I Was Going to Say Something...

2010-09-14T14:47:00.001-04:00

Wow. It has been so long since I've posted anything. I've composed lots of stuff in my head, though.

2009-11-03T12:38:00.001-05:00

I saw her looking at me from across the room.

I knew what she was thinking. I worked my way around tables and people to get to the other side of the room to talk to her.

"Hi," I said. "I am not pregnant."

"Oh," she sounded disappointed. "I was going to congratulate you and ask you when you were due."

"Nope. Just fat," I clarified.

2008-11-04T16:54:00.002-05:00

I've had so many political phone calls. I've had at least a dozen people knocking on my door to talk to me personally about this election. Yesterday I came home to a door hanger reminding me to "vote tomorrow." Today I came home to another door hanger reminding me to "vote today." In the 30 minutes I have been home I have had yet another phone call and another person at the door reminding me to vote. I haven't missed an election since I turned 18. I've already voted. Leave me alone already!

Maybe I'll hang out at the gym until 7pm.

2008-10-13T13:09:00.003-04:00

I heard a rooster as I was getting ready for work this morning. Are people allowed to have roosters in the city? I'm not sure how I feel about waking up to that every morning, especially the mornings that I don't have to get up early for work.

2008-09-24T12:24:00.002-04:00

Just before 8pm last night I was on my way to DC for a craigslist pick up. I got on I-395N at Glebe Road and immediately noticed a vehicle moving erratically with no headlights on so I dropped way back to keep my distance since I didn't want to be anywhere near him. I was hoping that the cop I saw would pull the driver over. 15 minutes later on my way home from DC the northbound lanes were closed and traffic was backed up. At home my husband told me about the breaking news report. Scary.

2008-09-08T12:47:00.001-04:00

I'm back at work today. I wonder how my little one is faring at her first day of day care.

2008-09-03T09:40:00.002-04:00

The little one has been doing great. Growing like crazy. My mom has been telling me how much she wishes we lived closer and I had promised her that I'd visit before I ran out of maternity leave, but I ran out yesterday. I'm on a one week extension now and suggested that my mom come here instead so she will be arriving at noon today. She'll be here just in time to hear the little one say "poo" and "poop." I fear all the "Do you need to go poo poo?" and "That's a lot of poop!" have stuck. I think the "pffft" farty sound Popeye makes when he tries to get her to poop has also stuck. Brilliant first words, no?

2008-08-17T21:40:00.003-04:00

Back in the day when everyone wanted to Save Tibet I wondered why no one wanted to Save Hawaii.

Hawaii had a monarchy and the people loved Queen Liliʻuokalani. But under pressure from the U.S. government she abdicated her throne rather than let any Hawaiian blood spill for her. Ever since then there has always been a contingent of hard core Hawaiian monarchy supporters, but we almost never hear about them here on the mainland. At least I hadn't hear about them until today.

2008-08-14T17:01:00.002-04:00

A cousin offered free babysitting last night so after feeding and changing the baby we headed out to see a movie in a theater together for the first time in months.

It was nice to be able to have some time to be a couple.

Of course when we got home we found out that our munchkin slept for the first thirty minutes and then cried for the following two hours :( I really need to get her used to taking a bottle again. Since my mother left she has had nothing but the breast so she's going to need to get used cold milk and a silicone nipple before I got back to work. My maternity leave is rapidly coming to an end. This is going to be difficult.

2008-08-11T15:21:00.002-04:00

Last week my 6 week old baby moved into her 3 to 6 month onesies. At 7 weeks her start up wardrobe is going into storage for any future siblings we might be able to produce.

She is one big baby.

2008-08-03T20:59:00.002-04:00

Popeye: I want to throw a hatchet at a clay pigeon.

Me: I have one in my car.

Popeye: A hatchet?

Me: No. A clay pigeon. The hatchet's in the laundry room.

2008-06-28T09:33:00.002-04:00

We came home from the hospital on Wednesday with our new baby girl.

Our bundle of joy was born on Saturday, June 21, 2008.

Unfortunately, the drug free delivery I had been planning using HypnoBirthing went out the window since she never dropped and my body made no progress towards preparing for labor despite visits to my acupuncturist for assistance. I ended up having a c-section 11 days after her due date.

Turns out that was what I needed because our baby weighed in at 9lbs 14oz (4481 grams) and 21 inches long (53cm) with a 15 inch head (38cm). My acupuncturist said my pelvis is narrower than average and when she was delivered my OB said the baby had started to pass meconium in utero so I believe I made the right decision even if it isn't at all what I had envisioned.

We are all doing well. When we first came home from the hospital, Popeye and I were concerned about how to do all this baby care on our own without a nurse just a button away, but I think we're doing better than I had expected. Baby Bonk has been sleeping soundly in our bed. I'm glad I had planned to co-sleep. With my incision healing it is much easier to roll over and pick her up to nurse than get out of bed and go to the nursery to check if it is time to feed or change her.

Since the baby has been sleeping well at night, the proud father and I are also sleeping well. I think we've slept better at home with the baby than we did in the hospital since I'm not hooked up to beeping machines and nurses aren't coming in to check my vitals or take the baby away to check her blood sugar. For a while they were checking her blood sugar right before every feeding since she had lost more than 10% in her first 2 days. Since she was so big, I just hadn't started milk production to keep her from losing weight and had to supplement with formula. Fortunately, my milk came in before we were discharged and she put on 3oz the last day just from breast milk. Woo hoo!

Now I need to concentrate on recovering physically from the surgery. I'm not good at just taking it easy and it has been impossible thus far to limit my trips up and down the stairs to twice a day. My goal for today is three trips up and down. I can't wait to get off my pain meds.

Thank you to everyone who has been so supportive. It's wonderful to have such caring friends and family.

2008-06-19T12:39:00.001-04:00

I woke up at 6:15am this morning and thought, "This is the last day I'm going to be able to sleep in for a while."

Funny that I'd think 6:15am is sleeping in.

2008-06-13T17:05:00.001-04:00

No baby yet. Yes, I realized we are now past the estimated date, but this kid just isn't ready to come out.

2008-05-15T10:02:00.001-04:00

Turning sideways does not make it easier for me to squeeze between people.

2008-04-28T12:29:00.000-04:00

I was slowing trudging my way up from C level to I level in my parking garage when I heard someone running up the stairs behind me. I stepped aside so the person could pass me. I reached the ground floor, exited the building, walked across the street to my building, passed security, and got on the elevator only to see the guy who ran past me in the stairwell jump into the elevator right behind me.

"How did you get here so fast?" he asked.

"How did you get here so slowly?" I wondered.

After a short discussion, I told the man how to take the stairs to the ground floor courier entrance rather than taking the stairs to a level where there is an elevator to the lobby (which requires going through security and then changing elevators).

I may be pregnant and slow, but it's still faster to just walk all the way up the stairs than it is to take 2 elevators and go through security with an x-ray machine just to get to the first floor of the parking garage building.

2008-04-01T17:46:00.002-04:00

I don't know how many people think about their baby's cord blood, but my new doctor gave me some pamphlets at my first visit plus there was some discussion on the DC Urban Moms forum about Private Storage vs. Public Donation so I've been thinking about it quite a bit.

After doing some research we've discovered that the odds that our child or anyone else in our family would be able to use the cord blood is somewhere in the 1:2,700 to 1:20,000 range. At those odds, I don't see the point in paying $2000 to collect the blood and $125/year to store it. While the stem cells from cord blood can be used to treat diseases, if our baby has leukemia, the cord blood is going to have leukemia and won't be of any use to anyone. Since we both come from pretty healthy families we've opted to donate the cord blood so it might help someone else or go towards research.

Unfortunately, my hospital doesn't participate in the donation program, but the National Marrow Donor Program refers people to Cryobanks International which will arrange to provide the doctor with a collection kit. They will also send a courier to pick up the cord blood from the non-participating hospital and will forward the donation to the National Marrow registry.

It does say to submit the paperwork before the 34th week of pregnancy to make sure all the arrangements can be made in time. I've passed the initial screening and have downloaded the 14 page application. Four pages about the program, risks & benefits, confidentiality, etc. followed by seven pages of yes/no questions and then a few more pages for the doctor so she knows my intention to donate and that I am consenting to HIV screening for the donation.

At my most recent prenatal visit I told my doctor I was interested in cord blood donation. She said wasn't aware of such a program in our area, but I told her there was an agency that would pick up the blood if the doctor was willing to collect the sample. As a registered marrow donor herself, she seemed enthusiastic about the donation option and asked for more information. I'm very excited that it looks like we will be able to be donors.

2008-03-24T13:13:00.002-04:00

Church was packed on Friday evening. After standing for a while I found some benches to sit on in the hallway. As I rested a little girl, maybe 18 months old, and her father came and sat on the bench next to me. The little girl looked at me and then told her father "Baby." Her father agreed, "Yes, that's a baby." Then the little girl tried to offer my belly her cup of water and her father started to laugh. "The baby can't drink yet. It has to hatch first."

