On the IJ Side of Life
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December 2nd, 2009
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| I had a really awesome birthday. Mom and Dad's trip was great. We hit up the National Archives, the Natural History Museum, and the Kennedy Center to see A Streetcar Named Desire on my birthday. Cate Blanchett was amazing as Blanche DuBois, and the rest of the cast was equally powerful in their roles. I got her autograph after the show, and she's just as beautiful and gracious as she seems in interviews. The next day we visited the DEA museum which is hardly ever open. It's more of a history of drug use in the US than a history of the DEA which was vaguely disappointing but still interesting. We also went to the American History Museum, the African Art Museum, and the Smithsonian Castle. There is one large display room in the castle that is a really brief overview of the contents of all the Smithsonian museums. We spent most of that Saturday at the zoo enjoying the cool weather and the many active animals. Before they flew out on Sunday, we went to Arlington Cemetery and Arlington House (under renovation). The weather was incredible, and the fall colors looked amazing against the blue, blue sky. Pictures from their trip can be found here. After they left, I started on my most recent volunteer assignment at the zoo, data entry for a sloth bear behavior project. I don't know how they let data entry get so behind on these things. It's like they've never heard of grad students (aka slave labor). I did end up auditioning for The Vagina Monologues, and I was cast for two monologues and one intro. Since we're performing this as more of a staged reading, practices don't start until January for Feb. 13 and 14 performances. I'm looking forward to it. The Amanda Palmer show in Falls Church was fantastic. Her opening act/back up band was really good with a strong horn section. Amanda did a chat before the show started and signed after the show until everyone who wanted an autograph and a picture got one. She has mad levels of energy. The week of Thanksgiving, Brooke and I saw The Nutcracker at the Kennedy Center and enjoyed it very much. It always seems so much better with a live orchestra and choir. Marzipan, the Sugar Plum Fairy, and the Cavalier were my favorite dancers. For actual Thanksgiving, we were in NYC visiting Natalie and Judith. It was a nice, low-key, low-stress trip. There was almost ice skating, but the line was too long at the Bryant Park rink owing to the bizarrely warm weather. There was delicious tea and cake and waffles at a place called the Rose House that I really want to go back to on all future trips. Lots of exciting things are coming up soon. Zoolights at the National Zoo starts this weekend, and I'm volunteering several days. Karen's visiting next weekend from Dallas. Several days after that I will be visiting Dallas for work. Then I will be home for Christmas Dec. 19-28. Anyone in the Baton Rouge area on December 19 is invited to my Uncle Jim's big Christmas party. Let me know if you need directions or details. | ||||||||
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November 11th, 2009
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It was a very eventful Halloween this year. Pictures from various activities can be found here. The Tuesday before Halloween was the 24th Annual High Heel Race in DC. What seemed to be ~100 drag queens in various fantastic costumes raced down four blocks in ridiculous heels. ![[info - personal]](http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small} ell and temve were great company for such an excursion. On Thursday we went to see Up for a dollar at the cinema drafthouse near my apartment. They serve really delicious fried mac&cheese bites. It was a cute movie, but I think I would have liked it a lot more if Ellie instead of Russell had been on the trip.Brooke and I went to stay with Natalie and Judith in New York for Halloween. We saw The Nightmare Before Christmas in 3D. It was pretty awesome. I'd never seen the movie before and enjoyed many of the songs. After we, along with a group of Natalie and Judith's friends, went to the Greenwich Village Halloween Parade. Unfortunately, it started raining just before the parade started and didn't let up the whole night. We didn't stay for all the parade, but the part we did see was fun. They had large skeleton puppets and zombies doing the "Thriller" dance and someone dressed as the Caterpillar from Alice in Wonderland. The trip back was also fun because we got the upstairs front seat of the bus. Great views through the upper windshield. For the election this year, I worked in the absentee voter office counting, sorting, and verifying absentee ballots. I think I liked it better than working at a precinct because we didn't have any set-up or take-down work, and we didn't have people in and out all the time. We did have a lot of downtime though. I will be sure to bring cross-stitch and/or a really big book if I get assigned the absentee office again. Sunday, Brooke and I went hiking in Great Falls National Park. Pictures here. The weather was fantastic, and the views along the River Trail are really nice. The trail we took wasn't too strenuous, but it also wasn't boringly easy (except for one section). I think we'll try to go back there in the spring to see everything in bloom. Now for the future exciting stuff. Mom and Dad will be here in a few hours to commence my birthday celebrations. Woooo! Tomorrow night