Barb’s Burblings

Unlike earlier months, when I had legitimate reasons to slack off on writing (e.g., moving, work), I have no good excuse. Just this:

So pretty...

Isn’t it lovely? I adore it. True, I’m in the honeymoon phase. But then, I’ve never owned a videogame console before. Well, other than the ColecoVision my family had when I was little. (Which ruled! I miss you, Smurfs game!) But I’ve taken to playing that at night. The placement of my computer in my new apartment probably also has some effect; it’s really easy to just not turn my computer on at night. Which, overall, is probably a good thing.

Of course, part of me really wants a laptop. Particularly when I’m faced with travels and a lack of Internet access.

Ah well. The Wii calls, and I’m off.

My sister and her family visited this weekend, which was great; I love seeing Rachael. Kathy and Robert are also nice to see, I guess. Anyway, it was a lovely time and Rachael continues to be adorable:

The cutest was Friday night. We went out to dinner, but apparently Rachael’s going through a phase where she doesn’t want to eat much (though she was very interested in my Golden Grahams on Saturday and Sunday mornings–much more than in the Golden Grahams in her bowl, anyway). We were at a pizza place, and she was just kind of picking at her food. Then she was given the shaker with parmesan cheese. And holy crow. She kept pouring it on her food. Then she poured it on her plate, and used the slice of pizza almost as a spoon to eat the parmesan. She truly is my sister and brother-in-law’s daughter.

Also, I’ve successfully managed to indoctrinate her. She’s big into asking who people are, and asked about the Brian Roberts and Melvin Mora bobbleheads I have. I told her who they were, and showed her another picture of Brian, and she was enraptured. She kept saying “Brian!” and my sister reported that she frequently spoke of him on the drive home. Triumph!

And she calls Pemberley “Plembley.” Which is also very cute.

My little Colin-bear turns 6 today. They grow up so fast! And he’s totally getting friendlier. Trust me! (And ignore the scratches on my arm.)

One of the things I really like about volunteering at the National Museum of American History is when I can interact with history-geek kids. Like today, I was in the American Presidency exhibit. One of the pieces in the beginning of the exhibit is the coat Grover Cleveland wore to his inauguration. Now, a lot of people look at it and assume it’s Taft’s, because it’s a fairly sizable coat. I heard a little boy telling his mother he thought it was Taft’s, and I said that no, it was Cleveland’s–Taft was much bigger. The boy got excited and started talking about the bathtub they had to have made for Taft, and when I said that he could go to the National Archives and see a replica of the bathtub, his eyes positively lit up. It was awesome.

I also got to hear those magic words: “So, how are you with assassinations?” Very good. And it doesn’t sound nearly as messed up in context!

On a completely unrelated note, this afternoon I was watching television when I heard bagpipes. At first I thought it was on the tv (because why wouldn’t there be bagpipes at the O’s-Blue Jays game?), and then I saw, marching down the sidewalk, a bagpiper, followed by two drummers, then two or three random other people. I have no idea why this happened. I did see British, American, and Scottish flags hanging on a corner near my apartment, but that didn’t actually solve anything. (No signs.) Bizarre.

Orioles 4, Blue Jays 3

I got notice last week that workers would be redoing the roof of my apartment building. Huzzah! I thought, as this means that I no longer have to worry about the roof leaking and scrambling around with pots and whatnot. Which, yes, I’ve had to do. So, yay! New roof. They started work on July 2nd, and actually worked last Friday, when I had off. I could hear them a bit, but they were on a different part of the roof, so it wasn’t too bad. They did, however, consistently start work at 7:30 or so, which is right when I’m getting up, so I spent last week waking up to *thump* *thump* WHACK WHACK WHACK *thump* *drill*. Charming.

Anyway. Today I discovered that these guys work six days a week. Awesome! I had actually thought they were done, as their trucks and equipment–which had been taking up over half the parking spots allotted to my building–were gone yesterday afternoon when I got home. But it wasn’t to be. They let me sleep in until 8:30, instead of their usual 6:30, but really, I don’t appreciate being woken up by drilling and hammering directly over my head. On a Saturday. I tried to sleep through it and was largely unsuccessful for an hour or so. Then, fortunately, they moved to some other part of the building. Or maybe I was just really tired, which is possible.

They’re still up there. And I appreciate the new roof, honestly. But I also appreciate sleep on the weekends. And I’m sure these guys would also like to sleep on the weekends. This could be a win-win.

Happy Independence Day from me and Tom, author of the Declaration!

And as a bonus…Muppets!

I knew I wanted to go to this past Saturday’s ballgame; I had to miss Adam Jones bobblehead day, so I definitely wanted to be there for Markakis jersey day. Plus, it was the Nats and the O’s were showing Field of Dreams after the game. Cool! It wound up working excessively well; it was my friend Tim’s birthday, and his father had scored his company’s seats…which are on the field, just past first base. And they had an extra seat. Win! I wound up getting there first and securing our place in line, ensuring that we’d all get the jerseys. Of course, it also meant that we were in the stadium by 5:10.

So Dave and I wound up wandering around the stadium when a couple of Orioles staff people came up to me and asked whether I was a season ticket holder. I said that I was, and they asked whether I was familiar with the “Wear and Win” contest, in which a person wearing the season ticket-holder t-shirt wins at every game. Turns out I won an inning in the press box and control room. Woo! Since it was Tim’s birthday, Dave and I figured he’d come with me. So we spent the top of the 3rd in the control room, where we saw the tech folks cueing up replays, tweaking graphics for the scoreboard, and setting up the Hot Dog Race. The bottom of the 3rd was in the press box, where I got to meet Roch Kobatko and Paul, who does the recaps for the Orioles Hangout. Everyone was incredibly nice–O’s staff, folks in the control room, Roch, Paul. It was awesome.

Plus, the O’s won! Woo! And you can see my pictures here.

Then, last night was usher appreciation night at Ford’s Theatre. There wasn’t much to it, but we did get a sneak peek of the museum, which won’t open until July 15. We were allowed to just wander around the theater, which was just awesome. I could go backstage and peek in dressing rooms. Sweet! The museum was still being worked on, but it looks neat. They’ve obviously taken criticism about the museum focusing too much on the assassination–which, hello people, it’s Ford’s Theatre. What do you want them to focus on? Anyway, so they have stuff on Lincoln’s, you know, life. It’s pretty interesting. And the assassination stuff is still there, though kept more to the edges. I’m looking forward to seeing it when it’s done.

But anyway, the best part was that we were allowed to look into the presidential box! Usually you have to sort of lean over the railing from the balcony to see it from that angle; the door to the box itself generally is closed. But last night we got to go into the vestibule where Booth waited; we could see in the box, and see the actual sofa that was in the box that night. I totally did the History Happy Dance. And then had my mind blown listening to other ushers discuss the assassination; clearly these people are more interested in theater than in the history of that actual theater. Which is fine, but kind of weird. (Pictures? Here.)

There was also a raffle for door prizes–books, umbrellas, mugs, that sort of thing. I didn’t win anything, but I guess I had won enough on Saturday to make up for it. Plus, my tap teacher decided to use “You Can’t Stop the Beat” for a routine for next year, at my suggestion. So, wins all around.

Edit. Amusingly enough, it looks like there’s an article in tomorrow’s Post about the new museum. Funny!