Since yesterday was pretty crazy with work and I don't plan on being here a full day today, I think I'll just share with you a quick post with my views on some DVDs I've watched recently.
Many of us have discussed the newfound revelation (I think it was covered in the New York Times) that Netflix sometimes "penalizes" it's most frequent users by holding back on sending new releases for a while, cuz they have to spend more money on people like me who watch movies and return them very quickly. So I guess they lose money on turnover with us movie addicts, and they let the less frequent users have first crack at new releases while we have to wait longer. It's for that reason that I'm just now starting to get some of the newer releases that have come out in the last month or so.
I watched 2 earlier this week - reviewed below - and have 2 more waiting for me at home for the weekend. Let me preface by saying that I *know* the 2 I'm about to cover had very mixed reviews, at best, so I didn't have the highest expectations for them to start with. But, I do like to keep up with major new releases so I decided to watch them anyway.
Monday night, while doing a ridiculous amount of laundry, I popped in Elizabethtown. This was Cameron Crowe's latest. I consider myself a fan of Cameron Crowe, with Almost Famous, Singles, and Jerry Maguire somewhere in my list of probably my top 100 movies. I've never seen Vanilla Sky, and I probably won't. But, I did want to catch this one even though I'd heard the stories about festival audiences laughing and Crowe having to re-edit or re-shoot scenes before it made it to wide release.
What did I think of it? Bloated, pretentious, disjointed, and - worst of all - boring. I am pretty ambivalent about Orlando Bloom, who I think is best in costume fantasy fare. He's a little too femininely-pretty for my taste, so I'm not one who swoons at the idea of him as some tortured soul having an emotional rite of passage. That's supposedly the story here - pretentious wunderkid (sneaker designer? who cares?) has a mighty fall, then his Dad dies, and he travels back to the family roots in Kentucky and is charmed by the formerly distant extended family and realizes there's more to life than just being rich and cool. Well, I didn't buy it. There was this really obnoxious voiceover (he tries to set the stage by saying that while many people are "failures" he is a "fiasco" - so you designed an ugly shoe. Shut up, already.) and a lot of plot lines that were kind of brought up and then just dropped without any resolution. The writing here was not good.
And then there's the whole romance story. Kirsten Dunst plays a wacky flight attendant who suddenly appears in his life, falls in love, forces him out of his shell to do kooky things like go on a road trip, and they live happily ever after while she wears an ugly red beret. Brunette put it best when I told her about this movie: "I don't do Dunst." 'Nuff said. I can tell you, the only part of this movie that was truly entertaining and even remotely enjoyable was the 5 minute scene with Susan Sarandon at the memorial service. That was it. And it's not worth watching a whole 2 hour movie just to see it. Trust me, I have no plans to visit Elizabethtown again, ever. I gave it a rare 2 stars.
Over the weekend, I popped in another questionable choice, but I have to say I enjoyed it more than I expected. I did my best to suspend my disbelief and watched The Brothers Grimm. Now, it's true, both Matt Damon and Heath Ledger are former Academy Award nominees in the Best Actor category. Try to forget that when you're watching, and just enjoy them as a couple of blonde mimbos trying to having a good time.
The story is that they are the Brothers Grimm, but that their shtick is they've been fleecing villages out of money by staging fake scenarios. They hire a couple flunkies to pose as monsters or witches, ride into town with promises of ancient spells and mythological knowledge, save the day and get paid. They're textbook cons. And Matty and Heath appear to enjoy playing these totally fluff characters - it's nice to see both of them smile and do a little rabble-rousing sometimes. Well, as to be expected, they eventually get caught by the law (or the military, or whomever Peter Stormare's really strange, typically over-the-top's character is supposed to be) and forced to go solve a real mystery that's happening in a town near an enchanted wood.
Well, in this scary little village, we get to see a laundry list of Grimm's fairy tales come to life, including Little Red Riding Hood, the Gingerbread Man, and Hansel and Gretel. Again, cuz I think this is supposed to be Terry Gilliam's version of fantasy-comedy, I just went with it and laughed rather than thinking too hard about the writing. Of course, our heroes end up having to really prove themselves in fighting a horrible, ancient witch - who has her own enchanted mirror on the wall that makes her look like Monica Bellucci - and they save the forest, the children, their random love interest, and their legendary fairy tales.
This movie is about as light as cotton candy, and just as nutritious. But, because I really didn't think anyone on screen was taking it all too seriously, I didn't either. Sure, it's pretty dumb, but there were a few laughs and it was a decent way to spend a Sunday morning.
What's up for this weekend? Flightplan and The Squid and the Whale. I have higher expectations for both of these, and I'll report in next week!
Friday, March 31, 2006
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
V for Viognier
Scotte sent me this great article from the WaPo about a Virginia winery that is known for making my absolute favorite - a great, refreshing viognier. The article gives a great overview of the challenges and successes of winemaking in Virginia, including what kinds of grapes grow well here and why. Apparently Dennis Horton has tried growing them all, and finally found success with a grape that can survive both our terrible humidity and our occasional frosts. Go, little viognier grapes, go!
I first discovered viognier (VEE-on-yay) last year, in my summer winery adventures with Mr. and Mrs. L. My taste is still developing, but after several weekends of tasting in VA and back in Indiana with my brother, I learned that I definitely prefer the sweet and semi-dry whites. Viognier is my favorite, but I can also go for a great riesling, muscat, traminette, seyvals and vidals, and any blends thereof.
Why do I need to try Horton Vineyard's vigonier? Well, a description like this pretty much sums it up:
I can't wait for the summer wine season to start. Who's with me on some self-indulgent, relaxing tasting days out in the country? It really is the best way to spend a weekend.
I first discovered viognier (VEE-on-yay) last year, in my summer winery adventures with Mr. and Mrs. L. My taste is still developing, but after several weekends of tasting in VA and back in Indiana with my brother, I learned that I definitely prefer the sweet and semi-dry whites. Viognier is my favorite, but I can also go for a great riesling, muscat, traminette, seyvals and vidals, and any blends thereof.
Why do I need to try Horton Vineyard's vigonier? Well, a description like this pretty much sums it up:
Horton Vineyards is now one of the largest in the state, and it produces what some have called the crown jewel of Virginia wines: a heady-scented, peach and vanilla-flavored white wine that writer Paul Lukacs describes as "a bright June morning in a glass."
I can't wait for the summer wine season to start. Who's with me on some self-indulgent, relaxing tasting days out in the country? It really is the best way to spend a weekend.
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
LOST On My Lunch Hour
Now that I'm fully caught up on LOST, I am embracing all of the Internet chatter and conspiracy theories that are out there in the cyberworld. Who knows, maybe that island is a cyberworld itself? Thanks to a tip from AS, I checked out this blog that has 2 great posts raising important questions about the most recent episode and the LOST mythology overall. (Note: SPOILERS AHEAD!)
Entertainment Weekly has an extensive treasure trove of features about LOST, including a current effort to collect reader emails listing all of the current mysteries on LOST. A few weeks back, EW's Jeff Jensen posed a Unified Theory of LOST - solving all the mysteries. Hint: It involves *someone* named Aaron.... it's a wacky theory, but everything about this show is wacky and you need to just set your disbelief aside at the start of every episode. He has been updating his theory with each new episode and viewer responses, and I'm very intrigued. (Dude, check out this site!) Jensen's "Aaron Theory" also ties back to that strange encounter Claire had with a psychic back in Australia, who was so scared about who would raise the baby.
Jeff Jensen talks a lot about how LOST references literature, and I have actually noticed myself how much Danielle Rousseau reminds me of The Turn of the Screw. We read that Henry James classic back in 11th grade under Mr. Davenport, who while we mocked him a lot at the time was actually a pretty innovative English teacher. Mr. Davenport (aka "Heavy D") decided to teach Screw and its famous ghost vs. insanity debate. The basic story of Screw, if you haven't read it, is that there is a governess who's hired to care for 2 children in this Gothic mansion. (At least, in my mind's eye, it's a Gothic mansion.) Strange things start happening, and they start getting scarier. There's a shadowy woman that she sees out in the woods, there's something about a boat moving on its own, etc. The governess and then eventually the father begin to believe that the children are in danger, and the governess starts acting in lots of strange ways. But as a reader, you're never really sure if she's really seeing these strange things (the ghost theory) or if she's slowly going mad (the insanity theory) and becoming a danger to the children herself. Heavy D assigned everyone in the class to study this book and prepare for debates. In our teams of 4 people or so, we did a whole debate tournament trying to address the ghost v. insanity controversy, and when we walked into class we never knew which side we were going to be on so we had to know the defense of both theories inside and out. Which means we had to read the novel from both perspectives and look for the tiniest clues to try to win our argument. Sounds like LOST, eh? Anyway, back to Danielle... her story always reminds me of the governess. She claims that she had to kill everyone in her camp because they were infected with the virus. But is there really a virus? Did the island make Danielle go insane and kill her whole team? Or was there really some sort of infection, and she was killing them out of mercy? Sounds like a great debate!
As for LOST's overall mysteries...I am strictly going along for the ride in all of the supernatural, unexplained phenomena that are happening on the island. A smoke monster? Locke walking? Echo ending up on the same island as his dead brother's plane? There are countless of those myserious plot threads, and I just follow them to see where they go. But the things that trip me out the most are all of the coincidences that we see in the flashbacks. How in the heck could this seemingly random group of people on a plane have so many previous interactions? Are they not random at all? Or are these interactions false and being "fed" to them somehow on the island? I mean, just off the top of my head, these are the crazy coincidences that blow my mind:
Entertainment Weekly has an extensive treasure trove of features about LOST, including a current effort to collect reader emails listing all of the current mysteries on LOST. A few weeks back, EW's Jeff Jensen posed a Unified Theory of LOST - solving all the mysteries. Hint: It involves *someone* named Aaron.... it's a wacky theory, but everything about this show is wacky and you need to just set your disbelief aside at the start of every episode. He has been updating his theory with each new episode and viewer responses, and I'm very intrigued. (Dude, check out this site!) Jensen's "Aaron Theory" also ties back to that strange encounter Claire had with a psychic back in Australia, who was so scared about who would raise the baby.
Jeff Jensen talks a lot about how LOST references literature, and I have actually noticed myself how much Danielle Rousseau reminds me of The Turn of the Screw. We read that Henry James classic back in 11th grade under Mr. Davenport, who while we mocked him a lot at the time was actually a pretty innovative English teacher. Mr. Davenport (aka "Heavy D") decided to teach Screw and its famous ghost vs. insanity debate. The basic story of Screw, if you haven't read it, is that there is a governess who's hired to care for 2 children in this Gothic mansion. (At least, in my mind's eye, it's a Gothic mansion.) Strange things start happening, and they start getting scarier. There's a shadowy woman that she sees out in the woods, there's something about a boat moving on its own, etc. The governess and then eventually the father begin to believe that the children are in danger, and the governess starts acting in lots of strange ways. But as a reader, you're never really sure if she's really seeing these strange things (the ghost theory) or if she's slowly going mad (the insanity theory) and becoming a danger to the children herself. Heavy D assigned everyone in the class to study this book and prepare for debates. In our teams of 4 people or so, we did a whole debate tournament trying to address the ghost v. insanity controversy, and when we walked into class we never knew which side we were going to be on so we had to know the defense of both theories inside and out. Which means we had to read the novel from both perspectives and look for the tiniest clues to try to win our argument. Sounds like LOST, eh? Anyway, back to Danielle... her story always reminds me of the governess. She claims that she had to kill everyone in her camp because they were infected with the virus. But is there really a virus? Did the island make Danielle go insane and kill her whole team? Or was there really some sort of infection, and she was killing them out of mercy? Sounds like a great debate!
As for LOST's overall mysteries...I am strictly going along for the ride in all of the supernatural, unexplained phenomena that are happening on the island. A smoke monster? Locke walking? Echo ending up on the same island as his dead brother's plane? There are countless of those myserious plot threads, and I just follow them to see where they go. But the things that trip me out the most are all of the coincidences that we see in the flashbacks. How in the heck could this seemingly random group of people on a plane have so many previous interactions? Are they not random at all? Or are these interactions false and being "fed" to them somehow on the island? I mean, just off the top of my head, these are the crazy coincidences that blow my mind:
- Sawyer met Jack's dad in Australia just days before both his death and the plane crash.
- Sawyer was also in the police station in Australia when Boone was there trying to report Shannon's "abusive" boyfriend.
- Jack saved the life of and then married Sarah, the woman whose car accident killed Shannon's dad.
- When Jack was working to save Sarah's life, he went out running one night and met... Desmond?!?
- Hurley was on the TV screen in Korea when Jin first went to rough up that government secretary.
- Sayid was being transported in a truck at the end of the Gulf War with Kate's dad, a military higher-up.
- Sawyer and his partner were concocting the final steps of their "long con" at the diner in Iowa where Kate's mom was a waitress.
- Hurley swears he has seen Libby before... could she have been at the mental institution?
- Plus someone recently raised the idea that perhaps we already know the American girl that Sun's hotel boyfriend was engaged to.... could it be Libby?
You Call that a Shake-Up?
So Andy Card is out, and Josh Bolten is in. I never knew much about Andy Card. He seemed fairly under-the-radar, and I can't even remember off the top of my head anything he personally has said or done - that I've known about - that has even registered on my anger-meter over the last 5 1/2 years. There's no doubt Card has been one of the most powerful men in the world over the last few years, but I have no idea what he has or hasn't done. I wonder how much of a real change this will be. I think the poll numbers are so far down at this point that it would take a major shake-up to change any public opinion about the Administration's starting line-up.
BUT.... Karl Rove still remains. The fact that Darth Rove still has a job disgusts me.
BUT.... Karl Rove still remains. The fact that Darth Rove still has a job disgusts me.
