Thanks for letting a sister roll...

2009-08-20T22:09:00.002-04:00

At CVS. Wow.

2009-08-20T21:57:00.003-04:00

I don't even know what they were going for that led to this spelling.

2008-07-23T19:15:00.001-04:00

I really admire Shop Rite for running the same exact Can Can commercial every summer for the past 27 years.

2007-04-18T17:03:00.000-04:00

SoapNet already owned my evenings from 5-7 with 90210. Now they have commandeered nearly my entire day with their 3-5 90210, followed by One Tree Hill, the OC, and Days. There's something wrong when SoapNet is one of your top 10 tv channels

2007-03-02T21:02:00.000-05:00

Actual quote from Friday's Wife Swap:

The Bauer family of Oregon has dropped out of mainstream society to live as pirates.

Vegas Baby

2007-02-21T21:42:00.000-05:00

If you haven't yet, read Sports Guy's recap, because he perfectly captures the atmosphere of the weekend. The energy of knowing that at any moment you could be in the same room as someone like Jay-Z and/or get shot is just insane. Just after arriving I headed over to the Palms, where the players were staying, despite having no chance of getting into any of the clubs. As we made our way to the front door we literally walked into Suge Knight, who apologized for bumping into us. On our first lap around the casino we saw the Maloofs, Steve Kerr, Matt Harpring, Jim Gray...later in the lobby there was Brooke Hogan and her mother (more attractive than expected), Caron Butler, Josh Howard, Vince Young, and Vince Carter. Shortly after that the blackjack took hold and I lost interest in celebrity sightings. (Not that I could have gotten a glance let alone a "hello" from anyone, with the NBA groupies there. The NBA groupie is a class of "woman" unto itself, for which hoochie is way too classy a descriptive term. If you are black, over 6' 3", and can pull off a track suit, a monochromatic unbent baseball hat, and sunglasses at night indoors, or all three, you need to be at all-star weekend because these girls will pounce on anything they can even pretend is a professional athlete.)

To those of you anxiously awaiting crazy Vegas stories, we've run into a slight problem...turns out I REALLY like gambling. That I enjoy gaming came as no surprise, given my past relationships with video poker. That I would start twitching when I left the blackjack table for more than 20 minutes became a bit of an issue. I had always been nervous to play table games alone because I wasn't really sure what to do, but once I sat down and got comfortable it was all over. I left to sleep around 6am Saturday (after having been out of the room in various casinos since I went to watch the Georgetown game at 9am) and when I got back up at 10:30 my first thought was "maybe I should go play some more blackjack." Which I did until 4pm, when 3 tickets to the All Star Game itself fell into my lap thanks to a very thoughtful NBA employee (thank you BT!).

As for my favorite (suitable for the internet) tidbits from the weekend:

Finding and using pedestrian walkways in Vegas is complicated.

Around noon on Sunday I realized that since I'd arrived Friday night I'd subsisted exclusively on cocktails, ice cream, and the $1.55 graveyard pancake special.

Saturday night around 5am I sat at a blackjack table with a Hispanic gentleman who napped between each turn and seemed to speak no English except for "awwww" or "EVERYBODY WINS!" depending on the outcome of his hand.

I sat next to Tyrus Thomas on the plane home. He was tall, well dressed, and not pleased with the the movie offering of Marie Antoinette

Notice on the right: sunglasses, indoors, at night, plus a ridiculous sweater. Yet he's cool. This was the theme of the weekend.

Only 11 months until NBA All-Star Weekend 2008: New Orleans, aka the Apocalypse!

Coming soon...

2007-02-14T19:31:00.000-05:00

Tales from Brother/Sister Weekend: Vegas Edition

Where our protagonist travels to Las Vegas with her brother and 7 of his 21-year-old acquaintances for NBA All-Star Weekend 2007. Not to go to any All-Star Weekend activities mind you, but just to be in Vegas for the festivities along with the entire NBA, Donte Stallworth (according to Dei Lynam), and every other remotely famous black or honorarily black person in America. Hijinx no doubt will ensue.

Enjoy your long weekends in the snow while I'm chillaxing at the $5 blackjack table at our off-the-strip hotel, waiting to run into Allen Iverson.

What did you do for the holidays?

2007-01-10T18:40:00.000-05:00

I think I've peaked at age 25 with my answer to that question:

"Oh, just spent 2 weeks in South Africa."

Africa was amazing, as expected. Indescribably gorgeous, great weather, great food (had the best sushi of my life), fascinating people, all around amazing. The first thing I saw as I stepped off the plane for my layover in Joburg was a small African boy in an Iverson jersey, so right away I knew things would go well. Unfortunately that was followed by an Amazing Race audition that included immigration, customs, baggage claim, hoofing it from international to domestic departures, re-checking in (in a line about 30 people deep), and getting through security in about 75 minutes. I guess making the 2nd flight was also a good sign, as everything else went rather swimmingly for the next 10 days.

The overall atmosphere is very friendly and laid back, but there were of course lots of cultural differences to cause plenty of complications and hilarity. For instance:

The warped sense of time. Food service at most places took double the time it takes here. New Year's Eve we were given a table at 7 by promising to be finished by 9, which sounded like a breeze, but we didn't make it. (Of course that was a night we ordered 2 entires meals each, one of Vietnamese, one of sushi.) However, driving 30 min somewhere seems unheard of to residents. The conversation with the front desk about where to take a wine tour one day went like this:
"We'd like to go to some vineyards. What do you suggest? Stellenbosch?"
"Yes, very nice, but very very far."
"What about Paarl?"
"Oh even farther. Very far away.
"Can we make it in a day."
"[Pause] I'm not sure. It's very far."
"Well how long would it take?"
"45 minutes."

Then the directions for getting there are always something like "Go straight until you see it."

But everyone is so kind, you sort of overlook it. Like at breakfast one day when I ordered a scone. Some time after placing the order, an unfamiliar waitress approached our table, crouched down low, and announced (read this in an Afrikaans accent) "I have some very unfortunate news." Then after a pregnant pause in which Doug and I puzzle over what horrible announcement this waitress could possibly have, "It seems we have exhausted our supply of scones.......There are no more scones! All that can be offered is a muffin." Perhaps that was a little more unnecessarily frightening than kind, but her heart was in the right place.

Possibly the biggest difference is TV isn't a top priority, as evidenced by the teeny number of stations, especially when you eliminate the 1/2 dozen that show cricket, rugby, or soccer at all times. MTV World, Discovery Channel, ESPN, and fake CNN rounded out the selection in our hotel room, plus the "networks", on which almost all shows are imported, with a special focus on discarded US series. However, the variety and honesty in advertising is refreshing. A typical ad for the night's lineup would be something like "Laguna Beach is home to the world's richest and most spoiled teens! Watch them act bratty and promiscuous tonight at 20:00! Followed by Eve at 20:30, then The Bachelor 3 , Blind Justice, and R. Kelly Trapped in the Closet on SABC!"But the worst was ESPN. I'd get all excited when I flipped on ESPN and saw NBA or American football, and then they'd go to commerical and come back to like World's Strongest Man 1984, right in the middle of the game.

The randomness extended to radio as well. Again, I really enjoyed the music variety (and PS, why has Robbie Williams never caught on in the States?), but the djs would frequently just start talking about anything for 15-20 minutes after songs, and at the least they'd add personal commentary to songs. Ex: "Great tune by XYZ, who was clinically obese at age 12 before he started gyming." Next song.

Now for the pictures. The captioned photolog can be found at this site:

capetownza.shutterfly.com

For those of you really down with OPP (other people's pictures), the unedited (but partially captioned) photo album is here

In conclusion, go to South Africa. I'd go back in a second (plus 17 hours transit time) if given the chance.

**This and other Africa tales can also be found at dougbritt127.wordpress.com

2006-12-19T23:16:00.000-05:00

Sigh.

Could have been worse, could have been better. Better as in 10 of the last 11 years not being characterized by increasing incompetence and indifference to the success of the franchise, ending in one of the city's best and most beloved athletes ever being run out of town. It's just inconceivable that the Iverson era is really over. And by the way, he did not actually demand a trade. Being an Iverson/Sixers fan is probably one of the most outwardly identifiable aspects of my personality. Iverson is what really got me committed to sports. He influenced me going to Georgetown. What am I supposed to do with myself now?

Anyway, everything I could say has basically been summed up here and here and here, but as a farewell, here are my favorite Iverson moments.

the unbelievable 2001 finals, the 3 most important games of which I missed being in London. But I still came home and went right to watch the tape of Game 1, even thought I knew the result, even though chances were slim by the time I got back. The Tyro nne Lue step over might be the best statement in sports ever. (Just recently watching the game on ESPN classic, again knowing what would happen, I couldn't help from cheering and celebrating with each point.) I don't think the city of Philadelphia was ever that united. Even with the Eagles in the Super Bowl, that was something almost expected, but the draw of these Sixers led by the ultimate underdog was irresistable. Driving home from NJ the night after the Game 5 loss, dejected and distracted I got pulled over, but the cop gave one look at my multiple Sixer flags, WIP playing, and my best puppy dog eyes and said "we've had a bad night" and let me go.
Leading up to those finals, Game 5 at the Wachov, box seats. 54 points in a victory against Toronto
Seeing things up close from courtside seats against the Clippers
Innumerable moments from my season-ticket holding 2003-04 season, including Iverson's first buzzer beater/game winner ever against the Pacers and the game winning steal and shot against the Wizards. Unless you've experienced it, you can't imagine the energy and excitement of Iverson doing his hand-to-ear battle cry and jumping into the fans courtside. Thanks for the memories Allen. I'm off to buy my Nuggets jersey and set up League Pass.

2006-12-18T17:26:00.000-05:00

I gave a child detention today for being obnoxious. Is that allowed? Especially when the child doesn't know what obnoxious means? I can't wait until the child turns in the form that says "This is my 1st detention for (reason for detention) obnoxious.

I think even I could contribute for the Sixers

2006-12-14T09:17:00.000-05:00

At least I (attempt to) play defense. Week 2 of "Lady Legends" basketball ended much like week 1, except there were doubleheader losses instead of just 1. But the Sleepers at least stayed in game 2, only losing by 1 point and coming together much better as a team. I personally went from a 0-8, 0 rebounds, 0 assists, 0 steals, 4 TOs performance (at least I'm consistent) to 6 points (not bad considering the team total was 28) and 5 boards. I think things will continue to improve greatly as the season goes on, aided by the league's plan to trade the best team's best player to keep things competitive.

2006-12-08T15:33:00.000-05:00

Dear ~~Santa~~ Sixers,

For Christmas, I’d like to ask that if you are going to trade Iverson, could you get it over with? I’d like to know before I go through with getting my league pass subscription for Christmas. (Note: Keeping Iverson, not trading him, is what would discourage me from the purchase.) Also, if the night-in, night-out shellackings continue (and there is no sign they won’t), things are going to get real ugly. As it is now, most Sixers fans would be glad to see Iverson go and get a chance at winning, but, as I said before, we’re about one more 30-point blowout from an angry press conference and a lot of resentment and a million sports talk radio bits about him being a thug with no class.
Also, when you trade Iverson, could you trade him to Minnesota, because I already like watching them and my other favorite player KG. Thanks.

2006-11-30T15:03:00.000-05:00

Why do I feel like this is going to end up really badly? I can just see it: eventual suspension for conduct detrimental to the team, a bizarre press conference followed by an awful trade, and endless nights of sportscenter announced saying "Boy, the 76ers sure miss Allen Iverson." The way sports have been going it'd be really fitting if a missed bowling outing signaled the end of Iverson's Sixers career.

Welcome!

2006-11-29T10:18:00.000-05:00

Here is Lempaute, my new foster baby elephant. Lempaute is just over a month old, and was found abandoned at age 2 weeks. She was left behind by her herd because she couldn't keep up, but fortunately she latched on to a group of rangers and they led her to the elephant orphanage.

She is very tiny and was sick at the time of rescue, but she seems to be thriving in her new home.

And making lots of friends!

More close-ups hopefully coming soon after this blogger's contact in Africa goes to visit Lempaute and put her to bed tonight.

