Thursday, February 16, 2006

I was almost to the courthouse when Beau called me - he’s got his first substitute teaching gig today. He will be teaching gym at a middle school. Hilarious.

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

The dangers of Gmail’s new chat feature are plenty. I’m wondering how long it will take Big Brother to remove access from Gmail altogether as a result.

That said, I had a lovely conversation with Beau during lunch. :grin:

Beau went through the final step with the county to register as a substitute teacher. He could be called to work as early as tomorrow. Little do the high school students in Fairfax County know what’s about to hit them - a PhD with expertise in Science and Government. Be afraid, kiddies, be very afraid.

In other job news, Beau submitted his resume to Patrick Henry College for one of the Government teaching positions they have open. We’re hoping he will be the one they select for the job that will start in the fall. Interestingly, they have a position opening for the Dean of Women and my weird job and volunteer background sort of fits. Not that I’m looking for a new job; I like the one I have, thank you. And I doubt that they could match my current pay and benefits.

My first Valentine’s Day with Beau was sweet. Cards were exchanged and that was the extent of the gift giving, which was fine by me. My mother surprised us with a lovely card and a goody bag with delicious heart-shaped cookies. We had breakfast for dinner. It was low key and we just enjoyed a quiet evening with each other. Nice.

It’s weird that I’ve only known him a year now. It seems like I’ve know him my whole life, we fit together at every level so well.

Oh, and my MIL emailed the most awesome pictures of them from the 70s, when Beau’s dad had a goatee. Love them! Beau has grown one himself, which has gotten all positive reviews so far. I like it a lot, which is all that matters anyway, right?

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

FoxNews’ Mike Emmanuel is posted right in front of my window today because of this news item. However, you will not see my window on TV because the camera is pointed at the front door instead.

I totally forgot about the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show that started last night. Thanks to Eric for the reminder! I set the DVR to record the rerun of last night’s show when it runs this afternoon and tonight’s show as well.

I love the hounds and terriers. If I were to ever replace Annie when she’s gone, it would be with one of these. Of course, I have a soft spot for these, too, having grown up with them as a child.

These are cute, too, and have the sweetest disposition.

Dogs rule.

We got a less than action packed episode of 24 last night.

At one point Beau looked at me and declared, “I think I prefer Numb3rs,” to which I was responded with incredulity.

Click the link for my meager additional thoughts…

Monday, February 13, 2006

I finished Shadow of the Hegemon by Orson Scott Card this morning. This continuation of the story of Ender’s jeesh, Bean in particular, and Ender’s brother was pretty good. I like where he’s taken Bean and I’m interested to see where he’ll continue with him and Peter as well. I’m sensing that the next book, Shadow Puppets, will venture into romance about which I’m ambivalent.

Overall I’m enjoying the series of novels. However, nothing can compare to that initial reading of Ender’s Game. That book is brilliant.

You know that commercial where the wife is loading dishes into the dishwasher and her husband sneaks into the kitchen wearing only his heart boxers and carrying a Cupid’s bow? He then shoots the suction cup “arrow” into his wife’s hind end. She whirls around and asks, “What were you thinking?” His response is a deflated shrug.

I have no clue who this ad is for, although I realize that their tagline, “What were you thinking?” was well placed. However, I have a problem with this ad for several reasons.

First objection - this is not the kind of response a wife should ever give to this kind of gesture from her husband. I turned to Beau and said as much to him when I saw it a few days ago. He asked, “Why?”

Because:

1. He made the effort to make a whimsical gesture of love to his wife. It may have been bad timing or slightly inept or just plain goofy, but he took some time to think of that and it was sweet for him to follow through on it. It was his cheesy way of showing his wife that he loves her.

2. Her response guarantees that he will never do that again. Belittling him like that will ensure that he will never put himself out there for a repeat smackdown. She basically told him that his love is unwelcome and that his creativity is dumb.

Second objection - young girls will see this and think it’s acceptable. I realize this is TV, but if a girl sees her mother act this way towards her father then she will act this way towards her husband. This is bad news. My mother noted recently that most ads (and even TV shows) depict men as fools. Pay attention to the advertising you see on TV - in almost all cases the man (husband, father, brother, whatever…) is shown as a bumbling idiot. The shame is that women today often think that all men are bumbling idiots when they are not. I blame radical feminism - the elevation of women in our society has reduced men to the bumbling fool. Shameful.

I assured Beau that I would never respond to his romantic gestures in that manner. That he may take the time to try to think of something creative to show his love for me means so much more than whether or not the thing he does works out well in practice.

And that’s my pre-Valentine’s Day lesson for today.