2008-03-10T16:58:00.001-04:00

I never did get around to resetting the clock at my desk when daylight savings ended in the fall. I figured we'd be jumping forward again soon enough. Now all my clocks are on the same time again.

2008-02-07T17:01:00.001-05:00

Excitement in the Village last night! I got a call around 5:30pm last night from the guy who owns the unit below mine. Seems his tenant called to say there was water leaking from above her unit. I went home and saw water coming from above my unit. The guy who lives upstairs wasn't home, but fortunately, I had the landlord's number from the whole roof collapse/basement wall disaster and called them. They came over and couldn't open the door. We ended up breaking into the unit to find the guy's toilet tank had been leaking (from a hairline fracture in the porcelain or something) and he had been catching water in a bucket. But it had overflowed and was an inch deep on the bathroom floor.

The water in my unit was dripping at a steady rate in several locations from the laundry area ceiling A/C, the bathroom light fixture (down into my medicine cabinet), bathroom wall from the air vent, and bathroom door frame. I had a 20 gallon Rubbermaid bin, 2 plastic trash cans and a large plastic bowl catching water. By the time we turned off the water upstairs my Rubbermaid bin was 3-4 inches deep with water.

I just don't understand why he didn't call his landlord to come fix the toilet. As an owner you might not have the cash handy, but you'd want to fix it before you became liable for damage to other units. But as a tenant there was no reason he couldn't call his landlords to fix it.

Oh well. At least we caught the problem relatively early and my strategic placing of containers to catch water helped. My floor was mostly dry by the time I left last night. It could have been much worse if I had carpet, had been out of town or we hadn't been able to break into the upstairs unit.

2008-02-03T10:16:00.000-05:00

Today is my 10 year anniversary in the DC area.

Thanks :)

2008-01-23T17:05:00.000-05:00

Walking through the GW campus today I saw a guy ahead of me stop to lean against a wall. He spit on the sidewalk just before I approached him so I walked around the spit and continued on my way. By the time I reached the corner he had started walking again and passed me so I found myself walking behind him for several blocks.

As he walked he kept spitting on the sidewalk. As a white university kid approached he spit right in the kid's path. The kid called out, "Hey, man!" and the brown skinned man of some ethnic descent I can't be sure of replied with a string of obscenities punctuated with "You ******* racist!"

I watched him for several blocks as he spit in the path of men and women, mostly white. All I can think is that he wanted someone to pick a fight with him. I was tempted to hail campus security to keep an eye on the guy, but they drove by before I could catch their attention.

I hope I don't see him again.

2008-01-22T23:31:00.000-05:00

For the first time this morning someone reached out and touched my belly. By the end of the day I had three people touch my belly.

2008-01-15T17:03:00.000-05:00

Today is the first time I'm wearing all maternity clothes to work. Maternity skirt, pantyhose, long sleeved t-shirt and cardigan. I just don't have any maternity underwear yet.

2008-01-02T11:24:00.001-05:00

Happy New Year, Y'all!

Popeye and I are considering having an Elvis wedding in Vegas when I am quite visibly pregnant. If you think you'd like to join us for our cheesey wedding, let me know so we can try to coordinate something.

2007-12-20T16:24:00.000-05:00

On my way back from lunch I saw a guy with a hand truck loaded up nearly 5 feet high with boxes heading for the ramp to cross the street. There was a skin head looking guy who apparently wanted to get on the sidewalk via the ramp and didn't appreciate having the guy with the hand truck in his way. He shoved the boxes being transported and sent a case of wine crashing to the ground as he continued down the street.

I stopped to help the guy pick up the box of wine. I'm not sure how expensive or cheap it was, but it certainly was confusing to witness the incident.

2007-11-30T10:51:00.000-05:00

After a lifetime of desperately wanting a kotatsu and even bidding on one on eBay which never arrived, I finally got my heated little table last night. It didn't come with a kotatsu futon, but we had a queen size comforter we weren't using as bedding so threw that over the table and switched it on. We were quite cozy watching TV last night. All I need now is a basket of clementines.

2007-11-27T12:18:00.000-05:00

I am not a good front seat passenger. Especially on windy West Virginia and Virginia mountain roads with a 7% grade as we reach elevations that put us in clouds while it is raining heavily at night.

I have let go of the seat belt now and the color has returned to my knuckles.

2007-10-16T17:25:00.000-04:00

It occurred to me last week that I managed to get engaged, have 2 bridal showers and a wedding without ever buying a bridal magazine or wedding planning book. Not to say I didn't look, but I couldn't find any books that had information I could use for my Japanese destination wedding. The Knot had info on destination weddings, but nothing that was useful to me. I don't think they even covered the legalities of marrying in Japan. I think they only mentioned incorporating Japanese traditions into a wedding in the US and even that information wasn't correct.

I'm very fortunate to have a husband who was willing to go along with a Shinto wedding and parents who agreed to let me plan a destination wedding.

2007-10-03T16:28:00.000-04:00

We arrived home on Monday to find a banner welcoming us home and congratulating us on our marriage along with streamers and gold tinsel. It was very sweet. Plus we had a beautiful red bowl full of fresh apples to snack on and a new set of sheets on the bed.

2007-09-12T14:56:00.000-04:00

So much has been going on.

Back on August 4th eviltiff invited me to the Mandarin Oriental's version of High Tea which they call Sweets & Savories. Little did I know that she had arranged for a group of friends to surprise me with a bridal shower. Tea was lovely, the savories were not on my diet but I tasted almost all of them, and it was nice to spend time with the girls all dressed up. I don't feel like I've been spending much time with my friends lately so I'm glad we had the opportunity to hang out as a small group.

Of course, the reason I wasn't suspecting anything was because I had mentioned to eviltiff that another friend was planning a shower for September. To which they were all invited, but I told them to not feel obligated to come since they had already done plenty for me by treating me to tea.

For shower #2 at my friend's house, she went all out. She prepared food including lumpia, meatballs, and sushi. She baked a 2-tiered cake which she decorated with a ceramic bride and groom dressed in tradtional Japanese wedding attire. She had a game with prizes and favors for each guest. It was a little overwhelming with all the work my friend put into the shower. I can only imagine what she'll do for her own daughter's shower! It was wonderful to have my new in-laws there along with friends who came from Annapolis and New Jersey. I'm glad my mother was in town and able to join the party. My friends are awesome and I'm happy she's been able to meet most of them.

Spending time with friends is great. What is stressful is registering for gifts. I had written a post about it earlier, but it was eaten by blogger.

Registering for gifts has been stressful because we have most of the things we need, but I know people want to give us gifts so we need to provide some sort of guidance. A few months ago I started asking friends for input on the things they have and love or would like to have and Periwinkle Rat has some great suggestions. I figured this would make a good time to upgrade some things we already have like dishes. We could go from the dishes with 6 different patterns to just one set of matching dishes.

We went to Macy's to start our first registry. After an hour of looking at flatware and china patterns while waiting for someone to help us get started, we abandoned Macy's without so much as a "We'll be with you as soon as we can."

I also tried Sur la Table. I love their store, but as it turns out, their online registry is pretty worthless. I couldn't add things to the registry that I saw online or remembered seeing in the store. I wanted a specific pitcher, but my only choices were a select half dozen that they deemed worthy of being on a wedding registry. I don't see why if it can be ordered online it can't be added to the registry. On top of that, descriptions didn't match item names. Multiple items had the same description even though there should have been something different about them. grumble grumble. I'll eventually write to complain about it, but won't bother trying to add anything to that list now.

In the end I made my own web page listing the things we'd like since several items aren't available at the traditional stores with bridal registries. Alas, I am not doing a very good job of populating the list so if you have any suggestions, let me know!

2007-08-28T18:08:00.000-04:00

At the Post Office

Me: I'd like to buy 100 "Love" stamps, please.
Postal Clerk: We don't have "Love" stamps.
Me: You don't have "Love" stamps?
Postal Clerk: No. Why don't you look through this book and tell me what you want.
*I flip through the book and stop on the page with stamps with a heart design.*
Me: I want these stamps.
Postal Clerk: Those are wedding stamps.
Me: Alright, I'll take those.
My USPS receipt: "Love Hearts"

2007-08-24T12:46:00.000-04:00

Dang it. It looks like I'm finally going to follow a season of Survivor. Looks like an alumnus of one of my high schools is going to be on Survivor: China.

2007-07-12T17:03:00.000-04:00

I've been pet-sitting every July for a friend of mine while she vacations in Italy. In past years I've told her that in lieu of paying me I'd rather she bought a new refrigerator since her fridge doesn't freeze anything and in the summer it's nice to have popsicles handy. This year I decided that while she was on vacation I'd get her a new fridge. Who knew this was going to be such an ordeal.

