Randomicity

This weekend DH and I are going to a family reunion in Easton, MD. It ought to be, well, interesting. It's my grandfather's family and they're getting on in years. I'm thinking that these events aren't going to happen for too much longer, so might as well do it while we can.

I found out today that VW is going to declare the title for my NBC "lost," which means that they are going to have to apply for a duplicate title, which is going to have to be sent to the guy from whom I bought the car, who then has to sign off on it and send to me, so I can apply for a MD state title. You know, this great deal isn't looking so peaches and cream anymore. I don't think that I am going to have the title for another 2 weeks at this point, which is rather ridiculous.

We're in desperate need of rain; for some reason all of the rain that has been in the area has passed south of us. I'd really like for my garden to get a good soaking, and I think that I need to fertilize or something because my Roma tomato bush is suffering from blossom end rot. The tomatoes aren't coming on as strong as I would like them to, either. I don't know whether its the weather or the two weeks of neglect while we were on vacation, but the garden is in a sorry state.

My feets are still aching from yesterday's activities. Poor things - and I wanted to wear cute shoes tomorrow, Doesn't look like that's going to happen now.

Oh what a circus!

Today I spent my entire day in Alexandria where the NOAA ship Thomas Jefferson is docked for three days, hosting public tours for VIPs and summer-camp kids and the general public. Needless to say I am beyond exhausted. I made a poor choice of footwear (heeled sandles) for navigating downtown Alexandria's hilly brick sidewalks. I walked from King St Metro down to the waterfront in those poor sandles and destroyed my poor feet (15-20 blocks...I was nuts, but this morning's weather wasn't bad). And this afternoon was hot and humid and I was not a happy camper. And the trip from Alexandria to Silver Spring (via Metro) was really, really long.

Ugh.

I did get a choco-vanilla twist frozen custard at the Scoop Grille on King St, and I do really like the area (when can we go guys?). I will, however, make a much more educated and intelligent choice in footwear.

Here are some pics I took:


Stern shot


Bow shot


Flag shot


Poor-little-kid-whose-parents-dressed-him-like-a-Nancy-boy shot

It's the pen-penultimate countown

If you're a fan of the CBS show "How I Met your Mother" (and if you aren't - catch up on this smart funny show PDQ!) then you know that Marshall has 3 slaps left in his slap bet against Barney! Thankfully, CBS has offered us this handy-dandy countdown clock to Slap #3 - the pen-penultimate slap.

Congrats too to Doogie Howser - a.k.a. Swarley - on the Emmy nod!

First SOLO drive!

So tonight I had an inkling to take the NBC out for a spin... solo. And I did it. My first solo drive - exactly three miles down to the lake, turn around in a parking lot, practice parking once, and then back home. I even did it with the radio on!

I stalled once at a stop sign at a fairly busy little intersection, but I didn't panic! I just turned the car back on and was on my way (although I think that I screwed up traffic a little bit), and one time I left my foot on the gas pedal a little when I put in the clutch, which caused the engine to rev momentarily before I lifted my foot off the gas. But that was okay too!

I'm so proud of me. And many thanks to the many people who have tried to teach me to drive stick over the years! It's finally working!

Yeah! Now if only the title would get here already!

First post-vacation weekend

Ahhh, the weekend. Everyone's weekly vacation - except when you've been on vacation. DH and I actually got quite a bit accomplished:

- Friday night, to raise our spirits, we got the ultimate happy-food - Indian. Yummy. Life just never can be bad with some yummy Tikka Masala (oh so yummy)

- Saturday morning we picked another 6 lbs of blueberries at Butler's Orchard. We were hoping to snag a few blackberries as well, but it looks like it's going to be another 2 weeks before they really come on

- Saturday afternoon we took the NBC (New Beetle Convertible) for a drive at Black Hills Regional Park. I drove a little, stalled out trying to avoid hitting some woman pushing someone in a wheelchair in the middle of the road (and avoiding oncoming traffic), and we tried to ascertain whether there would be enough breeze to sail a little Sunfish sailboat (maybe!!)