This whole wedding coordinating thing is expanding. I’m pretty sure I’ll take on the lead for the wedding coordination at my church. And I’m helping bridesmaid Joanie to plan her daughter’s wedding in June. We had a meeting on Saturday to kind of brainstorm - I wanted to see what CH (the daughter) was thinking she wanted and I wanted to present some ideas as well.

CH has her dress ordered and it’s gogeous. Her bridesmaid dress is picked out and the color is perfect - a nice warm aqua blue. Aside from that CH was wide open to ideas - nice. I knew about the aqua color and I had the thought that adding a nice accent color or two would open up some options in the decorating and flowers. So I asked how she felt about adding peach/coral and a soft fuschia pink with a soft green (to take into consideration any greenery the florists may use). White is in there, too, but that’s not really a color; it’s a nice neutral that can be used anywhere needed. They loved that idea so that’s the direction we’re headed. I also presented some ideas for the favors, centerpieces, printing, and attendant gifts. Next up will come some appointments with bakers, florists, and a stationer. The invitations are the top priority on the list at this point - time is getting near for them to be addressed and mailed, which seems crazy.

And then there’s the jewelry thing, which has made money. Joanie told me this weekend that three sets of some Swarovski bracelets and earrings were sold. I made a nice profit on those items.

Mom suggested I get a business license and even a name that would encompass both things together. It’s an exciting and scary thought, but I will do the research into what the county and state require for a business license. I’m a lunatic.

So we made it to the concert at the Barns at Wolf Trap last night. The roads were clear and aside from missing the entrance to the Barns, we got there in plenty of time. It was a small crowd that ventured to the concert, which was a shame for Rory Block, but she seemed happy that anyone showed up.

There was no intermission so she played for a straight 90 minutes, just she and her guitar. I enjoyed the concert - she is masterful with the guitar and has a compelling voice. The tickets were a gift - thanks so much for a wonderful evening!

Sunday, February 12, 2006

We watched a bit of the opening ceremonies of the Torino Olympics on Friday night.  It seemed odd to me that the Italians played American disco music from the late 70s-early 80s as the teams entered the stadium. Beau said it’s because American pop music is popular all over the world, but I still think the Italians would have wanted to showcase their own or used classical music or something.

Other than that, we’re a bit meh about the whole thing. We watched a bit of the skiing and skating yesterday and we are having a hard time mustering up much enthusiasm for it all. I fell asleep in the middle of the pairs figure skating short programs last night.

Anyone else feel like this about these Olympics?

The Weather People™ threatened snow all day yesterday. We started to get skeptical until it really started in earnest at about 3:30 or 4pm. I just had to shovel a path from the deck to the yard for Annie to navigate because our accumulation so far is about her height - 6-8”. And they’re calling for a few more inches through this morning - with total of 10-14”.

...HEAVY SNOW WARNING IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 AM EST THIS MORNING…

.TODAY…SNOW…HEAVY AT TIMES THIS MORNING…THEN A CHANCE OF SNOW THIS AFTERNOON. NEW SNOW ACCUMULATION 2 TO 4 INCHES. TOTAL
ACCUMULATION 10 TO 14 INCHES.

That’s higher than they were saying yesterday, which was 6-12”. Interesting.

It’s that heavy wet snow that clings to the trees. Pretty. But treacherous for shoveling. It clings to that too.

I predict many school closures tomorrow despite today’s clearout.

LATER: I just remembered that we have tickets to see Rory Block at the Barns at Wolf Trap tonight. (Thanks for the tickets, G!) Here’s hoping the afternoon snow they’re predicting isn’t as much as they say it might be.

LATERER: We got about 12-13” total. The plow came to clear off our road and parking lot, which was nice. Things look to be very wet. We will head out to Wolf Trap as planned tonight, but I admit that I’m a bit nervous about black ice once it’s dark.

Friday, February 10, 2006

I defy anyone to say that this boy is not the cutest ev-ah!

From My Boss:

TRY THIS ONE:

The rules are:
Click on link then click on blue circle. Use the rules below.
This is going to do your head in, but it can be done.
For those of you who are not going to even understand the rules (you know who you are) get someone to explain them to you.
Apparently this is an IQ test given to job applicants in Japan:  “Everybody has to cross the river”.
The following rules apply:
Only 2 persons on the raft at a time
The father can not stay with any of the daughters without their mother’s presence
The mother can not stay with any of the sons without their father’s presence
The thief (striped shirt) can not stay with any family member if the Policeman is not there
Only the Father, the Mother and the Policeman know how to operate the raft.
To start click on the big blue circle on the right.
To move the people click on them. To move the raft click on the pole on the opposite side of the river.

Good luck!