Monday, March 27, 2006
I Survived My First Weekend Offline!
And it actually was a lot of fun! I think the key to having a non-computer weekend is to make sure you have lots of fun plans, so you aren't ever bored enough to even miss the computer. I did actually have a busy one, so I'll share the highlights:
Friday
I scooted out of work to head over to a casual reception for the organization where I serve on the board. It was surprisingly a lot of fun - these things aren't always, trust me - and I had a good time getting to know my fellow board members and our predecessors. Plus I learned even more about the organization and all of its new facilities and initiatives, and I'm even more jazzed about what a great place it is. Hooray for feeling invigorated!
Once I got home, I cracked open my bag and pulled out my prize of the weekend... My coworker AJ came through yet again and gave me all of the remaining episodes of Season 2 of LOST. I watched them all between Friday night and Saturday morning, so now I'm all caught up to the "present" time and ready for a new episode! As anyone who has talked to me at all in the last 2 weeks knows, I am totally addicted and ready to talk conspiracy theories with anyone who's interested. Think you know the secrets of LOST? Shoot me an email, let's discuss!
Saturday
Saturday night was spent with MH and The Johnson, who invited me over for a super-tasty dinner. I love that my friends have all embraced my newfound steak addiction! :-) Then we headed back into town for a super-packed screening (thank you, Fandango) of the new movie Inside Man. This film's pedigree is fantastic - it's a Spike Lee Joint starring Denzel Washington, Clive Owen (#1 on my laminated list) and Jodie Foster. I really enjoyed it. It's a smart, well-written bank heist thriller that has some twists to keep you guessing. As a Spike Lee film, this an element of commentary about race and class, and it plays very well. The three leads are great - Clive is mysterious and smart (although MH and I both wanted him to take that mask off more often!), Denzel is looser and funnier than I've seen him in ages, which makes him even stronger and sexier, and Jodie was a surprise as somewhat of a villain. She looks different than usual, too, with tiny skirts and stilettos that show off her amazingly toned and tan legs. Who knew Jodie was a bit of a siren? After the movie, the 3 of us headed to La Tasca for what we thought would be just one pitcher of sangria.... but Onyah and Reporter Boy soon joined us and that one pitcher turned into 3!
Sunday
I had been looking forward to Sunday for a long time, cuz I'd scored an invite to an amazing dinner party... Scotte of EAT WITH ME fame organized a party of like-minded blogger foodies, and while I'm not a cook myself I certainly do enjoy foodie culture. My specialty is bringing the wine. :-) So, in the late afternoon, Chilefire and Mrs. Chilefire, Brunette, Chase, Lord and Lady Brandenburg, and I joined Scotte and Dancer in DC for a FEAST. Scotte promises to have info and photos up on his site later today, so I'll let him discuss the meal itself... but I can tell you it was a great evening filled with amazing flavors and new friends. I thoroughly enjoyed every tasty bite, as well as I think 6 glasses of wine. That's a little unusual for a Sunday... so I was actually more than a little toasty when I got home at 10:30 last night and proceeded to blast my iPod and sing my favorite tunes for about an hour. Um, sorry neighbors. But I was having fun!
Random Weekend Shout-Outs
This weekend marked my 2-year anniversary of being carless! Yep, I sold the old Buick Century the last weekend in March back in 2004. My feet are doing a darn good job of keeping me mobile!
And as for that NCAA tourney.... who in the heck would've predicted this? Even though I have UCLA picked to win the whole thing, and I still stand a chance of winning our friendly tournament pool, I would LOVE to see LSU and George Mason in the final dance. These Patriot fans around here are going wild!
Friday
I scooted out of work to head over to a casual reception for the organization where I serve on the board. It was surprisingly a lot of fun - these things aren't always, trust me - and I had a good time getting to know my fellow board members and our predecessors. Plus I learned even more about the organization and all of its new facilities and initiatives, and I'm even more jazzed about what a great place it is. Hooray for feeling invigorated!
Once I got home, I cracked open my bag and pulled out my prize of the weekend... My coworker AJ came through yet again and gave me all of the remaining episodes of Season 2 of LOST. I watched them all between Friday night and Saturday morning, so now I'm all caught up to the "present" time and ready for a new episode! As anyone who has talked to me at all in the last 2 weeks knows, I am totally addicted and ready to talk conspiracy theories with anyone who's interested. Think you know the secrets of LOST? Shoot me an email, let's discuss!
Saturday
Saturday night was spent with MH and The Johnson, who invited me over for a super-tasty dinner. I love that my friends have all embraced my newfound steak addiction! :-) Then we headed back into town for a super-packed screening (thank you, Fandango) of the new movie Inside Man. This film's pedigree is fantastic - it's a Spike Lee Joint starring Denzel Washington, Clive Owen (#1 on my laminated list) and Jodie Foster. I really enjoyed it. It's a smart, well-written bank heist thriller that has some twists to keep you guessing. As a Spike Lee film, this an element of commentary about race and class, and it plays very well. The three leads are great - Clive is mysterious and smart (although MH and I both wanted him to take that mask off more often!), Denzel is looser and funnier than I've seen him in ages, which makes him even stronger and sexier, and Jodie was a surprise as somewhat of a villain. She looks different than usual, too, with tiny skirts and stilettos that show off her amazingly toned and tan legs. Who knew Jodie was a bit of a siren? After the movie, the 3 of us headed to La Tasca for what we thought would be just one pitcher of sangria.... but Onyah and Reporter Boy soon joined us and that one pitcher turned into 3!Sunday
I had been looking forward to Sunday for a long time, cuz I'd scored an invite to an amazing dinner party... Scotte of EAT WITH ME fame organized a party of like-minded blogger foodies, and while I'm not a cook myself I certainly do enjoy foodie culture. My specialty is bringing the wine. :-) So, in the late afternoon, Chilefire and Mrs. Chilefire, Brunette, Chase, Lord and Lady Brandenburg, and I joined Scotte and Dancer in DC for a FEAST. Scotte promises to have info and photos up on his site later today, so I'll let him discuss the meal itself... but I can tell you it was a great evening filled with amazing flavors and new friends. I thoroughly enjoyed every tasty bite, as well as I think 6 glasses of wine. That's a little unusual for a Sunday... so I was actually more than a little toasty when I got home at 10:30 last night and proceeded to blast my iPod and sing my favorite tunes for about an hour. Um, sorry neighbors. But I was having fun!
Random Weekend Shout-Outs
This weekend marked my 2-year anniversary of being carless! Yep, I sold the old Buick Century the last weekend in March back in 2004. My feet are doing a darn good job of keeping me mobile!
And as for that NCAA tourney.... who in the heck would've predicted this? Even though I have UCLA picked to win the whole thing, and I still stand a chance of winning our friendly tournament pool, I would LOVE to see LSU and George Mason in the final dance. These Patriot fans around here are going wild!
Friday, March 24, 2006
What to Do When One Loses One's Leopard
I have decided to use my Netflix addiction to start exploring some of the great classics of American cinema, particularly those films that helped establish some of our beloved film icons. (If you haven't checked it out, by the way, the current issue of Premiere magazine has a great countdown of their picks for the 100 best performances ever. A fun list!)So this is how I ended up spending last night watching Bringing Up Baby for the very first time. I have heard about this movie for years, of course, as one of the defining screwball romantic comedies of old Hollywood, and I was excited to see these two particular icons early in their careers.
Well, it is certainly a "screwball" comedy - madcap, zany, with a paper-thin plot and the expectation that you'll just ride the film on the charm of the 2 stars rather than on the strength of its story. And those 2 stars are very charming, but neither one of them was anything like what I've come to expect. Their characters, Susan and David, were about as far from what I'd think of as usual roles for either of them.
Katharine Hepburn is very young and slightly obnoxious as the spoiled, chatterbox heiress who keeps getting Cary Grant into scrapes and supposedly hilarious situations. Kate Hepburn as the Amanda Bynes of her day? I never would've guessed it. The only time you ever see a hint of the great Kate that she will become is when Susan wiles her way out of prison by pretending to be a hard-boiled, tough-talking dame.
And as for Mr. Grant, he looks like he's still a few years away from becoming the dapper, gorgeous, king of the smooth-talking charmers. Damn those men who just get better and better looking as they age! Here he plays a hapless, befuddled, nerdy scientist with big glasses. He's one of those people where things happen to him, he doesn't make things happen. I don't know that I ever needed to see Cary Grant doing pratfalls in a fluffy woman's robe... but, he's still Cary Grant, so I watched anyway.
The movie is fast-paced, and I did laugh out loud a few times. The whole mistaken-identity leopard plot is a bit far-fetched, but at some point you just have to embrace it and go along for the ride. While this will never make my list of top 10 - or 100 - favorite movies, I'm glad I watched it if only to gain more respect for how these 2 actors grew from rather stock roles to become such beloved figures in American culture.
Thursday, March 23, 2006
Commence Radio Silence
I will soon be packing up the laptop and heading to Best Buy to get it fixed. If they do indeed ship it away for repairs, then that means I will not be posting or reading other blogs from home on nights/weekends for up to 3 weeks. So this isn't an official hiatus, cuz I'll still be checking in sometimes from work, but I know I won't be able to post or read as much as I want to.
I hope they are able to fix the laptop quickly! Wish me luck!
UPDATED:
I just made it in to work after an hour at Best Buy. It was actually a surprisingly pleasant experience, considering the major frustrations I've had there in the past. Yes, my baby laptop has been sent away to the service center for 2-3 weeks. It was also great to have the Geek Squad guy look over my startup items and everything going on in my configuration 'n' stuff. Turns out I've had a lot more virus trouble than I ever knew about, and there were major problems with the config that was making everything run very slowly. So he talked me into (soft sell - I did understand and appreciate all his explanations) paying 200 bucks for a new anti-virus/spyware package that they will custom install themselves once the computer gets back from the service center. We're also going to do a total system reboot, wiping clean all those config messes that have happened due to nasty little worms and viruses and such over the last year and a half. I'm really glad I've spent the last few weeks backing up everything important on the hard drive!
I hope they are able to fix the laptop quickly! Wish me luck!
UPDATED:
I just made it in to work after an hour at Best Buy. It was actually a surprisingly pleasant experience, considering the major frustrations I've had there in the past. Yes, my baby laptop has been sent away to the service center for 2-3 weeks. It was also great to have the Geek Squad guy look over my startup items and everything going on in my configuration 'n' stuff. Turns out I've had a lot more virus trouble than I ever knew about, and there were major problems with the config that was making everything run very slowly. So he talked me into (soft sell - I did understand and appreciate all his explanations) paying 200 bucks for a new anti-virus/spyware package that they will custom install themselves once the computer gets back from the service center. We're also going to do a total system reboot, wiping clean all those config messes that have happened due to nasty little worms and viruses and such over the last year and a half. I'm really glad I've spent the last few weeks backing up everything important on the hard drive!
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
I Predict Dehydration
One of those little inconveniences that add color to your day....
For the last year or so, my colleagues and I have grown very accustomed to the tasty, cold, refreshing clean water that has come from the water cooler that was out in our hallway. The water cooler appeared about the time that we were having major renovation done on our end of the building, but it stayed and we enjoyed it. Many of us were known to fill up our own water bottles several times a day. And it was a great place for those proverbial "water cooler conversations" - informal chats with a wide variety of colleagues as we all stood there filling up.
Well, upon arrival Monday morning, we all noticed our water cooler was gone. Not just the water bottle part, but the whole machine, the rubber mat that had been under it, and the trash can next to it. The whole little water station had disappeared. Huh?
A few days have gone by now, and we've all remarked upon missing our water cooler. Where did it go? When will it come back?
I just learned the depressing answer. It's never coming back. The water cooler had been put in there during that renovation, because the water fountain hooked in to the wall was out of commission. The renovation project is now complete, officially, and that water fountain is operational. So they took our happy water cooler away and we're just supposed to use the fountain. Which would be fine - except the fountain is hooked up to nasty, foul city water! I don't drink that at home, thank you Brita, so I'm certainly not planning on drinking it at work.
So now we're all sad. No tasty fresh water. I guess we'll be spending a lot more money on bottled water from now on. If I were you, I'd buy shares in Starbucks. I have a feeling we'll be buying a lot more of that Ethos water from now on....
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
What I'm Listening To
It is very rare for me to make an impulse buy on CDs. Usually I have to know and like at least a few songs off an album before I would consider buying it, and I rarely buy albums from "new" artists. For the last several years, an overwhelming majority of my CD purchases have been of just the latest album of long-time favorite bands. I think the last impulse buy I made on getting a totally new-to-me band's album was Maroon 5, probably 3 years ago.
But, this weekend, I happened to be at Best Buy (as you know) and decided to pick up an album that I'd never heard and had only read about. I'm so glad I did!
I now have The Little Willies' self-titled album on heavy rotation in my little nano. The tongue-in-cheek named band (at least, for the men, I hope so) features Norah Jones, of wedding dance song fame, but it's not an easy-jazz album at all. This group of 5 friends - Norah and 4 fairly cute guys - started playing club dates in NYC a few years ago and had so much fun they decided to cut an album. They play old-school, Hank/Willie kind of country, with not a trace of that horrendous 90's-era pop-country crossover stuff. There's nary a Shania or Faith moment to be found on this album, thank goodness.
I actually really like Norah on this stuff. I was always more a fan of her country-blues style rather than her jazzy style on her solo stuff. In fact, my favorite song off of her two albums was her cover of "Cold Cold Heart." I tried singing that at karaoke once with my friend EWT, but to our chagrin they had the Hank Williams version loaded up. Not exactly the right key for 2 girls!
