Monday, January 23, 2006

I went for my normal manicure on my lunch hour. There were only two of the manicurists there today - my regular manicurist is in Vietnam with his wife, visiting his parents and other extended family. Anyway, at the time I arrived, I was the only customer.

The gal who did my nails today was very good but she is one who barely speaks English. So there wasn’t much chatting. That was fine with me because the TV was tuned to CNN (gack), which was showing President Bush’s speech at Kansas State University. I was enjoying listening to him when all of a sudden the other gal changed the channel to the Cartoon Network for her daily viewing of Tom & Jerry. (I assume it’s a daily habit, because there have been several times that I’ve been there that she has changed the channel to watch T&J.)

I endured what seemed like 2 hours of T&J episodes, but it must have been only about 30 minutes. Then Scooby Doo came on, which I love. But then I saw numbers appear on the screen, which told me that she was changing the channel again - “NO! We likeses Scooby!”, I was screaming in my head. Until I realized that she was turning back to CNN and the President. “OK, I can live with this until I leave in about 5 minutes.”

I used to watch Tom & Jerry, but I was more a fan of Bugs and co.

We didn’t do much that was productive this weekend. Actually, I don’t think we did anything truly productive at all. The keyword for our weekend is LAZY.

Friday night we met up with Beau’s brother (who shall be known as Dr. C - yes, he is a doctor) and niece for dinner at Generous George’s here in Alexandria. That was a fun dinner and I enjoyed the time to get to know them a bit better. Dr. C is a great guy and his daughter is a sweet and charming young woman.

Saturday is a blur of lazing about, trying to catch up on DVR stuff, working on some jewelry stuff for Joan, and then taking the wedding DVD to my parents to look at the photos.

Sunday morning I needed to be at the church for worship band practice at 7:30am. After the second service we went to lunch with my parents to a Korean BBQ place and then home. I crashed in the recliner and napped through the first half of the AFC game. I was so lethargic that I pretty much stayed in the recliner the rest of the evening and then went to bed after the end of the NFC game.

This morning I have a raging headache, probably because of the rain that’s here today and my office is like a sauna. I’d rather be at home, but I guess the taxpayers need for me to earn my pay. And that’s all I have for you this morning.

Saturday, January 21, 2006

I finished reading Ender’s Shadow by Orson Scott Card this morning. As recommended by many of you, I opted to continue the Ender books with the parallel “sequels” rather than the true sequels. When I read the blurbs on the actual sequels, they didn’t interest me as much as reading the blurbs on the parallels.

Bean was a fascinating character in Ender’s Game. He’s moreso in Ender’s Shadow. Heartbreaking and a little scary. And even though I knew how the story ended, I was still caught up in Bean’s perspective of it. Very cool read.

Next up: Shadow Puppets Shadow of the Hegemon, which is the next book in the series, because I can’t help myself. Shadow Puppets is after that one.

Friday, January 20, 2006

The files are large, so it takes a while to get them uploaded to the server. Plus my computer is a little bogged down by the DVD. So I’ll post a few every once in a while today as I can get them loaded.

My dress
My dress and tiara
The hem of my dress
The bouquets
The corsages
The bouts

Beau with the girls - in this picture you get a really good shot of the “halos” that the flower girls wore. The greenery is miniature Scottish thistle, which the florist picked out. It was perfect.

Bride and the girls
With my bridesmaids
With bridesmaids (2)
The bridal party
The happy couple

LATER: I should clarify that I did reduce the files because they were too large for good viewing. So they’re not as clear in this format because I don’t have P-shop here at work. I’ll try to remember to redo them at home this weekend.

LATERER: Here are a few more. I think that will probably be all that I post. You get the idea.

Reception table centerpiece
Reception tables en masse

This next one is hard to describe. My church auditorium is large and stadium-like. The back area by the entry doors is wide. The florists made it cozier with greenery and topiaries to create a rope line of sorts that led to the back row of seats.

A flower arrangement on one of the side tables.

The reception area as seen through the plate glass windows.
Denis lighting the luminaria outside.
The cake with the silver toasting goblets.
During the processional.

Joe Gibbs is a very smart coach. He knows that the team’s main weak point is the abysmal offense, so he set out to correct that problem.

Redskins coach Joe Gibbs upgraded his offense Thursday by adding one of the brightest offensive minds to his sidelines.

Gibbs hired Chiefs offensive coordinator Al Saunders as assistant head coach and offensive coordinator, convincing him to sign a three-year contract worth more than $2 million a year. Saunders was considered the leading candidate for the Raiders head coaching job after their first set of three interviews but he had not been offered the job.