- Sunday afternoon we finished the structural part of the little raised section of the deck! Yeah! Now we have to order all the floorboards and start re-laying the deck. We also brought a whole ton of stuff to the dump!

On top of all that, DH got his much needed haircut, I watched Evita on On-Demand, and the assorted normal weekend chores.

NBC's title should arrive tomorrow! Crossing my fingers that it's all good!

St John vs. Grand Cayman - no contest

To be fair and in the interest of complete and honest disclosure, DH and I have spent 3 wonderful vacation on St John, USVI, and one vacation on Grand Cayman. Being so enamored with St John has clearly colored the lens through which I viewed Grand Cayman. They are two completely different islands, with different histories, cultures, perspectives on tourism, etc. Nonetheless, I'll go ahead and compare them with my thoughts since it is a question commonly raised on travel boards.

Topography/geography - Winner: St John.
Grand Cayman is generally flat, with few distinguishing geographic features. It's like a tropical version of Delaware, and if you have ever driven a distance through Delaware, you'll understand how boring it is. Sadly, Grand Cayman was hit pretty hard by Hurricane Ivan in 2004 and has not fully recovered in terms of foliage or in infrastructure, which leaves bits of ugliness in full view.

St John, in contrast, has been lucky not to have been struck by any hurricanes since I believe Marilyn in 1995. It is a lush and green island, and more importantly, mountainous, which makes driving both challenging but also interesting. It also offers superior choices for non-water based activities like hiking. It's a common statement that the mountainousness of St John makes the water less clear than Cayman because of the runoff - but we've never seen that to be the case. St Johns many coves are actually much better protected from wave action (gosh, I don't think we saw any wave action on any beach with the exception of Drunk Bay on St John) whereas Caymans beaches are mostly exposed, protected only by the barrier reef ringing the entire island, which dampens but doesn't quell most wave action. This silts up the nearshore areas on Grand Cayman more than any runoff silting we ever saw on St John.

Beaches: Winner - St John (with a caveat)
My ideal beach is secluded, ringed with tropical green foliage, and private. Size is not an issue - the beach could be just a couple of yards wide across and to the waterline. This describes St John's beaches perfectly. There are several places where you could potentially be the only person at the beach at any given time. Because most of the beaches are inside of the National Park, there are not towers of condos and hotels lining beaches - eradicating all traces of palms and sea grapes from view.

In contrast, Cayman's signature beach is 7 mile beach, which is beautiful in its own right - powder white sand, gin colored water, etc. But it's so darn crowded - whether it be by beach toys, people, buildings, stuff in the water to mark swimming areas seperate from boating/motorized areas. Just not my style. Now some people love the idea of a perfect sand beach with all these amenities there to entertain you, but that's not me. I'm entertained by quiet, and good snorkeling.

The East End of Cayman is the closest one gets to a comparable St John experience. The big "but" here is that it is really challenging to find those great spots. There are no signs marking anything but public beaches, and there is so much water front development either there or in progress you're never really sure whether you might be intruding on someone's private property. Not fun. The closest we got was on the beach near the Queen's Monument, where there was fantastic snorkeling, a secluded little beach (somewhat) and very few other people to be seen.

Tourist Services: Winner - St John (hands down, no doubt about it!)
While I think that accomodations on St John might be more expensive than those on Cayman (much more competition on Cayman, only two real resorts on St John) the restaurants on St John are much more reasonable in price, value, and quality (in my opinion). I just felt like we had a lot more choices for reasonably priced meals on St John, and they were far more accessible regardless of where you were staying. Now, I'm not being fair in that Grand Cayman is 22 miles end to end vs. St John's 8 - but it's not my fault that Grand Cayman hasn't done a better job of locating some of it's tourist infrastructure on the East End to compensate.