The band works really well together - I love the mix of lead vocals from Norah Jones and Richard Julian. Their harmonies sound great, and they're just off-kilter enough to work. It's so refreshing to hear a band that actually uses percussive piano and a great mix of guitars to come with a loose, boozy, feel-good sound. I bet this would be a great band to see live!
The album includes a mix of uptempo, twangy fun songs and a few ballads. There a number of covers, too. The band name is an homage to Willie Nelson, and they do cover his great "I Gotta Get Drunk" on the album. That track is one of my favorites, along with "Tennessee Stud," "Love Me," "Best of All Possible Worlds," and "Lou Reed." You've got to love a song about a horse and one about thinking you see a black-jeans-wearing rocker out cow-tipping!
Check out their site - they have some downloads available. Who knows, you might like them as much as I do!
But, this weekend, I happened to be at Best Buy (as you know) and decided to pick up an album that I'd never heard and had only read about. I'm so glad I did!
I now have The Little Willies' self-titled album on heavy rotation in my little nano. The tongue-in-cheek named band (at least, for the men, I hope so) features Norah Jones, of wedding dance song fame, but it's not an easy-jazz album at all. This group of 5 friends - Norah and 4 fairly cute guys - started playing club dates in NYC a few years ago and had so much fun they decided to cut an album. They play old-school, Hank/Willie kind of country, with not a trace of that horrendous 90's-era pop-country crossover stuff. There's nary a Shania or Faith moment to be found on this album, thank goodness.
I actually really like Norah on this stuff. I was always more a fan of her country-blues style rather than her jazzy style on her solo stuff. In fact, my favorite song off of her two albums was her cover of "Cold Cold Heart." I tried singing that at karaoke once with my friend EWT, but to our chagrin they had the Hank Williams version loaded up. Not exactly the right key for 2 girls!
The band works really well together - I love the mix of lead vocals from Norah Jones and Richard Julian. Their harmonies sound great, and they're just off-kilter enough to work. It's so refreshing to hear a band that actually uses percussive piano and a great mix of guitars to come with a loose, boozy, feel-good sound. I bet this would be a great band to see live!
The album includes a mix of uptempo, twangy fun songs and a few ballads. There a number of covers, too. The band name is an homage to Willie Nelson, and they do cover his great "I Gotta Get Drunk" on the album. That track is one of my favorites, along with "Tennessee Stud," "Love Me," "Best of All Possible Worlds," and "Lou Reed." You've got to love a song about a horse and one about thinking you see a black-jeans-wearing rocker out cow-tipping!
Check out their site - they have some downloads available. Who knows, you might like them as much as I do!
Monday, March 20, 2006
My Challenge, Should I Choose to Accept It
I was going to call this post "I Am Job" but Onyah laughed at the pretentiousness of it. :-) But I do feel like I am about to be tested... my addictions and impulses versus logic and frugality. Here's the scoop:
I went to Best Buy on Saturday morning to ask them about my laptop. I didn't want to bring the computer in cuz I had plans for the rest of the day, so I thought I'd just use the time to get more info. I explained the overheating/auto-shut off problem and showed the Geek Squad chick my service plan. She couldn't really diagnose it without seeing it, of course, but said what probably would happen is that they would have to ship my computer away to some repair place. I asked her how long it would take to get it back, if it's able to fixed. Her answer? TWO TO THREE WEEKS! Ahhhhhhhhhh! I think my mind had a little meltdown even thinking about it.
As if you couldn't tell, I'm a total home computer addict. I blog, I email, I use lots of online sites for shopping and lifestyle management, I read the news online, I do work and research from home, I organize my volunteer stuff at home, I use Quicken, I download iTunes and manage my iPod, I download my digital photos. Sometimes I even play games. Yep, my name is Stefanie, and I'm addicted to being wired.
The idea of being without a home computer for 3 weeks is just astounding. I kind of get the shakes. And - here's where I'm Job - I've got my own voices of good and evil arguing with me about what I should do.
The angel on my right shoulder says... "Stef, of course, it will suck to have the computer be gone for 3 weeks. But they will fix your computer for free, and that's the whole reason you bought this service plan."
The devil on my left shoulder says... "Stef, 3 weeks without the computer will cause a serious slowdown in your productivity and will slowly drive you mad. You should listen to Onyah - this is an opportunity for you to buy a new toy! Go check out a new computer, and maybe you can upgrade to something that's better for digital photography."
Angel: "But, Stef, you have no money to do this. It would be a total waste of money to buy a new computer when you will have a perfectly good one once it gets fixed. Remember, you bought that service plan for a reason!"
Devil: "Ah, that service plan is a sunk cost. Doesn't matter now. Besides, you're getting a huge tax refund back! That would totally cover a new computer!"
Angel: "Ah, but you've already spent that tax refund in your head. Remember, you want to get your photos framed and buy some new furniture. Plus, you really need to pay down your Visa bill. With this refund, that goal is in sight!"
Devil: "Oh, you're so boring! I want a new toy!"
Angel: "Stefanie Rene, grow up! You're going to take this computer in to Best Buy and learn how to live without it for 3 weeks. You'll find a way to stay busy."
Aaaargh. So, I'm going to do the responsible, frugal thing and take the computer in. I am anxious about living with the laptop for so long. But I've been thinking about how to make it work.
Things that I won't be able to do when the computer goes to the doctor:
Things that I can do instead of blogging, emailing, or doing other computer things for the next 3 weeks:
Well, I think I'm going to be taking the computer in on Thursday morning. So you won't hear from me as much for the next few weeks, unless I start spending longer hours at work to use that computer, but hopefully I'll be getting a lot done. Wish me luck!
I went to Best Buy on Saturday morning to ask them about my laptop. I didn't want to bring the computer in cuz I had plans for the rest of the day, so I thought I'd just use the time to get more info. I explained the overheating/auto-shut off problem and showed the Geek Squad chick my service plan. She couldn't really diagnose it without seeing it, of course, but said what probably would happen is that they would have to ship my computer away to some repair place. I asked her how long it would take to get it back, if it's able to fixed. Her answer? TWO TO THREE WEEKS! Ahhhhhhhhhh! I think my mind had a little meltdown even thinking about it.
As if you couldn't tell, I'm a total home computer addict. I blog, I email, I use lots of online sites for shopping and lifestyle management, I read the news online, I do work and research from home, I organize my volunteer stuff at home, I use Quicken, I download iTunes and manage my iPod, I download my digital photos. Sometimes I even play games. Yep, my name is Stefanie, and I'm addicted to being wired.
The idea of being without a home computer for 3 weeks is just astounding. I kind of get the shakes. And - here's where I'm Job - I've got my own voices of good and evil arguing with me about what I should do.
The angel on my right shoulder says... "Stef, of course, it will suck to have the computer be gone for 3 weeks. But they will fix your computer for free, and that's the whole reason you bought this service plan."
The devil on my left shoulder says... "Stef, 3 weeks without the computer will cause a serious slowdown in your productivity and will slowly drive you mad. You should listen to Onyah - this is an opportunity for you to buy a new toy! Go check out a new computer, and maybe you can upgrade to something that's better for digital photography."
Angel: "But, Stef, you have no money to do this. It would be a total waste of money to buy a new computer when you will have a perfectly good one once it gets fixed. Remember, you bought that service plan for a reason!"
Devil: "Ah, that service plan is a sunk cost. Doesn't matter now. Besides, you're getting a huge tax refund back! That would totally cover a new computer!"
Angel: "Ah, but you've already spent that tax refund in your head. Remember, you want to get your photos framed and buy some new furniture. Plus, you really need to pay down your Visa bill. With this refund, that goal is in sight!"
Devil: "Oh, you're so boring! I want a new toy!"
Angel: "Stefanie Rene, grow up! You're going to take this computer in to Best Buy and learn how to live without it for 3 weeks. You'll find a way to stay busy."
Aaaargh. So, I'm going to do the responsible, frugal thing and take the computer in. I am anxious about living with the laptop for so long. But I've been thinking about how to make it work.
Things that I won't be able to do when the computer goes to the doctor:
- Check my email from home at night or at all on weekends
- Blog from home at night or at all on weekends
- Use my Weight Watchers Points Tracker for evening or weekend meals
- Manage my iPod. In fact, I'll need to buy an AC adaptor so I can charge it in the meantime.
- Update my Quicken.
- Do any work from home, including checking email and working on documents.
- Do quick look-ups of things, like movie times and phone numbers.
- Read other people's blogs at night or on weekends.
- Read the NY Times online on Sundays.
- Download any new photos I take.
Things that I can do instead of blogging, emailing, or doing other computer things for the next 3 weeks:
- Clean my apartment.
- Put about 6 months' worth (since the wedding!) of photographs into albums.
- Sort through my bookshelves and purge some old books that I can donate or sell.
- Get down on the floor and play with trusty cat, Cleo, more often.
- Catch up on reading the magazines that are piled up.
- Spend more time hanging out on the roof surveying the city.
- Take longer walks on weekends, using at as an excuse to go see some interesting movies or exhibits.
- Write some letters.
- Purge my closet for clothes for Goodwill.
Well, I think I'm going to be taking the computer in on Thursday morning. So you won't hear from me as much for the next few weeks, unless I start spending longer hours at work to use that computer, but hopefully I'll be getting a lot done. Wish me luck!
The Latest Match Update
It's been a few weeks since I last reported on my Match status and there's been a little activity, but nothing in person as of yet. Part of the problem I think is that the week of my Board meeting - which was March 6 - 10 - I dropped out of sight (site?) and didn't do any emailing at all due to real-life stress. So I'm not surprised that there's been a little slow-down in momentum.
Match Guy #2 is still around, but we haven't emailed as much. After my crazy week, I wrote to him and apologized for dropping off the face due to work. Then it took a few more days for him to write back, and he said the same thing was going on for him. He told me a little bit about what he does (sounds interesting) and said he's in total crunch mode until after March 20, so I should email him back after then. That's today, so maybe I'll try writing again tomorrow. Very typical that in DC, even an *online* relationship can't get off the ground because of work commitments!
Match Guy #3 has disappeared. He said he was going to a week-long conference, which coincided with my bad week. I emailed him last weekend to restart things, and there's been no word since. Oh well. He was the one who had first brought up meeting in person, but if I don't hear from him again then so be it.
Match Guy #4 just appeared on the scene last week. He emailed me first, then I wrote back, and we've now had 2 rounds of each responding. His emails are great! He's very personable and funny. When we had that crazy weather last week, with 83 one day and freezing a few days later, he cracked me up by saying out of nowhere in an email "Damn you, Topper Shutt!" :-) The more I hear from MG4 the more intrigued I am. I just learned today that he's active in community theater, and anyone who's involved in or a fan of the arts instantly rises to the top in my book. Although I did have a momentary "oh, damn!" moment when I learned that he has the relationship-killing first name, the same name as 2 previous guys I've had non-starting relationships with. Well, I can't hold it against him. Yet. He has now given me his real name / real email address, so I think I'll move it to there and see what happens. For now, we're rooting for MG4!
Match Guy #5 just winked at me last night, and his profile was intriguing enough that I think I will write him back soon. He is of a different race than I am, which is something I'm open to but haven't really experienced before. That could be interesting. Stay tuned.
Match Guy Rerun is someone that Match itself keeps trying to hook me up with - he keeps coming up whenever I write to one of these guys as "someone with a similar profile." Oh, I know that profile well. MGRerun is someone I went out with just once 2 years ago, and his profile hasn't changed a bit. My friends know him as Mr. Piggy, the one who actually made oinking noises at dinner. Not gonna do that again!
So, there you have it.... all the Match news that's fit to print. Hopefully there'll be an actual in person meeting (what do they call that? a date???) to report on soon!
Match Guy #2 is still around, but we haven't emailed as much. After my crazy week, I wrote to him and apologized for dropping off the face due to work. Then it took a few more days for him to write back, and he said the same thing was going on for him. He told me a little bit about what he does (sounds interesting) and said he's in total crunch mode until after March 20, so I should email him back after then. That's today, so maybe I'll try writing again tomorrow. Very typical that in DC, even an *online* relationship can't get off the ground because of work commitments!
Match Guy #3 has disappeared. He said he was going to a week-long conference, which coincided with my bad week. I emailed him last weekend to restart things, and there's been no word since. Oh well. He was the one who had first brought up meeting in person, but if I don't hear from him again then so be it.
Match Guy #4 just appeared on the scene last week. He emailed me first, then I wrote back, and we've now had 2 rounds of each responding. His emails are great! He's very personable and funny. When we had that crazy weather last week, with 83 one day and freezing a few days later, he cracked me up by saying out of nowhere in an email "Damn you, Topper Shutt!" :-) The more I hear from MG4 the more intrigued I am. I just learned today that he's active in community theater, and anyone who's involved in or a fan of the arts instantly rises to the top in my book. Although I did have a momentary "oh, damn!" moment when I learned that he has the relationship-killing first name, the same name as 2 previous guys I've had non-starting relationships with. Well, I can't hold it against him. Yet. He has now given me his real name / real email address, so I think I'll move it to there and see what happens. For now, we're rooting for MG4!
Match Guy #5 just winked at me last night, and his profile was intriguing enough that I think I will write him back soon. He is of a different race than I am, which is something I'm open to but haven't really experienced before. That could be interesting. Stay tuned.
Match Guy Rerun is someone that Match itself keeps trying to hook me up with - he keeps coming up whenever I write to one of these guys as "someone with a similar profile." Oh, I know that profile well. MGRerun is someone I went out with just once 2 years ago, and his profile hasn't changed a bit. My friends know him as Mr. Piggy, the one who actually made oinking noises at dinner. Not gonna do that again!
So, there you have it.... all the Match news that's fit to print. Hopefully there'll be an actual in person meeting (what do they call that? a date???) to report on soon!
