How come people don't visit Missouri?

Gordon and I went to visit Katie this weekend! We had a TON of fun (of course... there's only fun times with Katie!). We went all over Missouri and even ventured into Kansas for a little bit (but we hurried back out as soon as we could).

Katie says there's not much to do in Missouri, but Gordon and I (and I'm pretty sure, Katie, too) were exhausted after our trip! Kansas City is the city of fountains and my first trip to the city I saw only 1 fountain. This time, I may actually believe that it IS the city of fountains as I saw definitely over 10. Some observations about Missouri's fountains/statues:

- they like horses. I asked Katie what the horses were about, but she didn't know. I don't know either. UNLESS... it's going back to the whole homesteading/western expansion era. hmm. possibly.

- they really honor their firefighters. Seriously. Every fire department I saw had statues of firefighters. Katie says that firefighters are heroes and should be honored. I agree, but just pointing it out.

- Kansas City and its fountains are like Philadelphia and its art. Everywhere you turn, around every corner, there's a fountain. However, I found KC to be quite cleaner than Philly (but I hate Philly).

We went to the Great American Barbeque Festival. We got there before the midwest crowds descended upon the place, so it's like we had the whole place to ourselves. The barbeque was GREAT... and American. haha. It was a lot of fun even if there was a crappy 80s cover band.

Katie took us to the Nelsons-Atkins Art Museum, a surprisingly good museum. I say surprisingly good, just because would you have expected it? It had some good works by Calder, Renoir, Monet, Manet, etc. A lot of good sculptures, too. The Asian art was also a good collection. Apparently, the Kansas City must-see art are these giant shuttlecocks (haha) in the sculpture garden of the museum. Very whimsical and interesting. I recommend taking pictures of yourself like your holding a shuttlecock in your hand. We did.

We went to the Liberty Memorial which offers a great view of the city. I enjoy any skyline view - it gives a better sense as to how big the city is and help put it in perspective and shows you landmarks so you can't get lost (scratch that, easier to get un-lost). :) We walked around the Plaza (the high end shopping area. Think Rodeo Drive but in middle America). I bought the Paul Shirley book, but missed his book signing. If you don't know who Paul Shirley is, you can check him out here (he's funny and cute - of course, I like him!).

Katie drove us across the whole state (past many many many porn stores and billboards) to St. Louis to see the sights and go to the Cardinals game. Katie got to catch up with her friends from school and I got to FINALLY see a Cardinals home game - and in the new Busch stadium! The stadium is awesome, the Cardinals are great (even if they aren't playing consistently well this season), and we all had a lot of fun. Even when they had a rain delay with 1 (ONE!) out to go. The Nats decided to play some baseball and try to rally in the 9th inning, but with the heavy rain not letting up, they covered the field. Then they uncovered the field. Then they covered the field. Then they uncovered it again and started throwing fresh dirt between the bases. And it kept on raining. So we left and stayed at Katie's friends' AWESOME victorian house which made me consider settling somewhere and buying a house. But then I re-thought that and decided no. The Cards finished playing the game sometime later. They won. YAY! :)

We saw the Arch with all the rest of the Memorial Day tourists and then headed back to Kansas City (with a stop at Mizzou and Shakespeare's Pizza - yum). Completely pooped (yes, pooped) we baked cookies and stayed in (my perfect night in) and watched movies. Yesterday we went to see Katie's family for lunch before heading out. I love Katie's family. If I were living in the midwest, I'd want them to hang out with. Her family is SO much fun!!

I had such a fun time hanging out with Katie!!! I wish we lived closer together. Maybe after grad school we'll move to Seattle and have more Julie and Katie fun times. Besides, she likes Gordon too... so he can come along if he wants. :)

When we got home... we thought (silly us) it'd be a good idea to watch Pirates of the Carribean 3 at the Uptown. A good movie. Long, but good.

Mad about TV

This week are the network tv upfronts where they tell the public about what's on this fall. It's a time for shows to finally get renewed or cancelled. It's a time to show us what looks good and what's worth recording (or TiVo-ing if you're into TiVo).

However this time around, there's been nothing (as of yet) to get super excited about.

Friday Night Lights was renewed (YAY!) but it's been put to a crappy timeslot at 8pm on Fridays. Seriously? Fridays? Thanks, NBC for bringing back a quality show-- one that needs to get viewers, but already has the critics on their side. What better way to get viewers than to put a great show on Friday night when almost no one is watching TV!!! Why did you have to bring it back, NBC, if you were going to put it in a suicide timeslot? Just so you can get all of us who are hooked even more invested and then you'll take it off your schedule after a few bad ratings?