we're going out to Chef Geoff's in DC before heading to the Kennedy Center for A Streetcar Named Desire starring Cate Blanchett. My life is so awesome! I'm not sure what else we're going to do while they're here, but we're going to try to hit the National Archives and Arlington House. Thursday of next week is Amanda Palmer's show in Falls Church. I already have my ticket and am super excited. Does anyone else want to go with me? Now for the part where I ask for advice. I am thinking about auditioning for a V-Day performance of The Vagina Monologues next Wednesday. All audition materials are provided at the audition, so I can put off making a decision until about 15 minutes before the auditions start whether or not to drive out there. It's been over 5 years since I've done any acting, and I do miss it. But it's been even longer since I've done any acting with complete strangers. Any thoughts yay or nay? | ||||||||
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October 24th, 2009
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| My cousin was successfully married on Saturday. The event was fun and a bit weird, totally their style though. I still need someone to explain to me why "Benny and the Jets" was their exit wedding/enter reception song. My favorite part of the reception was the milk fountain surrounded by plates of cookies. The cups for the milk were wide and short enough to dunk the cookies, too. It was nice to be home and see various family and friends. For anyone in the Baton Rouge area, I highly recommend The Strand downtown for delicious pastries, chocolates, and teas. I understand the coffees are also amazing. My family and I did a high tea there, and everything they served was delicious. Ru and her uncle were also there, so I got to visit with them between courses. We have made plans to visit The Strand again when I am home for Christmas to sample more delicious items. I met up with Ru and her boyfriend, Stelly, the next day to see Where the Wild Things Are. It was a really great movie. I especially enjoyed how they did the scene when Max leaves the island. (Note: I don't consider this a spoiler since the book has been out for decades.) There were less than 10 kids in the theater which I understand since the movie was marketed to adults. However, I think kids would enjoy it. | ||||||||
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October 16th, 2009
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| I'm about to fly home for my cousin's wedding this weekend. It promises to be a good time with nice fall weather. Hopefully my sister has sufficiently recovered from H1N1 to not get the rest of us sick and to be able to enjoy herself at the wedding. This past weekend I met up with Natalie, Judith, Judith's sister, Judith's sister's boyfriend, and Judith's sister's boyfriend's posse at the Equality March in DC. It was great to see them, but I only stayed for a couple hours before I had to leave for my drumming class. I also ran into another woman who dances at Sahara, and she hung out with us during the march. I wish I had been able to stay for the rally after because there were some pretty interesting people speaking. I also wish I could have seen the Daily Show camera crew that was filming. Maybe some other time. I finally got around to reading Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula: The Case of the Sanguinary Count. This book was completely unnecessary. It's a retelling of Dracula as though Sherlock Holmes had been involved in the case and had really saved the day instead of Van Helsing. Except, Holmes didn't really do much to defeat Dracula. He doesn't even follow Dracula back to Transylvania deciding that his work is done since Dracula's not a problem in England any more. It's written in the style of the Holmes stories with Watson narrating the events and contains an abundance of references to other Holmes stories, as though the author wanted to make sure you knew that he knew his Holmes canon. If anyone really enjoys Dracula and really enjoys Conan Doyle's stories but wants to not care about either, I highly recommend this book. Otherwise, you might want to read it out of morbid curiousity. In future good news, Amanda Palmer of the Dresden Dolls and Neil Gaiman's girlfriend (only relevant in that they are both cool people who increases each other's coolness factor) is playing in Falls Church November 19! The club is actually across the street from my doctor's office, so I know I won't get lost driving there. If anyone is interested in coming to the show with me, let me know. Tickets are $20, and for an extra $5 per group, we can reserve a table for dining and sitting purposes. | ||||||||
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October 2nd, 2009
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| So things have been going really well for me lately. Yay! ( Job ) ( Mt. Vernon ) ( Book Festival ) ( Zoo ) ( Nano ) For future awesome things, I will be home October 16-19 for my cousin's wedding. I'm looking forward to it as I am particularly fond of this cousin, and I know the reception will have good food, good drink, and good music. Any Baton Rouge people want to try and get together Friday night or Sunday, let me know. Saturday's fully booked with wedding and other family stuff, but I'd like to see friends if I can. Brooke and I are going to NYC for Halloween. We're staying with Natalie and Judith and plan on having an awesome time at the Greenwich Village Halloween parade. I'm pondering costumes and welcome any suggestions on the matter. | ||||||||