First off, the most important thing in buying a new appliance is getting the proper measurements. The existing Kenmore was 63.5" tall x 28" wide x 29" deep (including handle). Width wasn't bad. 28" seems fairly standard for freezer on top models. The first challenge was trying to find a fridge that wasn't too tall. I knew there was about another 2.5" of empty space above the fridge and while most were too tall, there were a handful of fridges that would fit. The biggest challenge was depth. It seems most fridges are 33" deep now. I needed to find a "counter depth" fridge, but most of those were wider and I couldn't go wider or it would't fit between the wall and the counter. And I couldn't go for the 33" deep fridge because it would block the door to the kitchen.

After all the stores I went to in order to find a fridge that would fit (sometimes visiting multiple locations), Sears, Best Buy, Bray and Scarff, Lowes, and some little appliance stores, hardly anyone had a suitably sized fridge.

So I ended up a with a well-reviewed Americana fridge (by GE) from Home Depot. The delivery went smoothly. It was a little smaller than I wanted to get and now that it is in place it just seems really short compared to the old fridge. And the microwave that was plugged in behind the fridge needs to find a new home because the plug makes the fridge stick out too far, blocking the kitchen door.

After all the running around I did trying to find a fridge that would fit, I wish I had thought to check epinions. They have filtering functions so you can search by type of fridge, dimensions, total volume, color, brand, ice maker, price, etc. After the fact I have found what I think is a really nice Amana which would have fit and the cost including delivery would have been about the same.

Shop and learn.

2007-06-28T16:42:00.000-04:00

While I was in Tokyo I stopped at a few 100 yen (dollar) stores. Even within the same chain they carry different products so it was interesting to walk around the stores and see what could be bought for about a dollar. I'm sure like the dollar stores here in the US the majority of the products come from China and I didn't really find any Japanesey souvenirs at the 100 yen store. Anything that looked remotely Japanese was made in China and I wasn't going to buy "Japanese" souvenirs that were made in China.

One day, after I had finished an afternoon of shopping, my aunt asked if I had bought any food from the dollar store and I told her I hadn't. Then she warned me that I should never eat food from China. I hadn't really given much thought to food made in China.

Then my father mentioned reading an article in The Japan Times about tainted food from China. I can't find the article he read, but it was about the same time this article listing a variety of tainted products was published.

Upon my return to the US I got yet another warning about Chinese garlic.

All this was after the pet deaths due to pet food tainted with melamine and I still wasn't reading the labels to see where my food was coming from. I've spent so much time comparing cost per serving, calories, fat grams, and fiber. I was buying some organic products, but I still wasn't paying attention to country of origin.

What have I been thinking? In the last month the news has been rife with stories about defective Chinese tires, toothpaste from China containing diethylene glycol, a chemical often found in antifreeze, lead based paint in toys for children, and don't get me started on how "Plastic pipes had been forced down the pigs' throats and villagers had pumped each 220-pound pig with 44 pounds of wastewater" before taking the animals to slaughter.

Today I had stir fried vegetables for lunch which included a whole lot of bean sprouts right before reading this article that mentions bleached bean sprouts. How am I supposed to know where the bulk bean sprouts came from? So much of the produce in a grocery store has no country of origin sticker on it that even though I'm trying to eat healthy I might just be consuming poison. The same article was mostly about banned seafood from China and mentioned that "heightened FDA inspections over the past several months have found that as much as 15 percent of the banned seafood contained the harmful chemicals, leading to the countrywide ban."

The article about the pigs says the Chinese government is is claiming that "It can be said that the quality of China's exports all are guaranteed," but I'm not buying it.

2007-06-27T16:38:00.000-04:00

I stopped by the library to pick up a book, but didn't know what call numbers my book would be under. All the computers were occupied so I couldn't hop on to find the appropriate dewey decimal number. I looked around and there was no more card catalog so had to ask the librarian to point me to the right stacks.

I miss card catalogs.

2007-06-26T16:41:00.000-04:00

I guess it has been a while since I've been to Best Buy or any store that sells televisions. Most of the shelves along the back of the TV department were gone and flat panel TVs were mounted on the walls. $800 seemed normal for a 26" TV. I didn't realized that the tube TVs were being phased out. I think there were only half a dozen tube TVs left with 27" TVs selling for as little as $199. As a gadget girl I feel completely out of date with my three tube TVs at home. None of them are even flat screens.

2007-06-02T09:26:00.000-04:00

Being the procrastinator that I am, I stayed up all night Wednesday packing. Realized at 2am that I hadn't returned my passport to my sock drawer after my last international trip and panicked because I couldn't remember where I had put it. With the aid of a calm voice on the other end of my telephone I was able to track down my passport and relax.

I caught the metro bus to Dulles and was thrilled to see it was free because I had forgotten that my smartrip had a negative balance and I wasn't sure I had 3 $1 bills for the fare.

At the airport I found out I had been upgraded to business class on ANA since coach was overbooked. When I booked the cheapest ticket I could find I had been told that my ticket was ineligible for upgrade. I guess it must have helped that I joined their frequent flyer club. As it turned out I knew someone else on the flight and she ran into someone she knew at the airport as well. We had all been upgraded. I think it helped that we were travelling alone.

Let me tell you, ANA business class is awesome! I've never flown ANA before so I can't compare it to coach until my return trip, but on my way to Tokyo I had a seat with a lumbar massager which fully reclined for sleeping with the provided down pillow and blanket, my own little personal monitor with remote that allowed me to use their entertainment system much like my Tivo, a choice of Japanese or European cuisine for the meals on Noritake china with real silverware, and the option to ask for my choice of snack foods from noodle bowls to pork cutlet sandwiches to Haagen Dazs ice cream at any time. Had I packed my laptop, there was an electrical outlet at my seat to use.

Unfortunately, despite not having slept the night before, I wasn't able to sleep on the flight and watched 3 movies and played a few video games instead.

Upon landing customs and immigration were quick and I caught the bus to hotel where I met up with my parents. Once in the room I laid down for a nap before dinner, but just didn't want to get up and slept through to the morning. This morning we went to breakfast together before my mom had to head out to meet her friend. I dragged my dad on a walk through the neighborhood I stayed in last year and then to Roppongi where we hit a 100 yen store (like a dollar store*) and then went to Don Quixote, a discount store where I promptly spent over $100 on gum, earbuds for my dad's new MP3 player and a few other things that didn't seem like they'd add up so quickly.

In the afternoon the three of us headed out to meet up with my cousin and check out Kanda Myoujin, one of the shrines we were considering for my wedding. As we arrived a wedding was in progress. A Japanese woman and her white husband. A very small wedding party. She had about 12 people on her side and he had 5 people on his side. After their ceremony was over and the group photos had been taken in front of the shrine the next group appeared ready to begin their procession to the shrine. It was kinda cool to watch, but I don't know how I'd feel about being on display that much. We spoke to a representative with the shrine about wedding packages and asked for a quote including clothes, hair, ceremony, reception and photography including negatives and it seemed very reasonable for the relatively small wedding we are planning. I was thinking Kanda Myoujin might be the place for us.

Then we trekked over to Meiji Kinenkan where we saw numerous brides, hundreds of guests, and dozens of prospective brides and grooms. At Meiji Kinenkan you have lots of choices from ceremony and reception packages to honeymoon packages. They've got it all. You can get married in their huge facility and can opt for a shinto style ceremony or a Christian style ceremony. Alternately, you can get married at nearby Meiji Jingu, the most famous shrine in Tokyo, and they will provide a small bus to transport the wedding party to the reception hall after the ceremony. At Meiji Jingu we would be paraded through the garden to the shrine, but the ceremony would take place deeper in the shrine and we wouldn't be on display like at Kanda Myoujin. Since I am planning our wedding for a week day, we were able to secure the best room in the reception hall. The room they are holding for me is a building that was used during by the Emperor Meiji when he used to entertain foreign guests. The room has walls which are covered with hand painted phoenicis and has a view of their beautiful gardens. When we asked about the lush lawn we were told it was Kentucky bluegrass.

Lucky for us, weekdays are very slow. The room I am getting isn't available on a weekend until December 2008. Also, lucky for us, Meiji Kinenkan is celebrating their 60th year and we were offered 30% off the cost of my rental kimonos which is fantastic since they can cost anywhere between $500 and $6000 each and most brides change 2-4 times during the course of a Japanese wedding. Meiji Kinenkan has a choice of more than 1,000 kimonos, white wedding dresses, and colorful reception gowns. Additionally, we are getting another 50,000 yen discount for having been referred by a wedding salon and one more discount for coming all they way from America to have my wedding at their facility. If you are considering a wedding at Meiji Kinenkan, make sure you get a referral. Any discount helps.