CBS canceled Jericho. Another good show, that yes, maybe was slow after the long hiatus, but was a good show. So now we'll never know what could happen after a nuclear holocaust. The season (now series) finale left us with them fighting it out to save their town-- a little Angel-esque, but even Angel is finishing the story in comic books. CBS says that Jericho wasn't performing even though it had a pretty solid following in the beginning. CBS shouldn't have waited so long to put it back on the air (ABC did the same with Lost and got the same results-- but would you cancel Lost? Of course not.) Maybe the network execs shouldn't put such long breaks in the middle of intense tv shows.

ABC took Men in Trees off of the schedule this spring and didn't let them finish their season... even though they had finally gotten viewers after Grey's Anatomy (don't even get me started on that crappy show). So they brought Men in Trees back (yay!) but also put it's original timeslot of 10pm on Friday. Really? When it didn't get a good following in it's first run in that timeslot? The network knows it doesn't work, so why try it again?

I'm still waiting to hear if my other show on the bubble, Supernatural, will be coming back to the CW. I mean, it's the CW... what ELSE will they put on that network?? Chances are with the way things are going... another good show will bite the dust.

But what's in store for the fall? Prepare yourselves for another slew of television's worst -- 2 shows based on Lipstick Jungle? Didn't we already have Sex and the City?? A spin off of America's Co-Dependent Women, I mean, Grey's Anatomy? A show based on the Geico cavemen? Do you think it'll be funny beyond a 30 second commercial?

ABC Fall Preview
NBC Fall Preview
CBS Fall Preview


I don't think that network executives actually watch tv. How did they feel when their favorite tv show got dumped from the schedule in the middle of the season? How about when they became invested in one really good show only to have it pulled in the second season?

While I will be giving up on TV next year because of studying (we'll see how that works out)... am I really going to be missing anything important? Have the network execs really given up on providing quality television for whatever next celebrity reality show sells (really, Skating with Stars)? Will there be anything other than CSIs -- maybe a CSI: NO ONE REALLY CARES? Can we see something other than America's youth embarassing themselves over trying to be the next idol, model, etc? Somehow I think I'll get out of school and still see the same crap television that's just recycled and repackaged for the next year. Great...

UPDATE: Supernatural was renewed. :) Yay!

I'm a Travelin' Wo(Man)

Another delayed post. I've been super busy and traveling all over. Well, not all over, but for the past 2 weekends and then another 2 weekends straight in May!

Two weekends ago, we took a roadtrip to Pittsburgh, PA. Why Pittsburgh? Seriously, because it was there. Pittsburgh is one of the few cities up here that none of us have been to. Surprisingly enough, P-burgh was actually very interesting.

There's a lot of museums to go to-- random ones, like the Andy Warhol and there's one about the French and Indian War. We went to the Andy Warhol one and saw some of his great works. I'm not a fan of Warhol really-- maybe it's the drugs and the sex with everyone, I don't know. But I like his "Silver Clouds" installation. Silver balloons floating around an empty room. Very fun!



We also went to the Heinz History Center to see an exhibit showing all of the Pulitzer prize winning photos. What did I learn? To win the Pulitzer, you have to shoot something sad and depressing. Looks like none of my photos of silly faces is going to be winning a Pulitzer anytime soon.

We also got to tour the Heinz Field-- where the Steelers play. Obviously, I'm not a fan of the Steelers, really, as I dislike football (unless it's the Dillion Panthers on Friday Night Lights). The stadium was still very cool to go around and see. Got to go right down to the field, go into the Steelers locker room, sit in the super expensive club seats. The place is HUGE, but I suppose most NFL stadiums are.

On the way back home, we stopped off to see 2 Frank Lloyd Wright houses. We're big on Frank Lloyd Wright houses. We saw his famous Falling Water house and his lesser known, cheaper Kentuck Knob. Falling Water was what you'd expect-- very cool and interesting. Kentuck Knob was also cool but in a different way, like someone could actually live there. Falling Water is one of those houses you'd love to have, but wouldn't really be able to live in it. Kentuck Knob has cool sculpture garden and a more lived in kind of feel to it.

So that was Pittsburgh.

