Wednesday, December 08, 2004

The Answer: This actor co-starred with Dennis Quaid in Dinner With Friends.

This post is for anyone who reads my blog and was at The Cootiehog Christmas Party over the weekend. There was discussion about one of Denis’ friends, who one woman thought looked like “the guy who was in Dinner With Friends with Dennis Quaid.”

I said it was Greg Kinnear and I was pooh-poohed by all.

Neener, neener.

BTW, Denis’ friend looks nothing like Greg Kinnear. Nothing.

Ah! Another fun episode. I love this show. Lots of hilarious quotes from Racers this week - more on that later. Quiz answers can be found here.

The standings:

Players—Quiz 4—Final Score
chrissw—65—390
Jared—145—345
Jaynee—30—330
Ace—90—320
Tara—60—295
SteenShell—155—285
tygertyger—45—280
jen—25—260
kdeweb—60—255
BigOrangeMichael—40—250
princess jami—35—225
bryankelli—55—195
fij—50—175

Tuesday, December 07, 2004

Molly J. Ringwraith poses an imponderable about ski chalets and Caradhras. I found this chuckly-worthy:

A strange but inspiring dream the other night has led me to ponder this. Sidenote: I just spelled it “pondor” before fixing it. Perhaps as a rhyme for “Gondor.” Goodness knows those are hard to find.

Many other bloggers are encouraging their readers to give to Spirit of America to help the people of Iraq get their country back into working order after the war. I’ve given to that cause in the past and it’s a worthy, much needed one. I think you should consider it. But let me provide another way for you to help the needy this Christmas here at home.

The Fisher House program is a unique private-public partnership that supports America’s military in their time of need. The program recognizes the special sacrifices of our men and women in uniform and the hardships of military service by meeting a humanitarian need beyond that normally provided by the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs.

Because members of the military and their families are stationed worldwide and must often travel great distances for specialized medical care, Fisher House Foundation donates “comfort homes,” built on the grounds of major military and VA medical centers. These homes enable family members to be close to a loved one at the most stressful times - during the hospitalization for an unexpected illness, disease, or injury.

There is at least one Fisher House at every major military medical center to assist families in need and to ensure that they are provided with the comforts of home in a supportive environment. Annually, the Fisher House program serves more than 7,000 families, and have made available more than 1,500,000 days of lodging to family members since the program originated in 1990.

Someone from DOJ has been perusing the web. Out of curiosity, I clicked the search link and discovered a new blog with my blog name.

I’m thinking I should let her know that I’ve already got that name and have had it since 2002. She’s been blogging since June 2004 if she started with Blogger, which looks to be the case. I have the name recognition for that title, right? Squatters rights? What do you suggest I do about this?

UPDATE 3:15pm: She changed her title to “Jen Is Speaking.” Thanks to Rob Llama/Butcher for the Llama-lanche.

UPDATE 8:09pm: I mentioned the other Jen Speaks and this post to ECD late in the work day, before we left the office. She was surprised I could tell from where people visit the blog. I told her it’s a little disconcerting to see a DOJ IP listed that’s not me or Rob and that this person found me by searching on “jen speaks.” At that point, she sheepishly smiled and admitted it was she who was the visitor. Heh.

I think she was worried about me knowing she visited - she’s more than welcome to, but I asked her not to while at work because she sits in an open room and those guys are n-o-s-e-y. She was curious about these friends I have through the internet - it’s such a foreign concept to her. Too funny. Oh, and she’s all about the colored lights at Christmas, too (that’s the post she clicked into from the main page).

Tuesday mornings are the worst of the week with regard to traffic around this area. It’s a given every week, the commute will be the longest on Tuesday mornings. This morning was no exception. Add a little rain to the day and it’s an adventure!

My total drive time was 1 hour 45 minutes. My roomie left 20 minutes after me, but she made up a ton of time because of her g-ride and being able to take HOV. She passed me at one point, but I caught her because I drive further down Fairfax Co Parkway than she does. I’ve told her my way was faster, I think this morning convinced her. I was maybe a mile ahead of her on the Beltway when I hit the slowdown approaching the Telegraph Road exit. I called to advise her to take Eisenhower, which turned out to be worse than staying on the Beltway. She arrived at the office 20 minutes after I did. Oops.

My boss, who drove up from the Norfolk area this morning, arrived about 30 minutes after I did. It took him a little over 2 hours to go the last 18 miles, poor guy.

People, if you’re thinking of moving to the DC area, rethink that idea. Between the traffic and housing costs, it’s not worth it.

Monday, December 06, 2004

Christmas lights...they bring joy and they bring horror when you see them. So you get to vote here. Which is better?

All White Lights

Colored Lights

Speak your piece in the comments.

LATER: Timing is everything, right? Once you have voted, go read Rob’s rules for Christmas decorating. I have to agree somewhat, especially since one of my new neighbors (yes, I’m the new one to the neighborhood, but they’re new to me) have one of those huge inflated and lighted Grinch things in their front yard. Just. Say. No. people. N-O.

