MY First Day of Spring

Well, today was officially warm enough for me to think spring is really here. I'm so excited for winter to be over. I just hate it. This was the first day I walked at lunch without a coat and didn't wear gloves at all. Plus I left my back door open to get some fresh air inside. My dogs and I had a great walk tonight and lots of people were out and about in the neighborhood.

I have been feeling like crap all week, I just can't wait for it to end. I had my first "water cooler" conversation today. People use that expression for standing around at work shooting the breeze, but I've never actually seen it in real life involving a water cooler. Well, today there were about 4 of us standing literally around the requisite water cooler that has to be provided in order to avoid drinking DC water. The other weird thing about today was the bus ride home. It was a completely new bus with somewhat comfortable bucket-type fabric seats with a hideous print of the Capitol all over it--almost like one of those rented buses. The bus even had new bus smell, if there is such a thing.

So who will be kicked off American Idol tonight? I hate to say it, but I think Lisa's time is up. She's had one too many bad performances lately and was definitely the worst one last night, although everyone kind of sucked. So we'll see if my prediction is correct. It makes me sad. Going into this, she was my favorite.

The Eyes Have It

Apparently lash extensions are the latest Hollywood craze now headed to a salon near you. This is something I would really love, but never really spend $250-$500 plus 90 minutes of time to get, when it only lasts four to six weeks. Guess I'll just stick with tons of mascara, like this photo of myself.

Resources for the Career Challenged

There seems to be a lot of the career blues going around these days. Here are two cool resources for those of you who dream of doing something fun, different, and exciting:

VocationVacations - Want to test drive your dream job before buying? With Vocation Vacations you can pay to spend a few days with someone who works in the field of your dreams. They're even making a TV show out of it, on the Travel Network.

Living Out Your Dreams - Career and Life Coaching and Resources. What do you want to be when you grow up?

Still not interesting enough? Well, then just check out bullshitjob.com. Send them a story about your awful job to try to get it posted, or read about one that is worse than yours. You can even join their newsletter to get some bullshit emailed to you. Be sure to check out their Office Space tribute page.

Weekend End

Well, I'm counting down the minutes until The Next Food Network Star at 9:00. It's been a busy weekend and definitely interesting.

Friday: Jeffro made me dinner and then we hung out and watched tv shows we'd taped during the week.

Saturday: spent most of the day cleaning. Saturday night we went to a party at the Old Dominion Boat Club, and this great band Route 66 was playing. They had the whole place dancing. It was a late Mardi Gras party, complete with hurricanes and king cake. It was a pretty good time.

Sunday: had to do the grocery shopping, but later went to my neighbor's for dinner. Some great sea bass. We watched Must Love Dogs, which was kind of cute in an only-pay-$4-for-a-rental kind of chick flick way. Now as I said, I'm just waiting for the Food Network festivities. And wishing I didn't have to go to work tomorrow. Sigh.

Gone Country?

Michelle Branch has apparently gone country. She is in a new duo called The Wreckers with Jessica Harp. They were on WMZQ this morning, but I missed it, although you can see their performance here. Pretty cool harmonies.

Finally!

American Idol said goodbye tonight to Kevin, the bane of my television existence. It's about 3 weeks overdue, but he's finally off the show. Sorry, Blogger won't let me upload a photo but he's the little dweeby one.

New Reality Show Addiction

I happened to catch the premiere of the Food Network's Who Wants to Be the Next Food Network Star and I love it! The drama, the mishaps, the food! Plus all the Iron Chefs showed up and Rachel Ray in 2 exciting back-to-back episodes. I highly recommend it. Stay tuned every Sunday night at 9 p.m.

You're a Star!

Have you ever wished that you were famous enough to get fan mail? Well, now you can have some delivered to you every day and not have to deal with the paparazzi, thanks to Mark Kaye, host of 99.5's Hot Morning Mess. Go to yourfanmail.com and sign up for the free subscription service to have fan mail emailed to you every day. Talk about a pick me up! Go sign up today.

Polar Bear Triplets

Well, if this isn't just the cutest darned thing I've ever seen. I'm really cranky tonight, but this managed to put a smile on my face. Apparently this is the first time a polar bear has ever had triplets in captivity. However, Yahoo, which is featuring this photo, hasn't attached an article to go with it, so I couldn't tell you where they're located. You'll have to do the research if you're interested. I just wanted to post the cute photo.

Refund!

I finally got around to doing my taxes and I'm so thrilled! I'll be getting $1,000 back from federal and $450 from state. This will be just in time for my vacation to St. John's in May. Yippee!

Weekend Roundup

Well, all in all a good weekend, though too short. Aren't they all? Here's what I did:

Friday: Jeffro and I went to our favorite sushi restaurant, Matuba in Arlington and got caught up on some tv we'd taped during the week. No, I don't have tivo yet, so this will have to do.

Saturday: I had to take the dogs to the vet for their annual physical, shots, etc. A nice $400 down the drain. Then I had to pick up a belated b-day gift for my best friend. That evening friends of mine had a tapas wine with plenty of great food and sangria. These friends have several parties a year, but this was smaller than their usual party, and that made it kind of nice cause you had more time to talk to people. There were a lot of people there from a book club, so I'm thinking about joining it.

