Barb's Burblings

Thanksgiving thoughts

My car? Rocks. In the traffic going up to Baltimore on Wednesday, my car averaged over 50 miles per gallon. Whee! I discovered tonight that its highway average is just about 50 mpg, so it's city driving pulling its total average down to around 44 mpg. Anyway.

Anyway, I had a lovely Thanksgiving. Although it was a bit odd when, at around 2:30, the power went out (it was quite windy). Luckily, Joan thinks ahead and had actually already cooked most of the food; it just had to go into the oven to warm up. So we wound up heating the food on the grill. And then, just as the final platter was placed on the table, the power came back on. It was definitely an unusual experience. The food was good and the conversation as stimulating as always (though it did involve learning a bit too much about my cousin's bowels).

Though it did get a bit weird when, after my cousin made a comment about Bush's infamous "Shame on you, shame on me" speech, my grandmother made a snide comment about Kerry, which caused me to give a speech about Why Bush Sucks. My grandmother didn't really have a comeback for anything I said. But the cool thing was that it didn't turn into some huge deal; we just moved on from there.

What I am really thankful for is the fact that even though my parents live in Oregon and my sister lives in Ohio, I still have family close by that I can spend holidays with, and be able to sleep in my own bed that night.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone, and to all a good night.

Gas conundrum

I realized this morning that I have slightly under a half tank of gas, and I was contemplating whether I should fill up before I head to my grandmother's tonight. It's not that far, really, and I'm not concerned about running out of gas...it's just that fear of sitting in traffic, staring at a gas gauge at it drops closer and closer to the E.

Then came the epiphany. My car won't be using gas while sitting in traffic! Whee! Hurrah for the Prius!

I'll probably wind up getting gas tomorrow morning, though.

True love

I didn't think it would happen, but it did. I am smitten. I have found The Perfect Manuscript. And ohh, how I adore it. It came in something like 6 months early. It's 10 chapters long, the longest of which is only 21 pages (most are in the 14 to 16 page range). To give you some reference, most of our manuscripts have chapters in the 50 or 75 page range. It has long case studies, which I love. It has no references because it's a workbook. It has no tables. The only thing I need permission for are the case studies, which the author has already obtained. I inventoried the manuscript in something like 20 minutes. I want to run away with this book and have 10,000 of its babies.

Partay?

My company's holiday party is always a lunch. We get out of work at noon, go to a nice restaurant for lunch, receive our $10 gift cards to Barnes & Noble, listen through some boring speeches about people who've had major anniversaries that year, and get some door prizes, culminating in the gift of 2 plane tickets to anywhere in the continental US. It usually ends around 2:30 or 3, and we have the rest of the day off. So it's nice.

But one of the nicest things about it is that it's just the people who work here. No significant others. This morning I opened my email to find an invitation from my department director inviting everyone in the department to a holiday party at her house--and significant others are welcome. Argh. I'll go, and I'm sure I'll still have a good time (and I imagine that, unlike the company holiday party, there will be alcohol at this one), but...I don't know. Maybe it's just that I've been a little sensitive lately about my whole "being single" situation--and Thanksgiving will be GREAT for that! ("No, Gram, still don't have a boyfriend ... Yes, I certainly hope you'll be alive to make it to my wedding, too.") Oh well.

Speaking of parties, there was a lovely one last night at my apartment, though it was Becca and Steve who did the cooking, and Carrie who did the cleaning. It was tons of fun, and just emphasized to me that I'm really thankful for having such great friends.

Current song in my head:
"My Sweet Lord" by George Harrison

A new drug

I'm completely hooked on Snood. It's like crack. I can't stop playing.

Is Mary Lou Retton in it?

I watched The West Wing tonight for the first time in quite a while and saw a commercial for A Christmas Carol: The Musical. It looks, to be blunt, horrible, and all I could think of was the movie Scrooged.

This is not over

Frustrated with how the election turned out? Sars and Wing Chun have set up a site for how you can get involved.

My boyfriend and yours

...Mr. Jon Stewart, shortly before his infamous appearance on Crossfire.

DC's championship team

Congratulations to DC United, winner of the MLS Cup! It's their fourth championship, but their first since 1999; they had previously won 3 titles in 4 years. They beat the Kansas City Wizards (and heeeey, I just got that!) last night, 3-2. I did make it to a game this season, seeing United beat Crew (sorry, Kath!). Anyway, hurrah for United!