This past weekend, Gordon and I drove up to Waltham/Boston to go apartment hunting for me. We left Friday night (without any sleep really) and got into Waltham at 6am -- 3 hours ahead of my first apartment viewing! After seeing 5 apartments, sleeping in random parking lots just trying to get ANY sleep at all, and driving all over Waltham... I've found a place that I think will be very good for me. I'll be living with 2 girls in a very nice apartment complex (almost like the cute new-ish ones in Chapel Hill). I'm very excited, though the decision between places was really hard! :( Luckily everyone was understanding and I got to make the decision without feeling too guilty.

I got to show Gordon my new school-- Brandeis University. It's a very cute campus. Nothing like Chapel Hill, but I guess not a lot of schools are going to be like it. I bought a t-shirt that says Brandeis, but in Hebrew! How cool is that? I'll post a picture soon.

We also got to see Fay!!! Yay, Fay! She's living in Brighton and going to BU for Public Health. I'm really excited that we got to see Fay since we haven't seen her since we've been back in the states. I'm also superexcited that she'll be in the area for a little while when I move up to Waltham.

So now that I'm back in DC for the next 2 weekends before my next two trips, I plan to sleep and recover. Well, sort of. Next weekend, we'll be volunteering with Servathon 2007/Greater DC Cares by rebuilding a nursery playground. We'll also be catching up on movies-- Hot Fuzz (Have you NOT seen Shaun of the Dead???) and Spiderman 3 (so we can finally end the madness that is Tobey McGuire as a superhero).

Check out the pics from my Pittsburgh and Waltham trips.

I'll Take It!

So if you don't know already... I love panda bears! Tai Shan, the cutest baby panda here at the DC National Zoo is my super favorite animal. However... there's a new baby bear that's been getting a lot of attention lately: Knut, the baby polar bear. If you haven't seen him in the news or on CuteOverload (the funnest website ever!), you've been missing out on this new bear that's giving Tai Shan a run for his money-- maybe.

Knut was born at the Berlin zoo... however, his mom rejected him and so animal activists were demanding that the bear be killed. KILLED?! They think that if he were out in the wild and his mom rejected him, he would die. I love animals-- baby ones are the best-- and I wouldn't kill it just because it's mom can't or doesn't want to take care of it. So now the cutest little polar bear will be sent to a different zoo (wouldn't it be cool if it was the DC National Zoo???? Tai Shan and Knut could be BFF!). If they can't find a zoo to take little Knut in, I will. I would gladly raise a little polar bear (especially since I can't raise Tai Shan). I'd much rather have a baby bear (panda or polar) than a baby human, for sure.

Knut's got such a cutie face-- like a little grandpa. And who doesn't like baby animals? People without a heart, I'm sure. Enjoy the couple of videos of the cute Knut romping around and Tai Shan back when he was a mere babe.

Hockey at it's best

So maybe it wasn't the Flyers (oh how I loved the Lindros days), the Rangers (I liked them with Messier in the net), or even the Penguins (who doesn't like the Mario Lemeiux story???), but the Capitals game on Sunday against the Tampa Bay Lightning was pretty exciting!

I've never been to a hockey game, though, I would say that I like the sport. I'm not one to follow the Stanley Cup finals or track draft picks (I don't even know if UNC had a hockey team-- I'm guessing not). Pretty much all I know about hockey, I picked up from the Mighty Ducks movies (classic!) and the Cutting Edge (another good one). The game on Sunday was pretty exciting-- and I wasn't bored at all. The score was 7-1 in the end, so there was even a lot of scoring (which you don't get at soccer games, or even all baseball games). I saw a guy get a hat trick (3 goals in one game) and saw another come close. We saw a fight-- what everyone wants from a live hockey game, but doesn't always get. I would have preferred a bench clearing fight, but those are pretty rare (and I'd rather see one in baseball anyway), so I'll be okay with only 2 guys fighting. :)

Another cool thing about the hockey game-- besides the W, the fight, and the hat trick-- the music is way better than at basketball and baseball games. It was kind of like listening to 106.5 the End (if you live near Charlotte, NC, you know what I'm talking about)-- all 90s alternative rock. I half expected to hear my favorite band of old Bush, but instead they played Prodigy and who doesn't like "Smack My B*tch Up"?

