minds! From shoveling!

As if there wasn't enough other stuff going on...

Last night someone broke into the house (basement, really) while Ray and I were upstairs. I discovered it this morning after running down to the basement to get some stuff out of the dryer. Now, my first trip down I didn't notice anything except that it was really cold down there in the basement, but it's a basement, so it's supposed to be colder than the rest of the house. My second trip down I realized that there was glass all over the floor, the window was wide open, and a chair had been dragged over to the window. (How I didn't notice this on the first trip down I'll never know). I ran upstairs yelling for DH, who was in the shower. We called the police, and a day of chaos ensued.

So, now we've activated the security system that we had but hadn't used since we moved in, I took the window to a glass shop to be repaired, the police have come and gone. Phew. It's been a long day, and goodness knows what havoc the weather will bring for the next couple of days.

Of course, this was going to be my first day on rotation to my dream office, so isn't that just lovely. What a start.

I love golden Chinese gooseberries..

AKA Golden Kiwifruit. I've had a hankering for kiwi lately. At my local Trader Joes, I grabbed a bag of regular green kiwis and noticed a mesh bag of smaller, "golden" kiwi in the same bin. Hmm, I thought, I wonder what they are like.

Well, I'll tell you what they are like. Little bites of heaven, that's what they're like.

They taste like regular kiwi, with less acidic bite and a little more melon flavor. And they're AMAZING. They we're only 20 cents more expensive than the regular kiwis (of a bag of six) and, sadly, I've eaten four of them already. This is going to require a trip to TJs for another bunch.

Soooooo goood. I highly recommend picking some up if you have the opportunity. And don't waste time peeling the skin off; just cut a little bit off the top (like from the stem end) and scoop out the flesh with a spoon (like you would with a soft-boiled egg, if there is anyone left in the world who eats soft-boiled eggs).

I might have to go eat another one right now.

Get ready for the... PUPPY BOWL!! (and Kitty Halftime, too!)

There are three reasons I love Super Bowl Sunday:

1) Commercials

2) Puppy Bowl!

3) Kitty Halftime!

So I will have my TV tuned to Animal Planet today to watch the Puppy Bowl, and flip over to CBS once in a while to check out the commercials. If I miss a commercial - no worry - I can catch it on YouTube or the myriad shows that will talk about the best commercials of the Super Bowl. But I won't miss one moment of puppy action!

All the animals featured in the Puppy Bowl (including all the kitties!) came from the Washington Animal Rescue League. What a great place to find a new friend!

Oooh.. kitchen nearing completion

So here we are.. a mere 4-5 months after this whole process started, and the kitchen is truly nearing completion. The pendant light above the island that I broke has been replaced, the backsplash was installed today (we took the easy way out and went for a simple 4 inch matching backsplash), and now all I have to do is paint, repair a small ceiling spot, and get a new table and chairs and it's done!

Wow.

I'll post pictures soon. Dh and I are preparing for our next major house improvement. It looks like this year will focus on the outdoors areas - wrapping the soffits and facia in vinyl (no more painting!) and possibly re-landscaping the backyard. But - beware - 2008 will be the year of the master bath!

I hope.

Interesting reading...

This morning I was pretty desperate for something to read on the train. I've already devoured this week's Economist, and I've not ordered any new books from Amazon in some time. I ran downstairs to see if I could find anything that, even though I had already read it once, I wanted to read again, or to see if I could discover something I had overlooked before from DH's collection (his treasure trove of Soviet/Russian history books just isn't that appealing, I have to admit)

I spied one of the older books that my grandfather had given to DH and me. It was called "Hiroshima Diary," and was written by a doctor who was in Hiroshima and was injured by the atomic blast. He survived, and his diary (not written with any intent of publishing) was translated into English and published. I grabbed it yesterday with a thought in the back of my head that I had recently read something suggesting that it was a good read (maybe I read it somewhere online, I can't quite remember where).

