Monday, February 28, 2005

Jared suckered me into this meme by posting a response to one of his interview questions that sparked a response from me in the comments. Since the interviewee is then tasked to interview five people to keep this thing going, I am one of the lucky ones. So here ya go:

1. What is your favorite thing about your job?

That’s hard to answer with just one thing. I like saying for whom I work when asked. It’s kinda cool to work for the US Marshals, although it really is not like The Fugutive at all. Or Karen Sisco, for that matter.

2. If you could have one superpower, what would it be and why?

Funny question. Super strength, I guess. I’m kind of a physical weakling.

3. What is your fondest childhood memory?

Hmmm...I have a lot of specific childhood memories and they’re all pretty good. *thinking* I think I’ll have to say our England years. I’m thankful that my grandfather took a lot of home movies when they visited us and my parents took a lot of photos. I’m also thankful that we were in the British public school rather than the school for American kids. I think my memories of that time are sharper because of those things than they would be otherwise since I was only 6-8 years old at the time.

4. What is your favorite Bible verse?

Ephesians 3:14-21 - For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge–that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

5. If they made a movie of your life, who should play you?

At random times I’ve been told I look like a combination of Glenn Close and Jennifer Grey (pre-nose job). I don’t know. Both are pretty good actresses that I think could play me pretty well. Then again, I’m a lot like Monica Geller Bing personality-wise.

So, I need to perpetuate this meme. As Jared did, I’ll take the first 5 commenters to interview.

Those who know me and my cooking skillz well will be surprised to learn that prior to yesterday I had never cooked a whole chicken. It wasn’t something that we did in culinary school and Mom has always cooked the Thanksgiving turkey. So imagine my trepidation when ECD asked me to cook the roaster for lunch yesterday while she and Holly (neé Nee) were at church.

My first task was to figure out how to season this bird. Did I want to use the lemon-pepper seasoning? Rosemary? What? So I opened the cabinet and the first thing I saw was a sample packet of Chef Paul Prudhomme’s Poultry Magic that I had gotten from the Cooking Club of America as part of my membership. Oooh, I’ll use that!

I rubbed the bird with a little olive oil and drizzled some in the roasting pan as well. Then I rubbed the seasoning into the bird and the little that was left over went into the oil in the pan. That mixed with the drippings would make a tasty gravy. Into the oven went the chicken and I went off to clean and whatnot.

I also fixed mashed potatoes and some mixed veggies and baked some crusty rolls that I remembered were in the freezer. When the beautiful chicken came out of the oven, I made poured the pan drippings into pot and made a quick roux in the roasting pan. Once the roux was ready, I added the drippings and the result was a very tasty gravy that didn’t need any additional seasoning with salt and pepper.

ECD and Holly agreed with me that this was the best meal I had prepared since moving in, with the exception of my famous pasta (which Holly asked for me to make again soon).

So consider this post to be my endorsement of the Poultry Magic seasoning. I plan to buy a bottle of it.

The guys at The Thinklings have a couple good conversations going on topics I found interesting. I thought I’d link them so you don’t miss them.

First, there’s a very thoughtful discussion of suicide.

Second, Jared investigates paedo-baptism.

LATER: I knew that Andy had a good post that got me thinking as well. His “Really Enough?” post is another thought-provoker.

Sunday, February 27, 2005

Sweet little movie, Garden State. And Ben Affleck and Matt Damon have got nothing on Zach Braff for script writing - Braff also directed his movie and played the lead. My opinion is that Braff’s screenplay is superior to Good Will Hunting.

***pausing for a second, because I’m writing this while listening to Chris Rock’s opening monologue at the Oscars™ and I’m thisclose to turning it off because of his comments about The Passion of the Christ.***

Back to my review ...

In a nutshell, Garden State is about Andrew Largeman’s (played by Braff) return home for his mother’s funeral. He hasn’t been home in nine years.

Without giving any spoilers we learn about Largeman’s childhood, meet his childhood friends, meet (along with Large) a girl, see interesting family dynamics, and get to the heart of who Large is - who he wants to be. It’s about forgiveness and love and how difficult both are to attain or give.

I really like this movie. It’s not for everyone and it has much profanity and recreational drug use throughout, but the heart of the story grabbed me.

Garden State gets 3 stars out of 5.

No review from Jared this time. I’m surprised he doesn’t have one. This is a Jared type of movie.

