Thursday, April 19, 2007

Streak Over

I was doing so well, writing semi-regularly. And that's going to waste again for the next couple weeks most likely.

Tomorrow: Parents arrive for the weekend
Monday: Work road trip to PA. The driver already made a rule that we can't bring FunYuns and we can't stop at the outlet mall and we have to share all McDonalds Happy Meal toys. And we can't ask "Are we there yet?"
Tuesday: Fly to Westchester NY in the afternoon.
Wednesday: Spend the day in work meetings in Westchester. At least I get to sleep on a nice Marriott bed that I'm not paying for.
Thursday: Catch a flight outta Baltimore for an awesome California weekend. I know you're jealous.

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Eyes Not Wide Shut

It's nearly 2am and I should've been asleep long ago, but just as I put my head on my pillow I started smelling smoke everywhere. Didn't see or hear anything suspicious, so I tried to ignore. Yep, still there..... then I heard sirens all around. I got up, checked the house, looked outside, nothing. Still smells. At least the fire station two blocks away has rather loudly dispatched all their trucks, racing down my street right outside my window. It all seems to be under control, but the fumes are still hovering over my block. I wonder if I'll hear any news in the morning about what's burning. And maybe I should finally get renter's insurance....

Paper or Plastic?

I was quite the reader when I was a child. I couldn't get enough of books. Somehow I was the kid reading aloud to my kindergarten class while my teacher graded our coloring scribbles. I had a book reading contest with Jed and Ryan in 1st grade and managed to read 700+ books in the school year.

Of course as time went on, other things took over my leisure time and by college, forget reading books. Now that I work in magazines, I've counted close to 20 that I read monthly, and my Netflix queue is ever growing. Even if I watch 2 movies each week, it's still going to take me more than 2 years to just get through the present list. I'd say it's probably my favorite medium of media and books have fallen down the list.

For some reason though, I really felt the urge to read The Namesake before seeing it in theaters. I didn't read Jhumpa Lahiri's best-known Interpreter of Maladies, but I sought this one out in a couple bookstores before I actually found it. I rushed through it in a few days, mostly eager to get to the movie before it disappears from theaters (and I was excited for some Kal Penn live action). Last night I finally got to see it, and what do you know? The book version of anything will still always win over a movie adaptation. Why couldn't I just remember this fact? Harry Potter books - movies are good, but books are better. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - classic movie, but I still think the book is better. DaVinci Code - book wins. Jane Austen novels - always better than the 59 movie versions of each book. There are hundreds of examples, but the bottom line is maybe I should have a book queue that's two years long and only watch a movie every month or so.

Monday, April 09, 2007

Hot in Herre

Nelly's a guilty pleasure, especially Hot in Herre (c'mon, you know you dance when you hear it), but this cover by Jenny Owen Youngs takes the cake! Love it!

And Kate Walsh is really amazing, I discovered today. Her homemade album is topping the charts in the UK, and I could really get into her folksy gait.

At Least My Tax Refund is Coming...

Since I really can't keep up on my current musical tastes, I'm taking that out of my side bar. Not that anyone cared, but I kinda liked keeping track of my all-over-the-place tastes. Maybe I'll be inspired next month when I get back from Coachella and I'll link all the latest and greatest bands.

I had a pretty rockin' 3.5 day Easter weekend. I ended up leaving work early on Thursday afternoon due to sudden dizziness. Came on all the sudden and didn't go away after a 4-hour nap. I'm going to blame anemia.... But I'm taking my iron pills now! I was lazy Friday since I still felt dizzy, then SAM and I saw Blades of Glory and ate some yummy Spanish food at Jaleo. Is it bad that I always take over the entire menu and ordering process at tapas places? Blades of Glory didn't rank as high as Talledega Nights, but Will Ferrell is still near the top of my comedy list. The opening scene with teal peacock had me laughing from the beginning, and some rather inappropriate comments that I won't repeat here kept me giggling.

