Mormons Exposed

So. Tempted. To. Buy. This calendar. Well, at least I don't see R. posing there. He has a nice enough body though. And he was one. I'd send him the link but I'm not sure he'd think it was amusing. Or he would try to get on next year's calendar.

It's not too late to get me a holiday gift! ;-)

Happy Holidays!

I know it's a little late for you Christmas celebrators, but hey at least I got around to it. Actually I'm procrastinating on my writing project... my bad. And I borrowed that cute picture from the Once You Go Asian blog, which he unfortunately hasn't posted to in quite a while.

Meanwhile, I'm enjoying yet another day off (at my previous job we would have gotten neither christmas eve or new year's eve off). It's bright and sunny out, and I'm planning to walk to the gym this afternoon and get in a workout (I'm feeling rather fat again, augh!). I also have some grocery shopping to do. This 6-day holiday has been flying by though, sadly. At least next week is only 3 days, so I can ease back in to the routine. R. has called a few times, but I'm ambivalent about him right now as well.

I could go to two parties tonight, but I think I'm going to stay in. It's possible R. might be at one, and I'd prefer not to deal with that, and I'm just not feeling up to being social anyway. (Weird coincidence: he just called my cell. In my usual passive-aggressive manner, I didn't answer.) UPDATE: A reason to stay home: Kathy Griffin is going to be on the CNN New Year's show with Anderson Cooper (who continues to be darling and witty). I wonder if she'll out him?

Anyway, I was going to post some goals for 2008, but suddenly I don't feel inspired. Maybe later.

Q-tip® Confession

Okay, this is another one of those 'personal hygiene/grooming' posts that might be a bit too much information for some of you. It involves Q-tips and ears and wax. If that sounds like it might be too icky for you, feel free to move along.

Anyway, who else besides me does not follow the instructions on the packaging and actually sticks the Q-tip in their ear? Oh come on, I know you are out there. I never used to do it when I was young, but one summer (in high school I think) when I was swimming a lot, my right ear got clogged. It was extremely painful with the pressure. We got one of those over-the counter remedies with drops that are supposed to melt the wax buildup and relieve the pressure. Well the drops barely touched it. I suffered for at least another day or so before my mother finally agreed to take me in to the doctor.* He said both my ears were severely clogged with wax. My mother made a crack about "well no wonder you never seem to hear me." So the doctor got out this big metal syringe, filled it with warm water, and had me hold a metal pan under my ear as he squirted it in with pretty strong pressure. You would not believe the nasty gunk that came out. Some of it was in cylindrical chunks!

So from then on, I regularly took those Q-tips and went to town on my ear canals. Every once in awhile I will irritate one a little bit, but I figure it's a small price. Sometimes I'll put a drop of baby oil on the tip, and that helps. Sometimes I get a terrible itch in there and it just feels so good. I had a hearing test a year or so ago and they said I had excellent hearing. And I figure it's not as bad as a med student I used to know who would regularly stick an unbent paperclip in her ears!


*One day I must blog about when my mother took me in to the Dr. when I was in my early teens to see if I had mono or a -- get this -- tapeworm because I was so listless all the time. Needless to say I had neither; was probably depression.

Anniversary Agoraphobia 10 years

December.

It was either 10 or 11 years ago (10 I think; I could check the mortgage but I am too lazy) that I bought this condo. The 31st was the closing date. I was so excited. I even got a ladder and painted the vaulted ceilings in the living room with the skylights.

Somewhere I lost a little enthusuasm: I never did finish the kitchen, and I've repainted the bathroom twice. But more bizzarely, I remember when I first moved in to this top floor, southwest-facing 2-bedroom unit from my 'english (aka dark) basement' in DC. how bright it was. There were blinds on the windows, but the windows in the bedroom in particular were huge. For some reason I was reminded of this today when I really raised the blackout shade and the asian rollup behind it. The room was so... exposed. Anyway, I still owe a deep debt to V. (who may or may not still check in here) because when I moved here I kind of lost it. It was too much; I felt too exposed, and I could not sleep here. He lived about a half-mile away at Courthouse and I would sleep there in his bed (we were just friends then), get up before parking regs went into effect, drive home, walk my poor confused dog, and go to work. I think this went on for weeks before I could deal with the new bright place. Now the shades are still mostly down, but I like walking in the sun, and I miss my early walks with my dog after I got used to living there. There's a small part of me that misses the 'sleepovers' too, though I still don't fully understand that.

Salvation Army: reality vs image

Though I would never give money to the Salvation Army (they are a religious organization, and anti-gay), I must admit I find their new ad strangely compelling. I've only seen it with the sound off at the gym so far (while watching my hot anchorman on CNN). It shows this middle aged woman in the uniform, slowly ringing the bell. She stands very straight, her feet in sensible shoes angled out just so. First she is next to a homeless mother and child, then she is silhouetted against a light in a subway passage near a drunk passed out, then she is on a house roof in a flood as a family is rescued by a man in a small boat. It's all very eerie and dramatic, because she just stands there right near them, but it is if she is invisible to them, and she also does not recognize their presence.

Then today at the grocery there was the bucket outside. I heard ringing but did not see the ringer... then inside the vestibule (where it was much warmer) there slouched a young african-american man in a lounge chair, ringing the bell. I guess he should be credited with doing the volunteering (or maybe it was required?) but it sure was a dramatic contrast from the commercial. And I wonder how much they spent on that commercial anyway?

R.

So I mentioned R. and I had been chatting a lot the last few weeks. Today he asked me if I would drive him to the airport (we had the afternoon off after our company lunch, so it's not as if I had to take time off, and to be fair, I did volunteer to drive him. Once. Over a year ago. For many years I had the fantasy f picking up my boyfriend at the airport after some business trip...

Anyway, It was nice to see him, though he looked a little bit thin. His hair was longer (not his usual buzz) and it looked cute. He asked me at least three times what I had been up to; maybe he was nervous about making conversation. It wasn't awkward, fortunately (and the traffic wasn't bad). He seemed a little pensive too; I think that is because he is finally really coming to terms with himself.

Now I'm just left feeling a little strange.

Thursday!

Well I had my classes and there was no one with three heads, so I guess the Freakazoid manager (see below) was not there. It was a fun class though, too bad she missed it. Last night was another one of waking up every hour or so. It was nice to have my new Tassimo to make me one quick cup of coffee before heading out.

Tomorrow is the company lunch! Then four days off, then next week is a one-day week (Wednesday) then a 6-day holiday! Whee!

R.J.!

On a happier note than the previous post, Remember R.J. Helton from the first season of American Idol? (The only season I watched). He was so cute and sweet, and my gaydar meter about broke.



And here he is with another famous gay on a couch...



After AI, he did a Christian CD. Well, guess where he is now! (Warning, it's a little... racy.)

Ah, DC

I was in a crosswalk on the way home today in Rosslyn, and a young woman deliberately failed to obey the giant YIELD sign and almost ran me down. I literally had to jump out of the way to avoid being hit. Then she gave me the finger before I could even get the words "Yield, bitch!" out of my mouth. I spent the next several minutes fantasizing about a) kicking the rear view mirror off her car; b) throwing a handy rock through the window and possibly hitting her.

Then I took a few deep breaths and told myself that she must be a very angry, stressed, unhappy person, and maybe she'll drop dead sometime soon without my help.

Up early

I've been waking up early the last couple days (early as in 4:00am); I suppose that's a natural result of going to bed early, though 9-9:30 pm isn't all that early for me. I've just felt very tired when I get home the last few days... makes me wonder how I did the previous job working till nine or later? Funny how you adjust. THough I wish I could concentrate better. I should be working on my project and here I am blogging.

I've been talking to R. quite a bit lately; I'm not sure what that is all about but I'm going to be cautious. Otherwise, work is going pretty well, though one of my favorite new co-workers announced this week that she is leaving at the end of January. Very sad. Our Friday company holiday lunch should be interesting. I guess I'll try to dress up. Oh and we got bonuses! Whee!

At one of the clubs where I teach (the Thursday morning 6:30 class) there is a new manager of the group exercise classes, and she's something else. Granted, the previous managers have all seemed kind of disorganized and at times unprofessional, but this woman is a freakish freakazoid control freak (did I mention freak?). She's demanded new copies of all our certifications, she has announced a required 'phone interview' with all of us (I've worked here over two years and that's a new one; I dread it because I already had one phone discussion with her that should have lasted 30 seconds and she dragged it out to like ten minutes). Oh and her emails! I know I can be verbose, but she writes a freakin' novella! Her new thing is she is going to be 'visiting' all of our classes to rate us. She urged us of keep the class 'calm.' Huh? People are going to panic when they see her? I taught a class there a while back with another instructor AND the previous manager there and there was no rioting. I'm not looking forward to meeting this control queen, but what can you do.