Turns out that Annie has been piddling on the carpet by the stairs that lead up from the basement - her MO is to piddle within the first 5 minutes of my departure, but I thought she was over that habit with the move. Not so, unfortunately. I used to put her on the bed anytime I left home because she’s old enough now that she won’t jump down on her own. But I worried about her kidneys because that also meant no water intake on a long workday. Since she’s adopted the large ottoman as her new favorite sleeping place, that’s where I’ve been leaving her in the mornings.

Because of the lighting and odd shadows down here, it was hard to see the spots in the carpet, but I smelled the evidence. So the other day when I was working at home, I took some time to soak the area with Oxyclean. This is the stuff that I’ve found works the best on pet stains. Normally this process involves a bucket of Oxyclean-laden warm water and a pile of towels. I douse the area then use the towels to soak up the water. This is what I did and the towels confirmed my suspicions.

On a side note, I did buy some Home Alone Pads back when we were in the apartment. But she pushed them out of the way. However, I did put a few down in the newly cleaned area on Friday morning and she actually piddled on one! So those will go down on the floor daily now.

OK, getting back to the cleaning - I was still smelling urine the past couple of days. Fortunately, ECD has an upright carpet cleaner, so I dragged it downstairs this morning and spent quite a while going over the area. But ECD was down here about an hour ago and she said she could still smell it. It wasn’t as pungent, but I could too. *sigh*

I just finished round three - this time a combo of the usual douse with Oxyclean then going over it with the carpet cleaner to suck up the water. Much better results - the discarded water was gross, gross, gross. I’ve laid out towels on the wet area and will let it be for a couple more days. Then I’ll give it another go.

Sometimes I wonder if the dog is worth all this work.

Somehow I didn’t take seriously the idea that more of the white stuff was in our future. On Friday, local forecasters were saying it was more likely to be rain. This morning, I was shocked to see this forecast for tomorrow.

Tonight: Periods of heavy snow likely after midnight. Low near 30F. E winds at 5 to 10 mph, increasing to 20 to 30 mph. Chance of snow 80%. 1 to 3 inches of snow expected.

Tomorrow:  Snow along with gusty winds at times. High 38F. Winds NNE at 25 to 35 mph. Chance of snow 80%. Snow accumulating 4 to 7 inches.

This is not good. Not good at all.

I’m supposed to close out the February books tomorrow. I almost did it on Friday, but decided to wait. Oh, well. I’ll just have to see what OPM decides to do. My boss can always do it if I can’t get in to the office.

Saturday, February 26, 2005

“I’m gonna throw this out there; if you like it, take it, if you don’t, send it right back. I want to be on you.”—Ron Burgundy to Veronica Corningstone.

Crass and hilarious is Anchorman. We laughed out loud through the whole thing - my throat was sore from laughing. And the DVD extras were equally funny, with good bloopers included.

Will Farrell is a brilliant comedic actor - completely over the top, but he so inhabits his characters that you stop watching Farrell and become fascinated by the character himself, in this case Ron Burgundy. People in the film industry talk about layered characters - all of Farrell’s alter-egos are deeply layered. (You get the truer feel for how much these characters inhabit Farrell by watching the interview with Ron Burgundy in the DVD extras - how Farrell got Bill Kurtis to do that is a mystery. I’ve seen him do the same thing on Conan’s show.) The only other comedian I can think of who managed to live as his characters as well as Farrell does is Andy Kaufman.

As usual, let me point you to Jared’s review of the movie. He covers it all pretty well.

Anchorman is smart and sweet and, above all, hilarious. If you like Will Ferrell, if you “get” Will Ferrell, if you find Will Ferrell’s brand of characterization funny, more than likely you will like this movie. If not, it’s not for you, I bet. The humor is crude at times, but there is a sweetness behind it all, an acknowledgement that this is not how real gentlemen are supposed to behave. If you’re inclined to see it, I could not recommend Anchorman more highly.

I give this one 3.5 stars out of 5.

Friday, February 25, 2005

Following my sister’s advice, I’m posting a link to Adagio Teas. They will send you free tea if you link to their site. It’s based on your Google Page Rank. She got her tea package today so I’m giving it a whirl.

Although, I have to say that I feel a little disloyal.

LATER: Just for giggles, I googled “Jen Speaks” and got my old blog*spot page. I will be adding the link over there since that one is ranked #1. Woo!

Seeing this poem cracked me up and reminded me of something I saw/said on the commute in with ECD this morning.

roses are #FF0000
violets are #0000FF
all my base
are belong to you

Courtesy: Lemonlye

So we were driving on the Outer Loop of the Beltway and a small white hatchback moved into the lane in front of us. The license plate read “FFFFFF” and I chuckled.

“I’m such a nerd.”

