Betty's fault

Yesterday, the premiere of Ugly Betty gave me the perfect excuse to throw the first gathering of the fall at my place, I live in a basement apartment, that can get hot in the summer and spring, so usually if I have any social events they have to happen in the fall or winter. Taking the lead from TV, I realized that some pizza and red wine would be perfect to celebrate the return of Betty. I invited the closest and dearest and at 4 I left the office to go buy some wine and get home with enough time, to clean, put stuff away and order the pizzas.

I got to Dupont Circle at 4:50 or so and was looking for parking near Best Cellars, and I looked and looked, and looked and found nothing. I had a mess back home, so I did not have a lot of time. I saw a spot on R St, half legal, half illegal, but I figured , I am always a goodie two shoes, I will risk it how long will it take me to get 6 bottles of wine. I run to the store and choose my bottles and out of the corner of my eye I see one of the parking enforcement people walking up Connecticut Avenue, I told the clerk to hold my order, while I went and parked legally. I ran, I literally ran to my car and drove off to see if I could find a legal spot somewhere near the store, and as I am turning on S St, I see that I had already been ticketed. Insert a cry of frustration and pain, brought mostly by myself here. Aghhh, I was pissed, but I figured if they are around, and I park on my illegal spot as before they will give me another ticket. I did the rounds for 5 or 10 minutes and found a spot, went to the store and bought the wine, walked to the car and went home.

My only question is how can the same city that takes 6 months to fix Rock Creek Parkway, and where there are pools like Marie Reed that need fixin’ and never get can give anyone a ticket after being parked somewhat, ok, not somewhat, just plain illegally a ticket in less than 5 minutes?

Check is in the mail Mr. Mayor.

Sometimes Horoscopes are all wrong

After an exhausting practice yesterday, I read until 11:30, went to bed and woke up at 7 today - that is 30 minutes later than usual, which meant 30 minutes late for everything else. I get to the office and here is my horoscope:

Virgo
For Thursday, September 27 - There is certainly no shortage of high-spirited energy inside you right now, but it will need a little bit of coaxing to come out at full strength. Why are you holding back? You should be all about celebrating the nuclear-strength power you have! Show people how it is possible to get tons of stuff done while still keep everyone happy. You're entering a highly productive phase and this increased energy will help you create the momentum you need to carry you through.

Ahhhh, so not right.

Dirty Little Secrets

These are some of things I have learned during my time “on the beach”

• All those people that say come in at 7 and leave at 3, are lying, they come in at quarter of 8 at best, or 8:30, and then still leave at 3. I observe that on the rare occasions I come in at 8 and happen to be the first person at the office.

• No one really cares, you show up, talk to people, send some emails, and no one really cares.

• All office building delis are horrid places with even more horrid food.

• There is nothing better than a 1.5 hour lunch break, to make you sleepy and non productive, but at the same time, if you eat in 20 minutes, you are not going to be more productive or engaged.

• Best time to buy groceries, at 2 after the lunch crowd, you can even do cart wheels in the store! And all the shelves are restocked and there are no, absolutely no lines.

• The New York Times is the best newspaper in the country, followed closely by our own Washington Post.

• Never write long emails, no one reads them. If you have a lot to say use bullet format that way when people come back with I did not know, you can just point at the list they clearly did not read.

K, now I have to go work…

Tuesday's notes

Hey y’all had a good birthday weekend, I enjoyed seeing everyone and hanging out, and had some down time too which was nice. Other than that, not more to talk about this week has started slow, and something tells me it will remain that way – cross your fingers.

The big question of the week is do I try to get an ensemble for Miss Adams Morgan or do I jut go like a boring person with a shirt and slacks. I am not sure, I live dressing up, but basically the event will be 2 weeks from now, and I have nothing, I mean nothing, except the coat from last year. Maybe the Argentine can help with ideas, but I am at a loss for what to try and come up with. The theme of the party is TVLand, and of course I missed all those “great” sitcoms from the 80’s and 70’s and even part of the 90’s so no clue what to do. Any one has any ideas? A lot of people are doing Bewitched, today at the pool I heard three different people that have that idea, so there will be so many Esmeraldas it won’t be even funny.

Well that is all for today, I will be trying to do some work today, we shall see.

Friday’s round up or NPR sometimes makes me cry

As I was driving to work, as usual listening to Morning Edition, I got all misty eyed and all that, and it was not allergies or cold, it was NPR. They were showcasing Ken Burns’ new documentary about II WW, and I have always been interested in that war, it to me the greatest conflict of the 20th century. But it was not the political and military aspects that made the piece so interesting, Burns has chosen to tell the story through three cities in the US, and cover the three main theaters of the War – from an American point of view – the Atlantic, the Pacific and the home fronts. The documentary chose Luverne, Minn. Sacramento, Calif., Waterbury, Conn., and Mobile, Ala., as the places where start, and covers the impact of the war on the towns, and the places where the town’s men and women went to fight the war. It is not the horrors of the battles that made me sad, but the stories told by an Alabama newspaper, where a writer chronicled what was happening in town with candor and feeling, on of his stories is about a Friday, when the town is shutting down, but there is a rumor that a telegram is coming for a certain family that lived in Magnolia St, as the husband was walking home, he asked which of his 4 boys it was, and when he got the name, we kept walking home to break the news to his wife. It is those stories that help me keep perspective and realize that our trials and tribulations are not as epic or grandiose as they seem to us.

The documentary will air on PBS this Sunday, but here is the link to the NPR story.

Also the pic in the post today is from the extension of the Prado Museum in Madrid, I was reading El Pais, and they had this gallery and article on the expansion of the Museum, and it looks so pretty, so amazingly pretty, that I decided to post a picture and give you a link to the gallery. Moneo, the architect, did a terrific job, he expanded the building in a modern way, not replicating the XVIIIth century building yet making it feel warm and light. You know I was thinking of the architects when I saw the pictures.

