Monday, July 28, 2003

So I’m feeling the need to consume some Premsyn PMS™ and I wanted to check the label for the drowsiness factor. It was there. But reading further I got to this…

Do not take this product…

...if you have glaucoma or difficulty in urination due to enlargement of the prostate gland....

I saw the link to this story at Courtney’s.

One of Iraq’s most wanted generals was run down over the weekend by a young soldier who just a few years ago was running down opponents on the Fort Osage High School track team.

[...]

“She was standing post with this other soldier when she saw some movement in a bush by the road,” explained Baldus’ mother, Kim James, of Sibley. “She told the guy to cover her while she checked it out.”

As Baldus approached, she came under fire from unseen gunmen in surrounding buildings. A man bolted from the bush ahead and she pursued, knocking him to the ground with a blow to the head from the butt of her weapon.

“He looked up at her and all he could say was ‘You’re a woman.’ Heather told him ‘Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I won’t put a bullet through your head,’” James said. “Heather has always been outspoken.”

Baldus and the other soldier brought their unknown prisoner to headquarters where they later learned he was one of the 55 most wanted Iraqis, all identified in a deck of cards distributed to soldiers by the Department of Defense. He was the six of clubs and number 49 on the DOD’s mosted wanted list.

I posted on Friday about my foray into alternate coffee at Caribou Coffee. This generated an interesting conversation about coffee, Krispy Kreme donuts, The Evil Empire, etc.

Then today, I noticed the addition of a new comment from Dave.

Lileks on Caribou Coffee. (Snopes has more, too.)

***Be aware that this post is a traffic complaint. Move on if you don’t want to read the following rant.***

I was on time this morning and very pleased about it. Then I heard the traffic report on the radio at 8:00 - there was an accident on the Outer Loop of the Beltway on the Wilson bridge. My exit to the courthouse is about 2 miles from the bridge on the Outer Loop. Shoot! There go my hopes of being on time to work.

About 20 minutes later I was on the Beltway, behind a car that was poking along a tad too slowly in the far right lane. So I put on my left turn signal, checked my mirrors - making note of the red pickup with the cab on the back that was coming up fast (he had to be going 80mph), and seeing that the middle left lane was clear I started to move over. I was almost fully in the lane when the red truck started to move into my lane. Shoot! I was almost up level with the rear bumper of the car I was passing on the right, so I tapped the brakes and swerved in behind him.

It was a little terrifying because there are jersy barriers along the right shoulder (there is no shoulder). If he had hit me, I would have been pancaked between him and the other car and the jersey barrier, and the car immediately behind me would have hit us too - a minimum 4 car accident narrowly avoided.

So my adrenaline was pumping, but I had the delays ahead of me to give me time to calm back down, which I did. So I was able to walk into the office, whole and relatively calm, despite the stressful morning.

My boss agreed that I have a lot of drama in my life. At least today.

UPDATE: Oh, yeah, I forgot a couple things. I had a cup of coffee in my right hand, so I managed to avoid an early death with one hand. And I realized later that I would have used that right hand to lay on the horn if it had been free. So the guy got away without even realizing what he had done.

And I watched him zoom ahead - weaving across all four lanes - until from the far left lane (which is an exit to I-395 that heads to Washington) all the way to the far right lane (which is an exit to I-95 South to Richmond). He’s destined to die in a fiery auto wreck - or to kill someone in a fiery auto wreck.

The screaming started at 3:16am. I knew it was too early for my alarm to go off, but I threw my arm out to hit the snooze button as pure reflex. When the noise didn’t stop, I rolled over and took a look at the clock, which read 3:16am. At that point I realized why Annie was in a frenzy of barking - the smoke alarm was sounding.

All smoke alarms are loud, but this one, being integrated to the sprinkler system in my building, is louder than your average detector. The fact that there’s one in my bedroom makes it worse - it’s ear piercing. And if it’s painful for me, then poor Annie had to be in agony.