2006-11-29T10:04:00.000-05:00

Another lovely and gorge-filled Thankgiving in the books. Things were mostly uneventful, except for the near-brawl that erupted when one relative dared to speak ill of Nick Lachey, suggesting he doesn't deserve to be famous and even (gasp) suggesting he was no better than Kevin Federline.

I've never seen my family leap into action so quickly and passionately:

"He's very talented!"
"He has a college degree!"
"He had a career in his own right before Jessica!"
"He was the famous one when he married her!"
"Everyone who meets him says he's the nicest guy in the world!"

Nick, if anyone ever gives you trouble, I think you know where to turn.

23 years and counting...

2006-11-20T19:48:00.000-05:00

I think we'll be counting for awhile

(And note this is pre-Sunday)

2006-11-13T17:12:00.000-05:00

MTV hijaked my Saturday afternoon with a Laguna Beach 3 marathon.

LB was sort of boring.

LB2 was an entertaining display of spoiled and dumb kids at their best.

LB3 escalated to a shocking shocking display of how it is possible for humans to stop having souls by age 16.

I got sucked in because Tessa seemed sort of sweet (though even she turned out sort of pathethic...of course not as pathetic as Jessica hanging out for another season) and watching the "cool" girls rip her apart was like a car wreck. Why are those girl so mean! What makes them think they're cool! Cami is disgusting! I can't even look at her without wanting to punch her and those gross ill-fitting sunglasses! She is dumb and funny lookin and clearly on the same Beer Gut Express diet favored by the entire Georgetown female population attending Hoyas games.

Future generations are going to look at this show and think this is what our society is like. And worse, I'm going to be stuck looking at Cami's gross face in US Weekly for the next year when she decides to pretend to be an actress.

One relief is that when I seemlessly incoporated a Laguna discussion into today's class, the students were anti the Cami group too, so at least all adolescents aren't morally bankrupt. Yet.

Are the Sixers good?

2006-11-09T14:07:00.000-05:00

That was the post I started a few days ago, but fortunately I decided to hold off and now we can get a definitive answer: No.

After a scorching 3-0 start, it's good to know 2 straight losses have settled us right back where we belong: mired in mediocrity at 3-2. It should be another average year of surprising wins over good teams and frustrating losses at equal or lesser teams, while Iverson has another career year wasted on inferior teammates. At least I have no expectations this year whatsoever, so any good performances are just a bonus.

Really, I wouldn't be shocked if we did well because the team has been playing together for awhile, Iggy should be breaking through any second now, and every game's a 3-point contest for Sniper. Too bad C-Webb and his millions look old and are slower and more hesitant than I was on the ST-GC B team.

I miss my season tickets and league pass. At least one of my students yesterday brought in his binder to show me, which had been decked out in Iverson pictures. Aww.

PS: It doesn't seem to tough to get a proposition on ballots these days...next year I'm proposing no acknowledgement of Christmas until Thanksgiving. The shopping center near my office has been celebrating the holidays for about 3 weeks now and I'm already sick of it.

2006-11-03T18:35:00.000-05:00

Once upon a time I lived with many girls who received many magazines. When I'd swipe the Us Weekly for the gym, I'd scoff at how ridiculous it was to actually pay for a magazine without enough text to get me through the wait for the elliptical, let alone an actual workout. And yet, soon after graduation and moving home, that voice in the back of my head started nagging "How can you live with yourself not knowing what new and exciting way stars are just like us this week??" and before I knew it I had my own (discount and of questionable legality) subscription. Every Saturday morning, without fail, Us arrived in time for my egg and cheese and 90210 on FX. The subscription moved with me to DC and began coming a day earlier, so that around noon on Friday I'd start looking forward to relaxing after a trying week at work with Us, PTI, and a nap. But 4 weeks ago my happy world was shattered when Us just stopped coming on time, or even a day late. Last week's issue came Tuesday!! Was the WAR on the SET! so intense they couldn't get the issue out on time? With the heartbreaking Reese/Ryan split, this week's issue is especially crucial, but the mailbox offered me nothing this afternoon. No Us' usual partner in crime EW, no overdue New Yorker from Wednesday, not even a Bed, Bat, and Beyond coupon. Where's your dependable, discount service now, Mags4cheap.com!???!

2006-10-25T14:05:00.000-04:00

If you are ever an educator and you think one day "Hey, maybe it would be fun to let the kids listen to music while doing independent work as a reward for good behavior!" you should be fired. You get a whole lot of shoulder leaning and london bridge and even some chicken noodle soup, but no well-constructed paragraphs.

2006-10-22T23:29:00.000-04:00

Nice little getaway to the Big Apple this weekend, at least until some time around midafternoon Sunday, when everything started to unravel, prompting the following letter writing campaign from me:

Dear Delaware (specifically Department of Transportation):

I hate you. In the past, when people have called you names like "worthless state" I've defended your honor on the basis of tax-free shopping and several very enjoyable evenings spent in a variety of locales across the state. But we are no longer friends. You have now sullied the memory of every single weekend I've spent north of DC in the past 6 months by trapping me in traffic for the entire length of your state. Completely inexplicable traffic, just sitting for an hour until the toll, at which point traffic immediately clears. You have 18 lanes of traffic in your stretch of 95...if you need to add more, then do so, but your state is unacceptable.

Dear Fantasy Football:

I hate you too. Why did you suck me in, only to give me a semicrappy, unpredicatable team that I can't manage. When you see Michael Vick, let him know I said "great game! Nice connections with your old standby Alge. I know this is a lot to ask, but maybe you could recreate this week's magic next week when I actually start you and Alge. I really could use those 6 TD's to count towards my point total."

Dear Eagles:

I don't hate you. I actually appreciate the concerted effort you're making to contribute to Philadelphia's history of sports devastation. I mean, why actually play up to your potential when you can lose in innovative/near record-setting fashion each Sunday? Donovan, congrats on your fantasy week! (I'm assuming Ronde Barber is on your team, that's the only explanation for you favoring him.) And I haven't seen that much vomiting since college, that was a nice touch. Keep up the good work.

I'm coining the term "ESPN curse"

2006-10-17T14:16:00.000-04:00

Like the SI curse, but it effects fantasy football owners who switch from Yahoo to ESPN leagues. Case in point, me. So maybe it's not out of the realm of possibility that my crappy record is due to an off year or my spotty football knowledge rather than a curse, but it's a little fishy that after finishing at the top or at least being in the running down the stretch in all my yahoo leagues, I'm suddenly getting 50 pts a week in ESPN. How is it possible that my bench outscores my starters every week? On multiple weeks I've had players who've gotten 0 points more than once move to the bench and get 3-4x their season average. Or last night, when I was down 1 point with Chicago's WR. When the Bears finally score 24 pts, who gets the TDs? Defense, not my guy! Clearly you can see the cards are stacked against me.

Speaking of the Cards, Matt Leinart's face was priceless as he watched their unimaginable victory slip way to a massive meltdown-induced loss.

Finally, I've had people in the past tell me they're confident I would lay down my life for Jay-z if it came to that, that's how much I like him. But after last night's pimping of himself and his new unimpressive song throughout the entire MNF broadcast and commericals, I don't know anymore. It's one thing to "sell out" in terms of becoming a mogul and leading a higher class lifestyle, it's a whole other to be doing budweiser commercials with danica patrick.

2006-09-26T13:05:00.000-04:00

Perhaps I should have thought twice about deciding to start Vick against the Saints on "the most meaningful night in American sports history"...

1-2

2006-09-19T15:45:00.000-04:00

Much like the Eagles, I busted on to the scene Week 1 with a decisive fantasy victory, only to go into Week 2 overconfident and eventually hand a giftwrapped victory to my opponent. "Vick's performance last week was a fluke! Don't put him in!" "Jags defense is overrated! Look for another big week from the Chargers!"Had I played Vick and Jags defense, I would have tied. (^$!$^*%&(%^@!!!! I don't even know what that means in the scheme of things, but it wouldn't have been a loss. To add insult to injury, said opponent had the 2 major scores on the Eagles, so I even flinched at the good aspects of the game, knowing she was racking up the points.

In other news, what's more dangerous, going grocery shopping drunk or starving? Feel free to decide based on the items I picked up for dinner when shopping starving today:
Peppermint
Wine
2 Gallons of Ice Cream
Fresh Olives
Bread
Cranberry Ginger ale
Candy
Special K

Looks like I'm having an olive and kit kat sandwich for dinner.

2006-09-12T15:58:00.000-04:00

Usually I'm devastated by the end of summer. I start to get depressed as soon as August hits and it's dark before 9. Now that it's definitely September and fall weather's hit, I'm realizing I'm sort of looking forward to fall. Not sure why. It was a weird summer. I was in school all day every day in middle-of-nowhere MD...the weather was iffy...didn't get out as much as usual...didn't see my friends at all, let alone the summer people I always run into...While it went by fast, as always, I don't have that "I feel like it was just Memorial Day" or "I can't believe football's back already" feeling. Am I the only one thinking this?

It also may be because I think we've got a pretty good fall lined up (for the few moments a week I'm not at school or in class), despite losing some key members of the crew. Fortunately, we've got new blood blowing in from the Windy City in just a few days. Things have been hopping so far with birthdays and other events. I'm ready for some football. (I was trying to keep it a secret, but Sports Guy totally blew up my spot and spilled the beans on the 1st place Eagles being way underrated. How could anyone think those sorry Redskins are going to win the division?) The weather's nice and not suffocating. And hooray for fall tv. I probably won't pick up any of the new shows (I'm the only human with a tv set not dying to see 30 Rock), but things are looking good on the old standbys...Lost, Grey's, Gilmore Girls, various reality programming...And of course the Wire. Just watch it. Trust us. Even watch it at my place and enjoy free reign over any candy you can find.

Happy Autumn.

One addition

2006-09-07T14:32:00.000-04:00

I forgot to add this first in the set, taken by the bf stalking out the encounter from the balcony. This a man who once had his gf stolen by "basketball player" Kevin Braswell...imagine his terror as he witnessed his gf casually chit-chatting with an actual basketball player just a few years later

Saturdays with Horace

2006-09-06T17:50:00.000-04:00

While the lovely Louisville wedding I was attending last weekend wound down, word circulated that 4-time NBA champion Horace Grant was enjoying a drink at the hotel bar. No, he wasn't wearing his goggles, so no one could confirm for sure that it was him, but I ran downstairs to check things out and eventually introduce myself, which led to an approximately hour-long chat.

Here's me and Horace chatting about golf. Notice how engaged he is by my witty banter.

Here's me wearing H's 92'-93' Bulls championship ring. I thought it'd be more impressive

And here's me and H before he heads to bed. Notice how his hand takes up nearly my entire upper arm. Also, while noting his size, consider that he expressed amazement at how enormous Lebron James is.

Basically it was the perfect celebrity encounter. We chatted about our golf games, my new career (mainly just part of my proving that I wasn't an undercover ESPN reporter), his kids, hobbies, life on the road in the NBA (Cleveland's the worst city), how great AI is (at least to other members of the Grant family), etc... He threw comments like "When I talked to Scottie the other day" into conversation without seeming pretentious, and he even volunteered to call my brother and say hi when I mentioned what a big Bulls fan he'd been. Quite a nice perk to an already nice weekend.

2006-08-27T09:11:00.000-04:00

I'm completely obsessed with Otis Redding these days. Like "I think my wedding song needs to be by Otis Redding" obsessed. His music is awesome, I highly recommend it. And delve beyond Sittin on the Dock of the Bay.

I'm also on a Dylan kick, but everyone knows he's awesome (I'm just late to the game on that one).

It's all part of my general obsession with the 60s. I've read every book I can find about the Kennedys. Every weekend at the shore I try to coerce someone to accompany me to see the Geator (with the Heater, the Boss with the Hot Sauce), usually to no avail. I would kill to be able to dance on American Bandstand. And I spent the summer watching dvds of this almost exclusively and actually getting really sad that I missed out on all the fun. Except for that pesky Vietnam War part. Yes, color tv and the internet are all well and good, but they're no Bandstand.

Also, Today's Sign of the Apocalypse: My friends (male and female) and I spent a large portion of our Saturday night discussing weddings. Sigh.

2006-08-25T11:29:00.001-04:00

How did I miss this next big thing?