Gordon and I wondered if the Russian mafia shows up to Caps games. We're pretty sure they go to the Rangers games-- though looking at their roster, perhaps it's the Czech mafia that supports the team instead. There's a couple Russians on the Caps, but I don't know if there's enough of a Russian community around here for the mafia to be out and about. Either way, no one near us was part of any mafia that we could tell. There was a cute little girl though that had a ton of energy and really liked to spell C-A-P-S. I don't really see her as being a mob boss. :) We did however see a really cool Russian Ovechkin jersey (he plays left wing)-- it's always nice to get to use my Cyrillic skills! I think my favorite Capital is Olie Kolzig (the goalie from South Africa). He's getting on in hockey (and pro-sport) years-- he's almost 37!-- and been with the Capitals for 17 seasons!

Here's to some more hockey games while I'm still in DC. Go Caps!

O Say Can You See Fort McHenry?

So on a whim this past weekend, we decided to go to Baltimore. None of us are really fans of Baltimore-- their baseball sucks, it's not really (probably never was) the city that reads, and there's nothing much outside of the inner harbor. Besides, Gordon and I spent many nights in Baltimore sleeping in the Maryland Science Center with JrNYLC.

But it was a nice day... and we were restless. So we went to Baltimore and decided to go check out Fort McHenry. Some background information about Fort McHenry (for those of you that don't know):

During the War of 1812, the brick fort defended the Baltimore harbor and stopped a British advance into the city. Surrounded by water on three sides and far enough from Baltimore to provide protection without endangering the city, it was the valiant defense of the fort by 1,000 Americans that inspired Francis Scott Key, a lawyer and amateur poet, to compose the Star Spangled Banner, originally entitled Defense of Fort McHenry.

--http://www.baltimore.org/fort_mchenry.htm

Fort McHenry was pretty cool. It's a fort-- so it's very fort like. And there's actual ramparts, though we saw nothing bursting in air. We had a lot of fun posing with cannons and jail cells (see pictures to the left).

It's good to know that there's other fun things in Baltimore. You should check it out.

best band to see live...

Guster. Saw them a couple weeks ago at the 9:30 Club and once again, they put on a great live show. If you haven't been, you should go as soon as they get to your city. If you haven't heard of them, you should give them a listen. Going to their concert is like hanging out with your friends and having a sing along in the car on a long roadtrip. :) I wouldn't say that they are my favorite band, but I would say that they never disappoint. I've seen them 5 or 6 times now and I'll probably see them again whenever they come back again. I'd really like to see them in Boston (that's where they're from-- they all went to Tufts).

Anyway, check out their myspace page and go see a show.

http://www.myspace.com/guster

I actually did make it back from the PI

It's been forever since I posted here, but after the Philippines and Hong Kong it's been non-stop craziness! The Philippine Islands were great. The night in Hong Kong was really cool! I had a really fun time. I won't post the whole trip in here, but I will add the photos (there's like hundreds--I'm not kidding).

Things to remember: Religious festivals (Sinulog) in religious countries (the Philippines) may lead to human stampedes, everything's cheap in the Philippines, resort stays may be something to look into, throwing up on a plane is NEVER fun, who knew Hong Kong would be so cheap and cool and kind of cold, US Customs officers are NOT friendly, NOT courteous, and ARE jerks, and Viva Pit Senor!

Since the Philippines... Katie AND my parents came to visit (YAY!), it's been non-stop Peace Corps volunteer reunions, everyone and their mother comes to DC all at once, the Eastern Shore is very cool-- and very quiet. I've taken tons of pictures, so take a look if you really need to catch up with me. Or really catch up with me via email/phone/smoke signals/etc.

Peace Out... I'll be better at blogging.

One thing I remember from Uzbekistan

A very cool bollywood club song that I heard ALL the time in my favorite restaurant in Jizzakh (my site). This song always came on the tv (all the good restaurants had one) and I always wanted to buy it, but could never find the CD. Baby H-- yet to have a CD here in America, but was the coolest music you could find in Uzbekistan (though not on CD).

Here's the video:


http://www.markacadey.net/mcn/audio/india/films/html/hindi-video-mere-naseeb-mein-baby.htm


And it's available on iTunes if you like it... just look up the title: mere naseeb mein

Tonight-- drive to NY. Tomorrow night-- fly to the Philippines. Word. So weird that it's finally time for this vacation. Couldn't come at a better time. :)

Next Stop: the Philippines

So next week, my family is going on our second family vacation in 6 months-- the Philippines. Back to the homeland. It'll be my first trip to the PI (Philippine Islands-- there's over 1800 of them) and my second trip to a developing nation.