One huge disparity was the ease of finding beaches and neat places to explore. On St John everything is marked with a sign - from trailheads to beaches. This is mostly because these places are within a National Park, which provides the basis for marking all these places with the ubiquitous brown and white signs. It really made it so much easier and less stressful for us on our first trips to have all those signs, so we could match our research with our location.

I can't think of a lot of other things to compare the two on. Driving on St John might be a lot more challenging because of the hairpin turns, hilly roads, and unexpected beasties wandering around (donkeys and goats and cows, oh my!) There isn't a lot of "entertainment" infrastructure on St John, like clubs and jet ski rentals and parasailing and whatnot. Of course, that's why we prefer it. Cayman can't do anything about it's topography and it certainly caters to a different kind of tourist - but they could appeal to the St John crowd by making those secret spots a little less difficult to find, limiting the amount of waterfront development to keep secret beaches and pretty little coves from feeling like someone's private property, and spreading out some of the basic tourist infrastructure (like places to eat) to the East End to help people who want to stay out there.

Different strokes for different folks. Thank goodness for that. Now I'm just wondering how I can get back to St John!

Grand Cayman vacation review - Part 2

Days 9-12: Sunshine Suites Resort, Seven Mile Beach, Grand Cayman

Friday we packed up all our things and moved across the island to meet up with the dive club we were diving with at Sunshine Suites. The first thing that you notice when you get closer to the west side of Grand Cayman is the ridiculous traffic. Truly unbearable for people who are trying to get away from it on vacation. We found the "resort" easily enough. It is actually down a block and across a very, very busy streen from Seven Mile Beach. I was completely unimpressed by Seven Mile Beach itself - it looked like Miami Beach, replete with water bikes, jet skis, and all other sorts of watersports junk. Not my cup of tea at all, frankly, but I know that it suits other much more. Different strokes for different folks.

Our room was a first floor unit with a queen bed, regular-sized fridge, microwave, and stovetop (two burners). There was no balcony or private patio, which became a huge issue. This place caters to divers, I believe, and without a patio or balcony you don't have anywhere to hang/leave your stuff to dry. Everything we had was more or less constantly wet, which was really annoying and after a couple of days, really stinky. On our last full day we found the rinse tanks and storage room where divers could leave their gear to dry, but even that was pretty inadequate. Not pleased with that at all.

This part of our vacation was nothing but dive, dive, dive. Similar to the beginning of our vacation, there was never enough time to wind down from the activities of the day. In hindsight, we are not really "crazy divers" and a two-tank morning dive for two or three days over a vacation would probably be plenty for us in the future. The best past of being with the dive club was absolutely the social aspect. I really had an awful lot of fun with the people we met, and after being together 24/7 for the past 9 days, I am sure that DH and I appreciated having someone else to talk to besides each other.

We dove with Divers Down, and sadly it really wasn't optimal. They advertise that they don't usually dive with more than 8 divers at a time, but we always had at least 11 divers aboard (likely because we were on this organized trip that things were done differently). It was pretty crowded and overwhelming at times for the divemasters I think. Our first dive was a complete mess (unexpectedly strong current, divemaster who didn't read the crowd well, etc) but subsequent dives were better. There were just a lot of them. The most disappointing thing for me, I think, is that we rarely saw anything different than what we saw snorkeling, in terms of sealife. Oh well.

Our flights down and back were fairly uneventful - with Miami Airport causing the most stress with their out of control construction and confusing signage and whatnot. We spent way more than we anticipated spending, and never felt like we got a good value for our money. Food was ridiculously expensive at restaurants on both Grand Cayman and Captiva, and not good enough to command those prices. We almost always come back from vacation feeling like we need another vacation, but this time, for me at least, that feeling is especially strong. Unfortunately, it looks like mini-weekend retreats are all that we'll be able to afford for a while! C'est la vie. We have a deck to finish, a new car to pay for, and credit card bills that will haunt us until September!