Critical analysis

2006-08-24T20:31:00.000-04:00

Can't sleep. Again. This has been a very long week of sleepless nights. Perhaps it's the stress of knowing that in a few days the responsibility for successful development of effective reading and writing skills for 60 young minds will rest solely on my shoulders. I think a big part of it is that I am a night person (possibly problematic considering I'm entering a field where the work day starts at 7). I'm not not a morning person in the typical "I can't function in the morning" way. I don't like getting up at any time of day, but once I'm moving I'm ok. I'm a night person in the sense that I'm at my best after midnight. It's genetic. If you go to the home of almost any person in my family, both immediate and extended, at 1am, someone will be up. At my house, you'll probably find someone awake at least until 2 or 3am. If you've ever gone out with me, you know I won't be happy unless I close down the bar at 4 am and then go somewhere after, even if I closed down the bar the night before too and then woke up at 9 to go to the beach. This is a problem. People think that I just get on a bad sleep schedule because I stay up and then nap, but no, I stay up late no matter what the rest of my day entails. If I'm not in bed or at least in the mindset of going to bed by 10, I'll be up way past midnight. Considering I'll be in class until 9 most nights of the week, I see myself getting about 3 hours of sleep a night.

This is going to be a long year. Like someone else earlier this week, this has been and will continue to be the hardest job work I've ever done. It's possible that in my entire career I've never stayed past 5 (or whatever the mandated leave time is) ever. Yet this week I was in early and there late regularly, and fortunately didn't really mind. I'm also exhausted, and I've barely seen a child. Hanging bulletin board paper is harder than you think; if you get a chance, go back and thank your old teachers for all the decorating they did.

Greetings from scenic South Jersey

2006-08-16T09:45:00.000-04:00

It seems like about 3 posts ago I was nervous about starting back at school, and now I'm done 1 semester and a straight A student to boot, though the fact that 100% of my class is also straight A students makes me wonder a little about grade inflation. Anyhoo, I'm in the middle of my unexpected week of vacation before starting as a teacher (eek) and due to a series of unfortunate events I'm alone all week. Back in my teenage heyday I killed to have the house to myself, but now it's not quite as welcome. Add a rainy day to the mix and Alexis has a lot of entertaining herself to do. There have been a lot of bike rides and walks, and I've seen more movies in a recent 18 hour period than in all of 2006 combined. Granted it was only 2, but still. World Trade Center, like any movie for which I have high expectations, was not as good as I expected. I thought it was well done and entertaining, but didn't quite restore my faith in humanity to the level promised. B. But definitely go if you're in the mood to sniffle in a dark room with strangers for 2 hours. The Devil Wears Prada on the other hand was excellent. A-. I don't particulary like Meryl Streep in general but she was ridiculous in this. I actually thought the movie was better than the book for once. They made some changes that were jarring at first but ended up making the main character more likeable, which is always good for a movie.

Those are my movie reviews for today, expect another in about 9 months. For now, I'm off to the beach; the forecast for the rest of the week is Sunsational! (weather man's words, not mine)

Shore Weekend 2006: The Aftermath

2006-08-07T12:36:00.000-04:00

3 days of fun in the sun and alcohol abuse

24 partygoers (including 1 dog) at peak capacity

20 guests sleeping over

~400 cans of beer, 9 bottles of wine, 5 bottles of Andre consumed

11 bags of trash

~100 inches of Wawa hoagies prepared by
surly late-night employees

2 interactions with Longport/Margate's finest

326 moments of bitterness about getting old and people being married

Personal ratio of total hours slept over 3-day period to hours spent drinking Saturday

12:13

2006-08-01T19:09:00.000-04:00

As a former aspiring meteorologist, I probably pay a little more attention to weather than the average person trying to figure out what to wear. So maybe I'm just sensitive, but I don't understand why in recent heat waves reporters have decided they need to use the term "feels like" instead of heat index. "The feels like is 110." That's not even a sentence. If you really think "heat index" is too complicated, is it that hard to say "The heat index, which is what it feels like, is" or "It feels like"? Or just don't say anything! If someone's really dying to talk about the hot weather, they'll just want to say the highest temperature they've heard all day, they won't care if it's true. This is why American students are failing at life, because the people in charge have so little faith in the public that they think people can't understand anything over 1st grade level.

As for rant #2, all I've been hearing on WIP is the dismal expectations for the Eagles season, predicated on the lack of defense and offense, including QB Donovan McNabb. Did I miss the memo that McNabb sucks? More here

2006-07-26T08:08:00.000-04:00

Um...great?

2006-07-25T18:20:00.000-04:00

I'm amazed by the number of people who read while driving cars on major roadways at high speeds.

Also, I really want to see Miami Vice.

That's all for today.

2006-07-21T00:43:00.000-04:00

While we're on the music topic, I realized a few months ago that I hadn't watched a music video in a really long time, something I attributed to getting old and having different interests. However, after watching about 30 min of videos with my brother, I'm concluded that it's just that music sucks right now. A random sampling of lyrics from those 30 min:

Meet me at the mall...meet me at the club

Take a picture for tha camera phone

Great googly moogly, that thing is juicy.

I could write these songs in my sleep. The lyrics"from songs 40 years ago weren't winning any Pulitzer Prizes, but at least "My Girl" made some sense and had a tune.

Even the old standbys aren't producing anything worthwhile. I swear there's payola involved in the heavy rotation of the new Beyonce and Christina, because people can't actually be enjoying and wanting to hear those songs. The jury's still out on JT's new song. I think I like the beat, but I'm disappointed in his failure to provide natural vocals at any point in the song.

2006-07-19T23:11:00.000-04:00

The new Jessica Simpson song/video makes me embarrassed to be a woman.

2006-07-10T19:43:00.000-04:00

I've had lots of good blog ideas over the past week or so but, as is to be expected over the next year, life got in the way. Bear with me, I'm subsisting almost exclusively on peanut butter and jelly (with some cheesesteaks and mac and cheese on the weekends--not so bad) and I'm at least 3 episodes behind on The Hills, so obvi blogging isn't my first priority.

Better late than never though: This was my first July 4th since college not doing some sort of group weekend. We might have to rev up that tradition again for next year, but I enjoyed myself thoroughly at the old-standby Jersey Shore. Plenty of good weather, drinks, barbecue, and even hitting the jackpot video poker-style at the Borgata. Sometimes I forget that I'm over 21 and I'm allowed to gamble so I grabbed my winnings and ran out of the casino, but they let me keep it.

The only slight issue with the weekend was the family adventure on the high seas. We decided to take a trip around the island in our small whaler rather than just fishing on Sunday afternoon, and we moved calmly (and slowly) up to island through the no wake zones to the inlet north of Atlantic City. Things looked a little choppier than I'd like, but I'd never done this before and was assured the whole trip would take about an hour, and since we were already at the hour mark, I didn't want to backtrack over the plodding route we'd taken. So we're busting through the inlet, flying over waves, smacking down on the water, generally having a good if slightly painful and damp time. Then, next thing we knew, we're in the middle of the inlet and still a good mile from the ocean straightaway with no land in sight because of the height of the waves that are now hitting the boat with such force that we're all soaked and there are several inches of water in the boat. "We're almost there, it'll be smooth sailing once we're in the ocean" shouts Captain Baman, whose boating skills are questionable at best, and right on queue, a wave actually crashed over the entire boat engulfing us. Fortunately that was enough to get the boat turned around so we could travel home safe and shivering.

After that was a short week followed by a trip to Beantown. I know as a Philly person I'm not supposed to admit this, but I like Boston. It's a lot like Philly, and the accent I used to find annoying is just funny to me now. I got to watch a little more Red Sox than I like (and almost missed my flight waiting for Big Papi to bat), but I do admire their devotion. Except there weren't nearly as many hats this summer, 2 years after the championship. I actually saw more Boston sports stuff in Aruba. But of the people wearing hats and clothes, a good 80% were Boston sports-related. I do not recommend going to Martha's Vineyard. It's just a long ferry ride to spend a lot of money. But other than that, the weekend was good, from the Cape League baseball (just like in Summer Catch!) to the family to the beach. It was a nice change from being in DC and watching the multiple murders every night, including in Georgetown, and dealing with the endless traffic. I even was pushed off the road by the HOT 99.5 van as soon as I got back. I'm sure they were in a really big rush to get somewhere and play a HOT Pussycat Dolls song, but they couldn't have possibly changed lanes so I could merge? Not HOT.

2006-06-29T12:30:00.000-04:00

Bit of a disappointing night for one of my favorite events of the year (at least in my opinion, but maybe I was distracted by the 10,000 assignments I was going; Sports Guy was a little more enthusiastic): NBA Draft Night. First blow came upon realizing it was on ESPN. I guess it was on ESPN last year too, but I'm always hoping for a TNT broadcast because the Inside guys make everything better. Less analyzing and near Stephen A. blood vessles bursting, more Chuckster making fun of people's clothes. There wasn't much to work with this year though. Loud suits, litters of illigitimate children, and screaming grandmothers were few and far between. It's always funny watching David Stern act like he's enjoying shaking hands with someone 3 feet taller than him, but it's that much better when the person is wearing a red pinstripe 3-piece suit. Stu Scott did a nice job of interviewing, with questions ranging from "Randy Foye, your parents abandoned you, how'd that work out?" to "Adam Morrison, you have diabetes AND you cried in public. You really think you'll fit in in the NBA?" By far the worst part was ESPN announcing all the 5,647 trades before they were finalized with reports from one of their 274 scattered analysts, totally ruining the excitement of Stern announcing "we have a trade." Not that any of the trades where that groundbreaking.

Everyone said this wasn't a deep draft, but after watching it I think it was pretty strong. There were no superstar names really, but there were solid players way into the 2nd round. Perhaps partially because of some of the mindboggling overseas/project player picks during the lottery. And the Knicks, as always, were a debaucle, causing near riots from the MSG crowd, which is fun. Nice night for the Big 5, and I think the Sixers did a pretty good job. I'm not sure about their trade, but I guess getting cash never hurts.

Now it's just time to wait for the Iverson trade announcement. I know it's coming, and I think I'm prepared, but it's going to be tough. Just during the draft last night, when the commish announced a trade before the Sixers' pick, my stomach dropped. All I can hope is that someone has enough sense to not trade him to Boston or anywhere else in the division.

2006-06-22T12:12:00.000-04:00

I forget to mention this after last weekend, but if you haven't heard yet, STOP DRINKING CRISTAL. Jay-Z says it's not cool anymore, so that's that. You'll remember that a few years ago, HOV announced button downs would replace jerseys for formal occassions, and that was the last time you saw a jersey on a talk/award show, so it's only a matter of time before Cristal is bankrupt. I wonder if I can get him to come to my class when the time comes to proclaim that similes are hot...

School Dayz

2006-06-20T21:38:00.000-04:00

I'm afraid I'm going to have to jump on the bandwagon and announce that posting is probably going to slow down now that I'm not only not in front of a computer all day but also more importantly busy with homework at night. I'll do my best though, as I'm sure there will be many good stories, especially as the school year gets underway.

Being in a classroom Monday morning was very strange, but not as foreign as expected after being away for 3 years. The majority of students are my age, with a some right out of college and a few older. I'm in class for a full work day, but it's amazing how much more stressful it is than being at a desk, especially in this program where, as preparation for being in front of a classroom, everyone's always being called on and asked to participate. There's not much down time, and since an entire course is being condensed into 4 weeks time for completed assignments is also condensed into, say, a week to complete something like a 40 min presentation. But the first 2 days have been fairly enjoyable, except for all the discussion about how unlikley it is that anyone will have a class with more than a handful of literate students.

Moving on, is it possible the NBA Finals are fixed? Each year, I'm less and less surprised when one team appears to have the upper hand and the other team evens it up to extend the series. I remember during the Jordan era when my parents would suggest the series were fixed and I'd be crushed/absolutely certain they were wrong, but too many games have just seemed too fishy in recent years. I'm not the only one to think this, but I also can't conceive of players and coaches actually being involved in planned rigging. With the way the media is today it'd be near impossible to accomplish this year after year without getting caught, and if anyone was ever caught the already fragile league would be destroyed. But there is something questionable about the refing. Perhaps you could say there have been more controversial calls in the finals because there's more attention on these games and no one pays attention to regular-season refing, but it seems like the league could find a way, after 60 years, to find officials that, if nothing else, are not so blatant about giving superstars more calls than other players. And then there's the bizarre switch to 2-3-2 format only in the finals, which clearly encourages longer series. Either way, I see the Mavs pulling it out in 7.