So I quickly changed out of my pajama pants into pants with pockets, did a quick survey to make sure the fire wasn’t in my own apartment (it wasn’t), grabbed my cell phone and keys, leashed up Annie, and we tore out of the apartment where our ears were assaulted by an even louder and more shrill alarm outside. At this point Annie wasn’t barking, she was whining - she was in pain. More than six hours later, my ears are still ringing.

Once on the ground floor, I put Annie in the back of the car and took the driver’s seat and started the engine. It was humid and stuffy in the car, so I wanted the AC on and the radio on to drown out the alarm.

At 3:25am, the #9 fire engine of our local volunteer fire department came rolling in followed by an EMT truck. At 3:32am, the second fire engine and EMT trucks rolled up, but they were quickly dispatched back to the station. There was no fire, but the alarm was still sounding. You know, that was a pretty good response time, imho.

Apparently, it was an electrical short. It took them about an hour to get the alarm off for good. I was back in bed by 4:12am, but I didn’t get back to sleep for the paranoia that I would sleep through my alarm. I finally rolled out of bed at about 6:20am.

I am a tired lady today. And a little cranky, but the additional reasons for that will be in the next post.

Fox News is reporting that Bob Hope is dead today. There’s no link.

I’m sure the week will be filled with wonderful tributes for him and the movie channels will run a lot of his stuff.

He was a great patriot, a talented comedian, wonderful singer and actor, and from what I’ve heard, a good family man.

He will be missed.

UPDATE: Here’s a link.

Sunday, July 27, 2003

Jared may think that his new baby, Grace, is the cutest (and she is adorable), but my niece CootieGirl is the cutest baby in all the land. Go take a look at the latest pictures for proof.

When I left for church at 7:30am, Kirby was still asleep. Talking to him this afternoon, he told me he left at about 10am - after he cleaned my kitchen for me, including emptying the trash. He’s a good guy.

He called to tell me that A&E network is showing The True Seabiscuit tonight at 9pm. I’ll be tuned in for sure, I want to know the truth behind the movie - knowing that while the movie was based on the true story, Hollowood had to have tweaked it a bit to make audiences happy.

Our worship leader’s sister was in town this weekend. She’s musically talented as well, and her daughter too. So he had them sit in with the band for worship leading this morning. It was fantastic. We had our normal band with the worship leader, me, his sister, and his niece as the only singers. You know when a family sings together the blend is amazing, right? Somehow my voice blended right in with them - we had some beautiful harmonies going on all of the songs and it made our worship time just incredible. And then our pastor’s sermon was on worship - it was a great service.

After church we had lunch at The Marshal’s home. There were several other people so we had a great time. I didn’t get home until about 4:15. I quickly walked Annie, then settled down to watch Punch-Drunk Love before logging on, so that I could end Jared’s and The Cooties’ suspense on my reaction to it since they had a good debate going in an earlier comment thread.

So now I’m trying to catch up on my blog reading for the weekend. I’m hoping that those who participated in 2003 Blogathon made it the whole 24 hours and got some good rest today before heading back to work tomorrow. I know the charities involved are happy for the funds headed their way soon.

After Kirby and I ate Buffalo Wings and pizza yesterday, we stopped at Blockbuster where three movies were rented:

1. Ghost Ship - Creepy, this was a typical Kirby kind of movie. I liked it, sort of.

2. Two Weeks Notice - Cute, I really like Hugh Grant and somewhat like Sandra Bullock. This was them at their typecast best.

3. Punch-Drunk Love - Weird, I think I like this one. I don’t hate it, but I don’t love it. I’m thinking it will be a couple days of ruminating to bring me to the “I love PDL” stage. Paul Thomas Anderson is a bizarre fellow whose best friend must be Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Saturday, July 26, 2003

We saw Seabiscuit (I’m too lazy to find the link, sorry) today.

Excellent - an Oscar™ contender for sure. It was a little on the long side, but I liked the historical narrations for perspective and to layout the timeline. I really loved the use of editing to show emotion in one particular set of scenes - what was great was the lack of music - and I was still feeling what the director wanted me to feel.