Saturday, March 18, 2006
Thank You for Satire
After reading a great review in the Express yesterday and hearing about the film when it was at Sundance, I have been really looking forward to seeing the new movie Thank You for Smoking. So when Onyah and I made plans to do lunch and a movie today, I was psyched that she wanted to see it too and we made our way up to the Landmark Bethesda Row Cinema to do just that.
The movie stars the underrated and quite attractive Aaron Eckhart as Nick Naylor, the head lobbyist and spin-meister for a dubious research association that's just a front for Big Tobacco's pr. He is great at his job and revels in it, loving his ability to out-argue any opposing view. His two BFF's are his counterparts for the alcohol and firearms industries, and together they call themselves the MOD Squad, for "Merchants of Death." One of their favorite games to play is comparing the death statistics for their products in a constant round of one-upsmanship. Throughout the movie, Nick encounters opposition from the hilarious William H. Macy as a crunchy-granola Vermont Senator and Sam Elliott as the former Marlboro Man who is now dying of lung cancer. It's a real credit to Eckhart's charm likability that he gets you really rooting for this guy as he takes on talk shows and Congressional hearings.
One of the constant sub-plots in the movie is that Nick is trying to get closer to his son, who's now living with his mom and new Dr. Stepdad, who clearly paint a poor picture of Nick when he's not around. Nick takes great joy in shaping young Joey in his own image, bringing him along as he wheels and deals in Hollywood and teaching him the finer points of the art of bullshitting. This part of the story was the only thing that would make me give the movie a 4 instead of a 5, cuz I think it humanized Nick just a little too much. And the actor playing the son was in one of those creepy kid movies a few years back, where the trailer was mainly him staring at the camera with big, spooky eyes, and so he still kinda creeps me out.
Fittingly for someone whose currency is talk, Nick's downfall comes when he starts blabbing too much. Apparently he never heard the old "loose lips sink ships" adage. His fall comes in the form of none other than the future Mrs. Tom Cruise. Katie Holmes plays an intrepid young reporter (is there any other kind?) who writes a scathing profile, and she manipulates Nick into spilling all of the beans through what we assume to be some mind-blowing sex that we never get to see.
One of the backstories of the making of this movie is that the first cut of this film included a pretty hot and heavy sex scene between Eckhart and Holmes, but that the scene was cut before it was shown at Sundance. The rumor is that Mr. Cruise wielded some of his considerable couch-jumping power in order to get the scene removed from the film. I had heard that the scene was back in, and this week's Entertainment Weekly review made it sound like the reviewers had seen it, but there was no such sex in the movie we saw today. There were a few before and after scenes, and if you were looking for it you could even see where it probably was, cuz there was a bah-chicka-bah-bam music cue that went nowhere. But no graphic sex scene for us today, sadly. Behold the Power of the Cruise.
This movie was great. It does the job as a biting satire of the tobacco industry, and also of the very nature of corporate spin and lobbying in general. There were more than several laugh-out-loud moments, and its snarkiness stayed smart and didn't stoop to any too-obvious gratuitous laughs that I remember. Well, except maybe Rob Lowe in a kimono. But that was plain hilarious. The acting is uniformly high quality, and the casting is spot-on. Two enthusiastic thumbs up!
The movie stars the underrated and quite attractive Aaron Eckhart as Nick Naylor, the head lobbyist and spin-meister for a dubious research association that's just a front for Big Tobacco's pr. He is great at his job and revels in it, loving his ability to out-argue any opposing view. His two BFF's are his counterparts for the alcohol and firearms industries, and together they call themselves the MOD Squad, for "Merchants of Death." One of their favorite games to play is comparing the death statistics for their products in a constant round of one-upsmanship. Throughout the movie, Nick encounters opposition from the hilarious William H. Macy as a crunchy-granola Vermont Senator and Sam Elliott as the former Marlboro Man who is now dying of lung cancer. It's a real credit to Eckhart's charm likability that he gets you really rooting for this guy as he takes on talk shows and Congressional hearings.
One of the constant sub-plots in the movie is that Nick is trying to get closer to his son, who's now living with his mom and new Dr. Stepdad, who clearly paint a poor picture of Nick when he's not around. Nick takes great joy in shaping young Joey in his own image, bringing him along as he wheels and deals in Hollywood and teaching him the finer points of the art of bullshitting. This part of the story was the only thing that would make me give the movie a 4 instead of a 5, cuz I think it humanized Nick just a little too much. And the actor playing the son was in one of those creepy kid movies a few years back, where the trailer was mainly him staring at the camera with big, spooky eyes, and so he still kinda creeps me out.
Fittingly for someone whose currency is talk, Nick's downfall comes when he starts blabbing too much. Apparently he never heard the old "loose lips sink ships" adage. His fall comes in the form of none other than the future Mrs. Tom Cruise. Katie Holmes plays an intrepid young reporter (is there any other kind?) who writes a scathing profile, and she manipulates Nick into spilling all of the beans through what we assume to be some mind-blowing sex that we never get to see.
One of the backstories of the making of this movie is that the first cut of this film included a pretty hot and heavy sex scene between Eckhart and Holmes, but that the scene was cut before it was shown at Sundance. The rumor is that Mr. Cruise wielded some of his considerable couch-jumping power in order to get the scene removed from the film. I had heard that the scene was back in, and this week's Entertainment Weekly review made it sound like the reviewers had seen it, but there was no such sex in the movie we saw today. There were a few before and after scenes, and if you were looking for it you could even see where it probably was, cuz there was a bah-chicka-bah-bam music cue that went nowhere. But no graphic sex scene for us today, sadly. Behold the Power of the Cruise.
This movie was great. It does the job as a biting satire of the tobacco industry, and also of the very nature of corporate spin and lobbying in general. There were more than several laugh-out-loud moments, and its snarkiness stayed smart and didn't stoop to any too-obvious gratuitous laughs that I remember. Well, except maybe Rob Lowe in a kimono. But that was plain hilarious. The acting is uniformly high quality, and the casting is spot-on. Two enthusiastic thumbs up!
Friday, March 17, 2006
Friday Morning, and I'd Rather Be In Bed
So is this finally the change in the weather they've been predicting? My allergies just love it. I've been sneezing for the last 2 hours. Ah-choo!
I did have a great day yesterday, though. Thank goodness for that clear, sunshiny afternoon! Mandy and I both took the afternoon off to officially play hooky. We started with a fun lunch at Elephant & Castle. Since neither of us had to go to work, we did indulge in little British pub fun... I had an imperial size hard cider, and Mandy had a McEWAN'S! And yes, you have to say it in a grunt/shout.
Then we ventured over to the National Gallery to see the Cezanne exhibit. I'd heard mixed reviews of this exhibit, but I've wanted to see it for a long time so I was glad we took the afternoon to do it. The exhibit showcased Cezanne's work in Provence, and it was interesting to learn more about how he fit in to the growing impressionist movement. Mandy and I got an important vocabularly lesson when we learned that Cezanne considered his own brushwork to be couillarde, which means "ballsy." Good word to know! The exhibit was presented in roughly a chronological order, which really demonstrated one of the themes they were trying to show, which was how Cezanne's work changed over time and became darker and more turbulent as he aged and became ill himself. This was one of my favorite pieces - Chateau Noir - which really exemplifies those darker, later works. They literally looked stormy - there was a lot of movement in the scenes and the trees often looked as if they were about to snap in a gale.
After battling the surprising weekday crowds, copping a squat on one of the couches to talk for a while, and then checking out the Audubon exhibit we'd heard about, Mandy and I indulged again with a quick trip to Cafe Atlantico for a mid-afternoon mojito. Tasty! But we both remarked by about 4:30 pm that our sudden exhaustion was the best lesson in why we shouldn't drink in the afternoon. So sleepy!
I made it home at about 5 pm and settled in for a long night of DVD watching. My friend AJ at work is my hero! Or my enabler. Guess what she did? She burned the first 8 episodes of Lost Season 2 on disc for me! So, yes, I watched another 8 episodes last night. What can I say? I'm hooked! I'm just finished at the point (spoilers) where Michael was old-school IM'ing with someone on the old computer who may or may not be Walt. Locke and Mister Echo (sp?) watched the respliced Dharma Initiative Orientation Film. (Very X-Files.) Sawyer and Kate have acknowledged that they like-like each other, Jack and Ana Lucia have struck up a new conversation, and Sayid is mourning over Shannon. Season 2 is great so far. But I really don't like Ana Lucia. Is it the character or do I not like Michelle Rodriguez? Not sure yet. AJ said she'll have the rest of Season 2 for me next week, then I'll be all caught up and can watch it in real time!
I did have a great day yesterday, though. Thank goodness for that clear, sunshiny afternoon! Mandy and I both took the afternoon off to officially play hooky. We started with a fun lunch at Elephant & Castle. Since neither of us had to go to work, we did indulge in little British pub fun... I had an imperial size hard cider, and Mandy had a McEWAN'S! And yes, you have to say it in a grunt/shout.
Then we ventured over to the National Gallery to see the Cezanne exhibit. I'd heard mixed reviews of this exhibit, but I've wanted to see it for a long time so I was glad we took the afternoon to do it. The exhibit showcased Cezanne's work in Provence, and it was interesting to learn more about how he fit in to the growing impressionist movement. Mandy and I got an important vocabularly lesson when we learned that Cezanne considered his own brushwork to be couillarde, which means "ballsy." Good word to know! The exhibit was presented in roughly a chronological order, which really demonstrated one of the themes they were trying to show, which was how Cezanne's work changed over time and became darker and more turbulent as he aged and became ill himself. This was one of my favorite pieces - Chateau Noir - which really exemplifies those darker, later works. They literally looked stormy - there was a lot of movement in the scenes and the trees often looked as if they were about to snap in a gale.After battling the surprising weekday crowds, copping a squat on one of the couches to talk for a while, and then checking out the Audubon exhibit we'd heard about, Mandy and I indulged again with a quick trip to Cafe Atlantico for a mid-afternoon mojito. Tasty! But we both remarked by about 4:30 pm that our sudden exhaustion was the best lesson in why we shouldn't drink in the afternoon. So sleepy!
I made it home at about 5 pm and settled in for a long night of DVD watching. My friend AJ at work is my hero! Or my enabler. Guess what she did? She burned the first 8 episodes of Lost Season 2 on disc for me! So, yes, I watched another 8 episodes last night. What can I say? I'm hooked! I'm just finished at the point (spoilers) where Michael was old-school IM'ing with someone on the old computer who may or may not be Walt. Locke and Mister Echo (sp?) watched the respliced Dharma Initiative Orientation Film. (Very X-Files.) Sawyer and Kate have acknowledged that they like-like each other, Jack and Ana Lucia have struck up a new conversation, and Sayid is mourning over Shannon. Season 2 is great so far. But I really don't like Ana Lucia. Is it the character or do I not like Michelle Rodriguez? Not sure yet. AJ said she'll have the rest of Season 2 for me next week, then I'll be all caught up and can watch it in real time!
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
An Old Dog's New Trick
In honor of my Dad's birthday today, I thought I'd share a cute story about what he's been up to over the past few months.
But first, a little history. When I was about 5 years old, my parents made me start taking piano lessons. I didn't really feel very here-nor-there about it at the time, but now I'm really glad that they did. I love that they encouraged both artistic expression and artistic discipline (practice! practice! practice!) at such an early age. I kept taking lessons all the way to 11th grade. I won't say I was a virtuoso, but I became a pretty decent pianist. I could sight read both classical and top-40 sheet music, and that made me happy. I haven't played much since leaving home for college 13 years ago, but enough of the technical skill has stayed with me that I can still play some of my old favorites when I have the music in front of me.
My first piano was a junky old upright that my parents got from a friend, but they soon upgraded to a really nice upright that I think we had from about 1st through 4th grade or so. Then they really upgraded to a gorgeous late-70's model mahogany baby grand. (That's it in the photo, with one of my Mom's African textiles draped over it.) I loved this piano. Not only did I love playing it, but I just think it's a really beautiful example of craftsmanship. And my parents have always been really good about keeping it up.
That baby grand has always been known as "Stef's Piano." My little bro took a few years of lessons growing up but it never really took with him, so I was the pianist of the family. When it was time for me to leave home, it was with the agreement that Mom and Dad would take care of the piano until I lived in a place where I could house and maintain it myself. My kids will learn on that piano someday, but that someday is a long way off. Since leaving home, I've been in either dorms or apartments for the last 13 years, and while I still miss the piano there's no way I have been able to take it myself.
My parents have been patient and have done a great job of keeping the baby grand happy and safe. But about 3 1/2 years ago, it started to become somewhat of a burden to them. In 2002, they moved out of the big old Upstate New York farmhouse we'd been in since 1980. They relocated to a tiny little house on a golf resort in Bloomington, Indiana, bringing the piano with them. They thought they stay in that house for a long time, but as you loyal readers know they just moved again right after Christmas. They're in a bigger house now that's laid out better, and once again they have made room for the piano.
With this move, though, my Dad voiced some of his frustration about their need to keep moving the piano with them while I'm still not settled. But, logical type that he is, he came up with a solution. He said: "As long as we're moving and maintaining this darn thing, someone should be using it!" So what was my now-58-year-old Dad's New Year's resolution? He has started taking piano lessons!
Since January, my Dad has been taking beginner's piano lessons, and he's even using all of my old piano books from the early 80's. I shudder to think what 8-year-old me doodled in those books. I'm afraid it was something like "I Heart Jeff B!" or worse. But, since Dad is a rather obsessive type and this has become his new "project" in retirement, at least until golf season starts, he's been practicing several hours a day and has already whipped through all of the beginning levels of the book. He's been musically talented his whole life, playing the clarinet and leading our church choir, so it's not a surprise to me that he's picked this up so quickly.