UPDATE: So much for the prediction. I'm shocked. Watching the postgame, I'm glad GP and Zo have a championship, but the Mavs deserved it more in my opinion. Who would have guessed Wade would be the first from his class to get a championship/MVP?? (Wait, he has a wife and a son??) Also, who's bright idea is it to put reporters on the floor seconds after the game to try to serious interviews?

PS: I'm disappointed in Jay-Z for pimping HP. I don't believe that that's really him in the commercial.

2006-06-15T10:43:00.000-04:00

My father just used the word bling (correctly) in a sentence.

Headline for Atlantic City Evening News:

2006-06-14T00:48:00.000-04:00

REDICK ARRESTED ON CRUNK DRIVING CHARGES

This is the first day of the rest of your life

2006-06-13T10:06:00.000-04:00

Or at least yesterday was for me. The first Monday after leaving my job, and possible publishing, for good. I was shocked at how emotional the departure was for both me and my coworkers. I've even dreamed, since the departure, that I went back to work just to hang out until they found someone else because I missed it! I gave so much notice it was just sort of surreal when the day actually arrived, with none of the excitement I expected, I think partially because it makes this next scary step very real and partially because, as someone was saying this weekend, no matter how much you like or think you dislike something, if you experience it for any length of time you grow attached. And since I can get attached to a character in a 30 sec commerical, you can imagine what 18 months does to me. No one really likes the act of going to work every day even if you love your job, but I think, for me at least, there's sometimes so much focus on being grumpy about work that you don't appreciate everything/everyone on a daily basis, especially not the people you see or chat with in passing who can often make the difference in your day. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to think about insulin-dependent anything for awhile, but I think I learned much more and will miss it much more than I anticipated.

Now it's an interview today in front of the Montgomery County School Board then off to the beach for a few days before back to school time. I will be going to public school for the first time in my life at the University of Maryland (riot gear not included in tuition) to learn how to mold young minds. I better be learning something good because I'll be in class every day from 9-4, plus the god knows how long commute from Arlington to Rockville until they can tell me where I'll need to be in the fall. Wish me luck, because this whole teaching thing is sort of a lark and I won't be a very happy panda if it doesn't work out.

2006-06-08T15:45:00.000-04:00

Nick Anderson just missed 4 free throws in a row followed by The Jet hitting from the top of the key to send the game 1 of 1995 NBA Finals into OT. This is what happens during midafternoons when you work at home...you find yourself yelling at the TV over a game that happened 11 years ago, and being excited when it goes into OT. I was debating going to the pool or watching L&O and I decided to check the next NBA TV game...it’s the 2001 Finals Game 1. My Philadelphia 76ers against the Los Angeles Lakers. Possibly the greatest game in Sixers/Allen Iverson history, and a game I never saw because in 20 years of being alive, the one year I decided to spend a week in Europe was the year the Sixers decided to go to the finals. My family taped it for me, but by the time I got back the series was pretty much decided and I never watched the whole thing. I can’t explain how excited I am to watch this and to see that team together again...Iverson looking much younger...Blue bringing the ball up, Tyrone Mugill, Jumaine Jonzes, Cookie Monster, the indomitable Matt Geiger. Even seeing Shaq back in prime shape. Ah the good old days.

How much do you miss the NBA on NBC? And whatever happened to Hannah Storm?

On an unrelated note, looks like Borington is continuing towards its goal being composed exclusively of Starbucks and condos. This explosion of condo construction really stresses me out. It first hit home last summer when my favorite bar at the shore was closed to become condos (and turned out to be one of many others that closed for condos over the winter). Since then, several multihundred-unit buildings have gone up in a 6 or 7 block radius around my apartment, not to mention construction all over DC and even in Philly (where I discovered last weekend that those fancy-looking pale-exterior buildings popping up all over Clarendon had made their way to the Main Line too). How can there possibly be enough people with the desire and/or income to inhabit all these places? While I’ll admit I’m not good with change in general, I can cope with neighborhoods/stores/etc... changing and evolving. It’s just everything being bulldozed only to be replaced by homogeniety that makes me anxious. I feel old enough as it is at 25, I don’t need to feel like the things I enjoy now, like architecture and single-family homes, will be obsolete by my twilight years.

Are you a Nowitzness or a Wadeness?

2006-06-06T10:39:00.000-04:00

I'm pleasantly surprised that we might actually have an exciting NBA finals on our hands as the culmination of some pretty exciting 2 months (where the hell did that time go?!) of playoff basketball.

So who's going to win? I've never been a fan of Dallas before, just didn't particularly like watching them play, but they've been pretty good this year. I like Terry,really like the Little General and what he's done in such a short time, don't like Nowitzki. Maybe it's because he's German, maybe it's because he's not so attractive, but I just don't want him taking the last shot for my team. I can, however, appreciate the unintentional comedy he's provided by telling someone he thinks of a David Hasslehoff song while shooting free throws.

On the other hand, I love the Heat and Wade, I've been on that bandwagon since I watched him dominate in the 2004 first round against the Hornets. With Shaq and Pat Riley's hostile takeover they don't have that underdog feel anymore, but I still enjoy Wade enough to root for them.

However, I'm gonna have to pick Dallas in the end. I think the Heat lucked out with Detroit running out of steam...Dallas has too many people who can step up, and after coming from behind in Game 6 to stop Phoenix, I don't see how they're stoppable.

2006-06-05T15:39:00.000-04:00

Due to an unfortunate series of missed alarms and phone calls, I ended up taking the train back to Philly Saturday afternoon. I really enjoy taking the train---it's fast, you can show up 5 minutes before departure, it's comfortable, and aside from rush hour it's relatively empty (and when I do have to sit next to someone they tend to quite nice to talk to)---but now that I have a car and peak train fare to Philly is practically a day's wages for me my trips are few and far between. On Saturday, however, I got a ticket, settled into my seat, and dozed into that travel half-sleep. At New Carrollton I stirred and saw the guy angrily throwing his book in a bag while muttering expletives, stomping up and down the aisle, then coming back to his seat still muttering the same few words. He quiets down, then the muttering starts up again, stops, starts, and so on up the northeast corridor. I'm assuming he had Tourettes, because other than the outbursts he was reading what looked like scientific textbooks and appeared to be an educator of some sort. That was actually the least annoying part of the ride, because meanwhile, also at New Carrollton, Shane had gotten on the train and sat diagonal from me, put his feet up, and got on his cell phone. At first I thought he was just making a courtesy call to let someone know he was on his way and also relay essentials like Laura stayed behind to watch the kids since her sister had to go to Florida, his truck was parked at the firehouse, he'd be home about 8:30, the boat's going in the water in a few weeks but don't come visit until at least July 4th because the water's only 55-60 degrees. But then he hung up and got back on the phone and proceeded to repeat this process for the ENTIRE ride, having the exact same conversation with each person and telling the people who didn't answer to call him back right away. At one point I counted 7 phone calls. I don't know if it's harder to believe that this guy thought nothing of spending 2 hours talking on his phone on an otherwise silent car or that he found it entertaining to make the same phone call a dozen times while an entire train listened. I considered moving or causing a fuss, but once he made the 4th or 5th call it was like watching a car wreck, plus he technically wasn't doing anything wrong. Between prices and things like this it's no wonder ridership is down, but I guess Amtrak has bigger things to worry about than inconsiderate cell phone users.

Bowling for Heart Attacks

2006-05-30T22:13:00.000-04:00

Are big food bowls the new trend in fast food? They've been around for awhile in the supermarket and at Wawa, there's the (in)famous KFC bowl, and this morning I saw a commercial for Denny's breakfast bowl with potatoes, eggs, ham, veggies, cheese, and god knows what else. This sounds like a nightmare to me, but maybe that's just because Denny's in general frightens me. The KFC bowl, however, sounds delightful. I wouldn't get the cheese on top of course and I could take or leave the corn, but mashed potatoes, gravy, and chicken all in one neat little package? What's not to like? Others haven't been so enthusiastic though, and it's actually turned out to be quite a polarizing topic whenever the commercial comes on. Am I the only one who thinks it looks delicious?

2006-05-26T08:31:00.000-04:00

Who told Oprah it was a good idea for her to start pulling her hair back?

It's here!

2006-05-23T11:49:00.000-04:00

I went to work yesterday anticipating a day stuck in the dumps* and decided to check on the tracking info for my computer, which had left China Friday night. Imagine my surprise/delight when I discovered it had already gotten to Dulles Sunday night, 5 days before the anticipated delivery date! Obviously the rest of the morning was spent feverishly refreshing the tracking info, watching my shipment arrive in Alexandria at 6:57, get on the truck at 7:05, and finish in the mailroom downstairs at 9:48am, just barely making it in time for the mailroom's morning deliveries. For the record, this computer that debuted last Tuesday arrived at my doorstep less than a week later. (Perhaps Sony should take a hint from Apple's inventory planning to save some people from being trampled when the release the next Playstation.) I considered leaving work early to go home and play with it, but I held out and just spent all night setting it up. And by setting up I mean pushing the on button. I know everyone else who's switched to Mac has discussed this already, but it really is impossibly easy to use. I turned it on, the battery was full, it found my network immediately, and everything I needed was right there. I plugged my camera and ipod in, they uploaded immediatel;y, no downloading/installing needed. I just took some time adjusting my preferences and adding widgets, then spent the rest of the evening watching last week's LOST and dvds. My only concern is that when I actually need to do work or anything besides playing around, I may have some trouble finding files and programs, but for now I am, needless to say, very very pleased. Here's me typing away, as seen through the camera on my monitor using fancy photo effects.

*As I've said before I think, I've gotten to a stage where the more fun I have, the more melancholy I am when the fun is over and reluctant to return to everyday life. The weekend was action-packed and lot of fun, thanks to everyone who helped me celebrate the big bday. But of course all the fun meant I was especially down on Sunday night. I used to stay up late on Sundays because I didn't want to go to sleep and wake up to a new school week; now, at the ripe old age of 25, I tend to stay up because of anxiety over the passage of another week, and I haven't yet been able to find anything to help me calm my fears. 27 is my scary age; even as recently as college I thought I'd be married and settled by 27...now in a blink of an eye I'm almost there, and while I'm quite happy being neither married nor settled, it's still all a little overwhelming. That quarter-life crisis business is no joke. But what can you do. I may not even make it to 27; according to the local noon news the apocalypse is coming, in the form of this summer's Mid-Atlantic hurricane season. Everybody get your bottled water and nonperishables!

2006-05-17T15:44:00.000-04:00

Pandora is absolutely convinced that I like Hootie and the Blowfish. How does "please play more Jay-z" get translated to Hootie and the Blowfish? I recommend they add the option of thumbs up/down based on artist and cd as well as song.

That 7-Up Plus stuff is deeeelicious. I highly recommend it, especially if, like me, your enjoyment of a drink is doubled when it's pink.

Making the Switch

2006-05-16T16:08:00.000-04:00

In approximately 1-5 business days, I will become a member of the Apple as the proud owner of a new MacBook computer. And by new I mean brand-spanking, debuted-about-6-hours-before-I-ordered-it new. I "need" a laptob for my upcoming educational endeavors, and I've been looking at the ibooks for awhile, admittedly because I feel like they're cool. Plus everyone who uses one raves about it like its their child. I've never had serious problems with PCs (at least as far as I can remember [except for the time I tried to add/delete software and deleted Windows], probably in large part due to the fact my father takes control over all computer maintenance.), and while I'm relatively computer saavy I don't use them for anything but internet and typing so in theory I should probably go for the cheapest most basic one out there. However, considering their excellent reviews, ibooks are pretty reasonably priced (especially with the discounts offered for schools), and they seem great, so I made the decision to buy for my birthday.

