Tuesday, September 19, 2006

I have to admit that I was worried about this 10th season of TAR - would it return to the Race we knew and loved before the dreaded Family Edition? I think it has.

More…

[LATER]: Beth has an excellent recap. Methinks I may end up just linking to hers as the season progresses. Spoilers abound.

Monday, September 18, 2006

Long time readers know that Beau is an unemployed college professor. He’s still unemployed, but he’s managed to persevere through substitute teaching in the local public schools. I can assure you that this has firmed up our decision to homeschool the little one when the time comes.

Anyhoo, it’s recruiting season for Fall 2007, so he’s put out his resume for a few positions in the last few weeks. We’re praying for the right job for his skills in a place where we both feel comfortable. So far it seems that might not be here in the DC area. Here’s where the jobs are (in order of preference):

1. South Carolina (this is the top choice since the Cooties and many other friends are there)

2. Washington (Seattle, to be specific, which I love - this is high on the list of favorite places I lived as a kid; one serious perk is that it puts us closer to his parents who are in California)

3. Arkansas (the cost of living is enticing, but I’m not so sure about this - there’s no NFL or MLB team anywhere nearby) - there are actually 2 jobs in this state

4. Montana (I’m not sure if he’s sent his resume out for this one yet)

There was another one in Staten Island, NY, but we’re not interested in going from one high priced area to another. Or from one major terrorist target to another.

So we’re in serious prayer-mode on this job thing. We’re trusting God for our future and open to going where He wants us to go. We just want for Beau to have a job at this point. Will you consider adding us to your prayer list on this? Thanks!

Oy vey, is it busy. The pains of being out for a week in the middle of September when you work in government finance.

Our fiscal year closes this week, for all intents and purposes. The official close out is next Wednesday, but I have to have everything ready to go by Friday. Joy. I have a huge stack of vouchers that need paying, so after I catch up with mail and whatnot today and timekeeping tomorrow (it’s faster for me to just do it than to try to train the front desk gal, whom I shall call DS from now on) I will do nothing but work on paying the bills.

Add to the mix a reception on Wednesday for those who helped with the Big Trial in the spring and a farewell luncheon for a departing deputy on Thursday. Oh, and I have an ultrasound Friday morning, which means I’ll be out for a couple of hours for that, too.

Happy Monday!

I just have one thing to say about last night’s horrible loss to Dallas.

I should have watched The Amazing Race instead.

I shall watch that recording tonight and will post the recap tomorrow. Sorry for the delay. I blame Joe Gibbs.

Saturday, September 16, 2006

I’m more than a bit behind on my regular TV viewing. Here’s what I’ve managed to catch up with so far:

1. Beau and I finished watching The Path to 9/11 yesterday. Really, I don’t understand the complaints from anyone. Obviously some conversations would have to be fictionalized to flesh out the story, but the basic information about events and people was right on. We thought it was an excellent series and well worth watching. Its heartbreaking to realize how many indicators were missed in the 90s. Let’s hope that it doesn’t happen again like that.

2. Dancing with the Stars - glory be, this is good TV, except for the new hostess. How terrible is she? Poor Tucker Carlson. I loved Emmitt Smith and Mario Lopez the best and I thought they all did really well for their first dances. It’ll be fun to see who manages to really catch on as time goes.

3. Justice - I watched all three episodes that have aired so far and I think it is a solid show. I like the way they breakdown the different aspects of defending a criminal case. What I most like is that the last minute shows how the crime actually occurred. I’m looking forward to when the team gets a client acquitted and then when we the audience learns that he really did do it.

4. Men in Trees - My mother called me last night to recommend this new show. She caught the pilot on Tuesday and found that ABC was rerunning it last night before the next regular episode. I watched bother episodes and was completely charmed, so this one’s been added to the rotation. It’s very cute and definitely a show for chicks.

I hope to catch up on Vanished and Standoff today.

Some randomness after being away from the computer for a week…

1. My class was actually pretty good and I learned a lot. Not that I’ll do much with it in my job, nor do I plan to move in that direction, but it was good to get some basic knowledge anyway.

2. I finally managed to update Expression Engine - I realized I was way overdue when they released another update last week. So now my blogware is current, although I don’t see any difference at this point.

3. I think I’m finally over the morning sickness at week 18. I haven’t been sick since Wednesday and I feel very good, almost normal. It’s nice to be in the fun part of the pregnancy that I’ve heard so much about. I know that I have felt the baby move several times this week - it’s mostly like s/he is tapping away in there. It’s kind of cool and I wish I could feel more.