This trip is causing a stir among the family because the PI isn't just any regular trip. My dad wants to see his classmates (as always), my mom gets to see her family that's still there, and the three daughters? 2 of them are stressing out and I'm okay with it. Jen and Joy have been freaking out the past week because of what will we do in the PI? where will we stay? what should we bring? I figure everything will work itself out-- and I knew Jen and Joy would want to plan things anyway. That's how London worked, too.

What am I looking forward to? I've never been to the Philippines, but from pictures it looks cool. I'm not one for hot weather, but it shouldn't be unbearable. A balmy 82 degrees last week and should remain steady at 82 for this week, too. I really want to go to the bazaar there because I miss that from my Uzbekistan experience. You can always find cool local stuff at the bazaars. The exchange rate is good-- that's what I love about developing nations, everything's cheap! $1 = 48.87 pesos. There will be some cool stuff to see in the Philippines, too-- Magellan's Cross (for full backstory click here), Sinulog (a festival for St Nino-- he's huge in the PI. See pictures of Sinulog 2005), Bantayan Church, but here's my favorite:

Merman Discovered in Cebu, Philippines

(you gotta see these pictures! scroll down when you get to the page)

I'll post again after the trip. We've got a layover in Hong Kong that we're all pretty excited about as well...

Myspace: Wanted Dead or Alive?

Probably dead actually. I have to say that for awhile there, I fell onto the Myspace bandwagon. But now? I think I'm over it.

I missed out on the whole Myspace thing to begin with... when I came back to the states, I had no idea what this internet social networking thing was. And it seemed a little creepy to me due to pedophiles, child predators, and just dirty people. Then I was little intrigued when you had to be a member to see people's myspace pictures, so I created an account just so I could see people's pictures (a little stalker-ish, but I wasn't hurting anyone). After that, I kind of felt obligated to create a myspace page, decorate it all fancy, and actually use it. I went a little crazy with the decorating for like 3 weeks-- wanting to change the background, the layout, and the music. And then, I stopped. I just lost interest. It wasn't fun anymore. Well, I can't really say that it was fun outside of the design part for me.

Myspace, I've now realized, is it's own world. You definitely have to be into it if you're in it... otherwise, you're really just wasting time. In the beginning of my myspace foray, I had people from my high school wanting to be my "friend," but really, I had a hard time figuring out who some of those people were! This whole farce of myspace friends is just weird to me. Which makes me think... if we weren't friends in high school, we probably wouldn't be friends now. I don't want to be mean, but as a self-proclaimed anti-social, I'm not really one to want to start random friendships with people. Sure there's people on there that I am actually friends with, but really, just because we went to the same school doesn't mean I knew you. My high school was kind of big (not in ideas, mind you, but in population), and I'm pretty sure I didn't like school in general, so there are definitely people I didn't know. It's the same with those people who are living in DC and who randomly ask me to add them. WHY? Because we live in DC? It's not like we live together. Last time I checked DC is a pretty big city.

So I've lost the interest in Myspace because I don't think it's a social network that's actually helping people come together. Though only speaking for myself, I found that Myspace just brings along a bunch of creepies looking for very unsavory things. However, my sister has found people from her high school class that she actually knew and wanted to get back in touch with... so maybe Myspace works for some. To me, though, myspace is dead. I'd rather contact my real friends through email. :)

To see some creepy stories about Myspace read these:

Myspace Murder Plot

Weirdos at Home

Is there LIFE after KIDS??

Something I've been wondering for awhile... as I love working with kids, but really don't want any of my own. Do parents get to do fun stuff after they have kids? I know all parents in the entire world think "oh, having a baby is one of the best things that I ever did... it changed my life." Well, of course, it changed your life-- you had to be responsible for another human being and you had to feed it and educate it and worry about it.

But my question is... can you still be selfish after you have kids?


I was at a concert this weekend-- annual Joy of Christmas choral concert at the National Cathedral (click here for a virtual tour)-- and saw something that made me wonder. There was a group of families-- maybe about 2 families, each with small toddler-ish kids. One of the moms showed up 30 minutes late (which at that point, do you really want to go to the concert at all??) with kid in tow. She sat down, the kid got antsy and she left. SERIOUSLY... they left. After sitting for about 20 minutes. Another kid in the group, after the choir (who weren't bad, definitely not Raffi... but at least it could have put a kid to sleep) finished a hymn, the kid yells, HE SUCKS. Yeah... that's pretty good raising of a kid if they are saying things suck at the age of 2. So after trying to quiet the tyke down to no avail... they left too. Pretty soon... the entire group was gone. Tickets wasted, parents without the concert they were hoping for.