I went on the site yesterday just to check prices and options for the 500th time, and in the ibook's spot was the MacBook. Exactly like the ibook, except awesomer (superfast intel double processor, more memory, 13-in screen, camera) and just marginally more expensive. I talked to the live chat rep who assured me that, as advertised, it's just as quiet, light, easy as the ibook, but better (and cooler). Having no idea how it will actually run and whether or not all the bugs have been ironed out, I put my trust in Apple and went for it. So, in 1-5 business days when I'm the first kid on the block with the MacBook, if you see me at Starbucks typing away while listening to my ipod, perhaps eating sushi with a yoga mat next to me, you should probably just walk on by because I'll be way too cool to talk to you.

2006-05-10T16:39:00.000-04:00

Delayed update for all those following my athletic endeavors:

I completed my first 5k on Sunday. This was a pretty big deal for me since, as you'll remember, I hadn't run more than 2 continuous miles (give or take a 10th) before registering, and turns out I still hadn't run more than that as of race time. That trip to Aruba sort of put a damper on my training (I'd planned to do at least a little exercising, but that went down the tubes when we discovered the gym closed at 4 and it was 90 degrees out at all times). This was probably just as well though, because it'd been so long since I ran before the race that I didn't have any extra anxieties about how I hadn't trained well and was therefore surprisingly calm.

I finished without toooo much of a struggle and only a little bit of grunting toward the end. The worst part of it all was that the finish line was visible from not long after the 2 mile mark, so I got all excited to be almost done, only to realize I had 9 blocks left. My time was a respectable 30:36, about what I expected, though I'd hoped I'd surprised myself by doing under 10-min miles. I was 78 out of 105 in my division: males 25-30. Don't ask. Had I been with my actual sex and age group, I'd have been around right around the middle of the pack.

Back to life, Back to reality

2006-05-09T12:04:00.000-04:00

Coming back from vacation is always unpleasant, but it seems especially bad when you’re trading at least 8 full hours a day in the sun, interspersed with floating in the Caribbean Sea, water slides, hot dogs and bingo poolside, swimming up to the bar for some fruity drinks, and getting massages, for work and all the responsibilities that had been put off until “after the trip.”

I’d go back to Aruba in a second, but there were one or two issues:

It was so touristy that it didn’t even feel like another country. While this was convenient, and maybe contributed to all tourists being very friendly, which was fun, I sort of like my vacations a little more authentic. Of course the one way in which it was not Americanized was the thing that annoyed me: there wasn’t the 24-hour availabilty of amenities we have. The internet cafe was supposed to be open from 8-6, but if the guy didn’t wake up it didn’t open until he felt like it. The gym, tennis courts, spa, etc...were open from 8-4, but again, it was more like when they felt like it. Nothing is open on Sundays, and combined with the 2 holidays that fell during our week when nothing was open, we were forced to spent even more time than expected lounging on the beach.
EVERYONE is from Boston. Seriously, probably 90% of the tourists are from the US...87 from the East Coast, 5 of those from Long Island, 2 from various locales, and the other 80 from Boston and the greater New England area. We thought at first that the Boston people were just more visible with their Patriots bathing suits and Sox hats and their screaming conversations about Coco Crisp, but almost everyone we met or could just hear talking had an accent. To the extent that at one point my Boston-born traveling companion said “Boston people are everywhere, and they’re really annoying!”
The tv situation is strange. They have the NY affiliates of all the networks, plus a few others, including ESPN2, but no ESPN. I don’t necessarily need to keep up with sports when I’m on vacation, but having one and not the other is much worse than not having any at all. You get taunted by the ads for games on ESPN, only to realize that you’re stuck watching the Paintball Championships. Also, if you choose not to watch the NFL draft and say, want to find out the top picks the next day and the internet cafe guy decided not to get out of bed, you end up stuck in the 7th circle of hell watching Stephen A. Smith and Eddie George yell (who knew he retired 2 years ago btw?!) at each other about their own picks and trying to decipher what the heck happened with Reggie Bush.

Other than that, I love Aruba. Pics for anyone interested.

To update my last post, unfortunately I failed in my Vacation Book It! mission. No personal pan pizza for me. I got off to a great start by finishing 2 magazines, a book, and a movie on the plane there. At the beginning of the 2nd day though, I realized I was only half way through my 2nd book, and if I was going to accomplish my goal I’d need to finish that and another book that day. Faced with the choice of feverishly reading the entire day or going for a float, I choose the float and gave up on the plan. But I did still finish all my magazines and 5 books, which I don’t think is too shabby at all.

2006-04-25T22:05:00.000-04:00

The blog will be going on vacation for the week while I'm lounging on the sunny shores of here. Don't worry, I'll try to avoid going off alone with suspicious natives and stick to lounging by the pool, lounging by the beach, lounging by the bar, and so on. Not to rub it in, but if the prospect of a week of unencumbered beach time wasn't exciting enough, the resort has a casino, waterslides, and Dunkin' Donuts on site!

I'm taking on a rather ambitious reading plan that includes 7 average-length books, several back issues of The New Yorker, and an issue of People, which I always like to read on planes. BF tried to tell me reading materials are available for purchase in Aruba, but I figured 2 six-hour flights and lots of beach time would be a good opportunity to catch up on half of Arlington library's collection. Granted several of the books may or may not have covers that are hot pink or feature shirtless male models, but it will still be a tall task. If anyone would like to join me in my Vacation Book-It! contest, there will be iridescent stickers and free personal pan pizzas for all the winners.

2006-04-25T15:34:00.000-04:00

This guy stole my thunder for my NBA playoffs post, but I agree, the first weekend of the playoffs came and went and I didn't watch a minute. Is the NBA losing one of its 19 remaining fans? After starting out full of enthusiasm, by mid season I realized I hadn't been paying much attention to things. I suppose my situation in previous years of living at home and not having a bf was a little more conducive to watching league pass late into the night, but still. First of all, there are several inherent problems with the NBA playoffs. First and foremost, it's 2 freaking months long with, these days, little chance of surprise. The system of every division leader getting a top-3 spot no matter the record is flawed. Switching the format from 5- to 7-game first round series was a big mistake. Any chance for an underdog to win is gone, it's almost unheard of for the better team to lose in a 7-game series. Everyone one says the playoffs are great because they're so intense...maybe on the court, but not so much for those of us watching at home. We know we have 80 more games to watch before things really matter. And it's looking pretty likely that it's gonna be another ho-hum Spurs/Pistons finals, so there's not even much to look forward to.

My bigger concern though is my lack of interest in the season as a whole. I'm going to hope this season was just an anomaly. The only new real standout player was Chris Paul. There were no surprising teams. The fun surprise teams from last year (Bulls, Wizards, Sonics) stunk this year. The up-and-coming teams (Bucks) fell flat. The storylines are the same: LeBron is the second coming, Kobe averages 57 pts but can he lead the Lakers, the Knicks are pathetic. The season's been so unremarkable there's ~35 different options for MVP and no one stands out. I think the deluge of high school players probably diluted the talent pool and name recognition factor, so hopefully with the age limit things will turn around. Oh and also my team's season was an utter train wreck, which will 3 months from now culminate in the love of my life being traded in what will likely prove to be a disastrous deal putting us in a multiple-year rebuilding cycle and probably not put him in the position to win a championship.

Driving home last week listening to the hateable Howard Eskin on WIP, I nearly had a panic attack when the announcers said "Tonight at 7, Sixers vs. Nets in Allen Iversons last game in a Sixers uniform" and the show's topic was "Are you happy to see Iverson go?" I'm starting to cope though. There's just no chance of either him or the team having any success if they stay together. My wishful thinking now is that that trade for Kevin Garnett (my second favorite player and actually part of Sixers trade rumors, however unlikely) and pick up an unselfish front court stud, either in the draft or otherwise. You never know. Whatever happens, I think it will be an interesting test for me. The whole time I've been really into the Sixers, Iverson's been on the team, so we'll see how I do if he's gone and the team's bad. I expect I'll stay a team fan but still follow the player, which I think is acceptable.

For now, I'm jumping on the Clippers bandwagon. I like that Sam I Am.

***I forgot to mention, I think I'm also sort of subconsciously bitter at the playoffs being on TNT for cutting my Law & Order episodes down to ~13 a week. You'd think Inside the NBA every night would be a good tradeoff, but it doesn't even start until 1:30am these days!

Anatomy of a Family Competitions Trifecta

2006-04-19T13:29:00.000-04:00

Dateline: March 2006, victory
Competition season starts off on a high note with my unprecedented 7-for-7 Oscar picks performance and 1st ever family victory.

Dateline: late March-early April 2006, victory
Feeling good about my college basketball instincts, I predict success in my brackets and end up winning all 3 pools in which I participated, including my family's.

Dateline: Mid-April, Easter Sunday, victory*
For the first time, the 2-person family hunt was done with artificial eggs, and I jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead. Eggs were just jumping out at me waiting to go in my basket. My competitor closed in picking up 2 in a row, but then we reached a lull...All the normal spots were egg-less, and we went back over room after room finding nothing. Suddenly, eggs started popping up in spots we were sure we'd scoured, with the Hunt Organizer standing in the corner, hands in lumpy pockets, smiling. Then we realized...just like in years past, when defeat would send the younger competitor into fits of tears and screams, only some of the eggs were hidden beforehand. The rest were left in the H.O.'s pockets, to be "hidden" somewhere conspicuous near the losing competitor. Soon there was just one egg left to find and I was in a one-egg lead. With the H.O. sitting in the living room giggling, the competitors looked at each other, looked at the couch, and dove towards the pillows. I went for the right pillow, since I'd already checked the left pillow several times. My competitor found the last egg under the left pillow, and for the 21st year in a row the hunt ended in a tie. *I refuse to accept defeat.

2006-04-13T09:31:00.000-04:00

Way to go Sixers. Good job looking like the team you should have been all season and starting to win with a week left. This team is past the point where it's an accomplishment to just get in the playoffs, which is still not that likely since they managed to lose the season series to all the teams close to them. Averagely bad is no position to be in...either start winning or start losing for real and get a good place in the draft.

2006-04-06T12:11:00.000-04:00

The rumor at Georgetown when I was there was always that we could have been invited to the Ivy League, but the nursing school kept us out...However, after a weekend at Penn, I think the real reason was the Ivy League kids couldn’t compete with the Georgetown kids’ party habits. While there was a no pants party going on outside just a few doors from my brother, inside my brother’s party, there were numerous collegiate violations: smaller-than-regulation shot glasses, refusual to fill shot glasses to the brim for power hour, discussion of girlfriends and honor societies at the peak of power hour, requests for a power hour intermission, and more. Despite these violations, I had a good time with the college kids and commend one of them in particular for taking double turns after arriving late to the power hour festivities (something my friends have never thought of doing). He was also the one person who accompanied us for my brother’s first Saturday night at the bar, where the fun continued, thanks in large part to the gentleman covered in Star of David bling who decided to fund our night out. I’m almost positive this is because I’m not out that much in Philly, but it seems like there’s always a more interesting crowd in Philly bars. Plus (even though we went to McDonald’s for delicious and nutritious late-night quarter pounders) the option of Wawa at any hour outweighs the going-out benefits of almost any other city.
As for documentation of the evening:

Look at all the fist-pumping fun we're having! I believe the reasoning behind this was "Hey, if we all do something cool can we make it onto your blog?" Mission accomplished (except for the doing something cool part).

Aw. Brother and sister. And some random guy, who may or may not have thrown up on himself earlier at the bar.

Brother stares down glass of whiskey, looks up at sister finishing her drink and says "You're my drinking hero."

In other exciting news from the night, it turns out the same brother/sister team that appears in this blog is the team that brought Degrassi to Penn. The entire school is obsessed, and it's all because of me watching Degrassi regular as a tot in NYC and then taking interest in Degrassi Jr. High when I saw it again and spreading word to my brother.

2006-04-03T14:29:00.000-04:00

A certain acquaintance of mine took it upon himself to sign me up for a 5k race without exactly consulting me beforehand. After my enjoyably experience in the Longport American (1) Mile, I floated the idea of participating in a real race, but I sort of figured on having more than the ~1 month of training time I'm going to have before this May 7 race. Keep in mind I just recently made the leap from "will vomit after 2 continuous miles of running" to "able to hit 2-mile mark without thoughts of dying, " and this really only came about after bf's promise that I would "look like a supermodel" if I ran 2 miles every day. (Josea [pronounced Joe-Zay] at the gym already thinks I'm a supermodel, but I suspect he is influenced by his interest in selling membership packages and gym paraphenalia.)

