Barb’s Burblings

From The Onion: Someday, I Will Copyedit the Great American Novel (thanks to Steve for the link)
To a writer who didn’t strive for perfection, my corrections would seem niggling. But the author of the Great American Novel will understand that I am as essential to his book as the ink that will cover sheaf after sheaf of virgin paper.
This is me, only I want to edit the Great American Trashy Romance Novel.
Current song in my head:
“California Dreamin’” by the Mamas and the Papas

Last night I went to Politics & Prose to see David Hackett Fischer, the author of Paul Revere’s Ride, probably my favorite of all the books I had to read in my history classes in college (his writing style is fantastic). He was promoting his new book, Liberty and Freedom, so that’s what he talked about mostly. It was really interesting. As you can imagine, a lot of people asked him about Bush’s inagural address (in which freedom trounced liberty, 27-15) and various current political issues. I wanted to ask him about one of my favorite lines from PRR; he said that when he wrote the book, the only thing less popular than writing about dead white guys was writing about “a dead white guy on a horse.” Anyway, I wanted his reaction about the popularity of exactly those books over the past few years. But I didn’t get a chance.
I did get his autograph, though. And man, was I a dork. I only gushed a little, but was like, “He is SO COOL!” Which is probably not something most people think about middle-aged history professors.
But he IS cool.

I know how much everyone misses getting updates about baseball (stupid offseason). Anyway, the O’s website is profiling each of the starters, and here’s the article on “middle infielders.” It’s theoretically about Brian and Miggy, but it’s mostly about Brian. Because other than, “He rocks and we love him” can you say about Miggy? Come to think of it, you could really just put that for Brian, too.

It’s Inauguration Day, which means that a large chunk of the people in the DC area have the day off. And it snowed yesterday, so almost all the schools are running on a 2 hour delay. My office? Open, and on time. Argh. AND I couldn’t get a seat on the Metro because of all the people heading downtown for the festivities.
At least I have tomorrow off.

And now…laryngitis. Whee.

I had my first tap dance lesson last night. It’s part of a plan to embrace life outside my apartment and work. (As Avenue Q puts it, “There is cool sh*t to do, but it can’t come to you.”) Anyway, it was really cool. Very basic, but you can see how, once I can do the steps faster, it’ll be awesome. Plus, tap shoes! They make cool noises! Maybe later this year I’ll start up with a conversational Russian class, too. Though…probably not during baseball season. Priorities, people.
I was happy I could make it to the tap class. I felt like absolute crap yesterday. I wound up sleeping most of the day, waking only to watch All the President’s Men (mmm, young Robert Redford). So by 6, I did feel well enough to go out, and I’m OK enough to sit at a desk today. It was completely random; I was fine on Tuesday, then, out of nowhere, my throat was absolutely killing me. Bizarre. But…mostly better now.
Current song in my head:
“There is Life Outside Your Apartment” from Avenue Q

As promised, here’s the picture of me and my future husband:

Oh, whoops! Heh. Wrong picture. I mean, here’s the picture of me and my future husband:

I’ve also added pictures to a number of my albums: Barb, Colin, Family, Post-College. And to my non-toolbarred Orioles folder, including a picture of Reserve Oriole Boyfriend Larry Bigbie and me.
It’s been a busy night of scanning and uploading for me.

It was a good weekend. I had Friday off, which is always a good way to start. I got some running around done on Friday, and wound up having a feeling of utter contentment. I read a bit, made plans to see Phantom of the Opera, it was all good. At that moment, life was wonderful. (Not that life isn’t still good, mind you.) You can’t beat that.
Saturday I slept in, then did some work (whee?) and went for the rare triple-feature. Carrie and I saw The Aviator, The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou, and Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events. I recommend skipping Life Aquatic.
Then yesterday, the highlight of the weekend: the Orioles FanFest. It was so nice to see my boys after apart. And it had photo sessions, so I got my picture taken with Brian. Yay! Sadly, he had a goatee, which…ugh. I asked him whether he’d be shaving it before spring training. He laughed and said he had to. And man, even with the goatee…adorable. I also got his and Larry’s autographs, and I’m pretty sure there was a spark of recognition when I had Brian sign a baseball for me. (Larry, meanwhile, was surprised to see a picture from when he did his rehab stint in Frederick.) Brian was adorable and self-deprecating during a question and answer session, and very very tan. Must be all the golf-playing. And I go to go through the clubhouse, which rocked–you could see the weight room and locker room and hang out in the dugout. It was awesome.
Needless to say, I’ll be posting pictures. But now I’m all impatient for the season to start, and it’s still 3 months away. *sigh*
Current song in my head:
“Going Through the Motions” from Once More, With Feeling

CNN has fired Tucker Carlson, one of the pundits on Crossfire. Crossfire will likely also be taken off the schedule. You may recall the spat when My Boyfriend Jon Stewart went on Crossfire and called Tucker something that rhymed with “pick.” About that, CNN’s US chief executive Jonathan Klein said, “I guess I come down more firmly in the Jon Stewart camp….I doubt that when the president sits down with his advisers they scream at him to bring him up to date on all of the issues,” he said. “I don’t know why we don’t treat the audience with the same respect.”
Sweet.

The build-up to the Oscars and all the newspapers and magazines running their “Best Of” issues has gotten me thinking about some of the movies that came out in 2004; namely, Sideways and Garden State. I saw both, liked both, but I don’t understand the critics falling all over themselves for Sideways. I mean, it was good. I thought Paul Giamatti was fantastic in it. But it didn’t profoundly move me or anything.
I think the problem is that I’m not the right age. I can appreciate Sideways, but it doesn’t affect me. Garden State, on the other hand, did affect me. I can relate to it. And I think that’s why the critics and I differ. The critical reaction to Garden State seems similar to my reaction to Sideways; they liked it, but it didn’t get to them.
Or maybe it’s just that I’m not a wine person.