I am so glad that someone else is getting some enjoyment of the piano, and it just cracks me up whenever I call home now and talk to Mom, cuz I can hear Dad practicing his scales and starting in on the classics. I think it's really inspiring that at 58 he has the interest and the excitement to try something new!
Happy Birthday, Dad!
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
A Brief Programming Note
I may have been the only one who noticed, but I wanted to put the word out as to why I have not been visiting or commenting on my favorite blogs as much lately. Don't worry, I haven't lost my addiction for this blog world of ours! Actually, it's a much more frustrating reason. After several months of "maybe it'll make it!" optimism, I've come to the quick realization that my home computer is on the major fritz. Poor baby had a short a few months back and that caused it to overheat quite frequently, at which point it gets mad and shuts itself off. I've been trying to keep a handle on things by monitoring how long I'm on and letting it rest frequently, but over the last week the problem has gotten much worse and I can't really keep the computer on for more than 30-45 min or so before it shuts itself off. That's barely enough time to charge up my iPod, check my email, and update my Quicken!
I've made the decision that sometime in the next few days I've gotta take my baby to Best Buy and see what that Service Plan I paid for actually gets me. I think it will end up being one of 2 scenarios -- either they will have to ship my laptop off to parts unknown for repair for free, in which case I'll be glad I bought the Service Plan but sad that I'll spend probably a few weeks (AAAAAAHHHHH!) without computer access at home; or, b, they'll live up to my low expectations and tell me that they can't do anything about it or that it'll cost me an arm and a leg, so I'll just buy myself a new laptop thus extinguishing the bright light of my imminent tax refund. If it's the latter, I'll be back online pretty darn quick. If it's the former, not so much.
So I haven't had as much time online at home, and work has been extremely busy, which is why I haven't really been visiting my blog friends. My apologies, as I don't mean to be neglecting anyone! I hope to be back up and running online soon!
I've made the decision that sometime in the next few days I've gotta take my baby to Best Buy and see what that Service Plan I paid for actually gets me. I think it will end up being one of 2 scenarios -- either they will have to ship my laptop off to parts unknown for repair for free, in which case I'll be glad I bought the Service Plan but sad that I'll spend probably a few weeks (AAAAAAHHHHH!) without computer access at home; or, b, they'll live up to my low expectations and tell me that they can't do anything about it or that it'll cost me an arm and a leg, so I'll just buy myself a new laptop thus extinguishing the bright light of my imminent tax refund. If it's the latter, I'll be back online pretty darn quick. If it's the former, not so much.
So I haven't had as much time online at home, and work has been extremely busy, which is why I haven't really been visiting my blog friends. My apologies, as I don't mean to be neglecting anyone! I hope to be back up and running online soon!
Monday, March 13, 2006
Pick Up the Phone....Or Better Yet, Your Feet!
I have a new crusade. After spending an entire day at work with an increasingly painful headache hearing about a hundred different examples of miscommunication, misunderstanding, frustration, defensiveness, and anger between coworkers and/or my colleagues and their external partners, I feel like shouting from the rooftops:
DO NOT ALWAYS RELY ON EMAIL!
This may come as a shock to my long-time friends, who have known me to be quite the email addict over the years (although not so much lately), but I often think that the advent of email has really hurt communication. I'm speaking here mostly of the professional world, but the same could be said of personal relationships, too.
I myself have learned over the years which people and which situations really require the personal give-and-take of real conversations, either in phone or on person, and which are best addressed by email. Email is great for sending attachments, for making mass announcements, for conveying a lot of information succinctly, and for quick, non-emotionally-loaded back and forths to schedule meetings or calls or lunch breaks. Email is NOT good for discussing really important topics, for making layered decisions, for addressing concerns, for soothing egos, or for anything that involves any level of emotion and thus potential (and highly likely) misinterpretation.
Sure, email is quick and easy. But we all need to remember that working relationships are just that - *relationships* between real people. Just about every single fire I've had to put out, or even witness, involving miscommunication can be tied at least in part to people projecting or misreading tone in emails. You know what can help avoid that danger zone? Picking up the phone to talk to someone. Or, if it's a coworker, push the chair back, stand up, and walk over to that person to talk live and in color. Heck, it's even a form of exercise.
So, this is my crusade. I try to do this as much as I can already, but I want to make even more of a personal commitment to go TALK to my coworkers when I have questions, and to call people on the phone rather than take the easy route of emailing all the time. Heck, I even enjoy the opportunity to walk around the building and say hello to certain people while sharing info or asking questions. Shoofly knows - she's a regular stop on my building rounds these days! This is one of the best ways to get to know people better and to build positive relationships that are stronger and can work through any potential misunderstandings. You may even find that going to talk to someone about Topic A can lead you to a conversation about Topics B, C, and D, which are all important and which you may not have learned otherwise.
So the crusade starts with me, but I hope I can influence others, as well. I want to be a good role model in this for my staff and outside partners - I hope I can encourage them that there are so many benefits to just having a real conversation! My friends, I beg of you, just try to pick up the phone or go visit a coworker once a day - you'll be amazed at how much it helps build those partnerships, and you might even have some fun small talk or make some friends at work!
Of course, I realize the irony of saying all this in a blog.... :-)
DO NOT ALWAYS RELY ON EMAIL!
This may come as a shock to my long-time friends, who have known me to be quite the email addict over the years (although not so much lately), but I often think that the advent of email has really hurt communication. I'm speaking here mostly of the professional world, but the same could be said of personal relationships, too.
I myself have learned over the years which people and which situations really require the personal give-and-take of real conversations, either in phone or on person, and which are best addressed by email. Email is great for sending attachments, for making mass announcements, for conveying a lot of information succinctly, and for quick, non-emotionally-loaded back and forths to schedule meetings or calls or lunch breaks. Email is NOT good for discussing really important topics, for making layered decisions, for addressing concerns, for soothing egos, or for anything that involves any level of emotion and thus potential (and highly likely) misinterpretation.
Sure, email is quick and easy. But we all need to remember that working relationships are just that - *relationships* between real people. Just about every single fire I've had to put out, or even witness, involving miscommunication can be tied at least in part to people projecting or misreading tone in emails. You know what can help avoid that danger zone? Picking up the phone to talk to someone. Or, if it's a coworker, push the chair back, stand up, and walk over to that person to talk live and in color. Heck, it's even a form of exercise.
So, this is my crusade. I try to do this as much as I can already, but I want to make even more of a personal commitment to go TALK to my coworkers when I have questions, and to call people on the phone rather than take the easy route of emailing all the time. Heck, I even enjoy the opportunity to walk around the building and say hello to certain people while sharing info or asking questions. Shoofly knows - she's a regular stop on my building rounds these days! This is one of the best ways to get to know people better and to build positive relationships that are stronger and can work through any potential misunderstandings. You may even find that going to talk to someone about Topic A can lead you to a conversation about Topics B, C, and D, which are all important and which you may not have learned otherwise.
So the crusade starts with me, but I hope I can influence others, as well. I want to be a good role model in this for my staff and outside partners - I hope I can encourage them that there are so many benefits to just having a real conversation! My friends, I beg of you, just try to pick up the phone or go visit a coworker once a day - you'll be amazed at how much it helps build those partnerships, and you might even have some fun small talk or make some friends at work!
Of course, I realize the irony of saying all this in a blog.... :-)
I Once Was LOST
After a really intense week, I went underground for some valuable recharging time this weekend. Now, this wasn't as hard-core a "going underground" experience as I pulled in grad school, when I was stressed out and just decided to give myself an extra Spring Break one year. But it was still 3 days of my own time, where I did only what I wanted when I wanted it. Sounds great, eh?
As those of you who've been following along know, I totally immersed myself in LOST over the weekend. Between 8 pm Thursday and midnight Saturday, I watched all 24 episodes of Season 1. That's 24 episodes in 52 hours, at a rate of 1 episode every 2.25 hours when you average it over morning, noon, and night. Yeah, I've inherited my Dad's obsessive / addictive personality, no need to finger-point. I loved it. The story is awesome, the men are hot, the acting is good, the setting is beautiful, dangerous and spooky... it's like Survivor and the X-Files went and had a tv-show baby. Or something like that. I've been surfing the Interweb over the last day reading up on some conspiracy theories, but I'm still trying to avoid any advance knowledge of Season 2. I want to wait and watch it all at once like I did with Season 1. Anyway, so far my uninformed choice of favorite conspiracy theory is the government mind control experiment idea. Don't tell me anything! But feel free to comment on your favorite characters. For me, it's a toss-up between Sayid and Sawyer. Hmmm... suddenly I'm hungry for a sandwich. Meee-ow!
I did get to enjoy the weather and had a fun, care-free Friday night out, and I got some personal / volunteer work done that I've been procrastinating on for a while. Add to that all new episodes of my favorite night of TV, and it was a pretty damn good weekend. I feel rested, relaxed, recharged, and ready for another week of craziness starting bright and early this Monday morning.
Oh, and Mr. L has started his annual NCAA tourney contest via ESPN.com. I used my totally non-scientific method of picking, since I don't really pay attention to the season at all and only know about the programs from what I see in the headlines or what my Hoosier family bitches about on phone calls.... so, with just a little rhyme and reason I've picked UCLA going all the way. I say to myself, Good luck with that. We'll see how it goes!
As those of you who've been following along know, I totally immersed myself in LOST over the weekend. Between 8 pm Thursday and midnight Saturday, I watched all 24 episodes of Season 1. That's 24 episodes in 52 hours, at a rate of 1 episode every 2.25 hours when you average it over morning, noon, and night. Yeah, I've inherited my Dad's obsessive / addictive personality, no need to finger-point. I loved it. The story is awesome, the men are hot, the acting is good, the setting is beautiful, dangerous and spooky... it's like Survivor and the X-Files went and had a tv-show baby. Or something like that. I've been surfing the Interweb over the last day reading up on some conspiracy theories, but I'm still trying to avoid any advance knowledge of Season 2. I want to wait and watch it all at once like I did with Season 1. Anyway, so far my uninformed choice of favorite conspiracy theory is the government mind control experiment idea. Don't tell me anything! But feel free to comment on your favorite characters. For me, it's a toss-up between Sayid and Sawyer. Hmmm... suddenly I'm hungry for a sandwich. Meee-ow!
I did get to enjoy the weather and had a fun, care-free Friday night out, and I got some personal / volunteer work done that I've been procrastinating on for a while. Add to that all new episodes of my favorite night of TV, and it was a pretty damn good weekend. I feel rested, relaxed, recharged, and ready for another week of craziness starting bright and early this Monday morning.
Oh, and Mr. L has started his annual NCAA tourney contest via ESPN.com. I used my totally non-scientific method of picking, since I don't really pay attention to the season at all and only know about the programs from what I see in the headlines or what my Hoosier family bitches about on phone calls.... so, with just a little rhyme and reason I've picked UCLA going all the way. I say to myself, Good luck with that. We'll see how it goes!
Sunday, March 12, 2006
Eponymous
In honor of this weekend's glorious weather and the fact that I live in a building with a roof deck, I give you a few literal views from 16th Street:
Enlarge the picture and look to the right of the Washington Monument. If you look really closely, you'll see what I just discovered today, after living in this building for 2 1/2 years. I have a view of the river! Kinda. Off in the distance. But I swear, you can see the Potomac!
In this one, way off in the background you can see RFK, as well. It's really well lit and visible at night. From the other sides of my roof, you can see Catholic U and the National Cathedral, but the mechanical stuff on the roof gets in the way of taking good pictures of them. I can also see Silver Spring and Arlington really clearly. It's good for me to go upstairs every once in a while and remind myself that I am paying for a panoramic view.
If you can imagine the sounds of a neighborhood soccer game, drumming, pigeons in flight, neighbor ladies drinking mimosas and talking up a storm, a light breeze, and the occasional police siren, then you have the soundtrack to my afternoon.
Saturday, March 11, 2006
The Men of LOST
I've got about 1 disc left to go, but for now I want to take a few minutes to give you the rundown on my take on the men of LOST. I have my favorites, of course. :-) I could write about the women, but frankly, they're just not as interesting to me. Keep in mind that I haven't seen the end of Season 1 yet, nor none of Season 2, so this is my sense of each of the men based on where I am in the show.
I'll try to add photos later, when I'm not stuck with my at-home dialup!
And here they are:
Jack - The Hero. Dr. Jack is the unofficial leader of the whole group. He takes care of everyone, and though he seems to resist it at times, everyone else looks to him for answers on everything that comes up. He has clear Daddy issues, as both of his flashback episodes have focused on his father. Heck, his Dad even made it into Sawyer's flashback. Frankly, I find Jack a little boring.
Sayid - The Heathcliff. I think I've mentioned my penchant for Heathcliff figures in the past (Angel, Spike, Jess on Gilmore Girls, Laurence Olivier's original Heathcliff, etc.) Sayid fits right in this line. He's the romantic lead, and I want to think of him as being sweet and sensitive, but his past as a soldier who tortured and killed forms just as much of his personality. As jealous as I am of Shannon for gettin' a little Sayid action, I'm sure there's going to be something bad as his dark side will inevitably make another appearance.
Sawyer - The Villain. Hotty-McTotty Sawyer seems to be so at war with himself that he chooses to create conflict with everyone else. The group is starting to warm up to him, as he is showing a little bit more of his own humanity. He is the third in the trio of alpha males whose struggles for dominance are fascinating to watch. His tragic past and obvious vulnerability make me just want to hug him. Ah, my attraction for the wrong men.
Hurley - The Buffoon. I mean this in the theatrical sense, as a character who provides comic relief but is actually just as unhappy and tortured as the rest of them. The lovable Hurley seems a classic case of "still waters run deep." I just saw his lottery episode, and I love the way their previous lives are now starting to intertwine and add to the mystery of their whole situation. I swear that I saw Hurley on the TV screen of the little girl in Korea when Jin paid a call to her father. I even played it over 3 times.... coincidence? I think not.