That said, I will be taking my camera with me on the night we go driving around my parent’s sort of shi-shi neighborhood. There’s one house that has cornered the market in inflatable, lit ballon characters in the front yard. It’s a horrendous sight to behold. I can’t wait!

[Image removed for space because it’s hee-yoog. It’s just a map of Virginia and the state flag.]


You’re Virginia!

Part of the old school, you like both historical sites and crazy
amusement parks. You like saying the word Commonwealth but couldn’t really explain the
concept or how it applies to your life. You like five-sided shapes, five-cent pieces,
and possibly anything else having to do with the number five. Every now and then, you
discard chaff from yourself that you just don’t feel you need. And since you’ve been
wondering… yes, there is a Santa Claus.


Take the State Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

Eric has started the Coalition of Unpaid Bloggers. Go read his post to see what it’s about. I’m in the club, as you’ll see by the addition of the logo at the right.

As promised here’s a short recap of the weekend that was.

1. The cutest kids on the planet are CootieGirl and CootieBoy, of course. My niece is always very busy and hilarious to watch. She’s learning to talk and it was fun to hear her express herself, even if most of the time I didn’t understand what she was saying. She’s got this prancing walk that’s adorable - she’s very precocious. My nephew is starting to show his personality and he has a flirty smile that’s killer. I’m looking forward to seeing how he grows in the coming months.

2. Party prep vs babysitting: I’ll take cooking anyday of the week. G (Jaynee’s friend) and I were tasked with watching the kids while J&D finished the last minute food prep for the party. We had fun with the kids, but that is exhausting work! Both G and I were pooped well before the party started and we both konked out pretty quickly after the clean-up.

3. The party is always a good time. J&D have an eclectic group of friends and it’s interesting to see how everyone gels together. Of course, they’ve been giving this party for several years, so most of the people know each other by now. I know I enjoyed chatting with both of their next door neighbors as well as a couple from Manhattan. And of couse, A&A, whom I adore.

The whole thing about the party is the White Elephant gift exchange. With each year, the gifts get more and more creative. This year, I left with Trash Talking Mr. Patel. The favorite of the gifts was Humphrey the Humping Dog - crass, yes and funny with it.

4/5/6. The drive home was fine until G and I decided to stop for gas and food. G was following me along “the back way” - I don’t take the traditional I-95, NJ Turnpike route north. Instead, I take I-83 to I-78 across PA, it’s a few extra miles, but it’s the same time and it’s about $16-20 cheaper in tolls (there are no tolls).

On our way out of town, we stopped at A&A’s new house to take the tour. They’ve worked hard to paint and decorate - lots of work that paid off, it is beautiful. After the house tour, G and I hit the highway for home.

We stopped in Clinton, NJ for gas and food, turns out that there was no fast food on that exit, so we got back on the highway and stopped in Union for lunch. When we pulled into the McDonald’s to see about 15 cars in line for the drive-thru. We got there at about 12:20p - post-church lunch rush. So we parked and walked in. Thirty minutes later we walked out with our “to go” food. This was not a well-run McD’s and when I eventually ate my food it wasn’t that good. I suspect that in their rush to get food out to people, it wasn’t being cooked properly and hence my sick day at home today.

We pulled out of the McD’s, going in the only direction we could on the one way street. I didn’t worry too much, figuring we could make a u-turn. Not so. For about half a mile, we were faced with no left turn signs at every interection. I finally got to a square-like intersection, so we turned left and prepared to turn left again - I was thinking that would put us back in the direction we needed to go to get back to the highway. Not so. So we turned around and when we backtracked to the original road, I saw that the sign said we’d be heading west on Rt 22 if we had stayed on it. We turned there, I was certain we’d see a sign for how to get back on I-78 and if not, then at least we were heading in the right direction. Not so (the signage to I-78). I made a call to Dad for map/GPS assistance, but he wasn’t able to help at that time, so we continued on and eventually went through a toll plaza. I asked how to get to I-78 and the guy said we were just a few exits away. Good news, but sheesh. Poor G probably wondered what was going on at this point, but she hung with me throughout the whole thing.

We got back onto I-78 and the rest of the drive was uneventful, although I was disappointed that the Redskins’ game wasn’t on until 4pm. I was counting on listening to the game to stay awake. Instead I ended up eating my way home, so that may have added to my problems today, too. Eaten were a healthy combination of Ritz Sticks, Four Cheese Doritos (which are fantastic!), and Frosted Animal Crackers.

I got home in time for halftime of the Redskins game. After bring all my junk in and catching up with ECD and Nee, I parked in the big chair and snoozed through the rest of their win. Yay! Where did that team come from and will they stick around for the rest of the season, I wonder?

And that was the weekend.

I’m a bit under the weather today - I’m pretty sure as a direct result of my excursion to McDonald’s yesterday. I was up most of the night. So I’m staying home today, but I’ll be around the web periodically, I’m sure.