Tales of the City

Last night I found out that Tuesday someone was assaulted right around the corner from my place. To say it was shocking was an understatement; seriously, it was for me a blow to my sense of security and peace of mind. Apparently – I tried to find a story on the WaPo unsuccessfully – the person attacked had parked down the hill (this is a one way street with the park on one side and house on the other) and was walking up hill when he was cornered by two guys that pushed him to the ground and took his wallet and cell phone and Lord knows what else. From the email that the president o the block sent, the person went to the hospital, and I ma hoping everything is fine and it was just a scare. But momentarily and for a while I will be uneasy every time I park and walk to my place with a laptop, a gym bag and plenty of paraphernalia needed when one works so far away from home that one carries with oneself half one’s thing every morning.

I am not even going to go into the usual discussion, the two attackers are the “usual” suspects, and that is all. I mean we live in a city and cities are dangerous places. I know that. I also know that it happens everywhere, in Gtown, in Mt Pleasant, in Columbia Heights, everywhere, so no one is free of it, not even the people in Potomac, from what happened there this week. But still, what is one to do, I can not be home at 6 every night locked away safely, I need to go out, swim, come back home, so the answer is to continue one’s life. Even if I have a rational discussion about this, I am still afraid, at least a little bit. I guess time will take the fright away, and in a couple of months I will be able too park and not look for suspicious people. But for the time being, you betcha I have a plan and I will be overtly alert.

Pictures!!

Today I have not much to post about, I did go to the gym yesterday and planning on swimming today which makes me proud. In the mean time I am at the office, training myself and waiting for the next project, but I finally put all the Pictures from my summer travels online and decided that you, if you have the time and the inclination, should see them, here they are:

Paris

Amsterdam

Giverny

I liked the ones from Giverny, and I have to concur with the Architect that after seeing the gardens one starts questioning Monet's talent.

Back on track

This is my 4th week back in DC full time, and by now I had anticipated to be fully incorporated into my old routine. Yes the gym, swimming, eating semi healthily and all that. Unfortunately that did not happen, at all. I tried swimming and I am in such bad shape that I feel like I can barely lift my arms and swim. It is like I am relearning it. The gym well lets not talk about that, I have been there twice in three weeks, hopefully that will all change today (cross your fingers) and the diet, well at least I have managed to eat diner at home almost 4 times per week, which to me is a record. So that has been the easiest part of it, the hard part has been getting my ass of the bed or the desk and start working out a little more, until I am in shape again.

That is all the news I got, really it has been a challenge, and I need to get to it because my stay in the south just left me out of shape, I can barely believe it.

The Year of Magical Thinking

I just put down this book, and it is so good that I want to write the review immediately before I forget it. It took me a while to finish it, 2.5 weeks, it is barely 250 pages, but the subject is very hard, but the writing and her approach to it is unbelievable. So go the Argentine’s blog, for the review, and then go to Amazon, or Kramer’s or wherever and buy this book and read it.

Knitting Lessons

Today the knitting part of this blog re-emerges because on of my coworkers who is about to go on pregnancy leave – I am sure that is not the name, but I can not think of the technical one right now – asked me to teach her how to knit. Her objective like mine is to pass the time, not to make an afghan or even a scarf, but like the GCC says it is about the process not the product. I agree whole heartedly, being one of those who can not sit still for more than 10 minutes, I understand her completely. If I had to be locked up in a house with an infant, I would go nuts.

Today at lunch time, we are going to get her some yarn, and I will teach her how to knit. At first I thought I would give her yarn, but then thought that she should choose it, not that the first ball of it will be useful or anything, but she needs to choose it in a color she likes. Of course this gives me the opportunity to get more yarn. Been thinking I have too many dark colors, I need something lighter, in a yellow or an orange, or a light blue for a blanket I have been meaning to finish sometime in 2010. I digress, then it will be time to teach the purl and the knit, and let her practice. I guess this officially makes me one of the gayest people I know. Oh well …

Oiii, my people!!!

At first today had little to blog about, there is always the anniversary, but many have talked about it much better than I could. I tend to be too corny when talking about grandiose topics and feelings, just ask the Argentine, which by the way is still away, but he is coming back soon. Alas, I found a story of great interest, I must warn you it is in Spanish, but I will translate the gist of it. A Mexican couple named their child Yahoo, as in the search agent, I think they used its’ personals to meet, or something. The article just mentions that they insisted on calling the kid Yahoo, even if the people at the civil registry – in Mexico, when you are born, you go to the Civil Registry and register the child, that is the law, I am not sure how it is done North of the border – warned them of the psychological harm they child would come to as he grew up and went to school. Apparently in the same jurisdiction an “environmentalist” couple called their children Tree, Arbol in Spanish. Funny huh, well those are my people, what can I say, I have heard worse, such as boys called USMAIL, or girls called Lady Di, can you imagine, a cute little Mexican girl called Lady?

So what are there some funny names you know? Do you think people can be scared by the name their parents give them? I think so, that is why people should use good Christian names, when they have good Christian Last names, and to my peoples everywhere in this country, please, please, please stop calling people Brian when their last names will be Gonzalez or Perez.

Have a good day,,, stepping off my classist soap box.

A year in the Merde - the book Review

Ok, yes another book review, I kinda fell of the face of the planet for the last 2.5 weeks, but my parents were in town, I was in training and had a myriad things to do. Go to the Argentine’s site for the review.

I get the Paris Pictures, because he gets the book review. Yes he is still in Argentina, but he is coming back soon.