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September 18th, 2009
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| I had a great Time in Seattle with my family. Pictures of our adventurous adventuring can be found here. We visited Pike's Place Market and watched the people who throw fish around. There were a ridiculous number of LSU people in town for the game, and they were all decked out in LSU gear. Seattle's economy probably had an insane bump Labor Day weekend with PAX, Bumbershoot, and the LSU-UW game crowds. We took a ferry across Puget Sound on a clear enough day to see some of the Olympic Mountains as well as the Cascades. The next day also had pretty good weather, so we went up the Space Needle to see the sights. I love all the free telescopes they have to let everyone enjoy the view. We visited a glassblowers studio and watched them work for a while before perusing all the really awesome and way too expensive for me to even consider work they had for sale. Since Dad's birthday was at the end of August, we had delicious cake and ice cream for him while in Seattle. It was the only time Mom, Dad, Karen, and I had all been in the same place since Christmas, so we thought it was a good time for cake. On the day of the game, we went with a group of family friends to Snoqualmie Falls and ate at this really amazing restaurant call Salesh Lodge. The falls were cool to see, but the salmon hash really made the drive worthwhile. Mmmmmm. On our way to the game, we passed a car that was on fire. Firemen were already on the scene but hadn't put the fire out yet. I was rather selfishly pleased about that as this is the first time I have ever seen a car on fire in real life. The game itself was a much closer match than we had been expecting, but I was happy to watch an actual competitive match up that the Tigers totally won. Husky Stadium overlooks Lake Washington, so we could see a veritable flotilla of boats all hanging out for the game. Sunday we visited wineries. One of them had a peacock roaming the grounds. We tasted some nice wines, but I didn't think any of them were worth the hassle to transport back home. Monday we went to the Experience Music Project and the Science Fiction Museum. I'm not sure why, but they are connected and share an entry fee. This is a totally cool thing, and I recommend these museums to anyone going to Seattle. The EMP has an awesome collection of electric guitars and basses (even stand-up basses) that date back to the 1930s. There is also a bunch of recording studios set up with instruments and tutorials on how to play them. I now consider myself a drumming and rhythm guitar expert after spending upwards of 10 minutes on each tutorial. The Science Fiction Museum lacked any sort of hands-on fun (I'm not sure what it would have been anyway.), but I was quite taken with the general shiny awesomeness of the whole thing. Unfortunately they were very strict about the no pictures policy, so you will just have to imagine the wall of various sci-fi weaponry from various movies and tv shows. There was a section on robots, too. Overall I enjoyed the trip and spending time with my family very much. One week is a sufficiently long trip though, and I am happy not to see them again until I go home in October for my cousin's wedding. | ||||||||
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August 29th, 2009
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| I uploaded the pictures from my parents' trip a couple weeks ago. They can be found here. Pictures of the belly dance show they came to see are here. Right now I'm gearing up for my trip to Seattle in a few days. I leave Wednesday, and I still have several things to finish up at work. I also need to do laundry before I go to make sure I have enough socks. Right now I'm debating whether or not to bring something for the family we're staying with and if so, what to bring. They are friends of our family, but I haven't seen them in years. Mom and Dad have seen them more recently, but I don't even know what an appropriate gift would be. I though about food, but I don't want to fly with too much extra stuff. Maybe I'll get a tacky fridge magnet. If anyone has suggestions of things to do and places to see in the Seattle area, let me know. We're going to be there for almost a week, so we have a good amount of time to be touristy. | ||||||||
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August 24th, 2009
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| I finally put my Portland pictures up. You can see my adventures driving along the Pacific coast, hiking around waterfalls, and visiting the Rose and Japanese Gardens. Friday night, I saw Carbon Leaf and Great Big Sea at Wolf Trap with ell. We had a great time despite the rain because we had actual seats inside. Both bands put on really good shows. Carbon Leaf's bassist was especially entertaining when he played his stand up bass because the body of the bass came up almost to his collar bone. He is very tiny. Great Big Sea had guitar/bass/mandolin/bohdran changes after almost every song. They know how to put on a very entertaining show. They did get sidetracked a few times with an ongoing discussion about whether or not the lead singer was Santa Claus which usually segued into part of a Christmas song. I did not expect to be swaying to "Do They Know It's Christmas Time?" while attending a Celtic rock concert, but it was totally hilarious. I would definitely go see them in concert again.Saturday, I got to sit field side for the DC United match against the LA Galaxy and David Beckham. It was a good game, but we only managed a tie. David Beckham was very nice to look at and has many intriguing tattoos. | ||||||