Needless to say it is a fascinating personal account of what this doctor experienced immediately following the Hiroshima atom bomb. It's a little graphic, but in a very clinical way that doesn't bother me too much (I'm a bit sensitive when it comes to stuff like this, although really, who isn't). I find myself eagerly waiting for my train rides so I can read this book - and again almost missing my stops since I am so engrossed in the material.

I really, truly believe that books like this and movies like "Threads" and "On the Beach," and "The Day After" should be mandatory material for all, just to convey the gravity and the perilous and precarious position that we, the human race, are in with respect to our long-term survival. India and Pakistan, Israel and Iran, China and the US: these are all sparks that could ignite decisions you can't take back, with consequences far outweighing the nature of the conflict behind them.

It makes me want to buy a sailboat and spend my life at sea, far from any "civilization," a term I use here very ironically.

Why DH wants to ban me from PetSmart

I'm too sensitive for my own good. DH and I went to PetSmart today for some kitty supplies, and the Montgomery County SPCA had a kitten adoption thing going on there. Despite DH's begging me not to go visit the kitties, but just to focus on the task at hand, I just had to go over there and take a look.

It's so heartbreaking! There are all of these cute kitties without homes; all I want to do is scoop them up and take them home and cuddle them and protect them from all those dog smells and people and everything. There were a few especially cute kitties there today. I think that there was a pair of sibling grey tabby cats and they were so sweet. I totally would have taken them both home. Instead, I donated some cash that I had on me, and of course donated the $1 when I checked out, but I was in tears all the way back to the car. DH of course pointed and laughed at me for being such a softie, but I think that he's secrety relieved that we didn't come home with another cat.

Remember, people, adopt your pet from a shelter, and, as Bob Barker always says, help control the pet population. Have your pet spayed or neutered.

Sniff, sniff. They really were so cute. I'll have to pacify myself with Cute Overload and Kitten Wars.

Afraid to say anything

I'm scared to say anything for fear of jinxing it - but things that I have been working on for almost a year are finally coming together and I think that I might be very, very happy in two weeks. I'm really excited, and the fact that I might be working on one of the biggest international environmental meetings this year... agh! I can't say anymore because I've been working on this for so long and if it falls apart at the last minute, well I'm going to fall apart too.

But whales... and maybe sharks too... might just be in my future.

Worst. Illness. Evar.

So, here we are over a week later, and I am still sick. My ears are all plugged up, I'm still coughing like a 2 pack-a-day smoker, and I've finally given up and made a doctor's appointment. I'm probably going to be prescribed antibiotics, which I hate taking. But, I think that the cold has become either a sinus infection, or more likely, an ear infection, and if it's bacterial, it's the only way I'm gonna get better.

Maybe I'll feel better sometime in 2008.

On a lighter note, we've got about an inch of snow on the back porch, and I had some yummy Indian food this weekend (I got the Vindaloo - figured the spicyness would cut through my cold).

This sucks!

Please, kill me


There is nothing - nothing - that sucks so much as being sick. I'm on day 4 of this sinus/ear/throat infection/cold thing, and I am utterly miserable. DH is looking forward to going to work tomorrow just to get the heck away from me. I am a very unpleasant sick person to be around, particularly when I've gotten about 7 hours of sleep since Friday night.

All I can say is that the person who cures the common cold should be richer than Bill Gates.

Gettin' by

This week was supposed to be my first full week back at work since before Christmas; however, I've managed to avoid it! Unfortunately, it's because I'm suffering from some kind of ear/nose/throat infection thing that is making me hack up ugly phlegm-balls and ache all over. Misery.

My lot was not much improved by my choice of entertainment. I rented The Devil Wears Prada via Comcast-On-Demand and, other than some really awesome shoes and coats, it was pretty disappointing. Anne Hathaway's character was a whiney bitch, her friends were not much better, and Meryl Streep could have been a bit bitchier at the end. Not that the book was any better; some of the story elements were naturally changed a bit for the movie, and some for the better. Maybe it's me, but one of Anne Hathaway's key moral lines (if Miranda were a man, she would be celebrated for being so good at her job) was completely undermined by some of the plot developments (Anne's boyfriend assuming she would follow him to Boston, for example). Meh.