But it's HIS forehead!

As promised, here are my pictures from my trip to England. Whee!

My trip to England

London: 4 November
Covent Garden
The Complete Word of God (Abridged)

Liverpool: 5-6 November
The Beatles Story
Bonfire Night
Magical Mystery Tour

London: 6 November
Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason

Bath: 7 November
Jane Austen Centre
Jane Austen Walking Tour
Upper Assembly Rooms
Museum of Costume & Exhibit on costumes from Austen movies
Sally Lunn's

London: 8-10 November
Cabinet War Rooms
The Monument
Britain At War Experience
Imperial War Museum
Ladies in Lavender premiere
Jerry Springer: The Opera
St. Paul's
Millennium Bridge
Hay's Galleria
Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason premiere
Sweeney Todd

Pictures to come...

Triumphant return

I've safely returned from England. It was loads of fun, but right now I'm pretty tired. I'll fill you in later. But for now, I just want to say...

I saw Colin Firth. In person. Squee!

Dash away

I'm in that crazy hectic place. Today has just been insane. But I have to say that I'm really happy to be fleeing the country. I have a meeting at 4 which I'm praying doesn't run long, particularly since I have no idea what the Metro schedule will be like (thanks to the train collision this afternoon, whee!). I'm just trying to calm down, but knowing I have to be at the airport in 3 hours...and now I'm at work? It's all just surreal.

Add to the franticness the fact that I am, legitimately, scared of where this country is heading. I'm really looking forward to just getting away from it all.

See you next Thursday.

Those helpful Canadians

Feel like you can't take living in the country with Bush as president for another 4 years? The Canadians want to help us out, setting up a website where Canadian citizens can pledge to marry an American. I, of course, plan on finding a nice British boy and settling down in England, but this is a good backup plan.

Keen grasp of the obvious

So today during lunch I got my hair cut. I was originally just going to get a trim, but I thought I'd be wild and get my hair layered. So I got quite a few inches taken off and the hair is layered and I'm getting used to it. It's cute, but takes adjusting. Anyway, so I got back to work and everyone was saying how cute it is, etc. Later, another coworker walked by my office and poked her head in my office. "You got a haircut! I always notice these things," she said, nodding wisely. "I mean, it's just like bam! I can't miss it."

Wow. Just...yeah. If she hadn't noticed, that would've been evidence of a major lack of observation skills. I certainly wasn't impressed, as I think I was meant to be.

Voting: The Odyssey

The polls in Maryland opened at 7 this morning, and I left my apartment at 7 to drive to my polling place. I arrived at maybe 7:05. I found a parking spot at around 7:25. One of the workers at the polling place said that there were around 300 people waiting when the polls opened. So I proceeded to wait in line for about an hour. We inched our way toward the door. At first the temperature wasn't too bad, but standing in 55 degrees got a bit chilly after a while, so it was good to get inside. Where I waited more, and found myself wishing that my last name began with H-O, as there were so few of them that they kept getting to jump ahead. The room where the booths were was tiny and all the lines kept getting mashed together, but it all worked out in the end. I voted and arrived to work a mere 90 minutes late.

I think some people may have gotten discouraged by the parking situation, but I didn't see anyone leave the line to get inside. It was really cool seeing such high interest.

So if you haven't already...get out there and vote!

Sims stories

You should drop whatever you're doing and read these two articles in which a guy describes what he does with his Sims. I laughed until I cried, which was kind of a challenge, as I read them at work.

You take the good, you take the bad

Friday was a banner day as we finally sent The Book From Hell to the printer. What a relief. Of course, I still have another book on an insanely tight schedule (due out in mid-December) and one on a slightly less insane schedule (due end of January). But it's nice to know that the one is gone. Whee.

For some reason my bills ganged up on me this month. I got 4 or 5 that are all due during the week I'm going to be gone. But since my next paycheck isn't until Thursday--when I'm already gone--I had to pay them using my last paycheck, which also had to go toward the rent. I'm grateful for birthday money, which is the only thing that enabled me to pay some of these bills. Which is kind of sad. But at least I get paid on Thursday, which means I can use my debit card without fear of running out of cash in that account. Thankfully.

And another November 1...man. I still think about her a lot, even after 7 years. And it’s hard to believe it’s been that long.