On the IJ Side of Life
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May 1st, 2009
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| There was an information fair at work yesterday about various discounts available to government employees with local tourist attractions. Also, somewhat out of place, a T-Mobile representative was there to tell everyone about the 15% discount on any T-Mobile service for government employees. Why didn't anyone tell me about this when I signed up for T-Mobile two years ago? I got all the information to get it applied to my account and called about it this morning. For whatever reason, I actually get an 18% discount on my monthly bill. Since I have a small plan with only one line, it only comes to about $7 off a month, but that's better than nothing. Also, 6 days to Disney World!! | ||||||||
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April 28th, 2009
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| So I've taken another of my month-long breaks from posting. I think I should just accept that I'm going to do that sometimes and not feel bad about it anymore. Back in March, I had a conference for work at the National Harbor, a more inconveniently located and cheesily pretentious conference center I've yet to see. (Pics here.) The opening speaker was Dave Barry who was just as funny in person as you would expect from his columns and from watching Dave's World with Harry Anderson. The conference was interesting, and I got some good programming ideas the talks I went to. Earlier this month, our friends, Natalie and Judith, visited us for the Cherry Blossom Festival. We had a great time going around the Tidal Basin and seeing the special events for the festival. The Asian Art Museum had a really cool exhibit on the Shuten-doji with incredible comic style drawings and stories. The American Indian Museum also had a comic exhibit focusing on representation of American Indians in comics and the works of American Indian artists. (Pics here.) A couple weeks ago, I made another trip out to Mount Vernon to see the new blacksmith shed. They have also added a new blacksmith. (Pics here starting with the blacksmith's shed.) He has a red beard, and his name is Eric. I refrained from making any Viking jokes as he was working with hot metal objects. He is going to be the estate's full-time blacksmith. Apparently they've always contracted the work out to either Williamsburg or other free lance blacksmiths. I think it won't be so pleasant to visit the area in August as it was on the 50F day in April. They have also added short wagon rides by the river. Belly dancing continues to be fun. I have taken a couple of the weekend workshop classes to check out other teachers. For the summer session, I have decided to take two classes, one for technique and one for performance. The performance class is Hula Belly Fusion, so I will be in a dance during the school's August show. Anyone who's in the area August 15 should come. (I'll remind you again closer to time.) I volunteered to help out backstage for the spring semester show this weekend which should be fun. I've missed being involved in theatrical things. I started doing volunteer work again. I'm doing clerical work at the National Zoo one or two Saturdays a month to help the volunteer organizers (paid workers) keep up with all their filing and data entry stuff. They don't usually have people request to do office work, so the organizer I interviewed with kept asking me if I really wanted to do it, especially after she found out I've done theater and improv. I reassured her that I really didn't want to deal with kids I wasn't allowed to be mean to. Also, I'd rather do something isn't getting done for lack of volunteers than something that people are scrambling to help with. Work's been going well. New Boss has finally arrived. It's taking me some time to get used to being supervised again. We went almost 6 months without a direct supervisor, so it's hard for me to view her as anything other than an interruption right now. Probably I'll be used to it again within a month since she has the same laid-back management style as Old Boss. I'll find out in a couple of weeks if I get to go home for work in the beginning of June. It's mostly definite, but I need to call the office down there to make sure they request me. As some of you already know (because Brooke's been better about posting than I have), we're going to Disney World May 7-10!!! Brooke's dad will be there with MathCounts and invited us to share his hotel room free of charge. We are looking forward to all the rides and the swimming pool with water slide at the hotel. The Arlington County libraries had their semi-annual sale this past weekend, and I racked up. My best find that would have made the trip worthwhile all on its own: Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula, or The Adventures of the Sanguinary Count. My copy has a way more hilarious cover, a blurry image of which can be found here. I want to put off reading it for a while, so I can savor the possibilities that exist for this book. I also got a Debbie Gibson cd and a book on the 1928 coast-to-coast foot race along Route 66 (main prize $25,000). Life is pretty good these days. | ||||||||
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March 18th, 2009