I don't want to end this on a down note, so I will say that when we were having time to relax, it was nice. I read "To Kill a Mockingbirg" for the first time in one afternoon sitting on a comfortable beach chair at The Reef Resort's beach. We did meet some very funny, interesting, and friendly folks diving that made the time diving very fun. We did learn some skills and get credentials that will allow us to take vacations in the future that interest us. Most important of all, DH and I left work behind for 12 days and spent time together doing stuff we love, and all our memories - good and bad - will make great anecdotes to tell over and over again!

Florida and Grand Cayman vacation review - Part 1

I think that it's time to post a little review of all we did on vacation. I think that I'll post a follow-up comparing Cayman to St John, since it's a frequent question on travel message boards.

Days 1-5: Captiva Island, Fl. South Seas Resort. Offshore Sailing School's Learn to Sail class

The resort: We had a 3rd floor harborview room with a garden tub, balcony overlooking the harbor, two queen beds, and in-room fridge. The resort itself is actually quite large, and it took 10 minutes to get from Captiva's main road to where we were staying. The room was clean, nice view, stayed cool. There were an awful lot of kids there (understandable since we were there the weekend after the 4th of July, so probably lots of vacationing families). Not my favorite place in the world but the beaches were nice, there was an amazing variety of birdlife around the resort (lots of Ospreys, pelicans, assorted herons, ibises, etc). If we hadn't been doing the sailing class I would never have stayed there on my own. That being said, there was probably the opportunity to do some nice kayaking along the wildlife sanctuary and stuff.

The sailing class: From 8-5 for three days straight, the instructor was wonderful and patient (his name was Biete!) and I really feel like we learned a lot. The boats (Colgate 26) were purpose-perfect; lots of room in the cockpit, sheets clearly labeled, etc). It didn't give us an awful lot of time to unwind from the hard day's work, but that was the nature of the class (there was an extended course that would allow you afternoons to do the vacation thing). Would definitely take another class with the school. Learning to sail was pretty expensive, though, like all of our hobbies it seems.

Days 5-9: The Reef Resort, Grand Cayman.

This was supposed to be the relaxing part of our vacation. The Reef Resort is located on the northeast corner of Grand Cayman, easily a 50 minute drive from the airport along a very boring road. Frankly, I was unimpressed with Grand Cayman overall, but more on that later. The resort itself was pretty nice. We had a second floor Deluxe Studio which was an end unit, balcony overlooking the pool and beach. King size bed, jacuzzi tub, small fridge and microwave and toaster, and some basic kitchen supplies. The walls were paper thin such that you could hear everything in the neighboring room, and the tiled walkways meant that you could hear every sound elsewhere (like people dropping brooms or mops or whatever with a loud clatter). I didn't really like how two rooms were entered through a single door with a little entryway. (We were in room 206B, there was a room 206A, you entered both through a door marked 206 and walked through a little tiled entryway to get to your own door). That entryway just echoed all the noise from other people entering their room, which was annoying. Not a fan.

DH and I normally love being remote and secluded from the tourist meccas at our various vacation destinations, but Grand Cayman doesn't support this very well - or at least the resort made it a little challenging. There was a restaurant on site, but almost every night we were there there was some "special" resort thing going on that made eating there impossible. Monday nights the restaurant is closed, fair enough to give the staff a day off (common in Europe). Tuesday and Thursday nights are "Barefoot Man" performances, where you have the privelege of paying too much to order off an extremely limited menu and listen to this guys music (hopefully you like it, if not you're SOL!) Wednesday night they did some kind of outdoor Mexican night thing; I have to admit that was a night when we went out for dinner, so I am not sure whether you could eat a normal dinner at the restaurant or not.

None of this would have been an issue, had there been more restaurants on the East End of the island. We went out twice - driving 30+ minutes both times - to virtually the only options available to us. This was a big turn-off for us. I'll tell the little story about our last East end restaurant drive another time, but suffice it to say that there just isn't enough infrastructure on the East End to keep a tourist who wants to stay away from the madness of 7 mile beach happy for an extended period of time.