Happily, all was not lost. My new Pottery Barn couch was delivered today, and although putting the slipcover on the couch and cushions was exhausting (see blogpost point #1), it was super super comfortable for watching the less than fulfilling movie. I can totally tell the difference between the cheapo couch we've had and the nice couch we have now.

The cats are generally terrified by the new couch.

I. am. so. confused?.?

Several tidbits of news today have me genuinely perplexed, surprised, confused, and even a little scared.

#1 - CNN reports the death of Yvonne de Carlo, the actress who played Lily Munster, a character I know well, having grown up with Nick at Nite and whatnot. Strangely enough, this same actress also played Sephora, Charlton Heston's wife in "The Ten Commandments." Really? Really? It totally blew my mind that these two characters were played by the same actress. Totally.













#2 - Fark.com had a link to pictures of what Megatron is purported to look like in the upcoming "Transformers" movie. Now, I'm about to reveal a little bit too much about myself here, but here goes. When I was young, I was a total tomboy. I was utterly uninterested in most girlie things, and I loved watching "Transformers" after school. I even had Bumblebee, the little VW Beetle transformer. I was there with all you 80s boy kids hating Starscreamer and his whininess and being confused by Optimus Prime's ability to have that trailer appear from out of the blue whenever he went back to being a truck. I was awed by Shockwave (he's still one of the coolest Transformers, IMHO), utterly unimpressed by the Dinobots (SO FREAKIN' LAME), and I remember when Optimus Prime died (he was kind of fragile, as I remember).

So the raping of my childhood memories continues. I was a little perplexed when I saw the trailer for the "Transformers" movie before "Little Miss Sunshine" (huh? The Transformers aren't from Mars? WTF) But upon seeing this picture of what Megatron is supposed to look like, well, now I'm not only a little perplexed, but totally annoyed. WTF is that? The thing on the left looks nothing like the original cartoon character on the right. I call bulls&^t.












What is going on in this strange world we live in? I'm an old woman, I'm confused.

What once was lost has now been found

Phew. What a day. This morning I noticed that my wallet wasn't in my purse. Crap, I'd thought, it had been sitting on my desk all night (I'd had it out yesterday at work and thought that maybe I had left it out). I got to work - no wallet. Crap crap. Maybe it had fallen out of my purse on the train ride home that night. Meanwhile, if that was possibly the case, I called all my credit card companies to put temporary holds on all transactions - to prevent anyone from running up the bill! Chase and my credit union had no problems, but Citibank, who I have had a credit card with the longest, gave me the option of leaving it open or cancelling the card outright - no hold options. Well I never use the card anyway, so I told them to go ahead and cancel it.

The whole day I'm hemming and hawing, wondering what the frick I was going to have to go through if I had lost my wallet. My SS card was in there (I know, I know, but who listens to that stuff), my driver's license, my Metro Smartcard. Worse yet, my PetSmart and DSW Rewards cards. Argh.

So finally, I get on the train (I'd called MARC earlier, and they said my best bet was to ask the conductor on the train) and ask the conductor if he had found a small black wallet in the quiet car the night before. No dice, Chicago. The whole ride home I'm thinking where else I could possibly look. I get to my car... check it out all over the place - no luck.

Finally, I get home, and there on the couch where I unceremoniously throw my purse every night, hidden under a couple of things, was my wallet. And after two quick calls to Chase and my credit union, all is well again in the world.

Dude, losing my wallet would really have sucked this week in particular. I have a hair appointment on Thursday night.

I'm Henry VIII I am, Henry VIII I am, I am

PBS's The Six Wives of Henry VIII is one of my favorite history programs ever. I love the stories of the six women unfortunate enough to be married to him, and always wonder what I would have done if I was in their position. Catherine Howard's story is my favorite, although I always feel bad for Anne of Cleves. It's hard to remember that Henry VIII was king of England during the height of the Italian Renaissance, and that he was the father of Elizabeth I, perhaps one of the most interesting women in history. It's not quite as hard to remember that he's the reason for the English split from the Catholic church - leading to the establishment of the Church of England.