So when you have kids and you have to watch them and entertain them... does that mean you don't get to do the fun stuff you always wanted to do? Does your life essentially stop once their's begins? Interesting, and just a little sad.

Is this why tons of families in DC and other metro areas have nannies (also, note, a lot of them here are filipina nannies)? Does having a nanny give you the time to be selfish again?

Awhile ago, there was a story of a woman who climbed Mount Everest. Her name was Alison Hargreaves and she was a mother of 2. She summitted Everest without oxygen (no small feat, in case you didn't know, considering Everest is 29,000+ ft. tall). Her husband, a climbing photographer, stayed home to watch the kids. The same climber summited K2 in Pakistan. Shortly after summitting, she died, along with 3 other climbers in a sudden storm. She was criticized (yes, after her death) for taking on such a dangerous sport while being a mother. Is that fair? She was a climber before the kids and a climber after the kids were born... did that make her a bad mother? Was she supposed to stop when she had the kids? Something to think about... FYI: her son has an interest in climbing now, too.

I like kids... but I also like being able to do what I want. Does that make me selfish? Yeah, I guess so. I like being able to sit through a concert, even a choral one-- which I've decided I don't like, if I want. I like the choice. If I had kids, I'd probably still sit through the concert... but my kids probably wouldn't be shouting that someone sucks in a very quiet cathedral.

Back in the saddle...

Hi ya'll. So I know... where the hell have I been lately? I leave you (all 3 of you) with rants about TomKat for like 3 weeks or something??? Sorry about that.

I have to say it's because I've been busy. Busy gym-ing, watching tv, working, etc. A 10-second catch-up:

Thanksgiving was awe-some (she says in a sing-song-y voice). Had a lot of fun... and we convinced Joy to come down to surprise the parents. Good eatin' and fun NC times-- Tanglewood (the lights that Mom wants everyone to see every year) and Biltmore Estate. See pictures at the left.

Joined a gym and have a trainer for a few sessions. She's from NC, too. Been working out 3 times a week... and I still don't like gym-ing, but it needs to be done.

Took a day off from work and Gordon took a sick day (which we proclaimed as Senior Skip Day-- Gordon didn't have one in high school!) and we played around in Virginia. Visited the George Washington Masonic National Memorial and the new-ish Air and Space Museum out by Dulles airport. See pictures at left.

Movies I saw and liked: Casino Royale (not as cute 007, but more classic James Bond action), The Holiday (a cute romantic comedy where Jack Black shows that he can act normal-- sort of). Movies I didn't like and wasted my time with: Hoot (seriously, Jimmy Buffett can write better songs than those on the soundtrack-- right???)-- a conservation-y for kids flick that definitely has some homosexual undertones which was just out of place for the genre.

What's next? Keeping up with the blog better-- I promise! Seeing more movies-- looking forward to We Are Marshall (what day is it? game day!). More gym-ing. Holidays in NC again-- yay!

It needed to be said...

I'm so over TomKat. Honestly... I think Tom Cruise sold his soul to the devil to have everything he wants. And there goes Katie Holmes' "great" acting career. And their kid looks like they had it like a year and a half ago... Nicole Kidman got out while she could.

Headlines from "THE celebrity nuptials of the season":
Tom, Katie Cruise to Matrimony

Mr. and Mrs. TomKat off on honeymoon


Whatever... it's sad to say I'm more interested in Britney Spear's didn't-see-that-one-coming divorce from that dumb guy.

Maybe Amazing Race for me...

Well, folks-- I'm working on convincing Gordon to try out for the Amazing Race 12. Turns out that applicant entries for the next Amazing Race (11) was June 6, 2006. 2006! So we don't have a chance at getting on that one (besides, Jen says its an All-Stars one). So now they have applications up for Amazing Race 12 due Jan. 2007... that would shoot during the summer of next year. I could totally see Gordon and I doing it this summer! We would be the coolest team, too. We'd be competitive, smart, and ready to do anything. Except maybe not swim-- as we're both not good swimmers, but we can totally work on that! And Gordon can do all the eating the gross food challenges. And I can do all the climb-y ones. So come on... let's go already!