Charlie - The Screwup. Charlie seems to be struggling to figure out who he is, and what his place is in the world. He started out as the useless heroin junkie, but his character has evolved as he has tried to build real relationships and be helpful. I am interested to see what happens with him and Claire if this baby is every actually born.
Michael - The Reluctant Father. I didn't like Michael at first, as he seemed so angry about his situation as a "new" father to Walt, and he didn't appear to give a damn about Walt's own feelings. But like Charlie, he has really evloved over the season and has become a strong protector. His construction talents are really showing as he builds the raft - the 2nd one by now - but I'm sure his hopes will continue to be dashed, cuz I know they don't make it off the island with that raft.
Jin - The Fallen Husband. It seems that most of Jin's character development happened long before they ever landed on the island. He started out as a young lover, doing anything he could to earn Sun's affection, but in doing so he completely sold out all he believed in and has become an angry, bitter, violent person. At this point, he has told Sun that there is no second chance for them. But at the same time, he has reconciled with Michael and is helping to build the raft.
Boone - The B-Plot. I am so uninterested in Boone and his relationships with Shannon. He isn't even all that interesting as Locke's sidekick. I do know what happens to him eventually, and I can't say I'll be all broken up about it.
Locke - The Savior. Locke is the soul of this show. I was just thinking about calling him "the Messiah" when Swoosie Kurtz came on and told him he was immaculately conceived. Awesome! If anyone were to start his own religion on this show, it should be Locke. He is the only one who has really tapped in to the mystery of this island. I would follow him anywhere.
I'll try to add photos later, when I'm not stuck with my at-home dialup!
And here they are:
Jack - The Hero. Dr. Jack is the unofficial leader of the whole group. He takes care of everyone, and though he seems to resist it at times, everyone else looks to him for answers on everything that comes up. He has clear Daddy issues, as both of his flashback episodes have focused on his father. Heck, his Dad even made it into Sawyer's flashback. Frankly, I find Jack a little boring.
Sayid - The Heathcliff. I think I've mentioned my penchant for Heathcliff figures in the past (Angel, Spike, Jess on Gilmore Girls, Laurence Olivier's original Heathcliff, etc.) Sayid fits right in this line. He's the romantic lead, and I want to think of him as being sweet and sensitive, but his past as a soldier who tortured and killed forms just as much of his personality. As jealous as I am of Shannon for gettin' a little Sayid action, I'm sure there's going to be something bad as his dark side will inevitably make another appearance.
Sawyer - The Villain. Hotty-McTotty Sawyer seems to be so at war with himself that he chooses to create conflict with everyone else. The group is starting to warm up to him, as he is showing a little bit more of his own humanity. He is the third in the trio of alpha males whose struggles for dominance are fascinating to watch. His tragic past and obvious vulnerability make me just want to hug him. Ah, my attraction for the wrong men.
Hurley - The Buffoon. I mean this in the theatrical sense, as a character who provides comic relief but is actually just as unhappy and tortured as the rest of them. The lovable Hurley seems a classic case of "still waters run deep." I just saw his lottery episode, and I love the way their previous lives are now starting to intertwine and add to the mystery of their whole situation. I swear that I saw Hurley on the TV screen of the little girl in Korea when Jin paid a call to her father. I even played it over 3 times.... coincidence? I think not.
Charlie - The Screwup. Charlie seems to be struggling to figure out who he is, and what his place is in the world. He started out as the useless heroin junkie, but his character has evolved as he has tried to build real relationships and be helpful. I am interested to see what happens with him and Claire if this baby is every actually born.
Michael - The Reluctant Father. I didn't like Michael at first, as he seemed so angry about his situation as a "new" father to Walt, and he didn't appear to give a damn about Walt's own feelings. But like Charlie, he has really evloved over the season and has become a strong protector. His construction talents are really showing as he builds the raft - the 2nd one by now - but I'm sure his hopes will continue to be dashed, cuz I know they don't make it off the island with that raft.
Jin - The Fallen Husband. It seems that most of Jin's character development happened long before they ever landed on the island. He started out as a young lover, doing anything he could to earn Sun's affection, but in doing so he completely sold out all he believed in and has become an angry, bitter, violent person. At this point, he has told Sun that there is no second chance for them. But at the same time, he has reconciled with Michael and is helping to build the raft.
Boone - The B-Plot. I am so uninterested in Boone and his relationships with Shannon. He isn't even all that interesting as Locke's sidekick. I do know what happens to him eventually, and I can't say I'll be all broken up about it.
Locke - The Savior. Locke is the soul of this show. I was just thinking about calling him "the Messiah" when Swoosie Kurtz came on and told him he was immaculately conceived. Awesome! If anyone were to start his own religion on this show, it should be Locke. He is the only one who has really tapped in to the mystery of this island. I would follow him anywhere.
Hello, my toes!
It appears that it's time for a little drunk-blogging again... well, if the shoe fits, right? I am happy to say that tonight was the first appearance of my toes, in their beloved black sandals, since last fall. I even broke out the OPI raspberry nail polish this afternoon in preparation. My toes looked so cute! Welcome to almost spring....
I met MH a little early for our dinner plans tonight, and to my surprise she was enjoying a drink with our old friend/colleague Balfour at Larry's Lounge this evening. I joined them, as did The Johnson eventually, and we had a great time catching up and bitching about various work items over the course of 3 rounds of drinks. I had such a great time catching up with the Balfour - I think it's been about a year since last time we saw each other, and this was a much-needed venting session.
After way too many drinks (3 vodka cranberries by my count), MH, The Johnson and I finally made it to our planned dinner destination at The Straits of Malaya. I have very fond memories of their delicious food and great service. Unfortunately, tonight, I was drunk enough already that neither really made much of an impression on me. But the chicken with basil was tasty, as far as I can recall. I also had a mai tai with dinner, of course.
All through drinks and dinner, we had been laughing at the hundreds of people ridiculously lined up to get in to Lauriol Plaza. So not worth it. But, I admit it, we did end our evening at Lauriol's bar, as we weren't quite ready to go home yet and needed a little more room for fun. And alcohol. :-) After fully discussing boyfriends, girlfriends, work, life, and what we want out of relationships, the 3 of us were finally ready to call it a night.
So now I'm home, and still drunk. But not coherent enough to watch another episode of LOST. Maybe something good is on cable????
I met MH a little early for our dinner plans tonight, and to my surprise she was enjoying a drink with our old friend/colleague Balfour at Larry's Lounge this evening. I joined them, as did The Johnson eventually, and we had a great time catching up and bitching about various work items over the course of 3 rounds of drinks. I had such a great time catching up with the Balfour - I think it's been about a year since last time we saw each other, and this was a much-needed venting session.
After way too many drinks (3 vodka cranberries by my count), MH, The Johnson and I finally made it to our planned dinner destination at The Straits of Malaya. I have very fond memories of their delicious food and great service. Unfortunately, tonight, I was drunk enough already that neither really made much of an impression on me. But the chicken with basil was tasty, as far as I can recall. I also had a mai tai with dinner, of course.
All through drinks and dinner, we had been laughing at the hundreds of people ridiculously lined up to get in to Lauriol Plaza. So not worth it. But, I admit it, we did end our evening at Lauriol's bar, as we weren't quite ready to go home yet and needed a little more room for fun. And alcohol. :-) After fully discussing boyfriends, girlfriends, work, life, and what we want out of relationships, the 3 of us were finally ready to call it a night.
So now I'm home, and still drunk. But not coherent enough to watch another episode of LOST. Maybe something good is on cable????
Friday, March 10, 2006
Update from Land of the LOST
I'm now 9 episodes in to the first season. Wow, what a great show! I'm glad I waited and did it this way, cuz watching the episodes back to back is a lot of fun. Addictive, like crack, but fun. This is better than if I had just haphazardly seen a few episodes during the year.
So where are they all now? Sayyid just left crazy Danielle's compound, the folks at CaveTown just set up their golf course, Sawyer is definitely persona non grata but Kate is encouraging him to be more social, Walt just asked Locke to teach him how to play with knives.
Questions still unanswered:
- Who hit Sayyid when he was trying to get the signal?
- Are those really polar bears out in the jungle?
- What happened to the rest of Danielle's party - did they really get "sick" or did she just go nuts and kill them?
- And Danielle's son Alex?
- If that really was Jack's dad's coffin, where's the body?
- Who were Adam and Eve in the caves?
- What happened to make the Korean guy (who was so evil and all English-speaking in Angel) such a jackass to his wife?
- How can Locke walk? And what did he see when he stared in the face of the monster?
Don't tell me anything! I should be done with Season 1 probably tomorrow, then it will be a long wait until Season 2 is out on DVD. But I'll be getting that as soon as it comes out, I can tell. Ah, tv addiction...
So where are they all now? Sayyid just left crazy Danielle's compound, the folks at CaveTown just set up their golf course, Sawyer is definitely persona non grata but Kate is encouraging him to be more social, Walt just asked Locke to teach him how to play with knives.
Questions still unanswered:
- Who hit Sayyid when he was trying to get the signal?
- Are those really polar bears out in the jungle?
- What happened to the rest of Danielle's party - did they really get "sick" or did she just go nuts and kill them?
- And Danielle's son Alex?
- If that really was Jack's dad's coffin, where's the body?
- Who were Adam and Eve in the caves?
- What happened to make the Korean guy (who was so evil and all English-speaking in Angel) such a jackass to his wife?
- How can Locke walk? And what did he see when he stared in the face of the monster?
Don't tell me anything! I should be done with Season 1 probably tomorrow, then it will be a long wait until Season 2 is out on DVD. But I'll be getting that as soon as it comes out, I can tell. Ah, tv addiction...
Thursday, March 09, 2006
Starting The Weekend Early
The whole sinus/allergy thing is getting the best of me, so I left work a little early today and will soon be enjoying an afternoon nap. So my 3-day weekend actually started at 3 pm today!
A few random thoughts before I doze off....
-- I'm wondering if my sinus pain as a reaction to this weather is a sign that I should do that wham-bang steroid dose pack thing again. I first did it about a year ago, when Dr. Dad prescribed it to me during allergy season to see if it helped get rid of the sinus pain. My goodness, it was powerful. The 5 days of being on the steroids were funky - I was very jittery, very awake, and my face was all flushed and puffy. But it showed that sinus pain who was boss, and I had a relatively pain-free spring and summer. Time to call Dr. Dad again, I believe.
-- I saw the *hottest* guy on the bus coming home. Tall, strong jaw and cheekbones, dark hair just barely starting to go gray, wearing my favorite kind of black sweater with brown cords. I hope he didn't see me staring... I tried to quickly look away anytime he turned towards me!
-- So the Congress gave Bush the smackdown on the whole Dubai ports deal, eh? They must really be worried about the midterms if the Congressional GOP leadership was so willing to go against the Prez.
-- I saw new evidence of a strange phenomenon re: my name today. My name is Stefanie, spelled with an F. Of course, people spell it wrong all the time, and I've gotten used to seeing "Stephanie" - heck, even my grandmothers have spelled it wrong at times. The advent of email has made things better, as people see my name right there as they're responding. But a few years ago, randomly, this one woman who was a contact at one of the companies I worked with started spelling it "Stefani" and I have no idea why. I appreciated that she learned that it was spelled with an F, but what happened to that last E??? I thought it was just a strange thing with her, but I now have 2 board members who do the same thing! Have they got something against that E?
That's all for now... I believe the LOST weekend will be starting this evening, so I'm sure I'll be posting about my reaction along the way....
A few random thoughts before I doze off....
-- I'm wondering if my sinus pain as a reaction to this weather is a sign that I should do that wham-bang steroid dose pack thing again. I first did it about a year ago, when Dr. Dad prescribed it to me during allergy season to see if it helped get rid of the sinus pain. My goodness, it was powerful. The 5 days of being on the steroids were funky - I was very jittery, very awake, and my face was all flushed and puffy. But it showed that sinus pain who was boss, and I had a relatively pain-free spring and summer. Time to call Dr. Dad again, I believe.
-- I saw the *hottest* guy on the bus coming home. Tall, strong jaw and cheekbones, dark hair just barely starting to go gray, wearing my favorite kind of black sweater with brown cords. I hope he didn't see me staring... I tried to quickly look away anytime he turned towards me!
-- So the Congress gave Bush the smackdown on the whole Dubai ports deal, eh? They must really be worried about the midterms if the Congressional GOP leadership was so willing to go against the Prez.
-- I saw new evidence of a strange phenomenon re: my name today. My name is Stefanie, spelled with an F. Of course, people spell it wrong all the time, and I've gotten used to seeing "Stephanie" - heck, even my grandmothers have spelled it wrong at times. The advent of email has made things better, as people see my name right there as they're responding. But a few years ago, randomly, this one woman who was a contact at one of the companies I worked with started spelling it "Stefani" and I have no idea why. I appreciated that she learned that it was spelled with an F, but what happened to that last E??? I thought it was just a strange thing with her, but I now have 2 board members who do the same thing! Have they got something against that E?
That's all for now... I believe the LOST weekend will be starting this evening, so I'm sure I'll be posting about my reaction along the way....
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Stress, Success and Anticipation....
It's been a very stressful last few days at work. There was a board dinner that went much, much later than I expected on Monday night. Then, on Tuesday, we had a board meeting with major things on the agenda, which resulted in a lot more work to come over the next few months. We found out today the results of several of our big proposals that have been pending for months. Very good results, actually, in the 7-figure range. Good stuff, which now moves us from the anxious phase to the "wheels in motion" phase, which still has a lot of work associated with it. There's been tension between all of us as we're all stressed. Things have all turned out really well, but being in such a high-anxiety mode for the last 3 days has me totally exhausted.
