Please, for the love of God, don't strike

So we're flying Delta to St Thomas in 43 days, and I know that Delta's been having some labor and financial issues. I've been praying and praying that they'll find away to settle their differences calmly and rationally, without public posturing and ratcheting up the tension.

So much for that... according to this article, the pilots are really gonna push this. All I can say is please, for the love of God and my sanity, please settle.

Glimmer of Hope - part deux

When DH and I lived outside of Philly (either growing up in Jersey or after college in Chester County), we loved to have - as a special treat - a true Philly cheesesteak. Now I understand that people's loyalty to a particular ship as "the best" is very personal. I grew up eating Jim's on South St just like all the other white bread suburban Jersey kids. Later, when we lived in Exton, PA, and didn't want to drive into the city, we relished the wonderful cheesesteaks at Roccos on Rt. 100.

Since moving to DC, however, we've had very, very few opportunities to enjoy the greasy delicacy. Local restaurant menu claims of "philly-style" cheesesteak (replete with lettuce and tomatoes - say what?) have us shaking in our boots.

The Washington Post has an article highlighting this place in College Park that, at first glance, seems promising. Amoroso rolls - definite element of a successful Philly Cheesesteak. Cheez Whiz - ohhhhs so sweet and real. The real question is... have they accumulated the decades of grease that makes a Philly Cheesesteak sing?

Probably not.. but I might have to try them for the Amoroso roll alone. MMMmmm.

Glimmer of hope

Today, trolling the Commerce jobs website, I came across a posting for a job in my dream office. I am trying very, very hard to stay calm and realistic – that this is a glimmer of hope that might just be a mirage. It might be a posting for a slot that has already been identified for someone specific (not unheard of in government), there might be tons of people who are very interested in the spot who are WAY more qualified than I.

But still, I emailed some people I know over there to figure out whose posting it is.

And maybe, just maybe… it’s like a .05% chance but the chance is there…

Keeping my fingers crossed. Tightly.

Edited to add - well the glimmer was in fact a mirage. They have identified who they want in the position... so it isn't truly an "open position." Oh well... c'est la vie. Welcome to government land.

An expensive new hobby

This is going to be me soon... without the long, flowing blond hair.

So DH and I went to an orientation session for our SCUBA class today... and now I've realized a) how excited I am to learn how to dive and b) how dangerous this is - because I am going to either want to move to Florida so I can dive every weekend or we're going to be racking up the frequent flyer miles. The dive instructer was an absolute gas. He's runs SCUBAedu.com, he's got a personality that left me in stiches, and I can understand why he has a legion of devotees that have formed a dive club out of love for him.

The kitchen drama continues as well. We met with one "designer" (more like layout specialist) this weekend who showed us his "plans" for the kitchen. Nothing really different or creative - mostly the same layout with a little different use of the pantry wall. We were disappointed - particularly when he had so few insightful suggestions in terms of actual design. We're going to keep looking - hopefully we'll find someone with a little more vision.

DH and I have discovered that we have only 2 or 3 free weekends between now and Memorial Day Weekend. It's a busy life we lead.

I am a virtual undergrad at Berkeley

Today, I listed to my first podcast lecture for the UC Berkeley course "European Civilization from the Renaissance to the Present." Basically Western Civ 101. It talked a bit about the cultural context that sparked the Renaissance, as well as the notable cultural contributions of the Renaissance and its impact/influence on 19th and 20th century society. It was understandably and expectedly shallow in terms of its level of analysis - but these are 18 year olds in their first or second semester.

Regardless, this was awesome. I was listening to this lecture on the train in to work - and I realized when I got to work that I had officially crossed the border from sorta-nerd to uber geek. It's okay though, I'm comfortable with that.

What I hope is that more professors make their entire course lecture series available via podcast. I think that this is the beginning of a real trend in education, at least I hope that it is.

Wow, I am really a total nerd. Check out the course I am listening to here.

Destroying my childhood... one tee at a time.

I just caught this article in the Burlington County Times... the golf course that I grew up living next to might be sold to developers for housing developments.