We had pretty much made up our mind that we had found the place, but since we had another appointment we headed out to Tokyo Daijingu. It is a nice temple and the priest was getting ready to close the shrine for the day as we arrived. There were a few receptions in progress in their reception hall when we arrived. We talked to the representative about what we were looking for and she explained their wedding packages which include souvenir wedding alter, sake cups and one more thing I can't remember now. She also told us about the option to have a customized reception menu before showing us their family waiting rooms, rock garden and shrine. We only saw a photo of the reception room as it was in use at the time. And we didn't get the detailed price quote that the previous two provided, but in the end the price was about the same at all three locations and since we are planning a weekday wedding I'd be able to secure the best reception room at each on the lucky day I wanted.

So, I think we've made up our minds that Meiji Kinenkan is the place. My cousin married there last October and one of my uncles married there in the 1960's so I'll be the third member of our family to get married there. We plan to go back on Wednesday to fill out the paperwork, choose my kimonos and leave a deposit. (All of the places we looked at require a cash payment in full before the ceremony.) And we will need to return to Tokyo a week before the wedding for the fitting of our kimonos and my wig.

Now to get some sleep since it is after midnight in Tokyo. I can think about the guest list and invitations tomorrow.

*For the purposes of this entry 100 yen ~ $1

2007-05-30T18:23:00.000-04:00

I'm on my way to Tokyo to pick our shrine!

2007-05-15T16:40:00.000-04:00

Today someone asked me if I was Jewish. That's a first.

I'm not sure what made her ask that since I had been talking about going to Japan to plan my Shinto ceremony.

2007-05-14T10:51:00.000-04:00

Our ice cream man plays "La Cucaracha."

2007-05-10T09:20:00.000-04:00

Dang it! Postage is going up again? I'm not even done with my 37 cent stamps yets.

2007-05-08T16:43:00.000-04:00

I was taking an afternoon stoll along 17th Street today when I saw the police stopping traffic including pedestrians. A few minutes later a motorcade drove by and I saw a woman in a light colored hat in one of the cars. I hopped on the computer when I returned to the office to see what the Queen was wearing today. She visited NASA Goddard "dressed in a yellow coat, light pink dress and wide-brimmed yellow hat."

And me without my camera.

2007-04-24T12:37:00.000-04:00

In case you haven't had someone forward this link to you, I thought it was important enough to share with my family and friends.

This is footage of a shockingly easy crime being committed in a gas station.

2007-04-17T18:12:00.000-04:00

Woo hoo! Despite not downloading the forms until 3pm I have managed to complete both my federal and state income tax returns and get them in the mail. (It wouldn't have taken so long if people hadn't bothered me with job related stuff.) I filled out the federal by hand. The state form was nice in that it allowed me to enter my figures online and it did the calculations for me. This is the first time I've done my own taxes since 1998. Looking at the returns the paid preparers did I am seeing all kinds of deductions I deserved, but they didn't get for me. I guess I'll be filing amended returns for any eligible years.

2007-03-16T18:59:00.000-04:00

Dang Daylight Savings! I've been working late every single day because it seems too light outside for me to be leaving at 5:30pm.

2007-03-07T17:10:00.000-05:00

I am home and trying to recover from food poisoning.

I went out with the girls on Sunday night to take advantage of Restaurant Week in Annapolis. I ate my tortellini with pesto cheese sauce and half of my veal oscar with crab meat and asparagus when I started to not feel so hot. I kept thinking I had eaten too much, but there were only 4 pieces of tortellini so I hadn't eaten that much. I asked to have the leftovers boxes to take home.

For the next 24 hours I was miserable. At one point when I started to feel well enough to talk to people I called the MoonPies to ask what they learned from their recent food poisoning experience. Then my sweetie made a run for provisions for me. It's good to know someone loves you enough to scrub your vomit out of the toilet and give you a hug even though you know you stink.

I'm feeling better now, but not good enough to go back to work. So here I am watching entirely too much TV with tempting commercials for savory foods while trying to tell myself that the BRAT diet is yummy.

2007-02-05T17:18:00.000-05:00

My Japanese colleague had a question for me about something on the agenda. In the middle of her question she said, "blah, blah, blah" which made me burst out laughing. Then she said "I am serious" and I had to laugh even harder!

:-[

The linked video explains.

2007-02-05T16:24:00.000-05:00

Is it my imagination or are all U-Hauls registered in Arizona?

2007-02-05T11:42:00.000-05:00

If you know to find them, go check out my photos.

2007-01-31T10:08:00.000-05:00

This was forwarded to me.

JOB ADS for San Diego city.

The city of San Diego has openings for 4 goat herders. Shore enough. Goat herder.

The city has bought a bunch of goats to eat up brush and stuff that catches fire. The goats are set on hillsides and such and clear the land to create defense space to prevent wildfires from recreating the Wildfire Debacle of 2003. The program has been such a success that the city now wants to expand the goat program to coastal areas; consequently the need for more goat herders.

The pay is good. Like a city policeman, the starting wage is about 50-thousand dollars, more with experience and a proven way with goats. You also get the pension, health care and drop programs, and, like 85 days off a year. It’s a union position, so, even if the goats stop eating you can’t be fired.

I couldn't find the job listing in the city's current openings, but I did find a press release about promoting the use of goats for brush management.

2007-01-24T10:37:00.000-05:00

For a good 10 years my blow dryer was stored in a plastic bin under my bathroom sink. Finally, after a whole lot of talk, I donated my hair to Locks of Love and the blow dryer came out of involuntary retirement. I think I used more gel and hair spray and spent more time styling my hair with the dryer in the first month since getting my new 'do than I have in all the years I have been living in this area. Short hairstyles are a lot of work.

At 8 weeks since the cut, I'm back to my old lazy ways. No gel. No hairspray. No blow dryer today. I do look forward to my hair being long enough to fit in a ponytail, but I don't know that I'll have the patience to wait for my hair to grow long enough to donate again. We'll see.

2007-01-17T17:54:00.000-05:00

I'm off to a busy 2007.

My parents had been talking about coming to visit DC and since they were planning on driving I did a quick check for last minute vacation packages and found them r/t air (direct flights) and 3 nights at the Washington Marriott for $601.22. Cheaper than the air or hotel alone. I had to abandon most of my plans for the weekend, but that is fine because I like spending time with my parents.

After their arrival on Saturday I took my parents out to the Eden Center and I bought my dad a fancy new unlocked quad band cell phone so that when he is in Vietnam and other SIM card friendly locations he can use his phone without paying roaming charges. On Sunday we visited with a Vietnamese homestay student they had years ago who is now living in the DC area and is married with a 4 month old baby.

After my father's business meeting on Monday, I dragged my parents out to Restaurant Week lunch at Kinkead's, then gave my mom my acupuncture appointment and wrangled a bunch of friends into meeting my parents over dinner at Buca di Beppo. The Pope room was perfect for a group of our size.

My mom worked in a second acupuncture appointment on Tuesday and then the three of us went to lunch with my father's business contact. Before my parents left that evening I was lucky enough to be able to get a last minute reservation at Sushi Taro and I'm glad I did because it's not every day my mom enjoys her food as much as she did that evening.

When I returned to work on Wednesday I discovered that my flight to Puerto Rico for my Caribbean vacation was on Thursday and not on Friday as I had thought. I had one less day to get ready. Just a little panicking on my part.

In the end, everything worked out ok, but I was stressed since I hadn't done any of the planning myself and I didn't know what the plans were.

Our group of 11 departed DC for Puerto Rico around lunch time on Thursday. We checked into the Normandie Hotel that evening and then headed to the El San Juan Hotel and Casino for whatever nightlife we might find there.
The next morning we went to La Bombonera for brunch where I had the arroz con calamares and then we wandered around the streets of Old San Juan until it was time to board our ship.

The ship was nice and it had many activities, but I didn't take advantage of the services available aboard the ship. I did get a chance to visit Coki Beach in St. Thomas and went on a catamaran tour which took us to a sunken ship for some snorkeling and to a mostly deserted beach for some swimming in St. Maarten. I didn't have enough time to do any shopping, but I did get to soak up some sun (without getting burned) and swim in the warm Caribbean Sea until I was tired so it was a good, if short, vacation.

The group I went with this year had gone on the same cruise last year and they didn't want to kill a day in Puerto Rico before coming home so booked us on an early flight home. Unfortunately, we didn't know we were supposed to notify the ship of our need for an early departure and so at 8:30am we were still on the ship and wondering if we'd catch our 10:00am flight.

Luckily, we found our bags quickly once we were allowed to disembark and had no problems with customs and immigration. A mini bus was right outside the secured area and got us to the airport with time to spare.

It wasn't the most relaxing vacation I've taken, but the cruise was a learning experience. I now have a better idea of what I'd like to do next time and will plan a way to maximize our short time ashore in the future without going too far over budget.

2006-12-25T14:33:00.000-05:00

Yay Christmas!

2006-12-21T10:42:00.000-05:00

Stamps used to taste better.

2006-12-18T17:41:00.000-05:00

Spent the weekend pet-sitting.