On CNN Newsroom the other day they were talking about how people were ditching their landlines and just going with their cell phone. The female anchor (I don't even know her name) was asking hottie Don if he still had a landline. He said the only reason he still has a landline is for his TiVo; he dosen't even know his home phone number. Could I love him any more? If he still needs a phone line for it, he must have an older one like mine. I have to say I am not as fond of his super-short buzz as the longer buzz he used to have. Reminds me of Halloween when for a few seconds he pulled on this huge afro wig. It looked so cute!

It's Thursday!

And I made it to another class, though my sinuses were driving me crazy. It's like a faucet!

Today's topic is page layout software. I remember the days (affecting a crotchety old voice) of Aldus PageMaker 1.0, that came on a floppy disk! Page layout software has come a long way. PageMaker was bought by Adobe, and became ever more sophisticated, but then out of nowhere came Quark with Xpress (yes, that's the name of the program; it just shows how badly Quark became a one-product company). Quark was superior in many ways, especially when it became possible to generate film directly from the software.

For several years, Quark was the reigning software; then they got arrogant and complacent. Their customer service was crappy and impossible to reach. Upgrades contained few innovations. Meanwhile for a long time it seemed that Adobe was letting PageMaker languish. Then suddenly they came out with InDesign. At first I was skeptical: it had limited features, and seemed kind of clunky. But they are up to version 5 now, and I have to say they have leveraged the fact that they also produce Illustrator and Indesign quite effectively. You can place native versions of those files in IDD, and open placed files from those apps directly from inside IDD. I used to be a total Quark master, but now I'm getting used to IDD, and I have to say I like it.

Writing

I don't talk much about my writing here, figuring that most people won't get it, or not be interested because it's hard to explain exactly what I write. But anyway, my writing has slowed down quite a bit over the last few years, probably partly out of frustration with the pulbishing and payment situation, but also just my mood, and the terrible time vortex that is the internet. Thank god I never got really into video games: even now the Wii only gets used every once in awhile for a tennis break. I think I'm scared to play Zelda.

But as I am trying to finish this book that has been languishing around for well over a year, I feel like I'm kind of getting a second wind (and also another outlet for publising!). I actually feel like sitting down and doing some writing after work. And I have to say that my cool new toy (all the coffee I ordered has arrived already! yay!) is kind of an incentive too, since I do find that a little caffeine jolt helps me get to work. I've already had a coffee and an espresso (not bad, and certainly easier than making with the little espresso machine I have sitting in the corner of the counter, unused for years now...)

So, back to it! I wonder if I'll be able to sleep after all this java...

Metro Weirdness

At the Rosslyn Metro station this morning, I noticed one of the strange machines I hadn't seen in awhile, which I think are some kind of air sensor to detect poison gases or something... like saren. There were also quite a few Metro Cops in evidence.

At Farragut West going home tonight there also seemed to be far more than the usual number of cops. And (most likely unrelated) as I got out at Rosslyn they anounced severe delays on the Green line because a 'customer was struck by a train.' (I guess that 'customer' term didn't do a whole lot of good).

But I wonder what else is going on? Has Bush raised the terror/panic alert?

Watchless

I forgot to put on my watch today, and my left wrist feels nekkid. I wear a watch all the time, except when I'm working out or in bed, so it's weird to be without it. I only have one working watch, and it's nothing particularly fabulous, a low-key Swatch that my Swiss friend gave to me 7 or 8 years ago. It is nicer than the typical Swatch, partly because it is one of those self-winding ones. There's a spinning thing in the back that constantly winds it as you move, so it never needs a battery.

I read somewhere not too long ago that someone was predicting the death of watches, because younger people all have cell phones and use those to check the time. I have noticed people do that, but it seems a lot less convenient than just looking at your wrist.

Well, at least I have the trusty clock on my Mac bar at the top of the screen...

Coffee, Tea, or Target?

(Sorry, I can't make the diacritical mark in the header, but you have to say it Targét like "Tarjay").

Anyway, so I allowed myself to be drawn in by the $30 rebate and bought a Tassimo coffee machine. I like espresso, and even a latte once in awhile, or the ability to make just one cup of coffee quickly (not that my little Braun 4-cup machine hasn't been a trooper for the last 10+ years...) So, I got the thing home yesterday, and for some reason I naively assumed there would be a few sample T-disks in it. No way. I had a new toy and I couldn't play with it! Gene had mentioned that Target had the disks, so I vowed to go down there today after Spin class, since spin class was sort of half way there anyway.

I have decided that I'm not a big fan of Target. True it is getting close to Xmas, so maybe it's not normal. But at 11 am, the lot at the big-box strip mall in Alexandria was nearly full. People were pushy. I got a cart, left it for less than 30 seconds, and someone took it. They didn't have any decent T-discs (just some Maxwell House ones, which I bought one of just cause I had to try it). Finally, I really don't like the credit-card reader at the checkout: it sucks your card inside it! I was like 'where the f**k is my Amex card?' I wonder if it has a feature that cuts your card in half if your credit is bad? Anyway, I abandoned plans to go to any other store, got in the car and drove home as fast as I could, then ordered some T-discs from Amazon.

Later I went to the gym and did another 1/2 hour of cardio and some weights, then stopped by the Whole Foods. It was Handsome-Asian-man-in-pea-coat-with girlfriend-of-indeterminate-but-not-asian-race night! I kid you not, there were THREE of them, and one hot Asian guy in a Pea-coat by himself but with a big old ring on. Sigh.

Now I'm at home, taking a little break from a writing project I am trying furiously to finish by the end of the year. R, has actually been chatting with me a lot more, and has wanted to get together to 'watch a movie' the last couple Fridays nights. I haven't felt up to that because a) my place is a mess, and b) I've put on a couple of pounds and I feel fat. I could really lose at least five, and could stand to do more weights. It's frustrating that I know I have some decent abs (how could I not from teaching these classes?) but they are buried under a layer of fat. Grrr. Anyway, I asked R. if he wanted to see The Golden Compass but he's vacillating on that. It's not like it has to be a date or anything.

Metro Malfunctions

I guess most of the time I really can't complain too much about the Metro. Though, granted it's not what it once was: they have damaged the architecture with hideous lights and speakers; the escalators don't work half the time, and trains seem to break down a lot (especially the newer ones; the oldest ones made by Breda in Italy seem to hold up best) and they sometimes seem to make dumb decisions. Since the 2" of snow fell the other day, they are constantly warning of delays because the trains will be going slower on the slippery tracks. Um, right, those tracks are sooo treacherous. But twice this week I was left standing on the platform for almost half an hour because a train broke down in Smithsonian Station. Smithsonian! It's in the center of the underground part of the system, so they can't blame it on the weather. Probably some dumb tourist trying to hold the door open (they don't work that way: they will slam shut right on you and not let go. Hilarity ensues). Anyway, on Wednesday the delay was so bad that the platform got so crowded that they stopped letting people go down onto it, which was actually smart. I was noticing that the trains going the other way were very frequent, and almost empty, and I thought, they should just kick everyone off one or two of those trains, run it into the tunnel where they can switch tracks, and reverse it back in here... And a moment later a train stopped and the driver said "This train is out of service! Everyone out!" And that's exactly what they did. Miraculous. I also love that some of the drivers have taken to admonishing people not to cram onto the train and block the doors, and one was scolding us that if we keep doing that, the door would break and the train would go out of service, "and I'm sure you don't want that!" Hah!

One annoying thing is how (complying with company policy) they all address us as 'customers' instead of 'passengers,' supposedly so they are reminded that we are paying for this so they should give us good service. That's just silly. What PR idiot thought of that one?

Be Afraid

If a man who says "Freedom requires religion" is elected president, I am very, very afraid of what our country would become. I realize he is pandering to the evangelicals, but still. Scary.

White Stuff

While it has been fun (in a weird, flashback sort of way) looking at Shigeki's pictures of his latest trip to Hawaii, I'm enjoying the dusting of snow we're getting here in DC. Of course, traffic is snarled, and the entire Metro system is running at reduced speeds because of ice-on-the-tracks paranoia (this is from the system that refuses to officially acknowledge that people actually walk up and down moving excalators--when they aren't broken of course--because of the liability. Of course it's the same system where a bus drive hit and killed the 5th pedestrian in a crosswalk this year, and I swear the train driver hit 100 mph in the tunnel under the river towards Rosslyn last night.

Though this once again reminds me of this (kinda cool) 'Snow Apocalypse' version of the Metro.

Bad writing

Or, perhaps worse, bad editing.

I am appalled at how often I am watching a television show and the dialogue is so hackneyed that I can predict exactly what a character will say. This happens more often than you can imagine, and I don't watch that much tv. Come on people, try to be original!