With only two head coaching opportunities left—Oakland and Buffalo—Saunders was fielding a lot of phone calls by teams and coaches who wanted him as their offensive coordinator. The biggest surprise was the arrival of Gibbs in Kansas City on Wednesday.

Gibbs made Saunders an offer he couldn’t refuse, a deal that trumped a chance to be a head coach.

This is great, but what’s better…

After the season, Gibbs talked defensive coordinator Gregg Williams into staying instead of taking a head coaching job on an other team. Williams received a three-year, $7.8 million deal. His deal, the most lucrative ever for an assistant coach, includes a $1 million bonus if he is not named the Washington head coach when Gibbs retires.

Emphasis mine. Has any other coach gotten this kind of bonus clause? That’s brilliant!

And now I’m even moreso looking forward to August.

Thursday, January 19, 2006

Apples, that is.

I bought a few Gala apples while I waited for my prescription to be filled. All excited, I just took one out of the frig under my desk to enjoy it’s refreshing coolness only to find that it’s less firm than I like.

Nothing worse than a mealy apple.

See, I told you I have nothing new.

I have nothing new to share. Unless you consider a topic in the TMI realm of marital bliss. Because my parents and my in-laws read this blog, I’m choosing not to elaborate further.

However, I will say that this product works as I was told by my doctor, with the requisite side effect. And quickly, too - I took it about an hour ago and already the described color change (PDF) has occured. It’s a little jarring to see that the first time, let me tell you. Kind of like the other Gatorade™, ifyouknowwhatimean.

We should receive a DVD with preliminary wedding pictures in the mail today. ECD tells me that they look great, so I’m excited to see them. I’ll try to post a couple tonight.

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Beau is a light sleeper and wakes up very easily to the slightest noise.

I am a heavy sleeper and it takes a loud alarm to rouse me from slumber.

Fortunately, we’re on the same sleep schedule in terms of when we go to bed at night, but he would like to sleep longer than I do. So when my alarm goes off at 5am (later than it used to because I love the snooze button and employed it often before actually getting out of bed), he is instantly awake while I’m still trying to figure out if I even heard it.

Add the cat outside the bedroom door who is meowing frantically beginning at about 4:30am and the dog who wakes up in response to the cat and will pant and whine until someone gets up to let her outside and poor Beau is the one who is losing the most sleep. Of course, while he’s not working he gets to nap when he wants during the day, but still I know it’s tough for him.

This morning I woke up when he got out of bed at about 5:10am. I looked at my clock in confusion because it was silent (no radio playing) and I didn’t remember hearing the buzz part of the alarm go off at 5:04am, when it was supposed to. I reached over to check the volume and found that somehow my loving husband managed to roll over me to the clock to turn down the volume on the alarm this morning and I never even knew it.

When he came back from the bathroom, I asked him why he got up. “Because Annie has been whining since about 4:30 and I couldn’t take it anymore.” It didn’t take long for her to figure out that he would get up faster than I would in response to her pleas. Her doggie pallet is on the floor on my side of the bed; she goes around to his side of the bed each morning to start pestering him. Funny.

Anyway, I don’t know what the solution is since we’re on different morning schedules. I think when he starts working again that will help. I hope so anyway.

Phone rings. I pick up the handset to answer the call.

ME: US Marshals Service.

HIM: Hi, this is so and so from the Clerk’s office. Do you know what county Nelly’s Ford is in?

ME: No.

HIM: *pause* Is [the Assistant Chief] there?

ME: No, she is at a suboffice today. *I’m thinking to myself that there is no way I’m passing this idiotic call on to her even if she was in the office today.*

HIM: Is [names the Asset Forfeiture person] there?

ME: Yes, but I doubt she knows off hand where that town is located. Do you have internet access?

HIM: Yes.

ME: Then I recommend that you get online and do the research. It’s what I do when I get process with an address that I’m unsure about.

HIM: *silence for several seconds, maybe about 10 which doesn’t sound like a lot until you’re listening to it* OK.

I will help people to a point. When it becomes me doing their busywork for them, then I refuse. The time he took to make that ridiculous phone call he could have spent looking it up himself. And I know for darned sure that the A-Chief would have told him the same thing.

LATER: Just for giggles, I Googled it. And I got this result. It took less than 30 seconds. Sheesh.

I then Googled Nelson County, VA and got this Virginia county map. Looks like that town is in the Western District of Virginia, which means it’s not our jurisdiction.

Judging from his reaction through most of the two hours last night, Beau will not be watching American Idol with me this season. While he found it painful, he did not see the humor in it as much. I was cracking up, however.

I think I may be burning out on the less talented aspects of the show though. It’s clear that some go to the auditions just to be on TV in their weird outfits - they annoy me as much as Simon and I loved how he shut down Statue of Liberty guy after he sang just two or three syllables. The shame is that I think that guy has a pretty good voice, but he ruined his chances with his goofy costume.