I don't know if this dog is as weird with other people as he is with me, but you probably shouldn't read what is coming up next. Really. Don't say I didn't warn you.

I was home with the dog most of Saturday and we played catch and went for a walk before I fed him dinner at 5pm and let him out for one last potty break before I took off to attend some parties. When I got home before midnight he had peed on the living room rug. So I sent him out and told him he couldn't come back into the house until all of his business was done.

After several minutes he finally got around to the business I was waiting for him to get to. Then he looked up at me to make sure I was watching before eating what he had just dropped. Nasty. I've noticed he likes to eat turds on his walks too. Ew.

Whatever. Time to get to work blotting the pee on the rug. He came over to check out what I was doing and then vomited his nasty snack. Ugh. I was on the verge of getting sick myself.

The next morning, I took him for a walk. He checked his pee-mail as we walked, but then stopped for something. I thought he might be eating what another dog had left behind, but he had found a pork chop or similar hunk of meat. I have no idea why a seasoned cut of meat was in the grass or how long it had been there. Not knowing the history of the meat I didn't want him to eat it, but he had the whole thing in his mouth and there was just no getting between him and his score. He tried to swallow it whole, but eventually chewed it a little.

I worried for a while that he might throw up or go into seizures, but he seemed ok. Why do I keep agreeing to watch this crazy dog? Or is this normal dog behavior?

2006-11-29T17:25:00.000-05:00

I guess I took it for granted that meters in DC are only enforced until 6:30pm (with the exception of Georgetown). As a public service announcement, let me tell you that the meters on the 800 block of G Street near Gallery Place/Chinatown are enforced until 9:30pm. I certainly won't assume I'll be able to find free parking anywhere in the city after 6:30pm anymore.

2006-11-28T15:29:00.000-05:00

I've been seeing an acupuncturist for about a month now. It started with a visit to treat a shoulder pain I had. I think the pain was mostly due to stress, but it was so bad that I couldn't cradle a phone on my shoulder or turn my head 90°.

My shoulder is doing well now and I keep going back to work on other issues. The acupuncturist asked if I wanted help losing weight and of course, I do. Needles in my head, my foot and my tummy along with dietary instructions and I'm suddenly a little less hungry. I lost 2 pounds that week.

I was very happy to have 2 problems solved and asked if he could do anything about the tears that stream down my face on cold winter days. He said the tears were due to allergies and that he could help with that also. A few more needles in my face and three nights of ointment in my eyes before bed and no more tears.

Since exercise is part of my weight loss regimen I asked if he could help with some hip discomfort I've had since high school. The pop in my left hip with every leg lift has kept me from doing as much as I could and with one treatment today the leg has already stopped popping.

Any time someone complains of a pain I chime in with "See an acupuncturist!" My colleague has taken me up on my suggestion and her plantar fasciitis is much better now with a few treatments when two doctors she had seen previously had told her there was nothing that could be done and she'd have to learn to live with the pain or take medications to suppress the pain.

I wish I could post his name on my blog because he is so wonderful and I'd love to send him more business, but he is running a one man show and I have a hard enough time getting appointments. Ask me personally if you really want to see the same guy though I'm sure there are many other wonderful acupuncturists out there (who also take insurance!)

2006-11-16T17:14:00.000-05:00

Black Friday is quickly approaching and if you're thinking about taking advantage of some of the great sales, here are two sites that have posted the sale ads in advance so you can plan which stores you will attack. Slightly different stores and features on each site.

http://www.blackfridayads.com/

http://bfads.net/

2006-10-31T16:20:00.000-05:00

I was driving through Rock Creek Park behind an SUV with personalized plates. I caught up to the car at a stop sign and deduced the letters on his plates to mean "Escape Hybrid." Brilliant reasoning on my part since the vehicle was an Escape hybrid with environmental license plates.

Then as he pulled away from the stop sign he tossed a butt out the window.

2006-10-16T15:11:00.000-04:00

The plan was to go to Chicago for the weekend to attend a wedding. The plan was to catch a 10:30am flight, arrive at 11:30am at Midway, shuttle to our hotel, have a relaxing afternoon and see a little of the city before heading to the 7pm wedding. Then we'd take our time getting up in the next morning for our 10:30am flight since our hotel offered a free breakfast and a shuttle to the airport.

Nothing happened as planned.

We woke up early on Saturday to double check the TSA requirements for carry on liquids and do last minute packing. Since we were going to a wedding we didn't want to chance checking our luggage and I also didn't want my cosmetics or toiletries confiscated as being potentially dangerous. I even transferred all my toiletries in a clear plastic pouch to a clear sandwich size ziploc because the website was very specific about it needing to be a clear zippered top quart size bag. Don't even think about bringing a half gallon bag that is half full.

We arrived at the airport at 9:00am, plenty early for our 10:30am flight only to notice a really long line at ATA. A ticketing agent was working her way up and down the line letting people know that the flight to Midway had been canceled due to mechanical problems. We could rebook for the 7pm flight by calling their reservation center or we could wait in like to have them rebook us on another airline to get an earlier flight. When we got to the agent we told her we had a wedding to get to (as did several other people we talked to in line) and she rebooked us on an American Airlines flight at 12:20pm to O'Hare. Whatever. We were agreeable as long as we'd get to Chicago in time for the wedding.

Around noon we found out that our new flight had also been canceled. They told us to get back in line so they could rebook us on another flight. Several of us got on our cell phones and called the American Airlines ticketing center to get new seats since we were at the end of the line and the odds of the next flight being full before we got up there were pretty high. I asked about the possibility of being booked on another airline, but I'd have to go back to ATA for that and I just didn't want to deal with them.

Now we were booked on the 2:55pm flight to O'Hare. Which was then delayed to 3:45 and then 4:04pm and 4:14pm in part due to the air show at the dedication of the new Air Force memorial and flight restrictions during that time. We probably finally left DC around 5pm. We arrived in Chicago around 6pm, but now had to pick up the rental car I reserved while waiting for our delayed flights. The guy at Hertz was the most pleasant sounding jerk I've ever met. I asked if I could join the rental club and he said "No." And when I asked how much it would cost to return the car at Midway instead of O'Hare he said "More." I think we finally found out it was going to cost about $110 + tax to return the car at Midway so we opted to return it at O'Hare. He told us we reserved a Hyundai Accent and told us we'd find our car with the keys in it in space 131. Space 131 had a Kia Spectra. I checked the paperwork and saw he had assigned us to the Kia. He just had to confuse the weary travellers by telling us the wrong make and model.

We boogied as fast as we could across the city to get to our hotel so we could freshen up and get ready for the wedding. We already knew we wouldn't make it for the ceremony portion of the wedding even if we drove straight from Hertz. We drove through a White Castle a block from the hotel and did our best to get ready quickly and find our way to the reception. We had directions on how to get to the cross streets near the reception site, but no address or building name so wandered around the University of Chicago campus a bit before getting a call from the groom letting us know where to find them. We caught the last hour or so of the reception. We congratulated the happy could and had a few drinks. We had hoped to return the rental car that night so we could relax in the morning, but the Omega shuttle service between Midway and O'Hare only runs from 7am to 10pm.

On Sunday we woke up early again to grab the free breakfast at the Hampton Inn before heading back across the city to return the car. It was an easy drive with little traffic so early on a Sunday. Our Hertz shuttle bus driver was very kind and listened to our story and made sure we got to the right shuttle stop. Our luck was finally turning. The shuttle only ran once an hour and we just caught it. The shuttle took it's time working it way around all the terminals at O'Hare picking up other passengers but got us to Midway at 9am, again plenty early for our 10:30am flight.

Which was canceled. This time there wasn't an agent telling us what was going on. We just talked to other passengers and eavesdropped on the options people were getting as we got closer to the agents. ATA could have saved time by making an announcement about what our choices were before we got up there so they wouldn't have to explain the options over and over again and have passengers take time mulling over flying the next day and getting a $200 credit on ATA vs. getting rebooked out of O'Hare that day vs. getting a refund voucher and booking our own flight with the carrier of our choice. We considered staying another night in Chicago so we could actually see the city we were in, but didn't have much faith that the flight would get us home on Monday since we were batting 0 for 2 with with ATA. And what use would we have for $200 credits when they just weren't flying at all in our experience. We chose to get rebooked out of O'Hare via Philadelphia on USAir at 4:10pm that day. After waiting for the one supervising agent who knew how to work the computer system make her way around to us, we had new tickets and a taxi voucher to get us back across the city.

We shared a taxi to O'Hare with a friend we made in line. The cab driver did so much weaving in and out of traffic on the toll roads that we really needed the handles and seat belts to feel secure. Upon arrival at O'Hare cab driver #1620 wanted vouchers from each of us (worth $70 each). Between the three of us we only had two vouchers. I had been planning on tipping him, but he was such a jerk when he dropped us off that I figured ripping us off for $140 on a $55 fare was more than enough money for him. He didn't even get out to help with luggage.