I know the 3.1-mile length of this race is not really a big deal, but I have never once in my life for any reason ran more than 2.2 miles. I may not have even walked 3 miles before. And most daunting is the knowledge that I will have to be awake and active before 8am on a Sunday. Yikes, the more I write about this, the less I'm looking forward to it.

At least it's for a good cause---brain tumor research (I'm not actively trying to raise money, but if anyone wants to sponsor me, go right ahead)---and I hear post-race booty is well worth the entrance fee.

2006-03-31T08:36:00.000-05:00

Cat terrorizes Connecticut town

2006-03-31T07:29:00.000-05:00

My current favorite commericals are from the Cheseapeake Club save the crabs foundation:

"No crab should die from fertilizer pollution. They should perish in some delicious hot melted butter." Heehee

2006-03-28T12:56:00.000-05:00

Happy 21st Birthday to my little brother and best bud Jared. It seems like just yesterday that my parents brought him home from the hospital and I asked if we could send him back because he cried too much and I wanted a sister. But since then, from the finger bite game, to NBA draft parties, to the annual Brother-Sister weekend and more, we've been thick as thieves.

Except for the time he threw all my worldy belongings out the 2nd story window. Or the time he attacked me right before my First Communion leaving my face all scabby in the pictures. Or the multiple times he humiliated my in front of the love of my life, including, but not limited to, pulling my chair out from under me in front of my 4th grade class. But really, other than those few incidents, and that summer we made the ill-advised decision to both dye our hair platinum blonde with sun-in, it's been a pleasure, and now I look forward to much more time spent together, especially between the hours of 10 pm and 4 am.

2006-03-27T18:24:00.000-05:00

There were some tense, tense moments yesterday between UConn losing and me realizing I'd lose my pools if Nova won and Nova losing. But even though they would have cost me a win and $$, I was sorry to see Nova go down. Yell at me all your want for being a traitor for liking a Georgetown rival and the least-favorite Big 5 team, but they're my hometown team and I like them. Plus, I guess it's the girl in me, but when it comes down to it I always feel a little bad for the losing team in the tournament. They're just kids, and I can only imagine the intensity of the emotions. Especially when a senior comes out of the game at the end of a losing effort, and you know it's quite possibly the last game they'll ever play. And if they start crying? I was a wreck after the St. Joe's loss 2 years ago...it hasn't happened since then, but it's never out of the question.

It sort of sucks that everyone's brackets are basically done with a weekend left, but I guess there's no choice but to root for George Mason with the rest of the country. I usually like my Cinderella teams from more appealing, non-commuter schools with a better backstory, but I'll take the tale of an 11 seed toppling monster competition. 11's from questionable conferences make it to the Sweet 16, not the Final Four, it really is crazy. And they could win it all given the teams and the unpredictability of this year's tournament. (Last year was great with all the OT games, but this year has just been unbelievable. Almost every game has gone down to the wire if not OT.) Plus, the coach's son lives in the bf's building and is a really nice guy and so happy about everything, so I'd be happy for him if they won.

In conclusion, 44 correct picks out of a possible 63. 12 out of 16 Sweet 16, 7 out of 8 elite 8 teams, and then complete bracket decimation going into the Final Four. Yet still, victory in all 3 pools.

2006-03-24T17:38:00.000-05:00

Not being able to watch Mascot Monday in person every week is the new #1 reason I'm sad I don't live in Philadelphia anymore.

Happy Weekend folks

Did You Know?

2006-03-23T15:55:00.000-05:00

Beloved Philadelphia news personality Ukee Washington is a cousin of Academy Award winning actor Denzel Washington?

It all comes down to this...

2006-03-22T19:42:00.000-05:00

Thursday, 7:10 pm, Duke vs. LSU, all my bracket hopes come down to this game.

As I had hoped, going into the Sweet 16, I'm #1 in 2 pools and a close 2nd in the 3rd. A solid 20/32, with my only losses coming from shockers like Bradley, GMU, and of course the Shockers themselves. Final Four's intact, and even Elite Eight's looking pretty good. The only real difference between me and my opponents at the top is Duke. I have Duke losing tomorrow, they all have Duke advancing to the Final Four. So basically, if LSU wins tomorrow and everything else goes as planned (and if I were a gambling girl, which of course I'm not), I have a nice pot coming to me from all my brackets combined. Of course, given the unpredictability of March Madness, my winner UConn could go down right after Duke and my whole plan could be shot, but right now all I can see is sweet victory and dollar signs.

I don't mean to sound greedy or like a braggart; I'd really just like to win something of (relative) importance for once. The last time I won something was 3rd grade when I won a gift certificate for one reason or another to Kiddie City. Kiddie City promptly burned down that weekend. Some people may count winning a rain jacket for Jump Rope for Heart, but I believe it disintegrated in the rain so I don't count it. And of course I was the wrapping paper queen of MMA 4 years straight, but again, doesn't count because that was a skill. I never win anything where luck is involved, I'm the unluckiest person ever. Until, perhaps, this year...

2006-03-17T12:09:00.000-05:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day to all those Irish and Irish for a day! Even though, according to some people, I look like every nationality but Irish, from light-skinned black to Puerto Rican, I am in fact 50% Irish, and will enjoy the day wearing green, eating Irish potatoes, and hopefully getting my hands on some soda bread. As I've gotten older and presents have become less of a driving force in my life, I've gotten more and more into the holidays characterized by parades/parties/color coding. In honor of today's holiday, I planned to give a history of St. Patrick and the connection between his feast day and overindulgence in beer. St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, lived the the 5th century. Born in England, Patrick was kidnapped and taken to Ireland as a slave; during his captivity he turned to God, who instructed him to drive all the snakes out of Ireland to make the land safe for excessive drinking.

JK. Actually, no one really knows St. Patrick's history, but it seems like he didn't do too much of anything (aside from bringing Christianity to Ireland). His wikipedia entry is full of "legend says"'s and "it is not certain"s. The church doesn't even celebrate his feast day anymore as an official feast day (at least not according to my official Basilica calendar)--it's an optional memorial. I was most interested in finding out how the day became so associated with drinking --it has to be more than just Irish people are drunks, right?-- but all my googling turned up really was that people like to drink. (I even asked the question on a holiday message board-type site and the response was "Because there are so many people who have a drinking problem and are looking for an excuse to drink") The best answer I could come up with was that, reportedly, the first St. Patrick's celebration took place in NYC at the Crown and Thistle Tavern in 1756, and the drinking tradition grew out of that. One thing that's for certain is you can enjoy your corned beef even though the holiday falls on a Friday in Lent, because, as is tradition, the Cardinal McCarrick gave us Catholics a dispensation from abstaining from meat.

Now for a little trivia:

In what U.S. city is the longest-running celebration (since 1737) held?
What city holds the largest parade? The second-largest parade?
Name another patron saint of Ireland
What does the shamrock symbolize?

Have a safe and happy day and a good weekend everyone

Put on your dancing shoes

2006-03-15T18:05:00.000-05:00

Update
3:24: Confidence is down as pick Seton Hall goes down in the first game of the day (how could anyone in good conscience pick a team with the Shockers as their mascot?!), Sweet 16 team BC barely wins in double OT, and Oakland bracket games are delayed by bomb activies. Furthermore, I realize I accidentally clicked Seton Hall all the way to the Sweet 16 in one of my brackets.

Just about an hour until we get underway...my brackets are set and I feel confident this is going to be my year (famous last words). I've watched a lot of games this year, both in person and on tv, seen a more diverse group than usual play, did my research (for real: looking at teams and stats and not just experts' takes), and when in doubt went with the girlie standby of choosing based on arbitrary factors including but not limited to mascots, team colors, and attractiveness of players (See Sports Guy). I have several irrational tourney favorites that stay consistent year to year, chief among them the Salukis and Illini (mascots) and NC State Wolfpack and Cincy Bearcats (maybe mascot, but I think I really just like them for no reason). I think a new favorite is going to be UNC-Wilmington Seahawks, because why are they called the Seahawks? This is the first year I didn't pick the Salukis to go far, but those 4 teams I usually will pick almost no matter what. In addition, I won't automatically pick the following teams, but I'll definitely lean towards them if I can't decide: Wisconsin Badgers (mascot), Arizona (no reason), Texas (recent: I think it goes back to TJ Ford), UAB or UTEP (funny names), teams from the A-10 or Big East, and any team with a religious affiliation (it's the Nana in me). On the other hand, I lose confidence in a team like Iowa that looks like it picked it's roster from a YMCA men's league.

Anyway, I think I made some good picks. Hopefully this tournament will live up to last year's 3-week extravaganza of upsets and OT's.

It's Maaaadness!

2006-03-12T23:11:00.000-05:00

Seven seed? Sort of what I was expecting, though I hoped for 5 or 6. It seemed like the collapse against Syracuse was largely being ignored because it was part of the Gerry McNamara campaign to be a lottery pick, but it's hard to ignore losing 4 of 6 to end the season, especially to South Florida. I think we have a pretty good chance to make a run though...if we play like we can play, we're quite a force, and if we make it through the first game Ohio State is definitely a beatable 2, from what I've seen of them the past 2 days. Meanwhile, I could see Syracuse losing in the first round; one person can only carry a team so long, and they'll lose momentum with the days off. Predictions for now: BC and UNC going far... Gonzaga being disappointing...UConn and Nova being the #1's in the Final Four. And godspeed to Penn being rewarded for winning the Ivy League with playing Texas in Dallas.

In other news, contrary to popular belief, it is possible to walk through the drive through at Wendy's, at least in Courthouse.

2006-03-06T18:59:00.000-05:00

Snoozefest at the Oscars last night...I flipped between 3 Law & Orders and Steel Magnolias and was still bored by the telecast. If they're so worried about keeping it short that they cut off every speech after 20 seconds, why did they include those interminable montages that had nothing to do with anything? Three 6 Mafia of course was a highlight (representing the PHL no less), but even that couldn't live up to my father explaining in musical form earlier in the day his thoughts on why "It's Hard Out Here For a Pimp" would win for best song. Oh and did anyone notice Audrey from Dawson's Creek sitting next to Jen in the front row?

Nothing notable fashion-wise either, although I didn't get to see too much (I thought one fashion blunder was Jessica Alba's dress, but apparently it's being selected as best of the night, so what do I know), I missed the red carpet because I was on the road back from a quick visit home, 80s style. Despite the $6 Amstel Lights and the Liquor Control Board threatening to confiscate camera, an excellent/crazy time was had by all.

Finally, congratulations to me for a clean sweep in the annual family Oscar pool. After several disappointing years, I came back with a vengance, predicting the winner in every category and reclaiming my spot as #1 family member, a spot I'd held until circa 2004, when my brother transfered to Penn, fulfilling my grandmother's dream of having her progeny at either Penn or Notre Dame and prompting her to say "Jared's really caught up to you. I bet you can't even beat him in Jeopardy! these days."

2006-03-03T14:19:00.000-05:00

I got word that some of my readers may be looking for an update on Tom's health after last week's blindness, skin growth, etc... scare. Good news, everything seems to be fine now. The growth is still there, but now it's just above the eye rather than covering the eye. Tom is eating and easily finds his food, though he's only eating 1-2 pellets a day. Perhaps it's a self-imposed diet.

In other fish news, I'm on my way to teaching Alge to leap out of the water to get his food. So far I've been successful at getting him to hop out and nip my fingers where the food is held, but I can't figure out how to train him to jump out of the water as I'm dropping the food and catch it in his mouth.

2006-03-03T11:58:00.000-05:00

A few months ago I needed several bottles of champagne for a recipe, so I decided to just go with a dozen bottles of André because, well, it costs $4 and there was a refund offer. I ended up throwing away some bottles before retrieving the UPC symbols and a bunch of the labels I had were ripped, but I sent it in anyway. To my [pleasant] surprise, yesterday a refund check for the highest possible amount, $12, arrived in the mail! But the best part was that the check came with a note saying the following:

Thanks for enjoying America's favorite sparking wine.