Today however I was watching the first part of the hyped-to-death miniseries on Sci-fi, Tin Man and I was not appalled so much about the predictability (though there was plenty of that: the wicked witch sucking the soul of her general and putting the next one in command, a la Darth Vader) but the weirdly inappropriate things. Like when DG (Dorothy) meets Scarecrow, who has had his brain removed and has a huge zipper running across the top of his head (why bother; one assumes the people taking it out weren't really planning to give it back) but she is not shocked and weirded out to meet a guy with a giant zipper bisecting his head; instead they play up the joke of her trying to diplomatically tell him his zipper is open.

Oh, come on.

I won't even get into the shouted dialogue exposition to explain obvious character actions ("Oh look! A rope! Let's slide down it!"), while those characters are supposed to be sneaking away from enemies. Gah.

Phlegmy, then dehydrated

I don't know how I can drink three 16-oz cups of water during the night and still feel dehydrated. Well, I did do two workouts yesterday (spin class in the am, then I went back at 6 pm for 35 mins of ellipse... what can I say, I've been feeling fat).

This morning I woke up all congested and unable to breathe through my nose at all. Then after a fit of nose-blowing, I would lie on one side and let the gunk all flow to the lower sinuses, then I could (sorta) breathe through one nostril. Unfortunately, I turn from side to side, so when I flipped, I couldn't breathe until it flowed to the other side... is this T.M.I.? I finally broke down and took a Singulair, got upp and took a hot shower, and things cleared up. I had some coffee, more water and cereal then off to class. Now I'm at home, taking a break from writing, and I'm cold even though I've got the heater cranked up. I had lunch and I'm just finishing the second of 2 more giant glasses of water, and some coffee. It's one of those wonderfully grey and gloomy days out that just looks like it's gonna snow, but they swear it will just rain a little.

OMG I had another totally bizarre dream last night. This one had be back in Charlottesville, carrying a big roll of paper all the way down Main Street from one office where I worked to a 'storage' office. At one point I somehow veered off the street and was wandering through these buildings, and the next thing I knew I was at the edge of this huge canyon... and then vertigo kicked in, while I was still carrying this big heavy roll. Weird.

Well, duh.

I knew that the actress who played Admiral Cain on Battlestar looked really familar (boy that uniform looks awful on her there), but I couldn't place her. Of course, she was Ensign Ro Larenfrom Star Trek. Must have been those nose ridges that threw me...

I left my heart...

...in San Francisco! Here's a shot of my San Fran citicam, one of my desktop widgets.

When I grow up...

Hilarious! And so true.

Nightmares of Mine

Whew, last night was a bad night for the ole' subconscious. I had no less than three separate nightmare sessions. I'd wake up from one, then fall back to sleep and start up another. I'm sure it was exacerbated by the fact that it was Wednesday night, when I never sleep well, worrying about waking up for spin class. The worst was round one...

Yesterday my boss (the owner of the company) gave me her laptop so that I could migrate her files to her new laptop. Just before she handed it over, she kind of clutched it and said "I'm trusting you with this, I don't want anything to happen to it."

No pressure! So, as I told her I would, I locked it in my desk, along with her new laptop. I hid the key. So last night, what was my dream? That I came in this morning and opened my desk... and both of the computers were gone. So I woke up in a sweat and laid there, thinking of all the stupid things I had done (not taking the key home, not making sure that the desk was really, really secure, not hiding the laptops under stuff in the drawer... you know, silly paranoid stuff your mind thinks up in the middle of the night when you aren't completely awake.

The second one I don't remember, but it will come back to me.

The third one was about missing class, but not because I was late, but because I went in to teach someone an abs class and lost track of time, then was suddenly 15 mins late. And the new hardass manager was there, and there were all these disruptive people, and the bright lights were on... (spin clas is almost always done in a darkened room). Ugh!

Interestingly, there was an article in the Washington Post about Dreams, basically saying Freud and Jung were full of it, and youre dreams are not symbolic of anything.

So away with the repressed urges and surreal symbols. Today few psychologists believe that dreams talk to us in codes of any kind, and the action in dream research is empirical rather than broadly theoretical.

I think that they are what you make of them, and it doesn't hurt to pay attention to them.

Two things...

...I need to promise myself to never do again:

1. Have the Wild Mushroom Bisque from Au Bon Pain

2. Go grocery shopping after work.

The Wild Mushroom Bisque is delicious, but starting a few hours after I have it, the gastrointestinal repercussions are... impressive. I think I could inflate the Hindenberg.

One of the positive things about working the noon-9 shift was having my mornings free to run errands while everyone else was at work (another nice thing was the relatively empty Metro, and those who were on it were not in a big rush; that was ogg and bad). At 10 am the Safeway is deserted. Usually these days I go on a weekend afternoon. But I didn't manage to get there last weekend and I needed stuff for weekday lunches. Everyone who goes on a weeknight must be just out of work and pissed off. People were snarky and pushy and just generally rude. The deli was stripped almost bare and the guy working it was surly. In the checkout line, I was behind a woman who--of course--waited until the checker had totalled everything before even getting out her checkbook. Meanwhile behind me a woman shoved her cart up against my ass and started unloading before the checker even started on me. This woman behind me must have bumped may ass at least six or seven times as she kept pushing forward. Finally as I was leaving with my cart, she ran over my heel. She said "Oh, sorry." I gave her one of my best evil stares and said nothing.

Of Stock Photography, Fonts, and Will Smith

Who knows why, but I've always gotten a kick out of looking through stock photography catalogs. We used to get them in some of my previous jobs; a lot of that has moved online now, so I don't get to browse so much. Right now though I'm printing out some thumbnails for a co-worker, and can't help browsing again. Here's a pic from a whole CD about 'commuting.'

Similarly, I love fonts. I love looking at different typefaces, and I pride myself on being skilled at identifying them. The last several places I worked, I was the 'go-to guy' to identify a typeface.

Finally, I watched the "Men in Black" movies over the weekend. The movies were peppered with promos for a new Will Smith movie, which looks like a remake of the Charlton Heston flick, The Omega Man (ah yes upon further research, it most certainly is). There's a shot of Will shirtless on a treadmill. I've always thought he was a hottie, but I'm not sure why... he has great lips, a nice smile, a hot body, and those cute little round ears, but his eyes are kind of... weird. Too far apart. Though they do have an almost Asian look...

Being the IT guy...

... can suck some days. I come in Monday morning and the mail server has crashed. Not all that surprising since it's been under attack for over a week (note the blue line on the graph above, that's our bandwidth being filled to the max). When I rebooted, all our accounts had been deleted. Fortunately we had a backup mirror, which came up ok. We're going to migrate to an offsite provider so I don't have to mess with. the Mac OS mail server anymore.

Right now I've got the headphones on, listening to a cool remix of Britney Spears' Stronger that I got from a video Joseph the Mischievious Boy did recently. I'm feeling better.

Gymarama

Sometimes I think this blog would be better named 'solitary tedium' for all the time I spend by myself (by choice, I suppose).

Anyway, I headed to the gym again this afternoon. I made a brief stop at the nearby Apple Store, but they didn't have anything interesting on sale. The gym was pretty empty, but I was headed to work out, I noticed these two guys in street clothes talking to the manager. One was a super-hot Korean guy with a tuque on. I'd barely gotten a look at him when he turned and looked right at me. Busted! I looked away and started stretching about 20 feet away. I looked up. He was staring at me with those hot Daniel Dae Kim-like eyes! Then the manager went around with them and she started pointing out certain cardio machines. Ah, they were movers, here to remove some old equipment. I started to get on one and suddenly Korean dude came up to me and in this really deep voice said "I'm sorry sir but that machine is not working." Gah!

He busted me looking at him at least 2 more times over the next half hour! I was trying not to, but I'd look over and he would immediately look at me, like he could sense it. I tried to focus on CNN Newsroom with the hottie news anchor on my TV but I kept thinking about Korean dude. He seemed str8 to me, and his looks were sometimes a little hostile, sometimes just blank. But I think he was getting off on intimidating me. Anyway, back to news anchor Don. Today he was talking to a correspondent in a big mall in New York, who was talking to a toy store rep showing off popular things One was a 'Hanna Montana' blond wig. So then the correspondent (a guy in his 30's with thinning hair) puts the wig on. You could hear Don off camera giggling and then repeating the correspondent's name over and over. Then the woman anchor said something like 'who knew he liked to cross-dress?' And Don absolutely burst out laughing and said "I'm glad you said that!" He's so cute.

So now I'm watching YouTube videos of that cute little Japanese skater, Daisuke Takahashi...

I miss 'Charmed'

Sure, Charmed was a silly show, but it was cute, and it had a cavalcade of the hottest guys on any show on tv. I only started watching after that witch (hah hah) Shannen Doherty was dead. But they had Drew Fuller, Julian McMahon, Dorian Gregory (he was hot before he got fat), Kerr Smith, Ivan Sergei, Eric Dane, Nick Lachey, Wes Ramsey, John Cho... whew!