Now back at O'Hare we had plenty of time for the extra code S screening we all were subjected to because we had one way tickets. The cranky TSA agents who learned they couldn't leave their posts at 12:30 were not happy and took it out on us.

After security we had plenty of time to eat, drink, chat and try to nap before our flight. In the 3 o'clock hour I noticed that the board hadn't changed to show our upcoming flight and there were no monitors nearby. I searched for a USAir monitor and found our gate had been changed from E8 to F9. We moved gates to find a very crowded waiting area and noticed that we weren't boarding as scheduled. When our new friend asked the gate agent when we'd be boarding she snapped, "After everyone gets off the plane." It seems the plane we were supposed to take had been delayed arriving in Chicago and so we were running late boarding. Apparently she couldn't be bothered to make an announcement until after she snapped at numerous passengers who approached her to ask what was going on.

Belatedly we departed O'Hare and arrived in Philadelphia with minutes to spare before our final leg to DC. On the last leg we experienced our first flight that wasn't completely crowded and had a pilot with a sense of humor who talked to us. I had been concerned that our luggage might not have made the tight connection, but the bags managed to catch an earlier flight and were waiting for us at baggage claim. Why weren't we on that flight? Or one of the hourly direct flights from O'Hare to DCA on United? Too late to ask these questions now. A short metro ride and then a little car ride. Home.

2006-09-29T09:46:00.000-04:00

Assorted entries from the Bulwer-Lytton contest, aka "Dark and Stormy Night Contest" (run by the English Dept. of San Jose State University), wherein one writes only the first line of a bad novel:

"As a scientist, Throckmorton knew that if he were ever to break wind in the echo chamber, he would never hear the end of it."

"Just beyond the Narrows, the river widens."

"With a curvaceous figure that Venus would have envied, a tanned, unblemished oval face framed with lustrous thick brown hair, deep azure-blue eyes fringed with long black lashes, perfect teeth that vied for competition, and a small straight nose, Marilee had a beauty that defied description."

"Andre, a simple peasant, had only one thing on his mind as he crept along the East wall: 'Andre creep... Andre creep... Andre creep.'"

"Stanislaus Smedley, a man always on the cutting edge of narcissism, was about to give his body and soul to a back alley sex-change surgeon to become the woman he loved."

"Although Sarah had an abnormal fear of mice, it did not keep her from eeking out a living at a local pet store."

"Stanley looked quite bored and somewhat detached, but then penguins often do."

"Like an over-ripe beefsteak tomato rimmed with cottage cheese, the corpulent remains of Santa Claus lay dead on the hotel floor."

"Mike Hardware was the kind of private eye who didn't know the meaning of the word 'fear'; a man who could laugh in the face of danger and spit in the eye of death -- in short, a moron with suicidal tendencies."

"The sun oozed over the horizon, shoved aside darkness, crept along the greensward, and, with sickly fingers, pushed through the castle window,
revealing the pillaged princess, hand at throat, crown asunder, gaping in frenzied horror at the sated, sodden amphibian lying beside her, disbelieving the magnitude of the frog's deception, screaming madly, 'You lied!"

The winning entry for 2006:

"Detective Bart Lasiter was in his office studying the light from his one small window falling on his super burrito when the door swung open to reveal a woman whose body said you've had your last burrito for a while, whose face said angels did exist, and whose eyes said she could make you dig your own grave and lick the shovel clean."

All the Grand Prize winners

2006-09-26T17:54:00.000-04:00

My grandmother passed away about an hour ago at approximately 6AM Tokyo time. She was 104 years old.

For the last 25 years or so, every time I said goodbye to her I thought it would be the last time I saw her. She has always been "old." I was hoping to see her during my visit to Japan in April/May, but I was sick and I didn't want to be the one responsible for killing her or any of the other old people she lived with. I wish I could have seen her, but all my relatives who visited her regularly told me I was better off with my memories of my super healthy grandmother.

I don't know if my mom knew the end was near or not, but she arrived in Tokyo on Monday and I think she was able to be with her mother one last time.

Obaachan daisuki.

2006-09-21T14:14:00.000-04:00

I was watching Demolition Man the other night. In the scene where they were reviewing who was up for parole in the California cryo prison right before the warden and other parole officers were killed, the name Scott Peterson came up.

Creepy.

2006-09-12T11:20:00.000-04:00

The 6th Annual Camping and Tubing trip was fantastic despite our tubing outfitter neglecting to tell the group at which mile marker to exit the river.

I had a chance to see friends I rarely see anymore. I slept well. I didn't get sunburned. I had someone to get cozy with. We stopped at Jalisco for a yummy lunch. I filled up at $2.38 and got free air for my tires. Who knew that I'd be so excited to see a gas station with free air.

Yup. It was a good weekend.

2006-09-05T13:01:00.000-04:00

Thanks for all the happy birthday wishes and a special thanks to everyone who came out to celebrate with me on a cold and wet night.

I have the best friends!

2006-08-03T15:56:00.000-04:00

In an article introducing 10 charities that know the value of 10 bucks I noticed that I have blown 10 bucks on some of the frivolous items mentioned in the article, but I've also volunteered with two of the organizations profiled. My next $10 might go to "Monkey Helpers for the Disabled"!

2006-08-02T13:34:00.000-04:00

A wedge of cantaloupe, chocolate cake, and a glass of sangria. The breakfast of champions!

2006-06-26T12:08:00.000-04:00

I was happy to see that my ceiling didn't leak after the massive amounts of rain we had over the last few days.

What I am not happy about is the phone call I got an hour ago from my neighbor who noticed while taking out the trash that there is a giant sink hole behind my building. She didn't describe it well, but I'm under the impression that the earth under my building is gone. She says she has reported the situation to the management office and that structural engineers have been called. I'm afraid they might declare my building uninhabitable until it can be stabilized.

2006-06-23T15:52:00.000-04:00

How warped am I if I think this is funny?

2006-06-21T15:37:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago I noticed that three traffic lights on one corner near my office were askew, but since I don't often walk I forgot all about the lights.

Yesterday as I was about to cross the street I realized I on the verge of stepping into traffic since the light I was looking at was off by 90 degrees. I immediately hopped online when I got to my office and initiated a District of Columbia Service Request.

When I walked by the corner today I noticed that the lights had been fixed and when I followed up on my service request number I saw that dc.gov noted that the issue was resolved. Amazing. The website says traffic lights will be fixed within 24 hours and it looks like if you notify them online it will actually happen.

2006-06-15T12:35:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was my boss' last day. We had a little reception for him in the office and many colleagues stopped by to say they'd miss him and wish him well. Afterwards members of our office went out to dinner. We took photos and he spent a few moments with each of us to thank us for everything we've done and give us some parting words. His words to me, "I wish you happiness, prosperity, love and many children."

2006-06-05T16:08:00.000-04:00

I was at a red light when I noticed some dude in the truck next to me trying to get my attention. I opened my window to see what he wanted. "I can fix your car! The damage in the rear, I can fix it!" he was yelling.

I asked if he had a business card and he told me to pull over so we could talk.

"If you have 30 minutes I can fix that," he said when I pulled over.

"Do you have a business card?" I asked again.

"I have my tools right here," he said and showed me the back of his truck.

I didn't want to do something on the spot and tried to find out where he worked. He told me that if I went to his shop he'd have to charge me more, but if I had 35 minutes he could fix it immediately. He was quoting $275 for a job the body shops I visited were quoting between $1200 and $1800 and it would be done in about half an hour. Being the impulsive person I am, I agreed and found a place to park where he and his cousin could get to work.

They started punching holes in my door and whipped out the dent puller to straighten out the dent I had put in my door, explaining each step as they worked. They sanded the rust off, bondoed the area they worked on, sanded it again, and primed it in about 30 minutes.

I stopped at the ATM, got cash, paid the man and we went our separate ways.

Now I need to get my car painted. Let me know if you have a shop you recommend for painting.

2006-05-18T15:26:00.000-04:00

Since I don't have anything to say and this article is too funny not to share, may I present:

Something clearly is going on in Florida. Yesterday, an alligator walked through the doggy door of a woman's house in Bradenton and went for her golden retriever. The woman grabbed a shotgun and blazed away. The alligator escaped with a flesh wound. The neighbors heard shots and called police, who promptly cited the woman for hunting without a license.

2006-05-16T14:46:00.000-04:00

I just taught the copier repair man how to use chopsticks.

We were talking about my trip to Japan and he mentioned that he had never been able to master the use of chopsticks. I told him about the training chopsticks and he said he was left handed. There are training chopsticks for lefties as well, but I told him the key isn't to follow the directions on the chopstick wrappers, but to hold one chopstick (the stationary one) as you would a pencil you'd write with. In my case, it's against my ring finger and that was also the position he was comfortable with. The chopstick that moves will be controlled by either the middle or index finger and thumb, whichever is comfortable. I use my middle finger. Next thing you know, he's using a pair of pencils and making grabbing motions.