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| The Pi Day party was lots of fun except for a couple last minute cancellations. Don't worry, we will only make you feel guilty about it until the next party (if you make it to that one). There was chocolate pie, apple/cherry pie, and pizza pie (in the form of Bagel Bites). It was so much fun having people over that we're doing it again in a couple weeks. Natalie and Judith are planning to come down from NYC for the Cherry Blossom Festival. If anyone in town would like to meet up with us at the parade and/or the street festival on April 4, let me know. The more people we have in our small crowd, the less horrible the large festival crowd will be. Well, that's the plan anyway. | ||||||||
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March 12th, 2009
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| To anyone who is familiar with Canadian wedding customs: I have a few questions for you. My cousin is getting married to a very nice Canadian woman this summer. My aunt is currently butting heads with the fiancee's mother (we'll call her Mary since I don't know her name) over a few issues of wedding etiquette. Mary always claims these differences are 'how they do it in Canada.' I'm tempted to call bullshit on two of these, but maybe that is how you do it in Canada. Please advise if Mary is correct by Canadian standards or if she's being rude (as my family thinks is the case). 1. You only send someone an invitation to the wedding if you know they are definitely coming. 2. Any party related to the wedding is automatically a shower. A person can only be invited to one shower. 3. She's never heard of the bride's family paying for all or most of the wedding and reception. They been living in the US for almost 15 years now. I really think she would have heard about at least one US wedding during that time. To anyone who is coming to the Pi Day party: 1. Are you bringing food and/or drink with you? You don't have to. I just don't want to end up with too much of one thing and not enough of something else. 2. Does anyone have food restrictions? I don't remember anyone having allergies or personal food choices, but I wanted to make sure before I went shopping. | ||||||||
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March 10th, 2009
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| 1. Ell's awesome Un-Valentine party. I met some of ![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} shrieking_elll's awesome friends and their awesome kid. We had a great time drinking while watching Empire Strikes Back, The Big Lebowski, and Buckaroo Bonzai. I think I need repeated viewings to get what the hell was going on with Buckaroo Bonzai owing to the effects of Jeff Goldblum in chaps and lots of rum.2. Coraline in 3D. Unfortunately you can't see it in 3D anymore because the stupid Jonas Brothers concert movie took over all the 3D screens a couple weeks ago. The movie was very awesome with an appropriately creepy soundtrack. There were some large differences from the book, but they added to the story. 3. NSO's Prokofiev, Ravel, and Stravinsky concert. The National Symphony Orchestra periodically has ticket specials for only $20. I was thinking about going to their Prokofiev, Ravel, and Stravinsky concert but wasn't sure if it would be worth the effort. Then I read an interview with the composer for Coraline. He mentioned Prokofiev and Stravinsky as being two of his favorite composers. This totally sealed the deal for me as I loved the Coraline soundtrack. The concert was incredible. The audience gave a standing ovation after each piece, and the piano soloist for the Prokofiev concerto had 3 curtain calls. She was really amazing. I need to make a point of going to the theater more often. 4. Mom's visit. Mom and I started the sightseeing with a visit to the newly restored American History Museum. It was not as awesome as I remembered the previous incarnation being. Needs more First Ladies and pop culture stuff. Then we went next door to the Natural History Museum. They have recently opened a new section called the Ocean Hall which has many interesting specimens (by that I mean totally freaking creepy looking) from various ocean depths. The large replica of a whale that hangs from the ceiling is especially impressive. We went through the Butterfly Garden after, and Mom had a butterfly land on her pant leg. Now Mom, Dad, and I have each had a butterfly land on us. Last we enjoyed a special exhibit on orchids. The exhibit room was full of hundreds of flowers and smelled wonderful. Unfortunately we had come too late to hear the Smithsonian’s horticulturist speak (I didn't even know the Smithsonian had a horticulturist. I can't imagine there was much competition for the job.), but it was really cool seeing all the different colors orchids come in. Pretty much anything in the purple-red-orange-yellow-green spectrum was an option. The next day we spent 5 hours at the Newseum, and we would have stayed longer if we’d sat through all the different films they show. They have newspaper front pages from as far back as the 1200s all the way through a daily changing display of current front pages from newspapers around the country. After the Newseum, we went to the Wax Museum. They have several figures of presidential figures, including President Obama in a mock Oval Office. The