Last night I dreamed of my dog...

...my dog who died almost exactly six years ago. What's that all about? I dreamed of my mother the other night. It occurred to me that I can't remember one single instance of my father being in one of my dreams.

Can't wait for this day to be over! There's a 90-minute special spin class at the Capitol Hill club tomorrow; I'm thinking of going even though driving out there is kind of a hassle.

Latter Days

I was in a Mormon kind of mood, so I watched Latter Days again last night. and of course at the end of the movie they all get together for a holiday dinner...

You can tell it's not a normal week here, the Metro didn't seem as full, and people seem to be in less of a rush to get places.

What a strange day

I really wanted to spin this morning but my class was overflowing, so I offered my bike to the last person to come in. This afternoon I decided I would go to my nearby club and get in a workout, and better yet I would make the 20 min walk instead of driving and dealing with parking. On the way over I listened to part of the NPR show Studio 360 and heard this story about the loneliness of Chinese migrant workers, and hearing the songs written about them by one guy. I was practically in tears by the time I got to the gym. It was weird.

I pulled myself together and had a good cardio, and a handsome Asian guy took the ellipse machine next to mine. Later in the locker room we had one of those 'longer than normal eye contact moments.' Now I'm back home and just feeling... out of sorts.

Gay Tibet: Forbidden Fruit

This is a fascinating little documentary about gay asians. And they all have cute Aussie accents.

Huh? It's Thursday Already??

Ugh, I am soaking wet from the hips down, after a long nasty walk in the wind and rain across the Key Bridge, then class, then a slightly less nasty walk from Georgetown to downtown. My shoes make squishy noises. It was nasty putting on the cold, clammy jeans after spin class. I considered going brazenly in the laundry room and tossing them in a dryer, but they would probably be missing when I got back... and I think wearing gym shorts to work would probably not go over well...

Details about my weekend encounter? Well, let's say he's not exactly available. He's in one of 'those' relationships. I could never be in one of those, but if it works for them, fine. He/they have a great jacuzzi though!

Work has just been crazy busy, and I finally got the dishwasher fixed yesterday. Now I just need to worry about teh skylights and the windows, oh and the car is due for its 50,000 mile service (It's only got about 12K miles on it, but it's coming up on 6 years old and they are urging me to have it done).

I'm really looking forward to that four-day holiday next week. And it's time once again for the annual holiday viewing of two of my favorite movies. I swear Cary Elwes in Lady Jane is even prettier than H.B.C. And you have Captain Picard and a slew of other Brit thespians in a period costume drama about Catholics vs. Protestants. How can you go wrong?

Whew

Okay tonight I met up with a guy who had been at a spin class a few weeks ago (yes, Chinese and very cute) and... well. Let's just say he's a really good kisser, and it's complicated. Of course.

Spin Tragedy

(Actually, no one was harmed during today's spin class; that's just the name I gave to the mix I played today, one of my older ones):

Time After Time/The Beloved
Vogue/Madonna
You Spin Me Round/Dead Or Alive
Cruel Summer/Ace of Base
Colour of Love/Amber
Stay The Same/Joey McIntyre
Breakfast At Tiffany's/Deep Blue Something
Tragedy/Steps
I Don't Know What You Want/Pet Shop Boys
Everlasting Love/Gloria Estefan
Your Wildest Dreams/Moody Blues

I was feeling a little lackluster today, and as the class progressed, I was thinking 'Jeez, this mix might actually be a little bit too gay; maybe it's time to retire it.' (You know, the video for 'Everlasting Love' is a bunch of drag queens impersonating her)

But after class (which was full) a young woman came up to me and said "That was the best spin class I've ever taken!" Well, you can hardly get a better compliment than that. Then, in the locker room, this hot young latino looking guy in a wifebeater and tattos down one arm (I had spotted him in class with someone who I presumed was his girlfriend) came up to me and said 'That was my first spin class! It kicked my butt but it was great!'

Well! Who am I to argue then.

Memory

Gandalf the White says something in the Two Towers that I have found particularly resonant with me, to the point that it's my signature on the ICE discussion boards:

"I have forgotten much that I thought I knew, and learned again much that I had forgotten. I can see many things far off, but many things that are close at hand I cannot see."

Yeah, sucks to get older. But in my new job they are tossing new challenges at me, which I eagerly accept. I was an old PageMaker--then Quark--hand, and my InDesign skills have been limited to mostly print setup. But now I'm getting into some complex design and layout. Good to learn... for my own projects.

Gaydar

A few weeks ago, I mentioned a certain hottie CNN news anchor who I watch most afternoons while at the gym. Aside from him being boyishly handsome, he's metrosexually well groomed (I mean, look at that hairline and those eyebrows) and a very snappy dresser (where does he get those ties?) Oh and obviously very fit. And there's something... about the way he sometimes holds his pinky finger up when he shuffles his papers around...

Anyway, you know how you hear a radio personality for a long time and subconsciously build some image of them in your mind, and you finally see them and they look nothing like you expect? Well after watching Don for weeks with the mute on and captions, I decided to record a half hour so I could finally hear his voice. Nice, but not what I expected: deep, with no discernable accent (I guess that's what news anchors strive for). And I kept noticing a ring on his left hand and thought, well darn, but lucky girl; until the other day I got a better view, and it's some kind of signet ring, not a wedding band.

And finally, I succumbed and did a Google search with a certain keyword. Right off, I got this: "Today he refered to his 'partner' while broadcasting news about the fires in California."

Hot!

Weirdness

Okay I had really weird dreams last night. I dreamed about my dog (who died 6 years ago next month) and I dreamed about Seung-Hui Cho. I dreamed I was his roomate in college at Va Tech, and I tried to get him to see a counselor. In the dream, he kept staring at me with that blank look like in his high school picture. Yeesh.

On an unrelated front, who else is really, really scared about Pakistan? And what is Benazir Bhutto gonna do? If I were her, I'd be... nervous.

Ah, Avatar

Who thought that we would have an episode with this quartet playing volleyball of doom?

Sorry, but even the cartoon shirtless Firenation boys were kinda hot. And I still have a thing for Zuko; a lot of it is his voice.

Sunday Afternoon Blahs

Okay, so I didn't call R.; probably just as well. Class was good this morning, and I did some shopping and cleaning, but now I'm in one of those kind of depressing reflective moods... like where I am in my life and why my situation is... well, what it is. How much of it is my own laziness or deliberate (conscious or unconscious) isolation? Relationships of any kind are difficult and challenging for me. I'm sure even the spin students feel how I keep my distance...

Ah well, maybe I'll go play with the Wii.

Good Old Tivo

Not sure why it does some of the things it does... like until this morning, it was showing all the season pass shows after 11/3 as airing an hour later than they really did, as some sort of pre-DST compensation; but then after the download last night it restarted with the correct new time and all the recording times were right again. And I have an ancient SONY Series 1 recorder (as some of you will recall from my various travails) with lifetime subscription. They'll take it when they pry it from my cold, dead hands...

I was up early today doing various things, and now getting ready for class. I'll tell you, I am really sick of doing dishes. It is time-consuming drudgery, and I never feel like they are quite as clean as when the dishwasher does them.

I may call R. later. We have been chatting again, and might do a little shopping. All very platonic.

D'oh

So last night as I gnashed my teeth and hand washed my dishes (the repair guy came on Monday and announced that the computer was dead--2 weeks to get a replacement, and of course another half day at home), I was thinking how annoying it was to have these drying dishes strewn about the counter on towels; and should I spring for a rack. Then I had one of those forehead-slapping moments. Under the counter here, I have a big, two-tier drying rack... which is about all the dishwasher is good for right now.

Meanwhile, super-busy at work, but everyone is so appreciateive that it's really not so bad. I am quite ready for the week to be over though. And we get a free hour! Woo!

I was bad last night and had a steak and mashed potatoes. The steak was quite yummy if I do say so myself.

I'm sure you guys all enjoy the boring minutae of my life. ;-)

Ahh, Voyager

"All of these elaborate rituals of deception... I didn't realize becoming human again would be such a challenge. Sexuality is particularly complex. As Borg, we had no need for seduction, no time for single-cell fertilization. We saw a species we wanted, and we assimilated it. Nevertheless, I am willing to explore my humanity... take off your clothes."
"Uh... Seven..."
"Don't be alarmed. I won't hurt you."
- Seven of Nine and Ensign Kim

Back to Work, And a Strange New World - washingtonpost.com

I enjoyed this article in the Post today about a woman returning to the working world after 14 years staying at home. I could really relate, and I only returned to the day shift and a more 'professional office' type environment!

Here's some highlights:

I got off the Metro that first day and walked up the escalator to hear whistles, lots of traffic-cop whistles and lots of horn-blowing. When did it happen that all the cars and all the people downtown decided anarchy was the way to go? I thought about the countless hours I had spent drilling my kids: Watch for the light to turn, wait for the light, watch for the cars. They'll probably work downtown and get run over obeying the rules.