As he walked out the door he told me he was taking his wife out to dinner tonight to show off his new skill.

2006-05-12T12:33:00.000-04:00

When I woke up yesterday I was thinking about how odd it was to throw all my trash into one waste basket instead of separating recyclable (PET bottles, cans, glass bottles, etc.), burnable (paper), not burnable (plastic wrappers) and other special category trash. And I'd have to get used to keeping to the right again instead of the left.

Then it was back to work and colleagues made me feel like I had been missed.

After work I headed home to relax for the first time in more than two weeks. And it was a good thing I decided to kick back at home instead of going out because while I was catching up on TiVo I heard water. I investigated the source of the sound and found that a pool of water had collected in the light fixture above my bed and was dripping onto my mattress. In a panic I turned off the light and grabbed a trash can to place on my bed to catch the water.

I then proceeded to run upstairs to see what the situation was in the apartment right above mine. My neighbor told me he had a leak he was catching with a bucket in his apartment as well. I told him we both needed to call the office to report an emergency maintenance situation.

After leaving a message with the answering service I went back up to find out what was going on with my upstairs neighbor. He informed me that during a rain in January he watched as a reported ceiling leak progressed until his ceiling collapsed. The roofer he spoke with said that the condition of our roof was in poor shape and needed major work.

Some work seems to have been done, but obviously not to the extent it needed to be done if water has now worked its way down through his unit and is now leaking into mine.

Incredibly, my neighbor has been living for the better part of the last five months in the elements with a hole in his ceiling and a soaking wet carpet in his bedroom despite what he claims are regular calls to the office to draw attention to the situation of our roof. His most recent appointment had been set for next week, Tuesday, May 16, 2006. He has been much more tolerant of the situation than I would be.

Last night the maintenance person who came around said that we don't have proper drainage so water accumulates on our roof. He then said he had to go to other units that had also reported leaks and that he gets many such calls on rainy nights.

Our roof needs major repairs and if my neighbor has been living with a wet carpet for months, then the hardwood floors under that carpet likely needs to be replaced along with the carpet and possibly my ceiling and whatever lies in between. I am hopeful that mold has not yet started to grow in the space between our apartments.

I guess I wasn't meant to continue to live in the happy afterglow of a vacation for more than one day.

2006-05-05T20:38:00.000-04:00

We are in Tokyo now running around like people with limited time trying to see as much as possible. I haven't been able to shake the flu I managed to catch before leaving home and it probably hasn't helped that I haven't taken a whole day to rest. We're running short of time and still have so much to see and do!

I will do my best to compose a full travel report when we get home.

2006-04-19T12:59:00.000-04:00

The sewing machine I ordered from Overstock has arrived. I've picked out a pattern, bought fabric and thread and elastic and now have no idea what to do because I know I'm going to have to make some adjustments to the pattern so my skirt will fit me properly.

Hancock Fabrics has classes near my apartment, but their schedule isn't very convenient for me and I'd have to schlep my machine to and from class. I'm leaning towards taking classes at G Street Fabrics. They have student machines so there is no need to bring your own, but they are Berninas (I'm sure to tempt us into wanting to buy a $1000-$8000 machine). I'll likely take Beginning Sewing I - Express at either Falls Church (6/3 & 6/10) or Rockville (5/14 & 5/21 or 6/4 & 6/11).

Anyone interested in taking sewing lessons with me?

2006-04-03T17:38:00.000-04:00

The plan was to take a little weekend trip.

The best price I could find for round trip tickets to Nashville was $330 and I wasn't happy about that since I can regulary find r/t for less than $150. I poked about online a bit more and came up with a last minute package including rental car for $207. That was a bit more reasonable. It is interesting that adding a rental car saved me more than $100.

The plan was to catch the 7pm flight out of Dulles, arrive in Nashville at 8pm, check out some honky tonks, and stay at the Hotel Preston since the reviews of the hotel were pretty darn good. "A 3 star hotel with 5 star beds!" Plus they let you "adopt" lava lamps and betta fish for your stay! In the morning we thought we might enjoy a quick trolley tour of the city before heading up to Kentucky.

We did make it to Kentucky via Nashville, but only after we were bumped to the 6am flight on Saturday. Turns out I had bought the cheapest seats on the Friday evening flight and that's how they selected us to be bumped. We lost one day of pre-paid rental car, but fortunately I booked the hotel directly and they said they wouldn't charge us for the room when I explained our situation.

United did compensate us with r/t tickets to use in the 48 contiguous states at a future date plus gave each of us $12 meal vouchers and put us up in a hotel near the airport. Unfortunately, the hotel shuttle wasn't running early enough to get us back in time for our 6am flight so we had to catch a cab.

With the delay (and daylight savings) our trip was cut from 33 hours to 17 hours so we didn't have any time to look around Nashville. When we got to Kentucky my parents took us to lunch at my dad's favorite restaurant and gave us a quick drive through tour of town. Then we took a little nap before watching the NCAA Final Four game. After dinner we went to Best Buy to get a router for the computers and a flash drive for my dad so he won't have to lug around a laptop just for one Power Point presentation and a slide show. The house now has a wireless network set up so Dad can use the iBook while Mom is on the desktop.

All in all, I think the trip went well. Everyone got along, changes in plans were handled in stride, and somebody still cares about me.

I look forward to future travel.

2006-03-28T11:03:00.000-05:00

I arrived at the courthouse at 10:30 to check in per my Petit Juror instructions. We sat in the Jury Lounge quietly trying to read, knit, and sleep while the TV hissed and crackled snowy Jerry Springer. Apparently, the courthouse doesn't have cable.

We asked if we could turn the TV off and were told we could not. But then a 1980's video briefing started so we turned our attention to the televisions for a bit and then a group of jurors were called. Another group was called and then we were dismissed for a one hour lunch break.

After lunch I sat down and started knitting until the woman asked us to "pop up like popcorn" and meet her in the atrium. In the atrium she told us to turn in our badge holders and thanked us for being there. We had fulfilled our duty and wouldn't be called back for at least 2 years.

I spent a whopping 2.5 hours at the courthouse.

2006-03-24T10:18:00.000-05:00

Another jury duty summons has shown up in my inbox. This time it really is for me. Since that's what I'll be doing on Monday I thought I'd offer the following link which showed up in my inbox this morning regarding the "jury duty scam."

Here's a new twist scammers are using to commit identity theft: the jury duty scam. Here's how it works:

The scammer calls claiming to work for the local court and claims you've failed to report for jury duty. He tells you that a warrant has been issued for your arrest.

The victim will often rightly claim they never received the jury duty notification. The scammer then asks the victim for confidential information for "verification" purposes.

Specifically, the scammer asks for the victim's Social Security number, birth date, and sometimes even for credit card numbers and other private information — exactly what the scammer needs to commit identity theft.

So far, this jury duty scam has been reported in Michigan, Ohio, Texas, Arizona, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Oregon and Washington state.

It's easy to see why this works. The victim is clearly caught off guard, and is understandably upset at the prospect of a warrant being issued for his or her arrest. So, the victim is much less likely to be vigilant about protecting their confidential information.

In reality, court workers will never call you to ask for social security numbers and other private information. In fact, most courts follow up via snail mail and rarely, if ever, call prospective jurors.

Action: Never give out your Social Security number, credit card numbers or other personal confidential information when you receive a telephone call.

This jury duty scam is the latest in a series of identity theft scams where scammers use the phone to try to get people to reveal their Social Security number, credit card numbers or other personal confidential information.

It doesn't matter *why* they are calling — all the reasons are just different variants of the same scam.

Protecting yourself is simple: Never give this info out when you receive a phone call.

2006-03-21T10:41:00.000-05:00

I learned about a new site this morning.

Enter an address, and up pops a map locating registered sex offenders in that area. Click on the color coded squares that appear, and see photos (where available), addresses, and convictions.

2006-03-15T09:55:00.000-05:00

Dude: Are from the Philippines?
Me: No.
Dude: You look Chinese.
Me: My mom is Japanese.
Dude: Where are your parents now?
Me: Kentucky.
Dude snorts and walks away.

2006-03-06T14:17:00.000-05:00

The Death Star Contractors Local THX 1138 rules!

2006-02-27T17:06:00.000-05:00

In response to everyone's request that I organize a group for Let's Dish, there aren't any convenient dates or times for a private party so I've chosen a date that works for me and the friends who have been bugging me. If you'd like to go with us, let me know and I'll let you know which date and location to sign up for. It will be fun!

***

As of March 3 this event is now sold out.

2006-02-22T14:55:00.000-05:00

I have a problem.

OK, I have more than one problem. But for the purposes of this post I am going to write about my spontaneity issue.

Anyone who has known me for any length of time knows that if you say, "Wanna go skydiving this weekend?" the odds are very good that I might say yes. So when a friend emailed asking if I was interested in checking out Let's Dish, not only did I tell her I was interested, but I signed up to go that very night.