most interesting part was the video about how the figures are created. Over 200 measurements of the subject are taken while the subject is in the pose the figure will be displayed in. They use make up artists and hair stylists to match the subject’s skin and hair colors as closely as possible. When the final figure is assembled, each strand of hair is inserted one at a time. It takes weeks to create each figure in the museum. We had a pretty heavy snow here which kept Mom an extra day. We didn’t mind since we played board games and baked cookies. The only annoying part was getting through to the airline to change Mom's flight. We were on the phone for over two hours, most of the time spent on hold passing the phone back and forth so no one's arm went numb. 5. Hafla. My belly dance school has a hafla (party) mid way through the session to give the students a chance to perform for each other in a casual environment. No one is required to go (except the teachers), and you don't have to perform even if you do go. Each teacher choreographs a short dance for each of her classes, so there were about 20 performances total. It was fun, but our performance was so short that it almost seemed pointless. I know they wanted all the classes to have time for a short dance while also having time for open dancing, but I think we could have danced for a little more than 1 minute. My teacher said I did a really good job and that I have great control over my hip movements. 6. Pi Day Party March 14. As some of you already know, Brooke and I are hosting a Pi Day party on Saturday, March 14 at our apartment. There will be wii gaming, pies, and costumes. I promise I will not make anyone do math! Costumes are encouraged but not required. If you do wear a costume, it should be of the geek/nerd/dorktastic variety. I will be dressed as Hypatia, the first female mathematician, which basically means I will have a bed sheet awkwardly wrapped around my person to simulate a toga. Please feel free to bring guests, but please let me know. I don't want to run out of food and/or drinks. Email me at jrho.jrho at gmail dot com if you need my address and/or phone number. ETA: I uploaded pictures from Mom's trip here. | ||||||||
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February 7th, 2009
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| Lot 1: Last Friday, I met up with some hilarious women from the Shapely Prose website. After I went to a bar with one of the women and her husband to hear accordion bands. This is possibly more awesome than it sounds, but I doubt it. The opening act was a sword swallower and a fire eater. They were really entertaining. Unfortunately I hadn't worn good shoes for standing long periods of time, and I was really tired, so I left during the first band's set. They were comprised of an accordion, a violin, a stand-up bass, and a drum kit. I really need to find out what their website it because I really want to buy one of their cds. Lot 2: The results of the 2007 Census of Agriculture were officially released on Wednesday. We all went to the auditorium for the official announcement by the Secretary of Agriculture who was kind of an ass and booked it out of the auditorium as soon as he gave his talk. He was out the door before our director finished thanking him for being there. Before the talks started though, there was the national anthem with associated video hilarity. An image of a waving flag faded in and out with various pictures of heterosexual, same race couples with small children. There was one image of a crop field and one image of a carefully multicultural group of children, but no images of livestock, Hispanics, teenagers, single people, couples without children, vehicles, or water. From this my coworker and I have determined that these people and things are unamerican. It was really hard to keep our laughter muffled once the still shot of fireworks came up. Lot 3: One of the surveys I work puts out a monthly publication with results from the previous month's survey. I got an email yesterday saying there would be a small party with cake and punch next week because we had put out 12 consecutive monthly publications without issuing any corrections. That's right; we didn't screw up for one year. There was no such announcement last year which leads me to believe we did not manage a full error-free year in 2007. I'm planning on taking full credit for this since I fully took over this project from my coworker January of last year. Not that I have anything to do with the publication, but I have decided my mere presence has clearly made the difference. Lot 4: I had major baking plans for this weekend, so I went to the grocery early this morning to get my ingredients. Upon returning to my apartment, I noticed a downed power line next to my building which I immediately reported to the non-emergency number for police/fire department. I also told my apartment manager that I had already called it in and asked for someone to come put a barrier around the live end of the wire because it was in the playground next to my building. The firemen got there before anyone could do that, but it turned out not to be an issue. It wasn't actually a power line; it was a phone line. The fireman was really nice about explaining how to tell the difference between the lines and didn't make me feel stupid for