Squished into the subway on the way home, I saw my fellow passengers jostle their way through the car. How many times had I admonished my children to behave politely, not to push, not to shove. Those kids are going to be elbowed to death when they leave the suburbs. What in God's name had I done?


But it wasn't only the going to work that got to me. My first day on the new job, I turned on my computer and there were 35 e-mails waiting for me. How is this possible, I thought? I don't even know my e-mail address.

Then, my boss said the secretary would help me get supplies. Seconds later, I got an e-mail from the secretary asking what supplies I needed. This woman sat about 10 feet from me. I walked into the hall and could see the edge of her desk. What exactly did this mean? Are we not allowed to speak to each other? Do we communicate only through e-mail? Do we need to have a record of everything? While I sat at my desk trying to figure out how to proceed, I got another e-mail. The guy across the hall said they had pie and cookies to share.

It's so true. Everyone communicates by email here, even with people sitting in the same room!

Second Breakfast

I've fallen into a bad habit of having a greasy 'second breakfast' (as the Hobbits like to call it) and coffee after I've been at work about an hour. I usually go to the steam-table place around the corner run by a Korean family (the daughter at the register is nice, though almost too perky with her "Good Morning Sir!" every day). One thing that annoys me though is the hash browns (it's a pattie like at McDonalds; I ony get half of one) are obviously fried in the same grease they use to fry fish... so my potatoes taste... fishy. Blech!

Oh and I went to bed early so of course I woke up at 2:45 and couldn't go back to sleep. Good thing I had some episodes of Stargate Atlantis on the TiVo.

Today I get to leave at noon so I can go home and wait for the dishwasher repairman. I finally got an email back from the board about my skylights; they just said to contact the manager and he would set it up; apparently they have already done one replacement. I wonder how much it cost?

Oh, Daniel

This just makes me sad. Well, at least he apologized, which seems to be more than most of these celebrities do when they screw up.

Sleep, Fat, Food, Weather

Passion and love, sex, money,
Violence, religion, injustice, death

Paninaro, Paninaro, oh oh oh

Girls, boys, arts, pleasure
Girls, boys, arts, pleasure

Paninaro, Paninaro, oh oh oh
--Pet Shop Boys, Paninaro

I feel fat. I guess I'm not any fatter than I was a few weeks ago, since I can still use the same belt hole, but I feel... tubby. I hate that little roll in my bike shorts. I can't exercise any more than I do, so I need to adjust my diet (e.g., eat less junk when I get home from work) but I have very little self control in that area.

The weather has been great: drizzly and 50's. (I'm not being sarcastic; I really love this weather). It's not even raining hard enough to use an umbrella during my walks the last couple days.

My back is still bothering me some. I wanted to try a backpack yesterday, but I don't have one big enough to hold all the spinning gear plus another change for afternoon workout.

Oh and I had a point about that whole Librarian Elbow thing the other day. As part of my commute, I walk through the lower level of INternational Square here, which involves going through two sets of heavy glass doors. I used to go through them full bore, yanking/shoving the doors open, till I realized that maybe this wasn't so good for my elbow...
Friend

I had a strange email conversation with R. last night. I'll leave it at that for now, except of course I dreamed about him last night too.

I find that I keep assuming the same positions when I sleep, or even lie in bed: on my side with hands clasped together. Why do I keep clasping my hands together? Annoying.

I'm having a craving for Cheap Chinese; which is unfortunate because today is the monthy office pizza lunch (oh, great for my fatness).

Tripmaster Monkey

My kind of blog!

Aches and Pains

My back has been bothering me a little lately... and I think it may be because of my messenger-bag style gym bag. It's over one shoulder, and according to Dennis (if I understand what he means by 'saddle-style') they are bad for your back. The discomfort did start last week after my long (5 miles total) Thursday walk, carrying an extra-heavy bag (bike shoes, more clothes). Maybe for tomorrow I'll try switching to one of my several backpacks.

And my allergies are making me crazy. If I stop taking the Zyrtec for more than a couple days, I strt to get itchy in random spots on my body. I don't get redness or any sign of a rash, just really itchy. Mousturizer, even Cortizone cream doesn't help. And it's not my shower soap, cause I use a different one at the gym than at home. Maybe it's my laundry detergent...

My right elbow has also been bothering me, and it reminded me of many, many years ago when I got a case of Librarian Elbow. Back in the Olden Dayes when there were actual card catalogs in libraries, I worked in the Bibliographer's office at UVa. We frequently had to do searches, or insert new cards, and we would often pull the drawer out of the catalog and set it on a shelf to access the whole drawer. There was a typical way to do it too, yank the drawer out with the right hand, catch the weight with the left. My left elbow started bothering me... turned out that was the cause: a repetitive stress injury.

Finally, a gripe about noise pollution. On my walk to work, it's quiet in my neighborhood, then walking along Lee Highway I have a noisy few hundred feet, then a nice quiet passage behind a conrete and wood barrier with trees on the other side. But by downtown Rosslyn, the noise of trucks and construction is often so loud that I can't hear the radio in my ears. And of course downtown... car horns have to be one of the worst things ever. I'm sensitive to loud noises, and a car horn blaring a few feet away from me is enough to make me actually jump. It stresses me out.

Boy I'm getting bitchy in my old age!

Au Bon Pain

Here in the heart of downtown DC, there are literally four Au Bon Pain branches withing a four block area. Down on L St., two almost face each other across the road. What I find bizarre is that service is different in every one. Most are almost complettely self-serve except for sandwich making, but the one across the street from me now has more cashiers, and they get soups and some other things for you. I discovered today that I do not like this. My normally thick and textured potato leek soup was runny and thin. The lazy wench obvioously did not bother to stir the soup before ladling it out. Death to her. From now on I got to a self-soup-service one.

News Anchors

Since I have been going to the gym a little earlier in the afternoon, I no longer get to see the local news at 4:00. And the Ellen show has quickly become annoyingly vapid and treacly to me. So when I can, I switch to CNN Newsroom. Yes it's often sensationalist and shallow... speaking of shallow, I think this co-anchor is really hot for some reason. The funny thing about watching tv with the sound off and captioning on, is people's little affectations and body language become much more pronounced. Especially watching news people, I really notice every little head nod. I wonder how much of it is practiced. Anyway, there's something almost hypnotic about his sleepy eyes and the way his lips move. Oh, and he's a very snappy dresser.

A little better Tuesday

Anyone else remember the old Boomtown Rats (Bob Geldof before he got all righteous) song called I Don't Like Mondays? A classic.

Anyway, I'm feeling better (or at least resigned); after all this is what I got a home equity line of credit for: big home expenses.

What did I do most of last evening? Watch Enterprise repeats. Why, I do not know. The show was not that great. I think it's mainly just the whole trip/T'Pol thing.

Monday, Monday

I'm depressed. My legs ache for no reason I can figure (surely not from playing Wii Tennis for a couple hours!?). Did I mention that I was depressed? Stupid things like the dishwasher breaking are enough to send me into an emotional tailspin; what's that about? I mean it won't kill me to wash dishes by hand for a few days; it's not like the fridge blew up or anything.

You know what I really can't wait to do? I want to go to the gym and do cardio. I'm convinced that I'm addicted to the endorphines

Sucky Weekend

I hate being a homeowner sometimes. Actually being a condo owner can be the worst of two worlds.

My skylights are cracking, but since they are some common element, I have to pay for them to be fixed while how it is done is under the control of the association board. ruled by a scary, B.O.Q. who is not on the top floor and has no skylights, so has no interest in getting a good price. And she hates me. Last quote: $3500.

Plus I need to replace all my windows, let's talk around 4 thousand dollars.

And my dishwasher just stopped working today, after 6 years of perfect operation, then 2 months ago a technician replaced the door because of a recall. Hmm. Coincidence? Of course they say so.

What will break next? Sometimes it gets so overwhelming. Where is my spouse to lean on?

So I played Wii sports. Tennis gets more challenging, and I discovered if you do some maneuver you can do a power serve (signified by shadow balls behind your served ball that sometimes means an ace). And in some way the wiimote respods to really subtle maneuvers, but sometimes (as reported on X-play in other games) it just seems to flake out. I did some fine service returns and got aced, Ouch.

So I switched to bowling. Again the wiimote is often amazingly sensitive, and like tennis it can remind me of my own bad technique (in tennis I got yelled at all the time for not getting the racquet back fast enough). Here I would let go of the ball too late or I had a bad hook. In some ways it is almost creepiy realistic.

Oh, and duh, I only just realized how the wiimote vibrates when you hit the ball in tennis, to simulate the impact. Um, kind of weird that it does that. amd I did not even notice, because it was all part of the experience. But it is still an amzing little device.

Which brings me to...