I cannot explain how upset this makes me. That golf course holds so many memories for me: KW and I would collect golf balls that were lost in the water hazards and woods and sell them back to the golfers on the 4th tee, in the winter the water hazards would freeze and we would ice skate on them, the strange eel creature that we saw swimming in the streams, sledding down the tee-off hills on the fourth tee, walking across the golf course (just once) to elementary school (we got lost a little), having my first french kiss in the trees near some other tee, running from the Ranger when we were caught on the course.

And that's just the beginning.

When I describe what my childhood was like, and what the kids and my neighborhood were like, the golf course is an integral part of all of those memories. We were mischevious (although I never had the guts to go to the Ranger shack and drive his cart after hours) but never did anything really really bad. It was fun to hide in the woods at the bottom of the 4th tee, and when a golf ball was hit close to the woods - we'd run out and steal it. When we got older, I remember some of the older kids actually learning to golf on the course - something we'd all try a couple of times.

In any case, hearing that this giant playground (I am sure that the Ramblewood County Club managers are thrilled to hear that) is about to be torn out for houses... well it saddens me. The next generation of kids on my old street aren't going to have the opportunity to play and run free on those vast green tracts like we did.

Come to think of it though.. the kids that were the generation after us probably never did play on the golf course. Their parents were probably too afraid of them being kidnapped or molested, and anyway the kids had Playstation and Xbox and the internet to entertain them indoors rather than playing Ghost in the Graveyard or Jailbreak outdoors.

It's a tragedy all around.

Goin' down to South Park...

So, through a strange set of circumstance, I am probably going to be in Denver, Colorado, for a week for a training class. Even stranger, there is a possibility that DH might also be in Colorado that week (albeit in Colorado Springs) for a conference.

The problem is – I know nothing about Colorado. At. All.

We were thinking of getting there a weekend early and doing something, but I have no idea what we would do. It will be April, so I have the impression that it is going to be cold, possibly snowy, so scenic mountain drives are likely out of the question.

I guess we’ll come up with something.

An iPod degree - Cool Beans

I was just reading this article on CNN.com, and I am intrigued by the possibilities. I've wanted to get more exposure to certain concepts and ideas in an academic setting, so I'm wondering if I googled "college lecture podcasts" how far I could get in acquiring that knowledge. It's a very intriguing idea. Imagine listening to Francis Fukuyama give a lecture on post 9/11 US foreign policy, or even listen to someone instruct a language class via iPod. Even better, some famous professor economist at UChicago give a lecture on international trade economics, or a research scientist at Woods Hole talk about fishery management.

It will be interesting to see how far this could go. Although part of the benefit of being in the classroom is the exchange of ideas and dialogue about new concepts to fully flush them out, this could also be an invaluable tool to reaching people ordinarily left outside of the traditional academic circle.

Intriguing.

And we thought it would be easy...

Well, it’s been a heck of a weekend. DH and I are starting to get really serious about the kitchen remodel. Saturday we chatted with a kitchen designer who is going to draw up a plan for our kitchen and price it out. We’re responsible for choosing lighting and appliances. He suggested we stop at the Great Indoors for some ideas. Which we did, and were promptly overwhelmed by the stunning array of choices we had to make. Refrigerator: top freezer, bottom freezer, side by side, built in, with water dispenser. Range or cooktop and wall oven? Dishwasher?

With that in mind we signed up for a subscription to Consumer Reports to try and narrow down the choices. No help there. We got recommendations, but then try and find those models in the store. Near impossible.

One of the things that we’re concerned about is making sure that the renovation looks like an update. We also wanted to see some "designed" kitchens for ideas, find out what the new trends are, what our "competition" was, etc. So today we went to some model homes in some new communities in Clarksburg. We went to 7-8 homes and holy crap! I cannot believe how big these homes were. They were ridiculous. 4200 square feet – four finished levels, and every bedroom has a bathroom. I couldn’t understand what kind of families would live in these homes – and indeed even how they could be families. The master bedroom had its own living room; the kids had their own living rooms, plus rec rooms, the normal family room, sun room. A four-person family could literally spend their lives in the same house never seeing each other. Rather than finding it stunning, which I think is the reaction of most, I found it very cold.