thinking the phone line was a power line. (Note: The power lines are on top of the poles and not directly touching the wood. Phone lines are bolted to the pole and are black. Cable lines are bolted to the pole and are, around here, green. The more you know.) They just coiled it up and tied it to the pole before calling the phone company to come fix it. I told the manager what had happened and to expect people coming to say their phones were dead. He was extremely profuse in his thanks, maybe we'll get a discount on rent next month. (Probably not, but it would be nice) Lot 5: I did lots of baking today. All new recipes I got from a thread on Shapely Prose, and they all 3 turned out fantastic. ( Chai Shortbread ) ( Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cake ) ( Beef and Cornbread Casserole ) | ||||||||
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January 29th, 2009
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| I have my car back in excellent condition! It was ready yesterday, but I didn't get the message until too late to pick it up due to belly dancing class. I'm really enjoying the class, and it hasn't been a problem for my knees so far. Yay! As some of you already know, I finally caved to peer pressure and made a facebook. I'm screening the comments if you would like to leave an email I can use to friend you. Brooke posted her video of the President walking past us at the Inaugural parade. It looks much better if you click to watch in high quality. Tomorrow we will have king cake, courtesy of Brooke's parents. Yay! We made sure to talk to our parents ahead of time to stagger the king cake deliveries, so they don't both come at the same time like they did last year. My parents are sending one in two weeks. A regular and easily attainable supply of king cake is the main thing I miss about Mardi Gras. | ||||||||
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January 24th, 2009
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| Via modillian The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me. It will be about or tailored to those five who respond first. This offer does have some restrictions and limitations: - I make no guarantees that you will like what I make. - What I create will be just for you. - It'll be done this year. - You have no clue what it's going to be. It may be a mix tape. It may be pictures. I may sew something. I might bake you something and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure! - I reserve the right to do something extremely strange. The catch? Oh, the catch is that you have to put this in your journal as well. Note: In an attempt not to send something you would completely and totally hate and/or be allergic to you, I will be asking random and possibly superfluous questions of whomever will be getting stuff. | ||||||||
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January 23rd, 2009
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| Brooke and I went to the Inaugural Parade Tuesday and were lucky enough to wander by a volunteer as she was passing out tickets for the bleacher area near the President's viewing area. It was nice to be able to sit and huddle for warmth with all the other people in the stands. We got there around 11.30, expecting the parade to start at 2.30 and get to us around 3. The parade didn't actually start until after 3.30 due to, as we learned the next day, Sen. Kennedy having a seizure during the luncheon. It was totally worth the wait and the cold because Obama got out of his car and walked with Michelle for the last blocks of the parade where we were sitting. I only got one blurry picture of them, but Brooke took video of the whole thing. I'll post a link once she puts it on the internet. Owing to the delay and the cold, about 90% of the crowd left after the presidential part of the parade was over. I felt really bad for the parade participants because hardly anyone was there to see them. Toward the end of the parade, marchers were thanking Brooke and I for staying to watch them. We were pretty much the only people beside event staff left in a half block space that had been crammed with people earlier in the day. The nice thing about staying until the end of the parade was that there was no crowd in the metro. Pretty much everyone had left over two hours before we did. All pictures of the parade are here. After I finished posting all my photos, I started going through the stats on my flickr page and noticed a huge jump in views earlier this month. Before the picture with the most views only had ~650. Now the picture with the most views has almost 3500, and it's one of the pictures of Neil Gaiman that I took at the book festival in September. Looking through the referrer pages, I found out that I had been linked from one of Neil Gaiman's blog posts. Someone had found my pictures and wanted to know what type of fountain pen he was using to sign books. I'm thinking about sending an email to Gaiman telling him he is welcome to use my pictures whenever he wants and maybe he could sign one and send it to me. Still my flickr page got linked on Neil Gaiman's blog, and that is probably the coolest internet thing that has ever happened to me. | ||||||||
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January 18th, 2009