Not sure if anyone out there (like anyone reads this!) watches the Amazing Race this year... but the cute Asian team -- the Cho brothers-- got kicked off tonight. They were really nice... okay, a little too nice (I don't think I would've waited on the other team as much as they did), but they still ran a good race. But to get kicked off like that?? Having to stop to talk to Ukrainian police? Not fair! Also, really, having to put up with the Alabama team's constant complaining and coat-tail riding? The Alabama team should've gotten kicked off for me ungrateful and lazy for not running their own race. They'll be the next to get kicked off because who will do the race for them now that both the Chos and the Kentucky people are off.

On a completely different topic... going home this week for T-giving. Word. Can't wait! :)

Dear Metro Rider...

I'm one of those people. You know the ones. The ones that sigh in exasperation when you use your paper farecard and you hold up my morning and evening commute. The ones that curse under their breath when you stand on the left of the escalator I'm running up. The ones that give you the mean look when you and your tourist family are standing at the doors when the stop for the Smithsonian metro is five (5!) stops away. I'm the one who isn't talking on her cellphone on an otherwise quiet train... but is forced to listen to you talking about how you hooked up with that cute guy from work and nobody knows yet-- we do now. Yes, I'm talking to you. I know who you are. You're the one who takes up both seats on the metro-- one for yourself and the other for your jam-packed CVS bag, file folder laden backpack, and smelly gym bag.

However, I'm also the one that actually waits on the escalator and stands on the right (I'm allowed-- it's the rules) as you're rushing by with your clickety clack heels a-racing. On the weekends, I'm in no hurry... because it's the weekend. At Dupont Circle, I don't care if your running late meeting your friends (who are already drunk) at Cloud or Lucky Bar or whatever's the "cool" place to hang out.

I love Metro. I love the SmarTrip cards, the signs that tell you when the train is coming (when they are working), the non-smoking (when people follow the rules) in every station, and the coming-soon-to-a-station-near-you express lanes for only SmarTrip holders. Joy may like her NY subway with it's who-knows-when-the-train-is-coming platforms, station stops every 1.2 seconds, and flimsy, lose them in your bag Metrocards (at least they're not tokens anymore). I'll take my walking for 2 blocks to work even after taking the train 3 stops.

What I don't like about Metro (besides the above mentioned Metro don'ts)? 3 years ago, Metro was strict about their rules about no food or drink on the train or in the station. Remember in 2000-- they arrested that little kid for eating french fries in the station? I don't think we should go back to that. There are other crimes-- drugs, drive-bys, and school shootings-- to deal with instead of Metro riders that can't get on the metro when they're done eating. I think it's sad that there even has to be a rule about eating or drinking. Honestly... do YOU want gross gigantic rats running around in the stations and across your feet? Do YOU want someone's left over apple core or Starbucks latte sitting in the only open seat on a packed train with 6 more stops until you get off? No thanks.

It's a love/hate relationship I have with Metro... but not with the Metro workers or Metro in general. It's with the people who don't even care that other people would rather not have a disgusting train to get on. And I think we could all get along. To you, Metro Rider, I say... I won't get annoyed if you stop acting annoying. And everybody wins!

See you on the Red Line--

Julie

Vote or Not Vote?

While the polls have closed... ever wonder if you are informed? Wonder if you should have voted? Would you have voted for Bart Simpson had he been on the ballot? Check out two tests below:

http://www.dontvote.org/

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2006/special/issues/caucus/quiz.html


Other good websites to check out:

Project Vote Smart (shout out to my old non-profit!)

Open Secrets

Michelle Malkin (beware: she's conservative)

Daily Kos (liberal)

FYI: I love watching the guys on NBC get all punchy during election coverage. Tim Russert-- bring out the white board. :)

3 concerts... 5 days

No, I'm not a Deadhead. I only like some of their music.

So last week, Jen made me go to a concert-- she lured me with the promise of everything paid-- to go see The Duhks (new grass/country band from Canada). I didn't think I'd like it-- not because I don't like bluegrass, but just because I don't like their name (in case you're wondering, you say it like the animal-- ducks). Anyway, so Jen and I went to the Birchmere in Alexandria. I think the Birchmere is my favorite concert venue for many reasons.

1- it's non-smoking so I didn't have to worry about smelling like someone's nasty ash tray.
2- it's a sit-down place where they serve you food... so I didn't have to stand so long and try to see.
3- they serve food-- and it's not that bad.