What we did learn is why homes in our neighborhood are probably not selling like hotcakes – as they did just a year ago. They are being listed between $550-$675k, and these new houses (albeit 20 minutes or so up the road and not nearly as convenient to highways or public transportation), are being priced very similarly, or just a bit more ($450 for town homes larger than our house through about $850k for a ridiculous 4200 square foot monstrosity) The models are replete with master baths with giant soaking tubs, granite kitchens, hardwood floors throughout – all manner of luxurious amenities. So imagine you have your budget, and you are looking at a 20-year-old, not really updated house vs. a brand new, very large (looking), totally modern model home. Priced similarly (and with creative financing – probably within a few hundred dollars monthly payment, which for most is what really counts) and the choice seems easy – even if it means a ~20 minute longer commute.

In order to compete with these homes on their terms (if that is even possible) we’d have to totally update the kitchen (which we’re doing), renovate the master bath so that we have tiled floors, a 6 foot soaking or Jacuzzi tub, a separate, two-person steam shower, a window over the bathtub, skylights, yada yada yada. We’d also have to finish the basement with separate home theater, exercise room, rec area, and bar area that is nearly as kitted out as the kitchen (granite, fridge, wine cooler, sink, etc)

We’ve got a lot of work to do.

Conquering the media outlets, one at a time

First, the Washington Post. Then the New York Times.

Now my wonderful little paradise has been discovered by The Colbert Report.

Watch the video here. Click on "Better Know a District."

Morning drama in 35 seconds

Open scene.

A young woman stands at a kitchen sink, looking out the window at a squirrel attacking a birdfeeder she had just filled with sunflower seeds. She’s preparing to make espresso, and has just turned on the coffee grinder. She bangs on the window to get the squirrel to stop feeding on the seed.

Young woman: Get off my feeder you stinker!

The young woman runs over to the back door, bangs on it a couple of times. A small orange cat named Henry runs over to the door in hopes of escaping into the backyard. The squirrel remains on the feeder. The coffee grinder is still running.

Young woman: Dammit.

The young woman opens the door, trying to keep the small orange cat from escaping with her foot. The coffee grinder is still running.


Young woman: Henry!

The small orange cat leaps over the foot and runs towards the squirrel on the feeder, chasing it around the roof of the gazebo several times. The sound of footsteps running down stairs is heard in the background. The young woman runs outside, grabs the small orange cat, who is hissing and spitting, runs back inside, slams the door shut, drops the small orange cat, runs over to the coffee grinder – which is still running – and shuts it off. She doses coffee grinds into the portafilter of the espresso machine, locks it into place, and starts making espresso.

A young man appears from the hallway.

Young Man: What the hell is going on down here?

Young woman: Nothing, I’m just making my coffee and trying to get the squirrel off the feeder.

The small orange cat is at the backdoor, meowing loudly.

End Scene.

Springtime for ...

I love Spring. I love getting out of the house, working in the yard, dreaming about the myriad projects that one wants to do to brighten things up.

DH and I are hoping to remodel our kitchen this summer – which is our major project for this year. We chatted with a couple of kitchen designers this weekend, found out that our initial budget was probably a bit low for what we wanted, and got the sense that unless you are doing a $100, 000 kitchen makeover, people in this area are not interested in working with you. Ugh.

We also tackled the backyard. The leaves had decided to fall in January, rather than in November when they were supposed to. So we raked up all the leaves. Also, three years ago I had transplanted 3-5 Iris rhizomes into the garden. From these original plants, I dug out and split literally 100 new plants, which I planted in the side garden and the backyard. Needless to say my legs are killing me, my back is sore, and I have sunburn on my shoulders.

It was a busy weekend.

Don't judge a book by its cover

I had two appearance-related incidents today...

First, I finally got around to getting my passport photos done so that I can renew my passport. I only have to travel in 64 days - so I though that it was about time. I wasn't vain about my picture, but I did a quick sweep of powder across the face and a fresh lipstick application. Still, I was annoyed about waiting 20 minutes for someone to wait on me when there were five people behind the counter and two people in the whole store. So my picture shows it - I have this look on my face like "so now you're finally getting to me! How nice." Which isn't really that big of a deal, since I imagine I'll have the same look on my face when approaching customs agents after waiting in endless immigration lines. So I've got that going for me.