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| I was there, and it was awesome! How awesome? Behold the lineup of speakers and performers: Denzel Washington Bruce Springsteen - The Rising Laura Linney and MLK III Mary J. Blige - Lean on Me Jamie Foxx and Steve Carrell Bettye LaVette and Jon Bon Jovi - It's Been a Long Time Coming Tom Hanks Marisa Tomei James Taylor, John Legend, Jennifer Nettles - Shower the People with Love Joe Biden John Mellencamp - Ain't that America Queen Latifah Josh Groban and Heather Headley - My Country 'Tis of Thee George Lopez and Kal Penn Herbie Hancock, Will.I.Am, Sheryl Crow - One Love (let's get together and feel alright) medley into Where Is the Love? Tiger Woods US Naval Academy Glee Club and Renee Fleming - Walk on Through the Wind Jack Black and Rosario Dawson Garth Brooks - American Pie, Shout, We Shall Be Free Ashley Judd and Forest Whitaker Usher, Stevie Wonder, Shakira - Higher Ground Samuel L. Jackson U2 - Pride(In the Name of Love), City of Blinding Lights Barack Obama Bruce Springsteen, Pete Seeger - This Land Is Your Land Beyonce and everyone else (Stevie Wonder on harmonica) - America the Beautiful That is how awesome it was. You can watch it on hbo.com at 11 EST if you haven't already. I didn't manage many pictures and managed almost no good ones. What I'm not too ashamed to show other people can be found here. | ||||||||
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January 16th, 2009
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| Sunday, Brooke and I saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button which we both enjoyed. I want to be as awesome as Cate Blanchett some day. Monday, I got pointed in the right direction on a problem I was having with a program at work. It's going to take me a while to make all the changes I need, but I at least know how to start on them now. Tuesday, I got yet another pair of free underpants from Victoria's Secret. I get at least one coupon for them every 6 weeks. This particular coupon was for a special limited edition underpant not described on the coupon. As it turns out, the special underpant is a pink thong. So now I have a pair of delicate pink buttfloss (seriously, it's a string thong) underpants. Nothing I would have ever bought for myself, but an interesting thing to get for free. Wednesday, I had my first belly dancing class at Sahara Studios which has a location conveniently on my way home from work. The class went well, and the teacher seems nice. She suggested that everyone have hip scarves for class and let us borrow some extra scarves for the first class. I used a coin scarf which was not as much fun as I had hoped. The hip shimmies really make the coins swing back and forth, and my butt got sore from getting constantly hit by all the coins on my scarf. I told the teacher that after class, and she laughed and said at least I know what kind not to get now. I'm thinking I'll try one with beads or maybe just fringe for class. Thursday, I went to bed at 7.30 and slept until my alarm went off this morning. Really good night's sleep. Please take a moment to note how well my week has been going. Today, I feel like Alexander, he of the Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Day. I telecommuted on a computer that decided today was the day to be slow as molasses. It's freezing cold outside. When I left my apartment for an eye doctor appointment, I found that someone had hit my car, knocking off a hubcap and the driver-side mirror, and didn't leave a note. I froze my hands taking pictures of the damage. I was late to my eye doctor appointment (which actually went pretty well). I called the insurance company after I got back and listened to crappy hold music. Then I found out my car is technically "undrivable" because it's illegal to drive without a driver-side mirror (I did not know this). I do get a rental car while repairs are done on the Jetta though. However work will not start on the Jetta until tomorrow or maybe Monday because they have to tow it to the shop a mile down the street from my apartment what with it being undrivable and all. I was given a Nissan Altima for a rental car, with a keyless ignition, that no one told me how to use. I had to go back in the rental car place to get the woman to show me how to start the car. The car started to make strange noises after I drove off. I realized the engine wasn't shifting gears because Altimas can be switched from automatic to manual, and this car is set on manual. I had no idea how to change it back, and I could exactly read the instruction manual while I was driving. I'm going to look up how to do it tomorrow. I did figure out how to shift gears, but it's awkward. For dinner we got Lebanese take out. They had run out of my favorite dish (stromboli), so I had to settle for lamb gyro which isn't nearly as good. So that was my Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Day. And there's not even a new Stargate: Atlantis tonight to cheer me up because the very last episode aired last week. | ||||||||
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January 8th, 2009