So, I have decided to use some of my long-stored-up vacation time for a much-needed Friday off, and I'm giving myself a break. Hoo----ray! And I have a plan. Wait for it..... I impulsively went out and spent some of my ridiculously awesome tax refund at Barnes & Noble today, and I bought the entire first season of LOST on DVD. I've never even seen a single episode, but I've heard such strong recommendations from Scotte, Dancer in DC, The Barmaid, and others, that I just thought I would avoid the waiting game of Netflix and just go get the whole thing. Yes, my friends, I am going to go underground and have my very own LOST Weekend. Can't wait!
So, I have decided to use some of my long-stored-up vacation time for a much-needed Friday off, and I'm giving myself a break. Hoo----ray! And I have a plan. Wait for it..... I impulsively went out and spent some of my ridiculously awesome tax refund at Barnes & Noble today, and I bought the entire first season of LOST on DVD. I've never even seen a single episode, but I've heard such strong recommendations from Scotte, Dancer in DC, The Barmaid, and others, that I just thought I would avoid the waiting game of Netflix and just go get the whole thing. Yes, my friends, I am going to go underground and have my very own LOST Weekend. Can't wait!
Tuesday, March 07, 2006
Love Me, Love My Tattoo
I was wearing a skirt for a big day at work yesterday - not a very common occurrence in the wintertime for this pantyhose-hater - and one of my newer coworkers remarked that she had no idea that I had a tattoo. Yep, that's my little ankh tattoo on my ankle. I laughed and said not to worry, she'd be seeing it all summer as I wear skirts and capris with cute sandals.
That little conversation actually got me thinking about my tattoo in general. I realized that I have now had my tattoo for just over 10 years - happy tattiversary to me! It was my 21st birthday present to myself, but I actually had to wait until 8 days after my birthday to get it. I turned 21 in February 1996 (yikes, that's 10 years already?!?). A few days after my birthday, my entire family was coming down to Richmond to take part in a ridiculous, anachronistic debutante thing that all juniors at UR had to do. It was called Ring Dance, and we all had to wear white dresses, be escorted by our fathers down a long staircase, and then be sacrificed upon an altar.... oh wait, that last part wasn't true. But the rest was. So there was no way I was getting myself a tattoo when my parents were around.
Once the 'rents and little bro returned to snowy upstate NY, my gal pals and I (Brunette, you were with me, right?) went down to Absolute Ink in the Fan District and this cool punk dude with a giant alien tattooed on his leg gave me a tattoo of my very own. I wanted an ankh because I was obsessed with ancient Egypt - heck, ancient religions was my major - and because I love the symbolism of eternal life. Plus there was this whole thing about my Chinese Zodiac sign and the ankle being a key body part.... you know, I had it all worked out in my head.
I drew my ankh myself. It was the main focus of my doodling for most of that junior year of college. The actual drawing that I cut out and that became my tattoo was perfected in Dr. Bergen's class that was simply called "John." This was a trippy religion class focusing on the New Testament figure of John, who is found in the gospel of the same name as well as in the Book of Revelation. This class was a little crazy as we focused on all of the imagery and prophecy of the Apocalypse. What better time to draw my tattoo?
So, now, 10 years later.... what do I think of my tattoo? I still love it! It's funny to me that I often totally forget I have it. Even when I'm walking around with no shoes or socks on, I still don't really see it enough to note it. But whenever it does catch my eye, it totally makes me smile.
When I got the tattoo, it was in that time period when it seemed everybody was doin' it. Brunette already had hers (haha, I'm outing your secret!), and ex-BFF got hers soon after. So for all three of us relatively normal girls to have them was indicative of just how common a trend it was. For several years after college, in grad school and my first theater job, I was also surrounded by tons of people my own age or so who had their own tattoos. Even little bro has gotten about 6 tattoos of his own by now, so my one little one is not at all shocking to the 'rents at this point.
Now, though, and for the last several years, I am surrounded by the non-tattooed. I know full well that I'm a lot more buttoned-up and grown up than I was 10 years ago, and the people who I'm around tend to be professionals my own age or older. I've never had a single moment where I've felt that my tattoo - which is in a fairly visible place - has had a negative impact on my opportunities or level of professionalism. I do admit, though, that if I didn't already have one I probably would never get one at this point in my life.
But, I do have my beloved tattoo, and I'm still really glad I did it. I may be a lot more outwardly conservative nowadays, but every time I see it it's just a little reminder that the quirky girl I was in high school and college... the one who couldn't wait to get out of her small town with its preppy cliques and three traffic lights, who died her hair and wore black nail polish, who worshiped Depeche Mode as gods and Erotica-era Madonna as her goddess, who rebelled against the world by smoking pot in the woods... is still in there somewhere. And she's still pretty damn awesome.
What about you guys? Any fun tattoos out there? Or any tattoo you'd love to get?
Monday, March 06, 2006
And the Winner Is....
Drumroll please............
The big winner of the 2006 Oscar Contest is Snuggle4 from Los Angeles, California! Hooray!!!!! Snuggle wins the big prize, $50 in FREE MOVIES via an Amazon.com gift certificate. Congratulations!
This was a very close contest, with some great surprises in the voting. Snuggle won with 18 correct picks, plus the winning tie-breaker questions. Yep, it was a tie, and Christine B from Toronto, ON also scored 18, so she deserves a round of applause, as well!
A few other shout-outs:
- Congrats to DJ Flowerz, the *only* person to correctly pick Crash as the surprise Best Picture winner!
- Snuggle4 and RetroRay were the only 2 people to predict the surprise win of Memoirs of a Geisha in the cinematography category, beating out the odds-on favorite Brokeback Mountain.
- Christine B and Scotte were the only 2 to pick the correct Documentary Short Subject winner, A Note of Triumph.
- In addition to the two people who made 18 correct picks, there were 5 who came in with 17: Sean S, Joseph W, John M, Nannie Y, and me! Ah, if only I hadn't decided to take the risk and pick Murderball. That's a note to self, always go with the heart....and the penguins.
Thanks to everyone who entered. I had a great time, and it made watching the ceremony even more exciting for me as I was trying to predict not only the winners on screen but also the winner of this contest.
If anyone who entered wants to know the details on their final results, email me again at stefsoscarpoll AT yahoo DOT com and I'll let you know your score.
Stay tuned -- if I'm still blogging a year from now, which seems pretty likely, there will definitely be an Oscar Contest 2007!
Sunday, March 05, 2006
Oscar Sure Had Some Surprises!
Wow! I was not expecting the biggest surprise of the night to be the very last award!
Congratulations to the folks behind Crash, the newly-minted Best Picture of the Year. I did just rewatch it today, and it is an excellent and timely film. It deserves every honor.
But I can't help but feel a little sad that Brokeback Mountain did not win it, cuz that was my personal favorite for both artistic and emotional weight. I'm glad that it won Best Screenplay and Best Director for the always adorable Ang Lee. How unusual for the directing and best picture awares to not match... anyone remember the last time that happened?
I was so excited that "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp" won that I shouted - well, sorta whooped - and scared poor trusty cat, Cleo. I know it's a controversial win, but you've gotta admit it gave Jon Stewart some good material.
And speaking of Jon Stewart, he was great! Host for life! I thought he was very accessible. He was still himself, and had a few edgier jokes, but he was open enough that even Mom and Pop out in the heartland should've found him funny, too. Congrats to him for embracing the entire audience.
So, there wasn't really a big winner tonight. Four different movies - Crash, Brokeback Mountain, Memoirs of a Geisha, and King Kong - each won 3 awards. And the acting awards went to 4 different movies, none of which were in the top 4 most-awarded. So what does this mean? I like to think that it means there is a really strong crop of movies out, and that different films really showcase the different strengths of their filmmaking. Sure, it would be nice to have a perfect film that won acting, artistic, technical, directing, and writing awards, but I actually don't think that happens very often. In my book, it's better for us viewers to have such a strong variety of high-quality movies to watch in theaters and for years to come.
---------------------------------------------------
And yes, there is a winner of the Oscar Contest! I'm just waiting for confirmation from the winner and then I'll announce all of the results. Stay tuned!
Congratulations to the folks behind Crash, the newly-minted Best Picture of the Year. I did just rewatch it today, and it is an excellent and timely film. It deserves every honor.
But I can't help but feel a little sad that Brokeback Mountain did not win it, cuz that was my personal favorite for both artistic and emotional weight. I'm glad that it won Best Screenplay and Best Director for the always adorable Ang Lee. How unusual for the directing and best picture awares to not match... anyone remember the last time that happened?
I was so excited that "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp" won that I shouted - well, sorta whooped - and scared poor trusty cat, Cleo. I know it's a controversial win, but you've gotta admit it gave Jon Stewart some good material.
And speaking of Jon Stewart, he was great! Host for life! I thought he was very accessible. He was still himself, and had a few edgier jokes, but he was open enough that even Mom and Pop out in the heartland should've found him funny, too. Congrats to him for embracing the entire audience.
So, there wasn't really a big winner tonight. Four different movies - Crash, Brokeback Mountain, Memoirs of a Geisha, and King Kong - each won 3 awards. And the acting awards went to 4 different movies, none of which were in the top 4 most-awarded. So what does this mean? I like to think that it means there is a really strong crop of movies out, and that different films really showcase the different strengths of their filmmaking. Sure, it would be nice to have a perfect film that won acting, artistic, technical, directing, and writing awards, but I actually don't think that happens very often. In my book, it's better for us viewers to have such a strong variety of high-quality movies to watch in theaters and for years to come.
---------------------------------------------------
And yes, there is a winner of the Oscar Contest! I'm just waiting for confirmation from the winner and then I'll announce all of the results. Stay tuned!
Saturday, March 04, 2006
'Twas the Night Before Oscar...
And I'm filled with speculation!
First off, the Independent Spirit Award winners have been announced. How much is this a predictor of tomorrow night's awards? We shall see - but this year is highly unusual because most of the major Oscar nominees came from the independent world and were almost all nominated for Spirit Awards, as well. Let's see how Phil, Felicity, Matt and Amy do tomorrow compared to today. The fact that the big Independent Awards went to Brokeback and Ang Lee over Crash makes me think it's even more of a sure thing.
Last year, these awards were presented live on Bravo, but today they were on the Independent Film Channel. Sadly, that's not part of my cable package. :-( It looks like they may rebroadcast them at 10 tonight on AMC, but now that I already know the winners.... it's kinda like the tape delay with the Olympics. 99% of the excitement is gone.
I spent today with Dancer in DC, Onyah, Reporter Boy, and Onyah's Mom, checking out the Academy Award Nominee film festival at the National Archives. We watched the screenings of two categories - Live Action Short and Animated Short. Dancer has written a great recap of all 10 clips we saw, which could be helpful for any Oscar contest you may be in (ahem), and I can tell you I have definitely made my picks. I'm going for Ausreisser from Germany in the live action category and Pixar's One Man Band for the animation. Scotte wasn't able to make it to the screenings, but I did have the pleasure of a 3-blogger dinner with him and Dancer at Austin Grill. Thanks for the treat, boys!
We had a fun conversation about how much we have enjoyed this "renaissance of the documentary" over the last few years. We traced it back to Bowling for Columbine as far as the doc that first caught our attention as movie consumers. From there to Super Size Me, Fahrenheit 9/11, Mad Hot Ballroom, Born Into Brothels, Spellbound, and all the others we've enjoyed in the last few years, we have all become real fans of the genre.
I did watch Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room via Netflix the other night. This was a pretty darn good movie, and as expected it just made me hate those big evil corporate types. I had a funny conversation Friday morning at work with our accountant as I was explaining to him Enron's "mark-to-market" accounting that was such a total sham. No wonder they lost billions! I have now seen 3 of the nominated documentary features. I'm sorry I missed seeing Street Fight and Darwin's Nightmare, but I hope to catch those on DVD too. I know it's probably even money that March of the Penguins will win tomorrow night, and I adore that movie, but I'm actually picking Murderball for an upset. That was just such a great film, that runs the gamut of emotions and really shows that "triumph of the human spirit" thing that Academy voters seem to love.
What more can I do to prepare for tomorrow night's telecast? Well, since little bro got me the DVD of Crash for my birthday, I think I might just watch it again tonight or in the morning. Love me some Terrence Howard.
Don't forget! Entries in the Oscar Contest are due by noon tomorrow! Just click on the link to the right. Remember, you've gotta play to win. :-)
First off, the Independent Spirit Award winners have been announced. How much is this a predictor of tomorrow night's awards? We shall see - but this year is highly unusual because most of the major Oscar nominees came from the independent world and were almost all nominated for Spirit Awards, as well. Let's see how Phil, Felicity, Matt and Amy do tomorrow compared to today. The fact that the big Independent Awards went to Brokeback and Ang Lee over Crash makes me think it's even more of a sure thing.
Last year, these awards were presented live on Bravo, but today they were on the Independent Film Channel. Sadly, that's not part of my cable package. :-( It looks like they may rebroadcast them at 10 tonight on AMC, but now that I already know the winners.... it's kinda like the tape delay with the Olympics. 99% of the excitement is gone.
I spent today with Dancer in DC, Onyah, Reporter Boy, and Onyah's Mom, checking out the Academy Award Nominee film festival at the National Archives. We watched the screenings of two categories - Live Action Short and Animated Short. Dancer has written a great recap of all 10 clips we saw, which could be helpful for any Oscar contest you may be in (ahem), and I can tell you I have definitely made my picks. I'm going for Ausreisser from Germany in the live action category and Pixar's One Man Band for the animation. Scotte wasn't able to make it to the screenings, but I did have the pleasure of a 3-blogger dinner with him and Dancer at Austin Grill. Thanks for the treat, boys!