Tobey Maguire is a really good actor. I’ve always liked Jeff Bridges, who looks more like his Dad every time I see him. William H. Macy is great too. And I can’t say enough about Chris Cooper - he’s brilliant in everything he’s in. Everything. I’m not exaggerating.

Go see it as soon as you can.

Oh, and Kirby liked it too.

As of this writing (7:06am), I have 998 comments. I’m going to be the one to put me over the 1000 mark, because some folks commented last night and I can’t wait to respond to them.

Let me say, thank you to all who have commented here. As I stated in this post, I much prefer comments to linkage (although I like to be linked as well, of course).

I’ve appreciated the ribbing, the serious discussion, the debates. Please don’t stop speaking your mind here. I’m gratified to know that I’m writing and linking things that you’re somewhat interested in. Or you’re humoring me, but that’s OK, too.

Thanks!

Friday, July 25, 2003

It’s been a ho-hum day - sort of busy at work, but I’m not overflowing with stuff to ramble on about either.

I am waiting for Kirby to call me to let me know when he plans to arrive here tonight. The lateness of the hour of his arrival will dictate my dinner plans.

I have worship band practice tonight, I head over to the church straight from work since we meet at 6:30pm. I should be done with that at about 9-9:30pm.

Tomorrow is a little up in the air, although my parents and I want to go see Seabiscuit. That may involve some coaxing to get Kirb to go since he’s not too familiar with it, and he’s picky about “serious” movies. I sort of want to see Pirates of the Caribbean again and Kirb hasn’t seen it yet, so there may be a double feature in my future.

I also want to spend some time online supporting the folks who will be blogging away for the 2003 Blogathon to raise money for various charities. In particular, I will be supporting Mrs. Cootiehog and Kevin at Wizbang. The big blog-off starts at 9:00am, I plan to be there!

And I want to rent and watch Punch Drunk Love, which comes highly recommended to me by Jared, who also recommended Magnolia.

Sunday is the usual church-filled morning followed by lunch, this time a cookout at The Marshal’s home. The featured food item is pie - this was a dessert hangout time that evolved into the barbeque luncheon. (Yes, The Marshal and I are active members of the same church. No, it hasn’t been a problem...yet. And we have a deputy from DC Superior Court who has become a regular attender.)

So, for not having much to say, I managed to ramble on anyway.

I hope you all have a good Friday evening...be safe!

We’re all in a funk today. It’s beautiful outside, but you’d think it was the middle of winter and pouring down rain by our general malaise…

Chinese for lunch today - it took a 30 minute discussion to come to that decision.

I tried the two Starbucks shops on my way to work and both were overflowing with customers. Out of sheer desperation for a cup of coffee I stopped at the Caribou Coffee at Braddock Road. They have a White Chocolate Mocha - and I was assured by the cashier that theirs is better than The Evil Empire’s. That it was $0.21 cheaper was nice.

However, it’s too sweet.

I couldn’t believe I was saying that about coffee (or anything really, although I am one who doesn’t like Krispy Kreme donuts because their glaze is too sweet).

I prefer TEE’s bitter White Chocolate Mocha. Oh my…

Thursday, July 24, 2003

So I spent the evening cleaning up a bit, Kirby will be here this weekend and I didn’t want to skip the cleaning or do it while he’s here. Anyway, by the time I was ready to sit it was time for The Amazing Race - a very suspenseful episode that did not disappoint. Let me say that there are some dumb teams that made it this far. Wow.

Anyway, at about 8:45pm I noticed something out of the corner of my eye - the biggest bottle fly that I’ve seen in a long while. Gross. And he’s following me around. Right now, he’s perched on the ledge at the bottom of the screen of the TV in my bedroom. Ew.

UPDATE: For information about the Bottle fly, click here.

Bottle flies, Greenbottle flies, Bluebottle flies, and Blowflies are all common large flies, noted for their metallic blue or green coloration.