My Saturday was darn near perfect. I actually woke up on time and made it to the gym! Amazing. Now that the weather is supposed to be warmer (supposed to be!), I'm adding Saturdays to my workout schedule. It'll be good for me if I can just get outta bed.... Niki had scheduled a facial at Aveda that she couldn't make, so I took her appointment. Lovely, relaxing, massage, hot towels, wrapped up like a burrito, soft music, so good. Perfect timing to get one - I made it through the rest of the weekend without snapping at anyone. I came home, grabbed a nap, then hit the stores. Bad habit that needs to break, but I'm on a dress-buying kick. Spring better get here so I can actually wear them!

Easter Sunday was good, excellent church, good nap, and quality time at home in the afternoon. Sadly we never got to the grocery store for eggs, so my glitter egg decorating kit still sits unused. It's not wrong to make Easter eggs after Easter, right?

Now to turn sour...I seem to be doing that a lot lately and I don't like it. But as I predicted around New Years, 2007 is going to be a really hard year and that's proving true. Another week started today without a boss. I'm still nervous how the whole situation is going to play out, but for now all I can do is stay on top of things and show that I know what I'm doing. I worked really hard all morning to prep for an early afternoon meeting that got postponed. Grr... I even went in early to get that done! Oh well. At least I got my taxes done today and that'll have some sort of monetary reward. Too bad it's not a big enough to pay off my entire credit card balance, but it'll make a nice dent.

If I can deal with the next 4 months, I will have made it through the worst of 2007. Work/boss situation, roommates married off/replacing them situation and surviving weddings all over the country that cost far too much to get to. Really, should be a breeze....

Friday, April 06, 2007

Entertainment of the Day

I just made the ugliest jazz outerspace movie star ever!

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Taking the Plunge

Busy weekend, I haven't had one of those in awhile; seemed like it was go, go go. Friday night SAM and I caught the Sk6ers at 930, along with Mattie Wertz - good night of the acoustic guitar rock singer/songwriter stuff that I used to be all over. Then we drove out to good ole Dr. Dremos to say adios to PAE, who's going back into the Army. If he's nice, I'll send Rice Krispy treats to support the troops. VA needs to get on the ball and ban smoking in bars, cause I could only stand to be in that place for about 15 minutes.

Saturday was the long-awaited lovely wedding of Dr. Dre and the Mrs in Baltimore. I thought I left my house in plenty of time, but once I drove down the wrong road about 5 times, I realized I was going to be late, and probably walking down the aisle about the same time the bride did. Thankfully that didn't happen, and all was well. Great ceremony, wonderous food at the reception (did I mention I enjoy prime rib?), and good company at the table. I was a little nervous going on my own, but kudos to the seating arrangements! Even got a new facebook friend out of it!

I raced back from Bmore to catch my HOYAS in the semifinal game at Mark Brad-Grab's place, though sadly we fell to Ohio State. I spent the evening walking from the party near the cathedral, down into Georgetown and over to Foggy Bottom. Long walk, but nice to be out and about on a lovely evening.

Sunday was GenCon, and that meant food at Robins, including some really weird Brazilian lemonade that was way too bitter for me to drink, even after dumping in a cup of sugar into a tiny glass.

I decided to take my gym notch up another level and get more workout gear for home. The gym just isn't cutting it these days; even though I feel I'm going more often, nothing is happening to my body. No inches lost, scale's not going down, and nothing is really toning. And I'm doing it all right! Maybe if I had the super fun workout ball a few times a week that will help. We'll see. I got a good workout just trying to inflate the dang thing.

Tomorrow is the usual Lost party at my house that happens on the first Wed of each month. Too bad I haven't watched in 3 weeks! I'm vigorously trying to catch up, and get through some Netflix queue which has been neglected, and read The Namesake before I see it in theaters. I love me some media consumption.

2023 Recap

Oh, hey there. It's been awhile. I disappeared for a bit. Everyone's doing their 2023 year in review today, and I figured I'd ju...

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