I love Wii sports cause it is easy and I have a real short attention span with video games. But on some level it is... lonely. I want someone to play with. How sad is that? Yeah it's all part of my October birthday fall depression but still.

Colbert Report

I was meaning to post this earlier... On Tuesday night I think, Stephen Colbert announced that "Anderson Cooper himself will be on my show this Thursday. So gentlemen, start your fan fiction now."

LOL! Stephen is so sly. So does Anderson count as 'out' or not? He definitely counts as 'hot.'

Oh Stephen was also dissing CNN on the huge glossy poster advertising their Planet In Peril that they had printed millions of them and inserted them in USA TODAY. Then he also made a little comment about the big pictures of Anderson, Sanjay Gupta (also pretty hot), and Animal Planet's Jeff Corwin, all wearing tight black shirts.

I'm sweating

And not for any good reason, like playing Wii Boxing, or working out at the gym (or even having sex). No, I'm sweating from my walk to work. it's 75°F and 90% humidity. Lots of people on the sidewalk were wiping their brows.

I loved this story in the WP about the little old lady who was so fed up with Comcast that she went in and took a hammer to the disrespectul CS person's computer! The irony for me is that I have hardly a complaint with their customer service (their actual service is another matter; it was down again this morning). But when I call, I do minimum button-punching (and, thank god, NO voice recognition); though "to continue in English, press one" still annoys; and I get a CSR almost immediately; and they usually know if there is an area outage so you don't have to schedule a service person. My experience with Verizon, on the other hand, has been horrible: best exemplified with the week of no phone/internet, and them lying to me about the reason.

Today

Guess who's birthday it is today! Happy birthday to me. Here's an Astrology Profile. It's all true, lol.

This week both WETA and WAMU are running their pledge drives. Usually they try to offset it by a week. It's kind of interesting to hear their different pledge goals: WAMU is asking for a lot more money, no doubt because now they are 24 hours news/talk and all those NPR shows aren't cheap. It's funny to think about how this shuffle of programming happened last spring in the wake of the end of commercial classical WGMS. What kind of annoys me is they run these drives twice a year, but they try to act like they are only doing it once a year, almost as if they are trying to trick you into ponying up 2x a year (hoping you'll forget), when this is supposedly for a 1-year 'membership.'

In unrelated news: Potty Python: Woman Finds Snake in Toilet. Yikes! Though it reminds me of a few years ago (and 3 jobs ago) when a co-worker came out of the basement men's room to report that while he was on the throne, a rat swam up into the bowl. YIKES!!! He said he frantically flushed until it was gone. But, things swimming up the sewers, icky.

And, I've been hearing more and more scare stories about the drug-resistant bacteria... they warned us not to use that anti-bacterial soap, cause it was just making the little buggers mutate. Of course it could all be a plot by the drug companies, who will produce new, effective and expensive antibiotics.

The Honeymoon is Over

Well, I started playing Metroid last night and I got so frustrated.... Grrr. It's not about the Wii so much as I hate these games that expect you to do things that make no sense (like shoot things in your home base).

I guess it would help if I read the instructions.

Wii!

OMG I am all sweaty and out of breath from Wii Sports Boxing. I kicked ass on my first match, won all three rounds!

It's taken me a little while to get the hang of the Wiimote, but I did start winning tennis when I learned you have to anticipate more, and twisting the wiimote actually lets you put spin on the ball.

I'm ready for Red Steel, and as they say on X-play, a Wii game with lightsaber fights has to come sooooon...

Tuesdays are better than Mondays

As I've said many times before, my commute has its pleasures (as opposed to the hell-drive). The walk down the bike path, punctuated by a steady stream of (usually) very fit young men in very tight bike shorts zooming by me is a daily plus. And there's usually some kind of eye-candy on the Metro. Today: a big hunky white guy (yes, don't look so shocked) in this snug-fitting polo shirt. Then in the random amusement category, here downtown I passed an older man with long flowing grey hair, and wearing a kilt. Um, okay.

Negatives of course include car horns, and getting stuck walking behind someone who is smoking. *Cough*

Let me rephrase...

After Shigeki's comment, I guess I should elaborate. I went with R. yesterday when he went bike shopping. It was all a little weird. He was ready to plunk down $2k for a bike on the spot... without hardly trying it. Anyway, we drove around for most of the afternoon. He looked... different. There was no messing around.

Today I feel queasy and all emotionally messed up.

Ugh

I saw R. yesterday. I'm in a fog.

New Star Trek

I just read that John Cho ('Harold and Kumar') Got the part of Sulu! Woohoo! And there's rumored to finally be a gay character.

Sore

I did weights yesterday (since I had my cardio for the day at spin class) and I'm a little sore today, especially my quads. Of course walking about 5 miles yesterday might have contributed some as well... Ow.

And this day is just dragging! I don't know why but the minutes are just creeping by...

Good Morning

• It's another beautiful morning in the DC area (two in a row!) 55°F, partly sunny and windy.
• Al Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize! The WHite House is 'happy for him.' Riiiight.
• My Wii arrived! Damn this thing is heavy. Now I got to cart it home. It's soooo cute though. Ken gave me like eight awesome games with it, including Zelda!

Out

So apparently this is national Coming Out Day? How did I not get the memo?

In a strange coincidence, this morning I was thinking about all the male celebrities (some more than others) who have come out or are openly out lately. Here's my list off the top of my head (feel free to add):

Darren Hayes of Savage Garden
McSomethingorother from Grey's Anatomy
Neil Patrick Harris
Lance Bass of 'N Sync
George Michael
Hung Huynh (winner of this year's Top Chef (okay he says he's bi, whatever)
Brad Virata from Survivor: Fiji
Yul Kwon from Survivor Fiji (oops, just wishful thinking--?)
Those Queer Eye guys
Those guys who won Amazing Race a couple years ago (one of whom dated Lance for awhile...)
Countless guys on Real World
The Pet Shop Boys

And the Elder set:
Elton John
Tab Hunter
Rock Hudson
Richard Chamberlain
David Geffen
George Takei (yay!)
Nathan Lane
Tim Gunn

That's all I got...

I believe you can't control or choose your sexuality
I believe that trust is more important than monogamy
I believe your most attractive features are your heart and soul
I believe that family is worth more than money or gold
I believe the struggle for financial freedom is unfair
I believe the only ones who disagree are millionaires

--from Savage Garden, Affirmation

Did I mention...

That it is just a gorgeous day outside? Mid 60's, mostly sunny, breezy and dry. We'll have about a week of this before cold sleety nasty D.C. 'winter' hits.

And Al Gore is up for the Nobel Peace Prize! Hm, I wonder if George W. is too? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Natural Gas

Thanks to Pesky Apostrophy, I learned why for the last few days I've felt like I was going to blast off to the Moon* at any moment. I guess no more Kashi Go Lean Crunch for me.

*My mother said this once to my sister when we were kids. My sister was eating an enormous serving of baked beans, and my mother said "If you eat any more of those, you are going to blast off to the Moon." I still chuckle to myself every time I recall it.

Top Chef Reunion

Wow, Hung really is kind of an asshole.

I've only watched the first few minutes (early this morning) and I definitely need to re-watch the sequence where Hung pops out of bed like a jackrabbit in a series of quick cuts (always with no shirt). Anyway, When the head judge asked who thought they had a chance of winning the $10K Fan Favorite prize, Hung's hand shot up, and I think the other 2 finalists kind of sheepishly raised theirs. Where is this guy's head? He saw the show, and whether or not he is as arrogant and competitive as protrayed, that's how he was seen. There's no way he would win. Then he and faux-hawk gay dude almost got in a fight about whether you should help each other out... and Hung went on this whole rationalization about not being there to make friends and not having emotions... as usual with me, I think there's a little more going on there than he wants to admit.

And of course, watching him runn around the kitchen like a speed demon, I realized again how much he reminds me of R. Besides being cute, short, gay(/bi) and Asian, R. has that kind of cocky attitude, and he's ambitious. And watching Hung reminded me of the way R. literally ran through the grocery store, pushing the cart at a hundred miles an hour. But R. also was on Lexapro for 'anxiety' and also took ambien sometimes because he couldn't sleep...

Moving on. The weather was wonderfully cool this morning, so I walked from home to Spin class, then on to work. A little over 3 miles total. It seems silly to drive to class, then home, then leave almost immediately for work and ride the Metro. I just have to lug all the gym gear.

Speaking of gear, I have to admit I really want a t-shirt that says "Chef Hung" with his pic on it. The "I'm not your bitch, bitch" shirt and hat are cute too.

Oh, and I just love how Congress is defying Bush right and left, and he just sounds more and more pissy and petulant.