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| 1. One of my coworkers died last night. She had lupus, so her death was not completely unexpected, but it did happen rather quickly. 2. Someone shoved the men's bathroom door open hard enough to break the thick, textured window. When I heard the sound of breaking glass, I went to the hall to see what had happened. It took me a bit to figure it out because there was no one in sight. I asked one of my male coworkers to check the bathroom in case whoever broke the window had been hurt, but no one was there. Whoever did it took off in a quick hurry. Boss's Boss said he saw a guy go into the bathroom crying about 5 minutes later, but he didn't look injured. We still don't know what exactly happened. It took maintenance 45 minutes to come clean up the glass, but they had new glass set in the door within 2 hours. 3. It snowed heavily for ~15 minutes even though there had been 0 chance of precipitation. Brooke said it didn't snow at all in Arlington. The rest of the day was bright and sunny, too. 4. The heating/cooling building that controls the temperature for our building and several others across the street had large plumes of smoke/vapor pouring from the roof for about a minute. I had gone to look out the window because it sounded like low-flying aircraft. Again, I have no idea what happened. I assume it was nothing bad because the heat in our building didn't shut off. 5. I'm in a 5-way tie for 3rd in the office football pool. I have a chance at winning money if Florida wins tonight. All before lunch. Only one weird thing happened after lunch. On the way home, I passed a guy who looked like Bill Clinton with a full beard. I don't know whether to hope tomorrow will be more surreal or less. | ||||||||
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January 6th, 2009
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| While home for Christmas, I spent one afternoon wandering around downtown Baton Rouge with some friends from high school. Pictures here. Way back in October, Brooke and I went to the Crime and Punishment Museum for Halloween. There is one section where it films you in a faux "America's Most Wanted" bit. We taped ourselves being silly. Mine and Brooke's. Pictures from our fun Thanksgiving trip to New York to see Natalie and Judith are here. Yes we did all climb on the lion statues outside the New York Public Library because that's how we roll. Starting next week I am taking a belly dancing class in DC. It's once a week from 5.30 to 6.30 not too far from work, so I will work late those days and bring dance clothes with me. The class runs through the end of April though they do offer classes year-round. If I like this one, I'll probably sign up for another class during the summer session. ETA: Sebastian just managed to flip the image on my laptop screen upside down by wandering across the keyboard. Am slightly disappointed about not turning into Freakazoid. | ||||||||
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January 1st, 2009
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| In an attempt to start the year off right, I continue my streak of getting sick after Christmas. Bleh. I'm doing much better than I was, but the drive back up to Virginia starting tomorrow probably won't be much fun. I will be ok as long as it doesn't last as long as the drive down did. We expected a 17-18 hour drive. It took 22. The trip home has been lots of fun though. I got to see everyone I wanted, eat pretty much everything I missed, and spent a few days in Mobile with SHC people. I'm mostly ready to go back to work on Monday, but I will definitely miss the 60 and 70 degree weather I've been enjoying the past two weeks. Christmas day was warm enough for t-shirts. I don't want to go back to coats and hats and scarves and layers. In any case, I hope that everyone's holidays went well and that you all have a better 2009 than you did 2008. | ||||||||
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November 27th, 2008
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| We're in New York now. The bus trip up this morning went quite smoothly. We saw a few of the bands from the Macy's parade taking group pictures on the steps of the library. Apparently Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends rickrolled the parade with Rick Astley himself present. The only downside of the bus trip was that the bus did not have wifi as advertised. Maybe it will be better on the way back. Thanksgiving dinner with Judith's family was delicious. There were more people than I expected because Judith's mom invited friends over. It was still smaller than any family event I've been to. We'll stay here tonight and go to Judith and Natalie's tomorrow then go out and about in New York. There is a place called Chocolate Bar. I have been informed there will be waffles, cheesecake, fruit, and delicious chocolate. We're also planning on going to Rockefeller Plaza to see the Christmas tree and the snowflake light show. We tried ordering pizza via Tivo over the weekend. Our attempt failed because you can only pay with cash when you order on Tivo. Combined we only had $10 cash on us. Maybe we'll make a more successful attempt at some other point in time. When I get back to work, I get to start telecommuting. I finally got a work laptop and got all the paperwork filled out. I'll probably telecommute on Fridays to help the weekend start a little bit earlier. It will be so nice to not have to go out in the cold one extra day a week, especially if it snows. | ||||||||
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November 20th, 2008
