Plans Foiled

Well, tonight I was actually going to get up the courage to go to an open mic jam at Bankok Blues in Falls Church, where my drum teacher was hosting, and jam with some strangers. This would be my first real foray into playing with a full band. I was scared and excited, and left the house to go, but the roads are just too awful so I decided to turn around and go home. I'm hoping that my teacher will host again soon, cause I would feel more comfortable going if he is there. Although Jeffro offered to come and jam there too.

And this rain is just unreal. It took me two hours to get to work this morning on the metro, which flooded. Interesting how the underground structure couldn't handle the rain. I wonder if it will be the same tomorrow? I was supposed to go to an off-site meeting tomorrow morning and would have gotten to miss the worst of the commute, but my psycho boss called me at home tonight to tell me to come into the office instead and we'd figure out plan B for the meeting. What a bitch. I think she just couldn't handle the fact that the off-site meeting started at 10:30 so I'd be getting two free hours of nonwork.

My neighbor's basement flooded, so I am praying that I am not next.

Is It Over Already?

I sort of feel like I didn't really have a weekend this weekend. Jeffro and I used Friday night to go grocery shopping to avoid the crowds of the weekend. We hadn't been shopping in two weeks since we were out of town last weekend, so I had absolutely no food in the house. Saturday I spent, literally, the whole day at my niece's many ballet recitals. I have 5 nieces, who were in 3 different shows yesterday. I did not stay for the last show, but I was still there from 12 until after 7. Today I spent cleaning and doing laundry, which was desperately needed. So needless to say, I'd like to rewind and start all over again so I can do some fun things. Not that the weather cooperated.

Tomorrow and Tuesday the intern will be there, so I have to figure out what to do with her, particularly for Tuesday morning when I have an out of office meeting. At least that will take up half the day. I'm seriously thinking of calling in sick one day next week just cause I need a break. I think my boss is going to cause me to start looking for a job earlier than the one year that I promised her that I would stay . . . six months is close enough, right?

Week from Hell

This has been a really long week already. I got back to work Tuesday after a nice 3-day weekend and my boss was back from her vacation and my new intern was starting. My boss has been on this kick of coming into my office every 5 minutes giving me something new to do RIGHT NOW, not caring what else I may be in the middle of--like training the intern. I almost blew a gasket today. Tomorrow I have to give a speech for Toastmasters and then give a little spiel on a conference call. I'm not looking forward to it. Maybe I'll call in sick Friday and make this a really short week.

Exhausted!

Just got back from LAWNGISLAND--took just over 7 hours with traffic and a stop at my grandparents' for breakfast. Not bad. My brother in law took this alternate route, though, and made it in 5.5 hours. Now granted, he drives really fast, but I may have to look into that for next time. It was a fun, but exhausting weekend. Jeffro and I drove up on Saturday, left around 8:30 a.m. and hit horrible traffic right here on Kenilworth Ave. that made me want to turn around and go home. We stopped in NJ to visit and have lunch with his mom, then went up to the island, again hitting bad traffic the same place we always hit bad traffic in NY. We basically checked into the hotel and headed to my uncle's house for dinner. Sunday was a party for my grandmother, who is turning 90 later this month. It was a nice time, and my grandparents were so glad that we had made the trip up. That in and of itself made it all worthwhile. Well, plus the unexpected money that my grandfather gave me to put towards the hotel, that was nice too. After the party, we went to see some other cousins. So it was a busy weekend. I'm so not looking forward to working tomorrow. I have a meeting at 10 and an intern starting--although she emailed me that there are some problems so she might not be able to start until Weds. We'll see.

Gone for the Weekend

Jeffro and I are headed to LAWNGISLAND for the weekend for a party for my grandmother, who is turning 90. I guess I'm looking forward to seeing all my family, but it's going to be exhausting. Not getting back until Monday, so peace out and pray for no traffic!

PS - This map of the Long Island Railroad is really cool. We're headed out near Port Jefferson, if you enlarge the map you can see it on the Northern shore. If you don't, it's the end of the blue line on here.

No Parking!