Yuck

I woke up this morning at 4:00am completely congested. One nostril was completely stuffed up and the other one was partially. I don't like being a mouth-breather! So today the weather is supposed to finally cool down a little, then really drop tomorrow. I can't wait. Now, how long will it take for the temperatures in the Metro stations to go down? Rosslyn and Farragut West were still sweltering this morning. Whya re they so hot anyway? They are deep underground, the trains are electric, so I can't imagine that they generate that much heat...

Hah!

Hung is (apparently, supposedly, by his own announcement) bi. And we know what that means...

Birthday Presents

My birthday isn't for over a week, but I just bought myself two big presents. I'm getting a massage on Saturday, and I just bought a Wii and a bunch of games (Including of course, Zelda!) from my old friend and former co-worker Ken!

Of Leeks and Laundry and Bad Music

More on Top Chef, this time actually about the food and not cutie Hung. What's with the Leeks? I admit I don't know that much about cooking, though I was correct in assuming that leeks are related to onions. But it seemed like it was all about the leeks sometimes on Top Chef. And in fact in the final cook-off, Casey was asked why she didn't include them in one of her dishes, and she said they weren't in the offered ingredients selection, and the chief judge said in his most confrontational voice: "Yes, they were." And she made a face, and they played the ominous discordant music-of-doom. One of my favorite soups is indeed potato leek, so maybe I should try to make it some time. Wonder if Hung has a recipe...

Oh I can't resist... For those of you who criticize Hung, you need to read chef Rocco DiSpirito's Online Blog about his experience with Hung when he acted as his sous chef for a day. He has nothing but praise and admiration not only for his skill, but his patience and communication skills, and just as an all-around person. So there.

Yesterday I did class, then went up to Takoma ("tacky") Park to meet an old friend from college for lunch. It was nice to see her again after quite a few years of just emailing back and forth. I took the Metro for the whole trip, partly because I did not want to drive back up again to that place where I had spent several torturous months as a Mac consultant (nothing against the business; it was just the nature of the work and the location and all the horrid driving and stressed clients...). There were also several street closings in D.C. because of the AIDS walk, and that could have delayed me getting to class (like last week). But Metro takes at least twice as long, plus the walking. Anyway, I got home around 2:30 and I was dehydrated and exhausted. I drank like 32oz of water, then another 16oz a little while after. I resisted the temptation to take a nap, but just laid around the house for awhile. Then I had a terrible carb craving. I made pasta. *Burp* I went to bed really (8:00!) early. Today (after class) is food shopping and laundry. And making slow progress on my latest SW chapter (I will finish it today!) and a model I'm building. I should take pictures of that and bore you with them!

Finally, there was an article the other day in the Washington Post about a local DJ who deliberately plays 'Bad Music' at the end of the night. They specifically cited Wham's Careless Whisper as one that he played when the management wanted the place to empty out. Instead, they packed in, loving it. As I've noticed with my spin classes, the 20-somethings love 80's music. I guess much of it would be considered 'bad' by these Post people, but I don't get it. Granted I have absolutely no room to talk, since I liked *N Sync and Backstreet Boys, and I still put Britney Spears in my spin mixes (now with a little sense of irony as I play Toxic and Crazy). But what exactly makes this music bad and other music good? If people like it, is it not good by definition? I think anything else is just snobbery. Sure it's manufactured, none of those people writes their own stuff (Actually Madonna writes a lot of her stuff) and it's light and fluffy with the same kind of lyrics, but so what? I can also appreciate Mozart and Vivaldi.

Eh, whatever.

Random Friday Thoughts

Hung won Top Chef! Read angry asian man's analysis. I'm so happy for him, and he looked so cute and overwhelmed. I'd also like to know who the kinda shaggy-haired white guy with Hung's family was... the guy who gave Hung a huge hug, then picked him up and spun him around in the air. Hmm...

I am so totally over the weather here in DC. It's October, and it it is still humid and near 90°F every day. I want 65° days and 40° nights! Oh, and some rain, please. We currently have a drought.

This week just whizzed by (though now that I say that, today will no doubt drag).

There is tons of stuff that I need to do/have done on my condo (the bathroom needs a new vanity, the windows and skylights need replacing). I wonder if contractors are charging less now that they are desperate for work in this housing slump?

I don't know what is up with my allergies. All the classic allergens are supposedly low or non-existant, but I am still waking up congested, and I cough all day. Argh.

More Top Chef

Of course Bravo has run a marathon of previous episodes, so I've been catching up a bit. Sure Hung is cocky and confident, but it seems like he has reason to be. I thought it was a little unfair that the others were down on him because he didn't share how he prepared his version of the Cirque recipe--why should he give them an advantage? He's competitive and he wants to please his parents. Good for him.

And he's darn cute, and he sleeps with his shirt off... ;-)

I kind of like the goofy gay one (not my type though), and the Jennifer Aniston clone seems nice enough, but I hope Hung wins.

Update: it's Thursday morning and I HAVE NOT watched the finale yet! Don't spill the beans!

Spicy Vietnamese

Why haven't I been watching Top Chef?

I hear he has quite an attitude. I've set the TiVo to record the live finale tonight; he is one of three finalists.

I wonder how cute little Goil from Top Design is doing?

Blackwater

I've found this whole thing kind of morbidly fascinating. Our government pays over $1200 a day per Blackwater mercenary soldier. You know of course that one of the reasons for the fall of the Roman Empire was an increasing reliance on mercenary soldiers...

Cool Biz campaign

I just heard on NPR about the Japanese Cool Biz campaign started a couple years ago. Wow, what a difference! Though as I was going underground and lost the signal, the reporter was saying that all government buildings now have to be set at 28°C (about 82°F), that's a little hot for me even in a t-shirt. I'd be sweating all day.

Been Too Long

I have not been to SF in years. I need to go back. Every time I go, I love it. MacWorld I think, the last MacWorld I attended was a dark time, pre Jobs return. Yes, I think it is time... I should record my SF visits, from that first strange gaming con one in May of...

Voyage To The Bottom of the Sea

Who else remembers this series from the 60's? Actually today I wanted to talk about the movie. Starring Walter ("Morbius") Pidgeon as Admiral Nelson, with (of all people) Frankie Avalon and Barbara Eden among others. It was one of the early Irwin Allen sci-fi/disaster epics. The movie opens with the submarine Seaview bursting out of the water at an impossible angle (yes sometimes real subs do surface at an angle, but I assume the crew inside is holding on for dear life).

Anyway, the plot concept is that the Van Allen radiation belts catch on fire, causing the earth's temperature to rise dramatically. The ice on the poles starts to melt... (sound familiar?) The brilliant Admiral Nelson, aided by his sidekick Peter Lorre, devises a plan to blast the Van Allen belt into space using a nuclear missile (nuclear missiles solved everything in the 60's). But everyone else thinks Nelson is crazy, so the Seaview is hunted by the other world powers. Along the way in the now-steamy arctic, they encounter religious fanatic Michael Ansara and his little dog on a melting iceberg...

Anyway, it all ends well of course, and at the end the Seaview is sailing away under a blue sky, and the Earth has magically returned to normal. If only it were that easy.

Looking back, I had a little boy-crush on Kowalski, played by Del Monroe in both the movie and the series.

Major Don West was hotter though.

October

Monday comes October, a month I always have mixed feelings about. I like the arrival of the cooler weather (seemingly delayed more every year), the drier air, the turning leaves. Yet my birthday is in October, and a reminder of my ever increasing age--though more and more, I find it hard to remember exactly how old I am.

It seems like an age and a world away when I was a seventeen year old kid in my first year at U.Va.

"My October Symphony"
By the Pet Shop Boys

So much confusion
When autumn comes around
What to do about October
How to smile behind a frown?
It's hard to settle down

It's so bemusing
Will they cancel the parade?
We marched each October
Now they say we were never even saved
We must be very brave

Shall I rewrite or revise
My October symphony?
Or as an indication
Change the dedication
From revolution to revelation?

So we're all drinking
As leaves fall to the ground
Because we've been thinking
How October's let us down
Then and now

Shall we remember
December instead?
Or worry about February?
Mourn our war-torn dead
Never seeing red?

Shall I rewrite or revise
My October symphony?
Or as an indication
Change the dedication
From revolution to revelation?

Spinning Digression

Warning to those of you who have never taken a Spinning class: this will be pretty much meaningless.

Ayway, I've been trying to take a few classes taught by other instructors, since it's been awhile and I wondered how other classes varied from mine. Frankly, the other classes bore me. I did get a comment from a guy who comes to my class sometimes who says, 'well, yeah we know in your class there is a lot of in and out of the saddle; with (some girl) it's more in the saddle and steady...)

In the saddle and steady bores me. Five minutes of light resistance to some trance music bores me. Half the time in these classes I was secretly coming up a little out of the saddle.

In my class I do a lot of intervals: get the resistance up, then up for 30 seconds, down, up, down. I try to vary it with jumps nd some longer stretches, but there is a lot of out of the saddle work. I wonder if it iss too hard?