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| Sunday night Brooke and I met up with our friend, Toni, for her birthday at a jazz club in DC. Sunday is Open Mike Night, and they had some really good musicians. Toni did a really good job singing "My Funny Valentine." Owing to the lateness of the party and a bit too much wine, I went into work late on Monday. Since Monday was the first day without Boss, everyone had decided to slack off a bit, too. Current rumor is that New Boss will be picked on December 5, and one of the people in the field is a front runner. We shall see. Tuesday I got to help judge a cookie competition at work. Such hard work, but I willingly sacrificed my time for a worthy cause. One coworker submitted Pepperidge Farm Milanos for his entry. He got a special last place mention for bringing the cookies to work still in the packaging and claiming they were homemade. A few days ago, Brooke and I made a fascinating discovery. We can order pizza through our Tivo. This technology is new and intriguing. Perhaps we will test it out this weekend and give a status report later. We bought our bus tickets to go visit Natalie and Judith in New York for Thanksgiving. It's $40 roundtrip, and the bus has wifi. We're going up Thanksgiving morning and coming back that Sunday afternoon. Toni has said she might also be in NYC at Thanksgiving, so we might all get to hang out for the first time in years. Lastly and most awesomely, Brooke and I have tickets for the Inauguration. Yes, it's public, and anyone can stand along the parade route, but there is a sectioned off area for the actual swearing in that will require tickets to enter. I am so excited! | ||||||||
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November 16th, 2008
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| I had a really great trip home over Veterans' Day weekend. The only downer was seeing all the blue tarps flying into Houston and Baton Rouge. My parents' house still has three tarps on it. Friday afternoon, I got to see Ru's cats. This is particularly entertaining because Kai, a long-hair, had just got back from being shaved at the groomer's. He looks really dumb. Since only his body was shaved, it looks like he's wearing leg warmers. Bijou, one of the two Hemingway cats Ru fostered, has grown quite a bit since June. She is also a long-hair and hopefully will not have to suffer the indignity of being shaved like Kai did. Saturday, Dad took me tailgating and to the LSU-Alabama game. It would have been the most awesome day ever if LSU had won, but it was still a really good game. The food at the different tailgates was very delicious as well. One surreal moment from tailgating came when I saw two boys sitting to the side of their tailgate and reading. One looked 10-11 and was reading a Kingdom Hearts II manga. The other looked 8-10 and was reading Twilight. 0_o? I just don't understand kids today. After the game, Dad took me to Coffee Call for hot chocolate and beignets. Of course, I got powdered sugar all over myself, but at least I managed not to inhale any this time around. Sunday, I had my awesome birthday party with bbq, dobage cake, and homemade butterfinger ice cream. I highly recommend Voodoo BBQ for anyone in the Baton Rouge area. Ru and Stelly came as did most of my Dad's family and some of my Mom's. I got way more presents than I was expecting. It's been a while since I had a big family birthday party like that. Since I only brought a carry-on for the trip home, there were some gifts I couldn't bring back with me. The electric knife being the main problem. I don't think airport security would have been ok with me wandering on a plane with that. I started to build a stack of stuff to be brought home at Christmas since Brooke and I will be driving and will have lots of room for stuff. Monday, Mom and I visited Grandmother since her busy social calendar kept her from being at my party. I had gotten her one of those personalized puzzles for her birthday. You give the company an address to be the center of the puzzle, and they create a puzzle that is a map of a 4 mile by 6 mile area centered on the given address. Grandmother went on and on about how much she loved it and how it was so interesting. It's a good feeling to know that an unusual gift is appreciated. That afternoon, Mom and I went to the mall, so I could pick out a jewelry box for Christmas. I've never had a proper jewelry box, and I've been getting tired of having my things strewn about my vanity or crammed in the gift boxes they came in. Mom and I both found jewelry boxes we wanted on sale at JC Penny's, so I had to take Dad back later to buy Mom's for her present. Tuesday I flew back to DC. Wednesday I did nothing on my actual birthday. Thursday, Brooke and I went to dinner with one of my uncles who was in town for training. The food was really good, I had leftovers, and my uncle paid. All in all a very satisfactory evening. Yesterday, I went to the Join the Impact rally in DC. Unfortunately my camera batteries died after about 30 minutes. At that point I found out that my backup batteries were dead, too. Not that it really mattered, 15 minutes later the torrential downpour started. I wouldn't have kept my camera out in the wind and the rain anyway. None of my pictures really show the size of the crowd. The AP story estimates the crowd at 500+, but other sources say the number was 5000+. I think we were probably somewhere in between, maybe 2000 people. | ||||||||