Sunday: My goal was to give the dogs a bath, and I was successful! It's quite an undertaking and something we all dread, so this gives me quite a sense of accomplishment, not to mention makes my house more bearable. I went to dinner with my best friend and gave her her birthday gift. We went to Guapo's in Shirlington. Tonight I'm trying to get my taxes started, or perhaps done if I get lucky. We'll see. The dogs had this huge fight, which I had to break up, so I'm pretty mad at the one who started it. He's lucky I didn't kill him. Apparently, if I don't stand in the kitchen and observe the dogs eating, the younger one tries to steal the older one's food and they get into a big fight. This has happened once before but I thought it was just a fluke but I guess not. Tonight was bad and boy I am so pissed at my younger dog. When I got there, they were locked together fighting and looked like they could really hurt each other. Even after I kept yelling at my youngest dog he couldn't figure out what he'd done wrong. Now I'm just ignoring him, which he really hates. He's like a kid. Any attention is better than no attention. He's walking around crying now. This after I'd run into one of my neighbors who is thinking about getting a second dog and asked what I thought and I gave her both the pros and cons. I should have just told her not to do it!

Holly Williams Car Accident

One of my favorite obscure country artists, Holly Williams, daughter of Hank Williams Jr., was in a car accident with her sister while she was on the way to her grandfather's funeral. She's listed in fair condition but broke a lot of bones, including her wrists. Being a guitar and piano player, that's going to really suck.

Idol Chatter

Wednesday night's American Idol was exciting--Ace, Lisa, and Melissa wound up being in the bottom three. I love Ace and Lisa, so I nearly cried when I thought Lisa was getting kicked off. But luckily Melissa got booted off. I think that was definitely the right choice of those three. I can't believe that pee-wee Kevin is still hanging in there and wasn't in the bottom three! What are people thinking?

More on No Worse Airline (NWA)

I heard on the news a couple of nights ago now (blogger has been down and I couldn't post this) that my new favorite (cough) airline, NWA, had difficulties landing at National due to the high winds. Apparently several people had to go to the hospital after a diverted landing at Dulles. Glad that wasn't my flight, although my experience with NWA wasn't that much better with the recent rough winds.

Back from San Diego

Due to delays on NWA--No Worse Airline--our flight got in over an hour late last night, bordering on midnight. By the time I got home and unpacked what was needed for the next day, it was after 1 and I was desperate for sleep, which unfortunately eluded me until after 2 or 3 a.m. I had called work and said I'd be in a bit late so I could catch a few zzzs. I got in to work only about 45 mins late to get lectured that sleeping in after vacation-related flight delays were unacceptable and people had been fired in the past for this obviously horrible act. Blah! Screw them!

Please, I implore all of you not to ever ride on NWA--they have no tv screens at all, no cheesy crappy movie to pass the time. It was 5 hours to San Diego from Detroit with no entertainment. They also didn't serve food worthy of such a long trip--just stupid snack boxes. For a trip that long, couldn't they at least sell one of those really crappy airline sandwiches?

I am totally totally exhausted tonight and need to finish unpacking and get some stuff done around here. The San Diego trip was--well, let's just say that the parts I was anticipating being bad were worse than my expectations. There were some fun times but part of me wishes I had never gone.

Anyway . . . the funniest highlight of the trip was the drunk girl who sat next to me on the plane to Detroit. She was swigging wine from an individual bottle that she'd brought on board with her. She was hilarious and we had the best time cutting up.

The day trips we took to Coronado Island and Balboa Park were really great. See Jeffro's blog for some great pics, as I lost the cable that downloads photos and can't access mine yet.

The wedding itself was an Indian wedding, and it was really interesting. I will say, however, that I think I'm through with Indian food for quite a while.

And I might not be blogging much this week. I just don't feel up to it and need a break. Tomorrow night I will probably have dinner/drinks with my neighbor and Thursday is my drum lesson. So we'll see . . . I am just feeling too tied to my computer and it's taking up entirely too much time so that's why I should end this long post now.

Irony

The funny thing about this trip to San Diego is the weather. It's actually supposed to be nicer here than in CA. We're expecting sunny and 60s and 70s this weekend, San Diego will be rainy and 50s. That really sucks! I was hoping it would be like 30 here and we'd escape to 60+ weather in CA. My back door is actually wide open cause it's so nice today.

Outta Here!

Jeffro and I are headed to San Diego for the weekend for a friend's wedding. It should be a fun time, except the wedding starts at 8 a.m. on Sunday morning, with the pre-wedding breakfast at 7 a.m. What are people thinking? For me, a day should never start before 9 a.m. If only the rest of the world agreed. I just wish we could stay out there longer--today and Monday will be travel days, so we only have Saturday during the day (before rehearsal dinner) and a little of Sunday to play tourist.

Plenty to Say

Ok, so today I have a few interesting tidbits for you since I had nothing yesterday.