Finally, it was near impossible to identify good beaches with snorkeling on the East End as there are few to no signs indicating destinations. We had read about a couple of spots online and were able to figure out one (Queen's Monument). Overall, it just felt like to much work to stay away from the crowds on Grand Cayman.

There was good snorkeling and a nice beach at The Reef Resort, but so many people who were inexperienced or poor snorkelers kicked up so much silt that it made it difficult to see as the afternoon wore on.

This post is getting too long - I'll continue it in the next post.

More pictures from vacation...

So the pictures that we took were pretty crappy, sadly. Maybe I'll load some of them onto the blog (the ones that weren't as bad). However, I do have some pics that were taken by one of the dive instructors on our trip.


Me diving, unfortunately with my alternate and SPG hanging off me. Bad diver!



Me 'n' DH, cute as can be


STINGRAY ATTACK!


Hey! A picture of Brian rather than a picture by Brian!

Introducing... Brian Vallelunga photography

So, on our dive trip we met one very funny Brian Vallelunga, from Adams Morgan. He's a great photographer, and was brave enough to bring some very expensive equipment onto a very wet dive boat. He took these pictures:





This is my favorite picture



His Flickr gallery with all his pictures from our dive trip is here.

I'm back!

We got home about 11pm last night after traveling for what seemed like forever. Miami airport is a total clusterf*&k, everything else went fairly smoothly. It was nice to be home and have kitties piled on me while I slept. I went out to the garden this morning to check on how out of control it was, and there were about 7 baseball bat sized zucchinis taking over the place. Hopefully picking them will allow some little ones to come to life. The tomato plants are a little thin - but maybe some training of the vines will help. Things did seem well watered, though.

Tonight I'll try and download the pics and videos we took on vacation - and also upload some pics taken by those we met down on Cayman. It was a fun trip - perhaps slightly overscheduled - and we met some really fun people!

We're comin' home!

After 12 days of being on vacation - it's time to come home! We've done SO much - except really relax. Well, that's not really true, there were one or two days where we totally vegged, but they were the minority. Actually, it's kind of time to come home - we miss the kitties and I know my garden is out of control. And then there is the new Beetle stuff I have to do (like learn how to drive it!)

As we always say, we need a vacation from our vacation! Miami Customs and Immigration here we come! Yea!

Cool stuff that we've seen/done so far

It's been two long, hot days learning to sail. I think that before we left, I thought that DH was going to enjoy sailing far more than I; the reality is that I think that I have a much more instinctual feel for it, while he's trying to engineer/techie it and deconstruct what happening and understand what's going on and what to do in a very sequential, orderly fashion. In any case, it's been great fun and I love sailing.

We've seen tons of dolphins both days, but today we had a dolphin come up right alongside the boat. Then he swam off, leaping into the air and doing bellyflops three times... that was pretty cool. We saw a couple of turtles surface for air. We also saw two manatees as we were pulling into the harbor. They were so sweet, but it breaks my heart to see the boat prop scars across their backs.

We also saw a Beetle that looks exactly like mine driving around the islands! So exciting.

Blogging on Vacation - that's unpossible

Well, it's a wired society and we're all wedded to our technology... so here I am blogging on vacation. We're on a 1/2 hour break from our first day of our sailing class (all classroom thus far - haven't been on the water yet). The weather is okay - intermittently cloudy and threatening to rain mixed with bright, hot sunshine. The resort we're at (South Seas Resort on Captiva) is a little family-friendly for my personal taste (there are loud kids everywhere... I can't wait to get out on the water where there won't be any). I'm looking forward to doing this class and then going on to Cayman to our decidedly more private, more remote, and likely less family-centric resort.

The flight was uneventful, the pick-up of our rental car painless, and driving to the resort was okay. The scenery is nice - since most of the area is a wildlife refuge.

Ah! Time for sailing!