I'm watching the first part of the series now (on Catherine of Aragon), which I've never seen before. I've seen all the rest several times - so I'm happy to see where it all began!

Damn Swayze - he's the reason that Herman's Hermits are burned into my memory!

Progress on my resolutions!

Here is two, two, two blog posts in one!

1) I nearly blew one of my New Year's resolutions right off the bat today! Impulse control! I had lunch today with a friend of mine who works at NASA (he had the day off and lives in Silver Spring). We went over to Mama Lucia's - a pizza joint. I got a slice of white pizza with broccoli and a small side salad, and when asked if I wanted a drink I said "why not?" I grabbed my cafeteria-style plastic cup and walked over to the drink station and impulsively went for the root beer. Then I though "whoa, my New Years resolution!" I stood there, confused for a second. What was I going to do? Salvation - there was a ice tea brewer right next to all the sodas! New Years resolution failure - averted!!

2) We had somewhat significant progress on our New Year's resolution to finish the kitchen today! The plumber and the contractor actually showed up reasonably on time, and the dishwasher is now properly installed. Of course, I did cause a corresponding setback when I accidently smashed the glass of one of the pendant lights above the island, which I now have to reorder, but at least that part is under my control rather than relying on the damn contractors.

It's a twofer!

New Year's Resolutions

So, this is the time of year when we are all supposed to be resolving to make ourselves better people in the upcoming year. Eh. I'm never any good at keeping these resolutions. One year I resolved not to eat after 8pm (I think that lasted about 3 months), another I resolved not to use the term "starved" when I was merely hungry (actually, I slip now and then, but I am pretty conscious of it).

This year I am going to resolve a couple of things that I hope that I can accomplish in 2007:

1. Finish the kitchen. This is defined as having paint, backsplash, molding, new door leading to the garage, new table and chairs, and general organization of the kitchen.

2. Finish one other room in the house. Now that we have this new couch coming, I should try and finish painting the living room (since the color in there right now is a bit too dark for the room) or settling on what we are going to do with the yellow bedroom upstairs, or even the den.

3. Drink no soda! No diet coke, no Dr. Pepper, no root beer. This one is going to be hard, but I think I can do it. Actually, it won't be that hard, since I don't drink soda on a regular, semi-regular, or even occasional basis. However, the times when I do drink soda it is usually a moment of weakness or craving or something (especially root beer in the summertime) so I am going to try and eliminate it all together.

4. Save enough money to fully fund my own Roth IRA contribution. I funded this year's contribution with a little help from DH and some money from some bonuses that I received through work. This year I want to try and find a way to set just a little bit aside to do it on my own. I might have to use some bonus money to get there, but I'll make a go of it.

5. Be nice. I know this sounds weird, but I'm not really a very nice person sometimes, especially with people who piss me off. So this year I am going to try and find a way to be a little more compassionate, a little more understanding, and be nicer to people. I think this resolution has the least chance of long-term success.

New Year... New Couch!

Happy New Year everybody! Since moving into our new house 4+ years ago, DH and I have wanted to get a new couch for the living room. For the last two years, we've known what style and color we wanted, but haven't bitten the bullet to buy it.

Well, the wait is over. After being briefly distracted by a the new Pottery Barn Basic Square couch (until we saw it in person at the PB in Arlington - HATED IT!), DH and I have gone ahead and ordered a new PB Basic Couch in Cardinal Red. Unlike our Crate and Barrel leather couch that we ordered last October and received in February (like 12 weeks later), this one is supposedly going to arrive in under 2 weeks. Wow!

So now we've got to figure out what to do with the old couch! Any takers? We should have done this a couple of weeks ago - then we could have donated the couch to the Salvation Army or Goodwill and taken the tax deduction.

Our new couch:


I can only imagine how long it will take us to choose new end tables and a chair for the living room.

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!