4. I spent the better part of yesterday afternoon (class was over early) trying to catch up on recorded TV from the DVR, but that will be a post of its own.

It’s good to be back.

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

The class is not too bad, the content is very basic and a little boring but the instructor is excellent. I was most worried about getting to/from DC on Metro - it has been relatively pain and nausea-free. Beau drops me at a station in Alexandria so that my ride is shorter, only 6 stops. There’s a woman at my table who is my age, got married in January, and is pregnant also - about 3 weeks behind me. And the instructor just had a baby 3 months ago as well - I quizzed her about the breast pump she’s using, which is the one I’m hoping to get. Anyway, it’s been a good first half of the week although I miss computer access.

In other news, I did end up recording The Path to 9/11 and we’re slowly watching that in the evenings. It’s riveting and very well done.

Everything happened as I expected on the BB:AS finale last night, so I won’t bother with a recap. I’m glad that’s over and I’m looking forward to Survivor and TAR10.

Despite being away for a couple of days, I have nothing else to share. Happy Hump Day.

Monday, September 11, 2006

Today is the 5th anniversary of the Al Qaeda attacks on America. The following is a tribute to the day we should never forget.

September 11 News - a website collection of worldwide photos and articles about September 11, 2001.

September 11 Victims - a website dedicated to the memory and tribute of each person who died at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and from all four flights that were hijacked on that terrible morning.

2996 Project - bloggers come together to remember each person who died on 9/11/01. Because I knew I was going to be in a class and not have access to a computer on this day, I opted not to officially participate.

However, there is one person I wanted to recognize because I will never forget him even though I never met him ... Capt. Lawrence Daniel Getzfred died in the Pentagon on September 11. He lived in my parents’ neighborhood just down the street from one of my mother’s closest friends. Click on the link to see a picture of Capt. Getzfred and to read lovely messages left in his honor.

President Bush’s 9/11 Memorial Service Address on September 14, 2001, at the National Cathedral:

We are here in the middle hour of our grief. So many have suffered so great a loss, and today we express our nation’s sorrow. We come before God to pray for the missing and the dead, and for those who loved them. On Tuesday, our country was attacked with deliberate and massive cruelty. We have seen the images of fire and ashes and bent steel. Now come the names, the list of casualties we are only beginning. They are the names of men and women who began their day at a desk or in an airport, busy with life. They are the names of people who faced death and in their last moments called home to say, be brave and I love you.

They are the names of passengers who defied their murderers and prevented the murder of others on the ground. They are the names of men and women who wore the uniform of the United States and died at their posts. They are the names of rescuers—the ones whom death found running up the stairs and into the fires to help others. We will read all these names. We will linger over them and learn their stories, and many Americans will weep.

To the children and parents and spouses and families and friends of the lost, we offer the deepest sympathy of the nation. And I assure you, you are not alone. Just three days removed from these events, Americans do not yet have the distance of history, but our responsibility to history is already clear: to answer these attacks and rid the world of evil.

War has been waged against us by stealth and deceit and murder. This nation is peaceful, but fierce when stirred to anger. This conflict was begun on the timing and terms of others; it will end in a way and at an hour of our choosing. Our purpose as a nation is firm, yet our wounds as a people are recent and unhealed and lead us to pray. In many of our prayers this week, there’s a searching and an honesty. At St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York, on Tuesday, a woman said, “I pray to God to give us a sign that he’s still here.”

Others have prayed for the same, searching hospital to hospital, carrying pictures of those still missing. God’s signs are not always the ones we look for. We learn in tragedy that his purposes are not always our own, yet the prayers of private suffering, whether in our homes or in this great cathedral are known and heard and understood. There are prayers that help us last through the day or endure the night. There are prayers of friends and strangers that give us strength for the journey, and there are prayers that yield our will to a will greater than our own.

This world He created is of moral design. Grief and tragedy and hatred are only for a time. Goodness, remembrance and love have no end, and the Lord of life holds all who die and all who mourn. It is said that adversity introduces us to ourselves. This is true of a nation as well. In this trial, we have been reminded and the world has seen that our fellow Americans are generous and kind, resourceful and brave.

We see our national character in rescuers working past exhaustion, in long lines of blood donors, in thousands of citizens who have asked to work and serve in any way possible. And we have seen our national character in eloquent acts of sacrifice. Inside the World Trade Center, one man who could have saved himself stayed until the end and at the side of his quadriplegic friend. A beloved priest died giving the last rites to a firefighter. Two office workers, finding a disabled stranger, carried her down 68 floors to safety.