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November 5th, 2008
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| I showed up a little before 5am. There were already people in line to vote! When the polls opened at 6, we had an estimated 1.5 wait for the end of the line. I started out at the electronic poll book checking people in, so I kept up with our vote counts. In the first 3 hours, we voted ~750 people. I didn't see the end of the line until after 9. The rest of the day we voted another 800 people. We never had a line after 10am. Our last voter showed up at 6:59:15. Polls closed at 7. We congratulated him on his excellent timing. For our precinct we voted ~68% of registered voters with election day plus absentee votes. The experienced pollworkers told me this precinct usually votes about 60% for presidential elections, so we did better than usual. Being up here in Fake Virginia, the Dems crushed the Republicans on everything. We finally got everything tallied and packed up at 9pm, so I got home around 9.15 and proceeded to stay up to 1am watching NBC and Comedy Central. Brooke and I watched Obama be declared president, McCain's concession speech, and Obama's acceptance speech. Foreign visitors are intrigued by the American election system. Groups of them request to visit precincts on election day. Our precinct had two groups of Chinese visitors and one group of mixed Middle Eastern visitors. They are fascinated by the mechanics of how a person can vote and how the machines work. We also had a group of Democratic pollwatchers. They were generally unobstrusive and seemed nice enough. The Republicans didn't send any pollwatchers to our precinct, but they might have in areas where they thought they had more voters. All in all it was a fun day. I think I'll probably volunteer again next year for the governor's election. | ||||||||
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November 2nd, 2008
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| All pictures can be found here. Friday we went to the Crime and Punishment Museum. The staff really got into decorating with cobwebs, ghosts, and other paraphernalia. The museum has lots of interactive things which wouldn't have been near as much fun had the museum been crowded. They even have police driving and shooting simulations. The entrance fee was reduced since we came in costume (Brooke as Thursday Next and me as a gypsy), and they had a special on the photo they take of you in front of John Dillinger's car. If we ever get access to a scanner, perhaps we will share the photo with you. It was fun to be out in DC on Halloween because we got to see lots of costumes. There were numerous Sarah Palins, some with enormous flag pins, one with pregnant Bristol Palin, one with a sign reading "I can see Russia from my house." There was a guy dressed as an iphone 3G, two dudes dressed as Master Shake (one with accompanying Frylock), and more sexy referees than I expected. Saturday was Rachel's party. Her brother came as William Howard Taft on vacation. One couple came as bananas in pajamas. At some point, someone broke out a new Atari that comes with all the games built in. Several rousing games of Pong ensued. As the party was a potluck, there was lots of good food, cookies, cakes, green bean casserole, General Tso's chicken, blood punch, etc. Several of us ended up watching part of the Nailin' Palin porn. It's way more hilarious if you play banjo music over the regular soundtrack. All in all an excellent party. This week will be quite busy for me. Tuesday is the election, so I'll probably go in late to work Wednesday. Thursday is Boss's going away lunch, and Friday I'm going home for the weekend. Saturday is the LSU-Alabama game. Sunday is my birthday party. Anyone who needs directions to the party, leave a comment, and I will email them to you. | ||||||||
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October 29th, 2008
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| We finally got around to scooping out the pumpkin on Sunday, so Brooke could roast the seeds. After we put both pumpkins out on our tiny porch. Someone stole the larger pumpkin sometime Sunday night/Monday morning. The smaller pumpkin is still there which I don't understand. Why not take both? Well, why take either of them, but you're going to go to the trouble of stealing one, so why not take the other? Lame. Also on Sunday we rented Persepolis which was nominated for an Oscar this year. It's an animated movie (in French) about a girl born in Iran then living in Austria and moving back to Iran. Both Brooke and I enjoyed it. It's not exactly an uplifting movie, and I felt very pensive watching it. I've been playing Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?, and it's just as much fun as I remembered. I'm pleased that my knowledge of geographic trivia has not faded very much. I always wanted to be on the game show when it was running. I just knew I could win and get the trip to anywhere in the Continental US I wanted. I think I'll go check YouTube for show clips. | ||||||||
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On the IJ Side of Life
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