I have the main DVR set to record two other shows tonight, so AI will be recorded on the Tivo box upstairs. I may or may not watch it sometime later. Just checked the TV listings and I will watch AI at 8pm followed by LOST. What will need to be recorded on the Tivo is Skating with Celebrities, which looks hilarious. It’s on up against LOST and Criminal Minds.

Anyway, back to Beau...he’s a good sport to “waste those two hours,” as he called it, with me last night. I’m wondering if he’ll waste a couple more hours tonight when I watch LOST.

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

As always, when there’s a show I love, love, love I frequent the good recappers over at Television Without Pity aka TWoP around these parts. I managed to read the recap for Day 5: Hour 1 and it’s awesome. Of course, the previous four “days” you will find as well.

Oooh! And clicking over to get a link, I found that the recap for Day 5: Hour 2 is complete. Bonus!

LATER: Profanity alert is always on for TWoP, by the way. Some recappers are prolific cussers. Some are not. It’s a gamble in reading.

Ith posts on hours 1 and 2 from Sunday night quite well here and it is spoilerish. Best line item:

They really need to screen close Presidential advisors more carefully.

Too true.

Hilarity from her comments section, by Watchman:

I’ve loved 24 from the beginning, but it does require a major suspension of disbelief to enjoy. Chloe’s password has FOUR characters...and her coworker knows what it is???? No wonder CTU keeps getting infiltrated. That’s pretty lousy security.

Too true and I wondered about that as well.

Man, those TV people showing such irresonsible computer behavior. Don’t they know that the average viewer needs to see their favorite TV characters performing safe computer operations?

*/snark*

Hours 3 and 4 were action-packed. My quick thoughts are below the fold…

Did: Mom and I met with Joan and it was a great time. It was fun to get feedback from someone who was in the wedding and got to enjoy the reception. And she is interested in selling some of the jewelry I’ve made and wants me to make more. So I need to get back into the bead thing. And we solidified my offer to help with their daughter’s wedding in June - I will help them coordinate and plan her wedding. Seems nutty, but I’m looking forward to it - it will be very different than my own wedding and I’m looking forward to getting creative.

Didn’t: We did not go see King Kong. By the time I got home from my time with Mom and Joanie I wasn’t inclined to spend 3+ hours in a dark theater. So…

Did: Beau and I took some duplicate gifts back to a store and exchanged them for items not purchased from the registry. We were able to complete our fine china place settings and pick up a few kitchen gadgets. Then we went to another store and used up the gift cards we had been given for house things we needed or wanted.

One item we bought was a storage shelving unit for our utility room. Since we don’t have a china cabinet (yet), we have nowhere to display or store the lovely china, crystal, and silver pieces that we received. So for now we’ll store those things in their boxes in the basement. We’ve been kidded about having Thanksgiving at our house this year, which I’m open to if we don’t go to California to spend that holiday with Beau’s family. That may be the first chance we have to use that fine stuff.

Did: Watch the second night of 24. Good stuff, 24 blogging will commence in a bit.

This morning I went to the Social Security office to take care of that name change - I was in and out in about 20 minutes and my card will be mailed to me.

Monday, January 16, 2006

We made great progress this weekend on clearing out a lot of boxes. The dining room is cleared enough that we are now able to use that table for eating, so the little bistro patio table is now out on the back deck where it belongs. The kitchen is more organized and we’ve started two large boxes of stuff to get rid of. The basement is much better, too. Beau has worked hard to get his library unpacked - he has cleared out so many boxes that we were able to move the loveseat and recliner into the positions we wanted and it now looks like a nice rec room/office area. There are still his crates of files (of which there are many), but it’s much better. Today we will tackle the living room boxes again.

This morning Mom and I will be meeting with my bridesmaid/friend Joan - she owns a little shop and wants to sell some of my mother’s tea cookbooks and also some of the jewelry I’ve made. A by product of my bead bouquet work was that I started making jewelry on the side. I made the jewelry that Jaynee and Joanie and the flower girls all wore in the wedding. When I told Joan that I made other jewelry, too, she said she wanted to see it and talk to me about selling it in her store. I’m still a novice, but I’ve pretty well mastered earrings, so I’ll start her with those and see how they sell. At this point I’m pretty well beaded out, but I know that my creative side will kick back into gear at some point and I’ll get back into it.

After that, I’ll come back here to get Beau and then we might go see King Kong and/or hit the mall to exhange a few duplicate wedding gifts. Maybe.

I hope you enjoy your Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. I will blog about last nights 24 premiere later.