I'm on a crusade to change the parking policy in the lot in front of my house to be only one spot per condo. Currently, you can get stickers for two spots if you have two people in the condo, and currently some new renters are taking advantage of this to the point where somehow one renter got an extra sticker for her boyfriend that doesn't even really live here. I'm just furious about the whole thing so I'm getting together a petition to take to the board to consider. So keep your fingers crossed that the petition passes. Yes, I am the Parking Nazi!

Weekend

I had a pretty good weekend despite the drama-filled ending (see post below). Friday night Jeffro made me dinner, which was quite nice. Saturday I hung out at home most of the day having my back door painted and having a local contractor come over to give me pricing on some home repairs. Saturday night Jeffro and I went to see Marah in Baltimore at this cool place called 8x10. Needless to say, we didn't get in until very late, so this morning I was very tired and had brunch plans with MJ at 9:45 a.m. It was cool to see her, but I've been really tired all day. I can't believe the weekend is over already. I'm tempted to call in sick, but since the boss is still out on vacation, and I guess supposedly I'm in charge of the department, I'd best get to bed early and go to work.

Spittin' Mad

I am quite angry about the parking situation in my neighborhood. We are supposed to have parking by decal only, and towing enforced 24 hours a day. Early this morning I observed a car with out of state plates and no parking decal that had obviously been there all night. Tonight the same car is back with no decal. I made 2 calls to the security service and left messages to no avail. Then I called our emergency service and they provided 3 phone numbers--none of which was correct. Then I called back to complain again and they told me they weren't even sure that our neighborhood had a security patrol anymore, which also isn't true. I just wrote a nice, long email to the citizen's association as a letter to the editor in our next newsletter. I also left some pretty nasty messages with our management office. I am just so angry because I pay a lot of money to live here and the management office does so very little to help the residents.

I'm going to go calm down now. I enlisted the help of my neighbor and finally got security to come out. Supposedly they're going to tow the car, but I'm not holding my breath.

Cat Reality TV

Tune in to Animal Planet tonight at 9 to watch a new TV reality show about the life of cats. It is a cross between a commercial--it will be shown in 3 little segments throughout the programming--and "Survivor"-like reality show. Ten felines, picked from animal shelters nationwide, will live in a New York house to compete for a grand prize, in this instance an executive-level job with Meow Mix cat food. What will they think of next? It's supposed to be tongue in cheek, so it will probably be pretty funny. Check it out!

Drats, Foiled Again!

It seems that every time I get an ingenious idea--something that I could market and make millions so that I never have to work again--it turns out that someone else has already thought of it. My latest idea was putting beds in airplanes like Quantas, which flies long distances to Australia. Check out this pic from the Quantas email newsletter. Bastards!

Evolution of Dance

For the one or two people who haven't seen this "phenomenon" Jud Laipply yet, here's the Evolution of Dance. It's been viewed more than 18 million times on YouTube, so I thought it would be funnier. The beginning is boring but if you can get through that and ignore the fact that it's like 5 minutes long, it's entertaining enough, I guess. I think it's one of those things that you need to be there to fully appreciate. But America seems to love it, according to this USA Today article.

Where Have I Been?

I can't believe I haven't blogged in so long. Things have been busy, and with the summer here, it's hard for me to buckle down and make myself stay inside for any length of time. I get home every night and all I want to do, after I walk the dogs, is sit on my balcony and eat, read, and basically enjoy the weather before it becomes the typical humid Washington summer. The thought of sitting in my basement at the computer has become unbearable. I haven't even worked out in forever for the same reason. But here I am at last to say hi to all of you, after it's dark outside and I've decided to come in for the evening.

So what's been going on? Obviously, I'm loving this weather. I used my charcoal grill again recently to make turkey burgers. They came out ok, but I've gotten some tips on how to improve things next time around. The past weekend was busy shopping for my nieces' (2) and sister's birthday gifts, then going to a family party on Sunday.

The job has been busy even though my boss is on vacation. That's been awesome. I have an intern starting in 2 weeks, so I have to get ready for that, which will be both a godsend and a curse.

And the most exciting news of all, Jeffro is moving in with me later this summer. Will wonders never cease?