Weather Update; Follow Up

So we're under a tornado watch here in G-town, which is so weird. There was actually a documented tornado here (maybe about 5 miles from where I live) a couple of years ago; I'm just worried that a storm will knock over my tomato supports again. There's some pretty significant thunder rumbling in the area, though. Hmmm, this could get interesting.

I've spent nearly the entire day cleaning the house - like really cleaning it. I don't know why, but every time we leave for vacation I spend the day before cleaning the whole house - cleaning the kitchens and bathrooms, vacuuming, changing bedsheets and whatnot. It's got some logic to it - there's nothing more stressful than coming home to a messy house, but at the same time it is a bit odd. At least I won't come home to a sinkful of dishes, dirty bedsheets, and an icky bathroom. The cat hair will cover the couch again, I'm sure.

I also put the car cover that came with my New Bug on him today. It's custom made for the car, so it fits like a glove. The cutest thing was that it had these two little pouches for the side-view mirrors that looked like little ears! So the Bug has been put to bed until we return.

Weather Update

So I added two little weather tracker things for the two places we'll be on vacation; Captiva, FL and Grand Cayman. Somehow I don't think that the differences between the weather here and the weather there will be as dramatic as it would have been had I gone on vacation in, say, February.

As long as the little weather tracker thing doesn't say 'hurricane conditions' I'll be happy.

Crossing my fingers that we have a good flight tomorrow with all the Great Britain drama.

More Bug pics

So the Beetle is still in the garage. I messed up the loan check I wrote out for the car and have to send a replacement, so in the garage the Beetle stays until its paperwork is all clear. But no need to not have a few more pics:


Pic of DH driving the Bug, as viewed in my rearview mirror. I'm surprised this came out so well without me causing an accident.


A girl and her Bug.... feel the love.

No more blueberries :(

Last Sunday DH and I picked 9 lbs of bluberries at Butler's Orchard in Germantown with Jeffro and CC. Tonight, I put the last 1/4 cup of blueberries in the freezer for future muffins, pancakes, or waffles. And thus ended our haul of berries. It actually took us less than a week to go through 9 lbs of blueberries - that last 1/4 cup has been in the fridge for 3-4 days.

I'm sure that there's someone out there who can do the math of how many antioxidants or whatever DH and I each got from eating about 4.5 lbs of berries in a week.

I guess we'll have to get more once we get back from vacation!

Things I have found cleaning out "George": Part 1

As I prep my 1995 Saturn "George" for sale, I'm sure I'm going to find a lot of interesting artifacts. Today, I started vacuuming the backseat area and I found:

- An old test prep tape for taking the NASD Series 6 licensing exam; this was for variable contracts.

- An old Russian conversation tape (from my Russian class a hundred years ago)

I'm sure there's lots more treasure hidden in my trunk, under my seats, and elsewhere. Stay tuned for next exciting installment of "What's in Erika's car?"

Note: There's nowhere to eat in Bedford, PA

The adventure is semi-over! My new Beetle Convertible is in my driveway (I have to clear out some space to make room for it in the garage!) after 8+ hours of being on the road. It's been a long day, so I'll leave the stories for another post and simply provide pictures:


Look at Ray drive away in my car!


Ahhh... home at last.


Out with the old and in with the new

The adventure begins!

So... in about 20 minutes DH and I are leaving for our 4 hour drive to Pittsburgh to either pick up the New Beetle or run away at the smell of a scam. It's going to be very interesting, to say the least. No money has changed hands yet - and frankly, I'll leave that part to the very end when I am sure I am about to drive away with the car. I'm totally freaking out... I don't have the impending feeling of doom or anything that would make me just shut the deal down, but I'm nervous. I called VW Credit last night and they confirmed that he did have an account (more than I have ever gotten out of them before) that he had requested a payoff package and that he was selling the car to a third party. They noted my name for record too - so that seems like it's on the up and up.

If you don't hear from me by 10pm tonight (by which I mean if I haven't posted the results of this boondoggle on my blog) call the authorities!