Sunday, December 05, 2004

My sister and brother-in-law know how to throw a party. I had a very fun weekend, but I’m pretty tired and I just walked in the door and I’m going to crash on the sofa and nap through the second half of the Reskins’ game.

More details to come later, which may include:

Saturday, December 04, 2004

I arrived here at the Cootiehog House yesterday at about 2pm. The drive up was great once I got out of the DC area. It was a lovely, sunny day and I enjoyed listening to Laura Ingraham on the radio for most of the drive. She is my new favorite talk show host - she is hilarious and I love her take on stuff in pop culture. Where others wear rose colored glasses, Laura’s are jaundiced, I think. I especially love her Lie of the Day segment. Yesterday’s was classic.

OK, so upon my arrival, I was immediately put to work making meatballs. I then made the royal icing for the sugar cookies and we made four colors in addition to keep some of it white. We went for a muted color scheme in the basic green, red, yellow, and blue, but they were more like pastels, so the cookies look more like something for Easter or a baby shower, but they still look good. We have angels, trees, moons, stars, and ornaments (the basic round cookie).

Icing the cookies took a while, so by the time we finished it was time for dinner and Denis went to pick up the kids from the babysitter’s. Man, do I have a cute niece and nephew. CootieGirl is quite a little girl - she’s very open and loving and hilarious. CootieBoy is very sweet and his little personality is starting to come out. His smile makes you melt when he flashes it at you.

A friend of Jaynee’s (I’ll call her G) arrived at about 8:30pm and we then all put together the cookie tins for the parting gifts for the party-goers tonight. The kids were put to bed and we watched the tape of TAR from Tuesday that I brought with me for Jaynee.

I’m sharing CootieGirl’s room and fortunately she’s a heavy sleeper, so she didn’t even stir when I went to bed. We both slept hard until about 6am when she started to cry. I got out of bed and went to her little bed, she reached up to be picked up, so I did that. I asked her if her diaper was wet and I expected to get a nod, but she said, “Yeah.” Oh, yeah, she talks now. I asked her if she could wait for it to be changed and she said, “Yeah.” Then I asked her if she wanted to snuggle with me and she said, “Yeah.” So I got into my bed with her and she konked right out again. I dozed for about another hour, then I put her back into her bed and I’ve been about my business since then.

We have a busy day ahead. G and I have been tasked with childcare while Denis and Jaynee prep the rest of the food for the party. I have a feeling I’ll be exhausted before the party even begins at 5pm. And I just heard CootieGirl wimper, so I’m going to go check on her. Later!

Friday, December 03, 2004

I can’t find a link on this and it’s not being talked about on Fox & Friends right now, but the radio station I listen to in the morning ran a news blurb saying that Mark Rich may have ties to the oil-for-food scandal. Apparently, he was a middleman somewhere in the scheme as far back as February 2001, right after he was pardoned by President Clinton.

I’ll be on the road most of this morning, so if any of you find a link to a story, will you put it in my comments, please? ‘Preciate it.

I watched Luther last night.

A German monk challenges the political and religious authorities of his time.

Here’s a quick recap for the historically-challenged. In a nutshell, the Catholic church was overrun with a corrupt leadership - from the Pope on down. In addition, they had a strangle-hold on the faith of their congregants with the indulgences required for the forgiveness of sin, the false teachings about purgatory, withholding Scripture from the masses (Scripture was “owned” by the Church and read to the people through a priest only. Individuals were not allowed to “own” their own copy of the Bible. They were not able to study it for themselves.

Martin Luther came to realize that the Church had begun to rely on teaching their own doctrines rather than the Bible and called upon the leaders to reform. They wouldn’t, and so he wrote the 95 Theses, which he posted on the church doors in Wittenburg for the people to read. The Church was displeased with Luther’s rebellion and this led to a large battle for control of the Church and the masses. Look up the history for yourself, it’s a fascinating period in the Christian church and as a Protestant, I have a great appreciation for what Luther did to bring reform to Christendom.

Or rent the movie, which I found to be fantastic. I thought it was a very fair retelling of Luther’s quest to preach the Truth to people and his struggle in his own faith. Crosswalk.com has a favorable review of the movie, with which I agree to an extent. Roger Ebert’s review is more in line with my thinking of how Luther was portrayed by Joseph Feinnes, but I halfway expected such a portrayal. Hollowood is reluctant to show any clergy in a truly positive, passionate light. It’s as if faithful zeal cannot exist without corruption included, so the only truly zealous people of faith we ever see on the movie screen are evil. The good guys in faith are sniveling, weak, and doubting. Like Ebert, I have to think that the real Martin Luther was a fire-brand even in his moments of despair and doubt.

What I most appreciated about the movie is the clear presentation of the Gospel message and the sermons Luther gives periodically. I recommend the movie and give it 3 stars out of 5.