The second incident was at home. I answered the door to some young kid selling some such crap. I open the door (all I am wearing is a college sweatshirt and similar shorts) and he says "Are your parents home?"
Now, I'm young looking for my age, but I'm also almost 30. Carding, I can understand. But I can't believe that I look that young that I merit an "are your parents home" by some kid half my age.

It's a weird, weird world.

New Book

Isn't he sweet. I want to save him!


Now that I have finished "The World is Flat," I am trying to decide whether I want to a) go back to school (shudder), b) build my career focusing on international policy - regardless of the issue - or focus on living marine resource management, and c) quit trying to figure my life out right now and let it go where it's going to go.

To those ends I am reading "The Empty Ocean" by Richard Ellis. I don't actually know if it is going to help, but it seemed like an interesting book. I'm almost 30 - shouldn't I have a better idea of what I want to do with my life yet?

I've been reading up on UDel's Masters in Marine Policy and UWashington's Master of Marine Affairs programs. I'm scaring myself. I really want to take just a few select courses rather than go through all the drama - and I'd like to stay somewhat closer to home.

Someone just smack me now. Think Cher in Moonstruck.

PostSecret Chat

There was a chat with the coordinator? of the PostSecret website/project, Frank Warren, on the Washington Post today - check it out here.

TJs all the way!

The NYTimes has an article about my favorite grocery store in the world, Trader Joes - in fact it's the only store DH and I go to for our weekly needs. Apparently they are about to open up in NYC, which should be a pretty big challenge.

The most frustrating thing is that certain products come and go. Recent loves of mine that have been lost are the bottled Santa Fe sauce (great on tacos, although the new Mexican Red Sauce is a fair replacement) and the diced coconut, which is apparently gone and was my favorite mid afternoon snack along with dried mango.

Their shrimp, olive oil, frozen pizza, and cereals are all must haves!

Taking it day by day

Another day, another dime. I met today with someone who works in the office that posted an actual international affairs job, but naturally it was a minefield opportunity to be avoided. I am already in one broken office, the last thing I want to do is work in another. So that's that.

One thing that is pretty good is that I have an interview tomorrow with the dream office. It's only a rotation, and they are fully staffed with little prospect of another opportunity, but that's okay. It's still the dream office!

Something that I am learning about govt work is that it is a never ending drama to try and complete one item on the endless list of things to do. There are a million things that my office needs to get done (and everytime I talk with another office - they to have an endless list of things to do). There's no outsourcing basic functions, so valuable time is spent doing/struggling with basic tasks, wasting time that could be used to provide a true, value-added service. Govt jobs are posted asking for qualifications of the job that you should be doing, but in reality you'd better have some technical skills with Access or Excel, because you'll be spending all your time on basic data collection and organization tasks. There is no time for true analysis.

It's really sad too, because the govt could do so many great things, if only we weren't bogged down in these trivialities.

It's over already?

Shame that weekends have to go by so quickly. After recovering from my Friday night fury, it was a pretty easy-going weekend. Got the kitchen cleaned, played Monopoly with DH, did a bit of furniture shopping (didn't buy anything - waiting for the new Crate and Barrel catalogue this week).

The highlight of the weekend was battling our dear kitties for their trip to the vet. We only have one cat carrier, but two cats. Both had to go to the vet (Henry for his annual check-up, Eliza for her quarterly weigh-in). We decided to stick Eliza in the carrier and Henry on the leash and harness, because Eliza tends to roam all over the car and Henry just hunkers down in the backseat. You know the expression "herding cats." Well, it's true.

As soon as Eliza gets placed in the car, she starts a non-stop meowing tirade that lasts the entire 7 minute trip to the vet. And if 7 minutes doesn't sound that long, I challenge you to go through it with a constant, loud "meow, meow, meow" in your ear. Henry, as expected, layed down in the back seat. When we got to the vet, he was so scared he tried to crawl into the armhole of my coat - while I was wearing it!

Needless to say they got through the exam without problems, but man - they are dear little pains in the butt.

68 days 'til vacation.