We had a fun conversation about how much we have enjoyed this "renaissance of the documentary" over the last few years. We traced it back to Bowling for Columbine as far as the doc that first caught our attention as movie consumers. From there to Super Size Me, Fahrenheit 9/11, Mad Hot Ballroom, Born Into Brothels, Spellbound, and all the others we've enjoyed in the last few years, we have all become real fans of the genre.
I did watch Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room via Netflix the other night. This was a pretty darn good movie, and as expected it just made me hate those big evil corporate types. I had a funny conversation Friday morning at work with our accountant as I was explaining to him Enron's "mark-to-market" accounting that was such a total sham. No wonder they lost billions! I have now seen 3 of the nominated documentary features. I'm sorry I missed seeing Street Fight and Darwin's Nightmare, but I hope to catch those on DVD too. I know it's probably even money that March of the Penguins will win tomorrow night, and I adore that movie, but I'm actually picking Murderball for an upset. That was just such a great film, that runs the gamut of emotions and really shows that "triumph of the human spirit" thing that Academy voters seem to love.
What more can I do to prepare for tomorrow night's telecast? Well, since little bro got me the DVD of Crash for my birthday, I think I might just watch it again tonight or in the morning. Love me some Terrence Howard.
Don't forget! Entries in the Oscar Contest are due by noon tomorrow! Just click on the link to the right. Remember, you've gotta play to win. :-)
Friday, March 03, 2006
Match Update
As I've reported here earlier, I bit the bullet (and the credit card bill) and reupped with Match.com a few weeks ago. I don't have much faith in online dating as the best way for me to meet my soulmate, but I have accepted that I'm just *not* meeting people any other way in my normal life, so I might as well give it another shot. That which doesn't kill us....
And, it always has potential for good blog stories, right?
In the last few weeks, I've been talking with 3 different guys. I haven't met anyone in person yet but it's feeling like I'll be moving to that stage soon. The rundown:
Match Guy #1: He emailed me first, about an hour after I reposted my profile. He used the "I'm new in town, have any advice on good places to go in the city?" tactic. We emailed back and forth about 3 times, but when his 3rd email came through and still just had really circular comments and no new questions for me to answer or "action step," I just felt like I had nothing else to say to him. So I didn't respond to that message and haven't heard from him in about a week. I think we've seen the end of MG1.
Match Guy #2: I found his profile and sent him an email. He is cute and cuddly looking in his pictures and his profile was all about how he likes the arts, especially checking out museum exhibits. Hey, that's right up my alley. I wrote to him and we've now had I think 3 exchanges back and forth. They've all been really good emails and we have more stuff in common. We both try to visit NYC often, we both like the train, and we've been exchanging tips on current exhibits around the city. There's been no "ask" yet, but I'm enjoying writing to him and would be open to meeting in person soon. Oh, he did ask for my phone number right away and wanted to start talking, but I'm kinda anti-phone as a step in the online dating process. I like to go from emails to meeting in person, then see if it continues from there. Something about the phone being more tied to your real name, address, etc, I think. Or just me being quirky. But anyway, at this point, MG2 is in the running.
Match Guy #3: His profile came up as "someone like" MG2. I thought he sounded decent so I sent him a wink. He emailed me back, starting another series of conversations. He's been really good about reading my profile and asking me real questions about myself, which I greatly appreciate. He's even asked me questions about trusty cat, Cleo. He's a scientist/mathematician guy and he went to grad school very close to where I grew up. I just got an email from him this morning saying that he's busy over the weekend and then is leaving for a weeklong conference out of town, but that he'd like to get together soon. So now it looks like MG3 is going to be the first one out of the gate on having an actual date. Stay tuned.
Of course, the hardest thing for pursuing a real Match strategy is the same thing I come up against in trying to make time for friends -- scheduling is a beast. I think people in this town tend to be pretty darn busy. At least, the people I'm interested in spending time with have hobbies, social lives, commitments that keep their calendar pretty darn full. So I'm not looking forward to the actual "when should we meet?" part of the conversation. But, I have committed to at least giving this another shot and hoping that I meet some interesting people out of it.
You know I'll be keeping you posted!
And, it always has potential for good blog stories, right?
In the last few weeks, I've been talking with 3 different guys. I haven't met anyone in person yet but it's feeling like I'll be moving to that stage soon. The rundown:
Match Guy #1: He emailed me first, about an hour after I reposted my profile. He used the "I'm new in town, have any advice on good places to go in the city?" tactic. We emailed back and forth about 3 times, but when his 3rd email came through and still just had really circular comments and no new questions for me to answer or "action step," I just felt like I had nothing else to say to him. So I didn't respond to that message and haven't heard from him in about a week. I think we've seen the end of MG1.
Match Guy #2: I found his profile and sent him an email. He is cute and cuddly looking in his pictures and his profile was all about how he likes the arts, especially checking out museum exhibits. Hey, that's right up my alley. I wrote to him and we've now had I think 3 exchanges back and forth. They've all been really good emails and we have more stuff in common. We both try to visit NYC often, we both like the train, and we've been exchanging tips on current exhibits around the city. There's been no "ask" yet, but I'm enjoying writing to him and would be open to meeting in person soon. Oh, he did ask for my phone number right away and wanted to start talking, but I'm kinda anti-phone as a step in the online dating process. I like to go from emails to meeting in person, then see if it continues from there. Something about the phone being more tied to your real name, address, etc, I think. Or just me being quirky. But anyway, at this point, MG2 is in the running.
Match Guy #3: His profile came up as "someone like" MG2. I thought he sounded decent so I sent him a wink. He emailed me back, starting another series of conversations. He's been really good about reading my profile and asking me real questions about myself, which I greatly appreciate. He's even asked me questions about trusty cat, Cleo. He's a scientist/mathematician guy and he went to grad school very close to where I grew up. I just got an email from him this morning saying that he's busy over the weekend and then is leaving for a weeklong conference out of town, but that he'd like to get together soon. So now it looks like MG3 is going to be the first one out of the gate on having an actual date. Stay tuned.
Of course, the hardest thing for pursuing a real Match strategy is the same thing I come up against in trying to make time for friends -- scheduling is a beast. I think people in this town tend to be pretty darn busy. At least, the people I'm interested in spending time with have hobbies, social lives, commitments that keep their calendar pretty darn full. So I'm not looking forward to the actual "when should we meet?" part of the conversation. But, I have committed to at least giving this another shot and hoping that I meet some interesting people out of it.
You know I'll be keeping you posted!
Thursday, March 02, 2006
Nerdy Bush-Hating Spreadsheet Fun
I stayed home today, which means I've seen a whole lot of cable news. One of the biggest stories is that Bush's new approval ratings are now at his lowest ever. CNN's current poll now shows him with a 38% approval rating, and CBS News' poll gives him an even lower rating at 34% - his lowest ever.
These stories have made me curious about how his poll numbers have fluctuated over time since his Inauguration in 2001. I searched the Internets and found the historic polling data for three main polls since the start of Bush's firs term. And since I tend to understand things best visually..... I made a spreadsheet!
Check it out:
Does this look like an encouraging picture for an Administration that's hurtling towards its final midterms on the heels of several very bad news stories?!? No???? I didn't think so.
These stories have made me curious about how his poll numbers have fluctuated over time since his Inauguration in 2001. I searched the Internets and found the historic polling data for three main polls since the start of Bush's firs term. And since I tend to understand things best visually..... I made a spreadsheet!
Check it out:
Does this look like an encouraging picture for an Administration that's hurtling towards its final midterms on the heels of several very bad news stories?!? No???? I didn't think so.
Feel Like a Weenie?
On the strong recommendation of Mrs. L, I just watched one of her favorite Netflix goodies of all time: Rick Sebak's A Hot Dog Program. This is an hour long PBS documentary showcasing that great American foodstuff: the hot dog, aka the weenie, the wiener, the frankfurter, the red hot, etc. Rick Sebak is a filmmaker based in Pittsburgh, at WQED, and he's a real hometown celebrity. I'm surprised that even after living there 5 years this is the first time I've seen one of his shows.
What an enjoyable hour! The program showcases great hot dog joints across the country, focusing on both tradition and kitsch. You can learn all about the different regional hot dog tastes, including the difference between a New York and a Chicago dog. There are corn dogs, eating contests, spicy mustard, hot dog architecture, casino dogs, sheep intestines, the Iditarod, giant dogs with neon eyes, Brunette's beloved O (which I confess I've never been to), and, of course, some baseball.
I can't wait for baseball season this year. It was all my time at RFK last year that first got me thinking about eating beef again, cuz I kept smelling those ballpark dogs. I resisted the temptation all season, but now that I'm a full-fledged beef eater again you *know* I will be sampling those dogs at the park this year!
What an enjoyable hour! The program showcases great hot dog joints across the country, focusing on both tradition and kitsch. You can learn all about the different regional hot dog tastes, including the difference between a New York and a Chicago dog. There are corn dogs, eating contests, spicy mustard, hot dog architecture, casino dogs, sheep intestines, the Iditarod, giant dogs with neon eyes, Brunette's beloved O (which I confess I've never been to), and, of course, some baseball.
I can't wait for baseball season this year. It was all my time at RFK last year that first got me thinking about eating beef again, cuz I kept smelling those ballpark dogs. I resisted the temptation all season, but now that I'm a full-fledged beef eater again you *know* I will be sampling those dogs at the park this year!
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
Hooray for Girls' Night Out!
I had a great evening with two of my favoritest women in the city tonight. These are two people who I don't get to see very often, but every time I do it's a fantastic evening of great conversation. (We toasted to our own lack of high-maintenance-ness. Thank goodness for people who really value spending quality time with people in the midst of our uber-busy schedules.)
We met at Cafe Asia, thankfully reopened after a recent kitchen renovation. We treated ourselves to our favorites, tom yum soup, a gorgeous Asian salad, sushi, and those happy hour drink specials. And we enjoyed 3 hours of real conversation. We're girls with our priorities in order. The topics we discussed, in order, were:
1. our health and overall well-being,
2. our careers, promotions, and learning to value ourselves and our work,
3. politics, port security, and armchair forecasting of '06 and '08,
4. and, finally, men!
We cracked ourselves up when sometime around the beginning of topic number 3 - at which point we'd had a few drinks and our appetizers - and said "oh, I guess we'll have to talk about boys after we talk politics." Which led to a great girl-power moment, giving ourselves metaphorical high-fives for having so many interesting, entertaining things to talk about before we ever got on the topic of men. Which, as usual, we did cover in due course. :-)
Oh, and we witnessed a bit of excitement at the end of the night. After one gal pal had to leave to meet her man, the 2 of us stayed and kept talking for a while. We suddenly heard a ruckus from downstairs, and peered over hte balcony to see what was what. These two yuppie-looking guys in sweater vests had gotten into an argument, and one had the other in a headlock. Yes, a headlock. They were flailing about, knocking into tables and chairs. Their friends were trying to break them up, and the manager lady came and they all settle down to leave. This was all to the disappointment of the young cook guys, who had all come out of the kitchen and were peering over the railing, hoping to see some real action. Sorry boys!
--------------------------
On another topic... I wore a new pair of pants today. They were replacement khakis, since I got a huge mark of black ink on my regular khakis last time I wore them and it didn't come out. I wore the new pair fresh off the rack, rather than washing them first. They were kinda stiff this morning, but got more comfortable as the day went on. Well, turns out I should've washed them. My legs started to feel a little irritated in the late afternoon, and by the end of dinner my skin had a little sting to it. Well, I just got home and changed. And I have a big, bright red rash all up and down my legs. Dammit! I'm giving the pants a full laundering and then they get one more chance. And for now, I'm relying on my old standby - the not-so-sexy Gold Bond Medicated Lotion - to take care of this rash by morning. Wish me luck!
We met at Cafe Asia, thankfully reopened after a recent kitchen renovation. We treated ourselves to our favorites, tom yum soup, a gorgeous Asian salad, sushi, and those happy hour drink specials. And we enjoyed 3 hours of real conversation. We're girls with our priorities in order. The topics we discussed, in order, were:
1. our health and overall well-being,
2. our careers, promotions, and learning to value ourselves and our work,
3. politics, port security, and armchair forecasting of '06 and '08,
4. and, finally, men!
We cracked ourselves up when sometime around the beginning of topic number 3 - at which point we'd had a few drinks and our appetizers - and said "oh, I guess we'll have to talk about boys after we talk politics." Which led to a great girl-power moment, giving ourselves metaphorical high-fives for having so many interesting, entertaining things to talk about before we ever got on the topic of men. Which, as usual, we did cover in due course. :-)
Oh, and we witnessed a bit of excitement at the end of the night. After one gal pal had to leave to meet her man, the 2 of us stayed and kept talking for a while. We suddenly heard a ruckus from downstairs, and peered over hte balcony to see what was what. These two yuppie-looking guys in sweater vests had gotten into an argument, and one had the other in a headlock. Yes, a headlock. They were flailing about, knocking into tables and chairs. Their friends were trying to break them up, and the manager lady came and they all settle down to leave. This was all to the disappointment of the young cook guys, who had all come out of the kitchen and were peering over the railing, hoping to see some real action. Sorry boys!
--------------------------
On another topic... I wore a new pair of pants today. They were replacement khakis, since I got a huge mark of black ink on my regular khakis last time I wore them and it didn't come out. I wore the new pair fresh off the rack, rather than washing them first. They were kinda stiff this morning, but got more comfortable as the day went on. Well, turns out I should've washed them. My legs started to feel a little irritated in the late afternoon, and by the end of dinner my skin had a little sting to it. Well, I just got home and changed. And I have a big, bright red rash all up and down my legs. Dammit! I'm giving the pants a full laundering and then they get one more chance. And for now, I'm relying on my old standby - the not-so-sexy Gold Bond Medicated Lotion - to take care of this rash by morning. Wish me luck!
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