Times they are a changin'

I didn't realize it before, but it seems the majority of my minor and major life changing events happen between May and August. Graduations, birthday, marriage, job changes... today is one of those days. Sadly it is my last day on rotation in my dream office. Happily, the dream office is still my dream office; the work is incredible, the people are an absolute trip to work with, and there is a lot of potential in the work of the office itself for personal career growth. Unfortunately there are no spots open, but hopefully I've made myself an invaluable enough that that will change at the first opportunity.

So the next few weeks will be full of changes: new car (new to me, anyway, and hopefully), new responsibilities at my old job, vacation. July is going to be over in a flash! And June isn't even over yet.

Of all the crazy things I've done, this might be the craziest

Which, if you know me, means a whole lot.

I've just bought a car off eBay.

Seriously.

I bought an $18,500 car sight unseen. Off eBay.

There are more details that I'll share later about the sale (I don't want to disclose them yet, because I don't want to jinx things, but believe me when I say they are juicy!). I think it's a good deal. It's going to be an interesting weekend.

You can see the listing here.

Manic Saturday

So close, yet so far away

It feels great to get so much accomplished so early in the weekend. I had my car reinspected this morning for emissions - and I PASSED! Woot! That's a relief. So the car is good for another 2 years - emissions-wise that is.

I bought the paint for the living room and have one wall done. It looks wonderful - I am so pleased and it's only the first coat (it'll need two). Just three more walls (and one is barely a wall) and I've got 1/2 my painting requirement done!.

DH got both the front and back lawns mowed, and I got an out-of-control weed situation back under control. I've been emailing back and forth with a VW dealer for a Salsa Red convertible that he says he's selling me for $100 over invoice - but I can see plainly via Google and like 100 million websites that he's overstating his invoice by about $450. And he's padding the back end (taxes and all that) pretty well too. It amazes me that an "internet manager" would think that someone using the "internet" to buy a car couldn't instantly check out such statements. I mean, if he simply told me he could sell me the car at X price, with Y being the total for taxes, tags, etc, then I could respect him. But trying to tell me that he's giving me a "deal" by selling $100 over invoice. What. ever. Not only that, but I told him that I didn't need the car - I just wanted it, but only if the price was right.

This guy was no Bob Barker.

Two more weeks!

Until we go on vacation that is. To pass the interim time, I'm:

- dreaming about my New Beetle Convertible, trying to decide if I should maybe try and find a used Turbo to satisfy my need for speed or take the safer road and buy new (since VW's long term reliability is less than stellar).

- trying to get through a project at work that I am totally burnt out on.

- working on the deck; progress on which has been stymied by rain on the last two/four nights.

I still have to get my car to pass emissions inspection, paint the kitchen and living room, and hang curtains in the den. But it's so hard to wait for my new bug - I want it to look like this:

When's that vacation again?

Oh. my. gosh. I am so tired. Today was non-stop action. Haircut, more paint quarts to test in the kitchen and the living room, DECK CONSTRUCTION, finally approval of the paint color (after 7 test quarts!), then primer on the walls in the living room in preparation for the new yellow!

Everything hurts, we've just started making significant progress on the deck and in the living room, and tomorrow we've got to go to DH's parents' house for Father's Day and the MIL's B-day. And to hear all about the bay-bay. Ugh.

I'd rather be working on the deck/painting the kitchen/anything.

... but the saga continues

This postsecret postcard is a scene from one of my favorite commercials of all time (is it weird to have favorite commercials?). Matter of fact, VW has one of the best ad companies out there, because I love and remember a lot of their commercials. I must fit their target demo completely.

Case in point - before I went to test drive a VW Bug - they gave me a DVD for the New Beetle convertible. Yesterday morning, over chocolate-chip muffins and coffee, DH and I watched the DVD for shits and giggles.

It was like watching a snapshot of our own lives.