-André

Signed by André himself! And with the fascinating factoid that André is America's favorite. I'd like to see the research on that one...

Happy Lent

2006-03-02T16:25:00.000-05:00

Happy Lent to all my Christians out there. Welcome to 40 days of sacrificing by eating pizza instead of meat on Fridays and rationalizing how God will forgive you for eating one piece of candy (a day) even though you gave it up for Lent. One thing I've noticed about Lent in recent years is that even people who don't go to church regularly or otherwise practice their religion anymore still give up something for Lent, or at least try to. Did the years of Catholic schooling brainwash us so well that Ash Wednesday elicits a Pavlovian response of sacrifice? Or is it the guilt from all those years of Catholic school and the teachers telling us "Jesus died for your sins, is it that much for you to go without cookies for 40 days?" Either way, I'm giving up soda, which I've been doing for at least the last 10 years and has worked out well for me. It's almost a bigger deal now than it used to be because I usually have soda as a treat, so when I can't have it I'm especially disappointed.

What are YOU giving up for Lent??

2006-02-28T15:50:00.000-05:00

This was supposed to be my post yesterday, not a blank space, I don’t know what happened. Without further ado:

I spent 2 hours of my life last night in front of the tv awaiting the winner of the Dancing with the Stars winner. When I first heard of the premise for the show I guess last summer before the first season, I thought it was the stupidest idea ever. The title is cheesy, the idea seemed cheesy, and I’m not into the celebrity reality shows. Shockingly, it turned out to be the biggest hit of the summer and I attributed it to America being dumb, but sure enough, midway through this season I got hooked and I’m ready to sign up for dancing classes now. I think the key to the show is that, especially this season, the “stars” were at least moderately relevant and likeable C+ listers, unlike on Fox or VH1 when they pick anyone who was famous for doing anything at least 10 years ago and isn’t currently in rehab. Also, they could really dance.

On a related note, I’m fascinated by the fact that reality tv is still going strong years after everyone predicted it would fade out. It’s not still at the point where anything reality would be a ratings juggernaut, but most of the big originals are still going strong, though not quite as strong (Survivor, The Bachelor, Real World) and new hits keep popping up. These aren’t “good” shows, what is it that makes them so popular now that the novelty has worn off? Also, what makes certain ones succeed (Stars), fail (too many to name), or succeed and then fail (Apprentice). For me, I usually watch b/c they’re mindless things to turn on when there’s nothing else to do, without really having to be invested in them and watch every week, but I’ll definitely be more inclined towards some than others—usually if there are appealing people and some sort of worthwhile competition--but I don’t know if it’s that way for everyone. Meanwhile, if our grandchildren even still watch tv, will they be thinking our generation was revolutionary or laughing at the fact that we ever sat around watching real people on tv and voting for them.
The next thing I’ve already gotten hooked on is Deal or no Deal. This actually started during it’s limited run around Christmas and it’s still the most oddly captivating show ever. It’s just a regular person picking a suitcases and trying to pick the one with a million dollars. Suitcases are opened one by one, and after every one “the Bank” will offer the person money to buy the suitcase from him and he has to pick whether to make the deal or not. It’s like watching Price is Right with 1,000 times the yelling and anticipation. This has been a huge hit around the world, and I don’t know what the ratings have been like here, but I’ll predict that it could really help NBC if they deal with it right and don’t totally overexpose it like ABC did with Millionaire.

2006-02-27T21:05:00.000-05:00

Turn for the betta?

2006-02-23T12:49:00.000-05:00

For the last few weeks I have been dealing with an illness in the house--things just haven't been right with Tom the fish. His eye had been looking funny for awhile, and then he started puffing out his little chest almost all the time, whereas before he only did it when he was in fight mode looking at himself in the mirror. By the end of last week, his eye was huge and he wasn't moving much. He clearly had popeye (left), a disease characterized by hugeness of the eye. The cause of the popeye may or may not have been me being less than fastidious about water changing, but I was afraid too much water changing would be stressful!

Anyway, I went to Petco on Saturday and got some industrial strength medicine with the instructions from the clerk to "just hope this works. If nothing changes in a week or so [shrug]...I'm sorry for your loss." Things seem to be improving. Tom doesn't look much better but he is quite active and both he and Alge have been blowing bubbles like crazy with the more frequent water changes and warmer water. Popeye is only fatal if it's a manifestation of another illness (ie: TB), so I'm hoping if he's lived with it this long he'll be ok. The remaining problem is that I think he may be blind now, at least partially. He's having a really hard time eating. He has no idea the food's there if you don't drop it right in front of his face, and often when he does see it he'll go after it and miss, then chase it around the tank chomping and missing. I've tried feeding him with tweezers but he hasn't taken to that yet. Fortunately my fish are both obese so he should be ok eating less than normal.

2006-02-18T10:46:00.000-05:00

Last night I was (unfortunately) part of a group that made their way to Rhinos, a bar I barely even frequented as an undergrad and that I wasn't dying to visit now. But we went, it was fun, we're standing around chatting and we suddenly notice that the girl next to us at the bar is vomiting. First on the bar, and then, after taking a step bar, on the floor. Much like the last time something like this happened, before we could even ask ourselves "did she just puke?" she steps back and does it again, and then (I believe) a third time, never losing her place at the bar. Her friends were laughing and may or may not have noticed, but no one else seemed to notice. I tried to get the bartender's attention, but apparently she was friends with the girl because they proceeded to laugh it up and introduce each other to new people at the bar. So fine, whatever. Until, she boots a FOURTH time and then stands back up and orders a drink.

Full of outrage/concern for public health/general bitterness at the girl for being 19 and having her whole life ahead of her, I went up to one of the meaner-looking bartenders and said "This girl is puking all over your bar. I haven't been here in a while, but is that sort of thing acceptable now? No one else really seems bothered by it." And he, proving that just because you look mean and burly doesn't actually mean you are, goes "Um, uh, yeah not really, I'll try to tell someone."
Moments later the girl was passed her coat from behind the bar (through the puke-ha!) and left, whether by force or of her own volition I don't know, I'm guessing the latter as it was almost closing time. Then a manager guy came over to clean up the mess, but of course you couldn't tell she had thrown up because it was all liquid and the clean up crew naturally thought I was crazy. Since when did I become the puking police anyway?

Weird/Creepy things that happened to me at the gym today

2006-02-16T17:00:00.000-05:00

Older guy who must not have realized I saw him sit down at his machine right before I sat down at mine, goes "37, 38, 39, grunt grunt", pulling the ol' "call out random numbers so it seems like you're super strong and doing a ton of reps" routine and then stands up and looks right at me and winks.
Old decrepit guy hobbles over to me and leans in real close and reads my shirt outloud (City Sports Philadelphia) then inquires about it "Is that a band or something?" I explain and he leans in further and says "That's cute. You're cute too." And then sits across from me at the inner thigh machine in his short shorts grinning and staring.

Those dogs are my family!

2006-02-15T11:41:00.000-05:00

I just noticed on my google web clip bar that Rotten Tomatoes gives upcoming film "Eight Below" a 100% positive rating and it received glowing reviews from other sources across the internet. Even Oscar nomination-leading "Brokeback Mountain" didn't come close to that. I like looking at Paul Walker as much as or more than the next girl, but he's neck and neck with Michelle Rodriguez for worst actor ever. If this is the cream of the crop of recent releases, it's just all the more proof that, as others have noted, tv is surpassing movies.

Shout out to the girl at Booey's yesteday who, after hearing the bf had had a long day, gave us free drinks and quadruple stamped my card.

Wins/Losses

2006-02-12T23:15:00.000-05:00

"Sports Sunday" did not end up quite as successful as hoped. Spending 10 hours at the MCI Center started out swimmingly...the participants finding each other by chance on the metro, what were supposed to be nose-bleed tickets actually being $150 lower-level tickets, the promise of buy 1 get 1 free beers with our ticket stubs...And when we found the 'Zards had curiously putting my boy on the cover of their own program, it seemed like a sign that they knew they couldn't handle us. Unfortunately, while we enjoyed the games and had a delightful little interlude in between, the winning stopped there.

Wins

Great seats
Free beers

Losses

Sixers, pathetically, to the Wizards
Georgetown's shooting skils and the game to WVU
1 cell phone
Chance for a snow day

The"Blizzard of '06" was a big dud here below the Mason-Dixon line. (Not that you'd know it from the school closings today and general snow frenzy. 9" is a nice chunk of precip, is it that much to ask for it to come on a Sunday night?) None of those losses on their own would have been that devastating, but back to back, when the end of the last game meant Monday morning was only a few hours away, made them rough.

Georgetown will bounce back. They stuck with a tough team and just went completely cold in the end (though I personally would have held off on the 3s when we were only down by a few with half the half left and they clearly weren't falling). The Sixers, on the other hand, are the picture of mediocrity. As always, on paper they look competitive but in person they could be an intramural team. Iverson usually the first one to cheer on his teammates, but you could see how frustrated he was and that he was isolating himself in anger from the others who can't run a play or defend or even hold onto the ball. It's like there's a complete disconnect from each positive aspect of the team. Case in point: the box score shows Webber's having a 20 and 10-type season, but you see him hobbling down the court with his 80-year-old knees and it seems like he's disrupting the flow of things even if he has 24 points. It's not like this all is a big surprise, but I think I keep coming back to it because it's clear things aren't working, but it also seems like there's no solution. Even trading Iverson...I don't see them getting equal value for him, so they'd basically be left with the same mediocre team and no ability whatsoever to sell tickets. Ugh. There's always next season...or the Hoyas (hopefully).

What I learned from Oprah today

2006-02-07T16:00:00.000-05:00

Oprah loves Faith Hill and Tim McGraw
Faith Hill and Tim McGraw reallly love each other. Awww. (of course this is what I thought about Lance Armstrong and Sheryl Crow last week)
America REALLLLLY loves country music, which is going to complete its hostile takeover of popular music in the very near future.

Also, what did that guy do in "Because of You" to make Kelly Clarkson so afraid? Poor Kelly.

2006-02-02T12:00:00.000-05:00

You think Butterstick looks sad there? Imagine how I looked when I arrived at the zoo at 9am this morning to find him napping in a little ditch that was not visible to the public. 9:15....9:20...9:30...Butterstick's not coming out.

Oh, oh, here comes Mama Butterstick, maybe she's gonna wake up baby so he can do something adorable!

Nope.

And guess what? All the other animals at the zoo are doing exactly what you'd be doing at 9am on a brisk Februray morning if you had the choice: sleeping snuggly in their houses. There was one giraffe wandering around, and there 's (right) the lone kangaroo slumped in the corner eating breakfast (note this animal requires a disclaimer on its pen [No, this kangaroo is not hurt, it just has arthritis because it's 20 years old. We're doing our best to keep it alive]).

The best part of the morning was waiting for Butterstick with a group of 5-year-old girls discussing their birthday parties:

1: I can't decide where to have my birthday party this year. Maybe I'll have it at the zoo. That would be so fun.

2: I went to a party at the zoo and it was sooo fun and we saw bears.

Alpha girl: Parties at the zoo are really dumb and boring. I wouldn't come if you had your party at the zoo. Anyway, birthday parties are only cool if it's your own birthday.

1: Yeah Laura (2), zoo parties are really really really really boring.

2: I hate zoo parties.

Hey readers

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

I'm a little mentally busy right now, and the blog inspiration just isn't flowing, I apologize. I'll be back and better than over with regular posts soon, I promise.

Until then, enjoy this uplifting story.

Thoughts while watching "Trapped in the Closet"

2006-01-23T16:41:00.000-05:00

(warning: potential spoilers ahead)

Wow.
Why did R. Kelly (aka Sylvester) bring his Baretta to the club?
Why does Sylvester want to kill the Pastor? It's not his fault his wife cheated on him.
I can't believe it's a man! (man...man...)
Hey, that's Omar playing the cop! Good for him
I've seen better driving scenes in an episode of Looney Tunes.
Who thought up the names for these people?
Why are words only bleeped in Chapter5, and why does R. Kelly make the bleeping sound himself?
Wait, why is Bridget calling Gwendolyn, and why do Sylvester and Tron go to help her?
How did R. Kelly go from being Sylvester, to hanging out in the closet narrating, to a ghost, to both narrating and being Sylvester?
OMG it's a midget! (midget...midget...). He's totally having Bridget's baby.
How does Omar know Chuck and Rufus?
Noooo!!! What happens?