How fickle is woman

And just as quickly as I had accumulated a great deal of good will towards those who passed my George, their greedy entitlement attitudes and nickel and diming me (and a ludicrous charge of $40 for new wiperblades!!) send me into a fury.

I just picked up my car - and my charge was $184 rather than the $130 I had been given as an estimate. So I question the charges, where the reveal that they are charging me $40 for the wiper blades and $15 for "shop charges." I was enraged - they didn't even ask me to confirm I wanted the wiper blades installed - had they told me $40 I would have laughed at them and said "no thanks, I'll go to Pep Boys and do it myself. Then they explain to me that the $15 shop charges were to cover their "materials and services" like spraying down my dashboard or some such crap. Now those who have seen my car know it's a total hole - like I am going to be all impressed by a dusted dashboard. I tell them that those should be part of the cost of doing business, and making them visable to the customer is just a way of guarenteeing ill will for the nickel-and-diming treatment.

You know, if they had called me and said - hey, your car passed except for the wiper blades - and for $30 we'll go ahead and install them for you, I would probably have been cool with that (money for convienence) and my goodwill from the inspection would have made me a customer until they pissed me off a couple of times. Now, they have not only flushed any goodwill I had down the toilet, they've left a sour taste in my mouth and neither DH nor I will ever go back.

They say it's 10 times more expensive to get a new customer as it is to keep one... I wonder how much is costs them to lose one - especially when one has a car with 176k on it that's sure to have some mechanical problems that need fixing.

That kind of stupidity should be criminal.

The kicker is that while I was complaining about the charges (which they did knock down in the end, but I was too pissed by then to be mollified) the guy slyly mentions that they "saved" me $700 by passing my car. No, I told them, I had a quote for $350 to replace it the next morning. Plus, if the car was worthy of passing - they didn't "save" me anything. He was just trying to make me feel better about being duped, and it was so transparent it was laughable. Idiot. More service people I'll just have to see in hell.

George passed!

Not my car - but one of his close cousins


Right now, I am in a state of shock.

My car, George, is a 1995 Saturn SL1 with 176k+ miles. He's a great car - I love him.

When DH and I moved to Maryland, I took my car to a Saturn dealership nearby (without being potentially held liable for slander, I won't name names) who looked at a hairline crack along the furthest edge of the passenger side of the car (in the painted area) and promptly said "Your car won't pass Maryland inspection with that crack." Now George had easily passed PA inspection for several years with that crack. When I asked how much it would cost to replace the windshield - I was quoted a figure of $700.

Now, I love my car, but I was poor, jobless, not even a student at that point, and sinking $700 into my precious, but worn, car for something like a windshield was just not in the cards. I called around for a couple of other quotes, but never got anything lower than $600, so I sold my car to my father-in-law for free, who registered and insured the car in PA, but allowed me to continue to drive it.

Well, I'm sometimes not a very together person, and I have, on occasion, gotten parking tickets that have been forgotten. About a week and a half ago, my FIL received notice about one of those tickets. Needless to say he was not happy with me. After chatting with DH about the problems of the current arrangement - including the potential liability factor - we decided to try and bring George up to Maryland inspection standards and insure and title him with us.

I got a new quote for a windshield replacement (this time $350 with Safelite) and made an appointment for early Saturday morning. However, in a stroke of genious (hah) I realized that I should get George inspected before the windshield replacement - just to see what other problems might be lurking.

I took him in this morning, and, wearing my lowest cut sweater and using all my womanly charms, bounced and giggled and otherwise performed for the service boys and the man who would be doing the state inspection. They all acted very grim, noting that the windshield crack was pretty long, and that the back tires were a little worn. I was prepared for the worst - apparently Maryland inspection standards are quite tough.

You cannot imagine my shock and amazement when I chatted with them this afternoon and they relayed that except for needing new windshield wipers, my car was in solid shape and had passed the inspection. "What about the windshield?" I asked.

"It passed." They replied.

"Shut up!" I cried in my best Elaine Benes imitation. "Shut up." Shut up."

There was much laughing on the other end of the line. I don't know whether a little bouncing in a low cut sweater or a toss of my supercute blond hair made any difference. But George passed! He passed!

Somewhere I hope that a certain Saturn service idiot is rotting in hell.

I love George.