A group of men drove through the night from Dallas to Washington to bring skin grafts for burned victims. In these acts and many others, Americans showed a deep commitment to one another and in an abiding love for our country. Today, we feel what Franklin Roosevelt called, “the warm courage of national unity.” This is a unity of every faith and every background. This has joined together political parties and both houses of Congress. It is evident in services of prayer and candlelight vigils and American flags, which are displayed in pride and waved in defiance. Our unity is a kinship of grief and a steadfast resolve to prevail against our enemies. And this unity against terror is now extending across the world.

America is a nation full of good fortune, with so much to be grateful for, but we are not spared from suffering. In every generation, the world has produced enemies of human freedom. They have attacked America because we are freedom’s home and defender, and the commitment of our fathers is now the calling of our time. On this national day of prayer and remembrance, we ask almighty God to watch over our nation and grant us patience and resolve in all that is to come. We pray that He will comfort and console those who now walk in sorrow. We thank Him for each life we now must mourn, and the promise of a life to come.

As we’ve been assured, neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities, nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth can separate us from God’s love. May He bless the souls of the departed. May He comfort our own. And may He always guide our country.

God bless America.

Amen.

I’m in a training class all week and most likely without computer access during the day. It stinks.

However, I will try to check in when I get home - depending on how tired I am.

Friday, September 08, 2006

What Steve Llama said goes for me, too.

I’m disgusted with the whole thing at this point - the hypocrisy of the Left knows no bounds.

I drove the new car this morning and almost from the start things went nuts.

First, I was on Burke Road headed toward Burke Lake Road. Burke Rd is a short two lane road that widens at the light at Burke Lake Rd (a T intersection) to accommodate the left and right turners. I noticed a car zooming up behind me as I got closer to the light and before I knew it she was moving to come around my left. To avoid an accident, I hit the brakes, moved to the right, and laid on the horn. Oblivious, the chick continued on as if nothing was wrong, talking on her cell phone, and slammed to a stop at the red light. Just mere seconds later, I pulled to a stop behind her. I guess she was in a hurry.

Second, I was on the Beltway in the middle right lane (of a 4 lane interstate) cruising at about 65 mph. I decided to move to the far right lane to get out of the way of faster traffic when I noticed a car in my left side mirror move into the middle right lane as I started to move to my right. I had barely gotten fully over when he hit the gas and zoomed by, leaving barely inches between our cars on his way. He then had to slam brakes when he came up on a bunch of cars in all lanes that weren’t traveling at his rate of speed.

Third, I was almost hit by a bumble bee yellow mustang in the Merge of Madness™ because he didn’t yield as he should have. That was followed by being cut off by a state trooper in the second half of said Merge™.

Is it a full moon tonight or something?

[LATER]: I couldn’t find my fine artwork of the MoM™s from a few years ago - they were on the server with my old host and I guess I never downloaded them back to keep. So they’re lost. Instead, I employed Google Maps to find the intersection in question - link here - and scanned the area, added notes, and uploaded that. They’re not the clearest, but you get the idea.

Merge of Madness™
Merge of Madness™, part two

I may not watch the BB finale on Tuesday.

OK, I’ll watch it because I can’t help myself. But I’m disgusted with the final two and really don’t want either to win the cash.

On the upside, I like that a member of the jury will win $25 in the last America’s Choice vote. I’m sure we all know which blonde will win that money. I believe that puts her total take at more than the runner up, which is great.

I hate this show.

Thursday, September 07, 2006

We watched Just Like Heaven over the weekend. We both liked it pretty well - it’s a cute romantic comedy. Pure fluff and a good date movie. 3 stars out of 5.

We also watched Red Eye, which was really misrepresented when it was promoted. From watching the trailers I thought it was a horror movie. Add that it was directed by Wes Craven, that confirmed the horror movie idea to me. So I never considered seeing it.

And then my boss came in one day a few months ago and asked if I had seen it. I told him I don’t like horror movies and he said, “You know I got it thinking it was a horror movie, but it isn’t at all. It’s just a good thriller.” He recommended it highly.

So I got it and it turns out my boss was right - it’s a pure thriller with nothing horror about it. I think it might have done better in the theater if it had been sold as a thriller instead of a Wes Craven horror movie. We liked it and I give it 3 stars out of 5.

Oh yeah, and Survivor‘s Colby was in it, too. Cracked me up when it finally dawned on me who he was.

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Good stuff last night. Really, really good stuff.

Reality Blurred covers the recap better than I can - spoiler and profanity alert.

What I will add is that I was stoked to see last night’s episode after reading the Joker’s recaps from the weekend. Big things were in the works and now the finale is going to much more interesting to see next Tuesday.

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

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