Well, maybe not exactly, but way close. It featured this couple on a road trip in a gorgeous red New Beetle convertible (tan interior, black ragtop, I'm totally in love with it) from somewhere near Boston to Washington Square, NYC with a stop in Woodstock along the way. They love diners, small harbor towns, and love coffee from small independent coffee shops. There were half a dozen moments when I looked at DH and laughed, because whatever was going on onscreen was totally something we a)have done or b) would do. The magnetic big daisy decals she puts on the car when they get to Woodstock - I COVET them.

It was frightening how exactly we appear to fit into the NBC's target demo.

Now it may be the case that they have an assortment of these DVDs - one for teen girls, one for recently divorced forty-year-old women, etc so that you feel like you fit the "target demo" or something, but regardless, it was funny. Actually, it really was quite entertaining, despite being a naked marketing tool.

Here's a quick snippet of the DVD movie.

And the results are in...

So I dropped by my local VW dealership tonight, DH in tow, to finally test drive a New Beetle Convertible. I drove an automatic, triple white convertible; sticker was 26k as I recall.

I knew I wanted to drive my daily route to work, because one of the roads I take is a twisty, windy backroad that in my little Saturn is an awful lot of fun to speed along. The Bug was a slug, no body roll or sporty feel to it. The pick-up was terrible too. DH's Jetta has no pick-up either, so I don't know why I was expecting anything different. Once I was up to speed the Bug was pretty responsive, and we went from 30-65 at a very peppy pace.

Eh... it wasn't a dream ride. I've had my car for 9+ years. so I know I have become habituated to its peculiarities. I was pretty disappointed my dream car was such a slug.

I'll have to test drive a Mini, I guess.

Notes and tidbits

Just a number of little things I've come across lately:

- My FIL just announced last night that my BIL and his wife are having a baby! Yeah! I'm free from the pressure from my MIL! Hooray!

- Wondering if any of the 2008 Presidental candidates actually have views similar to your own? Check out On the Issues and their 2008 Presidential Match Quiz to see. I can't believe it, but on my most recent quiz... my best match was Hilary Clinton. Un-freakin-believable. It wasn't a good match (and more for my "personal/social" beliefs rather than the economic policy) but it was the best out of the pack of what - 20 current candidates. They didn't include any third-party folk though, who I bet I'd have a better match with.

- DH and I finally solidified the last bit of our plans for our vacation in July. We're going to Captiva, Florida, for a sailing class, then to Grand Cayman for a week of relaxation and diving with the folks who did our open water certification. Flights are booked, deposits are paid, and we've got exactly one month to go!

More to come...

My babies

For the past week or so I've been enjoying my babies... my chickadee babies that is. A pair of chickadees nested in one of the boxes in our backyard, and I've loved hearing their little 'peep peep peep peep's when the parents are in the nearby trees chirp chirp chirping away. The nest is huge, and I discovered tonight that there are four babies in the nest.



We almost had a tragedy tonight, though, when I went to take these pictures. I lifted the door to snap a photo, and one of the little babies must have been leaning against it, and he fell about 6 feet to the ground. I gently picked him up and put him back in the nest - but I was scared to death that the parents would smell me on him and abandon the nest. I guess that's all an old wives tale, though, because shortly thereafter (and after I got the pics) we saw the two parents flitting in and out of the house again.



Phew.

These little guys have had it rough - between the black cat who sits on the fence above the house (and who I have thrown my shoe at twice to get him to back off!) to my infrequent intrusions to see their progress. I'm just glad they seem to be such resilient little guys.

Best. Internet Meme. Evar!

So I've posted this internet meme before, unknowingly, when I posted this pic of a cat strokin' his harbl. I've just discovered that there is a whole community of these pictures, called LOLcats (as defined here in its own Wikipedia article).

This website is apparently the home of the original lolcat and there are other galleries here and here. Best of all, Fark.com had a "Caturday" link on Saturday... where people made new and exciting lolcats!

Some of my favorites are:





Enjoy the lolcatz!

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.