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August 18th, 2009
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| I know. Two month posting hiatus. I was busy then just got really passive about internetting. Here's a brief recap of what's been going on with me. Portland - work and fun Portland is a really cool city to visit. I really liked working in the Oregon field office. Things went so smoothly that they let me leave early one day, so I could drive to the Pacific coast. It's crazy how different it is from the Gulf or the Atlantic coasts I've seen. I also enjoyed the waterfalls and the Japanese Garden. Once I post the pictures, you'll have more details on whatever else I did that week. Natalie and Judith's visit It was great to see them again. We had fun going through the American History Museum and eating at the American Indian Museum. Uncle Don's visit He was in town for a conference, so we met up one night to watch LSU play for the CWS title. We also went to a Nationals game, so we could see them lose to the Red Sox. LSU CWS win LSU once again won the CWS. It's even better to do that by beating Texas. TN for wedding - bat I went down to Tennessee for my cousin Matt's wedding. It was a nice trip, and I enjoyed getting to see some of my relatives. There was an unfortunate incident of one of the bridesmaids stepping on a bat in the vestibule before the ceremony. There was much screaming and worry that the bat would fly up someone's dress until they realized the bat was dead or close to it. Thankfully it was taken care of by one of the church workers, and the wedding went off beautifully. Ell's party Ell's friend collective skews very dorky and therefore awesome. Her 4th of July/My girlfriend's in town party was lots of fun. Delicious food and drink was had by all. Video Games Live Brooke and I went with my coworker and her husband. The National Symphony Orchestra was amazing as were all the soloists. They had an audience member (picked from a pre-show contest) come on stage to play Guitar Hero backed by the NSO. The deal was he would get a sweet laptop if he scored over 200k points on hard. Dude scored over 300k on expert. It was pretty awesome to watch. Water damage and repair in apartment Thanks to leaky a/c pipes, I had water damage in my bedroom. Parts of one wall, the ceiling, and my carpet had water damage. Thankfully, Brooke was out of town on vacation while all the work was being done to fix my bedroom, so I got to sleep in her room for a week. Everything's fixed now, but it was pretty stressful not really having a functioning bedroom for over a week. Work is crazy busy I've just had something going on with almost every project I'm assigned to. It's not too bad this week because I have training instead of work. Next week will probably be hectic again. Belly dance show For my Hula Belly Fusion performance class, we danced to "Rock a Hula" and "Can't Help Fallin' in Love" by Elvis. It went really well. I'll post pictures later of my awesome stage makeup and leis. Parents' visit Mom and Dad were here for a week to visit and see me dance. I didn't get to see them much because I had training all last week and this week at work, but we got together for dinner every night. Sunday we spent the day in Baltimore with Brooke. The National Aquarium is really freaking cool. | ||||||
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June 6th, 2009
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| I'm leaving for Portland tomorrow early and coming back late on the 14th. While most of my time there will be spent working at the Oregon field office, I will have most of tomorrow, all evenings, and all day Saturday free to check out Portland. Here is my current list of things I really want to do if at all possible: Drive to beach and check out the Pacific coast Christian Kane (aka Lindsey on Angel, aka Eliot on Leverage) show Sunday, June 7th at Dante's See the Sinferno Cabaret at Dante's before the Kane show Pride Festival Saturday, June 13th UFO Museum Powell's book store Rock Bottom Brewery If anyone (like Ell who told me at least two other things to do that I forgot about) has other suggestions, let me know! I'm bringing my laptop with me, so I'll be able to keep up with the internets while I'm gone. Unrelated to Portland, we are having visitors soon! Natalie and Judith are coming to visit again June 19-22. We will probably spend some quality time at the Smithsonians and maybe the zoo. Then my uncle is going to be in town June 21-24 for a work thing, and he's taking me to a Nationals-Red Sox game. Yay! | ||||||||
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May 18th, 2009