ECD: Why do you say that?

ME: See that license plate? FFFFFF is the code for white on the internet.

ECD just glanced over at me and laughed. “You are a nerd.”

UPDATE: Link added to explain the “all your base” joke for anyone who may not know it.

From Robbo Llama Butcher:

Turning to other things, another sure sign of Spring in Dee Cee is the return of the Out-of-Town High Schoolers (Adolescens vulgaris). They start turning up in great field-tripping hordes, jamming the Metro and jangling the nerves of ordinary commuters with their incessant squeels and bellows of “Ohmigod, we’re going underground!” and ”How many more stops to the Smithsonian?” and perhaps worst of all, mimicking the automated voice that says, “Doors closing - please stand clear of the doors, thank you.” (Note to anyone planning to come to Dee Cee for a visit: DO NOT DO THIS!)

Bing. Bong.

The suicide of that Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas guy didn’t impact me that much. I’ve not read his works, didn’t see the movie. That kind of eccentric joker doesn’t get much play with me. That he killed himself got less sympathy from me than he might otherwise have gotten if he had died in an accident or from natural causes. My sympathies go to the families who are left behind to deal with the aftermath of one of the most selfish acts a person can perform.

Out of curiosity I clicked the link to this article at FoxNews.com, where his widow explains that she was on the phone with him when he pulled the trigger. Nice.

There was one quote from his widow that astounds me:

Anita Thompson, 32, said her husband had discussed killing himself in recent months and had been issuing verbal and written directives about what he wanted done with his body, his unpublished works and his assets.

His suicidal talk put a strain on their relationship, she said.

“He wanted to leave on top of his game. I wish I could have been more supportive of his decision,” she said. “It was a problem for us.”

Empahsis mine. She wishes she could have been more supportive of his decision to kill himself? What on earth?

Seems to me he should have been less self-absorbed and thought about his young (!) wife, children, and grandchildren. That this guy is getting laudatory press sickens me. Really, it does.

The fellas over at The Thinklings are starting a book club. Our first book is on eschatology, The Bible and the Future by Anthony Hoekema.

I have a hard time getting through non-fiction, but I’ve committed to participating in the club. I figure this will help me stick with the reading. Of course, I barely have the time to read at all now that I share a house and I have less alone time for that kind of thing. So we’ll see how this goes.

If you’re interested in joining in, go read the guidelines.

So this Survivor pool that I’m in? It’s a crazy, complicated set up where you pick your top 4 survivors and big losers and also take quizzes. I’m not sure exactly how it all works and I haven’t taken the spoilers quiz at all. I have no clue what I’m doing. And yet I’m still in the top 10 players after last night’s episode.

Last week I was #6. This week I’m #7.

It’s cracking me up.

One thought on this season so far: these contestants have seen the show before, right? They know that the past few seasons the survivors have been stranded on their islands with only the clothes on their backs, right? The one exception being the All Stars season. So why would the survivors assume that they’re going to get to keep their nicely packed gear once they get to their destination?

I have no plans of ever trying out for Survivor. But if I did and got selected, on that first day I would wear my swimsuit under practical clothes that I would want to wear for a month on a deserted island. No dress. No heels. No frilly lingerie. And I’d put a toothbrush in my pocket.

Thursday, February 24, 2005

There are only a few bloggers who actually make me laugh out loud. Fluid Pudding is one of them, but she’s not for the faint of heart. She’s blunt, uses harsh language, and is hilarious. And she knits.

Thanks for the chuckle, FP. The sweater/hat are adorable.

Sassy (a Silky terrier mix, 3ish years old) and Annie (beagle/dachshund/terrier mix, nearly 16 years old) get along for the most part. However, there are times when Sassy gets a little too close to me and Annie goes nutso-protecto. Just so you know, Annie is nutso-protecto about me all the time anyway - add another person or dog to the mix and it goes up to the nth degree. Just ask my family.

They got into a snarling mess the other night, with Annie the clear victor as the one who drew blood. Usually Sassy’s sharp little teeth get into Annie’s flappy ears and Annie is the one to bleed.

I don’t know what started the one I just broke up, but there was a snarling mass of black and white fur at my feet, messing up my file pile. Sassy was the top dog in this one and I had a hard time getting her teeth out of the back of Annie’s neck. Add that I had just walked them and they were both slightly damp and it was just generally unpleasant.

Sassy’s in “the hole.” (She has a crate.) Annie is sulking on the ottoman and she wimpers when she tries to shake her head, so Sassy managed to inflict pain. I’m posting this while the adreneline wears off.