Aspect of a movie that usually define cinematic greatness: F

Entertainment grade: A+++

I can't wait for chapters 13-24

People are ridiculous

2006-01-20T18:07:00.000-05:00

Apparently this Antonio Davis thing is a huge deal, despite the fact that "Tony" sort of sauntered into the stands and did nothing once he got there. In light of last year's brawl, I can see why people are nervous, and the punishment makes sense. According to NBA rules, which Davis helped devise as president of the Player's Association, going into the stands in any way is an automatic ejection, which always results in suspensions, and the league had to assert its authority. But now the fan involved wants to sue the Davises/get an apology from them?? Apparently he's worried about his reputation after he was identitfied as an "intoxicated gentleman" in Tony's statement. Guess what, no one would have known who you were, let alone think anything bad about you, if you hadn't immediately gotten a lawyer and a PR person and gone on the news to tell your story. I'm sure it was very traumatic to be "assaulted" by an NBA wife and to be face-to-face with a player, but you think you're actually going to win a lawsuit?

And I'm not exempt from being ridiculous either. Reading the cover of US Weekly in the packed elevator today, I actually audibly gasped at BRAD'S FINAL INSULT!: Angelina was pregnant before Brad and Jen's divorce was final!! I was so embarrassed. a) That news really isn't that exciting and b) I couldn't even explain it as my guilty pleasure because the elevator was all elderly men. US and I may need to take a break before things get too serious.

2006-01-18T12:53:00.000-05:00

Do any of my fellow grads have a copy of a Texts and Contexts syllabus or know where I can find one? Also, does anyone think they could prove that the coursework of Texts and Contexts would fulfill a Linguistics/Grammar/English Language requirement?

2006-01-15T10:52:00.000-05:00

Aw, AI took my advice and stayed away from the Taj:

...We heard a rumor yesterday that to celebrate their marathon triple-OT win over the Celtics on Friday night, A.I. took his Sixers teammates to Jay-Z’s 40/40 Club in Atlantic City...

2006-01-11T15:20:00.000-05:00

On the way home for the holidays I heard the new Gwen Stefani song (the one that sounds like "Juicy" but crappier). I like Gwen, though I'm not a big fan of her music (ie: if I was ever holding hostages and the police wanted to get me to surrender by playing annoying music as they sometimes do, that "Cool" song would be a good choice). But this song makes me wonder: what has she done that has made black people adopt her as one of their own? Is she blackmailing them? Juicy is arguably the most famous song by one of black peoples' favorite black people. Shouldn't there be some kind of special process you have to go through to when requesting to sample that? Like promise you're going to do it justice? I don't understand.

I meant to bring up another thing the other day about Law & Order: The past few episodes of SVU have gotten me a little concerned b/c they've involved catching the person through their IP address and internet info. I know there's no privacy with the internet and it doesn't stop me from using it as a medium to spread all my private info, but still, I don't like being reminded of it. The last one even ended up with a blogger being arrested for comments she made about suicide. Granted she was instructing readers about suicide, and stay pretty far from that topic. But if I ever get arrested for hate crimes, I sure hope that whole lesbian/khakis thing doesn't come back to haunt me.

Back by popular demand...

2006-01-08T21:38:00.000-05:00

After threats this weekend of having my links cancelled, I thought I better start the week off by getting back in the blogging business. I didn't intend to be away for this long. There was a Christmas post planned, then the moment passed, and a New Year's post, but then I talked to everyone about it in person, and next thing you know I hadn't posted in almost a month. Compounding my posting laziness especially over the holidays and even now is that most of my free time has been occupied by my newfound addiction: Law & Order. If you've only ever come in at the middle of the show it seems boring, so I'm sure it's hard to believe that an addiction can develop, but once you get hooked on the concept you're a lost cause. If you see who dies, you have to see who did it and how, there's no way out. TNT always plays at least 2 episodes back-to-back without a commercial break, so you see the murder before you even realize it's a new show or have a chance to get up, and that's 2 hours of your life right there. Your only hope is that you figure out the case early and you can change channels before Order starts, but this only applies to original L&O, b/c with SVU a lot of times it takes almost the whole episode to sort things out. The worse part is, there's some version of L&O on some channel every hour of the day. It's true. 1 am last night I got trapped by SVU. (Thursday night may be the only exception, when NBA's on TNT, but that doesn't give me much relief.) I calculate that of the 35 hours or so I was awake over the extended New Year's weekend, I spent 14 hours watching Law and Order. Also, for the record and contrary to popular opinion, SVU is not the best, recent originals with Jerry Orbach, Jesse L. Martin and the blonde girl are the best.

Another problem was that after destroying my sleep schedule over the break I was stuck staying up till all hours and further exhausting myself watching sports because of the stupid West Coast. I see no reason why I should be punished by having all my sporting events start at 9 just because people in California want to see things live. Moving to the West Coast is a conscious decision. If you get your carefree, relaxed schedule and balmy weather year-round, you should have to give up something (namely, having your sporting events start at a reasonable hour). I haven't been fully awake for Inside the NBA in 2 years because the 2nd game barely even starts by midnight.

Other notes:
I like Chad Johnson.

Despite yesterday's loss, I'm making the statement now that I'm on the Villanova bandwagon (except when they're playing Georgetown). Since I can walk to Nova from my home home and enjoyed watching them play in some of my first live basketball games, I do not believe that I am a traitor to the alma mater.

Wearing khakis inexplicably makes me feel like a lesbian. Nothing against khakis or lesbians. It's not like I see a woman wearing khakis and think "lesbian, gross." Quite the opposite. I think "Hey, she looks nice, maybe I should try wearing khakis again" but nope, lesbian every time.

2005-12-15T09:58:00.000-05:00

Excuse me, but I have spent more than my fair share of time at the Trump Taj Majal late night, and I have never once seen Allen Iverson or anyone remotely approaching the level of celebrity of Allen Iverson. Maybe it's because I hang out in the video poker room and not the high stakes human poker room, but I'm pretty sure the only people (besides me) at the Taj are 20-year-old Italian men from Washington Township and people in track suits on oxygen. I'm disappointed AI. Partially because you really should be hanging out at Borgata or the 40/40 club, but more so because you haven't hung out at the Taj when I'm there. You know Iverson would love knowing he has a fan in a little white girl like me.

2005-12-14T12:29:00.000-05:00

An apprehensive Butterstick
Originally uploaded by randomduck.

I'm officially obsessed with this panda.

(Pic stolen from DCist and flickr user randomduck)

2005-12-08T18:27:00.000-05:00

I just added R. Kelly's Trapped in the Closet to my Netflix queue and moved it right to the top. I'm only on the 2-at-a-time plan, so this better not be a waste of a disc. I'm expecting 60 (!) min of non-stop drama and hilarity.

My Netflix
At home:
Discs 3 and 4 of The Wire, Season 2
On Queue:
Trapped in the Closet
Malcolm X
Hustle and Flow

More evidence that I am in fact an African-American boy.

Quick Hits

2005-12-08T10:22:00.000-05:00

The Sixers are bad. (I think. Was that win streak a total fluke or are these devastating losses a fluke...Looks like the former.) They could have had the players just stand on the sideline for the last 2 min against the Bucks last night and not lost any worse. They should be better than this though, right? I think we might have to admit Sammy is just a tall layman in a NBA center's clothing (I mean those 2 missed FTs? come on!), but Iggy's good! Webber's good! Iverson's good! Why can't all these good parts make a whole team?? Oh, I don't know, maybe it's the complete refusal to play defense or get an offensive board. One player on an opposing team frequently gets more than our whole team combined. We're talking like 5 a game. Iverson could average 50 for the season shooting 50% (which isn't so crazily off from the current numbers in what could be one of his best seasons) and we'd still lose b/c the other team is rebounding and scoring off those 15 shots he misses. Argh. I don't even want to say it, but it's not out of the question that the Sixers will have to trade Iverson and tank a season or two if they ever want to be good again in the next few decades or if he wants to win before he retires.

I'm never doubting US Weekly again

2005-11-28T13:49:00.000-05:00

Amid the snoozy post-dinner conversation and triptophan-induced lethargy Thanksgiving night came the shocking news: Nick and Jessica are no more. After months of suspicions and denials, and me defending them against the slanderous break-up accustaions from Us Weekly, the truth could no longer be denied. When I found out Nick spent his birthday and attended the AMAs alone, it was hard to believe everything was ok between them, but the official news was still a blow. Just a few years ago, they were inseparable; now he's busy working for ESPN, she has her drinking problem, and the dream is over. If those two can't make it (knowing what divorce will do to their merchandising options), who can? And on the heels of that break up comes news that Talan and Kimberly Steward called off their engagement! I may have to stop believing in love.

Other than that, the Thankgiving weekend was relaxing and gluttonous, as promised. Two bowls of soup and pre-meal snacking hurt my performance in the first meal, but I still gained 3 pounds by 5pm and dominate at the 2nd meal. Despite missing the excitement of being trampled to death trying to get into a WalMart at 5am Friday morning, I nevertheless managed to enjoy the long weekend. The majority of the time was spent splayed on the couch, trapped by Law & Order (when you catch a marathon where there's no commercial break between episodes to let you escape before the new case starts you're done) and disrupting my sleep schedule with my nocturnal family. Weekend bonuses included catching a Big 5 game at the Palestra, seeing old friends and reminiscing, and (less pleasantly) being reminded of my age, whether by spending time at the bar with acquaintances from grade school who were in 1st grade when I was in 8th or seeing a friend get hit on by the friend of a girl she used to babysit. But as always, it's good to be home.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2005-11-22T15:24:00.000-05:00

Hope everyone enjoyed yesterday's post as I will be going back on hiatus after today busyness and my pending food coma. This Thanksgiving I'll be following the traditional plan: Watch the parade, wait for Santa to come out, make whipped cream (my small contribution to the meal that eases my guilt when I dash for any available sleep aparatus with the boys rather than help clean up), and eat. And eat. And eat. Not one but two strategically timed meals. In past years I've tried to incorporate some socializing (at the Prep/LaSalle game) or some exercise, but I think the best plan is just to focus on consuming at least 3 times my daily allowance of calories. In each meal. The past few years I've tried to fast in preparation, but that has failed miserably, so this year I'm in training. Unfortunately I haven't had much of an appetite lately, but once I get home, I figured I can finish at least 1 large Wawa mac and cheese every 1-3 hours, so depending upon when I get home that should help to expand my stomach. Also I'm breaking the trend of trying to impress my family with a nice Thankgiving outfit and just going for something with as much give in the waist as possible. Last year's slightly higher-waisted fitted skirt was a disaster, leading to me having to get up from the 2nd dinner table mid-meal and walk around the block with my skirt unbuttoned.

The early meal takes us to North Philly to Grandmom's house for Turkey with an Albanian flair. The menu:
Turkey (~3 lbs per capita)
Gravy
2 kinds of soup
2 kinds of stuffing
Spinach pie
Rice
Sweet potatoes
Vegetable or 2
Salad
Cranberry sauce (the kind that looks like the can when it comes out, def. not fresh)
Pie (1/2 pie per capita)

After naps and a few minutes spent with the family, down Rt. 3 we go to the rest of the family in Delco for a more traditional and reasonably sized meal:
Turkey
Gravy
Mashed potatoes
Green vegetable
Stuffing
Cranberry (again, fresh from the can)
Pie (1/8 pie per capita)

And don't forget the food for the mind, with intellectually stimulating conversations like "Jews in Hollywood", "Did you see what she was wearing at church?!", and "I think we're risking avian flu by eating this turkey."

Finally, it's back home to put on some elastic-waist pants and eat leftovers on the couch until Sunday. I love Thanksgiving.

Sign 1,452 I'm getting old

2005-11-11T11:33:00.000-05:00

I can no longer comfortably finish a jumbo slice from Pizza Mart. What's worse, I wrapped up the part I couldn't finish in a napkin and put it in my purse to take home.