... 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.