I also try to time the drills to the songs: put on some speed during that power refrain! And at the end of a song we have a break.

Things I hate: cutting music off in the middle of the song to switch to the next drill; too much trancy stuff with no lyrics; seeming to not have any idea what you are going to do next. Instructors, at least pretend you have a program! Unless of course you are Doug-Doug the cycle stud, you could walk in and say "Okay, first 5 minutes we warm up, and after that your guess is as good as mine." And all the girls (and a few guys) swooned and made their own guesses.




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Meanwhile in Myanmar, they've started shooting at the little unarmed protesting monks... it's scary and sad.

More fun from X-Play

Emperor Palpatine gets a new job!

“Now, witness the firepower of this full armed and operational invisible doggie fence!”

More Whining and Ranting

I know, it does seem like all I do is complain lately. I guess I'm just in a bitchy mood. Verizon phone customer service sucks (nothing new, remember when they cut the cable so I was without phone or internet for a week, and I kept calling and they kept saying I didn't have a problem?). So anyway, I noticed on my bill the last couple of months that they were charging me $2.00 a month for Verizon Long Distance. I never make long distance calls, so apparently they decided to start charging me for the privilege of having the service even though I didn't use it. I decided to call them and cancel it (in an emergency, I could always use my cell phone). I called. I went into the hold queue. I was cut off! I called again. I waited through 15 minutes of 'unusually high call volume' before running out of patience. I navigated their web site for several minutes before finding an email address. I emailed saying I wanted the service stopped. They said they would get back to me in a day. Three days later I got a reply explaining the service. I emailed BACK and said (again) I wanted it cancelled. They emailed BACK and asked me to call 'for the best service.' I emailed back again and said I'd rather do it through email, and explained my negative phone experience. Finally they sent me an email back saying they would stop the service.

Conversely, Comcast has relatively responsive customer service, but they have other problems. According to this Washington Post article, Comcast cuts off internet users who they consider 'abusive.'

Comcast has punished some transgressors by cutting off their Internet service, arguing that excessive downloaders hog Internet capacity and slow down the network for other customers. The company declines to reveal its download limits.

"You have no way of knowing how much is too much," said Sandra Spalletta of Rockville, whose Internet service was suspended in March after Comcast sent her a letter warning that she and her teenage son were using too much bandwidth. They cut back on downloads but were still disconnected. She said the company would not tell her how to monitor their bandwidth use in order to comply with the limits.

That's the advantage of DSL over Cable: your speed is dedicated to you and no one else. Verizon doesn't care if you set up a network in your home with ten computers, because your bandwidth is dedicated. Comcast used to not even want you to have a network because (as I understand it) the bandwidth is shared in a neighborhood group. So you might get higher spped than DSL at some times, but if everyone in your cluster is downloading movies, it could slow to a crawl.

I do have to say that Verizon internet customer service has always been okay, and I am tempted to try their fiber optic service... but who knows how that could get screwed up.

On a completely different topic... maybe I'm mistaken regarding men's fashion (someone please correct me), but aren't brown shoes with a blue/grey/black suit a no-no? I keep seeing guys with grey suits and brown shoes! And lately I notice guys who are otherwise nicely dressed but then their brown shoes are horribly owrn and scuffed up. Hey, get some polish!

It reminded me of Mysterious Asian Man from way back. I wonder what he's up to now...

I Hate Credit Card Companies

I almost never use a revolving credit card. I use my Amex for everything possible, and pay it off every month. But a few places won't take Amex, so I have to use a VISA/MC. I actually have a bunch of these bank cards I accrued over the years, and I'd like to cancel virtually all of them, but I've been told that closing out accounts can actually be bad for your credit rating.

So the one VISA I use I try to keep close tabs on and set up a payment within a couple of days of making the charge. Well, I had one that slipped 20 days after the charge and they hit me with a late fee! Apparently Bank of America's payment due date is 20 days after the statement closing date (which was the exact date I charged an oil change). So, you don't even have until the next closing date till your payment is considered 'late.' I was furious, since they charged me $15 on a mere $20 'late payment.'

So I called and complained, and the customer service person said "That's how Bank of America does it." So I said, "I have a lot of other options, so you can keep your fifteen dollars and close my account (the limit of which they keep upping, despite the fact that I charge about $25 on it every few months). Then suddenly she agreed to take the charge off. Bah!

The lesson: pay close attention to how they try to screw you, and never be afraid to call and bitch. They count on you to timidly pay their userous penalty charges.

Mortgages

I don't want to go all superior about the mortgage crisis, because I'd probably lose my job and suddenly be unable to pay mine.

HOWEVER.

What were people thinking, getting adjustable rate mortages when they could apparently barely afford to make payments at the rate when they got it? Did they really think their rate would go down, or they would suddenly get a huge raise? How naive. I would never, ever get an adjustable rate mortgage, but then I am paranoid about that sort of thing: I just assume that the minute I signed it I'd be like that woman in the commercial with the crazy monkey on her back.

Now perhaps some of these people were lied to or deceived by unscrupulous lenders, in which case, yes I don't think they should be held accountable and if possible they should be given the chance to refinace at a fixed rate. But as someone who has been making his payments on time for the last ten years, I don't think I should have to pay for people who were too lazy to understand what they were getting into, or so arrogant or foolish that they just thought they would worry about the rate/payment going up 'later.' People should have bought something they could afford, or wait and save their money.

Now some people might say that these people took a risk because they didn't have a choice, because property values have shot upand made everything unaffordable. Well, why do you think that property values went through the roof in the first place? A run on real estate, fueled by greedy lenders and foolish borrowers.

Okay I'm done ranting.

iPod touch

I stopped by the Apple Store last night after I subbed a spin class, and checked out the iPod touch. I have to say I was not impressed. The bevel around the face is kind of rough, it didn't behave all that intuitively (I thought), and I've heard the screen is not as bright as the iPhone (you'd think they would just use the same one).

One thing that is holding me back from getting either one is that they are not compatible with the radio remote. I listen to NPR most of my walk to work, before I go underground on the Metro. I don't want to deal with a whole separate radio. Bah.

Sleep

Yes it has been several days since I posted. Since I no longer have my mornings free, I'm finding it difficult to get inspired to blog after work--still getting used to the day schedule, and the packed Metro trains. Though, when I read in the Washington Post this morning that DC is the second worst city for commuting/driving, I am glad once again that I no longer have that consulting job that involved driving from Arlington to Takoma Park every day, plus all over the area to clients. Ugh.

In unrelated news, I would have loved to have seen/heard Peng-Peng (pronounced 'Pong-Pong,' cute!) with the National Symphony Monday night. He's been on From the Top before, making a funny entrance in a polo shirt and eating a banana (long story). The reviewer in the Post was almost recluctantly complimentary...

Peng Peng, a 15-year-old Chinese pianist who might best be described as this year's diminutive of Lang Lang, would seem a delightful young man, with a winning grin, an endearingly coltish stage presence, long hands and fingers, and the power to project a loud, glassy sound to the last row of the Kennedy Center Concert Hall. At this stage in his career, is he the most interesting pianist around? Of course not -- but the music industry's prodigy-grinder needs new material. The whole process strikes me as deeply immoral: Talented children are exploited for their youth and then thrown away once they are past a certain age, while polished, thoughtful artists with decades of hard work and intensive meditation behind them are automatically written off as dinosaurs.

In any event, Peng Peng played Franz Liszt's rhetorical and meretricious Piano Concerto No. 1 in E-flat with requisite flash and agreeable derring-do -- and now I hope he continues his studies so that we may hear him at 30 in Mozart or Beethoven. These things do happen, now and then -- and the best of luck to him.

I'm not sure that the classical music industry has a 'prodigy-grinder,' though I guess to some extent these kids are sometimes treated as some kind of sensation. I hadn't realized that George Li was on the Martha Stewart Show which I have to admit is a bit of an odd venue. I also don't think that older performers are written off as dinosaurs. Yo-yo Ma is not a kid anymore, and for all his youthful looks, Joshua Bell is well into his 30's now.

Peng Peng delivered an awe-inspiring performance of a Rachmaninoff piece on FTT, and he seemed mature, poised, confident, and hardly some kind of freak--which the reviewer almost seemed to imply these kids are. Oh and I had to look up 'meretricious,' and after I did, I thought even less of this reviewer. No need to be so insulting.

ANYWAY, I was going to talk about sleep. Monday night I went to bed early, then had one of those wake up at 2 and can't go back to sleep nights. I watched about 2 hours of TV (thank god for TiVo again) and kind of dragged yesterday. Today is better. Tomorrow is class.

Oh and my previous employer contacted me and asked if I wanted to work for them as a freelance consultant in my spare time! I wonder how much I should charge? I'd have to clear it with peoplel though. And I don't know if I want to use any more of my already sparse free time... We'll see.