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| I had my first hula fusion belly dance class. So much fun! For the August show, we are dancing to "Rock a Hula" and "Can't Help Falling in Love With You" by Elvis. I'm sure I will be very sick of both songs by August, but "Can't Help" is one of my favorite Elvis songs. Zoo work is going well. They ordered me an official name tag, so I can get discounts at the gift shops and concession stands. Yay, perks! I also get free parking, but driving up there isn't worth the hassle with the metro so close. Last night, Brooke and I watched Twilight with the RiffTrax (guys who did MST3K), and it was hilarious. I was near tears a couple times from laughing so hard. Now I'm tempted to go through the website and buy RiffTrax for any movie I own. I am also tempted to watch the movie again with Robert Pattinson's commentary because I know how completely off track he can get in interviews. In upcoming travels, I'll be in Seattle around Labor Day for the LSU-Washington game. Mom, Dad, and I (and maybe my sister, too) are going to meet up there and stay with friends of the family. I haven't seen them in years, but Mom and Dad have visited more recently. This will mark my 2nd ever trip to the Pacific Northwest after my trip to Portland in June. While my birthday is many months away, I already know what I'm getting from my parents - tickets to see A Streetcar Named Desire at the Kennedy Center with Cate Blanchett playing Blanche DuBois. EEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!! It's running end of October through November, and tickets go on sale in August. I'm currently debating between trying to get tickets as close to opening night as I can or getting them on my birthday. Mom and Dad are going to fly up for the occasion, whenever it is, so they are going to the show as well. | ||||||||
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May 14th, 2009
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| I have my Disney pictures up on my flickr page. I believe the pictures of most interest can be found here, here, here, and here. | ||||||||
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May 13th, 2009
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| Disney World was full of win and awesome. We made it to Epcot, MGM, Magic Kingdom, and Animal Kingdom. I'll post a link once I have all the pictures on flickr. I took a ridiculous amount because, despite having been 3 previous times, I have never been to Disney World with a camera before. Epcot was having their Spring Flower Festival, so there were topiary shaped like Disney characters all over the park. I had fun practicing my German while buying delicious Milka chocolate bars in the Germany store. We got to watch the fireworks/laser show there, and it is very cool. I rode the Rock'n'Roller Coaster at MGM which has one of the more intense starts I've experienced on a roller coaster. The blaring Aerosmith music makes the ride even better. Brooke and I both rode Star Tours and spent quite some time browsing the gift shop after. I bought two Stitch action figures, one of Stitch as Yoda and one of Stitch as Emperor Palpatine. We had lots of fun on Pirates and the Haunted Mansion rides at Magic Kingdom. I have decided that my car's name is Doom Buggy, after the cars in the Haunted Mansion ride. (Must look for appropriate bumper sticker.) We also rode Splash Mountain. Did you ever get drenched on Splash Mountain? Brooke and I had both ridden it before and remained completely dry. Such was not the case this time. Everything I was wearing except my shoes and socks were soaked. Perhaps not the best day to wear a white shirt, but I doubt anyone was surprised to know I was wearing a bra that day. We also got to see the Magic Kingdom fireworks one night. Tinkerbell totally ziplines down from the top of the castle into Tomorrowland. I wish I could do that. Animal Kingdom was the only park we hadn't been to before, so we spent the most time there. It's a really cool combination of zoo and amusement park. They rides are great, and there are several walking paths to take you around near the animals. There is also a safari area where you are driven around the wildlife preserve with free roaming animals. Our vehicle had to stop for a few minutes while a giraffe wandered across the road. The really nice part about Animal Kingdom in the summer is the shade. Pretty much the entire park is shaded with huge trees to make the park feel more like nature. My next trip will be to Portland, Oregon in June. Some of you might remember that I got to go home last June to help out the LA field office with a big survey. Well, I'm going to be doing the same work for the OR field office this year. I would have liked to go home again, but I'm excited to go to Portland since I've never been to Oregon before. Any suggestions for places to go, things to do, food to eat would be greatly appreciated. I'm staying near the downtown area, but I will have a rental car to get wherever I want to go. For people in the DC area, Video Games Live is coming to WolfTrap July 10. Brooke and I already have tickets for the lawn area ($25 each including all service charges). If anyone else is interested in going, we'd love to do some kind of potluck at the concert. The lawn area allows whatever outside food and drink you want to bring in. My coworker and her husband are probably going to join us, but don't let that scare you. They are fun theater/gamer geeks who are just as socially awkward as you are. | ||||||||
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May 7th, 2009
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| Off for Disney World in about 10 minutes. YAY!!! 90F weather, swimming, water slides, roller coasters, and the world's greatest marketing machine. I hope I survive that much happiness. | ||||||||
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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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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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On the IJ Side of Life
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