The concert was cool. The Duhks, despite their not so cool name, are actually very entertaining and their songs are actually cool. It's a little Allison Krauss, a little Nickel Creek, and a little Riverdance all in one band. And the bands opening for them weren't too shabby either. A man-and-his-guitar singer/songwriter, Rex Moroux opened the show. A an all-women band named Fruit opened for the Duhks. Both were very good bands. I ended up buying the Fruit CD-- because their music is fun. It's very Ani DiFranco and Indigo Girls, but happy.

Second concert-- National Symphony Orchestra playing Halloween-y tunes on Sunday afternoon at the Kennedy Center. Played stuff from Harry Potter (my main reason for wanting to go), Psycho, and other scary-like music. It was a great concert. It was a kids concert where they could go and where their Halloween costumes and the orchestra also dressed up. It was really cute! My problem was with the parents. This family in front of us were UNBELIEVEABLE. The kids were fine-- well-behaved, even. The parents were antsy and talking and just annoying. I finally had to just stand up so I could see without their head in my view or their whispering in my face. Crazy.

Finally, the last concert was on Monday after work at Iota in Arlington. We went and saw this band called The Veltz Family (formerly Cecilia). I have a history with this band. When I first saw them a few years back when they opened for a band I was seeing, I really liked their sound. I even went to their website and ordered not 1 but 3 of their CDs. So I waited and waited... and no CDs ever came. So I emailed the band and actually got a response back where they apologized and sent the CDs again. Again, no CDs in my mailbox. I gave up on them eventually, but when I heard they were coming back to DC on Monday (I'd missed the last few times they were around here), I thought I'd give them another try. It was a great show-- not crowded at all, only problem was the tall people in front of me-- but I went for the music and not for the sights, I suppose. Jenny bought their newest CD and it's really good. Lesson: Buy indie music at the concert and not from their cheapo website.

I think I'm done with concerts for now... I hadn't been to a live concert in awhile (I think Nickel Creek was the last one... they're breaking up by the way at the end of 2007). It was nice to go out and hear live music again and hear something new for a change. Oh, something interesting: Turns out that on Monday, Beck had a surprise midnight show at another club in the DC area. Didn't make it to that one. Maybe next time Beck...

GO CARDS!

A muddy slip-n-slide weekend

So this weekend, I spent a lot of time out in the country... an office party at a farm in WV and then a day visiting farms in MD. The office party was pretty cool. Got in a hayride and brought home some fresh apple cider. It was weird to see people from work... not at work. Also, it was a little weird as it was very much an "All-American" scene-- guys throwing around a football, little kids rolling around in the grass, dogs and puppies everywhere. Almost like a Kennedy affair-- not that I've been, but what I'd imagine a Kennedy affair would be like.

The farms in Maryland were very cool. Our main reason for driving all the way out to Maryland (almost PA)-- a corn maze. Actually, 4 mazes in 1 GIANT maze. See picture below in my last post. It had a Civil War theme (naturally-- we are in the south). They warned us before that it would be muddy... little did I know, they were NOT kidding. Unlucky for me, I wore my current favorite sneakers instead of my old beat up gore-tex shoes. Here's my shoes when all the mazing was done... how will I get them clean???

The maze was really cool. Lots of twists and turns... and more corn than I would know what to do with. I'm not really sure when we got into mazes... but this year alone, I think I've been through like like 3 or 4. Weird, I know. It reminds me a little of Labrinyth... the creepy David Bowie and young Jennifer Connelly movie... with the puppets.

Anyway, we had a great time at the maze farm. We got to shoot pumpkins from a pumpkin cannon. Seriously... a pumpkin cannon... kind of like a salad shooter, except it shoots out pumpkins! And they had targets to aim at-- an old boat, some broken tractors, tires, barrels, etc. What did I hit? Not a single thing... but I like to see the pumpkins go splat on the ground. Jenny didn't hit anything either. Gordon, however, hit the boat (the highest target) and broke a tractor even more.

Saw 15,000 turkeys that will be market sized (meaning... ready to sell and eat) in a few weeks-- just in time for Thanksgiving. Turkeys... are surprisingly white... and they smell... like poop. But interesting to see that many turkeys. And only now have I thought about how they were treated! It was in a pretty long and open barn... but maybe they trap them in cages after everyone goes home. OH NO! Jeez... maybe I can't eat turkey anymore.

All in all... some fun times in the Maryland countryside. I never realized how much I missed fall! Uzbekistan doesn't have seasons so much as just cold and hot. Yay, it's fall! FINALLY!

Check out the pictures from this weekend on the side under Newest Pics...