What Let's Dish does is provide all the fresh (and sometimes frozen) ingredients for healthy meals.

When you arrive at their store you put on an apron and bandana or hat and get to work. I started at the Classic Herb Pot Roast station last night where I lined a crock with a freezer bag and filled my bag with pre-sliced and peeled carrots, pearl onions, tomatoes, and potatoes. Then I took a second freezer bag and filled it with a hunk of meat and spices according to the recipe posted above the station. I massaged the hunk 'o meat with the marjoram/ thyme/ oregano blend and slapped on a label with the name of the dish and cooking instructions. I stacked that meal in the freezer and went on to the next station.

I was a bit too ambitious when I signed up to make 12 meals: Carolina Pulled Pork, Chicken Chili, Chicken in Tomato-Vodka Sauce with Spinach Linguini, Chicken Rustica, Chicken with Rosemary Dumplings, Chinese Five Spice Pork Chops, Greek Burgers with Onions and Feta, Lemon and Dill Salmon, Mediterranean Pasta Toss, Roasted Garlic Chicken with Rice, Shrimp Scampi with Linguini and the Classic Herb Pot Roast.

Each meal serves 4 to 6 people so I won't be eating out or buying groceries for a while. I will also be feeding friends until there is room for me to buy groceries again.

When my friend originally suggested going, I thought that the $155 for 8 meals or $195 for 12 meals was expensive until I realized how many servings each meal was. At $3-4 per serving it seemed quite reasonable. Plus their website provides all the nutrition information including Weight Watchers Points and suggestions for sides.

Some advice before you go:

Make sure you have room in your freezer.
Bring a cooler in warm weather or sturdy laundry basket in winter to carry your meals home. They're heavy!
If you're single, split meals because you don't really want to cook 6 chicken breasts at once.
Or take a friend and split meals.
Dress comfortably as you'll be standing the whole time unless you take a scone break.
Two hours isn't enough time for one person to throw 12 meals together even with all the ingredients right there. People work at different paces and some stations back up.

The menu changes monthly. I'd do this again.

The Post covers what I've missed.

***

Things I've learned since my trip to Let's Dish:

Up to two people can attend with one reservation. Which means each person could take home 6 sevings of 6 meals or 3 servings each of 12 meals or however they want to divide the meals.
You don't have to get 12 different meals. You can get 3 each of 4 meals or 10 different meals and 2 of one or however many multiples of the meals you are interested in.
Pot roasts and like dishes don't split.
You can change your meal order until three days before you event. A convenient feature if you were planning on going alone and then decide to have someone share your meals with you.
I've cooked almost all of my meals in the slow cooker and they all taste good.

2006-02-17T13:17:00.000-05:00

I know some of you have already seen this, but it's mighty cool! Check out more.

2006-02-14T16:55:00.000-05:00

Somebody cares about me :)

2006-02-09T17:13:00.000-05:00

Want to learn a little German?

Professor Jackie Chan can help!

2006-02-06T18:07:00.000-05:00

I've been working on getting off my many meds and now it looks like I may have a new disorder that will require more medication.

PANEXA is a prescription drug that should only be taken by patients experiencing one of the following disorders: metabolism, binocular vision, digestion (solid and liquid), circulation, menstruation, cognition, osculation, extremes of emotion.

I am concerned about the side effects, but I think Panexa comes with a puppy.

2006-02-02T11:39:00.000-05:00

Have you ever wanted to be in the Olympics?

If you live in Washington, DC, you now have a chance to join the District of Columbia Olypmic Committee as an athlete or coach. Or you can just send a letter to the IOC to request approval for a DC team like Puerto Rico, Guam and the USVI have.

From the DC Olympic Team site:

Like many good ideas, this one started over a few beers at the Adams Mill Bar. I was watching the 2004 Olympic opening ceremonies and said to myself, "That looks cool, I wish I could march in the opening ceremonies." Being way past my prime athletically to make any U.S. team, I began to think about what developing countries would be open to me sliding them a few bucks to make me a winter athlete - after all whose job would I be taking?

Then something weird happened. The U.S. Men's Basketball Team lost to the Puerto Rican Olympic team in a stunning upset. Like many Americans, my biggest questions were: "Why the hell does Puerto Rico have a team? Aren't they part of the United States?" I did a little looking around and found out that not only does Puerto Rico have a team, but so does Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands - all part of the United States.

The wheels started turning in my head. I knew that Puerto Rico, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, while parts of the United States, each only have one, non-voting delegate in the U.S. House of Representatives. The District of Columbia also only has one, non-voting delegate in the U.S. House. However, unlike those other American territories DC lacks its own Olympic committee.

That is until now. Together with some friends and co-workers who live in the District we've started a movement -- we are seeking official recognition for the "District of Columbia Olympic Committee (DCOC)."

If the District is going to be lumped in with the other red-headed stepchildren of American representative democracy, we should at least be able to compete with our own Olympic teams like other territories. The first team we are organizing is curling, but we are looking for athletes for other sports for both the winter and summer games. So, if you live in the District and want to compete (or be a coach) sign up today!

We're doing to this to both have fun and make a point about representative democracy in our city. Please help us out by taking action to petition the International Olympic Committee to recognize the DCOC and then spread the word to others about this effort.

2006-01-30T12:43:00.000-05:00

A friend forwarded the following to me:

What is your legacy with your friends? Wanna see how others view you? Just do it. And send it back to the person who sent it to you.

Describe me in ONE WORD...just one word! Send it to me only, then send this message to your friends and see how many strange things people say about you! This could be fun! Just hit reply and send me my one word back. Then forward this message on to your friends (including me) and see what they say about you!

REMEMBER - ONE WORD ONLY!!!

Enough time has passed since she forwarded this to me that I think I'm ready to find out what my friends (and other random people who have been stalking me via blog) think about me. Leave a comment or email me.

2006-01-26T10:48:00.000-05:00

Tonight on my way home I was followed by a man. He tried to get my attention by honking his horn and flashing his lights at me. I didn't know who he was so I tried to ignore him, but he followed me all the way home. When I finally stopped, he stopped behind me, got out of his car, opening his coat and turning around with arms raised to show he wasn't hiding anything. He approached my car and went on about how I looked like some girl he went to high school with and wanted to know if I might be her. I told him I was not the girl he thought I was. He apologized for frightening me, but thought it was important enough that he talk to me if I was the girl he was looking for that he had to follow me home. He continued by introducing himself, asking if he could get my name and phone number and suggesting we go out sometime. I gave him my name, but declined to give him my phone number and didn't agree to meet him again. Slightly creeped out, I found a place to park my car and headed for my building.

Imagine my surprise when I saw the information I had refused to give him was posted on my building.

Having been mugged in front of my condo last year, I am interested in raising awareness of crimes in the neighborhood, but wasn't aware that when I said we should get more residents involved in the crime watch program that *my* information was going to be posted as the contact person in the notice on every door of the neighborhood.

I don't really care about the email address since it is condo business specific, but having had more than one stalker in the past and a somewhat unique name, I've been protective of my personal information. I took down the rest of the notices that were still up.

2006-01-25T12:25:00.000-05:00

In the past I have tried to check to see what my credit report says every few years.

Once upon a time it was very ugly, but with hard work I have cleaned up my credit rating. If you don't know what your rating is or what it means, you can get credit reports from all 3 credit reporting agencies for free once a year. There have been mistakes on my reports for years that I haven't addressed because they weren't that important, but I'm going to make an effort to have them corrected (like having my apartment number as my street address) and close some inactive accounts.

2006-01-20T11:27:00.000-05:00

I'm not much for planning things very far in advance because you just never know what will happen in the future.

Bendy is nothing like me. She has already booked a cruise for herself, her family and her boyfriend for December 2, 2007!! In the event she is not dating her boyfriend then, I get to take his spot.

2006-01-15T15:37:00.000-05:00

Boy am I tired
Drunk enough to stop thinking
Hurray! Alcohol

2006-01-11T19:11:00.000-05:00

A jury duty summons in my mailbox.

Noo!

Wait, my name isn't Margaret.

Oh. Wrong address.

Whew!

2006-01-09T17:30:00.000-05:00

AVG: Happy New Year!
The Fat Man: Happy New Year!
AVG: What did you do for New Year's Eve?
The Fat Man: Not much. Stayed at home and watched Law and Order: Criminal Intent. I like Vincent D'Onofrio's character.
AVG: Cool. I was home watching Firefly.
AVG: Hey, we were both watching shows with guys who were in Full Metal Jacket!

I'm not the only one who would have thought that, right?

BTW, Adam Baldwin had aged well.

2006-01-06T17:30:00.000-05:00

Abe Vigoda is still alive.

2006-01-05T10:17:00.000-05:00

I bought a roll of 37 cent stamps last month not realizing postage was going up to 39 cents on January 8.