1. Microsoft is launching a new search engine called Windows Live Search to try to compete better with Google and Yahoo. Personally, I use Microsoft's search quite a bit and like it. The new search engine is available at Live.com and will eventually be used for searches at MSN.com. Some cool new search options: A scroll bar lets users pick how many search results appear; customized sources allow someone who is, for example, seeking information about the Academy Awards to receive answers only from entertainment websites.

2. A new CD-trading website, Lala.com charges users $1 per CD. They have to send a CD to get a CD, which is supposed to prevent anyone from abusing the system by only receiving CDs. Users are instructed to send the original CD, not a copy. Part of the proceeds goes back to the musicians, though I'm not clear how. Users start by listing all their CDs. Then they look at menus of available CDs or through other people's CD collections, clicking on those they'd like to receive.

3. Did you know that food expiration dates are all voluntary? This article explains those confusing dates that apparently mean nothing. Which is good cause I rarely abide by them anyway. I have the worst habit of eating old food. Thank God for my cast iron stomach.

I Have Nothing to Say

It's been a long day . . . I have too much to do and I'm behind in everything. Just don't have any good stories today. But San Diego is only 3 days and counting!

Overwhelmed!

Things are so crazy this week and I'm starting to freak out. Jeffro and I leave Friday for a wedding in San Diego and before I leave I have to:

Get a pedicure (yeah, sandals!)
Buy another dress
Buy moisturizer (running out)
Watch TV shows I taped when I was out of town last week
Finish writing a speech I'm giving for Toastmasters on Thursday
Live through said speech
Go to the dry cleaners
Vacuum my place so it's not a terrible mess when I get back (2 dogs!)

I was so stressed today I finally got around to doing some yoga and boy was that nice. I need to find more peace in my life! At least my boss is out this week, so that is a big help!

Weekend Reshuffle

Well, all my weekend plans are being moved around. I was supposed to go to a birthday party for my niece today but that got moved to tomorrow. I was also supposed to go to the Alexandria St. Paddy's Day Parade today, but it's too windy and I've been fighting off a cold and feeling really worn down all week and I'm not going to go stand outside for hours.

I was supposed to get my haircut with a new hairdresser tomorrow cause my current one disappeared, but then he reappeared and I'm going back to him today instead. In between all that, I need to go shopping for a dress for a wedding in San Diego next week and run some other errands. I've been lazy all morning, but I've got to get my act together to go shopping.

I guess my dogs missed me this week, they absolutely have not let me out of their sight all day and have been following me around like . . . well, like puppy dogs. It's pretty sweet. Tonight I think Jeffro and I will just rent a movie and stay in. I'm just too wiped out to go somewhere and be social.

Overview of My New Haven Trip

Well, besides the problems in the quiet car (see entry below) my trip was a pretty good one. But I am completely exhausted today. I had some pretty eventful cab rides. Here's an overview of the past couple of days:

Tuesday - I left work at 11 not knowing whether there was any traffic to deal with, or security at the train station (ha!) to catch my train at 1. In the cab on the way over--and luckily I'd taken a cab and not taken the metro so I could discover this--I realized that I didn't have my wallet with me. I'd changed bags the night before and forgot to put everything back in my work bag. So I had to go all the way home before heading to the train station. Luckily I live in Arlington so going home wasn't all that far and I was still able to make my train. My cab driver was a hoot--he was 72 years old and telling me about his kids, and how he doesn't want them coming to his house to tell him about their problems. That night I met a work colleague and his wife for dinner. We went to this great restaurant, Union League Cafe right near Yale, and they treated.

Wednesday I had to give a presentation in front of 30 grumpy old men. I was not looking forward to it cause I hate public speaking. But I thought I had a good presentation put together, and a powerpoint display to lean on, so I was feeling more confident than usual. Although I did still wake up at the crack of dawn with knots in my stomach. The meeting started with a lunch, where they served the absolute worst sandwich I've ever had and I couldn't even tell you what was wrong with it. I just knew I couldn't eat it. Afterwards, I got a short driving tour of New Haven, and my colleague drove past the Skull and Bones Society that Bush was member of just so I could say that I saw it.

I caught the 5:18 train home and again had a crazy cab driver who sounded like Sayid on Lost. I shared a cab with some crazy old professor from Lehigh University and the cab driver almost took him to the wrong hotel. The driver was speedily weaving the streets of Crystal City, actually making fun of himself, saying if he took the professor to the wrong hotel the professor could always blame the "damn foreign cab driver who didn't speak any English." It was pretty entertaining.

So total reading material for the trip: I finished reading Marley and Me: Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog, which if you're a dog lover is definitely a great read. Absolutely hysterical at times yet definitely a tear-jerker. It was particularly funny for me, since I have my own bad dog and could relate to some of the stories. I also started and finished another smaller book and two magazines.

Quiet Car?

It's amazing to me how rude people are. They were pushing the limits in the quiet car. One guy actually talked on the phone for a few minutes--albeit very very quietly--but he actually sat in his seat talking. There were plenty of other people who either had their phone on vibrate and then left the car to talk, or just outright let it ring as they fled the car to talk. Bastards. It was all very infuriating. Why do people sit in the quiet car if they want to continue to be bothered by their cell phones? Again, people are just rude. I hate technology.