Barb's Burblings

Feel good Friday

Fun with YouTube!

*Les Mis...enacted by Legos! (Courtesy of Brent)
*What The Office folks did over the summer (official NBC vid)
*The Best of Ralph Wiggum...Part 1 and Part 2

Also cute? Hedgehogs who adopted a broom as their mother.

And addictive games...Cake Mania and Diner Dash

Tourists in Gettysburg? Really?

I was at the library today and the woman working the circulation desk noticed my Gettysburg t-shirt. "Did you like living in Gettysburg?" she asked. I said that yes, I really liked it. She said that she had been thinking of moving to Gettysburg or Chambersburg, somewhere in Pennsylvania. "Well," I said, "as long as you're used to a lot of tourists," and smiled. She kind of looked at me and asked, "Oh, are there a lot of tourists in Gettysburg?" She was serious. I said that yes, there are. "Oh, because of the Civil War?" "...Yes." Hey, at least she knew that Gettysburg is in Pennsylvania.

As I was walking away, she asked whether I knew which parts of Pennsylvania are nice.

Men are from Mars, Barb is from...

I can't believe that it's been 20 years since my family moved from New Jersey to Connecticut. 20 years. How is it possible that I remember things from over 20 years ago? When did I get old???

It boggles my mind that I've now been in the DC area as long as I lived in Connecticut; next year, I'll have been here as long as I lived in New Jersey, which is the longest that I've lived anywhere (8 years). Admittedly I've moved around a little bit here, but it's been within a 10 mile radius or so, so I'll give it a pass. Honestly, I love that I've been here that long. I love knowing the back routes. I love being able to say, "Oh, that's where X used to be."

I'm not a Washingtonian (I don't live in the city, for one thing), but when someone asks me where I'm from now, I have no problems saying "DC."

It's bAAAAaaaack

Last week was so lovely. It was so nice and cool. Highs in the 70s? Yes, please. And I’m not just saying that because it saves me money on my electric bill (apparently window units use a lot of electricity!). I'm saying that because my kitchen doesn't have any a/c, so it makes making dinner miserable.

Even with the knowledge that it would heat up again, it was kind of unexpected. Thursday night I slept with the window open. It was another cloudy, cool morning on Friday.

Then, Friday afternoon, I was in a meeting with some outside consultants, who made a comment about it being cool in there. Well, duh. It's always freezing in the conference room. So I had a hint that it was hot outside. But I didn't expect the wall of heat and humidity when I left the office. Still, it wasn't too bad when the sun went down.

But Saturday? Ugh. Completely awful. I spent part of the afternoon wandering around the mall at Tysons Corner, and it was warm there. Dang it, that was supposed to be where I went to keep cool! But nope.

Let's just hope that the thunderstorms blowing through actually do cool things off.

Ain't that a shame

I just got the American Graffiti soundtrack, and I am pumped. I actually have it on tape as well, but I wanted to have it in a format that I could listen to a bit more frequently--you know, in a place other than my kitchen.

Man, I love 50s music. In Great Falls, there was a station that actually played oldies. Most "oldies" stations that I encounter nowadays might plays 60s music, maybe. Usually it's 70s stuff, with maybe some Beatles thrown in there. (Obviously, I have no problems with Beatles music on any station.) But music from the 50s? It's hard to find even Elvis songs. Crazy.

I would turn on the 50s station, and drive out to this drive-in on the other side of the town. Yep, an actual drive-in--you would park, and a waitress would come take your order. They had good burgers and a ton of flavors of shakes. It was awesome.

Ask me another!

In yesterday's Hints From Heloise, the first question was something like "I have a lemon tree in my yard, and now I have all these lemons. Any suggestions for what I should do with all of this fruit?"

I cannot tell you how disappointed I was that the answer wasn't simply, "Make lemonade." I mean, geez, people. We all know what to do when life hands you lemons.

Full circle

Rachael's baptism was this past weekend. The really cool thing about it was seeing my sister and her husband get their child baptism in the same place that six years ago, they got married.

Naturally, Rachael was great throughout. Kathy fed her right before the service and she was quiet throughout (except a few minutes when she was sucking on her hand; you could hear it, but it was much less annoying than the infant who was crying). Rachael was impressive, considering that instead of it just being her with her mom and dad, she was confronted with a house full of people (me, my parents, my grandmothers, Robert's parents, and one of his grandmothers). So it was crazy, but fun.

Important cola update

In case you need cola and are torn between a Giant and a Safeway, go with the Giant cola. Rally is a million times better than America's Choice cola.

Also, I caught part of High School Musical last night. I'd seen it before, but seeing it last night just confirmed my initial impression; namely, that it's not that good. The songs are mediocre, if somewhat catchy, and the plot is insane. And I LOVE that type of movie. It has large groups dancing! But...no. And yet, I know that I'm going to watch High School Musical 2.

The wiggly kid

I know it's been a while since I wrote and this isn't much of an entry...but look how cute Rachael is! Awww.